Telecom Operators

Soon Ethiopians will be able to experience the popular M-Pesa mobile payment service offered by Safaricom in Kenya. According to Reuters, negotiations with local authorities reached advanced stages.

Industry partners, MTN South Africa and Ericsson have validated the technological prowess of fifth generation (5G) wireless technology in the first demonstration of its kind in Africa. A live feed from a car on a skid pan took place at the Gerotek testing facility in Pretoria, mounting terminals in a vehicle on a live 5G network trial, using 100MHz of spectrum in the 28GHz band.

Telecom Egypt and Etisalat Misr announced the signing of an amendment of the national roaming agreement sealed in June 2017. The amendment provides better financial and service quality terms availing improved commercial conditions for Telecom Egypt. The latter is a result of the development of the volume of Telecom Egypt's data traffic.

Nigerian regulator has disclosed plans to transfer the spectrum owned by Visafone to MTN that had acquired in 2016 Nigeria’s only surviving CDMA company – plans that faced tough opposition from MTN Nigeria’s rivals.

Telecom Egypt and Orange Egypt announced the signing of a renewal of the international telecom services agreement, which was signed in January 2015 for a period of four years. The new agreement will end in December 2022 and is expected to contribute cEGP 4bn to Telecom Egypt's top-line over the tenure of the agreement. It will also enable Orange Egypt to continue providing the best offers and international services to its customers.

Uganda’s telecommunications regulator said it is investigating the local unit of South Africa’s MTN Group following discontent on social media about its mobile money policies. In fact, dozens of MTN subscribers in Uganda accused the operator on Twitter of making it nearly impossible to cancel a mobile money transaction made in error.

Vodafone and Tunisie Telecom jointly announced a new Partner Market agreement for Tunisia. This will be Vodafone’s first partnership of its kind in North Africa.

Telecom Egypt and Huawei announced the signing of a US$200 million long-term financing with Chinese financial institutions including the Bank of China and China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure).  Huawei facilitated providing competitive financing conditions to Telecom Egypt to finance the roll-out of the 4G network and the deployment of transmission and core networks. The tenor of the facility is 48 months with a grace period of 24 months. 

Sudatel announced plans to deploy ultra-broadband network across Sudan. With the cooperation of Nokia, trials will launch in Khartoum first to test the vendor’s 4.5G Pro, 4.9G and 5G mobile technologies in addition to its fixed FTTH portfolio aiming to uphold the mobile and residential broadband experience in the country.

Telecom Egypt announces that its 50% owned subsidiary, Egyptian International Submarine Cables Company (EISCC), has executed a Sale and Purchase Agreement with Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding S.A.E (OTMT) for the purchase of OTMT's shareholding of its subsidiary Middle East and North Africa Submarine Cable for a total value of USD 90 million. The transaction aims to be concluded in 60 days, after the fulfillment of all conditions precedents.