Dubai-based digital assets infrastructure company Hodler Investments and Chinese clean energy company Golden Concord Group (GCL) have agreed to jointly invest in an off-grid energy infrastructure project in Ethiopia to power data centres that support high-demand applications, including artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain.

Nokia has announced that South African internet service provider Fibertime will deploy Nokia’s fibre solution to rapidly expand broadband access to underserved regions of South Africa.

Orange Centrafrique says it has become the first mobile operator in the Central African Republic (CAR) to sign a 4G license with the Ministry of Digital Economy, Posts and Telecommunications, paving the way for 4G to finally be launched in the country.

In its latest report, the GSMA projected that tackling key connectivity barriers to facilitate AI, 5G, and satellite adoption could add $170 billion to Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP by 2030.

Several civil society organisations in Mozambique have reportedly filed an injunction against mobile operators TMcel, Vodacom and Movitel over ongoing mobile internet shutdowns and blocked access to social media and messaging sites.

Ericsson announced on Tuesday it has completed the expansion and modernisation of MTN Rwanda’s network in Kigali to extend coverage and make the network ready for 5G rollouts in the future.

Funke Opeke, founder and CEO of Nigerian internet connectivity giant MainOne, has stepped down from her role after 14 years – two years after digital infrastructure business Equinix bought her company, albeit news reports indicate that the completion of MainOne’s full integration with Equinix, was more recent, taking place this month.

While Nigerian plans to open up the market to many new MVNOs are not necessarily guaranteed success, they have certainly been good for Wireless Technology Labs (WTL), which recently announced that it had been chosen by MobileCoreX Ltd (MCX), a Nigerian mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE), to spearhead the development of the country’s first mobile virtual network.

State-owned operator Ethio Telecom has officially expanded its commercial 5G network in southern Ethiopia, as the operator continues to deploy fifth-generation technology.

Recently in the news for a strategic partnership with Jaza Energy to deploy solar-powered hubs at 250 towers in underserved communities across Nigeria, IHS Nigeria, a subsidiary of the IHS Towers group, has now made headlines with another solar-related contribution: the donation of four solar-powered boreholes to support victims of recent floods in Maiduguri, Borno State.

Governments in Mozambique and Mauritius have reportedly shut down access to social media and messaging sites, as Mozambique deals with election protests while Mauritius is trying to control the fallout of an alleged wiretapping scandal.

A flurry of deals and agreements underlines the continuing competition for a piece of the still-growing digital payment market in Africa. Some of the big names in the frame in two of the most recent announcements are Standard Bank, Volante Technologies, Orange Middle East and Africa (OMEA) and Mastercard.

American Tower (ATC), a provider of digital communications infrastructure, and ProFuturo, a digital education programme promoted by the Telefonica Foundation and Spanish not-for-profit banking foundation la Caixa Foundation, have jointly announced the expansion of their alliance to Nigeria to foster digital inclusion in schools in Africa.

The GSMA predicts that telecom reforms that spurred investment in mobile technology could add over ETB1.3 trillion (US$10. 3 billion) to Ethiopia’s GDP by 2028.

Airtel Africa reported customer base and profit growth, but continued to grapple with currency devaluation on the continent as revenues and EBITDA declined.

Digital infrastructure company Equinix announced it has opened its first International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre in South Africa, and is already onboarding new customers and partners.

According to industry body the GSMA, 43% of the global population still does not use mobile internet, highlighting device affordability and digital skills as the main barriers.

Ethio Telecom is back in the news – this time via plans to launch a smart city project in Bahir Dar, capital city of the Amhara region in northern Ethiopia, following the deployment of commercial 5G services.

Orange once again highlighted the “outstanding performance” of its Africa and Middle East unit, which led growth in its third-quarter financial results.

Kenyan operator Safaricom's M-Pesa mobile money service has teamed up with Kenyan start-up tappi to digitise 650,000 business users in the country.

Telecom Namibia said on Monday it has launched a dedicated whistleblowing hotline that enables anyone – including its own employees – to report any fraudulent and corrupt activities being committed within Telecom Namibia’s organisation.

Ericsson said on Friday its Nigerian unit has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian government to establish a framework of cooperation covering 5G technology development, deployment and innovation.

Hormuud Telecom strengthened its EVC Plus mobile money platform by making it interoperable with MyBank and Agro Bank, with plans to onboard more banks in 2025.

Satellite and terrestrial network operator Intelsat has unveiled a new satellite cellular backhaul service platform, located at  the Open Access Data Centres facility in Lagos, Nigeria. Data centre facility provider OADC is a division of core digital infrastructure solutions and managed network services company WIOCC.

Kenyan service provider Safaricom has announced a strategic partnership with Cloudflare, a global web infrastructure and cybersecurity provider, and Copycat, a leading systems integrator in East Africa. This collaboration, it says, will significantly reduce the costs of integrated cybersecurity services for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Research from Finnish vendor Nokia predicts that one in four mobile subscriptions in the Middle East and Africa will be connected via 5G within the next five years.

Analyst firm Canalys reported that global smartphone shipments grew 5% year-on-year in Q3 2024, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of growth. 

Kenyan and Ethiopian service provider Safaricom has extended its M-Pesa Global service – which enables M-Pesa registered customers to send and receive money globally – to Ethiopia, allowing customers to make mobile money transactions from Kenya to Ethiopia.

Somalian operators Hormuud Telecom, Golis Telecom, and the GSMA have moved to deepen their collaboration with NGOs by developing a strategy to fully harness mobile technology for humanitarian efforts.

Leading financial services platform Mukuru has announced the launch of its new mobile wallet in Malawi, the Mukuru Wallet, which, Mukuru says, is designed to address the growing demand for a convenient, secure, efficient way to manage funds and make money transfers.

The government of Ghana said that it has implemented free roaming with Benin and Togo, enabling residents of all three West African countries to use their mobile services without having to pay international roaming charges.