Telcos Unite to Challenge Starlink in Rural African Markets

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(By Chinomso Sunday)

As Elon Musk’s Starlink quickly grows in popularity and expands across Africa, major telecommunications companies are joining forces to reduce the high costs associated with setting up and maintaining mobile base stations in the continent’s rural areas.

These mobile network operators are now forming joint ventures that will allow them to share expenses for the deployment and management of cell towers in these regions. This collaboration signals the next phase of competition between traditional telcos and internet service providers.

Recently, Vodacom and Orange announced they are collaborating to create a “rural tower partnership” in Africa – that will see them jointly build, own, and operate solar-powered mobile base stations in underserved areas, starting with DR Congo.

“The initiative will extend network coverage and enable access to telecommunications and mobile financial services to up to 19 million people in less densely populated rural communities, reinforcing their commitment to bridging the digital divide and driving inclusive growth,” the telcos said in a joint statement.

Entry of internet providers like Starlink have upended competition landscape for telcos – on higher internet speeds, prices and coverage base because of their reliance on satellite – a competitive advantage over traditional telecom operators – allowing them to extend network coverage to remote areas without the need for a base station.

Cost of putting up base stations and sustainability powering and running them in rural areas has been particularly a major headache for the operators.

GSMA’s recent report titled “Rural Renewal: Telcos and Sustainable Energy in Africa” lists low population density, rising energy costs, expenses related to backhaul infrastructure, and the necessity for strong towers as key factors that strain the operators financially, hindering many from expanding coverage in rural areas.

“A base station in a remote rural area costs, on average, 35–40% more to run than one in a city, and this can be even higher in some countries,” according to the GSMA report.

According to the report, Africa has around 300,000 mobile sites. of these, 68% of base stations are on-grid, 7% are powered by mini-grids, 9% are on bad grids and 16% are off-grid. This means 32% of mobile base stations – approximately 96,000 – are either off-grid or on bad grids.

Across Africa, 40% of the mobile base stations are in rural or remote areas.

In rural Africa, mobile network services are either too expensive or unreliable- two key aspects that are making Starlink become a choice for internet service provision.

To navigate the rural network challenges, Vodacom and Orange have pledged to jointly construct up to 2,000 new solar-powered base stations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one of Africa’s largest countries, over the next six years, using 2G and 4G technologies.

The two rival companies have initially committed to putting up 1,000 sites, after which Orange and Vodacom may scale the project by a further 1,000 towers.

“The completion of this joint venture remains subject to the approval of administrative, regulatory, and competition authorities,” according to the joint statement.

Their first joint base station is expected to start operating in 2025, where the two telcos will be sharing active and passive equipment owned by the joint venture as anchor tenants for an initial term of 20 years. 

As part of the agreement, the joint venture will open up the passive cell towers for other mobile network operators to ramp on.

“Collaborating with Vodacom by sharing both passive and active infrastructure is the most effective approach to fulfilling our commitment to accelerating connectivity access for everyone, including rural areas, while minimizing our environmental footprint,” said Orange Middle East and Africa Chief Executive Officer, Jérôme Hénique.

Orange operates in 18 countries across Africa and the Middle East and had 160 million customers by the end of September 2024 while Vodacom’s operations in South Africa, the DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Tanzania have attracted a customer base of 210 million.

Starlink, which also relies on satellites to bridge the continent’s connectivity gap, has grown significantly in popularity in Africa since its launch in 2019. By 2024, it was forced to pause new subscriptions across five out of the 16 countries where it operates, due to network overload, especially in major cities and urban centres.

As of November 2024, Starlink had sold out its service in major cities across Nigeria, Kenya, Madagascar, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Starlink is also advancing its entry into the Direct-to-Cell network and plans to launch a constellation of hundreds of satellites to enhance this initiative.

The satellite internet provider targeting to connect users through standard LTE/4G protocols on their existing phones, without requiring new devices, upgrades, or special apps, has confirmed significant investments in this project for 2025.

