June 2026

MTN Ghana has hosted the 2026 MTN SME Accelerate Youth Entrepreneur Webinar as part of its sustained efforts to equip young entrepreneurs with the requisite skills, knowledge, and practical strategies needed to build and grow successful side businesses while pursuing higher education or managing full-time careers.

Held under the theme “The Side-Hustle Growth Playbook: Running a Business While in School or on a 9-to-5,” the webinar featured accomplished entrepreneurs who shared personal experiences and actionable insights on balancing professional commitments with entrepreneurship, inspiring participants to turn their passion projects into sustainable ventures.

The virtual session, moderated by media personality Afi Tsegah, focused on the growing importance of side businesses in today’s economy and featured insights from Ms. Chichi Yakubu, Founder and CEO of NyoNyo Essentials; Ms. Lawrencia Bazal Darko, Founder of Bazal Art Studios; and Princess Burland, influencer and Founder of Diya Organics.

Ms. Chichi Yakubu, Founder and CEO of NyoNyo Essentials, encouraged young entrepreneurs to embrace multiple income streams, stressing that the current economic climate makes it increasingly difficult to depend on a single source of income.

Sharing her entrepreneurial journey, she explained that what began as a personal weight-loss mission evolved into a thriving food business after she identified a growing demand for healthy meals and decided to turn her passion into a business opportunity.

Yakubu also urged aspiring entrepreneurs not to wait for the “perfect time” before launching a business, insisting that action and consistency are more important than having all the resources in place.

There is never really a right time. If you’re waiting to have enough money, the right network or the perfect platform, you will never start,” she said.

While encouraging boldness, she advised those seeking financial security to build their side hustles alongside full-time employment until they are confident their businesses can sustain their desired lifestyles.

“If you want to be safe and financially secure, find a job that caters to your needs and pursue your passion in your spare time. Those foundational years build character, resilience and the stamina needed to succeed as an entrepreneur,” she noted.

Yakubu further emphasized that entrepreneurs should focus on solving real-life problems, adding that identifying market gaps and creating practical solutions can transform personal interests into successful and sustainable businesses.

Ms. Lawrencia Bazal Darko, Founder of Bazal Art Studios and a legal practitioner, urged aspiring entrepreneurs to build businesses around skills they genuinely possess and to approach business formalization strategically.

Sharing her experience of transitioning from law into photography, she said founders should understand the core operations of their businesses to effectively supervise quality and ensure long-term sustainability.

“Before you think of starting a side hustle, it should be something you can supervise and something you can critique because you’re mostly not there,” she said, noting that many ventures fail because owners lack practical knowledge of the services they offer.

On business registration, Bazal Darko advised entrepreneurs to first test the viability of their ideas before formalizing them.

“From a lawyer’s perspective, I would say formalize the business the moment you conceive it, but from an entrepreneur’s perspective, I would say run the business for a while and make sure people outside your family and friends are willing to pay for your product or service,” she explained.

She cautioned that registering a business comes with legal and tax obligations, encouraging startups to prepare for those responsibilities before taking that step.

Bazal Darko also stressed the importance of protecting businesses through clear terms and conditions, policies and contracts, explaining that small businesses are often vulnerable to unfair treatment if expectations are not properly documented.

She further advised entrepreneurs to register as sole proprietors in the early stages where appropriate and to separate personal finances from business finances by opening dedicated business accounts.

“Separating your personal and business finances from the beginning helps you stay organized and also builds credibility with customers,” she advised.

She encouraged young entrepreneurs to complement legal advice with personal research, noting that understanding the regulatory environment and establishing sound business practices from the outset can position startups for sustainable growth.

Princess Burland, influencer and Founder of Diya Organics, also  advised young entrepreneurs to manage expectations, exercise patience, and adopt strategic thinking in building sustainable businesses amid social media pressure.

She cautioned that online perceptions of high demand are often misleading, noting that some businesses deliberately create the impression of scarcity or large-scale sales to drive interest.

“Sometimes what you see on social media is strategy. I’ve done it before starting with 10 products and telling people it was hundreds,” she said, adding that entrepreneurs should not abandon their ventures due to slow initial traction.

Burland urged business owners to understand that growth is often gradual and to remain consistent even when results are not immediate, stressing the importance of resilience in handling setbacks and operational challenges.

