The Ethiopian government is once again inviting global operators to bid for its lucrative telecom license, stirring intrigue within the global telecom community. Will the Ethiopian Communications Authority’s (ECA) revamp strategy succeed this time, especially considering the previous subpar offers? While this market opportunity boasts a burgeoning economy and promising regulatory developments, interested parties face rigorous competition and potential operation setbacks.
GSMA welcomes China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom to the Open Gateway initiative, aiming to enhance services and boost 5G connectivity through API-driven single access points. Collaboration between operators, developers, and cloud providers promises new opportunities and transformative benefits.
Airtel Nigeria initiates commercial 5G services in major cities, promising lower latency and higher speeds. As the race to deploy 5G in Nigeria begins, operators’ prioritization and its impact on the nation’s technological advancement remain to be seen.
Telkom South Africa faces a potential takeover as a consortium, including Axian Telecom and the Government Employees Pension Fund, expresses interest amid challenging times. The company’s financial struggles and infrastructure issues set the stage for possible mergers, collaborations, and a dynamic telecommunications landscape.
Nigeria’s mobile market experiences a significant shift as the NCC allocates 25 MVNO licenses, driving competition and expanding service offerings. This move aims to improve connectivity in rural areas and transform the African telecoms ecosystem in 2023.
MTN Considers Axian Telecom Bid MTN is considering a bid from Axian Telecom for its operating units in West Africa, specifically Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, and Liberia. The potential deal is aligned with MTN’s ongoing efforts to reshape its portfolio, and the three units collectively account for 6.1 million of MTN’s customers and contributed to 0.7% of EBITDA. MTN’s first quarter financial results reported an 8.6% EBITDA growth and revenues of ZAR52.8 billion ($2.8 billion), a 15.6% YoY increase. With discussions with Axian Telecom still at an early stage, any announcement on a final agreement might not be expected soon. Read the full article. Deutsche Telekom Sees Q1 Success Deutsche Telekom (DT) has raised its earnings guidance for 2023 to around €40.9bn, up from its previous forecast of €40.8bn. This follows strong Q1 results, with the group’s US business T-Mobile US a key driver behind the raised forecast, having recently raised its…
GCI to expand capacity for rural areas GCI, an Alaskan service provider, has signed a $150 million contract with Intelsat to increase the telecommunications service capacity in rural areas. GCI has been providing geosynchronous (GEO) satellite communications for 35 years to supply the state with data, video and voice services. The latest transaction gives GCI continued access to C-band and Ku-band capacities, which are already a part of GCI’s satellite services portfolio, and also provides new access to state-wide Ka-band capacity. Furthermore, Intelsat will provide the multi-satellite solution through a new and improved managed station platform and C- Ku- and Ka-bands networks. Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/w52yht6u South Sudan launches Digitel Network South Sudan has announced the launch of Digitel Network, the country’s first telecommunications company, which was introduced to celebrate 10 years of independence of the country. South Sudan has so far had the services of only two international mobile…
Telia takes a big step toward IoT The Swedish operator Telia has launched a global IoT connectivity offering for enterprises, pledging that it can cut almost a third off the average cost of IoT communications. The new portfolio is called Telia Global IoT Connectivity. In a statement, the operator said that the portfolio consists of a Telia eSIM, that is powered by eUICC, a global ecosystem of pre-integrated operators, a one-of-a-kind programmable network and a cloud-based platform for system management. Björn Hansen, Head of IoT at Telia, said: “This is a true game changer for IoT connectivity.” Read more: https://tinyurl.com/wtk6d7pi Ekinops with Orange gives 5G a trial run Ekinops has successfully completed 5G business connectivity testing with Orange Business Services at its Orange Labs. To test the connectivity, Ekinops used its 5G-capable OneAccess router that is based on its OneOS6 software. According to Ekinops, the software enables a variety of…
Facebook, telcos to build a huge subsea cable for Africa and the Middle East Facebook, together with a group of telecom companies, including Vodafone, Orange, STC, China Mobile International, MTN GlobalConnect, Telecom Egypt, and WIOCC, will build a subsea cable system that is claimed to be one of the largest in the world. The project is called 2Africa and will cover 37,000 km of cables interconnecting Europe (eastward via Egypt), the Middle East (via Saudi Arabia), and 21 landings in 16 countries in Africa. The system is expected to go live in 2023/4, delivering more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables serving Africa today, with a design capacity of up to 180 Tbps. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/yahgfe8g Workvivo raises $16 million to reinvent the intranet in the age of Slack and Zoom The Irish startup Workvivo, an employee communications platform, has raised USD 16 million in a Series A…
Two of the main key players in South African mobile operators, MTN and Vodacom, have shown interest in investing in the Ethiopian company Ethio Telecom. Both companies have invested in many countries on the continent. Ethiopia was not one of them as the government wanted to keep this sector under its control. But their policy is changing and they have decided to consider opening Ethio Telecom’s capital to investors. According to MTN, “Ethiopia presents many exciting telecommunication opportunities and we look forward to further discussions with that nation’s authorities on potential partnerships and opportunities.” and Vodacam stated that it “has said on many occasions that Ethiopia is an attractive market so it follows that there would be interest. Naturally this is dependent on what might become available and if it fits within our investment parameters.” Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopian new Prime Minister, came to power with promises of reforms. This policy…
