Africa – Page 20
-
Public Affairs
Vodacom’s Congo CFO gets out of jail
Chutoo endures four-day stint behind bars. CFO reportedly quizzed on allegations of “forgery” and “falsification of financial statements”; but no formal charges. Vodacom DRC expresses surprise.
-
Premium
Elsewhere in Africa: Vodacom ties with Cloudflare and Appsflyer
AppsFlyer and Cloudflare gain foothold within Vodacom ecosystem.
-
Premium
Vodafone people moves: Morathi named Vodacom CFO
German CIO Spenlé confirms his departure, swapped with Irnich. Brázdilová steps up to take senior role in Czechia and UK telco regular McWeeney takes on “dream” Vodafone role. Vantage Towers fills out its roster. Vodacom names its new CFO after top-level reshuffle.
-
Network & Infrastructure
Safaricom to put network disaggregation into the wild
Kenyan operator to expand Vodafone’s Africa test-ground for open solutions. Project gearing is more towards core and backhaul than RAN. Scale and efficiency gains highlighted.
-
Premium
Vodafone Q1 FY20–21 headline performance: Germany and the rest
COVID-19 blow cushioned: strength in Germany and Portugal, with mixed performances elsewhere. Currency weakness turning Read’s focus on Africa sour.
-
Premium
Safaricom puts Aviat and Nokia to work on 5G prep
Kenyan operator taps old friend Aviat Networks for 5G backhaul as the country preps for commercial 5G rollout. Nokia’s Gigabit Passive Optical Networking will be deployed to combat increased bandwidth demands in the country.
-
Premium
Accra fibre build begins
Vodafone Ghana CEO Obo-Nai launches Accra phase of copper-to-fibre upgrade project, but laments theft and vandalism setbacks.
-
Public Affairs
Vodafone: Elsewhere in Africa
Ghana High Court authorises operators to share subscriber data with government for coronavirus contact tracing, and Vodacom Tanzania extends M-PESA’s reach with the launch of International Money Transfer.
-
Products & Services
Vodafone to smarten up Paddington
Recent Vodacom acquisition IoT.nxt flags incoming Vodafone HQ smart-tech install.
-
Premium
Vodafone people moves: Business refresh and a new VCS CEO
VfI Chief Business Officer rotates; GCR SVP Eliza Kwok returns. Vodafone Business freshens its Asia Pacific leadership and new Heads across European entities. Vodafone’s old faces get new spots at NGMN, Sky Deutschland, and MTN.
-
Products & Services
Vodacom tags Alipay to launch digital services “super app”
Partnering a world-leader may be indicative of ambitions for mobile payments, and maybe also e-commerce. Early stage African venture for Alipay, but strategic investor Alibaba has been spinning up regional strategy for several years. Where do M-PESA and Safaricom fit?
-
Premium
Vodafone people moves: European towercos get new leadership
Three new managing directors at European infrastructure spin-offs in Germany, Ireland, and Spain. VfUK CEO Nick Jeffery joins COVID-19 Recovery Commission. Vodacom and Safaricom find temporary replacements for outgoing execs.
-
Enterprise (B2B)
Vodacom Business Africa extends to Middle East
VBA now supporting IP-VPN services in twelve Middle East countries. Major footprint expansion beyond Africa — complementing Vodafone.
-
Network & Infrastructure
Vodafone makes candid open RAN admissions
Tenorio says industry “not scratched the surface” on systems integration. Achieving lower TCO, compared with large-scale traditional vendors, an enormous task. O-RAN Alliance doing “great job”, but smaller vendors disadvantaged. Ambition of sub-$1000 RRH pushed back until 2021. Tech still not ready for prime time in urban ...
-
Public Affairs
SA preps plunger for 4G/5G spectrum blockage
Vodacom’s long wait for more network resource in its home market appears to be coming to an end, although false starts have been seen before in SA.
-
M&A
Mzimba: Vodacom remains on lookout for B2B buys
South African group still on hunt for venturing possibilities; aims to become “end-to-end digital transformation partner”.
-
Public Affairs
Vodacom: 2019 arrests in Tanzania were “troubling”
Shockwaves have evidently not yet subsided from strikingly severe treatment of executives in April 2019 incident.
-
Premium
Ojiambo leaves Safaricom; Vodacom welcomes Rand Merchant Bank’s Pranen Reddy
People movements at Vodafone’s African businesses.
-
Partnerships & Alliances
Kenyan waterco taps Safaricom for IoT data stream
Safaricom provided network connectivity for Kenyan utilities provider, monitoring water flow with IoT devices to improve efficiency and management.