Africa
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Nokia is working with iSAT Africa to improve rural connectivity in Liberia.
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Dr Ayotunde Coker, CEO of Open Access Data Centres, speaks on edge deployment in Africa.
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DjIX rebranded as AMS-IX Djibouti, aims to boost regional connectivity
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ITW Africa: Broadband Telecom (BTI), a Bankai Group company, has revealed an exclusive partnership with Togo Cellular and Telma Madagascar, both subsidiaries of AXIAN Telecom.
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At the opening of ITW 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya, Dr. Margaret Nyambura Ndung’u, PhD, cabinet secretary of Kenya’s Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy, outlined the country’s bold digital transformation strategy.
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The potential for AI in Africa is already being realised through several use cases. But how careful does the continent need to tread with its development?
Forthcoming events
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Orange Liberia has collaborated with ZTE to complete the build of new communication sites called RuralPilot EcoSites, boosting network coverage in rural areas of Liberia.
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Raxio Group has inaugurated its new data centre in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), marking the country’s largest data centre, with Tier III accreditation by Uptime Institute,
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Today, Africa represents just 2.5% of the global artificial intelligence (AI) market, but emerging applications could boost the continent’s economic growth by US$2.9 trillion by 2030 according to AI4D Africa.
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Netherlands-based Africa-focused data centre operator PAIX Data Centres has expanded the capacity of its site in Accra, Ghana to 1.2MW.
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MTN is planning the construction of its largest West African data centre, according to several reports.
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WIOCC Group has secured a financing package from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Proparco.
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Cassava Technologies subsidiary Africa Data Centres has agreed a bespoke financing solution with South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) that will see 20MW of additional capacity deployed.
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Sparkle will team with Telecom Namibia for the provision of capacity services on the Equiano subsea cable connecting Portugal to South Africa, in order to boost Namibia’s digital transformation journey.
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Google has announced the first ever fibre optic route to directly connect Africa with Australia.
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CMC Networks has launched its CMC Cloud solution to deliver high-performance edge computing across Africa.
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Paratus Group, a Pan-African network provider, has announced a new fibre express route running from Johannesburg to Europe.
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CMC Networks has launched its Air Connect solution to deliver wireless connectivity to businesses across South Africa.
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Almost two weeks on from the undersea cable cuts that have blighted connectivity in 12 African countries, the Nigerian Communications Commission demands action.
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Guoyu Wang, vice president of Huawei Smart Transportation BU, sheds light on Huawei's recent activity across Southern African rail networks.
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Actis has agreed to acquire a 100% stake in Swiftnet, a leading telecom tower portfolio in South Africa, from Telkom for around US$355 million.
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Capacity's Saf Malik is joined by a panel of guests to discuss the disruption to African internet caused by the Red Sea and West Coast cable cuts.
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Somalia’s Hormuud Telecom has unveiled new 5G infrastructure which is now commercially available across the country.
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Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Ghana’s minister for communications and digitisation, has announced plans to licence satellite internet provider Starlink, less than one week after disruption to four subsea cables caused a major internet blackout in the country and across West and Central Africa.
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CMC Networks has deployed satellite connectivity across Africa and the Middle East to keep African businesses connected during subsea cable outages.
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Bayobab Group, as part of the 2Africa consortium, confirms the landing of the 45,000km 2Africa subsea cable in Ghana and Nigeria.
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IHS Towers and Airtel Africa will expand their partnership through their Nigerian subsidiaries.
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Global Independent Connect Limited (GICL), a subsidiary of IHS Holding, has completed the rollout of more than 10,000km of fibre optic cables across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
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Parallel Wireless has partnered with Hotspot Networks, a Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) provider, to extend coverage to previously unconnected rural sites throughout Nigeria.
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Olusegun Ogunsanya (pictured) will retire as CEO of Airtel Africa this year, with Sunil Taldar stepping up to take the top job.
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center3, a wholly owned subsidiary of the stc Group, announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire CMC Networks, a global service provider offering market leading networking solutions across Africa and the Middle East.
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MTN Group and NEC XON have successfully deployed Africa's first 400G optical transponder solution - Phoenix.
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Onix’s carrier-neutral, colocation Tier IV data centre in Accra, Ghana, is joining the Angola Cables Global Data Centre Interconnect network.
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Raxio Data Centres confirms the launch of its newest facility in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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The announcement of JINX comes as numerous service providers begin striking agreements with Equinix ahead of a new US$160 million Johannesburg data centre opening.
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WIOCC has launched its latest venture which it describes as the first “truly holistic managed network and infrastructure services company” to serve Africa.
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Sparkle confirms the expansion of its network footprint to South Africa with the opening of two new points of presence (PoPs) in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
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MainOne, an Equinix company, confirms the launch of its open access, carrier-neutral, Tier III data centre, AB1.2, in VITIB, Grand Bassam, Cote d’Ivoire.
