South Africa Telecoms News

Amazon Leo has secured a breakthrough route into South Africa, partnering with Vodacom-linked Herotel to launch satellite broadband services while rival Starlink remains constrained by local licensing requirements.

Analyst Briefing
Vodafonewatch: Xavier Niel places multibillion-pound bet on Vodafone’s transformation story
Analyst Briefing: CEO Margherita Della Valle’s two-year restructuring programme proves enough to convince Xavier Niel of Vodafone value; satco-telco standards need work; regional outposts promote AI innovation; more from across Europe and Africa…
Network & Infra
Vodacom says more work needed on satco-telco compatibility
DTW Ignite: Jayesh Hargovan warns that while LEO satcoms is reaching maturity, integration challenges remain a major blocker to development of telco–satellite relationships, delaying time to revenue for both CSPs and satcos.
Analyst Briefing
Vodafonewatch: the making of a pan-African telco giant
Analyst Briefing: Vodacom takes a majority stake in Safaricom; Vodafone and Google Cloud get ‘pragmatic’ with a network autonomy blueprint; another Tomorrow Street alumnus picks up a Vodafone commercial deal; and we record the latest senior exec changes from Germany and beyond…
M&A
Vodacom completes ‘high-growth market arc’ with controlling Safaricom stake
South African operator completes $2.1bn deal to take majority control of Safaricom, including its Ethiopian venture and m-money platform M-PESA. CEO Shameel Joosub considers it more than a mere bulk-up as Vodacom looks to leverage East African experience across the continent.
Analyst Briefing
Vodafonewatch: Vodafone treads uneven road to recovery
Analyst Briefing: Vodafone says it is turning a page but the same old storyline persists: challenge in Germany, market share pressure in the UK, and emerging market headaches in Africa. Progress has been made, though, and CEO Della Valle is happy to talk it up.
Financial & Performance
Vodafone’s Della Valle declares start of another ‘new chapter’
FY25–26: CEO considers the Group to be ‘stable’ and ready to kick on towards milestones promised over past few years: revival in Germany, growth in B2B, and broad-based free cash flow momentum across the Group. Questions remain over whether new chapter brings Vodafone any closer to a happily ever after…
Financial & Performance
Familiar bumps on Vodafone’s road to recovery
FY25–26 In-depth: Group’s headline numbers look healthy with most metrics moving in the right direction, but underlying challenge remains in Germany and promise of hope from Africa yet to fully materialise. UK benefits from merger bulk-up but scale is no guarantee of market share…
Financial & Performance
‘Invest or die’ at Vodacom, Vodafone keeps things flexible
FY25–26 Spend: Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub sees no need for nuance in justifying capex plans; Vodafone’s Margherita Della Valle is more measured as capital intensity programme builds in flexibility and future investment even as network outlay tapers in key markets.
Financial & Performance
Guidance: more to emerge in Vodafone’s new growth story
Vodafone hits upper end of guidance and hopes to carry momentum into the next FY. Mid-term targets are far looser, with ‘new chapter’ strategy focused on approach rather than deliverables.
Financial & Performance
Vodacom’s IoT bet ‘still in startup’ seven years in
Group CEO Shameel Joosub says IoT.nxt is yet to break even, but producing confidence-inspiring results and (modestly) contributing to Vodacom’s ‘beyond mobile’ expansion.
Financial & Performance
Vodacom seeks African fibre synergies with SA to lead the way
FY25–26: Vodacom is looking to scale its fibre footprint, leveraging M&A-boosted South African strengths to propel expansion in Kenya and Tanzania…
Financial & Performance
Safaricom Ethiopia moves ‘from startup to scale’ with breakeven in touching distance
Ethiopian operator is entering its scale-up phase, with rapid revenue growth, losses falling, and investment slowing to put EBITDA breakeven within sights…
Financial & Performance
Safaricom shrugs off M-PESA carve-out talk as m-money closes in on connectivity
CEO Peter Ndegwa dismisses recurring talk of an m-money spin-off as M-PESA closes in on traditional Connectivity Business revenue. Further integration on the cards, he says, to leverage strengths of each…
Financial & Performance
Helios plans extra $70m of infra spend amid MEA data boom
Buoyant tower group enlarges capex budget for this year off the back of “broad-based” uptick in demand for tenancies from its Middle East and Africa MNO clients.
Products & Services
Mobile money hits maturity as telcos tap into accelerating usage
In-depth: More than $2tn flowed through mobile money wallets worldwide in 2025, with Africa’s telcos taking a piece of the pie. Safaricom’s flagship M-PESA and MNT’s MoMo continue to dominate, but momentum is being built in new areas as spending habits change and adoption rises…
Partnerships & Alliances
Vodafone draws on $1bn Google Cloud ties in enterprise AI expansion
Vodafone Business homes in on SMEs with expansion of Google Cloud-powered services portfolio. New customer service and security offerings for European customers mark the latest development in the pair’s ten-year link-up…
Peoplewatch
Vodafone Peoplewatch: Vi appoints AI chief to lead ‘intelligent techco’ transition
April 2026 update, including: new AI Strategy Architect gets a wide-ranging transformation brief in India; Safaricom fills two-year IT Director vacancy; senior departures in business resilience, external affairs, and the Vodacom boardroom; Vodafone IoT Americas further strengthened; and more…
Analyst Briefing
Vodafonewatch: grand openings, network upgrades
Analyst Briefing: Vodafone cuts the ribbon to a new logistics hub in Luxembourg and data centre in Turkey; signs a series of cable upgrade deals in Germany and network innovation collaborations with Tiami Networks, Cirrus360, and more; plus M&A in Czechia and AI expertise exports in Kenya…
Network & Infra
South Africa: MAZIV targets townships with major ‘fibre to the shack’ push
In-depth: Vodacom-backed fibreco’s Vumatel wholesale arm is targeting townships with a ‘fibre-to-the-shack’ rollout to unlock digital inclusion at scale. Smart deployment, aggressive pricing, and parental synergies enable the plan, rivalling wireless and satellite alternatives.
Interview
Battle scars and skin in the game: VOIS breaks out from Vodafone’s captive shared services
Deep dive: by stepping out of the shadow, the once-captive telco shared services business is rewriting the playbook for commercial enterprise ‘shared intelligence’ as a standalone powerhouse. With Accenture on side, and tapping Vodafone Business and others for go-to-market, leaders Gary Adey and Chris Meads tell TelcoTitans that VOIS is an increasingly ‘big lever’ for its parent to pull…
Analyst Briefing
Vodafonewatch MWC roundup: satcomms centre stage; AI-RAN advancing
Analyst Briefing: Satcomms, D2D, edge compute, and AI-RAN were among the focus areas for Vodafone in Barcelona…