News & Views

Content posted in March 2023

MTN to spend $84M to counter effects of load shedding and vandalism

Paula Gilbert
3/31/2023

MTN is budgeting over $84 million to be spent on alternative power sources and backup batteries and generators to counter ongoing load shedding power cuts, site vandalism and battery theft in South Africa.

Alpheus Mangale is Seacom's new CEO

Paula Gilbert
3/30/2023

Subsea cable operator Seacom has appointed Alpheus Mangale as its new Group CEO, replacing Oliver Fortuin after a three-month handover period.

Six Somalian operators activate interconnection

Paula Gilbert
3/29/2023

Six operators in Somalia have completed interconnection, with authorities lauding the milestone as important for promoting competition, improving connectivity and driving innovation in the East African country's telecoms sector.

Tanzanian fintech Nala pledges $1M investment after securing license

Matshepo Sehloho
3/28/2023

The Central Bank of Tanzania has granted fintech company Nala a Payment Service Provider (PSP) license to operate in the East African country.

Cost-of-living impacts Africa's remittance market – Western Union

Paula Gilbert
3/27/2023

The Global Money Transfer Index from Western Union details remittance inflows and outflows in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal and Morocco in 2022, and consumer expectations for fintech in the future.

Hybrid multi-cloud adoption model can assist with stability issues - Huawei

Matshepo Sehloho
3/27/2023

Huawei Cloud Sub-Saharan African Region CTO Harrison Li has urged African financial institutions to adopt hybrid multi-cloud services.

Huawei launches its Non-Stop Banking initiative

Matshepo Sehloho
3/24/2023

Chinese multinational Huawei has unveiled its Non-stop Banking initiative at the Intelligent Finance Summit 2023 in Cape Town.

Cell C CEO Douglas Craigie Stevenson resigns

Paula Gilbert
3/24/2023

South African operator Cell C's CEO Douglas Craigie Stevenson has resigned and will be temporarily replaced by Brett Copans.

Hot startup of the month: Rwanda's Smart Ikigega

Matshepo Sehloho
3/24/2023

This month's hot startup, Smart Ikigega, wants to revolutionize the rural agricultural trade ecosystem in Rwanda by helping farmers access finance and harvest insurance.

The biggest cyber risks in MEA – IBM Security

Paula Gilbert
3/23/2023

Backdoor deployments were the most used cyberattack tactic by cybercriminals in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region in 2022, while ransomware attacks persisted and email thread hijacking attempts spiked.

Omantel enters Djibouti with Wingu Group deal

Matshepo Sehloho
3/22/2023

Omantel expands into Africa by partnering with data center operator Wingu Group to establish a point of presence in Djibouti.

Deep dive into East Africa's tech startup ecosystem

Africa Tech Perspectives
3/22/2023

New survey reveals a lack of access to investors, reliance on international VCs and global recession trends as the biggest barriers for East African tech startups to access funds.

M-Pesa Africa invests $2M in Shared Service Operations Centre

Paula Gilbert
3/22/2023

M-Pesa Africa has launched a Shared Service Operations Centre (SSOC) in Nairobi to support operations in Kenya and five other African markets.

MTN, Microsoft trial 5G in cloud

Connecting Africa News
3/20/2023

MTN Group has conducted a proof-of-concept deployment for a 5G standalone core using cloud computing platform Microsoft Azure.

Omdia View: February 2023

Guest Perspectives
3/17/2023

In February 2023 key events in the Middle East and Africa included a major Internet project for Africa's underserved by Liquid Intelligent Technologies and Microsoft as well as a 5G launch in Tanzania – that and more in this month's Omdia View.

South Africa's Rain to move beyond data into mobile voice

Paula Gilbert
3/17/2023

Data-only network Rain is looking to launch a full mobile service this year, expanding its offering to include voice services.

Podcast: What's the Story? African tech startups score $3.3B in funding

Connecting Africa Video
3/17/2023

Connecting Africa's Paula Gilbert joins this Light Reading podcast to explain why the fintech sector is bringing in the most funding, which countries are leading the way for most funding and what these trends mean for the continent as a whole.

Nigeria launches $618M fund for young tech entrepreneurs

Paula Gilbert
3/16/2023

The African Development Bank, Nigeria's government and other partners have launched a new $618 million fund aimed at supporting tech and creative sectors for the youth in Nigeria.

MTN SA sells device insurance business to Santam

Paula Gilbert
3/16/2023

MTN South Africa is selling its device insurance book, worth $21.7 million in annual gross written premium value, to insurance company Santam.

GSMA backs African climate resilience startups

Connecting Africa News
3/16/2023

GSMA opens applications for grants backing projects that use mobile and digital technology to improve climate resilience and help with adaptation in selected regions, including Africa.

Egypt's Flat6Labs launching $95M seed fund for African startups

Paula Gilbert
3/15/2023

Middle East and North Africa seed investor, Flat6Labs, is expanding its investment focus to West and East Africa with a new $95 million seed fund aimed at investing in 160 tech startups over the next five years.

