All

Eswatini becomes first African nation to join Trump's anti-China 'Clean Network'

• Paula Gilbert
• 1/20/2021

The Kingdom of Eswatini has become the first country in African to join the US 'Clean Network' program, which is working to exclude Chinese companies from national telecoms infrastructure, especially 5G networks.

App-based MVNO Vyke reports major user growth

• Connecting Africa News
• 1/18/2021

Digital MVNO Vyke saw a 50% increase in subscribers in the last quarter of the year, with its biggest market in Nigeria.

SA's Cell C migrating customers to roam on competitor networks

• Paula Gilbert
• 1/14/2021

Cell C has begun migrating its customers to roam on Vodacom and MTN's networks as part of a new strategy to stop spending money on infrastructure.

Kenya's mobile penetration increases to over 125%

• Paula Gilbert
• 1/13/2021

Kenya's mobile market has grown as demand for ICT services continued to rise in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Internet shutdowns rumored ahead of Ugandan elections

• Connecting Africa News
• 1/12/2021

As Ugandans prepare to vote this week, fear is mounting that there could be social media blackouts on the cards.

MTN was South Africa's best network in 2020 – report

• Connecting Africa News
• 1/11/2021

MTN has been ranked as South Africa's best network for 2020 for speed and network quality.

95% of children in West and Central Africa don't have Internet at home

• Paula Gilbert
• 1/7/2021

In Eastern and Southern Africa only 13% of children and young people have Internet access at home, and in West and Central Africa access is even lower at 5%.

Space-based mobile network coming to equatorial Africa in 2023

• Paula Gilbert
• 1/5/2021

Mobile users in equatorial Africa could be tapping into AST SpaceMobile's space-based mobile network by 2023.

Six companies want South African spectrum

• Paula Gilbert
• 1/4/2021

South Africa's telecoms regulator has revealed that six companies are interested in an upcoming spectrum auction, with Telkom both applying and trying to oppose the auction in court.

Women in Tech Interview: MainOne CEO Funke Opeke

• Paula Gilbert
• 12/14/2020

Funke Opeke, founder and CEO of MainOne, spoke to Connecting Africa about her connectivity vision for West Africa and the female-run startups that are making waves on the continent.

Africa's mobile broadband affordability much improved since 2015 – A4AI

• Paula Gilbert
• 12/2/2020

Over five years the cost of 1GB of mobile data has dropped 60% in Africa, according to the Alliance for Affordable Internet's 2020 Affordability Report.

5G will grow but 3G will dominate SSA in 2026 – Ericsson

• Paula Gilbert
• 12/1/2020

The newest Ericsson Mobility Report predicts that 5G will make up about 5% of sub-Saharan Africa's mobile subscriptions by 2026, but the region's dominant mobile technology will still be 3G at over 40%.

COVID-19 spurs e-commerce uptick in MEA – Mastercard

• Paula Gilbert
• 11/27/2020

According to a new Mastercard study, over 70% of consumers in the Middle East and Africa were shopping more online than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Liquid Telecom accelerates fiber access in Botswana

• Connecting Africa News
• 11/26/2020

Liquid Telecom is expanding fiber access in Botswana by activating 82km of fiber in a cross-border network into the Southern African country.

Vodacom launches free app to fight gender-based violence in South Africa

• Industry Announcements
• 11/26/2020

The Vodacom Foundation has launched a free-to-download app designed to aid in the fight against gender-base violence in South Africa.

Discover new opportunities in cloud communications

• Information Resources
• 11/25/2020

This whitepaper outlines the opportunities for enterprises and communications service providers in migrating their telecom infrastructure to the cloud, as they seek to improve customer loyalty and increase profitability.

Implement new connections at speed to keep pace with growing demand

• Information Resources
• 11/25/2020

This case study outlines how – by working with a global telecom provider like BICS – Africa’s first hyperscale network infrastructure provider, WIOCC, was able to ensure speed of delivery, reliable connectivity and an enhanced customer experience while scaling capacity within days

Econet and X's Project Taara join forces to connect Africa

• Paula Gilbert
• 11/11/2020

Econet Group and Google X's Project Taara are teaming up to deploy new high-speed Internet technology to communities across sub-Saharan Africa.

Orange launches pan-West African fiber network

• Paula Gilbert
• 11/10/2020

Orange has announced a massive fiber-optic network in West Africa, called Djoliba, which is a first-of-its-kind pan-West African backbone.

Telkom SA continues strong mobile growth

• Paula Gilbert
• 11/10/2020

Telkom South Africa saw its mobile data traffic grow 81% over the past six months and mobile data revenue increase by 53.8%.

Vodafone Egypt gets additional ten-year spectrum license

• Paula Gilbert
• 11/5/2020

Vodafone Egypt has acquired a block of 2.6GHz spectrum for $540 million which it says will significantly expand its network capacity.

Podcast: Infinera's Tim Doiron on TIP, open networking and how vendors adapt

• Connecting Africa Video
• 11/2/2020

Infinera's Tim Doiron discusses open networking and Infinera's role in a recent Telecom Infra Project deployment.

Protecting operator revenues with proactive fraud prevention

• Information Resources
• 11/1/2020

This use case looks at how mobile operators can proactively protect their subscribers and networks with the BICS FraudGuard solution. Using crowdsourced fraud traffic patterns and a database of more than 50 million known fraudulent numbers, operators can rely on the solution to identify and automatically block fraud traffic before it affects their international voice and roaming business.

