Africa: African TV Trade Fare Goes Online

The annual trade fair is dead for the foreseeable future. Those running things like DISCOP and AfricaCom have had to reinvent themselves. Russell Southwood talks to DISCOP founder… Read more »

Equatorial Guinea: GITGE Doubles Down On Price and Capacity During Covid-19 - Will Roll-Out More FTTH Based On Pilot Results

Spanish-speaking Equatorial Guinea is one of the most under-reported telecoms markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. To right the balance a little this week we're running a translation of… Read more »

Africa: African Broadcasters Increasing Online Presence - Covid-19 Accelerates the Process

Recent changes in the African broadcast industry have had one common thread: the word online always comes up now almost every time you talk about them. Before Covid-19, some… Read more »

Africa: How Can African MNOs and OTTs Find a Way to Succeed in a Data Future?

As voice and data prices in Africa continue to come down, its mobile operators have some quite difficult strategic business choices. Some have chosen to diversify their businesses… Read more »

Africa: Delivering Learning With Broadcast and Online Together - an African Opportunity As School Lockdowns Lengthen

With the Kenyan Government closing public schools until 2021 and saying students will repeat a year, the focus is now really on how parents, pupils and teachers can ensure their… Read more »

Africa: When the World Changes, You Have to Change With It - Alterations to Balancing Act's News Service

The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated some changes that I have been thinking about making for some time. So this week's issue outlines why we are changing what we deliver and how I… Read more »

Africa: Worldwide Broadband Alliance Wants to Bring Together a Globally Available Wi-Fi Federation With Added Punch From Wi-Fi 6

Hot-spots are often one of Africa's most convenient ways of connecting, often providing free or low-cost access. But the process of getting access is nearly always a bit clunky and… Read more »

Senegal: Push and Pull Strategies to Encourage E-Commerce in Senegal - Maybe Impact of COVID-19 Trumps Them Both

Governments often adopt a "push" strategy when they want their citizens to do something and this is what the Senegalese Government is doing with e-commerce. But e-commerce start-up… Read more »

Ethiopia: Liberalized Broadcast Market Under Pressure - Audiences Increase With COVID-19 but Advertising Down

Ethiopia has put in place a relatively light touch set of emergency responses to Covid-19, including banning public events and closing schools. UNECA estimates that the impact of… Read more »

Ghana: A Key Test of Data Privacy Laws Will Go to the High Court On 23 June

Many African countries have laws protecting the personal data of private citizens but as ever, it is how these laws operate in practice that will show whether they actually protect… Read more »

Congo-Kinshasa: Streaming Music in the DR Congo

In the middle of May, Vodacom in partnership with Muska, launched DRC's first mobile music streaming service. Muska had already launched last year in Cape Verde and has wider… Read more »

Nigeria: Blessed Ilukor Idornigie, CEO, Ibaka TV On the Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdown, Its Expansion Plans and Moving Its Platform to AWS

iBAKA TV is one of Nigeria's largest VoD platforms and a key Nollywood player on YouTube. This week Russell Southwood spoke to its CEO Blessed Ilukor Idornigie about the impact of… Read more »

Nigeria: Nigerian Online Transport Start-Up Plentywaka in the Eye of the COVID-19 Storm

29 May 2020 Read more »

Africa: Massive New Cable Around Continent to Connect 16 African Nations

In July last year Google initiated the Equiano cable. The announcement of the 2Africa cable which involves Facebook completes the second generation cable build announcements.… Read more »

Africa: Meet the Adebanjos Talking to Netflix About a New Season, Signed Licensing Deal On Platform - Andrew Osayemi, MTA Productions On How to Get the Best From VoD Deals

For African content producers there's something rather beguiling about deals with the new generation of VoD platforms. But you have to work hard to make sure your content is seen.… Read more »

South Africa: Toomuchwifi Gives Free Data for Correct Answers to COVID-19 Quiz - Planning to Build Out Its Tried and Tested 'Pay For' Model

Before the Covid-19 lockdown in South Africa, low-cost challenger ISP TooMuchWifi had been in pilot mode, getting its business model right for its low income customers. During the… Read more »

Africa: Retail and Online Sales Survey for Mobile Handsets and Tablets in 6 African Countries Shows How Sales Will Be Hit and Looks At the Bounce Back After Lockdown Ends

This week I have been given access to a retail and online sales survey of six Sub-Saharan African countries' mobile handset and tablet sales. For the first time the scale of the… Read more »

Africa: A24 Media Launches Yebo VoD Service Focused On History, Biography and African Discovery - Mobile Deals in the Offing

VoD may provide an ideal route for more niche content interests but the road is not always an easy one. Two weeks ago pan-African TV content producer A24 Media launched its Yebo… Read more »

Nigeria: New Kaios Survey Identifies Barriers to Mobile Money and Internet Use Among Younger Phone Users in Nigeria - Fine-Tuning the Pitch to Get Better Use

Every now and then a survey gives you a glimpse into the dynamics of mobile internet use in Africa. This week KaiOS has released a survey of younger Nigerian mobile users. Russell… Read more »

Africa: Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste - COVID-19 As the Midwife of Changes in Digital Behavior

Behavior often changes in response to a crisis and there's probably been no bigger global crisis than the current Covid-19 pandemic. In this Top Story Russell Southwood looks at… Read more »

Africa: African Broadcasting in a Time of COVID-19 - Reports From the Front Line in Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda

A month ago I wrote an article trying to anticipate the impact of Covid-19 on African broadcast. What follows is the first of a series of articles looking at how this impact is… Read more »

Africa: Gist Mobile Aims to Connect Diaspora Nigerians With Their Families - Virtual Numbers and VOIP Access At Low Rates

This week a start-up launched by Nigerians living in the UK has put a modern twist on the old-style VoIP access services. Russell Southwood spoke to Gist Mobile Co-Founder Aramide… Read more »

Africa: Vodacom Play Signs Up MGM and Will Roll-Out in Lesotho, Tanzania, DRC and Mozambique 'Within Weeks'

Mobile operators have found it tough rolling out VoD services in Sub-Saharan and in the main have not made a great success of them. One exception is Vodacom Play that is now… Read more »

Africa: South Africa's Routed Offers the Continent's First Vendor Neutral Cloud Platform With Self-Service Products

The data centre and cloud space in Sub-Saharan Africa is steadily growing and becoming more complex. In a perverse way, the current Covid-19 crisis is acting as a growth factor as… Read more »

Africa: Rural Coverage in Africa Finally Begins to Come of Age

Not surprisingly, two-thirds of the stories in this week's e-letter are Covid-19 related. As with the ebola, the latest health crisis shines a light on the need to connect Africa's… Read more »