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East African Countries to Launch Regional Satellite
Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda announced a joint effort to design and launch a regional communication and broadcasting satellite under the Northern Corridor Regional Communication and Broadcasting Satellite Initiative (NCRCBSI). The ministers met on the sidelines of the Connected Africa Summit 2026 in Nairobi and agreed to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study funded collectively by the four states. The project aims to boost digital services, reduce dependence on foreign satellite operators, and strengthen economic integration along East Africa's northern corridor. It follows a series of recent cross‑border fiber‑optic agreements that are reshaping the region’s connectivity landscape.
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Hot Startup of the Month: Nigeria's Cencori
Nigeria’s AI infrastructure startup Cencori, founded by Bola Banjo, Daniel Oreofe and Ladipo Samuel in June 2025, provides a unified gateway that secures, routes and monitors AI model requests for production applications. The company positions itself as the "Cloudflare for...
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Network Consistency, Reliability Key for African Mobile Users, Says Opensignal
Opensignal executives highlighted that African mobile operators must move beyond coverage maps and focus on consistent, reliable user experience. Their September 2025 Africa digital divide report shows South Africa topping the Global Network Excellence Index while 25% of rural populations remain...
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Three AI Startups to Watch in 2026
In 2026 Africa’s AI sector is maturing, with adoption rates now surpassing the global average. Startups such as ChipMango, ChatSasa, and Kera Health are leveraging locally sourced data and talent to address semiconductor training, multi‑channel customer support, and digital health...
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Honor Expands Egyptian Factory to Produce 3M Smartphones
Honor announced the expansion of its Egyptian factory in the 10th Ramadan industrial city, boosting capacity to 3 million smartphones per year. The 8,000 m² site, Honor's first manufacturing footprint outside China, will host five production lines and two SMT lines and is...
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Niger's Rollout of Biometric IDs Gets a Thumbs Up
In March 2026 Niger officially launched a nationwide enrollment for mandatory biometric identity cards and e‑passports, making the IDs compulsory for citizens aged 15 and older. The cards carry a ten‑year validity and cost roughly $6 each, a price that...
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Telecom Namibia Hit by International Connectivity Failure
Telecom Namibia reported a network slowdown last week after external international routes failed, affecting mobile data and browsing speeds for some customers. The operator quickly redirected traffic, upgraded critical equipment, and increased capacity at key nodes to stabilize service. It...
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Don't Let War Blow up AI Plans, Experts Warn
The US‑Iran war loomed over the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings, raising concerns about the sustainability of recent economic gains in sub‑Saharan Africa. Despite the geopolitical shock, experts like Vilas Dhar and Lawrence Eta urged African governments to keep AI at...
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Standard Bank Customer Data Leaked Online
Standard Bank disclosed that hackers have published a trove of customer data stolen in March, including names, ID numbers, contact details, bank account numbers and B‑BBEE classifications. The breach, claimed by the Rootboy group, involved roughly 1.2 TB of information but...
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MTN Ghana's Fintech Business Audits MoMo Agents
MTN Ghana’s MobileMoney Fintech has placed temporary restrictions on a subset of MoMo agent accounts while conducting compliance audits. The measures, ranging from warnings to permanent termination, aim to meet regulatory standards under Ghana’s Payment Systems and Services Act and...
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Nedbank, Mastercard Boost Digital Payments in Southern Africa
South African lender Nedbank Group has signed a ten‑year commercial agreement with global payments network Mastercard to upgrade digital payment capabilities across six Southern African markets. The partnership will leverage Mastercard’s technology stack to deliver faster, more secure transactions for...
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Ride-Hailing Fuels Income for 70% of SA Gig Workers
Bolt’s newly released Gig Economy Report, commissioned by the ride‑hailing platform and surveyed by Ipsos, finds that 70% of South African gig workers turn to ride‑hailing for supplemental earnings, while 30% depend on it as their main source of income....
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AfDB Approves $200M Towards Nigeria's Fiber Expansion
The African Development Bank approved a $200 million loan for Nigeria’s Digital Value Chain Infrastructure for Boosting Employment (D‑VIBE) project, known as Project Bridge. The funding will help deploy 90,000 km of open‑access fiber, expanding the national backbone from roughly 30,000 km to 120,000 km...
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Belmoney, RwandaCash Enable Pan-European Remittances to Rwanda
Belmoney, Europe’s first remittance‑as‑a‑service provider, has partnered with RwandaCash to launch a pan‑European digital corridor for Rwandan diaspora payments. By leveraging Belmoney’s PSD2 licence and API stack, RwandaCash can operate across the EU without separate national licences, offering faster, lower‑fee...
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South Africa's National AI Policy Moves Forward
South Africa’s government has released a draft National Artificial Intelligence Policy for public comment, with feedback due by June 10, 2026. Approved by Cabinet on March 25, 2026, the policy outlines six core pillars ranging from talent development to ethical governance and cultural preservation....
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Gitex Africa 2026: Companies Ink Deals to Transform Morocco
Gitex Africa 2026 in Marrakech showcased a wave of telecom and tech partnerships aimed at modernising Morocco’s digital infrastructure. Inwi teamed with China Mobile International to deploy the country’s first private 5G network on a 52‑hectare industrial site in Nador,...
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SA Startup Refiant Raises $5M to Advance Sustainable AI
South African‑founded AI startup Refiant secured a $5 million seed round, led by climate‑tech investor VoLo Earth Ventures, to accelerate its nature‑inspired compression technology. The platform claims to shrink massive AI models—such as a 120‑billion‑parameter network—so they can run on a...
