Axian Telecom expanded its vendor partnership with a deal with Ericsson, for the Swedish vendor to upgrade its network in Madagascan unit Telma.

Intracom Telecom has signed a new deal with Sudanese ISP Maxnet to supply its WiBAS wireless access systems.

Ericsson has signed a reseller agreement with South African service provider Comsol to provide the Ericsson Private 5G solution; this will enable Comsol to expand its enterprise business within South Africa’s mining industry.

MTN Rwanda recorded a drop in profits in its full 2022 financial year due to the renewal of its operating license, despite seeing increased revenues, subscribers and its mobile money platform.

Pan-African technology group Liquid Intelligent Technologies, which has a fibre backbone of over 100,000 kilometres across the African continent, has announced a new collaboration to deliver internet access to 20 million underserved people in Africa by the end of 2025, partnering with Microsoft.

Botswana's Debswana Diamond Company Limited and Huawei have jointly announced at MWC 2023 the world's first 5G-oriented smart diamond mine project.

Mauritius Telecom, the largest ISP in Mauritius, has announced plans to use artificial intelligence-based technology to enhance visibility and optimize its residential Wi-Fi connections through a partnership with Aprecomm, a company that offers cloud-based automated solutions to enhance wired and Wi-Fi network performance.

New figures from GSMA Intelligence, announced during MWC 2023, show that 5G connections are expected to double over the next two years, expedited by technological innovations and new 5G network deployments in more than 30 countries in 2023 alone. Of the new networks to be deployed in 2023, it is expected that 15 will be 5G standalone networks.

Econet Wireless selected Ericsson to upgrade its RAN and mobile core network in Zimbabwe's capital city Harare, as part of its wider strategy to expand 5G footprint in the country and enable enterprise use cases.

Melon Digital, a new digitally led mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE) based in South Africa, has selected the Digital Brands Suite as a Service from software and services provider Amdocs to provide customer care and monetization capabilities in a SaaS-based solution powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS).

It’s only been a matter of months since a new service provider, Celtiis, entered the Benin market. Now, however, the number three operator is apparently preparing to deploy 5G mobile technology.

Vertiv, a provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, has announced a distribution agreement with TechAccess, a leading information technology company based in South Africa. This agreement, targeting customers in sub-Saharan Africa, allows TechAccess to distribute Vertiv’s integrated rack solutions portfolio designed for the enterprise sector and to support critical infrastructure systems.

MTN South Africa (MTN SA) has selected Nokia as one of its 5G radio access network (RAN) equipment providers.

At MWC MTN Group and Huawei have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen strategic cooperation in environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters.

Angolan operator and market leader Unitel saw market share decline as newcomer Africell launched services in April last year. 

It’s not just in India that telecoms giant Airtel is driving 5G rollout. A recent announcement from Airtel Uganda highlights plans to upgrade key infrastructure for 5G purposes.

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have approved the creation of a new regulator known as ARPTIC.

Tanzania deactivated 970,046 SIM cards despite extending the deadline for its SIM registration law, a move to combat fraudulent activity through mobile phones.  

South African regulator the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has addressed submissions relating to an earlier Draft Radio Frequency Spectrum Assignment Plan with a new round of consultation. The authority had previously highlighted ten bands for public consultation in March last year.

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) has commenced its auction process for 4G and 5G-capable spectrum in the 700MHz and 800MHz bands.

Ethiopia has reportedly publicised a demand of US$150 million from Safaricom for the operator to deploy its M-Pesa mobile money platform in the country, with talks to be held this week.

Following approval from Ghanaian authorities, Vodafone Group has sold off its majority 80% stake in Vodafone Ghana to Telecel Group, continuing its strategy to streamline its footprint.

The Uganda Communications Commission has come under fire from the country’s government for failing to recoup a penalty of UGX2 billion (US$540,000) from beleaguered operator Smile Communications.

Zimbabwe’s telecoms regulator gave operators permission to raise prices by up to 50% this April to combat rising operating costs.

Starlink has received a licence to provide satellite broadband services in Rwanda.

Operator Tigo Tanzania and vendor Ericsson have entered a partnership to launch 5G and to fully modernize and expand the existing Tigo 4G network across Tanzania.

Africa and the Middle East continued to boost revenues for Orange as the group claimed success in its 5-year plan to invest in “fundamentals” to achieve growth.

Following the apparent resolution of its tax dispute with the Ghanaian government, MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile network operator, has now said it plans to invest US$1 billion in Ghana over the next five years.

South African operator Telkom said it could put up for sale a minority stake in its core fibre business by March, as the company explores options to improve profits, Reuters reported.

Somalia’s National Communications Authority (NCA) has confirmed that the country’s operators have implemented the interconnection agreement signed in December 2022.

Tizeti, described as West Africa’s pioneer solar-based internet service provider (ISP), is launching its 4G LTE network in ten new states in Nigeria.

Orange Madagascar has signed a ten-year Network-as-a-Service (NAAS) deal that will see infrastructure provider AMN Group deploy a minimum of 500 rural base stations across the country.