She also highlighted the need for professionalism in customer relations, encouraging entrepreneurs to remain calm and respectful when dealing with clients, especially in the age of social media accountability.

“You have to humble yourself for your clients, even when it is difficult, but at the same time maintain your policies so people don’t take advantage of you,” she said.

Burland summarized her advice as a balance of risk-taking, patience, emotional intelligence, and strong business boundaries for long-term success.

Source : www.newsghana.com.gh

The Director-General of the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) and Chair of the Africa Network of Cybersecurity Authorities (ANCA), Divine Selase Agbeti, has positioned Ghana at the centre of continental cybersecurity discussions at the Cyber and Information Security Exhibition and Conference (CAISEC) 2026 in Cairo, where he received a Special Achievement Award.

Speaking to government officials, regulators, industry leaders, and international partners, Mr Agbeti noted that cybersecurity had become central to national security, economic development, and digital trust. He called for stronger regional collaboration, investment in capacity development, and coordinated responses to increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.

He highlighted Ghana’s progress in cybersecurity regulation, critical information infrastructure protection, cybercrime response, incident management, and public-private partnerships. He urged African countries to move beyond isolated national efforts and work together to protect their digital economies.

As part of the conference, Mr Agbeti, in his capacity as ANCA Chair, presided over the inaugural Arab-Africa Cybersecurity Roundtable.

The meeting brought together cybersecurity authorities and policymakers from Africa and the Arab region to discuss threat intelligence sharing, cyber diplomacy, critical infrastructure protection, workforce development, cybercrime response, and digital trust.

Participants agreed to deepen institutional collaboration and develop practical mechanisms for sustained cooperation between both regions. The roundtable was described as a milestone for South-South cooperation and a signal of Africa’s growing role in global cybersecurity governance.

Mr Agbeti was also honoured with a Special Achievement Award for his contribution to cybersecurity policy, resilience, capacity building, and international cooperation across Ghana and Africa.

He dedicated the award to Ghana, the Cyber Security Authority, ANCA member states, and partners working to build a safer digital future.

Source : www.myjoyonline.com

The funding is expected to support initiatives aimed at extending communication services to underserved communities, improving digital access, and creating more opportunities for Ugandans to participate in the digital economy.

MTN Uganda has contributed UGX54.27 billion to Uganda’s Universal Service and Access Fund, reinforcing efforts to expand connectivity and promote digital inclusion across the country.

The contribution, which represents the operator’s statutory 2% levy, was handed over to the Uganda Communications Commission during a courtesy visit by MTN Uganda’s leadership team led by Chief Executive Officer Sylvia Mulinge.

The funding is expected to support initiatives aimed at extending communication services to underserved communities, improving digital access, and creating more opportunities for Ugandans to participate in the digital economy.

“Uganda has made remarkable progress in expanding connectivity. But here’s the uncomfortable reality: while the country has over 47 million mobile subscriptions, fewer than 19 million people actively use mobile internet.This tells us something important: connectivity is not the finish line. Participation is.”

– Sylvia Mulinge, Chief Executive Officer, MTN Uganda

Mulinge noted that as the government increases investment in ICT and innovation, the country’s focus should shift toward expanding access, affordability, and digital skills.

“A smartphone today is more than a device. It is a classroom, a bank account, a marketplace and a gateway to opportunity. That is why MTN Uganda’s contribution of UGX54.27 billion to the Universal Service & Access Fund is not just about infrastructure. It is about deepening inclusion, expanding opportunity and ensuring more Ugandans can participate meaningfully in the digital economy. That is why MTN Uganda’s contribution of UGX54.27 billion to the Universal Service & Access Fund is not just about infrastructure. It is about deepening inclusion, expanding opportunity and ensuring more Ugandans can participate meaningfully in the digital economy. The question before us is no longer whether Uganda is connected. It is whether every Ugandan can fully participate in the opportunities that connectivity creates.”

– Sylvia Mulinge, Chief Executive Officer, MTN Uganda

MTN Uganda also acknowledged the efforts of the Uganda Communications Commission and its Executive Director, George William Nyombi Thembo, in advancing the country’s digital inclusion agenda and expanding access to connectivity nationwide.

