Telkom Kenya and Airtel Kenya have agreed to merge their respective Mobile, Enterprise and Carrier Services businesses in Kenya to form Airtel-Telkom. Telkom Kenya Limited’s real estate portfolio and specific government services will not form part of the combined entity. The final…
Telkom has raised $40 million in debt from the European Investment Bank to grow its 3G and 4G coverage throughout Kenya, improve mobile connectivity, Fibre-To-The-Building (FTTB) network and improve the quality of service offered to enterprise and corporate customers. Telkom, which is the…
MTN Uganda, part of the MTN Group has announced a $270,000 Startup Fund and granted access to third-parties to its Mobile Money Access Programming Interface (API) to create products that ease payment options and leverage the 10M of MTN clients registered on Mobile…
Safaricom’s merchant payments service Lipa Na M-PESA has been upgraded for faster and more private cashless payments to benefit more than 21 million monthly active M-PESA customers with faster transactions and increased privacy by eliminating the need to show transaction confirmation messages….
Telkom has today issued the requisite thirty-day notice to relevant authorities and company stakeholders, of an intended workforce-restructuring exercise. In the statutory notification to the Ministry of Labour, Telkom Kenya has indicated that it is considering declaring about 500 employees, redundant. Since…
Telkom announces the launch of the All-Network-Bundles, that will see customers on the network make calls for as low as KSh1.50 cents, per minute. The bundles, spaced out into four tiers, will see customers pay KSh 19 for a daily bundle, through…
Bharti Airtel’s Airtel Africa has sold a $1.25 billion stake to six leading global investors comprising Warburg Pincus, Temasek, Singtel, SoftBank Group International and others through a primary equity issuance in the company at a post money equity value of ~ USD 4.4 billion. The proceeds will be…
In view of the recent increase in excise duty, other taxes and rising input costs, Airtel Kenya has announced it has been constrained to increase its headline voice and data tariffs by 30 cents each and its SMS tariff by 10 cents…
Safaricom has increased its voice, SMS and Data prices after the recent changes to taxes passed through the Finance Act 2018 which called for the increase of Excise Duty tax applicable on Voice, SMS and Data services from 10% to 15%. The…
Boost by Overview has launched to help users select and buy the best airtime bundle for their needs after analyzing a user’s requirements for data, SMS and minutes. Boost helps users compare, select and purchase the bundles that fit you best at…
Helios, an Africa-focused private investment firm has acquired a 76% stake in MENA’s direct carrier billing firm TPAY provider from A15, a leading tech investment fund based in Egypt. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. A15 and senior management will remain…
Safaricom has launched a three-month campaign to increase smartphone uptake among Kenya’s feature phone users by offering affordable 3G devices, convenient payment terms and personalized data offers. Through the “Maisha Ni Digital” campaign, Safaricom hopes to give at least 10 million Kenyans access…
Telkom has revamped its Fibre-to-the-Building broadband speeds with a 1Gbps offering to attract more businesses and individuals looking for high speed fibre internet to their premises in the city and across the country. This comes just a year after the company rebranded,…
Rain, a new generation 4G network has launched in South Africa with plans to redefine how South Africans use mobile data and their costs. Rain is 20% owned by the Patrice Motsepe owned African Rainbow Capital Investments (ARC) among others. Former FNB CEO,…
Vodacom Tanzania PLC today marks 10 years since the introduction of Vodacom M-Pesa in Tanzania. Over the past decade, Vodacom M-Pesa has evolved into a robust ecosystem of services covering utility payments, mobile banking, savings and loans, international remittance and much more,…
John Mwangi is a Kenyatta University graduate student finalizing his MBA research and doing online his accountancy and financial examinations from various bodies, both locally and internationally. To do his research, he spends his time in the field interviewing coffee and dairy…
Kenya has seen a dramatic election period that was characterized by bitter rigging accusations by the National Super Alliance to Jubilee, the ruling party. In the accusations, the country biggest telcom according to subscriber numbers was roped in with the opposition insisting…
French telco Orange Group has launched its new banking offer in mainland France. This 100% mobile-based offer dubbed Orange Bank will offer free real-time balances, mobile payment and a virtual adviser that is available 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. The telco…
Orange has officially launched its brand in Sierra Leone after completing the acquisition of Airtel Sierra Leone in July 2016 with plans to modernize and expand its coverage and quality of its network, and voice and data services. With seven million people, Sierra Leone is…
Mobile money services continue to soar in popularity among Kenyans as evidenced by the latest numbers where Kenyans have made transactions worth Ksh 1.2 trillion in the fourth quarter of the 2016/2017 financial year. According to the Communications Authority Sector Statistics report for…
The director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Keriako Tobiko has directed that six Safaricom officers and Jubilee Party chief agent David Chirchir be investigated for allegedly playing a role in the flawed general election held on August 8 2017. Tobiko wants the Directorate…
Privacy is an issue subscribers in Kenya hold closely to their hearts so it is no surprise that the country is buzzing with the news of Justice Isaac Lenaola’s letter to Safaricom, a telecommunication giant in Kenya. In the letter that was…
Fenix International, a venture-backed pay-to-own home solar system technology and and financial services firm has raised funds from MTN, the Swedish Embassy in Zambia and USAID to launch pay-to-own solar home systems in Zambia. The funding together with MTN’s distribution networks will…
Liquid Telecom has successfully raised $700 million to refinance the group’s existing debt and to support its growth strategy as it continues to rapidly scale and expand its network capabilities and service offering across Africa. The group raised $550 million in the…
Kenya’s mobile money integrator for merchants Tangazoletu has marked ten years of its existence with an ambitious target to bring ten million unbanked Kenyans in the informal sector through financial technology solutions. According to Chief Executive Officer of Tangazoletu Mr.Chris Gathingu the…
Etisalat Nigeria has changed its brand name to 9Mobile according to the demands of its investors. Mubadala Group had given Etisalat 3 weeks to drop the Etisalat which must have prompted this name change. The United Arab Emirates company owns a 45% in…
While the Nation was still reeling from the effects of the outage of the dominant international fiber cable operator Main One, we were hit with the news of the financial/commercial crisis at one of the 4 dominant telecommunications operators Etisalat Nigeria. The…
GameMine, a US-based mobile game publisher has partnered with South African’s Vodacom Group to provide a selection of its ad-free mobile games free of charge to Vodacom subscribers. During the promotional trial period, millions of Vodacom subscribers will enjoy GameMine’s more than…
Safaricom’s youth focused sub-brand Blaze has launched the second season of its youth focused reality show BLAZE Be Your Own Boss (BYOB) to reach more youth to join and remain loyal to its network. “We are glad that the first edition of…
Getting reliable data on consumer spending is almost impossible in Kenya and other informal markets across Africa, as there is no data collected on how informal consumers spend, who else is serving that same market and if there are any changes in…