“We look forward to expanding our testing to include greater coverage; launching hundreds of satellites to enable our text constellation; working toward our voice, data, and IoT constellation in 2025; and expanding our global footprint,” said Starlink in a statement on its website.

Mobile network operators Vodacom and MTN Group are also in the race to make a foray into the Direct to Cell network to enhance their terrestrial mobile networks – for rollout to remote areas.

(Source: newscentral.africa)

Nigeria’s Telecoms Regulator Approves 50% Tariff Increase

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Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has approved a 50% increase in tariff rates for telecom services. This decision follows a request from operators, who had initially proposed a 100% hike to address mounting operational costs.

The NCC stated that the tariff adjustment, the first since 2013, aims to bridge the gap between increasing operational expenses and revenue while maintaining service quality. The regulator noted that the approval was made with consideration for ongoing industry reforms to ensure long-term sustainability.

The decision comes as Nigeria faces economic challenges, including high inflation driven by currency devaluation and subsidy removal policies implemented by President Bola Tinubu in 2023. Although inflation began to stabilize mid-2024, subsequent petrol price hikes reignited cost pressures, further straining businesses.

The NCC emphasized that the tariff increase reflects the economic realities affecting the telecommunications sector, ensuring that operators can continue delivering reliable services without compromising quality.

Nigeria’s mobile market

Nigeria has the largest mobile market in Africa, with nearly 140 million mobile subscriptions recorded by the end of 2024, according to statistics from the market research firm Omdia. This figure reflects a decline over the past two years due to the deactivation of millions of unregistered SIM cards to comply with regulatory requirements.

In comparison, Egypt had 128.5 million mobile subscriptions in 2024, South Africa had approximately 114 million, Ethiopia had around 88 million, Ghana had about 39 million, and Kenya surpassed 69 million subscriptions by the end of last year. Omdia forecasts that Nigeria will exceed 292 million mobile subscriptions by 2029. The Nigerian mobile market is served by four major operators.

The largest operator is MTN, with an estimated 78.1 million mobile users at the end of 2024. Airtel follows with 52.1 million users, Glo Mobile has nearly 8.6 million, and 9Mobile accounts for just 1.1 million users, according to Omdia’s market intelligence.

TELECOMS INFRASTRUCTURE IS CRITICAL NATIONAL ASSET- TELECOMS CHAMBER

Ghana Chamber of Telecoms
Group photo of participants at the workshop

Telecommunication infrastructure should be classified as critical national infrastructure of security concern and legal punitive measures instituted against recalcitrant people whose actions and inaction caused interruptions in its flow to serve as deterrent to others.

The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT) which made the suggestion expressed disappointment that huge sums of monies that could go into expansion works on telecom infrastructure was being used to fix damages and vandalisation of fibre optics across the country.

Mr. Kenneth Ashigbey, Chief Executive of the Chamber who made the call, identified government utility service providers as the leading culprits in major fibre optic cuts, accounting for about 55 percent of all cuts as a result of lack of coordination and cooperation within the agencies.

He was speaking at the Chamber’s Central Regional Right of Way (ROW) sensitisation workshop on “collaborating to safeguard communication infrastructure” organised jointly by National Engineering Coordinating Team (NECT) and the National Communication Authority (NCA) in Cape Coast on Thursday.

The engagement brought together stakeholders including road contractors, utility service providers, local government actors, regulators and others who work within the reservations or play critical roles in its management.

Mr. Ashigbey named the agencies as the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), Power Distribution Service (PDS) and Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and others like the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA), while private developers, mining and thefts accounted for over 25 per cent, resulting in huge financial loss and inconveniences in customer service to clients.

He revealed that the mobile Industry experienced over 2,000 incidents of fibre cuts, and 600 incidents of theft at base stations affecting over 18 million subscribers within the first half of the year 2019.

This cost the industry over GH¢30million in direct repairs with over 150,000 litres of diesel and 240 batteries stolen from their cell sites and an average monthly cuts of $748,518.00.

Assessing the national impact of fibre cuts, he indicated that it remained a great loss of revenue to government and service operators, disruption of banking services and created negative consumer perception of teleco services.