Source : www. techafricanews.com

At MWC Shanghai 2026, China Mobile Communications Group Hubei Co., Ltd (China Mobile Hubei for short) and Huawei announced the successful live-network validation of Huawei’s AI Inference Acceleration Solution, a first for China’s carrier industry. Powered by Huawei’s OceanStor A800 storage, Ascend A3 SuperPoD, and Unified Cache Manager (UCM), the solution delivers up to a 372% improvement in token throughput for long-sequence artificial intelligence (AI) inference workloads. This milestone provides important technical support for the efficient deployment of AI computing services by carriers.

Technological Innovation: Huawei UCM Eliminates Long-Sequence Inference Bottlenecks

As AI applications rapidly pivot toward AI agents, long-sequence scenarios—such as code generation and multi-turn dialogues—are becoming increasingly common. However, the limited capacity of conventional on-chip memory and dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) significantly constrains KV cache hit ratios, capping overall performance.

Huawei introduced the UCM in 2025 to directly address this challenge. By using external high-performance storage, UCM shatters conventional capacity limitations of on-chip memory and DRAM, enabling petabyte-scale KV cache capabilities. The solution implements full-lifecycle, hierarchical management and scheduling of KV cache, significantly expanding the context window for single-turn dialogues. For multi-turn dialogues, UCM reuses historical KV cache to eliminate redundant computations, delivering an optimized inference experience at lower inference costs.

Dramatic Performance Gains: Significant Improvements in both TTFT and TPS, Shown in Multi-Model Validation

The validation deployed the vLLM-Ascend framework in China Mobile Hubei’s live network environment and simulated long-sequence inputs, ranging from 8K to 190K tokens, across mainstream models such as MiniMax M2.5 and GLM-5.1. Key findings are as follows:

• MiniMax M2.5: With UCM enabled, the time to first token (TTFT) was improved by 26%–62%, alongside a substantial boost in tokens per second (TPS) per NPU. Looking closely at different sequence lengths, TPS was improved by 58% at a 64K sequence length and surged by 78% in a 128K long-sequence environment.
• GLM-5.1: TTFT was improved by 51%–93%, while TPS soared by 56%–372%. TPS rose by 313% at a 64K sequence length and skyrocketed by 372% in a 128K long-sequence environment.

The test results indicate that, as context length increases, the advantages of the AI Inference Acceleration Solution become even more pronounced. The solution effectively resolves the KV cache capacity bottleneck commonly encountered in long-sequence inference.

Value Amplified: Powering Mission-Critical Services in the Agentic Era

A representative from China Mobile Hubei noted: “Hubei is located in the core area with only 10 milliseconds of latency to the nation’s eight major computing power hubs. This test validates the necessity of storage-compute-network collaboration. In scenarios such as AI agent interaction and code generation, the AI Inference Acceleration Solution can increase throughput by over 50%, laying a solid foundation for the large-scale deployment of China Mobile Hubei’s AI services.”

Industry Outlook: Reshaping AI Data Infrastructure

Michael Qiu, President of the Huawei Global Data Storage Marketing & Solution Sales Department, remarked: “With major carriers launching token packages, the large-scale adoption of AI agents has clearly entered a new phase. Token consumption is expected to grow exponentially in the future. The AI Inference Acceleration Solution not only significantly reduces TTFT, but also helps slash token costs, enabling carriers to build efficient and green AI computing infrastructure.”

The successful validation marks a major step forward in the collaborative optimization of AI computing infrastructure for carriers, providing a replicable technical model for the global AI industry.

MWC Shanghai 2026 will be held from June 24 to June 26 in Shanghai, China. During the event, Huawei will showcase its latest products and solutions in Hall N1 of the Shanghai New International Expo Center (SNIEC).

The ICT industry is rapidly moving towards an era of token monetization. Huawei is collaborating with global carriers and partners to explore 5G-A high uplink and experience monetization, as well as AI-powered business upgrade, through enhanced connectivity and compute. Together, we will seize opportunities presented by token monetization.

Source : www.huawei.com

Ghana’s technology regulator will consult the market on Thursday on plans for a national digital document wallet operated by competing private providers.

The National Information Technology Agency (NITA) has scheduled a virtual Early Market Engagement session on the proposed Ghana Electronic Document Wallet (GEDW) for June 25 at 10:00 GMT. NITA is the agency responsible for implementing Ghana’s IT policies, established under Act 771 of 2008 as the ICT policy implementing arm of the Ministry of Communications.

