News update Telecoms and ICT in Africa - Issue no. 886 – 21 July 2017
Top Story
E-commerce in Nigeria: Konga weathers the recession and rolls out a grocery service to build deeper relationship with its customers
21 July 2017
African e-commerce may have suffered growing pains but there’s no doubt it’s at the beginning of a long journey to growth. Russell Southwood spoke to Shola Adekoya, CEO, Konga about surviving the Nigerian recession and the launch of its new groceries service, Konga Daily. Konga.com was founded in July 2012 and started purely as an online retailer selling baby and beauty products. In 2014, Konga opened Seller HQ – Konga’s Marketplace. Its current CEO Shola Adekoya (who was then on the budget team at Etisalat) was bought in as Chief Financial Officer in July 2013, and later moved to become…
Telecoms
South Africa: ASA dismisses MTN case against Vodacom
21 July 2017
The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) has dismissed a complaint from MTN against Vodacom's "South Africa’s Best Network" claim. Vodacom based its claim on MyBroadband’s speed test data,…
Telecoms
Nigeria: 9Mobile Open to New Investors, Says New CEO
21 July 2017
Lagos — The latest telecom brand, 9Mobile, has said it was open to new investors after dropping old brand name, Etisalat Nigeria. The new brand, officially unveiled in Lagos, traded…
Telecoms
South Africa has the highest data prices among Africa’s biggest economies
21 July 2017
A new research paper by Research ICT Africa shows that the price of data in South Africa has not changed over the past two years – and is the most…
Telecoms
Huawei Implementing Massive $23M Fibre Network Project To Connect Malawi
21 July 2017
Malawi is undertaking a massive fibre network project to connect more internet users in the country, thanks to a partnership between Huawei Technologies and the state-owned Electricity Supply Corporation of…
Internet
Vodafone Cameroon signs network sharing agreement with Camtel to expand 4G footpring
21 July 2017
Yaounde – Vodafone Cameroon and Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL) have signed a strategic national network sharing agreement which sees the next-generation operator expand its 4G coverage to residents of Douala, Yaounde…
Internet
Somalia back online after entire country cut off from internet for three weeks
21 July 2017
Internet providers attributed the nation-wide outage to a commercial ship that they said cut an undersea cable. Somalia’s internet has returned after an outage of more than three weeks cost…
Internet
Rwanda: Govt mulls autonomous cyber security agency
21 July 2017
The government is considering setting up an independent cyber security agency in response to the growing need for national preparedness to deal with. According to the new Director General of…
Internet
South Africa: Boosting connectivity to the web & opportunities in underserved communities
21 July 2017
Johannesburg, July 17 – Technology can transform the educational experience at an individual student, group or class level, but when the borders of affordability and access get expanded, the benefits…
Internet
Nigeria: Senate decries 21% broadband penetration
21 July 2017
The slow pace of Nigeria’s broadband penetration and deployment has become a source of worry to the Senate Committee on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Cybercrime. The committee expressed…
Internet
SEACOM kicks off fibre rollout in the south of Johannesburg
21 July 2017
SEACOM is bringing its high-speed fibre Internet access services to business and home users in the southern areas of Johannesburg, starting with the rollout of 8 kilometres of fibre in…
Computing
Zimbabwe: biometric voter registration kits cause early election friction
21 July 2017
Commissioner Emmanuel Magade, head of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has confirmed the payment of US$3.7 million for the procurement of biometric voter registration kits scheduled for use within the…
Computing
Telkom pledges R200mil towards ICT, maths and science in SA schools
21 July 2017
Telkom and the Department of Basic Education today announced a pledge by the telecoms company to allocate funds towards ICT, maths and science education in a number of South African…
Computing
SAP Skills for Africa launches in E.Africa
21 July 2017
The SAP Skills for Africa Programme has launched its first-ever East African initiative which will look to train and certify graduates, while also ensuring placement into regional and partner organisations…
Computing
Kenya’s vibrant tech sector has been hit with its first sexual harassment scandal
21 July 2017
Ushahidi, the global crisis-mapping platform headquartered in Kenya, has said it is investigating an alleged sexual harassment claim pitting an employee against a senior member of its team. The confirmation…
Computing
In brief
21 July 2017
Geneva 12 July 2017 – As digital and tech devices become more available worldwide, their responsible disposal is becoming a challenge for many countries. In response, ITU, the United Nations…
Money Transfer
Cameroon: fierce competition in the Mobile Money market raises accusations of anti-competitive practices
21 July 2017
The battle in the electronic transfer of money in Cameroon is now also being played out in the courts and other involved regulatory authorities. According to official sources, the money…
Money Transfer
Interswitch Inks Deal with Visa to roll out mVisa in Africa
21 July 2017
African payment services provider Interswitch announced a partnership to adopt the mVisa service for bank customers’ mobile apps and to allow merchants to accept the payment mode. The company will…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Togo sets up new holding company Togocom
21 July 2017
The government of the tiny African state of Togo has announced the formal transformation of state-owned Togo Telecom Group into a new holding company, Togocom, with share capital of XOF1…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
South Africa Weighs State Internet Company Merger
21 July 2017
South Africa is considering a merger of state-owned technology companies Broadband Infraco and Sentech to help to accelerate the rollout of high-speed internet to the population within three years, according…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Vodacom minority shareholders approve Safaricom transaction
21 July 2017
Vodacom Group has announced that minority shareholders have voted in support of the firm’s proposed acquisition of a 34.9% stake in Kenya’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, Safaricom. In May…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Link Africa sells FTTH assets to Vumatel
21 July 2017
Vumatel, one of the earliest and now largest players in the South African fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband market, has agreed to buy a big portion of Link Africa’s home fibre infrastructure.…
Digital Content
South Africa - Apps driven taxi services under scrutiny
21 July 2017
The Department of Transport says it is finalising the National Land Transport Act Amendment Bill, which will require taxi services on mobile and other applications to have operating licences. The…
More
Opportunities
21 July 2017
Nominations for the annual Women in ICT - Partnership for Change Awards are now open MTN, in partnership with Kagiso Media and ITWeb’s Brainstorm, have officially launched the second edition…
More
Events
21 July 2017
2017 FTTH COUNCIL AFRICA CONFERENCE!3 October 2017Join the biggest Fibre Optic Event in Africa. OPERATORS ATTEND FREE! Lively discussions by some of the best speakers in the industry on the…