He added that over 20 percent of fibre cuts had negatively impacted traffic due to either network capacity reduction or congestion increases, making it difficult for customers to make or receive calls and further called for sustained stakeholder education and improved coordination between road and utility agencies for them to appreciate the impact of damages of communication infrastructure on the nation.

The Chamber would therefore develop an action plan towards effective collaboration and better coordination within the Right of Ways, while preserving each other’s infrastructure and also engage security agencies within the regions to arrest and prosecute criminals who tampered with telecommunications infrastructure.

Mr Kwamena Duncan, the Central Regional Minister in his welcoming address, reiterated the need for the agencies as well as engineers to unite their front and effectively collaborate with the relevant agencies to reduce the practice.

Source: GNA

VODAFONE PROMOTES CASHLESS PAYMENT SYSTEM WITH BAZAAR

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Vodafone Ghana on Friday organised its 2019 “Cashless Bazaar” grand sales event in Accra to promote the cashless system of payment and government’s vision of achieving a cashless and digitized economy.

The bazaar, which had over 200 small and medium-sized enterprises and hundreds of customers in attendance, was aimed at giving customers and businesses an assurance that they could trade the cashless way at their convenience and safety.

Businesses exhibited products such as clothing, jewelleries, cosmetics, food, materials for internal deco, baby skin and hair care products and services such as hairstyling and massaging therapy.

Mr Martison Obeng-Agyei, the Director of Vodafone Cash, speaking to the Ghana News Agency, said that Ghana is moving towards a cashless society, which had been a subject of interest to the government and needed support from all stakeholders.

He said Vodafone mobile financial services has enhanced the Vodafone Cash to make the vision achievable, saying, the month of June has been set to encourage customers to do a lot of cashless purchases to move the nation forward.

The purpose, he said, was to convince the populace to understand the need to move into a cashless society for them to accept the electronic payment as a legal tender.

“So if I buy ‘waakye’ with mobile money, the ‘waakye’ seller should be able to buy beans with mobile money, the beans seller should be able to pay the farmer with mobile money and the farmer should be able to pay his children’s school fees with mobile money,” he said.

He said when the loop was closed the money spent by government to print paper money and distribute it coupled with insecurity problems would be reduced.

Mr Obeng-Agyei said: “The vendors after sales could stand here and move their cash straight into their bank account. No one here is guarding a wallet or pot of money. Everybody’s transaction is happening on his or her phone and the phone is secured with them. If they lose their sim cards, they can have them replaced and still have the monies back on their phones”.

As part of the promotion of a digitized and cashless system, he disclosed that, Vodafone has partnered with DSTV to make payment systems easy for customers as well as a food delivery services company called ‘Homechow’ to deliver foods to the citizenry in the comfort of their homes whenever they placed an order.

The Director of Vodafone Cash said businesses have accepted the cashless payment system with Vodafone Ghana as it was more convenient, easy and time saving for them.

Among the businesses that exhibited their products at the bazaar were Spectacular Opticals, Casa Nasari Clothing, Blush Cosmetics, Walking Pretty Heads and Accessories, Kingo fabrics, A-G Couture clothing and jewellery, Carine shop underwear, MadebyNanayaa Hair wig collections, Gee AAY Beads Collectibles, Regal Impressions wallpapers, and Sights and Shades spectacles.

Source: GNA

VODAFONE GHANA TO HOST THE SELEWA CASHLESS MARKET THIS JUNE

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Vodafone Ghana is partnering Melon Concept, organizers of the Selewa cashless market for a massive discount sale at its headquarters, come Friday, June 28, 2019.

This edition of the selewa event dubbed the Vodafone cash Bazaar, unlike previous events, is scheduled to start in the afternoon, with a fifty percent (50%) discount on meals for all patrons.

For the past four years, the Selewa event has been one that patrons look forward to at least every two months due to the convenience and cash savings it brings to arts, beauty and fashion enthusiasts. However, the popular discount-driven market is popping up for the first time this year.

The Selewa market brings together producers and suppliers of quality fashion, arts, beauty and natural health products, and gets electronic payment platforms to sponsor massive discounts for its patrons.

