Two recent news stories – from Madagascar and Chad – indicate that some African regulators feel they need to respond strongly to public concerns about quality and cost of mobile services – although powers to enforce these responses often differ from country to country.

NEC Africa announced on Wednesday it has kicked off a project with Cote d'Ivoire’s Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Food Production that aims to improve and upgrade agricultural efficiency with digital technology.

The governments of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have held discussions on the extension of Tanzania’s National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB), which will, it is hoped, extend through Lake Tanganyika to the DRC province of Kalemie, on the western shore of the lake, by 2027.

Pan-African telecoms and network services provider Paratus Group announced on Wednesday that it is expanding into Rwanda, where it will provide and install Starlink LEO satellite services for businesses in the country.

Ethio Telecom and Djibouti Telecom announced that they are actively exploring new collaboration opportunities to deepen their ongoing partnership to advance integration in the broader East African digital ecosystem, including international gateways and mobile money.

South African telco Vodacom said on Sunday it plans to invest over ZAR660 million (US$38.2 million) in network infrastructure in Southern Gauteng this financial year to accelerate rollout of 4G and 5G.

UAE-based digital solutions firm Yango Group and China Mobile International (CMI) have reportedly signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop technology solutions for businesses in Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Ethio Telecom launched a new line of low-cost cloud-based smartphones on Thursday to not only boost uptake of its 4G network, but also address the problem of smartphone affordability that’s keeping millions of people from accessing digital services.

MTN’s digital infrastructure arm Bayobab said on Thursday it has signed an MoU with US-based AI company Seekr Technologies to offer AI-as-a-service (AIaaS) to private and public organisations across Africa, to include Bayobab’s connectivity services.

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.

South African company fibertime, which says its aim is to connect townships to affordable world-class internet, is working with tech giant Nokia on expanding its fibre broadband access footprint to include an additional 400,000 homes located across South Africa’s underserved communities.

Subsea cable operator and managed connectivity service provider Seacom says it has signed an MoU with broadcast and digital services provider Sentech to accelerate the growth of small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa’s telecoms sector.

African data centre operator Raxio Group says it has signed an agreement with digital network operator Laser Light Africa to accelerate internet services for seven markets in sub-Saharan Africa, starting with Angola.

Botswana and Nigeria are in the data centre news after recent announcements signalling plans to develop facilities in both countries powered, in part, by renewable energy.

The government of Mauritania has indicated that it intends to develop a national space programme focused on nanosatellites to strengthen sovereign capabilities and support overall economic development.

Ericsson said on Monday that MTN South Africa has successfully completed its core network modernisation project that will give its mobile infrastructure reduced latency, enhanced data throughput and a better overall user experience.

The World Bank Group has approved the Digital Zambia Acceleration Project (DZAP), a project that aims to support Zambian government efforts to increase access to, and inclusive use of, the internet and digitally enabled services.

The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has agreed to fund a feasibility study for a plan to extend AFR-IX Telecom’s Medusa subsea cable along Africa’s western coastline.

Loc8 has reportedly entered Namibia’s 5G arena, aiming to launch its network in Q1 2026 after years of securing telecoms licences for both 4G and 5G spectrum.

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.

A scheduled upgrade to its M-Pesa mobile finance service, announced last week by Kenyan operator Safaricom, was successfully completed today. It has been described as the most significant upgrade of the M-Pesa platform since 2015.

Late last week, the Finance and Budgetary Control Committee of the National Assembly of Senegal adopted a bill taxing digital financial services, including mobile money transactions and merchant payments.

It’s been a busy week for ICT in Zambia with the approval of two new bills for the digital economy, a new strategic plan announced by Zambia's ICT regulator and the awarding of a World Bank grant that reports suggest may be used for digital infrastructure.

Ongoing efforts to make smartphones affordable to more Africans while still ensuring a margin for sellers are continuing. In fact, this week has seen an alliance between Africa’s best-known home-grown electronic marketplace and a financing group to encourage more Kenyans to buy smartphones.

There’s been an interesting new development in the ongoing story of the repositioning of Nigerian operator 9mobile as T2 Mobile. It involves a spectrum deal with one of the country’s leading operators, MTN Nigeria.

MTN Group is reportedly in discussions with US and European companies to develop the infrastructure needed to power AI services.

Cassava Technologies founder Strive Masiyiwa has announced plans to build five AI factories in Africa over the next 12 months.

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.

Airtel Zambia and tower company IHS Zambia are making good time on their plan with the Zambian government to expand network reach in Zambia, with 52 new telecoms towers expected to be up and running by the end of this month.

African digital payments network Onafriq said it has formed a strategic partnership with Visa to launch Visa Pay, a cloud-native Payments-as-a-Service platform designed to expand digital financial access across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).