Tag: Telecoms and ICT

Qatar Investment Authority invests US$200m in Airtel Africa’s mobile money unit

Frank

AFRICA – Telecoms operator Airtel Africa has announced that it has secured another investment from Qatar Holding LLC for its mobile money arm. Qatar Holding LLC IA is an affiliate of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar with over US$300 billion in assets. The Middle Eastern corporation is set to invest US$200 million into AMC BV through a secondary purchase of shares from Airtel Africa. In April 2021, Mastercard invested US$100 million in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV) — the mobile money business of telecom Airtel Africa…

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Telkom SA targets e-commerce, big data, fintech investments to generate new revenue streams

Frank

SOUTH AFRICA – With revenue and profit margins from core services coming under pressure due to intense competition, Telkom SA is seeking opportunities in e-commerce, big data, gaming and fintech, to generate new revenue streams. In its integrated report 2021, Telkom says it’s searching for new investment opportunities to provide it with financial stability while transforming to become an end-to-end digital provider. Telkom’s desire to evolve comes on the back of a growing trend in telecoms, which has seen mobile operators transform their operating models to drive growth through new digital…

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Vodacom reports US$1.9b revenue in Q1 of 2021

Frank

SOUTH AFRICA – Vodacom Group recorded first-quarter revenue of R24.8 billion (US$1.9 billion), up 9%, as strong normalised growth of 14.2% was partially offset by the South African rand’s recovery. South Africa’s biggest mobile operator this morning issued a trading update for the quarter ended 30 June. According to the telco, the rand appreciated by 20% against a basket of its international currencies, impacting reported growth. Normalised group service revenue growth was 7.8% as international growth accelerated. The telco says South Africa’s service revenue was up 5.2% to R14.1 billion…

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PE Convergence Partners raises US$120m to drive Africa’s digital inclusion

Frank

SOUTH AFRICA – Convergence Partners, the private equity investment firm has announced the first close of its third fund after raising US$120 million. The Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund (CPDIF) is targeting a final size of US$250 million. The investment company now has more than US$400 million of capital under management. Investors in CPDIF include the CDC Group (the UK’s development finance institution), the US International Development Finance Corporation, the European Investment Bank, the International Finance Corporation and Proparco (the private sector arm of the Agence Française de Développement — AFD…

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Investment group Remgro increases stake in CIVH in new US$251.7m rights offer

Frank

SOUTH AFRICA – Investment group Remgro is set to increase its shareholding in Community Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH) after participating in the company’s rights offer to raise R3.7 billion (US$251.7 million). CIVH is raising fresh capital from its shareholders, which will be used to build up operations and offset debt. Remgro currently holds 55.2% in CIVH and will now increase it to 55.5% after the rights offer. CIVH, which is now valued at R23 billion (US$1.56 billion), issued a notice in May 2021 inviting all its shareholders to participate in…

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SEACOM launches SD-WAN services in Kenya to enable digital transformation

Frank

KENYA – Leading pan-African ICT service provider SEACOM is expanding to bring its software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) services to Kenyan businesses, offering reduced connectivity costs, increased security, agility, and local support to customers. SEACOM’s experience with ICT infrastructure in Africa is extensive; the company launched Africa’s first broadband submarine cable system in 2009 and provides continent-wide secure Internet. It also offers a full suite of communications and cloud solutions that enable the growth of Africa’s digital economy. Their new SD-WAN services are now available to Kenyan businesses. The addition of…

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Liquid Intelligent Technologies appoints Martin Mushambadope as the new CEO for South Sudan

Frank

SOUTH SUDAN – Pan African technology group Liquid Intelligent Technologies, has appointed Martin Mushambadope as the Chief Executive Officer for its operations in South Sudan. Martin brings over 20 years of experience, having worked for various industries such as telecommunications, health insurance, banking, and audit practice. In addition, he has vast International experience being exposed to working environments in Singapore, United Kingdom, Kenya, Ghana, and Zimbabwe. Adil El Youssefi, Regional CEO, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, East Africa said, “Martin is a seasoned, well-respected, experienced senior executive, and he is the right leader to…

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Africell and Nokia to deploy a 5G-ready network in Angola

Frank

ANGOLA – Mobile technology company Africell has partnered with Nokia to deploy Nokia’s network technologies in Angola. The multi-million Euro deal significantly expands the footprint of both Nokia and Africell in Africa. Under the terms of the agreement, Africell will use the latest cloud technologies to achieve cost efficiency gains from shared infrastructure, as well as improved control and flexibility which enable highly differentiated products and services. For the first phase of its new network in Angola, Africell will use Nokia’s AirScale Single Radio AccessNetwork (S-RAN) across up to 700 sites. The network will support 2G,…

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Dimension Data eyes more investment in South Africa’s data center market

Frank

SOUTH AFRICA – Information technology services company Dimension Data is looking to further invest in the data centre market, to expand its infrastructure, as the world sees Africa as the next economic frontier in the digital economy. Dimension Data says that together with parent company NTT, it has ambitions to be a strong data centre player in South Africa and the rest of the continent, as it positions for increased demand for data centre capability, amid Africa’s cloud computing boom. The companies operate 11 data centres with up to 10MW…

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Raxio Group to establish Tier III data center in Mozambique as part of its African expansion

Frank

MOZAMBIQUE – The Raxio Group, a Pan-African data centre developer and operator, announced that it is establishing and investing in ‘Raxio Mozambique’, with a state-of-the-art, carrier-neutral, data centre in Mozambique. Set to be commissioned during 2022, Raxio Mozambique’s first facility will be located approximately 20 kilometres from downtown Maputo at the Beluluane Industrial Park, ideally situated to meet both primary and disaster recovery needs of a wide range of customers. The park benefits from ideal power and connectivity infrastructure ensuring a stable and highly connected operating environment for the facility and Raxio expects all power used by the facility to…

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