Nearly half the world has never used the Internet

• Paula Gilbert
• 10/28/2020

Nearly half of the global adult population has never used the Internet, and the majority live in Africa and South Asia, according to a recent ITU report.

New report shows digital gender gap in Ghana, Uganda

• Paula Gilbert
• 10/23/2020

The digital gender gap stands at almost 43% in Uganda and 5.8% in Ghana, according to the World Wide Web Foundation's new Women's Rights Online Report.

AfricaCom Interview: Onica Makwakwa on closing the digital gender gap

• AfricaCom Perspectives
• 10/22/2020

The Alliance for Affordable Internet's head of Africa, Onica Makwakwa, shares her views on how to narrow the digital gender gap and the challenges keeping women offline on the continent.

Hot startup of the month: Nigeria's VNTS

• Tom Jackson
• 10/22/2020

Nigerian startup VNTS manufactures network devices that solve last-mile connectivity and last-inch Wi-Fi signal issues using existing electrical cabling.

Safaricom contributed 6% of Kenya's GDP

• Paula Gilbert
• 10/16/2020

Safaricom's 2020 Sustainable Business Report places its overall social impact over the past year at 6% of Kenya's GDP.

Airtel, Samsung in smartphone financing deal

• Paula Gilbert
• 10/7/2020

Airtel Africa is partnering with Mastercard, Samsung and Asante Financial Services to launch a smartphone financing project as a way to entice users to upgrade from feature phones to smartphones.

COVID-19 exposes West Africa's digital education divide

• Paula Gilbert
• 10/6/2020

Africa Web Services CEO Dr. Momar Dieng told West Africa Com that the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the education system and highlighted the region's digital divide when it comes to learning.

West Africa Com 2020: EduTech in focus

• Connecting Africa Video
• 10/6/2020

The CEOs of CyberSmart Africa and Africa Web Services discuss EduTech in West Africa

MTN Zambia signs fiber deal with ZTE

• Connecting Africa News
• 10/5/2020

MTN Zambia and ZTE have signed a partnership to construct a cross-border optical transmission network backbone, promising better connectivity and lower data costs for Zambians.

SA operators allowed to keep COVID-19 emergency spectrum longer

• Paula Gilbert
• 10/1/2020

South Africa's telecoms regulator says operators don't have to give back temporary 4G and 5G spectrum until March next year.

Strong mobile growth predicted for sub-Saharan Africa – GSMA

• Paula Gilbert
• 9/30/2020

Nearly half a billion people subscribe to mobile services in sub-Saharan Africa with 4.3% annual growth predicted until 2025.

SA, Kenya and Nigeria hit by millions of cyberattacks

• Connecting Africa News
• 9/23/2020

South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria have seen 28 million malware attacks and 102 million potentially unwanted application detections so far in 2020 says Kaspersky.

Telkom brings KaiOS smart feature phones to Kenya

• Connecting Africa News
• 9/16/2020

Kenya is the latest country to roll out popular KaiOS–enabled smart feature phones with Telkom Kenya this week launching a new device.

East Africa's digital economy needs progressive policy – Kenyan regulator

• Paula Gilbert
• 9/14/2020

Communications Authority of Kenya's Mercy Wanjau told East Africa Com digital economies must have progressive policy and regulation on spectrum, data protection and digital taxation.

View4all.tv targets education in SA with zero data costs

• Paula Gilbert
• 9/11/2020

View4all.tv founder Gregory Sheppard chats to Connecting Africa about the free content delivery platform providing both educational and entertainment content in SA with no data costs.

Nigeria sees mobile subs boom – Ericsson

• Paula Gilbert
• 9/8/2020

According to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report stats, Africa added 12 million new mobile subscriptions during Q2 2020, half of which were in Nigeria.

Ericsson, UNICEF partner to map school Internet connectivity

• Connecting Africa News
• 8/28/2020

Ericsson and UNICEF are joining forces to map school connectivity in 35 countries, 13 of which are in Africa.

Women in Tech Interview: GoDaddy regional director Selina Bieber

• Paula Gilbert
• 8/26/2020

GoDaddy's regional director for MENAT and South Africa, Selina Bieber, talks about working with female entrepreneurs in Africa, and the things that connect us.

Join us for the AfricaCom 2020 Digital Symposium

• Paula Gilbert
• 8/14/2020

On August 18 and 20, Connecting Africa and AfricaCom will run a two-day Digital Symposium covering the 2020 outlook, 5G, mobile money, connectivity and more.

African lockdowns boost Vodacom data traffic

• Paula Gilbert
• 7/23/2020

Vodacom recorded major data traffic growth over the past three months with COVID-19 lockdowns forcing Africans to work and study from home.

Telkom SA pushing customers from DSL to fiber

• Connecting Africa News
• 7/22/2020

Telkom is moving forward with plans to kill off its copper-based fixed-line offerings and shift customers to new-generation technologies.

Rain debuts standalone 5G network in Cape Town

• Connecting Africa News
• 7/20/2020

Rain and Huawei have launched what they are calling Africa's first commercial standalone 5G network.

Africa Tech Festival aims to virtually unite tech and talent

• Connecting Africa News
• 7/16/2020

The Virtual Africa Tech Festival is on a mission to unite tech and talent in Africa and drive digital transformation by bringing the continent's tech industry together in a fully virtual event.

