Telkom South Africa’s planned US$355 million selloff of its Swiftnet tower business to infrastructure-focused private equity firm Actis cleared another hurdle on Friday after its shareholders unanimously voted in favor of the deal.

Google has announced Umoja, which it says is the first-ever fibre optic route to directly connect Africa with Australia. Anchored in Kenya, the Umoja cable route will pass through Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, including the Google Cloud region, before crossing the Indian Ocean to Australia.

Accelerit, a telecommunications company dedicated to providing innovative connectivity solutions across South Africa, has announced what it calls a groundbreaking partnership with a local VSAT provider.

Satellite communications company Eutelsat Group says it has extended its partnership with InterSAT, one of Africa's leading satellite service providers, to support InterSAT’s growth in the pan-African enterprise and retail segments.

Orange signed a partnership agreement with Digital Africa in a move to accelerate support and investment for startups in its incubator centres across Africa and the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia-headquartered satellite operator Arabsat announced on Wednesday it is working with ST Engineering iDirect to deploy cloud technologies into its gateway infrastructure as part of a plan to reach new markets in the Middle East, Africa and West/Central Asia.

Eutelsat Group and YahClick, the data solutions arm of UAE-based Yahsat, have signed a multi-year, multi-Gbps contract under which Yahsat will lease capacity from the Eutelsat Konnect satellite to extend YahClick’s service coverage, particularly to Ethiopia.

PAIX Data Centres, a provider of data centre solutions, has announced the expansion of its facility in Accra to 1.2 MW in what it calls a critical boost to the digital economy that will also spur job creation.

The Congolese capital Brazzaville is to house a data centre, supported by funding of €66.55 million (about US$72.2 million) including US$57 million from the African Development Bank (ADB) and US$15.70 million from the government of Congo.

Three investment groups have partnered to support operator Sonatel’s telecoms expansion in Senegal. The combined €87 million (about $94.5 million) financing package aims to help the company expand telecoms infrastructure, including towers and cables, in rural areas and provide reliable and affordable mobile and internet services to people in Senegal.

TOA (TowerCo of Africa) Tanzania has signed a US$30 million financing agreement with UK development investor British International Investment (BII).

MTN group president and CEO Ralph Mupita has called on governments across Africa to harmonise tech regulations, which he says is necessary to increase the capital investment in digital infrastructure needed to accelerate economic development.

A coalition of humanitarian NGOs in Sudan has warned that the shutdown of telecoms services in the midst of the country’s civil war is making a massive humanitarian crisis even worse, and urged all stakeholders – including Starlink – to restore services as soon as possible.

In a remarkable change of heart, Zimbabwe seems to be about to bring back mobile money services that it once blamed for the country’s currency crash.

PAIX Data Centres announced a joint venture with the Djibouti Sovereign Fund to construct a data centre in Djibouti, a move to serve growing connectivity demand in East Africa.

The government of Nigeria has revealed ambitious plans to launch a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the delivery of an additional 90,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable to complement existing infrastructure and increase connectivity across Nigeria.

Over 1.5 billion women used mobile internet in 2023 in developing nations, as women are adopting connectivity faster than men, according to the GSMA.

For the second time in just over a year, the Nigerian government has thought better of a plan that would, effectively, tax users of mobile communications: this time it’s a levy intended to raise money to enhance cybersecurity.

A potentially significant announcement – made last week but only now being widely reported – is MTN Rwanda’s claim that it is pioneering the introduction of paper-based biodegradable SIM cards in that country.

Vodacom reported a dip in profits due to higher energy costs and forex rates which have also affected other operators on the African continent.

Avanti has partnered with Q-KON to provide LEO satellite connectivity to customers across South Africa.

Airtel Africa reported a loss of US$89 million as it also suffered from the devaluation of the Nigerian naira, despite growth in customer base.

Angola Cables and Camtel have partnered to expand digital and connectivity services in Cameroon and the West Africa region.

Safaricom announced flat profit growth in its full 2023 financial year as income was dampened by investment into its new Ethiopian unit and inflation. 

Kenya has reportedly begun talks on data sharing with the European Union (EU) – a process that could enhance Kenya’s income from digital trade.

The planned introduction of a new levy on electronic banking transactions in Nigeria is facing a backlash.

South Africa-based CMC Networks announced on Tuesday it has launched a new infrastructure as a service (IaaS) solution that offers edge computing cloud services to enterprises across Africa.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced it is in discussion to loan Airtel Africa US$200 million, to fill the operator's coffers to fund network expansion in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Kenya. 

Hormuud Telecom employees were killed in a roadside bomb attack on the outskirts of the Somali capital of Mogadishu.