Investment

South African open-access fibre network provider Maziv has announced a major investment to expand its network connectivity across South Africa over the next five to seven years.

Amazon is reportedly in talks to buy the satellite group Globalstar, potentially bolstering its own low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite business, Amazon Leo, which is emerging as a competitor to satellite internet constellation Starlink.

Telecoms infrastructure provider Helios Towers has unveiled a plan to invest US$100 million to expand its telecoms infrastructure in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with backing from the National Agency for the Promotion of Investments (ANAPI).

Bharti Airtel’s data centre subsidiary Nxtra has secured an investment deal worth US$1 billion from Alpha Wave Global, Carlyle and Anchorage Capital via their respective affiliates to expand its network across India and accelerate growth.

Development financial institution the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the National Planning Commission (NPC), an advisory body and think tank appointed by the country’s president, have announced the completion of South Africa’s Digital Connectivity Investment Roadmap to 2035.

IFC, a global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets and a member of the World Bank Group (WBG), has announced an investment to expand clean and reliable power for telecom networks in three African countries.

Turkcell a leading service provider in Turkey, says it has signed a landmark US$1 billion syndicated international Murabaha financing agreement with 14 banks.

African technology startups – including mobile-focused initiatives – will receive a financing boost through a €40 million (about US$46million) commitment from EIB Global, the development arm of the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The World Bank Group (WBG) Board of Directors earlier this week approved what is described as a transformative regional initiative that will directly boost job creation in Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone. It includes a strong focus on digital infrastructure.

Cameroon has approved a loan agreement of about US$195 million with the Export-Import Bank of China. The funding will support phase four of the country’s national fibre optic backbone expansion.

Global digital operator Veon has announced a partnership with the GSMA’s Mobile for Development Foundation to co-fund digital innovation projects in Pakistan and Bangladesh that are supported by the GSMA Innovation Fund.

Nigeria has secured a US$100 million investment from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for Project Bridge, the country’s flagship broadband expansion initiative.

Regional multilateral development finance institution the African Development Bank Group and the United Nations Development Programme have announced a “transformative" continental drive to accelerate responsible artificial intelligence adoption and inclusive digital economic growth across Africa.

Three Southern African nations – Namibia, Botswana and Lesotho – have been in the news after plans to improve local and regional connectivity were announced.

Colt Technology Services revealed plans on Monday to strengthen its business in the Middle East to meet what it calls “a surge in growth opportunities” in the region driven by cloud adoption, AI investment, digital transformation and financial market growth.

The largest IPO in Zimbabwe’s capital markets history may be imminent after Zimbabwean telecoms business Econet Wireless set a US$1 billion valuation for Econet InfraCo, its new infrastructure development and management business.

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC), a leading player in the Asia Pacific data centre business, has been acquired in what has been described as one of the largest digital infrastructure transactions in Southeast Asia.

Following the news that India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has frozen the AGR dues of operator Vodafone Idea and allowed staggered repayments spread over 16 years until 2041, the company is now looking ahead with some ambitious investment plans.

Cyprus-based independent subsea infrastructure provider Datawave Networks said on Monday it has secured a deal with affiliates of investment firm Cerberus Capital Management to fund its long-planned Singapore-India-Gulf (SING) Cable System.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral developmental investment bank, and Tunisie Telecom, Tunisia’s national telecom operator, say they are partnering to improve the country’s digital infrastructure and drive the company’s transformation.

An American financial company, hired to plan a digitisation programme for the Democratic Republic of Congo, has filed a lawsuit in the United States against the country and several senior officials, reportedly alleging corruption.

One of the continuing complaints of mobile network operators – that streaming and other online services are using their networks to help them make profits without compensating them – is back in the news in South Africa.

Telenor Group, a leading telecommunications and technology company in the Nordic countries and Asia, has successfully completed the sale of its Telenor Pakistan business to Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), a part of the global technology group (and UAE-headquartered) e&.

Data and AI deals are very much in the news at the moment, thanks notably to a South American sale involving digital giant Atos and plans announced by investment company SoftBank Group to acquire digital infrastructure investor DigitalBridge Group.

African digital infrastructure provider WIOCC Group announced on Monday it has secured a US$65 million debt financing package drive its continued expansion of connectivity capacity and digital infrastructure across Africa.

Cameroon has finalised an MoU to join the Medusa Africa submarine cable and sent it to the Presidency for approval, Econfin Agency reports.

Mobile industry association the GSMA has urged what it calls a sharper, investment-led push to accelerate Indonesia’s digital transformation and drive innovation.

Standard Bank, Africa’s biggest bank by assets, says it has partnered with Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecommunications provider, to provide funding of US$138 million as part of investment towards operator Safaricom Ethiopia.

Mauritius Telecom (MT), the country’s leading service provider across fixed and mobile, has unveiled what it calls a new vision set to accelerate the country’s digital transformation and position Mauritius as a world-class digital hub linking Africa and Asia.

America Movil, a provider of telecommunications services across Latin America, says it will no longer insist on a joint purchase of financially challenged operator Telefonica Chile with another operator, Entel.