WORD TELECOMMUNICATIONS Updates (WTU)

MTN Nigeria said that Nigeria has become the first country in West Africa to try out 5G equipment and applications. It has held a live demonstration in Abuja. Its 5G demonstration train moves to Calabar and Lagos, in addition to which 5G trials will be run in four other cities. Its 5G trial will run for three months using trial spectrum allocated to MTN by the NCC.

Safaricom Plc this week piggybacked on the Twitter hashtag #TwaTwa to assure its over 31 million subscribers of no future network outages, after several interruptions starting Saturday. The network failure hindered consumers from calling, using MPESA or texting across the country. Yesterday morning, subscribers could not redeem their Bonga Points as the short code *456 # was not functional. ''We endeavor to ensure the network is twa twa everywhere and you are adequately covered whether garini (in car) or in the kitchen,'' the telco tweeted in response to a user who had complained. The firm did not specify the exact cause of the outage in a day when its subscribers expressed their displeasure via social media. On Monday, a local news portal had reported that the regulator, Communication Authority of Kenya was investigating Safaricom's weekend network outage. Service outages are increasingly putting telcos at the risk of penalties from the regulator, which is p

In line with the agreement signed in August 2019 between Orange MEA S.A. and the minority shareholders of Orange Niger S.A., and following approval by the relevant authorities, Orange MEA S.A. has completed the sale of its entire 95.5% stake in Orange Niger to Zamani Com S.A.S. Zamani Com S.A.S. is wholly owned by Mr Mohamed Rissa of Rimbo Invest and Mr Moctar Thiam of Greenline Communications, both minority shareholders of Orange Niger. The company’s services will continue to be marketed under the Orange brand during a transition period. The Africa and Middle East region remains a strategic priority for the Orange Group. However, the market environment in Niger has led Orange to make this decision responsibly, prioritising business continuity for the benefit of the company’s customers and protecting the interests of the women and men working at Orange Niger. Orange would like to thank the employees at Orange Niger for the work accomplished since the subsidiary's creation and