Connecting Africa is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 3099067.

Home Videos Newsletter Signup Advertise With Us About Us
Digital Inclusion

News & Views

Latest Content tagged with Digital Inclusion
West Africa has become mobile money powerhouse – GSMA
  • Paula Gilbert
The GSMA's new 2024 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money shows that in 2023, over a third of new mobile money accounts globally were from West Africa and the region has doubled its overall number of mobile money accounts over the past ten years.
Omdia View: February 2024
  • Guest Perspectives
Highlights in February 2024 in the Middle East and Africa included 5G launches in Senegal and 5G trials in Egypt as well as Kenya's first 5G MVNO.
African governments must be enablers of innovation
  • Matshepo Sehloho
Panelists at the Africa eGovernance Conference (AfreGov) urged African governments to become enablers and create environments that allow citizens to participate in the digital economy.
Bolt expands into Egypt
  • Matshepo Sehloho
Ride-sharing platform Bolt has expanded into Egypt's capital city of Cairo to compete with other platforms like Uber, inDrive and Careem.
Connecting Africa Podcast: S3 Ep. 1 – Trending topics in 2024
  • Paula Gilbert
The Connecting Africa Podcast is back for season three. In this episode, we discuss startups and companies making their mark across emerging trends like social commerce, AI and smartphone affordability, and we venture into the hot topic of climate tech.
MWC 2024: African telco deals
  • Paula Gilbert
Connecting Africa has compiled a list of all the major deals that African operators announced at MWC 2024 in Barcelona, Spain.
AI's impact on African telcos
  • Connecting Africa News
Many African telecommunications companies are turning to artificial intelligence as a differentiator to improve their mobile networks and enhance customer service and experience as they transition from traditional telco offerings into new tech-first verticals.
Four AI trends to look out for in 2024
  • Matshepo Sehloho
Connecting Africa has compiled a list of four artificial intelligence (AI) trends to look out for on the African continent in 2024.
The ethical considerations of AI in Africa
  • Connecting Africa News
ICT analyst Francis Hook delves into the adoption and ethical use of artificial intelligence in Africa and issues around regulatory readiness, human rights, privacy, data protection and social inclusivity for users on the continent.
Intelsat, AMN expand rural connectivity in Madagascar
  • Paula Gilbert
Satellite operator Intelsat and Africa Mobile Networks (AMN) are working to connect 500 sites in rural Madagascar, while Intelsat has also announced it will modernize more than 900 sites for Openserve in South Africa.
Hot startup of the month: South Africa's Botlhale AI
  • Matshepo Sehloho
Connecting Africa's hot startup this month is South Africa's Botlhale AI, which creates conversational AI tools for African languages while helping businesses engage customers in languages they understand and trust.
Omdia View: January 2024
  • Guest Perspectives
Highlights in January 2024 in the Middle East and Africa included a $200 million fintech deal between MTN and Mastercard as well as 5G network trials by Telecom Egypt – that and more in this month's Omdia View.
SA's Teraco to power data centers with 120MW solar plant
  • Matshepo Sehloho
Teraco, the vendor-neutral data center provider, is planning the construction of a 120 megawatt (MW) utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) energy facility in the Free State province of South Africa.
SA's iKhokha invests $105M in small businesses
  • Matshepo Sehloho
South African fintech firm iKhokha has distributed more than 2 billion South African rands (US$105 million) in working capital to its small and midsized enterprise (SME) customer base.
Mastercard appoints new West Africa head
  • Matshepo Sehloho
Global payments firm Mastercard has appointed Folasade Femi-Lawal as its new country manager and area business head for West Africa.
Interview: Orange's Brelotte Ba on digital inclusion
  • Sponsored Video
Orange's Middle East and Africa Deputy CEO, Brelotte Ba, spoke to Connecting Africa at Africa Tech Festival 2023 about the operator's work across Africa to improve digital inclusion. He shared how Orange is focused on expanding beyond just connectivity solutions, to provide digital services that are relevant to the communities it serves, including key areas like mobile money and energy services. #sponsored
Interview: Bayobab's Mohammed Aliyu on bridging Africa's digital gaps
  • Sponsored Video
Mohammed Aliyu, Chief FibreCo Officer at Bayobab spoke to Connecting Africa at Africa Tech Festival 2023 about Bayobab's presence in sub-Saharan Africa, which includes access to 18 subsea cables around Africa – six of which it is a major investor in – and 112,000 kilometers of fiber. #sponsored
IHS Cameroon to build tower kiosks in rural areas
  • Matshepo Sehloho
IHS Cameroon has committed to provide connectivity and digital services to rural communities in the Northwest and Southwest of Cameroon through its 'Tower Kiosk' initiative.
Interview: Hans Geldenhuys on Intelsat's mission to connect Africa
  • Sponsored Video
Hans Geldenhuys, Director of Sales at Intelsat, spoke to Connecting Africa at Africa Tech Festival 2023. As a featured sponsor of the Changing Lives category for the Africa Tech Festival Awards, Geldenhuys spoke about Intelsat's dedication to connecting people across the globe, especially in Africa. #sponsored
Interview: Huawei's Chang Yong on connectivity, cloud & sustainability
  • Sponsored Video
Chang Yong, CMO of Huawei sub-Saharan Africa sat down with Connecting Africa at Africa Tech Festival 2023 to talk about Huawei's strategy to support digital transformation across the continent, focusing on three core areas: connectivity, cloud computing, and sustainable development. #sponsored
Satellite key for African connectivity in 2024 – Hughes
  • Paula Gilbert
Vaibhav Magow, VP of the international division at Hughes Network Systems, spoke to Connecting Africa about the satellite trends Africa can expect in 2024 and how service providers aim to connect more underserved regions.
Starlink cuts off users in South Africa
  • Matshepo Sehloho
SpaceX's satellite Internet service, Starlink, has cut off hundreds of South African users over alleged trademark and copyright violations.
SA mobile data prices likely to increase – Africa Analysis
  • Paula Gilbert
South Africa has seen major reductions in mobile data prices over the past two decades, but ICT market research and analysis firm Africa Analysis warns that local prices will likely increase in the short-to-medium term.
Safaricom users in Ethiopia tick up
  • Paula Gilbert
Kenyan-headquartered Safaricom now has 9 million mobile customers in Ethiopia and just over 3 million M-Pesa users after a year of operating in the Horn of Africa nation.
Oracle to open cloud facility in Kenya
  • Matshepo Sehloho
Tech company Oracle has announced that it will establish a public cloud region in Kenya's capital city of Nairobi, its second cloud region in Africa.
Four African cloud startups to watch in 2024
  • Matshepo Sehloho
Connecting Africa has compiled a list of four cloud-powered startups that have been making an impact on the lives of the communities they serve and are worth watching in 2024.