New Virtual Africa Tech Festival launched

• Industry Announcements
• 7/15/2020

AfricaCom and AfricaTech will go ahead as virtual events, as part of the new Virtual Africa Tech Festival.

Nigeria will have 246M mobile subs by 2025 – Omdia

• Paula Gilbert
• 7/10/2020

Market research firm forecasting that mobile subscriptions in Nigeria will hit 246 million in 2025, rising from 180 million in 2019.

Podcast: What's the story with mobile data in Africa?

• Connecting Africa News
• 7/9/2020

Paula Gilbert joins Light Reading's 'What's the Story?' podcast to discuss current trends around mobile data in Africa and their broader impact on the region and industry at large.

Balloon-powered 4G takes flight in Kenya

• Paula Gilbert
• 7/8/2020

Balloon-powered 4G is now available in Kenya's rural areas through a project between Loon and Telkom Kenya.

MTN named SA's best mobile network during lockdown

• Paula Gilbert
• 7/8/2020

MTN has been ranked as South Africa's best network during the COVID-19 lockdown in the country, according to a new report from MyBroadband Insights.

Telma launches commercial 5G in Madagascar

• Connecting Africa News
• 7/1/2020

Telma has become the first operator to launch a 5G commercial network in Madagascar, powered by Ericsson.

Malawi gets community Wi-Fi boost from Liquid Telecom and Mbora

• Connecting Africa News
• 7/1/2020

Social enterprise Mbora is joining forces with Liquid Telecom to provide free connectivity to community hubs in Malawi.

MTN 5G goes live in South Africa

• Paula Gilbert
• 6/30/2020

MTN has launched 5G across 100 sites in South Africa and made some big promises about its future rollout if it gets access to the spectrum it needs.

Vodacom Business and Microsoft SA partner to deliver a Digital Education Platform

• Industry Announcements
• 6/23/2020

Vodacom Business and Microsoft are partnering to deliver a Digital Education Platform in South Africa.

Telkom SA's profit falls despite mobile success

• Paula Gilbert
• 6/22/2020

Despite strong growth in its mobile business, the South African operator saw a major drop in group earnings over the past year.

Liquid Telecom SA CEO calls it quits

• Paula Gilbert
• 6/18/2020

Reshaad Sha is leaving his role as CEO of Liquid Telecom South Africa at the end of August.

Registrations open for fully virtual West Africa Com 2020 event

• Industry Announcements
• 6/5/2020

Informa Tech has decided to move West Africa Com to a fully virtual event this year from September 30 to October 1, 2020.

SA smartphone numbers jump, but fixed broadband subs drop

• Paula Gilbert
• 6/4/2020

A report from South Africa's telecoms regulator shows that smartphone subscriptions in the country are now at over 90%, while a drop in DSL subscriptions saw fixed broadband subscriptions decrease by almost 20% in 2019.

EXCLUSIVE: MTN Zambia and Vanu to provide off-grid connectivity

• Paula Gilbert
• 5/19/2020

Vanu has been selected by MTN to extend mobile connectivity to Zambia's off-grid communities.

5G in Africa is inevitable, but not imminent – GSMA

• Paula Gilbert
• 5/15/2020

GSMA Africa Head, Akinwale Goodluck, believes Africa needs to get a few more things right before 5G can significantly roll out on the continent.

New '2Africa' mega subsea cable announced

• Connecting Africa News
• 5/14/2020

The new 2Africa cable will be one of the world's largest subsea cable projects, connecting 23 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

Loon brings balloon-powered Internet to Mozambique

• Paula Gilbert
• 5/13/2020

Alphabet's balloon Internet project, Loon, has partnered with operator Vodacom to bring Internet connectivity to Mozambique's hard-to-reach areas.

Business expectations for ICT in East Africa at a new high

• Industry Announcements
• 5/12/2020

New research from Omdia shows that business expectations for ICT are at a new high in East Africa.

Vodafone Egypt rakes in revenue ahead of sale

• Paula Gilbert
• 5/12/2020

Vodafone Egypt saw a major revenue spike in the past financial year, while its parent group goes ahead with a planned sale to Saudi Telecom.

DFA granted a license in Zimbabwe

• Connecting Africa News
• 5/8/2020

South African-based DFA has been granted an Internet Access Provider Class B license in Zimbabwe.

Sparkle expands to Morocco

• Connecting Africa News
• 4/30/2020

Italian service provider Sparkle is expanding its reach into North Africa by opening a new point of presence in Casablanca, Morocco.

M-Pesa still a cash cow for Safaricom, but COVID-19 impact looms

• Paula Gilbert
• 4/29/2020

Safaricom's M-Pesa continues to be a strong revenue driver for the operator, but it is anticipating a negative short-term impact from the COVID-19 pandemic.

ZTE's African growth plans

• Paula Gilbert
• 4/28/2020

ZTE has been actively trialing 5G technology in Africa but still sees 3G and 4G as big growth areas for its business on the continent.

SatADSL and YahClick join forces to provide satellite connectivity to Sub-Saharan Africa

• Industry Announcements
• 4/22/2020

Belgian SatADSL and Emirati YahClick are partnering to enhance their connectivity offerings across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Liquid Telecom announces new CEO in Zambia

• Connecting Africa News
• 4/16/2020

Liquid Telecom has appointed Mark Townsend as CEO of its Zambia business.

