News & Views

Content posted in March 2021

SA operators to share major government contract

Paula Gilbert
3/31/2021

A multi-billion-rand contract previously held exclusively by Vodacom will now be split up amongst South Africa's four big operators.

Women in Tech: Orange Sierra Leone CEO Aminata Kane

Paula Gilbert
3/30/2021

Aminata Kane spoke to Connecting Africa about her experience as the first female CEO at Orange Sierra Leone and offered some advice to women hoping to follow in her footsteps.

Hot startup of the month: Nigeria's OnePipe

Tom Jackson
3/29/2021

This month's hot startup is Nigeria's OnePipe, which is aggregating APIs from banks and fintechs into a standardized gateway that is easy to integrate and makes partnerships seamless.

Safaricom brings 5G to Kenya

Paula Gilbert
3/26/2021

Safaricom has activated 5G service in Nairobi, Kisumu, Kisii and Kakamega, with plans to expand to 150 sites across nine Kenyan towns over the next 12 months.

Africa still dominates mobile money market – GSMA report

Paula Gilbert
3/25/2021

According to GSMA's 2021 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, there are now over 1.2 billion registered mobile money accounts globally and almost half of those are in Africa.

Airtel selling towers in Madagascar and Malawi

Paula Gilbert
3/24/2021

Airtel Africa is selling tower companies in Madagascar and Malawi to UK-based Helios Towers for $108 million, and it may sell more in Chad and Gabon.

Telkom Kenya cleared of ethics allegations

Connecting Africa News
3/23/2021

Kenya's Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has called off an investigation into operator Telkom Kenya, which derailed its planned merger with Airtel.

Rain planning 5G ramp-up in SA

Paula Gilbert
3/19/2021

South African data-only network Rain plans to roll out 2,000 5G towers across the country over the next few years.

MTN sees more room to grow fintech and mobile money

Paula Gilbert
3/18/2021

Despite mobile money's strides in recent years there is still a lot of room for growth, with stats from MTN showing many African countries still having fairly low mobile money penetration rates.

SA regulator to fight spectrum auction ban

Paula Gilbert
3/17/2021

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa says it will appeal a recent court ruling that has halted this month's spectrum auction.

Ghanaian startups get boost from Catalyst Fund

Connecting Africa News
3/16/2021

Ghanaian digital commerce startups Boost Ghana and KudiGo are the first two out of six startups to join the Catalyst Fund Inclusive Digital Commerce Accelerator.

Only 20% of Ethiopians are online

Paula Gilbert
3/15/2021

DataReportal's Digital 2021 report on Ethiopia shows that 20.6% of the population has access to the Internet, 38.5% have a mobile phone and 5.8% use social media.

MTN gets more spectrum in Nigeria

Paula Gilbert
3/12/2021

MTN Nigeria has acquired additional 10MHz spectrum in the 800MHz band, saying the acquisition will significantly improve customer experience in the West African nation.

Podcast – The Divide: Upstream's Kostas Kastanis on offering 'free' Internet in Africa

Connecting Africa Video
3/11/2021

This week, Kostas Kastanis, deputy CEO of Upstream, joins the show to discuss the digital divide in Africa and Upstream's ad-supported service Zero-D, which enables free Internet access for millions of mobile users in emerging markets.

Omdia View: February 2021

Guest Perspectives
3/11/2021

Omdia's analysts provide context and analysis on the biggest stories making headlines in Africa during February 2021.

Uncertain times see MTN suspend dividend

Paula Gilbert
3/10/2021

MTN Group service revenue grew by almost 20% in 2020, but it decided to suspend its final dividend for the year due to continued uncertainties in the market.

SA spectrum auction on ice, again

Paula Gilbert
3/9/2021

South Africa's operators will not be getting 4G and 5G spectrum anytime soon after Telkom won a court interdict to stop ICASA's auction process, scheduled to kick off at the end of this month.

Google pledges $25M to empower women and girls

Paula Gilbert
3/8/2021

Google will give $25 million in funding to non-profits and social enterprises that are working to advance the economic empowerment of women and girls, calling on African organizations to apply.

Accelerating women in STEM: In conversation with GirlCode's Tinyiko Simbine

Africa Tech Perspectives
3/8/2021

GirlCode co-founder and CFO Tinyiko Simbine talks about why it's important to help girls and young women excel in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

SA Info Regulator questions WhatsApp's privacy policies

Paula Gilbert
3/5/2021

South Africa's Information Regulator has raised concerns about WhatsApp and Facebook's data sharing practices and said that African users are receiving significantly lower privacy protection than users in Europe.

Bolt raises $24M for emerging markets expansion

Paula Gilbert
3/5/2021

Ride-hailing platform Bolt has received a €20 million ($23.9 million) investment from the IFC to expand its services in emerging economies in Africa and Eastern Europe.

Central Bank of Somalia issues first mobile money license

Paula Gilbert
3/4/2021

Somali operator, Hormuud Telecom, has been granted the country's first mobile money license from the Central Bank of Somalia.

Telecom Egypt to launch new African subsea cable

Connecting Africa News
3/3/2021

Telecom Egypt says it will roll out a new subsea cable system around Africa, called Hybrid African Ring Path (HARP), by 2023.

Tens of millions of Nigerians need to register SIMs by next month

Paula Gilbert
3/3/2021

Tens of millions of Nigerians could have their SIM cards blocked next month if they don't make a deadline to link valid National Identification Numbers to their mobile numbers.

Liquid Telecom raises $840M financing package

Connecting Africa News
3/2/2021

Liquid Telecom has raised a bond and loan financing package worth US$840 million to help fund its growth strategy and refinance some existing debt.

How Poa Internet is unlocking meaningful connectivity in East Africa

Africa Tech Perspectives
3/1/2021

Poa Internet's CEO Andy Halsall shares his views on what it takes to develop last-mile connectivity and get Africans online in a meaningful way.

MTN to fight Syrian court ruling

Paula Gilbert
3/1/2021

MTN has vowed to fight a court ruling in Syria that has put its business there under judicial guardianship and says it is still in discussions to sell its 75% stake in the Syrian business.

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Ivorian fintech takes Ecobank Challenge top prize

Pan-African banking group Ecobank has announced Côte d'Ivoire's Daba Finance as the winner of its flagship Ecobank Fintech Challenge 2024, walking away with the US$50,000 grand prize.

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Elon Musk hosts African leaders while Starlink faces challenges in Kenya

Elon Musk's Starlink satellite Internet service is making waves across Africa, while it navigates competitive dynamics with local telecom companies. He recently engaged with various African leaders.

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Women in Tech: Spotlight on tech talent with RedAcademy's Jessica Hawkey

RedAcademy's founder and MD Jessica Hawkey spoke to Connecting Africa, as part of a Women in Tech series, about how digital skills development programs are growing Africa's tech talent pipeline while creating jobs for the youth.

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Women in Tech: Spotlight on digital skills with Kreative Campus' Keitesi Aisha

Kreative Campus' operations and finance lead, Keitesi Aisha, talks to Connecting Africa as part of our Women in Tech series about how skills development can make Africa's tech ecosystem more inclusive.

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Uber's Marjorie Saint-Lot on inclusion and sustainability in Africa

Uber's Country Manager for Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, Marjorie Saint-Lot, shares how the ride-hailing company is approaching public-private partnerships, environmentally friendly initiatives and gender inclusion in Africa.

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US-Kenya tech exchange aims to bridge digital gap, boost STEM education

By Eden Harris

Connecting Africa Correspondent Eden Harris investigates the USAID Edtech Africa initiative which aims to enhance tech education in Kenya and the US and teach the skills needed to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the digital age.