The concept note published by NITA draws a contrast with India’s DigiLocker and signals that Ghana will adopt a different design: independent, accredited Electronic Wallet Service Providers (EWSPs) will operate the wallets commercially under NITA’s regulatory and technical standards, creating a market of competing providers rather than a single state-run platform. Under the design, wallets will not hold copies of official documents. Instead they will store only metadata and secure links, with documents retrieved on demand directly from the institutions that issued them.

Citizens, businesses and government agencies would use the ecosystem to receive, store, share and verify official digital records, covering everything from academic certificates to licences and government-issued permits, without needing physical copies. Authorised bodies such as government departments and educational institutions would connect as document issuers, while companies and service providers seeking to confirm credentials would access them as requesters within the same framework.

Thursday’s session will give participants an overview of the project’s proposed architecture, implementation strategy and regulatory framework. NITA said the engagement is designed to gather feedback and allow the market to shape the design before the project moves to procurement.

The agency added that private sector involvement is critical to ensuring the GEDW meets international standards for security, interoperability and user trust. Insights from the session will feed into the next phases of the project’s development.

Stakeholders interested in participating can access details and the NITA concept note at nita.gov.gh.

Source : www.newsghana.com.gh

The first batch of winners of the newly introduced monthly cash rewards in the Telecel Dream Car Promo have received their prizes at a ceremony at the Telecel Headquarters in the Airport.

The elated winners, Derek Allotey Murphy, Phebe Yayra Tibu, and Mercy Fixon-Owoo could not hide their excitement as the cash alerts hit their Telecel Cash accounts.

“I’m very excited about this reward. Now that I have won the cash, I’m going to work towards winning the car. I want to encourage everyone that this is real. It’s not a scam,” – Phebe, the proud winner of GHC 5,000, said.

The Telecel Dream Car Promo, an SMS-based trivia promo, which has been running since 2018, has been rewarding customers with weekly cash prizes, gadgets, and a grand prize of a brand-new 4×4 vehicle at the end of the 6-month cycle. The 15th cycle, which started in March 2026, will end in August 2026.

Speaking at the event, Catherine Manteaw, Digital and VAS manager, emphasized that this promo underscores the telecom operator’s ongoing commitment to rewarding customer loyalty and engagement with tangible, high-value incentives, and the introduction of the monthly cash prizes is another step toward keeping to that commitment.

“We want our customers to feel appreciated throughout this journey, not just at the finish line. Distributing the GHC100,000 prize pool into monthly cash rewards allows us to consistently deliver high-value excitement directly to our loyal customer base”, she said.

Run in partnership with Vasmol, the Dream Car promo is open to all Telecel customers. Participants subscribe by sending CAR to 2018 or dialing *2018#, after which they receive four trivia questions daily. Each correct answer earns 100 points, while incorrect answers earn 25 points. Weekly top scorers win up to GHC 2,000 in cash rewards, monthly top scorers win up to GHC 10,000, and the overall six-month top scorer drives away in a brand-new vehicle.

The initiative is supervised by the National Lottery Authority (NLA) on its Caritas Lottery platform, ensuring transparency, integrity, and fairness in the conduct of the subscription-based SMS trivia. Bright Ofori, Marketing Officer at the NLA, confirmed that the promo complies with all approved procedures to maintain the highest standards of transparency and consumer fairness and commended Telecel for consistently giving back to customers.

Source : www.citinewsroom.com

A young South African network engineer has achieved Huawei’s highest-level ICT certification, strengthening his ability to train and mentor students for careers in networking, cybersecurity and digital infrastructure.

Neo Rameetse, Senior Network Administrator at the University of Johannesburg and Huawei ICT Academy instructor, recently achieved the Huawei Certified ICT Expert (HCIE) certification, a milestone that reflects his professional growth and the growing importance of practical digital skills for young South Africans entering the technology sector.

His achievement comes as South Africa marks Youth Month, a period that places renewed focus on the opportunities, skills and support young people need to participate meaningfully in the country’s future economy.

“Young people who want to build careers in the digital economy need more than an interest in technology. They need curiosity, discipline, practical exposure and the willingness to keep learning as technologies evolve,” said Peter Sun, Strategy & Business Development Assistant at Huawei South Africa. 

