Operators

Orange Slovakia pledged to double its 5G coverage by the end of 2025, which currently covers a quarter of the population, while also repeating that it will sunset 3G networks in the next two years. 

South Africa's Telkom and Rain appear to have abandoned plans for the country’s third-biggest operator to buy the major name in fixed wireless access (FWA) service provision. But what could this mean for other potential mergers or acquisitions in the telecoms space?

MTN Uganda chose Huawei as its supplier for a network upgrade through a cloud-native 5G-Capable Core, as part of a group-wide move to digitally transform its units and other sectors. 

There’s been some slightly disconcerting financial news for operator Safaricom in the past few days. The Kenyan giant expects to sustain losses from mobile termination rate (MTR) cuts and, possibly, to be hit with tax demands if plans to split mobile money service M-Pesa from its main business go ahead.

Regional media outlets are reporting that newly launched operator Safaricom Ethiopia has apparently claimed that price competition in the market will not be part of its strategy to win customers from state-owned operator Ethio Telecom.

Saudi operator Zain KSA sealed the sale of tower assets to the Saudi Public Investment Find (PIF) for SAR3.02 billion (US$803.5 million), a move to cut debt for the company.

Hungary’s 4iG has signed a binding sale and purchase agreement that will see it take a 100% stake in Vodafone Hungary.

Airtel Africa revealed it spent US316.7 million on 4G and 5G spectrum as part of wider plans to bolster connectivity in Nigeria, from an auction where it was the sole bidder.  

Safaricom chairman John Ngumi resigned to explore opportunities in the sustainability sector after less than a year into the job, reported Reuters.

Philippines operator Globe Telecom revealed it had more than doubled its 5G coverage nationally with 70 towns and cities seeing a connection at the end of 2022, compared to just 29 at the end of the year prior.

Almost a year after Indian operator Vodafone Idea thought it had been assured of government help with its debt issues nothing has happened – and local media outlets are suggesting nothing will happen unless government can be assured of substantial input from other investors.

Philippines-based operator group PLDT revealed uptake of 5G devices in 2022 was low, blaming this on devices being unaffordable for prepaid customers, which make up the bulk of its subscriber base.

State-owned operator Nepal Telecom held back plans to launch a 5G trial this month on hold due to the lack of compatible smartphones present in Nepal, reported The Kathmandu Post.

Lithuanian operator Bite began a plan to merge broadband subsidiary Mezon this year, a tie-up it claimed will provide competition against rival internet service providers, as Bite CEO Gintas Butenas bemoans a lack of competition in this segment. 

According to figures widely reported in the Indian press, India’s three major operators are well below Department of Telecommunications (DoT) targets for 5G base station rollout – and in fact Vodafone Idea seems not have started yet.

Angola’s government has appointed a consortium headed by asset manager Gemcorp to upgrade, manage and operate the national transmission network of state-owned fixed provider Angola Telecom.

The judicial process involving the recovery plan of Brazilian service provider Oi seems to be over  – after more than six years of negotiations with creditors.

Vodafone Hungary tapped Netcracker for a cloud solution that supports fixed-mobile convergence for the operator’s consumer and SME enterprise customers.

Hot on the heels of rival Globe’s recent sale, PLDT announced it has sold 650 more towers raising PHP9.2 billion (US$165 million), reported CNN Philippines.

Zambia’s fourth mobile player Beeline Telecom is planning to launch commercial LTE within the first month of 2023, according to regulator ZICTA (Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority).

Indian telecoms minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has confirmed that state operator BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) plans to upgrade its 4G technology stack to 5G within five to seven months.

In a statement to shareholders, Brazil’s Oi has confirmed that it has agreed to sell some of its tower infrastructure to NK 108 Empreendimentos e Participacoes (NK 108) for BRL1.697 billion (USD324.6 million).

Kyrgyzstan’s state-owned MegaCom has rebranded as MEGA.

Airtel Africa signed a new US$194 million facility with World Bank sister organisation the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a move to upgrade operations across its footprint in Africa.

New market entrant Africell Angola says it is launching mobile services in Benguela Province in the west of Angola, thus accomplishing the second phase of what it describes as its ambitious national roll-out strategy.