| South Africa telecom companies are still battling cellphone tower battery theft. Batteries serve as energy backups for network tower infrastructure and ensure that communities remain connected for hours when regular electricity is unavailable. But every month, these batteries are stolen. Criminals steal between 400 and 600 batteries from cell sites every month. Once stolen, these batteries are sold to unsuspecting buyers in the country, or smuggled out to neighbouring countries and then sold.
These thefts are a financial burden on telcos as they have to spend more money to replace the batteries. It also risks disconnecting many locations from telephony services temporarily.
Recently, MTN SA said it was making some progress against the criminals. It recovered 143 batteries in January worth R1.2 million ($80,054). Yet the crime has continued. In the same month, MTN lost more than 700 batteries. With South Africa struggling with power challenges, these battery thefts could cause disruptions to telecom services in the country. |
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Airtel Malawi has listed its shares on the Malawi Stock Exchange. It raised over $37 million from the IPO which it first announced last December. This comes months after Airtel Africa successfully listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange in 2019. However, the telco’s decision to list on the Malawi bourse is in line with a regulatory requirement. Telcos and broadcasting companies must be, at least, 20% locally owned. Airtel Malawi achieved this by listing 2.2 billion shares for trade.
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| Pivot or die are the two options bike hailing services in Lagos have at the moment. And most of them are pivoting. According to Techpoint, ORide, a subsidiary of OPay, is exploring the delivery business. ORide is in talks with GIG Logistics to offer its bike services to the delivery company. The move could serve as a lifeline for ORide’s over 2,000 bikers who have been restricted by the recent Lagos motorcycle ban. |
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| Nigerian fintech Carbon has created a $100,000 investment fund to invest in African startups. Called the Disrupt Fund, the company will invest up to $10,000 per startup, in return for 5% equity. Beyond funding, the company will give portfolio startups access to Carbon’s API. This would allow the startups to develop their solutions faster while leveraging the fintech’s customer base, which it puts at 2.1 million. Investee startups will also receive mentorship, payment support and work spaces in Carbon’s offices in Lagos, Nigeria. |
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| 11 startups have been selected for the Catapult: Inclusion Africa fintech bootcamp. The one-week event is organised by the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT) and targets African startups solving financial inclusion problems. The selected startups include CinetPay (Côte d’Ivoire), A-Trader (Tanzania), Dundiza (Tanzania), Esusu (Nigeria), Eversend (France), Exuus (Rwanda), PaddyCover (Nigeria), People’s Pension Trust (Ghana), Pezesha (Kenya), SympliFi (UK), and uKheshe (SA). |
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| Flutterwave has partnered with Worldpay FIS to advance financial transactions between Francophone and Anglophone Africa. Leveraging Worldpay’s reach, the Nigerian fintech will support payments collection and payouts for businesses in Senegal, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Cameroon. Flutterwave users in Anglophone markets like Nigeria and Kenya will be able to send and receive money from customers in these French-speaking countries. |
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Nerds Unite, MainOne’s annual flagship event holds on February 21 in Lagos, Nigeria. The event will bring together IT professionals, influencers, and decision-makers for one full day to connect and facilitate interactive discussions on trending developments in the IT sector to help professionals deliver increased value to Nigerian and West African businesses. To register visit: http://bit.ly/NerdsUnite2020
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Join our workshops at TC Townhall Emerging Tech. Our workshops are special learning sessions led by industry experts that allow attendees to get deep insights into a sub-sector or a specific topic. Seats are limited, please fill this form to pre-register for any of our workshops.
Workshops at TC Townhall: Emerging Tech –
- Legal and regulatory consultations by Odujinrin & Adefulu
- Understanding Bitcoin by Timi Ajiboye
- Emerging Tech Policy Workshop by Technology Advisors LLP
You can attend all three workshops because they hold at different times. To attend, get tickets to the event via this link
There is a 20% discount if you or your organisation would like to purchase five (5) tickets or more. |
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That’s it for today!
See you tomorrow.
– Abubakar
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