SA telcos pledge big in COVID-19 battle

• Paula Gilbert
• 4/16/2020

South Africa's mobile operators are making sizable pledges toward the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as spending on improving network capacity.

Hot startup of the month: Solar-powered Wi-Fi network provider Tizeti

• Connecting Africa News
• 4/15/2020

Nigerian startup, Tizeti, is bringing Internet access to West Africa by combining Wi-Fi connectivity and solar power.

Facebook launches Coronavirus Information Center in 17 African countries

• Industry Announcements
• 4/14/2020

The social network is expanding its Coronavirus Information Center to 17 more countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

SA releases emergency spectrum for COVID-19 broadband demand

• Paula Gilbert
• 4/7/2020

South Africa's telecoms regulator is releasing emergency spectrum to meet the spike in broadband services demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mauritania's CSS and Forsway Scandinavia to boost West African broadband connectivity

• Industry Announcements
• 4/7/2020

Mauritanian satellite services provider CSS and Forsway Scandinavia join forces.

New dates for Connecting Africa event series

• Industry Announcements
• 4/1/2020

Informa Tech has announced new dates for East Africa Com and West Africa Com.

WACS cable break slows SA Internet, again

• Paula Gilbert
• 3/31/2020

South Africa is once again experiencing slow Internet as the West Africa Cable System (WACS) suffered its third major fault in 2020.

Hot startup of the month: Mini-Internet network provider NodeOne

• Connecting Africa News
• 3/27/2020

Rwandan-founded NodeOne has developed a hardware and software package that enables anyone, anywhere to create small, affordable Internet networks.

Telkom SA to cut IP Connect pricing

• Paula Gilbert
• 3/26/2020

Telkom has come to an agreement with the SA Competition Commission to address concerns over IP Connect pricing and reducing the digital divide.

MTN to give SA users 20MB free data every day

• Paula Gilbert
• 3/20/2020

MTN SA has promised to reduce its smaller data bundle prices by between 25% and 50% and is offering 20MB daily free data to users.

What African operators are doing to help during COVID-19 outbreak

• Paula Gilbert
• 3/18/2020

African operators are stepping up to help during the COVID-19 outbreak which is now affecting at least 30 African nations.

Telkom job cuts to cost $90M

• Paula Gilbert
• 3/16/2020

Telkom's plan to shed around 3,000 jobs is going to cost the telecoms operator about R1.5 billion (US$90 million) and will have a negative impact on its earnings for the 2020 financial year.

Telkom selling 53 properties in SA

• Paula Gilbert
• 3/6/2020

The operator is auctioning off 53 properties in South Africa as it moves forward with plans to modernize its network and improve efficiency.

Sub-Saharan Africa still struggling with mobile gender gap

• Paula Gilbert
• 3/5/2020

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the second-worst region in the world when it comes to the mobile gender gap, according to a new GSMA report.

Orange and SES team up on O3b mPower Communications System

• Industry Announcements
• 2/27/2020

Orange will be the first global telecom operator to integrate satellite-based terabit-scale O3b mPower communications system in its network, to support the growing demand for connectivity in Africa.

Econet throws hat in ring for Ethiopia license – report

• Paula Gilbert
• 2/25/2020

Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa's company is reportedly looking into a telecom license in Ethiopia.

South Africa's international connectivity fully restored

• Industry Announcements
• 2/20/2020

The dual fault on two undersea cable systems has been repaired, fully restoring Internet connectivity in South Africa

Vodacom facing trouble in Lesotho

• Paula Gilbert
• 2/20/2020

The Lesotho Communications Authority is not happy with Vodacom and has fined it $549,000 – and is threatening to revoke its license.

Internet Solutions taps Liquid Telecom for 5G capacity

• Connecting Africa News
• 2/18/2020

Liquid Telecom will provide Internet Solutions with wholesale 5G connectivity in South Africa.

Africa remains growth driver for Orange

• Paula Gilbert
• 2/13/2020

Orange CEO Stéphane Richard says that once again in 2019, the Africa & Middle East region was a main growth driver for the Group.

MWC 2020 officially canceled

• Paula Gilbert
• 2/13/2020

The GSMA has pulled the plug on this year's Mobile World Congress due to the impact of reactions to the coronavirus outbreak.

World Bank pushes for telecoms investment in Africa

• Connecting Africa News
• 2/5/2020

The World Bank is lobbying to get more investment for Africa's telecoms industry through the next phase of its African Regulatory Watch Initiative.

Vodacom to launch 5G services in SA in 2020

• Paula Gilbert
• 2/4/2020

Vodacom says it expects to be able to launch 5G services in South Africa this year, with the help of a recent roaming agreement with Liquid Telecom.

Repairs Underway to Fix SA's Slow Internet

• Connecting Africa News
• 1/30/2020

Repairs have begun to fix a dual cable failure which has left South Africa and other parts of Africa with slow Internet.

Saudi Telecom to Buy Vodafone Egypt for $2.4B

• Iain Morris
• 1/29/2020

Saudi incumbent could land one of the region's fastest-growing operators as it looks to keep expanding its international presence.

Ericsson Predicts 5G Take-Up for MEA in 2020

• Paula Gilbert
• 1/29/2020

After a successful 2019 when it comes to 5G deals, Ericsson is predicting more 5G growth for the Middle East and Africa in 2020.