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Digital Realty, IXPN Launch New Internet Exchange PoP in Nigeria
Digital Realty has activated a new Internet Exchange Point of Presence (PoP) for the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) at its recently commissioned Lekki data centre in Lagos. The addition expands IXPN’s footprint to 12 data centres across the...
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MTN Completes Mobile Money Spinoff in Ghana
MTN Group has completed the structural separation of its Ghana mobile‑money business, merging MobileMoney Ltd with the newly formed MobileMoney Fintech Ltd (MMFL) effective 31 March 2026. The spin‑off satisfies Ghana’s Payment Systems and Services Act 2019 and places the fintech operation under...
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MTN to Invest $1.3B in South Africa by 2028
MTN South Africa announced a R21.8 billion ($1.3 billion) investment plan through 2028 to expand its ICT infrastructure, building on a $404 million network spend in 2025. The rollout targets broadband connectivity, entrepreneurship and digital‑skills development across the country. MTN highlighted its $321 million...
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Cisco Appoints Shane Heraty as VP of MEA-TRC
Cisco announced that Shane Heraty will assume the role of vice‑president and general manager for its Middle East, Africa, Türkiye, Romania and CIS (MEA‑TRC) region on May 1 2026. Heraty brings three decades of technology experience, including more than 20 years at Cisco...
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AI Gender Bias: Taking Women Off the Back Foot
Artificial intelligence is increasingly exposing gender bias that disadvantages women in hiring, finance, healthcare, and public safety. The bias originates from historical, skewed data and algorithms that amplify those patterns. Africa’s relatively late AI adoption gives the continent a rare...
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Hot Startup of the Month: South Africa's Chocolate Tribe
South Africa’s Chocolate Tribe, founded by former lawyer Nosipho Maketo‑van den Bragt, has evolved from a Johannesburg startup into a pan‑African VFX and animation studio serving global clients such as Netflix and Disney. The company now employs over 30 creatives...
Africa's Crypto Market Matures, Fraud Rate Drops 28%
Africa’s crypto ecosystem is entering a phase of regulated maturity, with platforms prioritising verification accuracy over onboarding speed. Fraud rates fell 28% year‑on‑year to 2.6% in 2025, while average verification time dropped from 25 to 18 seconds. Mobile‑first KYC solutions...
Cassava Deploys 'AI Factory' In SA, More Countries in the Pipeline
Cassava Technologies Group has begun rolling out its Nvidia‑powered “AI Factory” in South Africa, marking the continent’s first sovereign AI production hub. The company plans to replicate the model in Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco, targeting local language models such...
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'Women Are Better Borrowers': CEOs Call for More Female Leaders to Close Gaps
African women remain disproportionately unbanked, with half of Sub‑Saharan women lacking formal accounts, despite the continent’s mobile‑money boom. CEOs like Clara Arthur of Ghana’s GhIPSS and Hortense Mudenge of the Kigali International Financial Centre argue that increasing female leadership can boost...
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CloudMosa's Cloud-Based Phones Are Gaining Traction in SA
CloudMosa's Cloud Phone, a cloud‑powered solution that turns 4G feature phones into app‑capable devices, has seen four‑fold growth in South Africa, now representing 76% of the company's African user base. The rapid expansion is driven by deep partnerships with local...
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Chikwama Pay, Paymentology Partner to Expand WhatsApp-Based Banking
Chikwama Pay, a South‑African neobank, has teamed up with global issuer processor Paymentology to broaden its WhatsApp‑based banking suite across the Southern African Development Community. The partnership will bring cloud‑first debit‑card issuing, real‑time transaction controls and multi‑market compliance to a...
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Zambia Tests AI-Powered Learning in Schools
Zambia’s Ministry of Technology and Science and local tech firm Obrizum Group have signed an MoU to pilot AI‑powered learning, initially in secondary schools and later in TEVET institutions. The project, launching next month, aims to personalize instruction, boost learning...
Senegal's Free Internet Plan Could Pose Cybersecurity Risks
Senegal announced a Universal Connectivity initiative to deliver free Internet to one million residents, especially in remote areas, by the end of 2026. The plan follows a broader digital strategy that aims to make the digital economy account for 15%...
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Botswana's BoFiNet Appoints New CEO
Botswana Fibre Networks (BoFiNet) has named Dr. Gaone Seleka as its new chief executive, succeeding Keabetswe Segole. Seleka brings a blend of telecom, fintech and academic experience, highlighted by a PhD in Business Administration. His mandate includes scaling the recently...
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SES, MTN Announce Projects to Connect Refugees in Africa
Mobile operator MTN and satellite provider SES announced initiatives to improve connectivity for refugees across Africa. MTN signed a multi‑year MoU with UNHCR, launching services in Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan, with plans to expand to other markets hosting more...
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Blu Label Reports Hefty Loss After Cell C Listing but Remains Upbeat
Blu Label Unlimited reported a R5.2 billion net loss linked to its Cell C investment, yet posted a R389 million profit after stripping out Cell C items. Revenue rose 19% to R8.64 billion, while EBITDA swung to a R4.1 billion loss. The group completed Cell C’s JSE...
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Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea Subsea Cable to Strengthen Regional Connectivity
Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea have signed a subsea fiber‑optic agreement in Malabo, creating a direct high‑capacity link between the two countries. The deal includes plans for a commercial data centre and aims to improve regional cybersecurity and internet redundancy. While...
Connecting Africa Podcast: S4 Ep. 3 – What You Need to Know to Build an MVNO
The Connecting Africa Podcast’s fourth‑season episode features Calvin Collett, founder and CEO of Melon Mobile, who details the gritty reality of launching a digital‑first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in South Africa. He explains how building customer‑centricity into the company...