News & Views

Content posted in September 2020

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.

Orange, Google launch $30 smartphone for Africa

Paula Gilbert
9/29/2020

Orange CEO Stéphane Richard told the GSMA Thrive Africa conference that the telco is partnering with Google to launch a low-cost smartphone aimed at the African market.

Dimension Data growing African data centers

Connecting Africa News
9/28/2020

Dimension Data has begun construction on a new data center in Johannesburg to meet an expanding need for infrastructure across the African market.

Hot startup of the month: Kenya's MPost

Tom Jackson
9/25/2020

MPost, a Kenyan digital addressing company, is providing those without physical addresses a way to receive mail using a virtual address linked to their mobile number.

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.

M-Tiba puts Safaricom on Fortune's Change the World List

Paula Gilbert
9/22/2020

The 2020 Fortune Change the World List has ranked Kenya's Safaricom in seventh place because of the positive impact of M-Pesa and healthcare-focused service M-Tiba, which helps Kenyans pay for medical bills with mobile money.

MTN Eswatini drops mobile data prices

Paula Gilbert
9/21/2020

Mobile data price drops by MTN in Eswatini are a strong move towards more affordable mobile communications in a country that previously had Africa's most expensive data prices.

Somalis using mobile money more, but sending smaller amounts

Connecting Africa News
9/18/2020

Hormuud Telecom says that between April and August 2020 transactions on its mobile money platform have increased, but the value of transactions has dropped.

Kenya, Ghana dominate mobile payment utilization rates

Paula Gilbert
9/17/2020

Kenya and Ghana have the second and third highest mobile payment rates after global leader China, according to a new report from Boston Consulting Group.

Vodafone not giving up on Egyptian stake sale

Paula Gilbert
9/16/2020

Vodafone is not ready to call it quits on plans to sell its 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt to Saudi Telecom Company (STC).

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.

Safaricom to launch M-Pesa 'super-app'

Paula Gilbert
9/15/2020

Safaricom is launching an M-Pesa 'super-app' which will let SMEs create their own business apps within the mobile money ecosystem, according to CIO, George Njuguna, who was speaking at East Africa Com.

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.

AfricaCom Interview: Temidayo Oniosun on Africa's space and satellite industry

Africa Tech Perspectives
9/11/2020

Space in Africa founder, Temidayo Oniosun, shares his views on the challenges and opportunities in the African space and satellite industry.

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.

Egypt smartphone market bucks COVID-19 decline trends

Connecting Africa News
9/10/2020

Smartphone sales in Egypt were not as badly impacted by COVID-19 as expected, according to IDC.

Vodafone hails $28m ambulance taxi program expansion

Connecting Africa News
9/10/2020

The Vodafone Foundation has committed $28 million to expand its M-Mama 'ambulance taxi' program beyond Tanzania, taking it to Lesotho next.

Ozow zero-rates SA mobile payment platform

Paula Gilbert
9/9/2020

Digital payments company Ozow has announced new mobile payments solutions for the South African market and is zero-rating data costs for users.

STC set to revise Vodafone Egypt offer – reports

Connecting Africa News
9/9/2020

Saudi Telecom Company said to be in discussions to reduce its $2.39 billion offer for Vodafone Group's 55% stake, potentially scuppering eight months of talks.

How digital banking can promote financial inclusion in Africa

Partner Perspectives
9/8/2020

Wiseasy CTO Riad Laqlach discusses how the digitalization of banks has reshaped the industry and helped promote financial inclusion in Africa.

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.

MTN Ghana goes to top court to resolve dominance case

Connecting Africa News
9/7/2020

MTN Ghana is taking its fight against the decision by the Ghanaian regulator to declare it a significant market power (SMP) to the country's highest court.

Mobile airtime theft rife in Africa, say experts

Connecting Africa News
9/4/2020

Mobile malware and airtime theft are more common in Africa than previously imagined with 1.7 million infected mobile subscribers in South Africa alone.

Orange and DeBeers team to mine IoT marine diamonds

Connecting Africa News
9/4/2020

Orange Business Services has helped De Beers Marine South Africa build an IoT platform to ensure marine miners keep a safe distance from heavy machinery.

Eyeing pan-African prize, Ecobank gives fintechs a sandbox

Connecting Africa News
9/1/2020

Ecobank takes its African Banking Sandbox live, as it attempts to gain a tech edge in open banking over pan-African banking rivals.

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