Mali’s topography includes large tracts of sparsely populated desert, with many settlements being hard to reach and thus rendering it difficult and expensive to provide effective fixed or mobile networks.

Telecom services in Madagascar have benefited from intensifying competition between the main operators, including Orange Madagascar, Airtel, and the incumbent telco Telma.

Zimbabwe’s telcos continue to be affected by the country’s poor economy. This has been exacerbated by the significant economic difficulties related to the pandemic.

Liquid Intelligent Technologies and PEACE Cable Company have partnered to introduce 800Gbps of additional subsea capacity in Mombasa on the latter’s global submarine cable.

The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) announced that Telecel, NetOne and Econet are now sharing 267 sites.

Angola Cables, a multinational ICT solutions and network service provider, and Flexential, a provider of data centre colocation, cloud and connectivity, have announced a partnership to drive colocation and interconnection options for customers in Southern and West African markets.

Safaricom has reportedly been granted 60MHz of spectrum in the 2600MHz band by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) in preparation for its commercial 5G launch.

Ethio Telecom has announced the launch of its pre-commercial 5G services in Addis Ababa, but the operator warned a full launch will depend on demand. 

Given the Angolan government’s aim to bring in more competition to the telecoms sector and new operator Africell’s aim to be a disruptive force in that market, then it seems that both may have got their wish after news that, in its first month of full operation, Africell has won over two million subscribers.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has moved to allay consumer concerns around a possible tariff increase following a request from the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON).

Trade association the GSMA has launched the Mobile Money API Compliance Verification Service to support the growth of trusted mobile money ecosystems in developing nations.

Helios Towers posted “strong” growth in its Q1 results with a 23% hike in revenue year-on-year (YoY), which is attributed to the company’s established African markets, and new acquisitions in Senegal, Madagascar and Malawi.

Cameroon has signed a MoU with Central African Republic (CAR) that will see the two countries’ communications networks interconnected by terrestrial fibre optic infrastructure by the start of 2023.

Digital infrastructure company Equinix has completed the acquisition of four data centres in Chile from Empresa Nacional De Telecomunicaciones (Entel), a leading Chilean telecommunications provider. 

Econet Wireless has expanded its 5G network in Zimbabwe to the southern region of Bulawayo, a move to progress the country in its ambition to activate new technologies such as AI, IoT and robotics.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the country’s regulator, has announced plans for a study to assess the current level of competition in the colocation and infrastructure sharing (CIS) segment of the Nigerian telecommunications sector.

NALA, a Tanzania-based fintech company, has teamed up with pan-African payments company Cellulant to power remittance payments from the United Kingdom and United States into Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ghana.

MTN Ghana and Vodafone Ghana have signed an agreement to pilot national roaming as the first step to a nationwide roaming partnership to permanently expand coverage, and spur digitalisation in the country. 

Satellite networking technology, solutions, and services company Gilat Satellite Networks has been selected in a multimillion-dollar deal with satellite operator Intelsat to provide a satellite cellular backhaul solution in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Africa and the Middle East continue to be Orange Group’s bright spots as the majority of countries in those regions reported double-digit increases to maintain overall group sales.

There’s fascinating news from Nigeria regarding two of the country’s biggest operators, one of which is issuing a debt instrument for investment purposes, while the other has had further support for its banking ambitions.

African digital payments company DPO Group has announced the introduction of a new form of payment that will allow merchants to get paid by their customers via a USSD code. This new feature, says DPO, allows merchants to receive payments from customers who don’t have access to mobile banking or a payment card.

Ghana-based operator Glo has entered into a nationwide roaming agreement with state-owned AirtelTigo covering voice, data and SMS, a move to enhance coverage and service performance.

MTN Mobile Money Uganda Limited and Jumo, a technology company building next-generation financial services for emerging markets, have launched MoSente, a new service that allows MTN customers to access credit facilities.

Operator Vodacom Tanzania has reportedly signed a contract with the country’s National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB) – the government-owned fibre optic cable infrastructure system.

WIOCC has landed Google’s Equiano subsea cable in Lagos, Nigeria.

Telebirr, a mobile payment and digital wallet service launched by Ethiopia’s state-owned operator Ethio Telecom in May 2021, has reached over 17.6 million subscribers with a cumulative transaction value of 12.58 billion birr (about $245.2 million) to date.

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) has announced it will review its frequency band every four years, a move to be in line with International Telecommunication Union (ITU) guidelines, which promote cross border interoperability and support for new technologies.

As recently happened – more than once – in Nigeria, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has extended SIM card registration in the country beyond last week's deadline.