Ghana’s telecom market has undergone several changes in recent years, following the privatisation of the incumbent telco Ghana Telecom and its rebranding as Vodafone Ghana. Two of the key players merged to form AirtelTigo in 2017, though in mid-2020 the parent companies of the operator decided to exit the market. The sale and transfer of AirtelTigo to the state was completed in November 2021.

Eritrea’s telecom sector operates under a state-owned monopoly for fixed and mobile services. Partly as a result of such restrictions on competition, the country has the least developed telecommunications market in Africa.

The slow process to open up Ethiopia’s telecom market was completed with the licensing of the Safaricom-led Global Partnership for Ethiopia consortium. The country had been one of the last in Africa to allow its national telco a monopoly on all telecom services including fixed, mobile, internet and data communications.

National regulator the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has determined a new international termination rate (ITR) for voice services paid by overseas telecom carriers for terminating international calls on local networks in Nigeria. It is to be set at $0.045.

Despite the ongoing uncertainty caused by the conflict in that country, the second operator in Ethiopia is still making plans for next year’s launch, most recently with news of the mobile number prefix it plans to employ.

Rural communications firm NuRAN Wireless has signed a ten-year deal with MTN Group to deploy at least 250 sites across rural South Sudan.

“Transformational weather intelligence for resilient agriculture to Africa.” That’s the promise of TomorrowNow.org, a global non-profit helping vulnerable communities adapt to climate change, which has been awarded a $2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) seems to have made a final decision on the licensing of 4G and 5G radio frequency spectrum with the publication of a new invitation to apply (ITA) to the industry late last week.

A parliamentary commission has called for the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to abolish a tax on mobile devices.

Senegalese regulator ARTP (L’Autorite de Regulation des Telecommunications et des Postes / Regulation Authority for Telecommunications and Posts) has fined the country’s three mobile providers a total of XOF20.284 billion (US$35 million).

Pan-African operator Airtel Africa and Ericsson have announced the launch of a data centre in the East African island country of the Seychelles.

CVTelecom (Cabo Verde Telecom) and Angola Cables have signed a joint cooperation agreement to identify synergies to expand connectivity and network capabilities.

Recent deals in Kenya and South Africa have highlighted the continuing expansion of the African SME market and the growing number of African fintech and specialist communications companies serving SMEs.

Infrastructure firm Equinix has acquired West African data centre and connectivity solutions provider MainOne as it seeks to expand into the region.

Kenya’s main power utility Kenya Power is reportedly planning to start offering internet connectivity.

MTN Uganda is today proceeding with the listing of its 22.4 billion ordinary shares on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE), with trading commencing immediately.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) confirmed Airtel Nigeria, MTN Nigeria and wholesaler Mafab Communications as the three qualifying bidders for its scheduled 3.5GHz spectrum auction.

Eutelsat and Vodacom Tanzania PLC have signed an agreement for packaged services to bring connectivity to underserved regions of Tanzania, leveraging the EUTELSAT KONNECT high-throughput satellite.

Liquid Intelligent Technologies has partnered with UNICEF to support the Giga Initiative – a collaboration between UNICEF and the ITU aimed at connecting schools across Africa.

MTN Benin confirmed that it will have invested XOF10 billion (US$17.2 million) into the market this year by the end of December.

Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has cleared MTN Group to sell shares in its local unit via a series of offers.

MTN Ghana CEO Selorm Adadevoh has told local journalists that the company has modernized at least 1,322 sites in readiness for 5G network rollout, which is slated to take place next year.

Moov Africa Chad is aiming to deploy fibre infrastructure in the capital of N’Djamena as it seeks to extend its mobile network in the face of escalating demand.

Vodacom Group is investing a further R500 million (US$31.6 million) on batteries to power its infrastructure in the face of continued power outages across South Africa.

Top executives at Zimbabwean operators Econet Wireless and Telecel have urged the government to reduce the tax burden faced by the country’s service providers.

Africell Angola has awarded Digis Squared a multi-year contract to provide end to end Managed Services to support the launch of its new network.

Following a flurry of investment activity recently, operator Vodacom is apparently now considering a separate listing of its South African financial services unit.