The over-arching purpose of smart cities is to improve the living standards of their people through multiple pathways, be it waste management, transportation or energy efficiency, to name a few. All of this can lead to making citizens more productive and delivering what all countries desire - economic growth.
Following announcements yesterday regarding funding in Kenya and Senegal, the World Bank has approved a US$400 million credit facility for DECIM (Digital and Energy Connectivity for Inclusion in Madagascar Project).
The World Bank has approved funding for digital initiatives in two African nations.
MTN Ghana has broken ground prior to the construction of the Ghana ICT Hub, itself part of the broader Ghana Innovation Hub project to which MTN has committed US$25 million.
WorldLink Communications, Nepal's largest private sector internet service provider (ISP), has received a series B investment of NRs 1.08 billion (about US$8.4 million) from British International Investment (BII), the UK government’s development finance institution and impact investor, and NRs 900 million (US$6.9 million) from Dolma Impact Fund II (DIF II).
Hungary’s state-owned investment vehicle Corvinus International Investment has obtained indirect minority stakes in both the mobile operator Yettel Hungary and its infrastructure unit CETIN Hungary.
FunP Innovation Group, a Taiwan-based digital advertising sales and advertising technology conglomerate, has reportedly secured US$3.12 million in additional investments to fuel a smart retail and cloud drive into the Indonesian market.
China's Sunwalk Group intends to invest US$2 billion in Pakistan's telecoms sector for the deployment of an optical fibre network that will eventually cover an area of 100,000 kilometres, according to a number of reports.
Serbia’s state-owned Telekom Srbija, which operates as MTS, has partnered with the country’s Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure (MGSI) to develop and implement digital solutions in the fields of infrastructure, transport and utilities.
Hard on the heels of news of its increased stake in African giant Vodacom, the Vodafone Group has responded dismissively to rumours that it is considering a partial or total sale of the company.
Following the apparent resolution of its tax dispute with the Ghanaian government, MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile network operator, has now said it plans to invest US$1 billion in Ghana over the next five years.
The Indian government is reported to have allocated 529.3billion rupees (about US$6.4 billion) in its recent budget for infrastructure installation and upgrades for both state-owned operators – BSNL and MTNL – this year.
PT Profesional Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Protelindo), the largest telecommunication infrastructure company in Indonesia, has invested in UK-headquartered Stratospheric Platforms Limited (SPL), which seeks to provide high-bandwidth telecoms network coverage from the stratosphere using hydrogen-powered high altitude platforms (HAPS) delivered by unmanned aircraft.
It’s being widely reported that Millicom International Cellular, the Latin American telecommunications company, is a takeover target.
Filipino operator NOW Telecom has received a funding grant from the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to deploy its 5G network.
Technology services company NTT India has, according to a number of reports in Indian media outlets, earmarked around US$2 billion to boost information and communications technology infrastructure in the country over the next four years. That’s an annual investment of USD 500 million in India.
Indian operator Bharti Airtel and social technology giant Meta Platforms say they plan to jointly invest in global connectivity infrastructure and CPaaS-based new-age digital solutions to support the emerging requirements of customers and enterprises in India.
Cote d’Ivoire’s government is divesting a 9.95% stake in Orange’s local unit via a public offering, set to run between 5th and 19th December 2022.
Zambia is aiming for 100% national network coverage by the end of 2024 with the help of the country’s Universal Access and Services Fund and money raised from the sale of spectrum.
Global digital infrastructure firm DigitalBridge Group has announced the acquisition of an ownership stake in AIMS Group from Malaysian telecoms firm TIME dotcom and the formation of an edge data centre platform focused on the high-growth markets of the Southeast Asia region.
Africa-focused private investment firm Helios Investment Partners has announced plans for two landmark investments: the acquisitions of majority stakes in Maroc Datacenter (MDC), a carrier neutral data centre in Morocco, and in IXAfrica, a leading developer and operator of hyperscale-ready data centres in Kenya.
In October 2022, Zambia announced that it would zero-rate imports of telecoms equipment in a bid to encourage investment into the country’s ICT sector, which the government views as essential to job creation and economic development in the market.
There’s been a lot of backtracking after Monday’s news that the low Vodafone Idea/Vi share price could delay plans for the Indian government to take equity in the operator.
What can cash-strapped Indian operator Vodafone Idea (Vi) do after plans for the conversion of dues it owes to the Indian state into a government stake were once again delayed, this time due to the operator’s low share price?
In what is described as its largest-ever financing for mobile telecoms network expansion in Africa, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed to €100 million financing (about US$99.5 million) with operator MTN Nigeria to support the telecommunications company’s network expansion programme.
Venezuela’s telecoms sector has not been flush with positive developments of late – the country’s economy has been in a downward spiral for well over five years now, and this has caused a staggering decline in a sector that had seen average to strong growth up until around 2015.
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign Public Investment Fund (PIF) has made a non-binding offer of nearly US$6 billion to acquire 51% of STC’s towers unit TAWAL.
Safaricom Ethiopia has plans to invest around US$500 million into its operations during its first year of commercial activity.
The Qatar Investment Authority is reportedly in advanced negotiations with the Egyptian government to acquire around US$2.5bn of state holdings in various firms, including market-leading mobile operator Vodafone Egypt.
It’s never a good sign when a government steps in to block internet access, or bans a communication platform such as Twitter, and unfortunately such practices are not unheard of in the markets we cover at Developing Telecoms.
IFC — a member of the World Bank Group and the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets – has announced that it is expanding its relationship with West Indian Ocean Cable Company Holding (WIOCC Group), a leading digital connectivity and infrastructure provider in Africa, with a $30 million equity investment.
The recapitalisation of South African mobile operator Cell C has finally been completed after years of negotiation. That’s the news from Blue Label Telecoms, the largest shareholder in Cell C, which sells innovative technology for mobile commerce to emerging markets in South Africa and abroad.
Operator Orange Côte d’Ivoire has opened its Orange 5G Lab, devoted to digital professionals, start-ups and businesses, at an event attended by Mr Amadou Coulibaly, Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, and a number of senior figures from Orange.
A deal that was close to being done and dusted months ago may face a new period of uncertainty, with Brazilian operators TIM, Vivo and Claro apparently requesting a reduction in the price they are expected to pay for the mobile division of beleaguered telecommunications company Oi.
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