Building a career in ICT has been a journey of curiosity, discipline and continuous learning for Rameetse. His Huawei certification journey began after he joined UJ in 2023. Having previously worked in other network technology systems at the University of the Witwatersrand, he recognised the need to deepen his understanding of Huawei technologies, which form a key part of UJ’s network infrastructure.

He enrolled in Huawei’s HCIP Datacom certification programme, building his technical knowledge before becoming a certified Huawei ICT Academy instructor. As his confidence and experience grew, he set his sights on HCIE, widely recognised as one of the most demanding certifications in the networking industry.

Achieving the certification required more than technical ability. It demanded long hours, discipline and personal sacrifice.

“The biggest challenge during my HCIE preparation was balancing my work responsibilities with studying and lab practice after hours,” said Rameetse. “It took energy, sleep and family time. To overcome this, I worked closely with my family, followed a strict study schedule and made full use of the practical lab opportunities available through the ICT Academy.”

The certification was not only about adding another qualification to his name. It changed the way Rameetse thinks about networks, problem-solving and teaching.

“Before earning the HCIE, engineering was often about solving the immediate problem in front of me,” said Rameetse. “The certification challenged me to think more deeply about network architecture, automation and innovation. As an educator, it changed how I teach. I want students to understand why networks behave the way they do, not simply how to configure them.”

His journey comes at a time when young South Africans are being encouraged to prepare for opportunities in a fast-changing digital economy. As industries become more technology-driven, careers in networking, cybersecurity, cloud and digital infrastructure are becoming increasingly important.

Practical skills and industry-recognised certifications can help young people bridge the gap between academic learning and the demands of the workplace.

“A university qualification remains important, but certifications help demonstrate practical competence,” said Rameetse. “They show employers that students understand the technologies being used in enterprise environments and can apply their knowledge in real-world scenarios.”

Through Huawei ICT Academy, students and instructors gain access to industry-aligned curriculum, certification pathways and practical technology training. This kind of exposure helps young people move from theory to practice, giving them a clearer understanding of what ICT careers require in real-world work environments.

Looking ahead, Rameetse hopes to continue advancing his work in network automation, cybersecurity and digital infrastructure while helping develop future generations of African technology professionals. His advice to young people pursuing careers in technology is to remain curious, keep learning and be prepared to put in the work.

“Africa is not just a consumer of global technology anymore. We are one of the fastest-growing frontiers for digital transformation,” said Rameetse. “The opportunities are there for those willing to put in the work, build their skills and continuously challenge themselves to grow.”

Source : www. htxt.co.za

Built on Ericsson’s continuous OSS/BSS portfolio evolution and the market-leading AI and Automation capabilities from across the whole Ericsson portfolio of products and solutions, the pathways, are pre-designed, integrated and proven operational and solution combinations to ensure expected outcomes are delivered.

To help Communication Service Providers (CSPs) realize their Autonomous Networks Operations (ANO) goals, and ensure successful ongoing transformation, Ericsson, through its Business and Operations Support Systems (OSS/BSS) portfolio, is introducing OSS/BSS Business Value Pathways.

Built on Ericsson’s continuous OSS/BSS portfolio evolution and the market-leading AI and Automation capabilities from across the whole Ericsson portfolio of products and solutions, the pathways, are pre-designed, integrated and proven operational and solution combinations to ensure expected outcomes are delivered.

The pathways enable CSPs to move beyond the addition of AI to legacy automation in order to speed up execution. Instead, they represent a more holistic approach resulting in targeted and specified transformation outcomes for intent-based network autonomy where a system plans, designs, validates, and runs the change required without human intervention.

These new pathways provide actionable routes to assured outcomes. They have been created from Ericsson’s extensive engagements with CSPs globally and its comprehensive, integrated portfolio delivering the full stack, standards aligned architecture required for high-performing autonomous networks. The pathways can be tailored to a broad range of CSP priorities, with a particular focus on delivery across three high-impact areas: Accelerating monetization, enabling experience and improving efficiency. They have been designed to establish a strong base for Autonomous Networks Operations and the delivery of specific goals, providing value rapidly in select areas as CSPs progress towards substantial levels of autonomy in multiple high-value scenarios.