The cashless market known for dolling out shopping gift vouchers in addition to the up to 80% discount to patrons at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra, over the years, is making a move to the Vodafone Headquarters at Airport City for the first time as Vodafone Ghana headlines the event.

The partnership with Vodafone is expected to reward attendants with even more discounts especially those who will make payment with their Vodafone Cash at the market.

According to the programs coordinator at Melon Concept, Enoch Tetteh “This partnership will be a rewarding one for all, especially Vodafone cash subscribers. We have always encouraged and rewarded cashless payments at our markets. Thus, while our vendors will not decline cash payments, attendants are entreated to shop via Vodafone Cash or with their debit or credit card in order to benefit from these massive discounts”. He further stressed that adequate provision has been made to enable Non-Vodafone cash subscribers to sign up within minutes at the market.

The market is expected to open at the forecourt of the Vodafone Headquarters at Airport City Friday, the 28th of June at 12:00 midday through to the night. A live musical performance by the all-female group, lipstick band is set to crown the Friday night. Entry is free for all.

Source: Ghanaweb

FACEBOOK PUSHES INCLUSION BENEFITS OF WALLET PLAN

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Facebook unveiled details of its latest financial services play, a mobile wallet system designed to slash the cost of international remittance by using its cryptocurrency rather than traditional money transfers.

The wallet will be developed by subsidiary Calibra and is being promoted as a solution to issues hampering financial inclusion.

Launch of the wallet and associated cryptocurrency Libra is slated for 2020. Calibra wallets will be available as an add-on to Facebook’s messenger and WhatsApp platforms or as a standalone app.

Despite being marketed as helping the financially excluded it will initially only be available on smartphones.

In a statement, Facebook said from launch “almost anyone with a smartphone” would be able to transfer the currency with the same ease as sending a text message. The service will be provided at “low or no cost”.

While initially only a transfer tool, the company plans to extend functionality to paying bills, making purchases at physical retailers and small business use cases.

As part of its announcement Facebook emphasised “strong protections” and anti-fraud measures it plans to put into place to protect users and safeguard privacy.

Calibra relies on the transfer of cryptocurrency Libra rather than traditional currency. Libra was devised by Facebook, but will be run by a network of partners operating under moniker The Libra Association. Members include Vodafone, Iliad, Uber, eBay, Mastercard and Visa.

Source: mobileworldlive

ETHIO TELECOM FACING BREAK-UP BEFORE PRIVATISATION

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Ethiopia reportedly plans to split the country’s incumbent operator into two separate businesses prior to a potential sell-off to outside investors.

Citing comments made by minister of finance Ahmed Shide to a state-affiliated broadcaster, Reuters stated the plan was to divide Ethio Telecom by “infrastructure and service sector lines”.

Details of the proposed privatisation remain sketchy. It is unclear if authorities will retain a sizeable stake in the new businesses and what terms may be put on international investors entering the market.

Modernising the mobile and fixed communications sector is a central policy of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government, which came to office in 2018.

Last week, the country’s parliament approved a bill to create an independent communications regulator, described by officials as a “huge step” in reforming the sector.

Two of Africa’s major operator groups, Vodacom and MTN, have made no secret of their interest in making a play in the country given its potential.

GSMA Intelligence figures for Q1 2019 estimated the country has 41 million mobile connections, with 4G penetration below 9 per cent.

Source: Mobileworldlive

VODAFONE STRIKES CASHLESS PAYMENTS DEAL WITH DSTV

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Patrons of Vodafone’s mobile money service, Vodafone Cash, can now use the platform to pay for their DStv subscriptions.

The telecommunication company has partnered with the sub-Saharan African company, MultiChoice to provide customers a hassle-free option of cashless payments for both DStv and GOtv.

The new option on the service enables customers to make payments for both monthly and yearly subscriptions. This is a first for any of the satellite TV’s mobile money service payment avenues, giving customers the choice to side-step bothersome month-on-month payments and subscription renewals.

