News & Views

Content posted in June 2020

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.

Hot startup of the month: Ghana's SynCommerce

Tom Jackson
6/29/2020

SynCommerce is a cloud-based multichannel inventory and order management platform for online merchants which was born out of an entrepreneurial school in Ghana.

MTN Group now has 100M data users

Connecting Africa News
6/26/2020

About 40% of the MTN Group customer base are now using data, as the group tops 100 million data customers.

South Africans want free mobile data as COVID-19 ups Internet use

Paula Gilbert
6/25/2020

SA operators are experiencing increased traffic and demand for free data as the COVID-19 pandemic drives users online, according to data from Upstream's Zero-D.

African operators reinstate mobile money fees

Paula Gilbert
6/24/2020

Some operators have started to reinstate mobile money transfer fees that were waived three months ago when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the continent.

Africa set for mobile data traffic boom

Paula Gilbert
6/23/2020

Mobile data traffic in Sub-Saharan Africa is predicted to multiply by 12 by 2025, according to the June 2020 Ericsson Mobility Report.

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.

Cell C may lay off 40% of its staff

Paula Gilbert
6/19/2020

Financially strained South African mobile operator Cell C says it may cut 960 junior management and semi-skilled staff.

Amazon is creating 3,000 new jobs in SA

Paula Gilbert
6/19/2020

The e-commerce giant is adding 3,000 full-time positions in customer service, bringing its total permanent workforce in South Africa to 7,000.

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.

Nigerians love feature phones, but COVID-19 begins to bite

Connecting Africa News
6/18/2020

Feature phones remain a major part of Nigeria's mobile phone ecosystem.

Orange sets sights on expansion into Nigeria and SA

Paula Gilbert
6/17/2020

French mobile operator Orange is eyeing expansion opportunities in Nigeria and South Africa, CEO Stéphane Richard told French newspaper Les Echos.

MTN spends $100M on license renewal in Uganda

Connecting Africa News
6/15/2020

After two years of negotiations MTN has secured a 12-year license extension in Uganda.

MTN has zero-rated 120M MoMo transactions during COVID-19 outbreak

Paula Gilbert
6/12/2020

MTN believes COVID-19 has triggered acceleration toward cashless, digital economies in Africa.

Sudan commits to cashless future

Connecting Africa News
6/11/2020

Sudan has joined the UN's Better Than Cash Alliance to help accelerate the country's transition from cash to digital payments.

How Africa's operators are driving socio-economic development

Partner Perspectives
6/11/2020

BICS VP Clémentine Fournier believes enhanced connectivity has an important role to play in bolstering trade and fostering intercontinental expansion across Africa.

Introducing AfricaCom charity partner: CodeSpace Trust

Africa Tech Perspectives
6/11/2020

Founder Emma Dicks shares the origin story of South Africa's CodeSpace, which is helping young people learn the skills to excel in technology careers.

Safaricom is looking for a new CFO

Paula Gilbert
6/10/2020

Safaricom's Sateesh Kamath is leaving the Kenyan telco to join Vodafone Business as CFO.

COVID-19 puts major dent in Africa's smartphone market

Paula Gilbert
6/10/2020

Africa's first-quarter smartphone shipments saw one of the largest dips in five years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ghana regulator wants to reduce MTN market dominance

Connecting Africa News
6/9/2020

Ghana's National Communications Authority is reportedly planning to implement a set of policies to reduce MTN's dominant market share.

MTN Liberia zero-rates Facebook to help COVID-19 social distancing

Connecting Africa News
6/8/2020

MTN Liberia customers can now use Facebook Flex even if they have no data or airtime on their phones.

Nigeria's 1GB data price has dropped 75% over five years

Paula Gilbert
6/5/2020

According to 1GB comparison data from Research ICT Africa, Nigeria's average price of 1GB of mobile data has dropped from $11.15 in mid-2014 to $2.78 at the end of 2019.

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.

Orange Ventures investing $560K in MEA tech startups

Connecting Africa News
6/3/2020

Orange Ventures' MEA Seed Challenge plans to give startups in Cameroon, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia a cut of $560,000.

Africa is a big growth market for Cloud Credential Council certification programs

Paula Gilbert
6/2/2020

Cloud Credential Council MD Mark O'Loughlin spoke to Connecting Africa about the growth it is seeing with its vendor-neutral certification programs in Africa.

Netflix and Uber face taxation in Kenya

Connecting Africa News
6/1/2020

Digital services companies like ride-hailing platforms and streaming services look set to face taxation in Kenya.

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