Industry News

The planned IPO of Bharti Airtel’s African unit moved a step closer, as the company filed formal papers with the London Stock Exchange.

According to documents submitted to the National Stock Exchange of India, which presides over Bharti Airtel’s primary listing, the approval process with UK authorities is already underway. It is also mulling a second listing of its African shares in Nigeria.

The company plans to use the proceeds, estimated by Reuters to be at least $1 billion, to cut debt.

Airtel Africa operates mobile services in 14 countries across Africa with each market also offering mobile money services, though some of its finance divisions are in partnership with other operators or banks.

In a statement reported by Times of India, Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, said the subsidiary was in a strong position to “build its own capital market profile”.

CEO of the unit Raghunath Mandava added the company had great potential to grow both its telecommunications and payment businesses across its existing markets.

Listing of Airtel’s Africa division has been expected for some time, with the company announcing its intent last year and subsequently making a number of statements on the issue.

Last year its Africa unit raised a total of $1.25 billion in a funding round from six investors, at the time it said the cash would be used to cut its $5 billion debt pile.

Earlier this year the company raised a further $200 million from the Qatar Investment Authority.

Source: mobileworldlive.com

MTN Ghana has announced a partnership with the International Federation of Skate Soccer (IFSS), to organise a skate soccer league in Ghana. According to the organisers, it is designed to provide clarity on intricate product details and focus on the desired promise to customers, in alignment with the brand.

Skate Soccer is a truly exciting sport and the first of its kind. The sport is played by physically challenged individuals especially polio survivors.

The main focus of this is to get the physically challenged off the streets and better their lives. Skate Soccer create an environment that gives opportunity to the physically challenged to showcase their talent in the game of soccer while brightening their lives.

In this game, polio survivors sit on a slightly larger skateboard and play association football. The ball is controlled by their hands and the rules are very similar to regular association football. Brands that have been leveraging this Event are Binatone, who is the main sponsor supported by some of the Radio and TV stations.

The event, according to MTN, will provide a platform to interact, motivate and reward its existing and potential subscribers through sales activities, brand engagements, public relations activities and CSR.

Source: ghanaiantimes.com

U.K. cell phone network operators EE and Vodafone are temporarily putting the launch of 5G smartphones from Huawei on hold. The news comes as the U.S. places renewed political pressure on the Chinese telecommunications giant.

EE, which is owned by British telco BT, said it would put the launch of Huawei’s 5G devices on pause until it receives the “information and confidence” needed to support its customers.

“When that information changes, then we’ll move forward and hopefully launch them, but for now we’ve put that on pause,” EE CEO Marc Allera said Wednesday.

An EE spokesperson subsequently told CNBC the firm was working with Huawei and Google to “make sure we can carry out the right level of testing and quality assurance.”

Vodafone, meanwhile, subsequently confirmed reports that it would not be accepting pre-orders for Huawei’s 5G-enabled Huawei Mate 20 X in the U.K.

“This is a temporary measure while uncertainty exists regarding new Huawei 5G devices,” a Vodafone spokesperson told CNBC. “We will keep this situation under review.”

A spokesperson for Huawei said it recognized the pressure its partners are facing amid “politically motivated decisions.”

“We are confident this regrettable situation can be resolved and our priority remains to continue to deliver world-class technology and products to our customers around the world.”
EE is set to launch its 5G service in the U.K. next Thursday, meaning it will be the first British cell phone operator to do so.

The race toward 5G has become a massive battleground for major telecommunications companies, with U.S. giant Verizon rolling out its next-generation network for smartphones earlier this year.

That race has been complicated however by increasing pressure from Washington on Huawei, the top telecom equipment maker worldwide. Huawei is considered a leader in 5G, but U.S. officials are concerned its equipment could be used for Chinese espionage, a claim the firm denies.

President Donald Trump’s administration recently added Huawei to a trade blacklist that means it can’t buy U.S. technology before gaining special approval from the government. The U.S. did, however, relax those restrictions temporarily, giving mobile and internet broadband firms a 90-day reprieve to continue working with Huawei.

Google initially decided to stop licensing its Android mobile operating system to Huawei, only to then say it would continue sending software updates to the Shenzhen-based firm’s phones, following the announcement of temporary exemptions.

