Telecom Operators

Airtel has introduced the e-SIM platform, an innovation that will allow users to connect to the network without having to insert an actual Subscriber Identity Module (SIM card) into their smartphones.

M-Pesa Africa inaugurated a shared services operations center (SSOC) in Nairobi, Kenya. The $2 million center will support M-Pesa's operations in Tanzania, DRC, Mozambique, Lesotho, Ghana and future markets where the service will expand.

Vodafone Ghana and MTN Ghana have extended the scope of their national roaming agreement to the entire country. In areas where Vodafone’s network is poor or nonexistent, its subscribers can access services via MTN’s network, and vice versa.

During the signing of a cooperation protocol between the Arab Organization for Industrialization and Etisalat Egypt by e&, the Chairman of the Arab Organization for Industrialization, Major General Engineer Mokhtar Abdel Latif, emphasized the significance of carrying out President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's directives to foster productive collaboration between state institutions and utilize Egypt's manufacturing capabilities to promote and increase local production rates, localize technology, achieve industrial integration, boost production capacities and reduce imports while increasing the value added to national products with the "Made in Egypt" slogan.

Dejan Kastelic, CTO at Vodacom, stated that the company wants to rely more on low earth orbit (LEO) satellite capabilities to fill the coverage gaps in its telecom network in Africa, especially in rural areas.

State electricity utility Eskom is implementing the worst rolling blackouts on record, leaving households in the dark for up to 10 hours a day. The telecom industry is having to ramp up diesel generators to power its vast towers, roll out additional backup batteries and increase security at these sites to protect them from vandalism and theft, additional costs that are putting pressure on their margins.

Amazon Payment Services has been named the official payment service provider for Etisalat Egypt by e&, with Banque Misr as the online payments acquirer. Through this collaboration, Amazon Payment Services brings a reliable, safe, and simple checkout experience for Etisalat by e&’s customers in Egypt, paying for invoices across billing, subscriptions and device purchases on its digital payment platform. Etisalat Egypt by e& customers will also have the option of paying by installments, thanks to Amazon Payment Services’ tie-up with 10 banks in Egypt, including Banque Misr.

Clickatell, the chat commerce and business messaging leader, has launched its Chat 2 Pay feature for South Africa's largest integrated communications company, Telkom. Telkom’s millions of customers can now make payments in WhatsApp, the country’s largest chat channel.

Christopher Karanja, head of public relations, Safaricom, revealed that the company has reached 2.8 million subscribers roughly five months after the launch of its commercial operations in Ethiopia.

Airtel Kenya has announced the launch of the embedded SIM (e-SIM), which cannot be physically removed from the phone and will enable customers to access the same functionality as someone using a physical sim.