Today there are three defined and adjustable pathways, bringing together cross-portfolio capabilities, powered by Agentic AI. Recognizing that data is the base on which every autonomous decision is made, Ericsson is also introducing a foundational pathway focused on modernizing data management to ensure the right data in the right form is available to power a reliable knowledge plane, and provide quality, reliable intelligence. Over time, more pathways will be added as autonomy ambitions expand:

• Foundation – Faster data transformation: Replacing traditional batch pipelines with agile streaming-first architecture, delivering faster access to the right data, facilitating instant, reliable decisions in real-time and better monetization opportunities
• Zero-touch product launch: Apply AI and automation across the full product lifecycle to gain new revenue from products quickly and easily
• Agentic AI service experience: Enables operations teams to predict, diagnose and resolve subscriber-impacting issues faster through AI-driven analytics, streaming data and domain-specific intelligence while building trust in explainable closed-loop automation to prevent issues
• Agentic AI intelligent IT operations: Unify and simplify the operations interface for engineers, and resolve operations issues faster with better accuracy

“Autonomous Network transformation needs to happen now, at speed and at scale, but barriers and complexity present a challenge. The new telco-specific pathways will help CSPs re-draw how they approach their network and IT evolution, helping them to focus on achieving specified outcomes as they accelerate the creation and monetization of new services, improve overall efficiency, and provide customers of all types with ever-improving differentiated experiences. Our OSS/BSS portfolio is continuously evolving, and is a vital tool to help CSPs deliver on the promise of Autonomous Networks, using it to achieve the ultimate service goal of sell, deliver, and get paid.”

– Mats Karlsson, Head of Solution Area Business and Operations Support Systems

“Ericsson is facilitating an OSS/BSS evolution predicated on the goal of delivering autonomous network operations at scale. Its Business Value Pathways are a pragmatic response to operators’ desire to be led by business outcomes, not technology hype cycles. The desire for high levels of autonomy is strong, but the evidence suggests progress has been less so. With this launch, Ericsson is addressing concerns about both transformation risk and also ultimate business value. That requires a combination of deep telco domain knowledge, operational experience, an understanding of data and AI, and modern IT practices – all of which Ericsson can demonstrate.”

– Grant Lehanan, Partner and Principal Analyst, Appledore Research

The pathways are supported through the extensive Ericsson Intelligent IT Suite and the continuously evolving OSS/BSS portfolio. The Intelligent IT Suite is a modular, AI-driven, cloud-native service-lifecycle suite that integrates delivery-to-run capabilities into a seamless, non-siloed journey. It supports CSPs ongoing IT evolution, directing focus to outcomes achieved rather than milestones completed.

The Business Value Pathways are being introduced at a consequential moment. Ericsson has recently published an industry perspective paper, co-authored with Telstra warning of the “Fragility Trap” risk to the industry if real change is only half-embraced. We outline how true autonomy will be based on intent and driven by AI so systems can make safe, explainable decisions without humans in the cognitive loop.

The Business Value Pathways, alongside other elements from Ericsson supporting CSP’s Autonomous Networks transformation can be seen through Ericsson’s presence at DTW Ignite in Copenhagen from the 23rd to the 25th of June. Explore our conference agenda here. Source : www. techafricanews.com

MTN said that it would welcome any return to stability that supports the regional business landscape in the Middle East in the wake of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.

This followed news that the United States had signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran as a precursor to peace negotiations, and reports of a positive first day of negotiations.

Crucially, one of the stipulations of the memorandum was the U.S. terminating all sanctions against Iran, which would pave the way for MTN to exit its stake in Irancell.

Since 2020, MTN’s strategy has been to exit the Middle East entirely. It has already divested its stakes in mobile operators in Syria, Afghanistan, and Yemen.

However, it said it has been unable to sell its stake in Irancell due to U.S. sanctions. It has been placed in a position where it must either abandon the business or hope for better days.

“You cannot take money in, and you cannot take money out,” MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita has said, adding that the company’s investment in Iran was “a frozen asset”.

As a result of sanctions imposed by the United States on 20 September 2019, MTN can’t access R2.3 billion that is effectively frozen in its Iranian business.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank for allegedly funding terrorist organisations.

“Iran’s Central Bank has provided billions of dollars to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), its Qods Force (IRGC-QF), and its terrorist proxy, Hezbollah,” it stated.

At the time, OFAC had imposed the sanctions on the central bank after the country conducted military strikes on Saudi Arabia, a major U.S. partner.

