Gambia: Nation Suffers Spate of Outages - Back-Up Costs 'Arm-and-a-Leg'

Despite the transition to a democratic Government in 2017, the country has not really got to grips with the kinds of reforms that would help the communications sector grow. Russell… Read more »

Africa: After Zimbabwe Premiere, Shaina Movie Goes On General Release Across Africa

Impact (Ed) International specializes in telling gripping stories that have something to tell their viewers. This time the film Shaina, set in Zimbabwe, is about the perils and… Read more »

Africa: E-Commerce Start-Up Inalipa Rides the Year of Covid-19, Building Both a B2C and B2B Customer Base

Going into the vacuum left by Jumia's pull-out in 2019, inalipa has over a short period built up both a B2C and B2B customer base in Dar es Salaam and has ambitions to roll-out… Read more »

Africa: South Africa Announces Its Intention to Introduce Digital Radio - Will the Rest of the Continent Follow?

In November last year the South African broadcast regulator ICASA published its Draft DSB Regulations 1 on the introduction of digital radio for consultation. Last week it held… Read more »

Africa: Beem's Founder Looks to Bring Together SMS and New Digital Channels With a Pan-African Reach - Smartphones Still Under-Used in Tanzania

This week Tanzania's digital marketer Bongo Live! changed its name to Beem. A name change is nothing remarkable but it provided a good moment to check out the state of the… Read more »

Africa: Africa's TV and Broadcast Sectors - Wishing Goodbye to a Terrible 2020 and Looking Forward to a Better 2021

Dear readers, viewers, contributors and advertisers Read more »

Africa: The Big Tech Shifts of 2020

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Africa: South Africa and Tunisia Looking Forward to Welcoming Production Companies for Film and TV Location Shooting Post-Pandemic

For South Africa, the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the lucrative business of international productions and film location shooting. For Tunisia, it hoping to restart its once… Read more »

Africa: Nuran Comes Back From Near Death Financial Experience to Implement Its First Network As a Service Contract With Vodafone in Ghana

NuRAN comes back from near death financial experience to implement its first network as a service contract with Vodafone in Ghana Read more »

Africa: Mondia Launches Its 'Pay-As-You-Go' Digital Content Platform Monsooq in South Africa but Plans Roll-Out in Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Kenya

The making of the mobile industry was the moment that pre-paid calling was implemented. Users with no secure income but relatively small amounts of money could become customers… Read more »

Nigeria: Q&A With Broadcast Regulator Professor Armstrong Idachaba

The Nigerian broadcast regulator has a lot on its plate including issues arising from its Broadcast Code of Conduct and the delayed DTT roll-out. Russell Southwood spoke to its… Read more »

Africa: The Beginning of Sub-Saharan Africa's Cloud Journey - New Report Identifies Investment and Trends

This week sees a new report - African Interconnection Report: Analysis of Sub-Saharan Africa's Cloud and Data Centre Ecosystem - that looks at where data centres and cloud service… Read more »

Benin: Isocel Telecom Gets Funding for Wider Roll-Out of Ftth Service, Etisalat to Build WA Cable Landing in Cotonou

Long-standing Beninois ISP Isocel Telecom has obtained funding to roll-out its FTTH service to the Greater Cotonou area. Russell Southwood talks to Isocel Telecom's CEO Robert… Read more »

Africa: French Pay TV Operator Canal+ Eyes Anglophone African Expansion - Two and Two Might Well Make Five

With the bankruptcy of Kwese TV, there's been much less competition in the Sub-Saharan African pay TV market. But over the last moths there have been two developments that seem to… Read more »

Africa: Start-Up Uses App to Help Farmers Know When to Feed Their Fish

For several years IoT has been one of those annoying acronyms at conferences. In reality, it already existed in a number of M2M applications like fleet management. But actual… Read more »

Africa: Big Shake-Ups in Broadcast Regulation Planned for Nigeria & South Africa

After rumbling sounds for many years, continental pay TV operator MultiChoice finds itself in the sights of legislators and broadcasters in Sub-Saharan Africa's two biggest… Read more »

Africa: Challenges Growing for Google Play Store in India - What Lessons Are There for the Development of Africa's Digital Economy

Both Apple and Google have been under fire for the near monopoly they both have in different markets for app distribution. Google's app store is facing a major challenge in India… Read more »

East Africa: Why Social Media Matters for Broadcasters and Who's Missing Out

East African broadcasters are more likely to feature in the top 10 of Facebook audiences in Sub-Saharan Africa in their respective countries. Russell Southwood looks at why social… Read more »

Africa: Africa's Self-Care App Challenge - Snapshots of Winners and Losers Across Seven Countries

Self-service - where a customer uses an app or website to service their own needs - is more widely accepted outside of Africa. The potential cost savings are large if it can be… Read more »

West Africa: TV5MONDE Launches Its Francophone VoD Platform With One Eye On the African Market - 3,000 Hours of Content to Rise to 5,000 By 2021

Francophone Africa has access to far fewer online content platforms than its Anglophone equivalent. This week things are about to change with the launch of TV5MONDEPLUS.COM.… Read more »

Africa: Growing Low-Cost Rural Connectivity

The low-cost rural operator space has grown but given the size of the opportunity it has been mighty slow. This week Russell Southwood spoke to Michael Darcy, CEO and Founder of… Read more »

Africa: Mobile Operators Seek to Lower the High Data Price Barrier By Bundling Data and Content

Two of Sub-Saharan Africa's biggest mobile operators - MTN and Vodacom - are now marketing bundled content with data at a single price. Russell Southwood looks at how the mobile… Read more »

Africa: Africa's Top Handset Vendor Transsion Hit By Pre-Installed Malware Incident - Security Vendor Also Spotted Two Other Similar Incidents With Other Handset Vendors

Advertising and subscription fraud started the day digital advertising was invented but the malware associated with it is becoming "more and more sophisticated and human-like."… Read more »

Africa: Pineapple TV Is Africa's First Childrens' TV Channel

An African-produced childrens' TV channel has been one of those missing pieces when you look at continent's content output. For years there have been none and now there are two.… Read more »

Africa: Beyonic-MFS Africa Deal - Luke Kyohere On Why It's a Good Fit and the Future of Mobile Money

The recent purchase of Beyonic by MFS Africa has come at a time of other recent news about money transfer deals designed to provide continental reach. Russell Southwood talked to… Read more »