Blogs

Eswatini becomes first African nation to join Trump's anti-China 'Clean Network'

• Paula Gilbert
• 1/20/2021

The Kingdom of Eswatini has become the first country in African to join the US 'Clean Network' program, which is working to exclude Chinese companies from national telecoms infrastructure, especially 5G networks.

App-based MVNO Vyke reports major user growth

• Connecting Africa News
• 1/18/2021

Digital MVNO Vyke saw a 50% increase in subscribers in the last quarter of the year, with its biggest market in Nigeria.

SA's Cell C migrating customers to roam on competitor networks

• Paula Gilbert
• 1/14/2021

Cell C has begun migrating its customers to roam on Vodacom and MTN's networks as part of a new strategy to stop spending money on infrastructure.

Kenya's mobile penetration increases to over 125%

• Paula Gilbert
• 1/13/2021

Kenya's mobile market has grown as demand for ICT services continued to rise in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Internet shutdowns rumored ahead of Ugandan elections

• Connecting Africa News
• 1/12/2021

As Ugandans prepare to vote this week, fear is mounting that there could be social media blackouts on the cards.

MTN was South Africa's best network in 2020 – report

• Connecting Africa News
• 1/11/2021

MTN has been ranked as South Africa's best network for 2020 for speed and network quality.

95% of children in West and Central Africa don't have Internet at home

• Paula Gilbert
• 1/7/2021

In Eastern and Southern Africa only 13% of children and young people have Internet access at home, and in West and Central Africa access is even lower at 5%.

Space-based mobile network coming to equatorial Africa in 2023

• Paula Gilbert
• 1/5/2021

Mobile users in equatorial Africa could be tapping into AST SpaceMobile's space-based mobile network by 2023.

Six companies want South African spectrum

• Paula Gilbert
• 1/4/2021

South Africa's telecoms regulator has revealed that six companies are interested in an upcoming spectrum auction, with Telkom both applying and trying to oppose the auction in court.

Women in Tech Interview: MainOne CEO Funke Opeke

• Paula Gilbert
• 12/14/2020

Funke Opeke, founder and CEO of MainOne, spoke to Connecting Africa about her connectivity vision for West Africa and the female-run startups that are making waves on the continent.

Africa's mobile broadband affordability much improved since 2015 – A4AI

• Paula Gilbert
• 12/2/2020

Over five years the cost of 1GB of mobile data has dropped 60% in Africa, according to the Alliance for Affordable Internet's 2020 Affordability Report.

5G will grow but 3G will dominate SSA in 2026 – Ericsson

• Paula Gilbert
• 12/1/2020

The newest Ericsson Mobility Report predicts that 5G will make up about 5% of sub-Saharan Africa's mobile subscriptions by 2026, but the region's dominant mobile technology will still be 3G at over 40%.

COVID-19 spurs e-commerce uptick in MEA – Mastercard

• Paula Gilbert
• 11/27/2020

According to a new Mastercard study, over 70% of consumers in the Middle East and Africa were shopping more online than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Liquid Telecom accelerates fiber access in Botswana

• Connecting Africa News
• 11/26/2020

Liquid Telecom is expanding fiber access in Botswana by activating 82km of fiber in a cross-border network into the Southern African country.

Vodacom launches free app to fight gender-based violence in South Africa

• Industry Announcements
• 11/26/2020

The Vodacom Foundation has launched a free-to-download app designed to aid in the fight against gender-base violence in South Africa.

Discover new opportunities in cloud communications

• Information Resources
• 11/25/2020

This whitepaper outlines the opportunities for enterprises and communications service providers in migrating their telecom infrastructure to the cloud, as they seek to improve customer loyalty and increase profitability.

Implement new connections at speed to keep pace with growing demand

• Information Resources
• 11/25/2020

This case study outlines how – by working with a global telecom provider like BICS – Africa’s first hyperscale network infrastructure provider, WIOCC, was able to ensure speed of delivery, reliable connectivity and an enhanced customer experience while scaling capacity within days

Econet and X's Project Taara join forces to connect Africa

• Paula Gilbert
• 11/11/2020

Econet Group and Google X's Project Taara are teaming up to deploy new high-speed Internet technology to communities across sub-Saharan Africa.

Orange launches pan-West African fiber network

• Paula Gilbert
• 11/10/2020

Orange has announced a massive fiber-optic network in West Africa, called Djoliba, which is a first-of-its-kind pan-West African backbone.

Telkom SA continues strong mobile growth

• Paula Gilbert
• 11/10/2020

Telkom South Africa saw its mobile data traffic grow 81% over the past six months and mobile data revenue increase by 53.8%.

Vodafone Egypt gets additional ten-year spectrum license

• Paula Gilbert
• 11/5/2020

Vodafone Egypt has acquired a block of 2.6GHz spectrum for $540 million which it says will significantly expand its network capacity.

Podcast: Infinera's Tim Doiron on TIP, open networking and how vendors adapt

• Connecting Africa Video
• 11/2/2020

Infinera's Tim Doiron discusses open networking and Infinera's role in a recent Telecom Infra Project deployment.

Protecting operator revenues with proactive fraud prevention

• Information Resources
• 11/1/2020

This use case looks at how mobile operators can proactively protect their subscribers and networks with the BICS FraudGuard solution. Using crowdsourced fraud traffic patterns and a database of more than 50 million known fraudulent numbers, operators can rely on the solution to identify and automatically block fraud traffic before it affects their international voice and roaming business.

