Operators

The Ghanaian government has reportedly appointed KPMG to advance plans to merge AT Ghana and Telecel in a bid to stem mounting losses from its acquisition of the former, while building a stronger rival to market leader MTN.

There has been a flurry of announcements from Nigerian operator T2 Mobile in recent weeks. If that name doesn’t seem familiar, that may well be because until August the operator had been known as 9mobile. Here are a few brief updates.

Vodacom Eastern Cape will invest more than ZAR400 million (US$22 million) in its network this financial year to expand coverage, boost capacity and extend connectivity to rural communities across the province.

Ghana’s Ministry for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations has reportedly revealed plans to merge telecoms players AT and Telecel in hopes of creating a sustainable competitor to market leader MTN.

Africa-focused telecoms firm Paratus Group has launched a private 4G/5G network in Namibia, positioning itself to compete with state-owned incumbents MTC and Telecom Namibia.

Philippine telco PLDT and its wireless arm Smart Communications said on Wednesday they have expanded their grassroots programme to prevent theft of telecoms infrastructure by partnering with local communities, following its initial launch earlier this year.

Two of Africa’s biggest operators – Vodacom and MTN – have, coincidentally, announced technology deployment firsts for the continent in the past few days – one involving MIMO, the other involving 5-band RRU commercial deployment.

Thai operator True Corporation has partnered with China Mobile International, T3 Technology and Tuya Smart to enhance its smart-home platform TrueX, aiming to migrate more than 3 million Thai users from Tuya’s ecosystem.

Vodafone Idea’s infrastructure subsidiary is reportedly seeking loans worth INR50 billion (US$570 million) to finance network expansion.

Telkom Indonesia’s mobile unit Telkomsel has reportedly fully restored 4G internet services in Papua province and the Aru Islands of Maluku after repairing a damaged backup subsea cable that disrupted service in nine areas.

Digicel Tonga announced that CEO Daniel Horan will step down from his role next month after just two years, citing personal reasons.

MTC Namibia has fired the starting gun in the country’s 5G race, launching commercial services across four locations.

Ethio Telecom CEO Frehiwot Tamiru (pictured) revealed ambitions for the state-owned operator to almost double revenue at the end of its financial year in June to ETB236 billion (US$1.6 billion), on the back of increasing users and data usage.

Malaysia operator CelcomDigi announced CEO Datuk Idham Nawawi (pictured) will step down from the market leader, citing personal reasons.

PLDT’s Smart Communications aims to expand eSIM adoption in the Philippines with the launch of a “pluggable eSIM adapter” for Android users whose phones don’t support eSIM.

The Kenyan government is mulling a division of the nation’s largest publicly listed company, Safaricom, into mobile, tower, and mobile money units, citing potential efficiency and value gains.

Bharti Airtel subsidiary Bharti Hexacom has reportedly received approval from the majority of its shareholders to sell 3,400 telecoms towers to Indus Towers after its minority shareholder Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL) initially opposed the deal.

Philippines-based challenger operator Dito Telecommunity has partnered with Rakuten-owned messaging app Viber to offer zero-rated plans on the platform, aiming to strengthen its competitiveness and attract new customers.

Airtel Tanzania has reportedly signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Zanzibar Communication and ICT Infrastructure Agency (ZICTIA) that outlines a framework to collaborate on key infrastructure projects in Zanzibar to expand access to telecoms and internet services.

Vodafone Idea has continued its rapid 5G rollout in India, with Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram the latest cities to go live.

Maxis revealed on Monday that it is partnering with China Mobile International (CMI) to launch CMLink, its new mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business in Malaysia.

State-owned telecom service provider BSNL has enjoyed a couple of decent headlines in the past week, unlike its much smaller sister company MTNL, whose financial woes seem to be worsening.

MTN announced a reshuffle of its leadership, appointing group chief risk officer Ferdi Moolman as CEO and executive director of MTN South Africa, succeeding Charles Molapisi as part of a strategic review and operational shift.

Huawei announced on Friday that Ethio Telecom has deployed its tri-band massive MIMO solution that it says significantly improves the telco’s 4G network both in terms of performance and user experience.

CelcomDigi, Maxis and YTL Power International have injected an additional MYR350 million (US$82.8 million) into 5G wholesale network Digital Nasional Bhd (DNB) to support its operations as it braces for the arrival of the second 5G network being deployed by U Mobile.

South Africa’s Competition Commission has approved Cell C’s proposed acquisition of Comm Equipment Company (CEC).

Ukrainian operator lifecell has completed a network modernisation project in Kyiv in just five months, delivering major improvements across key performance metrics to meet rising demand for connectivity.

Global digital operator Veon said on Wednesday it has completed the sale of its 50.1% indirect stake in Kyrgyzstan mobile operator Sky Mobile (a.k.a. Beeline Kyrgyzstan) – but to the government via state-owned Eldik Bank, and not CG Cell Technologies as originally planned.

Airtel Africa and Vodacom Group announced they would share infrastructure in key African markets to cut deployment costs and accelerate 4G and 5G rollouts.

Swedish operator Tele2 has announced plans to spin off its infrastructure assets into a dedicated tower company serving all three Baltic nations, under a 50/50 joint venture with tower specialist Global Communications Infrastructure (GCI).