Seacom now live on Google's Equiano subsea cable

Matshepo Sehloho
3/15/2023

Telecommunications services provider Seacom has announced that it is live on Equiano, the Google-backed subsea cable.

BFS to manage Burkina Faso's fiber route

Matshepo Sehloho
3/14/2023

Burkina Faso has contracted Bridge Fiber Solutions (BFS), a subsidiary of Telecel Faso SA, to manage and operate its 3,000km national fiber optic backbone network.

SA power cuts knock $38M off MTN Group earnings

Paula Gilbert
3/13/2023

Extensive power cuts in South Africa impacted MTN Group's earnings by R695 million ($38 million) as the operator plans to ramp up installation of more power backups for towers across the country.

Zambia's active mobile subscriptions drop by 2%

Matshepo Sehloho
3/13/2023

The Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has released a report that shows active mobile phone subscriptions have fallen by 2% to 19.8 million at the end of 2022 from 20.2 million in 2021.

Telkom SA partners with Clikatell to launch Chat 2 Pay

Matshepo Sehloho
3/10/2023

Chat Commerce company Clickatell has launched its Chat 2 Pay feature for South African telecommunication company Telkom.

Online shopping growing in South Africa – World Wide Worx, Mastercard

Paula Gilbert
3/10/2023

There was a 40% increase in the total number of people shopping online in South Africa between 2021 and 2021 according to a new study by World Wide Worx and Mastercard.

Orange, OneWeb ink deal to connect Africa's underserved

Matshepo Sehloho
3/9/2023

Pan-African telecoms operator Orange has partnered with UK-based LEO satellite company OneWeb to use its burgeoning constellation to provide fronthaul and backhaul connectivity to the telco's African customers.

Vodacom has the fastest 5G network in South Africa – Opensignal

Paula Gilbert
3/9/2023

Vodacom has the fastest 5G download speed in South Africa, topping the 200 Mbit/s mark, according to a new report from mobile analytics company Opensignal.

African telcos, vendors make deals at MWC 2023

Paula Gilbert
3/8/2023

The 2023 Mobile World Congress saw several deals made between Africa telecoms operators and global vendors like Nokia, Ericsson and Huawei for rollout of 4G and 5G across Africa.

Kenyan enterprises lag in leadership gender parity – IBM

Matshepo Sehloho
3/8/2023

Tech giant IBM has released a report claiming that Kenyan organizations are lagging when it comes to female representation, with only 11% of C-suite jobs held by women, while 41% of junior professional/specialist roles are filled by women.

Challenges and opportunities for women's tech careers

Africa Tech Perspectives
3/8/2023

A new survey reveals that COVID-19, the cost-of-living crisis, skills shortages and a lack of mentorship have negatively affected women's career development over the past two years.

Massive BCS fiber route & Orange digital center coming to DRC

Matshepo Sehloho
3/7/2023

Telecoms company Bandwidth and Cloud Services (BCS) has signed an agreement with the European Investment Bank to build a 1,200km fiber network in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Orange has also launched its 15th African digital center in the country.

Connecting Africa Podcast: S2 Ep. 5 – Next-gen funerals

Paula Gilbert
3/7/2023

The Connecting Africa Podcast team speaks to South African startup Sendoff's co-founder Zolani Matebese about how the company is digitizing funerals and become Africa's 'Uber for funerals'.

Hot startup of the month: Egypt's Plstka

Matshepo Sehloho
3/6/2023

Egyptian startup Plstka is helping companies and consumers in the Delta region exchange their recyclable trash for discounts and coupons for everyday services like food, healthcare, and transportation.

MTN revenue growth continues in Uganda, Rwanda

Paula Gilbert
3/6/2023

MTN has once again seen double-digit service revenue growth in its operations in the East African countries of Uganda and Rwanda.

Algeria's best and worst operators – according to Opensignal

Paula Gilbert
3/3/2023

A new Mobile Network Experience Report from Opensignal ranks Algeria's three networks when it comes to mobile upload and download speeds, 4G coverage and quality of experience.

MultiChoice, Comcast to create Africa-wide streaming platform

Paula Gilbert
3/2/2023

Africa's biggest TV operator, MultiChoice, is partnering with global broadcasters Sky and Comcast's NBCUniversal to create a pan-African streaming service based on MultiChoice's Showmax platform.

Blackouts, high inflation force SA telcos to hike prices

Matshepo Sehloho
3/1/2023

Telecoms operators MTN and Telkom have announced price increases caused by South Africa's struggling economy as well as ongoing power blackouts.

MTN Ghana grows subscribers despite SIM registration impact

Paula Gilbert
3/1/2023

MTN Ghana grew mobile subscribers by 12.8% in 2022, to 28.6 million, despite having to cut over 5 million users in December who did not re-register their SIM cards under national rules.

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