IHS Nigeria reached the milestone of deploying 10,000km of fibre optic cables across Nigeria, a move to fulfil rising broadband demand. 

The third-biggest South African operator, Telkom, has released an announcement claiming it has helped to win convictions for cable theft and infrastructure vandalism at various operations across the country.

MTN Group pledged to invest US$215 million in infrastructure into Benin over the next three years after seeing positive results from 5G trials in the country. 

Operator Orange Madagascar has announced plans to double its network coverage to reach about 90% of the island country’s 29 million people by the end of this year.

The somewhat confusing saga of debts that may be owed by Nigeria’s second-biggest operator to its biggest has taken a new twist as Globacom has been granted an additional 21 days to pay the interconnect fees owed to rival operator MTN.

Connectivity provider Paratus South Africa has extended its partnership with satellite operator Eutelsat to include LEO satellite connectivity from Eutelsat OneWeb in its service offerings in South Africa.

Analyst company Canalys reported that global smartphone shipments grew 8% year-on-year in Q4 2023 to 320 million units, ending seven consecutive quarters of decline. 

Nigeria is to set up what it calls a National Broadband Alliance for Nigeria (NBAN) to foster collaboration for broadband development and adoption.

The Namibian telecoms watchdog has revoked UCOM Mobile’s telecoms licence due to unpaid licence fees totalling NAD19.3 million (US$1 million). 

As promised in November last year, Kenyan operator Safaricom, mobile payment giant M-Pesa Africa and global trading and business investment company Sumitomo Corporation have now announced calls for tech start-ups looking to join the Spark Accelerator programme.

Togolese operator Togocom secured XOF36 billion (US$60.2 million) from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to fund the upgrade of its infrastructure including the expansion of its 4G network. 

Regulator the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has published what it calls a pre-enforcement notice regarding unauthorised use of the 5.4GHz frequency band.

The government of Mali has reportedly awarded a contract worth US$117.3 million to China International Telecommunication Construction Corporation (CITCC) to extend its national fibre optic network.

Nigerian operator Globacom has denied reports that it still owes MTN Nigeria interconnection charges despite regulator the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) suggesting otherwise.

MTN Guinea was reportedly forced to shut its doors by Guinea’s Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ARPT) due to unpaid taxes and licence fees, reported Ecofin Agency. 

Orange Finances Money Mali, which issues, manages and distributes electronic money under the Orange Money brand in Mali, has announced a partnership with TerraPay, a global cross-border payments network with an extensive reach.

Nasarawa State in the North Central region of Nigeria has eliminated right of way (RoW) costs for the construction, placement, laying and maintenance of telecoms network equipment in the state.

The Government of Gabon and the World Bank, one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, have signed a US$68.5 million loan for the Digital Gabon Project.

Regulator the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has a new director general following the early exit of Ezra Chiloba last year. He is David Mugonyi, the former Head of the Presidential Communication Service.

Among news stories that may have sneaked under the radar during the holiday season is an interesting partnership announced about a week ago between Vienna Payment Solutions/VIPASO and technology solutions provider Interswitch East Africa (Kenya) Limited.

As might have been predicted a few months ago when the process appeared to be going slowly, the Namibian government last week extended its SIM card registration deadline.

Somali operator Somtel has launched the country’s first 5G network.

STC Group subsidiary centre3 is acquiring CMC Networks, a global service provider offering networking solutions across Africa and the Middle East.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) set a deadline of 28^th February 2024 after which operators must fully block any SIM cards that are not registered to a National Identification Number (NIN).

Africa’s smartphone market has shown resilience with a second consecutive quarter of strong recovery in Q3 2023, according to analysis from Canalys.

Kenya’s Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary, Eliud Owalo, has announced that the development of 1,450 ICT hubs in all wards across the country will begin in 2024.

M-Pesa, the mobile money platform used by more than 32.1 million Kenyans and over 60 million customers across eight African markets, is taking a new direction in the payments field.