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Habsatou talks to Nadine Hawkins, editor at Capacity Media about her career journey and the challenges women in Cameroon face in the tech industry
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CMC Networks has partnered with Webber Wentzel, one of the Big Five law firms in South Africa to upgrade its network infrastructure across South Africa.
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What were the most important issues the industry discussed at the first ITW Africa event on the continent?
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Ike Nnamani, CEO, Medallion Data Centres, speaks to Capacity ahead of ITW Africa
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Ahead of the inaugural ITW Africa event, senior reporter Saf Malik is joined by Ayotunde Coker, CEO, Open Access Data Centres.
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Africa Mobile Networks unique business has seen strong growth and helped connect Africa’s unconnected
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Following reports that Google intends to fast-track the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in Africa, Capacity explores if AI will thrive on the continent.
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Safaricom Ethiopia’s mobile money service M-PESA is now live for Android users in the country, with an iOS version set to follow.
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The Gaborone Metro Ring will empower businesses and economic growth
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MTN Ghana will invest US$1 billion to expand and improve its network by 2025.
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For this episode of The C-Suite Hotseat, Natalie Bannerman, deputy editor of Capacity Media is joined by Matteo Gatta, CEO of BICS.
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Satellite connectivity currently represents around 1% of the total telco ecosystem – but it’s an important 1%.
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Ethio Telecom’s revenue is expected to rise by 19% in 2023/2024
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When 27-year-old South African Ruan Crouse isn’t riding motorcycles or competing in national squash competitions, he’s busy helping field technicians learn how to safely climb Africa’s telecom towers.
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A third request for qualifications has just been launched
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Covering a continent’s worth of connectivity in three days is a tough ask – but that’s what the ITW Africa agenda will try to do. There have been several interesting developments, projects and focus areas in the African telecoms and connectivity market in 2023 – here are just five of them in areas that ITW Africa will address in September.
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Anwar Soussa will step down two years after launching Ethiopia’s second mobile network
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DE-CIX, ‘Internet pour tous’ and UNITED SA confirm that the Africa Congo Internet Exchange (ACIX) is now live.
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The US Government (USG), through the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), has announced plans to build a $300 million data centre in Ghana.
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Samuel Ndungu, CFO of WIOCC, tells Saf Malik about the key investment and revenue growth opportunities there are in connecting Africa with the rest of the world.
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Bayobab, formerly known as MTN GlobalConnect, announced a strategic pan-African connectivity partnership with Microsoft.
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wingu.africa (Wingu) has signed several new strategic customer partnerships, facilitated by the addition of colocation whitespace across all its facilities.
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Liquid Dataport has partnered with Icosnet to enable its customers to access digital communication services offered by Liquid Dataport in Algeria.
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The Kenyan government has started a project to build a 100,000km national fibre network.
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Liquid Intelligent Technologies has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Zambia to provide connectivity to all Zambians.
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The president of Tanzania has told a government-owned telco to stop competing with others and focus on broadband services.
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Cassava Technologies’ Liquid C2 has opened a cyber security centre in Zambia, its third in Africa.
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M-Pesa, the pioneering mobile money platform run by Safaricom and the Vodacom group, is now run from a cloud operations centre in Kenya.
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South African operator Cell C is looking for a new CEO following the resignation of Douglas Craigie Stevenson.
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Guinea has enlisted the help of MTN to bring back a state-owned operator that was declared bankrupt in 2012.
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Israeli satellite operator Spacecom is working with an Azerbaijani satellite company to extend services into Africa.
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MTN GlobalConnect and BICS have renewed its partnership on international mobility and connectivity in Africa.
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Nigeria’s telecoms regulator has called on mobile network operators to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
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Seacom has gone live on the Equiano subsea cable following the cable’s landing in Cape Town, South Africa in August 2022.
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An industry veteran and one of the few female CEOs in telecoms, Ineke Botter has held integral roles in the build-out of Europe’s mobile ecosystem – a story which she tells in her new book, Your Phone, My Life.
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An Egyptian venture capital firm has launched a US$95 million fund for technology start-ups in north, west and east Africa.
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Bill Barney, former CEO of Global Cloud Xchange (GCX) has been appointed to the board of IXAfrica.
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wingu.africa is operating in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Somaliland delivering its carrier-neutral data centre facilities.
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The European Union’s investment bank is to support the company building a new network for the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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South African mobile commerce company Blue Label Telecoms wants to increase its stake in mobile operator Cell C from 49.5%, but not yet.
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Telkom, South Africa’s incumbent operator, wants to sell a minority stake in Openserve, its wholesale last-mile fibre unit.
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MTN is to spend the equivalent of US$1 billion on expanding operations in Ghana over the next five years.
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MTN Group has deployed EXFO’s Context dynamic topology solution in 14 African countries as part of MTN’s digital transformation initiative, targeting improved network inventory, security and performance functions.
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The government of Ethiopia has increased the stake it plans to sell in Ethio Telecom by five percentage points from 40% to 45%.
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Tizeti, the West African solar-based internet service provider, is launching its 4G LTE network in 10 new states in Nigeria.
