U.S ride-hailing company Uber plans to launch boat taxi services in Lagos, Nigeria. Brooks Entwistle (photo), the company’s chief business officer (CBO), told Bloomberg last week. He said Uber engaged talks with the Nigerian government in that regard to start operating its Uber Boats in the country’s biggest city. The project will make it possible to leverage waterways to reduce traffic...

Telecom operator Maroc Telecom announced June 27 it has completed the full acquisition of Tigo Chad from Millicom International Cellular (MIC). According to Abdeslam Ahizoune, chairman of the management board of Maroc Telecom, the acquisition is another step forward in expanding across high-potential international markets. It aims to consolidate the company’s strategic position on the telecom...

Tunisia is planning to launch into orbit, with help from Russia, a constellation of 30 satellites for telecommunications by 2023. An agreement was signed in that regard last week in Skolkovo, Russia, by Tunisia’s TELNET Holding and the two Russian companies SPUTNIX and GK Launch Services.The partnership was initiated in April this year through the signing of an agreement for the launch by next...

The Ethiopian government is expecting a 9.2% economic growth for the 2019-20 fiscal year that begins this month and ends in June next year, against 7.7% the previous year, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (photo) announced Monday."The economy will grow by 9.2% for the coming financial year," he said while addressing parliament. In a report published in March, rating agency Moody’s observed that growth...

The World Bank approved $150 million to improve sanitation and access to clean water in Côte d'Ivoire, the bank announced last week.The new support is granted as part of the second phase of the Water Supply and Sanitation Project in urban areas (PREMU-Phase II) which aims to provide drinking water to citizens, build new hygiene facilities and upgrade the existing ones in schools across the...

Egyptian minister of information and communications technology, Amr Talaat, pledges for ICT cooperation between his country and Germany, particularly in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), capacity building and research and development (R & D). This was on June 25 in Berlin, during the 22nd Arab-German Business Forum.With Angela Ittel, Vice-President of Strategic Development at the...

Orange Côte d’Ivoire plans to invest XOF180 billion, the equivalent of about $312 million, to upgrade its network and set new services, this year and the next.According to MD Mamadou Bamba, a priority is to increase the Internet speed, through “the extension of 4G coverage that has become essential.” The company also plans banking and energy services and hoped to “get the banking...

For the 6th year in a row, China remained the biggest lender of Mozambique, data issued June 25 by the government showed.The aggregate loan to the country increased by $400 million to $2.2 billion at the end of 2018, according to an official document. Debt increased with loans granted for infrastructure projects in the country. These include the construction of the Maputo-Catembe...

The Angolan government plans to privatize more than 190 public companies, 32 being national, via the securities market. Information was reported June 26 by Patrício Vilares (photo), the under coordinator of the privatization technical committee at the Finance Ministry.“The privatization program intends to improve the productive sector and offer competitive conditions to companies that weigh...

The operation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could increase the gross domestic product of member countries by 1% to 3%, according to the latest report of the UN Conference on Trade and Development published June 26.“If the agreement is fully implemented, the gross domestic product of most African countries could increase by 1% to 3% once all tariffs are eliminated […] The...