African Tech Startups, 2Africa Landing in SA & Accelerating Sustainability with AI
Connecting Africa News
Get a comprehensive, informed and nuanced understanding of the region's tech, media and telecommunications landscape.
Welcome back to the Connecting Africa newsletter!
In this week's edition, we're exploring Africa's tech startup scene, the latest landing in South Africa for the 2Africa subsea cable system, and how AI is set to play a major and sustained role in helping businesses to accelerate their sustainability efforts.
The Ghanaian government has scrapped the hefty 8.2 billion cedi (US$672 million) tax bill charged to mobile operator MTN Group.
According to a statement by the African wireless carrier, the tax bill was scrapped after "extensive and productive discussions" between itself and the West African nation's authorities.
Investment in Africa's tech startup ecosystem passed the $3 billion mark for the first time in 2022. Nigeria remains the apple of investors' eyes and fintech continues to be the sector that receives the most money.
That's according to the 2022?African Tech Startups Funding Report, published this week by Disrupt Africa, which shows that startups raised more funding than ever before, in spite of a global downturn in investments, especially in riskier asset classes such as venture capital.
The East Africa Com Awards are back!
It's time to celebrate the achievements of outstanding individuals and organisations in the region's tech and telecoms sectors.
This year, there are seven categories, spanning from fintech, to startups, leadership, connectivity, and so much more.
We are currently accepting nominations, so if you or someone you know is deserving of recognition for recent achievements, this is your opportunity!
A South African fintech company, Mama Money, has announced a partnership deal with Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM) to expand its cross-border money transfer and banking services following a similar deal in Zimbabwe last month.
The partnership in Malawi will allow Mama Money customers to send money to customers using?TNM's mobile money service, TNM Mpamba, for cash collection at over 40,000 locations across Malawi, with no cash out fee for the recipient.
Korea Telecom Rwanda Networks' (KTRN) exclusive rights over the Central African country's 4G infrastructure are about to end.
The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) announced in a government gazette that it will modify KTRN's license to allow other companies to deploy 4G networks.
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The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC's) first open-access, carrier-neutral data center is scheduled to go live in the second quarter of 2023.
Through a partnership between pan-African data center operator Open Access Data Centres (OADC), West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) Group and Texaf, the first phase of the 2MW-capable, 550+ rack facility will be operational by the end of April 2023 and will be situated within Texaf's Silkin Village in the capital city Kinshasa.
South Africa has witnessed another landing for the 2Africa subsea cable system, this time in Amanzimtoti near Durban in KwaZulu-Natal and installed by the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC).
The cable joins into WIOCC-owned Open Access Data Centres' (OADC's) carrier-neutral data center in Durban.
Cameroon has suspended Russian ride-hailing app Yango for allegedly failing to comply with the West African country's transport regulations.
According to a statement by Cameroon's Minister of Transport, Jean Ernest Masséna Ngalle, the company's operations have been banned throughout the country.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to play a major and sustained role in helping businesses to accelerate their sustainability efforts.
That's the view of Ria Pinto, country GM and technology leader at IBM South Africa, who spoke to Connecting Africa in an interview.
Pinto said we are seeing more CEOs viewing sustainability as a business imperative in 2023, and IBM expects organizations to make substantial investments in green IT and automation processes this year.
As East Africa Com returns to Nairobi, Kenya on April 25-26, 2023, Connecting Africa and Africa Tech Festival are looking for your views on East Africa's booming startup scene.
We have launched a new survey and are looking for your views on the challenges that East Africa's startup founders and leaders face and what opportunities you see for the months ahead.
If you are a startup founder or leader based in East Africa, please complete?the survey.
Ethiopia's government is now offering to sell a bigger portion of Ethio Telecom as it relaunches the partial privatization of the state-owned telco, upping the stake offered from 40% to 45%.
The Horn of Africa nation has been?planning the partial privatization?since June 2018 as part of the country's plans to liberalize the telecoms sector.