Francisco Jeronimo, associate vice president for European devices at IDC, said network carriers likely “don’t want to sell a device that will not provide the full Android experience to their customers.”

“If there’s no solution to this case, I wonder if operators and retailers will start taking Huawei devices off the shelves and reduce the investment they are putting into Huawei devices.”

Source: cnbc.com

CEOs of MTN and Vodafone have intensified calls for local companies to leverage new trends in technology at the 3rd Africa Rising Conference by the International Advertising Association (IAA).

The 3rd Africa Rising Conference by the International Advertising Association ended with companies and business executives exposed to various business opportunities in the latest technology trends.

CEOs of MTN and Vodafone Ghana respectively, who were keynote speakers at the final day’s conference, say technology must be harnessed to solve existing challenges faced Ghana and the African continent.

Answering the question on whether Africa is playing catch-up in today’s digital age, Selorm Adadevoh argues that even though Ghana and other African economies are embracing technology, much is not being done to solving issues of poverty and infrastructure deficit with technology.
“It’s great to see these innovations coming up from the needs that we have and used in existing concepts to drive this innovation. A lot of our resources are so powerful but so little is done in that space. The questions we should be how best we can’t take technology to answers Africa’s new problem,” he stated.

Meanwhile, CEO of Vodafone Ghana, Patricia Obo-Nai, has warned companies against prioritizing technology at the neglect of customer service.
She has been explaining how companies risk losing their worth in the digital space should they forget the power of customer service.

“It’s so important that we put the customer first. We think sometimes that the people we deem customers are the people we should target but there’s a large niche involved,” she said.

Both CVAs partook of the 3rd Africa Leadership Conference which was themed; Technology Trends VRS Consumer Choice, Who’s determining the future?

The 3rd Africa Leadership Conference a gathering of current and future business leaders. It was under the theme – Technology Trends VS Consumer Choice – Who’s determining the future?

Source: myjoyonline.com

Vodafone Idea signed an agreement with Hyundai Motor’s India subsidiary to provide advanced connectivity for the automaker’s recently launched Venue SUV.

The operator entered into an exclusive partnership with Hyundai AutoEver India and will work as its digital partner to manage the connectivity lifecycle of the car, Vodafone Idea said in a statement. It will integrate eSIMS with voice; 3G and 4G data; SMS; and secure APN services to enable tracking of the vehicles as well as real-time exchange of data.

Nick Gliddon, Vodafone Idea’s chief enterprise business officer, said it spent the last 18 months working closely with Hyundai AutoEver India to make connected cars a reality in the country, adding such vehicles “are set to change the way we commute and interact with our vehicles. It is true digital disruption”.

Oh Woo Jin, Hyundai AutoEver India MD, said it is debuting a system dubbed Blue Link Connected in the Venue, making it the first smart connected car in India.

Blue Link Connected offers services covering safety, security and vehicle relationship management functions. Features include crash notification; roadside assistance; panic notification; stolen vehicle tracking; climate control; maintenance alerts; and live traffic information.

Source: mobileworldlive.com

UK-based chip designer Arm reportedly became the latest company to suspend business with Huawei, in what would be the biggest blow yet to the Chinese vendor.

BBC News reported it obtained internal documents in which Arm instructed its employees to halt all active contracts, support and “any pending engagements with Huawei”, to comply with a recent US ban against the company.

Arm, which was acquired by Japan-based SoftBank in 2016, is headquartered in the UK but employs 6,000 workers across eight offices in the US.

In its note to staff, Arm said its products contain “US origin technology”, meaning it has a duty to comply with the ban.

Chip concerns
If true, Arm’s decision could have crippling affects on Huawei’s smartphone business, as it would impact the company’s capabilities to develop its own mobile chips.

While Arm does not manufacture chips, it provides technology vital to the running of processors under licence.

Huawei sources some of its mobile chips from HiSilicon, which it owns. But HiSilicon’s chips, including Huawei’s forthcoming Kirin 985 processor, are built using Arm’s technology.