Commenting on the partnership, Martison Obeng-Agyei, Head of Vodafone Cash said:

“This is a further step in our quest to promote a cash-lite agenda in the country. We are grateful for such an opportunity by DStv to be part of their network and family. We have put the right systems in place to ensure that our customers can transact business in the most secure and convenient manner. Vodafone will continue to introduce innovations that will help us fulfil our promise of an exciting future for our customers.”

Cecil Sunkwa-Mills, Managing Director of MultiChoice Ghana said:
“We are excited to be part of the Vodafone mobile money success story. This partnership also coincides with a promotion we are running where we give discounts to all customers who pay on time – discounts to shop at some of the major retail outlets in the country including Electroland and Zoobashop.”

Vodafone Cash Customers who wish to pay for their DStv subscription can do so by dialling the short code *110# and selecting the “Pay Bills” and “Utilities” options. After payment is completed, customers receive an SMS notice on their phones to confirm payment.

Source: Ghanaweb

ETHIOPIA MOVES CLOSER TO OPENING MOBILE MARKET

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Ethiopia’s parliament approved a law to create an independent telecommunications regulator, as the country presses on with plans to break the monopoly of state-owned Ethio Telecom and allow non-domestic investors into the sector.

The country’s minister of Innovation and Technology Getahun Mekuria announced the move on social media, adding it was a “huge step” in reforming the telecommunications sector.

Introducing competition into the market is one of the pledges made by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to office in 2018.

Senior executives from both MTN Group and Vodacom have previously voiced ambitions to move into Ethiopia. In May, MTN CEO Rob Shuter identified the market as one where it would be “really excited to participate” with the company only willing to invest in countries where it could be a “major player”.

World Bank figures published in 2017 show Ethiopia had a population of more than 105 million people, making it the second-largest country in Africa after Nigeria.

GSMA Intelligence estimates for Q1 2019 put Ethiopia’s mobile connections at 41 million, with more than 96 per cent on prepay. Around two-thirds are 3G connections: 4G penetration is below 9 per cent.

In addition to being the sole mobile provider, Ethio Telecom owns the country’s fixed and broadband networks.

Reports in Reuters earlier this week stated the country’s government is working to a timeline of end-2019 for issuing new communications licences.

 

Source: Mobileworld Live

VODAFONE ITALIA SWITCHES ON 5G IN 5 CITIES

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Vodafone Italia has switched on its 5G network in five cities across the country ahead of the Vodafone group’s launch of 5G roaming in the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy next month. The ‘Giga Network 5G’ service is available now in the Milan metropolitan area (including 28 surrounding localities), Rome, Turin, Bologna and Naples, with around 45 to 50 cities to follow next year, rising to a total of 100 by 2021, said the company’s CEO Aldo Bisio during the official launch event in Milan. “5G paves the way for a new era of digital development services across the country,” said Bisio, adding that “we expect our services to grow exponentially and have a profound social and economic impact.”

Customers will be able to order the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G in Vodafone stores from 06 June, followed on 10 June by the LG V50 ThinQ 5G and the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. Starting 16 June, Vodafone’s residential consumers on “5G ready” plans (Red Unlimited Smart, Red Unlimited Black, Shake it Easy and Vodafone One Pro) will be able to access the 5G network at no additional cost, while all other customers will have to sign up to a “5G Start” option at a cost of EUR 5 per month, with the first month free. Similarly, business customers on 5G-enable Black plans will be able to access the network, with Red subscribers having to pay an additional EUR 5 per month.

Vodafone also confirmed that it’s still working with both Huawei and Nokia on its 5G infrastructure. In Milan, the company has implemented 33 out of a total of 41 proposed 5G projects in collaboration with 38 industrial and institutional partners in various areas including health and wellness, security and surveillance, manufacturing and industry, education and entertainment.

It has also reached an agreement with Telecom Italia (TIM) to share the cost of rolling out new 5G infrastructure throughout Italy and announced two calls for startups and SMEs developing projects based on the 5G standard in Italy after investing some EUR 2.41 billion to acquire 5G spectrum in the auction held by Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development at the end of last year.

Source: telecompaper