WORD TELECOMMUNICATIONS Updates (WTU)

Tanzanian mobile money transactions drop in Q3 but number of accounts rises Wednesday 8 January 2020 | 09:17 CET | News The number of mobile money transactions in Tanzania dropped by 3.1 percent to 252.4 million in the quarter to 30 September 2019 from 260.4 million in Q2 despite an increase in the number of mobile money accounts by 1.4 million to 23.7 million, according to the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA). Its report did not state the value of transactions during the period, although at the end of the second quarter in June, it was TZS 8.3 trillion.

Monday 30 December 2019 | 10:58 CET | News Safaricom has overtaken Wananchi Group-owned Zuku by number of fixed internet connections and now controls 34 percent of the market, the Nation reported, citing statistics from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) for the three months to September. Safaricom had 154,603 fixed home and office connections compared 151,548 for Zuku

Thursday 2 January 2020 | 09:35 CET | News Kenyan operator Safaricom is undecided on when to roll out commercially a new savings service on its M-Pesa platform, which it operator has been testing for weeks, reports Business Daily. Acting CEO Michael Joseph said it had completed testing the service, called Mali, which is Kiswahili for wealth, but its fate remains unknown. Mali caps savings at KES 70,000 per person with annual interest at 10 percent, which is nearly double the rate that commercial banks are paying.

Thursday 2 January 2020 | 10:08 CET | News Airtel Kenya subscribers speak nearly three times more on their mobile phones than Safaricom users, because of its cheaper call tariffs, according to a new report from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). On average, Airtel on-net calls last 3.30 minutes, compared with Safaricom's 1.3 and 1.9 for Telkom Kenya subscribers. Airtel subscribers' calls to rival networks are longer at 1.0 minute on average compared with Safaricom's calls to other networks, lasting 0.9 minutes.

Tuesday 7 January 2020 | 09:37 CET | News Kenyan operator Safaricom is seeking to pre-qualify suppliers of a location tracking and intelligence platform, signaling its plan to monetise data from its customer base, Business Daily reported. Safaricom has invited bids for a service to build profiles of customers based on their locations and telephone usage.

Wednesday 8 January 2020 | 08:48 CET | News Samsung Electronics has forecast operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2019 down by around a third. Revenues are expected flat, the company said in its preliminary earnings guidance.

Airtel Nigeria launches mobile TV app Friday 3 January 2020 | 10:39 CET | News Airtel Nigeria has brought out the Airtel TV application to provide live television, music videos, news, sports and lots more. It is available on Android and iOS, is subscription-free, and offers registered users unlimited access to the entire station's content library. It enables them to stream different content categories on the Airtel 4G network.

TCL launches new smart home and pet tracking devices Tuesday 7 January 2020 | 14:49 CET | News TCL Communication has followed the unveiling of its first 5G smartphone at CES with the launch of a number of smart home devices including Wi-Fi mesh products, routers and pet trackers. The new TCL Linkhub Wi-Fi Mesh AC1200 system is designed to eliminate Wi-Fi dead zones and extend the network to every corner of the home. A set of three Mesh routers can provide Wi-Fi coverage of up to 5,300 square feet and support more than 90 devices, while a maximum of nine Mesh routers enables the system to cover up to 15,000 square feet. Linkhub Wi-Fi Mesh AC1200 will be available in select markets in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, the US and China in Q2 2020 starting at USD 199. The new Linkhub Wi-Fi router AC1200, meanwhile, is capable of covering up to 1,200 square feet and supporting 64 devices. It’s powered by the same MU-MIMO and beamforming technology as the Wi-Fi Mesh AC1200 and

Airtel market share has also increased to 26.6 percent, higher than Tigo's26.1 with total number of 11,909,149 Airtel and Tigo 11,697,399 as of Q3 report from TCRA.