Airtel Africa gets first payment from Tanzania deal
05 January 2022
Airtel Africa received its first payment of US$159m from selling its mobile phone tower assets in Tanzania, the operator said.
The US$176.1m sale of circa 1,400 Tanzanian towers was agreed in June last year with a buyer made up by a joint venture owned by US-based SBA Communications Corp and UK-based Paradigm Infrastructure.
The balance of the sale payment will be made in instalments once the transfer of the remaining towers is completed.
Airtel said around US$60m of the proceeds will be invested in network and sales infrastructure in Tanzania and for distribution to the government of Tanzania, with the balance used to reduce group debt.
Find out more South Sudan: MTN and NuRAN Wireless finalise agreement for 250 new telecom sites
04 January 2022
Remote and more impoverished areas of South Sudan are being targeted
MTN South Sudan and Canadian mobile wireless infrastructure solutions provider NuRAN Wireless have finalised an agreement to roll out 250 telecom sites via a "build, operate and transfer" revenue-sharing model over the next 24 months in rural areas of the country.
The agreement is the next step of an initial memorandum of understanding signed in July last year and Diatile Zondo, MTN South Sudan's chief financial officer, said the partnership with NuRAN Wireless is in line with the company's vision to provide a connected life for everyone, especially in rural areas.
Find out more
Zimbabwe's mobile telecom revenue rises 15.8%
04 January 2022
The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) data showed mobile telecoms operators’ revenues increased by 15.8% to US$19.5bn during the third quarter of 2021.
The performance was also boosted by a rise in active mobile telephone subscriptions, which increased by 3,4% to 13,9 million during the review period, compared to 13.5 million during the second quarter of 2021.
This translated to a 2.2% rise in mobile phone penetration rate to 93.5% compared to 91.3% during the previous quarter.
Find out more Telkom Kenya 'welcomes' review
31 December 2021
Telkom Kenya said it welcomes the Communication Authority of Kenya’s review of the mobile termination rates (MTRs) and fixed termination rates (FTRs) from the previous Ksh0.99 to Ksh0.12.
The review is timely and a progressive step towards making voice services more affordable and accessible to more Kenyans, the company said.
Telkom added that voice, data, and financial services, are now a daily necessity. It said that globally, big and dominant players or incumbents in mobile telephony markets have had a pricing advantage due to the imbalance of connecting traffic between themselves and other network operators.
Find out more