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The Central African Republic is now connected to a backbone fibre linking it to neighbouring countries, via its own 935km fibre.
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The government of Rwanda is to end the right of a local company, part-owned by Korea Telecom (KT), to provide wholesale 4G services to other operators
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iColo: a Digital Realty company confirms the opening of its first data centre in Maputo, Mozambique (MPM1).
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Ethio Telecom, the state-owned incumbent in Ethiopia, has started a project to encourage start-up technology companies.
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The first phase of OADC Kinshasa; FIH1, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)’s first open-access, carrier-neutral data centre, will become operational in Q2 2023.
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Liquid Intelligent Technologies has deployed Nokia’s transport network technology on its new terrestrial fibre route connecting Mombasa, Kenya to Johannesburg, South Africa.
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The Coalition for Digital Africa, set up in December 2022, is to work with leading internet organisations to strengthen the digital infrastructure across Africa.
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The Telecel group does not plan to fire staff at Vodafone Ghana, which it acquired last month for a reported US$900 million.
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Kenya’s tax authority is to install its own technology so it can track and tax voice, internet and SMS traffic.
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The government of the republic of Niger is abolishing the tax on the termination of incoming international traffic.
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South Africa’s Telkom is to offer wholesale capacity on its mobile network to virtual network operators, the company said this week.
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Cassava Technologies has started work on a new 15MW data centre in Nairobi.
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Eutelsat has passed the 200,000-user mark for its Konnect Wifi hotspots has been reached.
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South African operators Telkom and Rain have terminated discussions about a potential merger that would have seen them compete more strongly with MTN and Vodacom.
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Ethiopia’s incumbent operator Ethio Telecom has restored services in 27 towns and cities in the province of Tigray, following the suspension of the civil war.
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Airtel Nigeria has purchased 100MHz of spectrum in the 3500MHz band and 2x5MHz of 2600MHz from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for US$316.7 million.
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Safaricom Ethiopia has expanded to five additional cities, bringing its national footprint to 21 cities just three months after launching on 6 October.
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A London-based asset management group, Gemcorp, has won a deal from the government of Angola to manage, renovate and expand state-owned Angola Telecom’s networks.
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Vantage Data Centers has announced it has commenced construction on a second campus in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Equinix has unveiled plans to enter the South African market with a US$160 million data centre investment in Johannesburg.
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After becoming Vertiv’s president for EMEA, Karsten Winther faced several threats to the company’s progress. But he tells Saf Malik that the company is now well-positioned to face the future
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Open Access Data Centres (OADC) has revealed that its flagship data centre in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria is now operational.
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MTN Zambia has launched its first 5G network pilot platform in the country, promising faster connectivity speed, ultra-low latency and greater bandwidth.
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Africa Data Centres will build its first data centre in Kigali, Rwanda.
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An estimated US$5-6 billion will be invested in carrier-neutral data centres in Africa in the next three to five years according to Console Connect’s Africa Interconnection report.
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A new state-owned company, Uganda Telecommunications Corporation (UTCL), has taken over the assets of incumbent operator Uganda Telecom.
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The group that owns Africa Data Centres (ADC) and Liquid Intelligent Technologies has set up a cyber security centre in Kenya.
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Africa Mobile Networks (AMN) has secured a US$20 million loan from Finnish development financier Finnfund and investor BlueOrchard Finance to expand its network in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa.
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The government of Ethiopia has revived its plans to sell a 40% stake in its state-owned operator, Ethio Telecom.
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Ethiopia’s telecoms regulator has revived its plan to seek a competitor for state-owned Ethio Telecom and new rival Safaricom, which has been in business just months.
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Orange Botswana is the first Orange affiliate to launch commercial 5G, with a coverage of 30% of the population, the operator says.
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IXAfrica and Helios Investment Partners have announced a US$50 million growth capital investment into IXAfrica’s Nairobi campus.
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Orange and Vanu have entered into a partnership that will allow the two to provide enhanced connectivity to rural areas.
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Digital Realty-owned Teraco has commenced construction on a new hyperscale data centre with 30MW of critical power load at its Isando Campus in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg.
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IHS Towers is borrowing US$600 million for three years, though it expects to use only $370 million of it.
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Teraco has completed the first phase of JB4, its new hyperscale data centre addition to the Bredell Campus in South Africa.
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Vertiv confirms the installation of Hormuud Telecom’s subsea cable landing station (CLS) in Somalia.
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Frontier Optical Networks is the first broadband network to be connected to the new LINX Nairobi interconnection hub, IXAfrica.
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The government of Angola has taken over the 50% of Unitel that it did not already own.
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CMC Networks confirms the availability of IP Premier, a dedicated internet access (DIA) solution in 51 countries across Africa.
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Globe Telecom in the Philippines is starting work on registering the SIM cards of over 87 million customers, as Kenyan telcos report similar rules are slowing growth.
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NTT has opened its latest data centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, its first on the continent.
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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced that it will auction two lots of 100MHz in the 3.5GHz spectrum band as it looks to accelerate 5G deployment in the country.