Nearly half the world has never used the Internet

• Paula Gilbert
• 10/28/2020

Nearly half of the global adult population has never used the Internet, and the majority live in Africa and South Asia, according to a recent ITU report.

New report shows digital gender gap in Ghana, Uganda

• Paula Gilbert
• 10/23/2020

The digital gender gap stands at almost 43% in Uganda and 5.8% in Ghana, according to the World Wide Web Foundation's new Women's Rights Online Report.

AfricaCom Interview: Onica Makwakwa on closing the digital gender gap

• AfricaCom Perspectives
• 10/22/2020

The Alliance for Affordable Internet's head of Africa, Onica Makwakwa, shares her views on how to narrow the digital gender gap and the challenges keeping women offline on the continent.

Hot startup of the month: Nigeria's VNTS

• Tom Jackson
• 10/22/2020

Nigerian startup VNTS manufactures network devices that solve last-mile connectivity and last-inch Wi-Fi signal issues using existing electrical cabling.

Safaricom contributed 6% of Kenya's GDP

• Paula Gilbert
• 10/16/2020

Safaricom's 2020 Sustainable Business Report places its overall social impact over the past year at 6% of Kenya's GDP.

Airtel, Samsung in smartphone financing deal

• Paula Gilbert
• 10/7/2020

Airtel Africa is partnering with Mastercard, Samsung and Asante Financial Services to launch a smartphone financing project as a way to entice users to upgrade from feature phones to smartphones.

COVID-19 exposes West Africa's digital education divide

• Paula Gilbert
• 10/6/2020

Africa Web Services CEO Dr. Momar Dieng told West Africa Com that the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the education system and highlighted the region's digital divide when it comes to learning.

West Africa Com 2020: EduTech in focus

• Connecting Africa Video
• 10/6/2020

The CEOs of CyberSmart Africa and Africa Web Services discuss EduTech in West Africa

MTN Zambia signs fiber deal with ZTE

• Connecting Africa News
• 10/5/2020

MTN Zambia and ZTE have signed a partnership to construct a cross-border optical transmission network backbone, promising better connectivity and lower data costs for Zambians.

SA operators allowed to keep COVID-19 emergency spectrum longer

• Paula Gilbert
• 10/1/2020

South Africa's telecoms regulator says operators don't have to give back temporary 4G and 5G spectrum until March next year.

Strong mobile growth predicted for sub-Saharan Africa – GSMA

• Paula Gilbert
• 9/30/2020

Nearly half a billion people subscribe to mobile services in sub-Saharan Africa with 4.3% annual growth predicted until 2025.

SA, Kenya and Nigeria hit by millions of cyberattacks

• Connecting Africa News
• 9/23/2020

South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria have seen 28 million malware attacks and 102 million potentially unwanted application detections so far in 2020 says Kaspersky.

Telkom brings KaiOS smart feature phones to Kenya

• Connecting Africa News
• 9/16/2020

Kenya is the latest country to roll out popular KaiOS–enabled smart feature phones with Telkom Kenya this week launching a new device.

East Africa's digital economy needs progressive policy – Kenyan regulator

• Paula Gilbert
• 9/14/2020

Communications Authority of Kenya's Mercy Wanjau told East Africa Com digital economies must have progressive policy and regulation on spectrum, data protection and digital taxation.

View4all.tv targets education in SA with zero data costs

• Paula Gilbert
• 9/11/2020

View4all.tv founder Gregory Sheppard chats to Connecting Africa about the free content delivery platform providing both educational and entertainment content in SA with no data costs.

Nigeria sees mobile subs boom – Ericsson

• Paula Gilbert
• 9/8/2020

According to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report stats, Africa added 12 million new mobile subscriptions during Q2 2020, half of which were in Nigeria.

Ericsson, UNICEF partner to map school Internet connectivity

• Connecting Africa News
• 8/28/2020

Ericsson and UNICEF are joining forces to map school connectivity in 35 countries, 13 of which are in Africa.

Women in Tech Interview: GoDaddy regional director Selina Bieber

• Paula Gilbert
• 8/26/2020

GoDaddy's regional director for MENAT and South Africa, Selina Bieber, talks about working with female entrepreneurs in Africa, and the things that connect us.

Join us for the AfricaCom 2020 Digital Symposium

• Paula Gilbert
• 8/14/2020

On August 18 and 20, Connecting Africa and AfricaCom will run a two-day Digital Symposium covering the 2020 outlook, 5G, mobile money, connectivity and more.

African lockdowns boost Vodacom data traffic

• Paula Gilbert
• 7/23/2020

Vodacom recorded major data traffic growth over the past three months with COVID-19 lockdowns forcing Africans to work and study from home.

Telkom SA pushing customers from DSL to fiber

• Connecting Africa News
• 7/22/2020

Telkom is moving forward with plans to kill off its copper-based fixed-line offerings and shift customers to new-generation technologies.

Rain debuts standalone 5G network in Cape Town

• Connecting Africa News
• 7/20/2020

Rain and Huawei have launched what they are calling Africa's first commercial standalone 5G network.

Africa Tech Festival aims to virtually unite tech and talent

• Connecting Africa News
• 7/16/2020

The Virtual Africa Tech Festival is on a mission to unite tech and talent in Africa and drive digital transformation by bringing the continent's tech industry together in a fully virtual event.

