Payments fintech company Cellulant has obtained initial approval as a Payment Service Provider and Payment Facilitator in Egypt.

The drive to bring affordable smart connectivity to tens of millions of Africans continues, this time through a partnership involving MediaTek, Digit and pan-African operator Vodacom.

Canadian RAN provider NuRAN Wireless says that it has filed an application for a network infrastructure licence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to add more services to its portfolio.

Bahamas Telecommunications Company vice chairman Valentine Grimes said a portion of the cash raised by parent company Liberty Latin America in its recent tower deal, could be used to deploy 5G in the Bahamas. 

What is described as a “landmark agreement” will lay the foundation for South Africa’s Gugulethu Colliery, a newly developed mine in Mpumalanga, to integrate 5G technology in its operations.

Eutelsat OneWeb signed a multi-year master distribution agreement on Wednesday with African ICT integrator NEC XON to bring OneWeb’s LEOsat connectivity to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Italian international service provider Sparkle has announced the expansion of its network footprint to South Africa with the opening of two new points of presence (PoPs) in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

The Ethiopian government failed to attract any bidders for its third telecoms licence according to sources speaking to Bloomberg, as investors are put off by the current political instability in the country. 

Teraco, Africa’s largest interconnection hub and vendor-neutral data centre provider, has made two recent announcements relating to expansion in the key South African market.

It looks like Colombia’s 5G spectrum auction is still on course to take place on 20 December, as stated by the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (Ministerio de Tecnologias de la Informacion y las Comunicaciones, MinTIC) in June.

Liberty Latin America (LLA) tapped voice security company Hiya to launch call protection software for subscribers in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. 

Tunisian national operator Tunisie Telecom, and mobile transaction platform Telepin have announced the signing of a partnership agreement for the launch of the converged charging system for Tunisie Telecom’s customers.

Vodacom Group reported an earnings hit due to macroeconomic conditions and loss in Ethiopia, however, its acquisition of Vodafone Egypt prevented further dips. 

Operator MTN Nigeria and the African operation of American Tower Corporation, a leading independent owner, operator and developer of multitenant communications real estate, have entered into a new agreement that, they say, is expected to enhance wireless connectivity across Nigeria.

Telecom Namibia has signed an N$100 million (US$5.2 million) agreement with Huawei to deliver a fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) core network as part of its ongoing digital transformation and network modernisation project.

The Republic of Djibouti has launched its first satellite, Djibouti 1A. It took off last weekend from the Vandenberg Space Force Base onboard the SpaceX Transporter-9, a dedicated SSO rideshare mission carrying a variety of payloads into sun-synchronous orbit.

According to a number of recent reports, Saudi Arabia’s new Red Sea International Airport has become an early example in the region of the benefits of neutral host technology.

Pakistan’s telecoms regulator enabled operators to begin charging a SIM termination charge in January to ease the abuse of free SIM cards and combat the use of illegal activities on networks. 

Operator Zain KSA has announced a strong Q3 2023 financial performance driven, in part by tower-related business.

It looks like the mobile money service that helped to make Safaricom the dominant player in Kenya is making reasonable headway in Ethiopia too.

The Somalian Ministry of Communication and Technology signed a cooperation agreement with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to develop connectivity in Somalia.

Argentinean service provider Telecentro is deploying Netcracker’s Digital OSS to advance its operations automation and deliver new use cases across its operations.

Kenyan operator Safaricom, mobile financial service M-Pesa Africa, and global trading and business investment company Sumitomo Corporation are to launch the Spark Accelerator, a programme to support early-stage start-ups in Kenya in their efforts to grow and scale their businesses.

Yet another SIM registration exercise has run into deadline difficulties. With only a few days left, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) and operators are trying to get cardholders to act fast to avoid potential disconnection.

Fibre and satellite connectivity provider Paratus Group secured a US$31 million debt facility from Private Infrastructure Development Group, to expand its fibre and data centre business in Africa into 2026. 

Satellite internet service Starlink, from rocket manufacturer SpaceX, has won a tender from Mexico's state energy firm to provide services until the end of December 2026, according to Reuters.

As the MTN Group departure from Afghanistan gets closer, it seems Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry and Liberia are next in line for an MTN exit.

Libya has now formally acknowledged that it will be connecting to the Medusa submarine cable project. The Medusa submarine cable system will connect Libya to Europe via the countries of the Mediterranean Basin.

Regulators in several West African markets have signed agreements that will facilitate roaming.