The Kirin 985, which is to be used in upcoming Huawei devices is not expected to be affected by Arm’s ban, BBC News stated, but a source said the next iteration of the chip may have to be built from scratch.

In a tumultuous week already for the vendor and its smartphone business, Google said it will limit Huawei’s use of its Android operating system and other services.

CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber told BBC News an Arm ban would be “an insurmountable obstacle for Huawei”.

Source: mobileworldlive.com

Huawei stepped up efforts to develop an alternative to Android, with the company preparing to launch its own operating system by the fourth quarter or early 2020, Nikkei Asian Review reported.

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, said the OS will be compatible with its handsets, tablets and PCs, the newspaper said, citing Chinese media reports.

The company could be left seeking an alternative to Google’s platform after being blacklisted by US authorities.

Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said the company can and will develop its own operating system, local media reported. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported Huawei’s VP for Europe Abraham Liu said at a launch event an “alternative option will naturally come out, either from Huawei or someone else”, if its devices are blocked from Google services.

The vendor declined to comment on its OS efforts, so it’s unclear if it is working on an entirely new OS or an Android fork, which analysts reckon is more feasible.

In 2018, the company played down reports it was planning to develop its own mobile platform to reduce its reliance on the Android operating system.

Limited impact
Richard Windsor, founder of research blog Radio Free Mobile, said in a post the immediate impact of the Android ban will be negligible, as current devices will be unaffected and Huawei has launched its main models for 2019.

He noted the company won’t lose access to Android itself, which is open source, but Android devices outside of China must offer access to Google services “to have any prospect of being sold”.

In a statement, the vendor said it will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphones and tablets.

Source: mobileworldlive.com

MTN Nigeria shares rose another 10% to 108.90 naira in pre-market bids on Friday after its debut $6.5 billion stock market listing on the Lagos bourse.

Nigeria’s biggest telecoms firm, owned by South Africa’s MTN Group, listed in Lagos on Thursday in a flotation that made it the second-largest company on the exchange by market value after Dangote Cement.

A total of 150,000 bid orders had been placed for the stock by 0847 GMT. The shares, which listed at 90 naira, closed 10% higher at 99 naira on Thursday.

Source: Telecom.com

Apple expanded the reach of Apple Pay by enabling it as an option to complete transactions on the company’s services, including the App and iTunes stores.

In a support document released by the company, Apple said its mobile payment service can be used to make purchases from Apple Store, iTunes Store and Apple Books, along with buying iCloud storage.

The move comes as Apple prepares to launch a new credit card designed to work with the iPhone and delve deeper into the payments market.

As an incentive to use the Apple Card, Apple is offering cash rewards on purchases, with 2 per cent offered on those made with Apple Pay.

The card is due to be available this summer.

Transactions made on the card will be logged in the Wallet App, which will track transaction history and colour coded into different categories, such as spending on food and shopping.

The new features are rolling out in a number of markets, including the US, Canada, Hong Kong and Australia.

Source: mobileworldlive.com

MTN Ghana has launched its 2019 Internet Festival, dubbed: “iFest” in Accra to educate customers on the relevance of using the internet to enhance their everyday lives.

iFest 2019, which is the ninth in the series, focused on three thematic areas of; Educating customers on internet usage; How to access data and smart devices; and Enhancement in technology and infrastructure to support the drive in data penetration.

Mr Bless Sefenu Agordjo, the Senior Manager of Products and Services, MTN Ghana, said the telecom company had 1.5 million subscribers using internet services in 2011 when iFest was first introduced, however, more than 13.5 million subscribers were currently using the service.

“It is for this reason that MTN saw the need to educate internet users, especially those on the network, on how they could acquire knowledge, learn skills and do businesses with the internet to ensure their welfare,” he said.

Mr Agordjo said the MTN was setting up experiential zones for customers to experience its fast internet services.

The iFest 2019, he said, was part of the company’s way of celebrating customers this year, as 2019 had been declared as the “Year of the Customer”.

He advised customers to submit their mobile devices to MTN customer care centres or experiential zones for 4G networks to be set up for them.

Mr Agordjo encouraged all MTN users, including educational institutions, students, and traders, to use the internet to learn, improve on their technical and vocational skills as well as trading activities.

Source: GNA