“Iran’s brazen attack against Saudi Arabia is unacceptable,” OFAC said. “Treasury’s action targets a crucial funding mechanism that the Iranian regime uses to support its terrorist network.”

This pressure has made MTN’s 49% stake in Irancell one of its most challenging international business ventures.

Making matters worse for MTN is the uncertainty that, when the sanctions are lifted, there will be any money left in Irancell to take.

Since 2025, the Iranian Rial has weakened significantly against the U.S. dollar by as much as 45%. One U.S. dollar traded for as much as 1.6 million rials.

Iran is facing a systemic economic crisis amid continued conflict with Israel and the United States, and MTN was forced to watch its investment go up in flames.

In the results, the telecom stated that outstanding receivables from Iran amounted to R2.8 billion in 2024, indicating a near R500 million loss in value as of December 2025 — before the recent escalation.

This amount is likely to continue decreasing, despite Irancell’s ongoing operations. A point reflected in the latest results: MTN’s share of earnings in Irancell dropped 32% from the year prior to R3.2 billion.

Some good news for MTN came in paragraph 7 of the memorandum of understanding signed between the U.S. and Iran. It is reproduced verbatim below.

Michael Crowley, White House correspondent for The New York Times, said relief from crushing economic sanctions may be the only thing that can persuade Iran to surrender its nuclear programme.

Crowley wrote that this was the basis for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which traded sanctions relief for strict caps on Iran’s nuclear activity.

“Those caps were limited to a maximum of 15 years, however, and U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants much longer — or even permanent — constraints on Tehran’s nuclear programme.”

However, Crowley said a big challenge would be determining the “agreed-upon schedule” that establishes what sanctions the United States will remove, and when, as Iran fulfils its nuclear commitments.

“That will likely mean a gradual process in which the two mistrustful sides take alternating incremental steps.”

When MyBroadband asked MTN for comment about the memorandum and U.S.–Iran negotiations, it declined to speculate what a deal would mean for the company.

“As you know, since 2006, MTN Group has held a 49% investment in Irancell, which is not under MTN’s operational control,” it said.

“We would welcome any return to stability that supports the regional business landscape. We currently have no staff on the ground and continue monitoring developments.”

Source : www. mybroadband.co.za

She assumes the role after serving as General Manager, Architecture and Engineering, a position she held since July 2019.

MTN Nigeria has appointed Bukola Ajayi as its new Chief Information Officer (CIO), promoting a long-serving technology executive with more than two decades of experience at the telecommunications operator.

Ajayi succeeds Shoyinka Shodunke, who has served as CIO since 2021. She assumes the role after serving as General Manager, Architecture and Engineering, a position she held since July 2019.

The appointment underscores MTN Nigeria’s continued emphasis on developing and promoting talent from within its ranks, particularly for strategic leadership positions.

Ajayi brings more than 20 years of experience within MTN, having held several leadership roles across information systems, enterprise operations, solution delivery, and product development.

Prior to leading Architecture and Engineering, she served as Senior Manager for Enterprise and Customer Experience Operations, where she oversaw critical business systems including enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), billing platforms, mediation systems, reporting, number management, and voucher provisioning.

She also previously served as Senior Manager in the Information Systems Group and as Solution Delivery and Product Development Manager, building extensive experience in enterprise technology, systems integration, and digital service delivery.

In her new role, Ajayi will oversee the information systems infrastructure that supports MTN Nigeria’s operations, including enterprise applications, customer platforms, billing systems, data management, and digital service delivery.

Beyond her corporate responsibilities, Ajayi is a recognised advocate for women in technology and digital skills development. She was named among MTN’s “27 Leading Nigerian Women in ICT” and has spoken at various industry forums, including events organised by the Nigerian Women in Information Technology (NIWIIT) network.

She has consistently championed mentorship, technology skills development, and the advancement of women into leadership roles within the technology sector.

MTN Nigeria, the largest mobile network operator in the country, is listed on the Nigerian Exchange and is led by Chief Executive Officer Karl Toriola. The company serves millions of subscribers and remains one of the largest operating businesses within the MTN Group.

Ajayi’s appointment places her among the most influential technology executives in Nigeria’s telecommunications sector, with responsibility for the systems and platforms that underpin the company’s consumer and enterprise services.

Source : www. cioafrica.co