Investment

Data and AI deals are very much in the news at the moment, thanks notably to a South American sale involving digital giant Atos and plans announced by investment company SoftBank Group to acquire digital infrastructure investor DigitalBridge Group.

African digital infrastructure provider WIOCC Group announced on Monday it has secured a US$65 million debt financing package drive its continued expansion of connectivity capacity and digital infrastructure across Africa.

Cameroon has finalised an MoU to join the Medusa Africa submarine cable and sent it to the Presidency for approval, Econfin Agency reports.

Mobile industry association the GSMA has urged what it calls a sharper, investment-led push to accelerate Indonesia’s digital transformation and drive innovation.

Standard Bank, Africa’s biggest bank by assets, says it has partnered with Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecommunications provider, to provide funding of US$138 million as part of investment towards operator Safaricom Ethiopia.

Mauritius Telecom (MT), the country’s leading service provider across fixed and mobile, has unveiled what it calls a new vision set to accelerate the country’s digital transformation and position Mauritius as a world-class digital hub linking Africa and Asia.

America Movil, a provider of telecommunications services across Latin America, says it will no longer insist on a joint purchase of financially challenged operator Telefonica Chile with another operator, Entel.

An interesting announcement relevant to Africa has come from official sources in the UAE, which has announced the launch of the AI for Development initiative, worth US$1 billion, to support and finance artificial intelligence projects in African countries.

Thailand is offering another strong reminder of its intentions in the data centre market with the recently reported approval of US$3.1 billion in new investments by the country’s Board of Investment (BOI) for four new data centre projects.

IFC, a global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets, has announced a partnership with operator Orange Mali to support the company in upgrading its infrastructure, expanding broadband coverage, and ensuring equal access to telecommunications services for all communities.

Malaysia’s second 5G wholesale operator U Mobile announced on Friday it has signed a ten-year syndicated financing deal with four Malaysian banks worth MYR4.3 billion (just over US$1 billion) to fund the capex for its 5G network rollout.

The African Development Bank Group has approved a US$100 million loan to the Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund (EAAIF), supporting efforts to scale sustainable infrastructure investment across the continent.

State-owned company Telkom Indonesia, a multinational telecommunications conglomerate, has agreed to partially spin off its wholesale fibre connectivity business to its infrastructure-focused subsidiary Telkom Infrastruktur Indonesia in a deal valued at 35.787 trillion rupiah ($2.16 billion).

A major financing deal, announced this week, aims to fund an upgrade that will see the Tcell mobile network in Tajikistan enhanced in both quality and accessibility.

AI technologies-focused company Graphcore, a wholly owned subsidiary of multinational investment holding company SoftBank, says it is opening a new AI engineering campus in Bengaluru in India.

Global independent tower company IHS Towers announced on Thursday that it has officially completed the sale of its Rwanda unit and its approximately 1,467 sites to Paradigm Tower Ventures.

Operator Airtel Chad is reportedly planning a XAF50 billion (about US$90 million) investment plan aimed at improving network quality and expanding digital connectivity across the country.

According to local news reports, operator Vodacom Tanzania is planning a number of technology modernisation programmes likely to involve an outlay of more than US$100 million.

Industry body the GSMA has warned that a large connectivity usage gap is limiting Ghana’s economic potential.

IDB Invest, a multilateral development bank committed to promoting the economic development of its member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean through the private sector, has partnered with technology giant Nokia to launch a US$50 million financing facility to strengthen digital connectivity in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Amid the regular news of connectivity initiatives and new satellite deployments targeting remote areas, a recent report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency for digital technologies, reminds us that there’s still a long way to go.

Japanese agriculture fintech Degas Limited has announced a US$100 million investment over the next four years to help establish Ghana as Africa’s first AI-powered agricultural hub, expanding a model that, it says, has already financed more than 86,000 smallholder farmers across 122,000 acres nationwide.

Two banks with a strong Latin American focus, development bank IDB Invest and multinational bank Bladex, have joined forces to provide a financing package to Millicom-owned operator Telemovil El Salvador – aka Tigo – of up to US$205 million.

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has set up ambitious targets to achieve 100% population coverage with 4G and 90% coverage with 5G, according to a draft of the country’s National Telecom Policy 2025, now being circulated for public consultation.

The Credit Fund of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Adjustment Fund says it has successfully closed its first investment – and it’s a big one. AfCFTA is committing US$10 million to wholesale voice and SMS services and enterprise connectivity solutions provider Telecel Global Services.

Axian Telecom, a pan-African operator in telecommunications, mobile financial services, and digital infrastructure, says it has successfully priced its US$600 million Senior Notes maturing in 2030.

Morocco-based Maroc Telecom announced on Saturday it has secured two loans from World Bank Group’s IFC worth EUR370 million (US$425.1 million) to help finance 4G rollouts in Chad and Mali.

The State Assets Management Agency of Uzbekistan has officially launched the privatisation process of operator Universal Mobile Systems (UMS), better known under its brand name Mobiuz.

Canadian energy and infrastructure company Rektron Group has announced its potential strategic acquisition of a majority stake in operator AT Ghana.

East Africa-headquartered carrier-neutral data centre operator Wingu Africa has raised US$60 million to fast-track its regional expansion and, it says, power the continent’s digital transformation.

Ericsson India reportedly sold off its 0.6% stake in Vodafone Idea (Vi) on Tuesday to undisclosed buyers for INR4.28 billion (US$49.9 million), less than two months after Nokia’s Indian unit did likewise.