New Virtual Africa Tech Festival launched

• Industry Announcements
• 7/15/2020

AfricaCom and AfricaTech will go ahead as virtual events, as part of the new Virtual Africa Tech Festival.

Nigeria will have 246M mobile subs by 2025 – Omdia

• Paula Gilbert
• 7/10/2020

Market research firm forecasting that mobile subscriptions in Nigeria will hit 246 million in 2025, rising from 180 million in 2019.

Podcast: What's the story with mobile data in Africa?

• Connecting Africa News
• 7/9/2020

Paula Gilbert joins Light Reading's 'What's the Story?' podcast to discuss current trends around mobile data in Africa and their broader impact on the region and industry at large.

Balloon-powered 4G takes flight in Kenya

• Paula Gilbert
• 7/8/2020

Balloon-powered 4G is now available in Kenya's rural areas through a project between Loon and Telkom Kenya.

MTN named SA's best mobile network during lockdown

• Paula Gilbert
• 7/8/2020

MTN has been ranked as South Africa's best network during the COVID-19 lockdown in the country, according to a new report from MyBroadband Insights.

Telma launches commercial 5G in Madagascar

• Connecting Africa News
• 7/1/2020

Telma has become the first operator to launch a 5G commercial network in Madagascar, powered by Ericsson.

Malawi gets community Wi-Fi boost from Liquid Telecom and Mbora

• Connecting Africa News
• 7/1/2020

Social enterprise Mbora is joining forces with Liquid Telecom to provide free connectivity to community hubs in Malawi.

MTN 5G goes live in South Africa

• Paula Gilbert
• 6/30/2020

MTN has launched 5G across 100 sites in South Africa and made some big promises about its future rollout if it gets access to the spectrum it needs.

Vodacom Business and Microsoft SA partner to deliver a Digital Education Platform

• Industry Announcements
• 6/23/2020

Vodacom Business and Microsoft are partnering to deliver a Digital Education Platform in South Africa.

Telkom SA's profit falls despite mobile success

• Paula Gilbert
• 6/22/2020

Despite strong growth in its mobile business, the South African operator saw a major drop in group earnings over the past year.

Liquid Telecom SA CEO calls it quits

• Paula Gilbert
• 6/18/2020

Reshaad Sha is leaving his role as CEO of Liquid Telecom South Africa at the end of August.

Registrations open for fully virtual West Africa Com 2020 event

• Industry Announcements
• 6/5/2020

Informa Tech has decided to move West Africa Com to a fully virtual event this year from September 30 to October 1, 2020.

SA smartphone numbers jump, but fixed broadband subs drop

• Paula Gilbert
• 6/4/2020

A report from South Africa's telecoms regulator shows that smartphone subscriptions in the country are now at over 90%, while a drop in DSL subscriptions saw fixed broadband subscriptions decrease by almost 20% in 2019.

EXCLUSIVE: MTN Zambia and Vanu to provide off-grid connectivity

• Paula Gilbert
• 5/19/2020

Vanu has been selected by MTN to extend mobile connectivity to Zambia's off-grid communities.

5G in Africa is inevitable, but not imminent – GSMA

• Paula Gilbert
• 5/15/2020

GSMA Africa Head, Akinwale Goodluck, believes Africa needs to get a few more things right before 5G can significantly roll out on the continent.

New '2Africa' mega subsea cable announced

• Connecting Africa News
• 5/14/2020

The new 2Africa cable will be one of the world's largest subsea cable projects, connecting 23 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

Loon brings balloon-powered Internet to Mozambique

• Paula Gilbert
• 5/13/2020

Alphabet's balloon Internet project, Loon, has partnered with operator Vodacom to bring Internet connectivity to Mozambique's hard-to-reach areas.

Business expectations for ICT in East Africa at a new high

• Industry Announcements
• 5/12/2020

New research from Omdia shows that business expectations for ICT are at a new high in East Africa.

Vodafone Egypt rakes in revenue ahead of sale

• Paula Gilbert
• 5/12/2020

Vodafone Egypt saw a major revenue spike in the past financial year, while its parent group goes ahead with a planned sale to Saudi Telecom.

DFA granted a license in Zimbabwe

• Connecting Africa News
• 5/8/2020

South African-based DFA has been granted an Internet Access Provider Class B license in Zimbabwe.

Sparkle expands to Morocco

• Connecting Africa News
• 4/30/2020

Italian service provider Sparkle is expanding its reach into North Africa by opening a new point of presence in Casablanca, Morocco.

M-Pesa still a cash cow for Safaricom, but COVID-19 impact looms

• Paula Gilbert
• 4/29/2020

Safaricom's M-Pesa continues to be a strong revenue driver for the operator, but it is anticipating a negative short-term impact from the COVID-19 pandemic.

ZTE's African growth plans

• Paula Gilbert
• 4/28/2020

ZTE has been actively trialing 5G technology in Africa but still sees 3G and 4G as big growth areas for its business on the continent.

SatADSL and YahClick join forces to provide satellite connectivity to Sub-Saharan Africa

• Industry Announcements
• 4/22/2020

Belgian SatADSL and Emirati YahClick are partnering to enhance their connectivity offerings across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Liquid Telecom announces new CEO in Zambia

• Connecting Africa News
• 4/16/2020

Liquid Telecom has appointed Mark Townsend as CEO of its Zambia business.

