News & Views

Content posted in March 2018

Netflix Dominates Premium Streaming in the Middle East, OTT Still Developing in Africa – Ovum

Connecting Africa News
3/29/2018

Netflix dominates premium streaming in the Middle East but live and linear subscription services are expanding aggressively, according to Ovum's OTT Video Subscription Service Provider Forecast: Middle East and Africa, 2011–22.

Senegal's New ISPs Launch Services

Connecting Africa News
3/28/2018

Newly licensed ISPs Waw, Africa Access and Arc Informatique have all launched commercial services, bringing additional broadband opportunities to Senegal.

Safaricom Unveils Marathon IoT Effort

Connecting Africa News
3/28/2018

Mobile operator is working with Vodafone on an IoT solution that could help Kenyan athletes to complete a marathon in less than two hours.

Orange Expands Into African Energy Sector With Big Solar Plans

Iain Morris
3/27/2018

French operator will start providing solar kits in five new African markets this year and hopes to sell hundreds of thousands of units in the next five years.

SimbaPay, Interswitch Collaborate on Pan-Africa Remittances Chatbot

Connecting Africa News
3/26/2018

SimbaPay, in collaboration with Interswitch, announces the launch of a remittance chatbot to enable SMS-based, Pan-Africa digital money transfers.

Avanti Gateway Earth Station Goes Live in MDXI Data Center in Lagos

Connecting Africa News
3/26/2018

The new Gateway Earth Station (GES) in Lagos will enable data from Avanti's HYLAS 4 Ka-band satellite to be delivered efficiently in Nigeria and interconnect with other networks.

MTN Ghana Heads for IPO

Ray Le Maistre
3/23/2018

MTN is closing in on the local listing of its operation in Ghana in order to meet the terms of its 4G license.

Making Water Infrastructure Intelligent

Connecting Africa News
3/23/2018

Major innovations will be needed to overcome water crises as the Fourth Industrial Revolution takes place, writes Sabine Dall'Omo, CEO for Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa.

Teleology Closes In on 9mobile Acquisition

Ray Le Maistre
3/22/2018

Pays $50 million deposit and prepares for full ownership of Nigeria's fourth mobile operator within 90 days.

Unitel Lands Zambia's Fourth Mobile License

Connecting Africa News
3/21/2018

Investment and job creation promised as new licenses are awarded to Unitel, part-owned by Africa's richest woman.

Tigo Tanzania, Uber Team Up to Offer Exciting New Offers to Customers in Dar es Salaam

Connecting Africa News
3/21/2018

From today, all Tigo Tanzania customers will use the Uber app for free.

Sale of Nigeria's 9mobile in Turmoil

Ray Le Maistre
3/20/2018

Media reports of a lack of due process in the sale of 9mobile spell bad news for the Nigerian mobile operator.

Google Selects Launchpad Accelerator Startups

Connecting Africa News
3/20/2018

Google has named the 12 startups that will participate in its Google Launchpad Accelerator Africa program.

Helios Towers Abandons IPO Plan

Ray Le Maistre
3/19/2018

Mobile towers company kills plan to float about 25% of the company's stock as speculation emerges of a potential M&A move.

Lower Smartphone Prices Drive Nigeria's Mobile Penetration – Report

Ray Le Maistre
3/19/2018

Smartphone prices have dropped dramatically in Nigeria during the past few years, helping to fuel a surge in mobile user numbers, according to a new market report from e-commerce company Jumia.

Standard Chartered Bank Launches Digital Bank in Côte d'Ivoire

Connecting Africa News
3/16/2018

Standard Chartered Bank says its digital bank in Côte d'Ivoire is the company's first digital bank in Africa and the first-of-its-kind in that country.

Rain Readies for a Mobile Data Launch

Ray Le Maistre
3/14/2018

South Africa's mobile data challenger Rain is preparing to launch its 4G services with a focus on making things simple for customers, notes the operator's CIO.

Kenya's 4G Hopefuls Wait for Spectrum Ruling

Connecting Africa News
3/13/2018

Two consortia are hoping to be awarded valuable spectrum for 4G services.

Liquid Telecom Selects Metaswitch for Pan-African Voice and UC&C Service Expansion

Connecting Africa News
3/12/2018

Cloud-native virtual network functions (VNFs) to serve as foundation of new services in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

SEACOM Pumps Up Its South Africa PoPs

Connecting Africa News
3/12/2018

SEACOM deploys 100Gbit/s Ethernet technology to support the growth of the African Internet.

Orange Names New CEO for Africa & Middle East

Connecting Africa News
3/9/2018

Alioune Ndiaye has been appointed as CEO of Orange Middle East and Africa.

IOX Cable, Angola Cables Team Up

Connecting Africa News
3/8/2018

IOX Cable and Angola Cables sign agreement to expand their reach across Africa, the Americas and Asia.

MTN Predicts Strong Growth Following Network Investments

Ray Le Maistre
3/8/2018

MTN expects Nigeria and South Africa to be the engines of growth for the next few years as it reports favorable full year financials.

Africa Needs More Young Women in Tech – Here's Why

Connecting Africa News
3/8/2018

Women with tech skills are key to Africa's ability to thrive in the digital economy, says Sthe Shabangu of Samsung Africa.

Orange Upgrades 4G With Nokia

Ray Le Maistre
3/7/2018

Operator is investing in a major upgrade of its radio access network infrastructure in seven countries using technology from Nokia.

Epsilon, WIOCC Team Up to Deliver On-Demand Connectivity between Africa and RoW

Connecting Africa News
3/7/2018

Infiny by Epsilon's on-demand connectivity platform will be deployed in Johannesburg and Cape Town, giving African service providers rapid access to cloud-centric networking and assisting international service providers in extending services into Africa.

Telkom Kenya Lines Up $40M Loan for Network Upgrade

Connecting Africa News
3/6/2018

Operator set to get a loan towards a US$92 million network expansion project.

Vodafone Uganda Files for Bankruptcy

Connecting Africa News
3/5/2018

Mobile data service provider has appointed an administrator after suffering financial, administrative and service delivery failures in a crowded market.

Helios Towers Plans IPO

Ray Le Maistre
3/2/2018

Tower infrastructure company plans to list 25% of its shares on the London and Johannesburg exchanges in a move that should value the company at more than $2 billion.

Applications Now Open for the 8th Orange Social Venture Prize in Africa and the Middle East

Connecting Africa News
3/1/2018

This prize, awarded by Orange, rewards innovative projects based on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) which improve the living conditions of people in Africa and the Middle East.

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