News & Insights

Mobile money transaction values grew 39% in 2021 in Africa to US$701.4 billion – making up about 70% of global transaction values which hit over $1 trillion for the first time in 2021.

Telecom Egypt has secured a medium-term loan of €150 million (US$167 million) from the European Investment Bank (EIB), which it will use to expand its 4G network.

The mobile gender gap increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and women in Africa are still hugely impacted. That's according to stats from the GSMA as part of a preview of its Mobile Gender Gap Report 2022 which is due to be released in June 2022.

Ghana's government has given citizens an extra four months to register their SIM cards as part of an ongoing registration campaign in the country.

MTN Group has announced new leadership appointments for its businesses in Nigeria, Iran and Sudan – all of them internal candidates.

MTN Nigeria plans to connect an additional 2,000 rural communities in the West African nation during 2022. That's according to MTN Nigeria Chairman Ernest Ndukwe, who made the statement during a visit to South Africa as part of a bi-national conference.

Pan-African telecoms operator Orange and UN Women are joining forces to support digital inclusion and economic empowerment for women in rural West Africa.

Lack of physical addressing affects half the world, especially in emerging economies, and costs businesses $200 billion a year. That's according to smart addressing system company OkHi, which has come up with a unique way to provide Africans with verifiable addresses.

In Middle East and Africa in February 2022, some of the key highlights included Botswana and Zimbabwe joining South Africa, Mauritius and Seychelles as the only countries in sub-Saharan Africa that have launched commercial 5G services while Kenya joined Zambia in developing a 5G roadmap.

MTN's fintech and data business is a strong growth sector for the pan-African telco as it moves forward with plans to spin off the fintech business into a standalone entity.

Satellite and terrestrial network operator Intelsat has signed a deal with Orange Mali to bring 3G and 4G connectivity to hard-to-reach areas in Mali, the eighth-largest country in Africa.

MTN plans to invest over $1 billion in infrastructure and information systems in Ghana over the next five years, the group said on Tuesday as part of the local unit's full-year results announcement.

Vanu Inc has begun deploying hundreds of off-grid basestations to rural communities in Nigeria through a partnership with Information Connectivity Solutions Limited (ICSL), on behalf of a leading Nigerian mobile network operator (MNO).

Launched in 2019 by Tope Sulaimon, Boluwatife Arewa and Olumide Ogunleye, Nigeria's Scrapays uses USSD, mobile app, web app and Internet of Things technology to facilitate the decentralized recovery of recyclable waste. 

Africa's pool of professional developers grew by 3.8% in 2021, to around 716,000, and local developers are being paid more, despite the contraction of the global economy and challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

A number of African operators are stepping up to help during the COVID-19 outbreak that is now affecting at least 30 African nations, with more than 470 confirmed cases on the continent.

Mobile data prices in Nigeria have dropped by 75% over five years. This according to Research ICT Africa's (RIA's) 1GB Basket statistics, which show the average price of 1GB of data has dropped from $11.15 in mid-2014 to $2.78 at the end of 2019.