News Update - Telecoms and ICT in Africa Issue no 842 2 September 2016

Ghana’s Busy Internet offers users a dual SIM Lenovo handset for its 4G service – What’sApp is growing fast

Ghana’s Busy Internet has been up and running for seven months and has already experienced considerable subscriber growth. It’s also shaking up the data market with new free offers and will soon go into offering more content. Russell Southwood caught up with its CEO, Praveen Sadelage this week. Since Busy Internet launched its 4G service seven months ago, Ghana’s largest mobile operator MTN has entered the fray and is offering 4G coverage in all of its main markets. However Sadelage says that Busy Internet has not experienced much of an impact from MTN’s presence because they seem to be focused…

South Africa - CWU withdraws court bid against MTN

Johannesburg - The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has withdrawn its court bid against MTN’s outsourcing plan as the two parties have agreed to consult on the matter. CWU had applied…

Truecaller lands pre-install deal with Huawei as it crosses 90M monthly users

Truecaller has landed a partnership with Huawei which will see its caller ID and smart phone book app pre-loaded on the fast-growing Chinese company’s overseas smartphones. The deal represents the…

SEACOM Launches Direct-to-Corporate Services in Kenya

Pan-African telecoms enabler SEACOM extends its corporate market offering, under its SEACOM Business initiative, to the East African region by providing Internet connectivity and cloud services directly to corporates in…

Telia Carrier prepares for new multi-terabit subsea cable systems with two PoPs in Marseilles

Marseilles, France – 1st September 2016 – Telia Carrier today announced that it has established a new point of presence (PoP) within Jaguar Network’s Marseilles data center. This is the…

Facebook's Africa satellite destroyed in SpaceX crash

San Francisco - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded in Florida, marking the second loss of a spacecraft by Elon Musk’s venture in a little more than a year and…

Internet News - In brief

Smart Telecom (Tanzania), controlled by Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) through Uganda-based holding company SMART East Africa Group, has announced the launch of weekly and monthly 4G LTE…

Galaxy Backbone, Ericsson Signs Agreement on Public Service Reforms

Ericsson signed an agreement with Galaxy Backbone, Information and Communications Technology shared services provider for the Federal Government to design and deploy ICT based solutions and services towards achieving an…

IBM opens research lab in South Africa

IBM has opened a research laboratory in Johannesburg to focus on areas of data-based healthcare, digital urbanecosystems and astronomy. The new lab, based at the University of the Witwatersrand, is…

Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage

MTN has launched Xtra Time, which lets prepaid and top-up subscribers receive an airtime advance when their balance runs low. The credit can be used like a recharge to make…

A Global Airtime Remittance Leader Top-up Mobiles instantly with 400+ Operators in 100+ Countries

The Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday licensed 11 new international money transfer operators (IMTOs) to do business in the country’s foreign exchange market. The spokesperson of the bank,…

Mark Zuckerberg has made a surprise visit to Nairobi to learn about mobile money

On his surprise tour of tech hubs in Africa, Mark Zuckerberg has made a pit stop in Nairobi. Announcing his arrival on Facebook, he described talking with entrepreneurs working out…

Betting craze lifts Kenya's mobile money to 20% growth

The volume of cash moving through Kenya’s mobile money transfer platforms grew by a fifth in the first six months of 2016, powered by increased uptake of mobile phone-based gaming,…

Zimbabwe: Cash shortages drive mobile money usage

The use of plastic money is one of government’s solutions to address the current cash shortages in the country. The cash shortages have seen most people resorting to the use…

Tanzania: Vodacom Says Huge Tax Increase Not Linked to New Monitoring System

Vodacom has refuted reports that the huge increase in tax collection from the leading mobile telephone company in July is linked with installation of a monitoring system by a regulatory…

Zain scales back operations to survive South Sudan crisis

Zain South Sudan, the local mobile unit of Kuwaiti telecoms firm Zain Group, has scaled back its operations and cut the number of its expatriate staff, in a bid to…

South African Skills Marketplace App launches

With the nature of the global workforce rapidly shifting from full-time corporate work towards freelancing and project-work, a new mobile app, Kalido developed in South Africa – has been launched,…

Social media is emboldening young Zimbabweans to finally stand up to Mugabe

Protests against the rule of Zimbabwe’s ageing president, Robert Mugabe, have become commonplace in recent months. In one of the latest incidents on Aug. 24, police used tear gas and…

mSurvey secures Safaricom investment

Kenyan survey/research platform mSurvey has secured a US $1-million investment from the Safaricom’s Spark Venture Fund. This fund seeks to help Kenyan based mobile technology startups with great innovation potential.…

People

Nikki Popoola joins WIOCC as Sales Director Nikki_Popoola_joins_WIOCCHighly-experienced senior telecoms professional Nikki Popoola has joined WIOCC as Director – Sales, where she will be helping international carriers procure simple solutions…

Opportunities

SA’s Digital Geekaship looking for next generation of developers Tania van Wyk De Vries, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of South African software development and training company Infoware Studios,…

Events

Global ICT Capacity Building Symposium6 – 8 September 2016Embracing capacity building opportunities in the digital eraNairobi is set to host ITU’s Global ICT Capacity Building Symposium (CBS-2016), the main global…

Events