Africa – Page 9
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Operations
Vodafone pushes sustainability with IoT farming pilot
MyFarmWeb platform being trialled in Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Spain. Move extends Group’s growing focus on agriculture vertical.
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Partnerships & Alliances
Safaricom signs up VMware as Ethiopian cloud partner
New OpCo to use vendor’s Telco Cloud Platform to underpin network and IT functions as it sets up greenfield operation.
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Network & Infrastructure
Safaricom taps Huawei and Nokia in Ethiopia
OpCo looks set to stick with existing partners for new network. Launch appears on track as STE builds up a head of steam.
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Operations
Little Cab arrives in Ethiopia
Safaricom-backed ride-hailing app attempting to rival Uber in Ethiopian capital. Expansion into the country has been delayed by COVID-19.
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Public Affairs
M-PESA cleared for Ethiopian launch
State Minister of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Finance anticipates wider Safaricom launch “sometime in April”. M-PESA app will be introduced to a new market of 116 million people. Question marks remain regarding third telecoms licence in the country.
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Financial & Performance
Vodafone’s Q3 deciphered: glad-handing activists; German misfire; IoT, Africa fintech blossom
Management seeks to seize back agenda amid growing City pressure for urgency on asset sales. CEO Nick Read assures Group will be “proactive” in finding returns-focused deals. German user experience misstep takes gloss off solid set of numbers. Price rises planned across Europe, in response to rising costs.
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Public Affairs
Safaricom staff caught in police “trap” after data fraud
Court hearing details how two Safaricom employees were caught attempting to sell subscriber data. Operator commits to fraud reduction initiatives.
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Venturing & Investments
Safaricom energy ally Circle Gas lands big Japanese backer
Deal with conglomerate Marubeni Corporation comes with prepaid LPG startup planning to expand beyond Safaricom-supported deployment in Kenya and into new markets in Africa and Asia.
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Operations
Safaricom Ethiopia splashes out $100m on first data centre
Located in capital city Addis Ababa, the installation accounts for one third of a total $300m investment pegged for first year of operations. Data centre, which will house “core network infrastructure”, was built in China and transported to Ethiopia. Rabacal indicates the same business model will be used for ...
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M&A
Vodacom moves closer to Vodafone Egypt takeover
Vodacom gets shareholder backing for acquisition of 51% stake. Regulatory approval is still required.
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Partnerships & Alliances
Vodafone Carrier Services flags stc Bahrain tie-up
Partners aim to ‘drive IP adoption’ in the Middle East. Anticipating “tremendous connectivity growth” in the region.
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Premium
Auction fate unknown as Telkom mulls interdict U-turn
Spectrum auction may still go ahead, despite initial Telkom protests. Vodacom and MTN unite with South African regulator to fight deferral. Telkom offers to withdraw its interdict, provided rivals are open to an “expedited review” of its complaints. Any delay would represent a sixth postponement of the auction, currently ...
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Suppliers & SCM
Safaricom lauds TIBCO for service and network advances
Kipkirui says microservices and cloud-native APIs from longstanding partner is key in helping OpCo to become an “insights-led, tech-driven company”. Adds that Safaricom has been able to maintain “maximum value” from capex invested in TIBCO. OpCo aims to migrate entire TIBCO BPM stack from on-prem to public cloud by ...
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Public Affairs
Vodacom, MTN pick sides in South African auction saga
Operators unite with South African regulator as rival Telkom requests further delays. Any success for Telkom would represent a sixth postponement of the auction, currently set to take place by the end of March.
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Premium
Elsewhere in Vodafone Africa: Safaricom expands Lipa Mdogo Mdogo
Safaricom brings China’s Transsion into device financing fold; SODAQ teams with IoT.nxt; new Vodacom buddy Dark Fibre Africa goes on cost-cutting drive.
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Public Affairs
Ethiopia presses pause on third licence contest
Regulator initiates another stoppage after interested parties request delay over RFP “concerns”. Move adds to sense of turbulence around Safaricom’s planned entrance into the country during 2022.
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Products & Services
Safaricom to seed DigiFarm agri services in Ethiopia
Kenyan operator gives a hint of digital services that will form part of its line-up when it debuts in Ethiopia next year.
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Premium
Safaricom pushes back against monopoly complaints
CEO Peter Ndegwa tells rivals to focus on investments, not accusations. Hearing shows government support for Safaricom, which sees market dominance but not a monopoly.
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Premium
Elsewhere in Vodafone Africa: VodaPay reaches million milestone
Vodacom flags one million downloads of VodaPay SuperApp since launch; Safaricom expands Baze VoD platform to include music streaming.
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Premium
Vodacom to connect Tanzania with Eutelsat deal
Service agreement will see VdT reach “100% of the country”.