Vodacom pledged to invest ZAR435 million (US$25 million) into the Northern Gauteng Area of South Africa this financial year to meet growing connectivity demand.

Digital Parks Africa (DPA), a South African-owned data centre provider, has partnered with iXAfrica Data Centres, which owns and operates East Africa’s first hyperscale, AI-ready data centre in Kenya, to bring what the partners call world-class data centre services to Southern and East Africa.

Safaricom said on Tuesday it has launched two new tailored solutions aimed at ride-hailing drivers and boda boda operators (a.k.a. bicycle and motorcycle taxis) in Kenya that include connectivity, insurance and financial advice.

Open RAN (O-RAN) has long been touted as a disruptive technology in mobile infrastructure with the concept of splitting the RAN into three components, encouraging a more modular architecture that claims to improve operator bottom lines.

Around 3.1 billion people are not connected to the internet despite living in coverage areas, highlighting a massive global usage gap.

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

The London Internet Exchange (LINX) announced on Monday it has signed a co-operative agreement with internet exchange incubator Asteroid to take over its interconnection operations in Kenya.

The Ghanaian government has reportedly appointed KPMG to advance plans to merge AT Ghana and Telecel in a bid to stem mounting losses from its acquisition of the former, while building a stronger rival to market leader MTN.

Can countries balance access to an undoubtedly popular and convenient service with an effective response to predatory lending practices, data abuse, high interest rates, and aggressive debt collection practices, to name only a few? That’s the question about digital lending that regulators in Kenya and Nigeria are trying to answer.

Digital payments giant Visa has announced the launch of Visa Pay, a mobile solution that provides access to digital payments and account-to-account money movement, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

There has been a flurry of announcements from Nigerian operator T2 Mobile in recent weeks. If that name doesn’t seem familiar, that may well be because until August the operator had been known as 9mobile. Here are a few brief updates.

Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Kaspersky Global, a leading name in cybersecurity, to strengthen Nigeria’s cybersecurity ecosystem. The agreement was formalised last week during IT exhibition and conference GITEX Nigeria 2025 in Lagos.

Vodacom Eastern Cape will invest more than ZAR400 million (US$22 million) in its network this financial year to expand coverage, boost capacity and extend connectivity to rural communities across the province.

Ghana’s Ministry for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations has reportedly revealed plans to merge telecoms players AT and Telecel in hopes of creating a sustainable competitor to market leader MTN.

Orange has appointed Thierry Millet (pictured) as CEO of Orange Money Group, replacing Aminata Kane.

The Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation (TTCL), which operates and maintains all types of telecommunications networks, including ICT systems and services, within and outside the United Republic of Tanzania, has announced plans to construct more than 1,400 communication towers across the country to strengthen national network coverage and support the digital economy.

In what it calls a decisive turning point in its mission to bring finance and essential services closer to citizens, everywhere, for everyone, KaliSpot, which describes itself as a Senegalese fintech born in the United States, has announced the deployment of its first 1Net smart kiosks in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.

Africa-focused telecoms firm Paratus Group has launched a private 4G/5G network in Namibia, positioning itself to compete with state-owned incumbents MTC and Telecom Namibia.

South African telco Vodacom announced on Wednesday that its virtual wheeling solution is now live, enabling it to purchase renewable energy for its countrywide operations more efficiently and on a broader scale.

Bharti Airtel-controlled telecoms tower firm Indus Towers revealed on Tuesday it is making plans to expand operations outside of India into select international emerging markets – particularly countries in Africa where Airtel currently operates.

The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has confirmed that talks are still ongoing with satellite company Monacosat over launching a satellite to boost the country’s connectivity.

The government of Chad late last week ordered mobile operators Airtel and Moov Africa to connect to its national fibre-optic backbone within seven days or face potential sanctions, after the Telecommunications Minister Boukar Michel met executives from both operators on Wednesday.

Two of Africa’s biggest operators – Vodacom and MTN – have, coincidentally, announced technology deployment firsts for the continent in the past few days – one involving MIMO, the other involving 5-band RRU commercial deployment.

Djibouti Telecom has announced plans to extend the regional subsea cable, Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1 (DARE1), southward along Africa’s east coast to broaden reach and enhance route diversity.

MTC Namibia has fired the starting gun in the country’s 5G race, launching commercial services across four locations.

Ethio Telecom CEO Frehiwot Tamiru (pictured) revealed ambitions for the state-owned operator to almost double revenue at the end of its financial year in June to ETB236 billion (US$1.6 billion), on the back of increasing users and data usage.

UAE-based satellite operator Space42 announced on Tuesday it has signed a comprehensive MoU with Angola's Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISM) to collaborate on developing advanced technologies across multiple domains over the next five years.

Smartphone shipments in Africa climbed 7% to 19.2 million units in Q2, continuing an upward trend fuelled by easing inflation and currency stability in key markets.

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.

A feared increase in telecom service prices, an apparent extension of a 5% excise tax previously earmarked for telecommunications services in Nigeria, may not now happen.

The Kenyan government is mulling a division of the nation’s largest publicly listed company, Safaricom, into mobile, tower, and mobile money units, citing potential efficiency and value gains.