SA telcos pledge big in COVID-19 battle

• Paula Gilbert
• 4/16/2020

South Africa's mobile operators are making sizable pledges toward the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as spending on improving network capacity.

Hot startup of the month: Solar-powered Wi-Fi network provider Tizeti

• Connecting Africa News
• 4/15/2020

Nigerian startup, Tizeti, is bringing Internet access to West Africa by combining Wi-Fi connectivity and solar power.

Facebook launches Coronavirus Information Center in 17 African countries

• Industry Announcements
• 4/14/2020

The social network is expanding its Coronavirus Information Center to 17 more countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

SA releases emergency spectrum for COVID-19 broadband demand

• Paula Gilbert
• 4/7/2020

South Africa's telecoms regulator is releasing emergency spectrum to meet the spike in broadband services demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mauritania's CSS and Forsway Scandinavia to boost West African broadband connectivity

• Industry Announcements
• 4/7/2020

Mauritanian satellite services provider CSS and Forsway Scandinavia join forces.

New dates for Connecting Africa event series

• Industry Announcements
• 4/1/2020

Informa Tech has announced new dates for East Africa Com and West Africa Com.

WACS cable break slows SA Internet, again

• Paula Gilbert
• 3/31/2020

South Africa is once again experiencing slow Internet as the West Africa Cable System (WACS) suffered its third major fault in 2020.

Hot startup of the month: Mini-Internet network provider NodeOne

• Connecting Africa News
• 3/27/2020

Rwandan-founded NodeOne has developed a hardware and software package that enables anyone, anywhere to create small, affordable Internet networks.

Telkom SA to cut IP Connect pricing

• Paula Gilbert
• 3/26/2020

Telkom has come to an agreement with the SA Competition Commission to address concerns over IP Connect pricing and reducing the digital divide.

MTN to give SA users 20MB free data every day

• Paula Gilbert
• 3/20/2020

MTN SA has promised to reduce its smaller data bundle prices by between 25% and 50% and is offering 20MB daily free data to users.

What African operators are doing to help during COVID-19 outbreak

• Paula Gilbert
• 3/18/2020

African operators are stepping up to help during the COVID-19 outbreak which is now affecting at least 30 African nations.

Telkom job cuts to cost $90M

• Paula Gilbert
• 3/16/2020

Telkom's plan to shed around 3,000 jobs is going to cost the telecoms operator about R1.5 billion (US$90 million) and will have a negative impact on its earnings for the 2020 financial year.

Telkom selling 53 properties in SA

• Paula Gilbert
• 3/6/2020

The operator is auctioning off 53 properties in South Africa as it moves forward with plans to modernize its network and improve efficiency.

Sub-Saharan Africa still struggling with mobile gender gap

• Paula Gilbert
• 3/5/2020

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the second-worst region in the world when it comes to the mobile gender gap, according to a new GSMA report.

Orange and SES team up on O3b mPower Communications System

• Industry Announcements
• 2/27/2020

Orange will be the first global telecom operator to integrate satellite-based terabit-scale O3b mPower communications system in its network, to support the growing demand for connectivity in Africa.

Econet throws hat in ring for Ethiopia license – report

• Paula Gilbert
• 2/25/2020

Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa's company is reportedly looking into a telecom license in Ethiopia.

South Africa's international connectivity fully restored

• Industry Announcements
• 2/20/2020

The dual fault on two undersea cable systems has been repaired, fully restoring Internet connectivity in South Africa

Vodacom facing trouble in Lesotho

• Paula Gilbert
• 2/20/2020

The Lesotho Communications Authority is not happy with Vodacom and has fined it $549,000 – and is threatening to revoke its license.

Internet Solutions taps Liquid Telecom for 5G capacity

• Connecting Africa News
• 2/18/2020

Liquid Telecom will provide Internet Solutions with wholesale 5G connectivity in South Africa.

Africa remains growth driver for Orange

• Paula Gilbert
• 2/13/2020

Orange CEO Stéphane Richard says that once again in 2019, the Africa & Middle East region was a main growth driver for the Group.

MWC 2020 officially canceled

• Paula Gilbert
• 2/13/2020

The GSMA has pulled the plug on this year's Mobile World Congress due to the impact of reactions to the coronavirus outbreak.

World Bank pushes for telecoms investment in Africa

• Connecting Africa News
• 2/5/2020

The World Bank is lobbying to get more investment for Africa's telecoms industry through the next phase of its African Regulatory Watch Initiative.

Vodacom to launch 5G services in SA in 2020

• Paula Gilbert
• 2/4/2020

Vodacom says it expects to be able to launch 5G services in South Africa this year, with the help of a recent roaming agreement with Liquid Telecom.

Repairs Underway to Fix SA's Slow Internet

• Connecting Africa News
• 1/30/2020

Repairs have begun to fix a dual cable failure which has left South Africa and other parts of Africa with slow Internet.

Saudi Telecom to Buy Vodafone Egypt for $2.4B

• Iain Morris
• 1/29/2020

Saudi incumbent could land one of the region's fastest-growing operators as it looks to keep expanding its international presence.

Ericsson Predicts 5G Take-Up for MEA in 2020

• Paula Gilbert
• 1/29/2020

After a successful 2019 when it comes to 5G deals, Ericsson is predicting more 5G growth for the Middle East and Africa in 2020.