Issue no 827 - 13th May 2016
Top Story
Race for new international fibre build on east coast of Africa hots up but why build more capacity?
Africa is connected by 17 international cables, 12 of which connect Sub-Saharan Africa to the world. However, the East African seaboard has only three cables that connect directly to the rest of the world. Russell Southwood looks at why there are now two new competing fibre projects for this route.On 18 April, the Africa-1 cable announced that it had signed up some key telcos. These included PCCW, MTN Group, Saudi Telecom Company, Telecom Egypt and Telkom South Africa. Others are “in the wings” and are likely to be announced as the plans firm up. Telkom apparently does not have much…
Telecoms
Airtel partners with Flickswitch in SIM management services in Kenya
Airtel has partnered with Flickswitch International, a leading provider of self-service solutions for enterprises to launch an enterprise SIM management service in Kenya.Flickswitch complements Airtel Kenya’s bouquet of Machine to…
Telecoms
MainOne hosts session on unlocking Africa’s digital potential at International Telecommunications Week
The Company hosted the Africa Panel Session attended by a mix of Africa’s leading wholesale carriers, mobile network operators and a host of global service providers and content distribution companies…
Telecoms
SA eyes 80% mobile broadband coverage by 2019
Cape Town - South Africa aims to double its mobile broadband coverage to 80 percent of the population by 2019, the telecoms minister said on Tuesday, adding that 4G/LTE coverage…
Telecoms
Uganda: Museveni Buying Shs70bn Gadget to Monitor Telecoms
President Yoweri Museveni's staffers at State House are in the final stages of procuring technology that could enable the government to break a billion-dollar mushrooming telecom fraud and also eavesdrop…
Telecoms
Airtel partners with Flickswitch in SIM management services in Kenya
Airtel has partnered with Flickswitch International, a leading provider of self-service solutions for enterprises to launch an enterprise SIM management service in Kenya. Flickswitch complements Airtel Kenya’s bouquet of Machine…
Internet
Burundi: Yahsat, Tele10 Sign MOU to Improve Internet Connectivity in Rwanda, Burundi and East DRC
Yahsat signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tele10 Group to discuss collaborations for improving internet connectivity in Rwanda, Burundi and East Democratic Republic of the Congo. The MoU comes…
Internet
Tigo expands 4G LTE coverage across Tanzania
Tigo telecom, last week announced the launch of its 4G LTE service to five more cities namely Tabora, Musoma, Bukoba, Kigoma and Shinyanga. “Again, with our partnership with Facebook, our…
Internet
Facebook and Airtel launch Free Basics service in Nigeria
Facebook has launched the Free Basics service in Nigeria through Airtel Africa, marking the further expansion of the internet.org initiative across the continent. Airtel has already pledged to launch Free…
Internet
SEACOM strengthens position as Africa’s leading Internet enabler
SEACOM is showing strong growth in the global and African wholesale and retail telecom markets, this according to independent statistics from the Internet performance management company, Dyn. Dyn’s data shows…
Internet
Heads-up - iWeek XV 2016 is heading back to Joburg!
iWeek, South Africa’s leading annual Internet industry conference celebrates its 15th Year of existence at the Wanderers Club, Johannesburg, South Africa from 19 - 23 September 2016. This is such…
Computing
Africa Code Week 2016 to Tackle Continent's Digital Skills Gap
SAP initiative - with hundreds of partners - will offer job-relevant software coding skills to 150,000 youth across 30 African countries SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) will train more than 150,000…
Computing
Zambian govt invests in power for PC plant, data centre
The Zambian government has commissioned the construction of two renewable power station plants valued at USD 1.2 billion to supply the country's highly anticipated PC assembly plant and data centre.…
Computing
MTN Business Cloud Services Launches in Nigeria
MTN Business has unveiled a new cloud delivery platform in Nigeria, which will enable SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) access cloud services with greater ease. The applications on the MTN…
Money Transfer
Vodacom to ditch South African M-Pesa service
A sustainability review of Vodacom’s M-Pesa offering has resulted in the operator choosing to discontinue the service in South Africa. The operator’s CEO Shameel Joosub said: “Vodacom’s decision is based…
Money Transfer
Free WhatsApp for FNB Connect customers
First National Bank (FNB) has launched free WhatsApp messaging for all Connect subscribers. The bank warned however, that the free WhatsApp promotion runs until the 31st of July 2016. FNB…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Neotel for sale – here are the interested companies
Two companies have put in bids to buy Neotel, according to industry sources. Neotel is in acquisition talks, this time with Seacom and Econet Wireless, the parent of Liquid Telecom,…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Liberian president nixes LIBTELCO’s Novafone deal
Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has reportedly given the thumbs down to Liberia Telecommunications Corporation (LIBTELCO’s) proposed takeover of ailing Liberian mobile operator Novafone (formerly Comium Liberia). Online portal FrontPageAfrica claims…
Digital Content
Would Captain America cope in Lagos?
As the new Captain America film made an eye-watering $181.8m in the North American box office this weekend, it was also causing digital waves across the Atlantic in Africa. One…
Digital Content
Uganda has launched a total social media blackout for the second time in three months
Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni was sworn in today (May 12) for his fifth term amid military jets, congratulatory African leaders, and his coterie of supporters. One thing that wasn’t present…
Digital Content
Rwanda: WhatsApp Group Gives Birth to an All Girl Music Band
Sceptics should now agree that social media is a tool to reckon with as music lovers should brace themselves for a new girl band which promises "something different on our…
Digital Content
Facebook page vows to lift the lid on Eritrea's secret reign of terror
In a bid to upend years of secrecy in the country dubbed “Africa’s North Korea”, a new Facebook page is publishing documents claiming to show how the Eritrean government abuses…
Digital Content
Genii Games is releasing the trailer for their new animated series on Friday
This Friday, Genii Games Limited will be releasing the trailer for their B.O.L.A animated series. For those who don’t know, Genii Games is all about promoting Nigerian culture to kids.…
Digital Content
Kenya’s Ongair taking world-first IM platform global
Kenyan startup Ongair, which has developed a world-first instant messaging aggregator, is increasing its presence in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia as it approaches 700 clients. Ongair was launched…
Digital Content
Justflicks is offering a new cheap video streaming services at R1/day in South Africa
The competition for the pockets of movie and series binge watchers is hotting up in South Africa. For only R1 a day, you can now binge-watch marathon sessions of your…
Digital Content
Singularity Investments invests in mobile advertising start-up, Sliide Airtime
...Sliide Airtime operates Africa’s first lock screen content delivery platform... Lagos, Nigeria, 13 May 2016 – Singularity Investments announces today that it has invested an undisclosed sum into Sliide Airtime,…
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People
MTN Group has announced the appointment of Babak Fouladi as Group Executive: Technology and Information Systems. In this role, Fouladi will lead the delivery of MTN's network and information technology…
