On April 23, 2019, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority met with the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (Alton) to issue an ultimatum to operators. During the meeting, Muhtar Usman (photo), director of the public institution, warned telecom operators that they had a 30-day deadline to comply with the statutory Aviation Height Clearance (AHC). After this deadline,...

The Communications Authority of Kenya announces the future publication of a report on the quality of telecom, internet and digital services offered by operators in the Kenyan market. In the new report, apart from measuring the quality of voice and data services, the regulator also measures some other segments. According to Francis Wangusi (photo), director of the regulatory agency, the project...

French hotel group AccorHotels plans to open 60 additional hotels in 14 African countries in the next four years, Bloomberg reported on April 24, 2019, citing Mark Willis, the group’s director for MENA region.   "In the next two years, we will open more than half of those Sixty hotels in Egypt which bounced back after a crisis caused by external factors," the executive...

The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) announces new financing agreements of more than $880 million with some African countries. These agreements will help provide public-private financing and capacity-building programs for export initiatives and for the development of SMEs. High growth industrial sectors (agriculture products, energy and medical supply) should be...

Asma Invest jointly owned by Morocco and Saudi Arabia plans to increase its capital from MAD800 million to MAD2 billion. Hicham Safir, Asma’s director told Moroccan media  Leboursier that the operation, approved by the administrative board, should be conducted before the end of H1, 2019. In the framework of that capital increase, the capital will be opened to foreign investors. The...

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will provide $81 million support to four African countries, the Emirates News Agency revealed this week. The new support will be provided to Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guinea and Malawi via the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). It will help develop the infrastructure and agriculture sectors as well as support poverty...

On April 23, 2019, Amr Talaat (photo), Egypt’s minister of IT and communications, received a delegation of the World Bank and the IFC. Led by the World Bank’s coordinator of the MENA region Carlo Rossotto, the delegation discussed various strategies to boost the broadband penetration rate in Egypt.   Currently, 3G and 4G technologies are the most used. Recently, Egypt made huge...

Zimbabwean incumbent telecom operator TelOne may lose its shares in West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC). According to Chipo Mtasa (photo), managing director of TelOne, cited by The Herald, this is due to the firm’s non-compliance with its financial obligations estimated at $10 million.   "On WIOCC, definitely our shareholding is at risk. We have had different threats that...

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) announced, in a release published on April 22, that its governing council has approved the membership of three new African countries and one Latin American country. These countries are namely Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Tunisia and Uruguay.   “The growth in membership from Africa and Latin America demonstrates the importance that these...

Although the mobile phone boom in African represents a windfall in terms of communication and financial inclusion, it goes along with an increase in fraud and a subsequent loss of revenue for governments due to weak governance in the telecom sector. A penalizing shortfall that Global Voice Group aims to rectify. This paradoxical situation explains the progressive awareness from African...