All Africa articles
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Partnerships & Alliances
Vodafone adds Euro-heft to unbalanced AI-RAN Alliance
Vodafone’s entry into the AI-RAN Alliance takes the still-young vendor- and academic- and Asian-operator-heavy consortium past 100 members. With the AI-RAN market forecast to reach $10bn by 2030, the move underscores the strategic importance of efficiency gains and new revenue opportunities through autonomous networks.
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M&A
Vodacom welcomes antitrust reversal as fibreco deal revived
Maziv merger, which will see Vodacom take a 30% stake in a standalone South African fibre operator with Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa, now back on the table after remedies appease Competition Commission.
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Weekly Briefings
Vodafonewatch Analyst Briefing: four years in, Ethiopian experiment continues its charge
Latest from Vodafone as Safaricom Ethiopia turns four and passes ten million customers; VodafoneThree confirms spectrum handover to rival; European satcomms JV picks Luxembourg for HQ; group prepares for new neighbours at Newbury home…
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Network & Infrastructure
MTN cuts the ribbon on new Nigerian data centre
African and Middle Eastern telco opens the doors to its second Tier III data centre in Lagos, with plans in place for expansion going forward…
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Weekly Briefings
EMEA Infrawatch Analyst Briefing: AI factories in the pipeline; sovereign satellite race rolls on
Latest in EMEA digital infra: AST SpaceMobile, Eutelsat progress European sovereign satellite plans; Spain becomes latest EU country to submit AI Gigafactory bid; Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries updates on infra rejigs…
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Financial & Performance
Safaricom Ethiopia ticks past 10m customers as startup operator marches towards scale
Greenfield operator moves past a customer base milestone four years after receiving a licence to operate in the country.
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People
Orange Egypt crowns enterprise chief as new CEO
Egyptian operator appoints Hesham Mahran as CEO from 1 August, replacing long-time leader Yasser Shaker, who is moving to head up Orange’s Middle East and Africa division.
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Network & Infrastructure
Airbus looks to MNOs, SatCos for added mission critical comms resilience
CCW 2025: after Airbus and Vodafone collaborate on mission critical comms in Europe, Airbus programme lead Thibaut Faivre talks future MNO partnerships in MEA, expanding the defence giant’s public safety footprint, and the role of SatCos in secure communications.
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Network & Infrastructure
Pragmatic Orange picks its way towards ‘high-value’ network autonomy
DTW Ignite 25: Sofrecom’s Roberto Kung highlights the need to assess the business case and ROI before investing in increased autonomy, noting that “we don’t want to be Level 4 everywhere”.
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Network & Infrastructure
Orange, Vodafone switch on 5G in Egypt
Telcos go live with first 5G services in the country, after Egypt’s four operators finalised new spectrum licences last year. Vodafone Egypt CEO Mohamed Abdallah says switch-on aligns with Egypt’s Vision 2030 strategic goals…
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Weekly Briefings
Orangewatch Analyst Briefing: execs bang M&A drum; high hopes on IPCEI and AI
In this issue, we report on presentations by Orange’s leadership at the AGM, with Group CEO Christel Heydemann and new Orange France CEO Jérôme Hénique taking the floor.
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People
Vodacom hands Egypt CEO a remit to scale African portfolio, drive strategy
Vodafone Egypt CEO Mohamed Abdallah adds International Markets to his remit in a move intended to ‘unify’ cross-border operations.
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Venturing & Investments
Safaricom preps $500m investment into African ‘AI infra’
Kenyan operator commits to three-year development of AI infrastructure in East Africa, seeking to tap into rising demand for ‘sovereign’ services…
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Strategy & Change
Hénique signs off from Orange MEA on a high note
France-bound Jérôme Hénique discusses the challenges of managing Orange’s sprawling Middle East & Africa business, and asserts the importance of a division that has contributed significantly to Orange’s results in recent times, delivering double‑digit revenue growth for eight consecutive quarters.
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Weekly Briefings
EMEA Infrawatch Briefing: tower sell-offs, DC deployments, orbital experiments
Cellnex CEO Marco Patuano says the TowerCo is one step closer to selling its Swiss business and French data centre assets. Meanwhile, IHS Towers forks off Rwandan unit to newly formed tower player. In the space sector, several players look to get D2D services off the ground, while others tinker with new space comms solutions.
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M&A
IHS Towers mulls further asset sales as it exits Rwanda
African wireless infra player sells off Rwandan business to Paradigm Tower Ventures. IHS Chief Executive Sam Darwish says TowerCo has achieved its M&A goals set out following its last strategic review, but indicated further deals could be on the table…
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Weekly Briefings
Orangewatch Briefing: Huawei is back in business in Spain
In this issue, we report on MásOrange’s apparent renewed enthusiasm for technology from China-based vendors for cutting‑edge network developments.
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Financial & Performance
South Africa: energy challenges push rivals Vodacom and MTN to collaborate on power
Vodacom FY24–25: operators in early stages of infra-sharing under Energy Users regulation.
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Partnerships & Alliances
Saudi satco Arabsat takes next LEO steps with Telesat deal
MEA-focused satellite operator to integrate LEO services using Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation, as part of multi-orbit strategy aimed at improving services, efficient.
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Financial & Performance
Safaricom plots bolt-on M&A to strengthen Kenyan and Ethiopian core
FY24–25: CEO Peter Ndegwa indicates willingness to look further afield for growth opportunities once Ethiopian venture reaches self-sufficiency.