Latest resources

More Information resources

Innovation hub

Story

Leveraging agritech to build resilience against climate change

ICT analyst Francis Hook discusses agritech in Africa and how the agricultural sector is using technology to build resilience against the negative effects of climate change and to ensure food security.

Story

AI startups dominate Qualcomm Make in Africa 2024 shortlist

Qualcomm has announced the shortlisted startups for its Make in Africa 2024 mentorship program, and six out of the ten are related to AI.

More Innovation hub

Latest video

More videos

Partner perspectives

All Partner Perspectives

Sponsored video

More videos

Twitter Feed

Industry announcements

More Industry announcements

Upcoming events

Africa Tech Festival 2024
November 11-14, 2024
Cape Town, South Africa
More Upcoming events

Africa Tech Perspectives

Story

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.

Story

The 100 most influential African leaders in 2023

A new report from Africa Tech Festival and Connecting Africa puts a spotlight on the top 100 African leaders in the telecoms and technology sector in 2023.

Story

Deep dive into East Africa's tech startup ecosystem

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.

More Africa Tech perspectives

Guest Perspectives

Story

Leveraging agritech to build resilience against climate change

By Francis Hook

ICT analyst Francis Hook discusses agritech in Africa and how the agricultural sector is using technology to build resilience against the negative effects of climate change and to ensure food security.

Story

Omdia View: March 2024

By Omdia Analysts

The failure of four out of the five submarine cables deployed on the western shore of Africa in March 2024 led to a massive Internet outage across several countries. The outage fueled demand for satellite broadband, with SpaceX's Starlink becoming increasingly popular. That and more 5G and streaming news in the latest Omdia View.

More Guest Perspectives

Like us on Facebook

Newsletter Sign Up

Sign Up
Tag id test-002