In yet another example of the continuing importance to fintechs of emerging markets, Pyypl, a fintech company in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), has announced a principal licence membership and strategic framework agreement with payment giant Visa.

The licence enables Pyypl to issue virtual and physical prepaid Visa cards, through its accessible mobile application, directly to its hundreds of thousands of active users, elevating its users from cash, mobile money and being financially underserved to the world of digital payments.

The strategic framework agreement further recognises the licence approval process in other markets that Pyypl is entering. With the support of local regulators, Pyypl is able to provide access to prepaid Visa cards in these markets, fast-tracking financial inclusion across the MEA region.

This, says Pyypl, marks the latest innovation in its transformational consumer offering and accelerates its international expansion by enabling the company to offer, over time, prepaid Visa cards on a pan-regional basis.

The partnership is aligned with Visa’s growth and innovation strategy of enhancing access to capabilities for 850 million digital natives across MEA.

Pyypl says it is one of the fastest-growing fintechs in the MEA, powered by 100% proprietary technology and operational in multiple markets across Africa and the GCC.

The company adds that its purpose-driven approach aims to offer transformational financial services to 850 million financially underserved smartphone users across Africa and the Middle East in a single app – via internationally accepted virtual and physical prepaid cards, and instant domestic and international user-to-user transfers as well as remittances to 80 countries.

News 

The investigation is the latest move in the US and China’s ongoing struggle for global tech dominance 

The US government is investigating Chinese telcos China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom due to concerns that the firms could provide US data to the Chinese government via their US cloud and wholesale routing services.  

According to Reuters, citing three sources familiar with the matter, the US Commerce Department has subpoenaed the three companies and has completed “risk-based analyses” of China Mobile and China Telecom, but has made less progress in the probe of China Unicom. 

China Mobile, China, Unicom, and China Telecom are China’s three national mobile operators, all of which are state owned, and combined serve roughly 1.7 billion customers across the country. Beyond their domestic operations, the operators have a significant international presence, offering a wide variety of telecoms and IT services.  

In the US, however, the companies’ presence is relatively limited, having all been banned from providing telephony and broadband services by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) due to national security concerns since 2019. The companies’ wholesale cloud services – a small part of their overall operations –  have yet to be directly impacted by sanctions. 

Now, the US government is potentially looking to extend its sanctions to cover the wholesale cloud operations, arguing that these could route US data through China where it would be more accessible to the Chinese government.   

The current probe extends to internet exchange points (PoPs) and cloud services, critical infrastructures where data interception or manipulation could occur. 

The Chinese embassy has responded to the claims, asking the US to “stop suppressing Chinese companies under false pretexts,” emphasising that China will continue to defend the rights and interests of Chinese companies. 

The investigation is part of a broader strategy by the government to mitigate security risks posed by Chinese tech firms. The issue feeds into the ongoing wider battle between the two geopolitical rivals over global tech dominance. This rivalry includes various sectors such as telecommunications, semiconductors, AI, and 5G. The US government is particularly concerned about the implications of Chinese advancements in technology on national security, intellectual property, and economic competitiveness. 

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Also in the news:
Freshwave to deploy small cells in Manchester for VMO2
SGP.32: A reality check on the latest remote SIM provisioning standard
Vodafone Germany partners with FlyNex on industrial drone platform 

News 

A decision could be made in November, according to reports 

French telco group Orange is exploring the potential sale of its 40% share in Mauritius Telecom, according to a Bloomberg report citing anonymous sources.

According to the sources, Orange has met with advisers to discuss the potential sale, but has not yet spoken to Mauritius Telecom’s board regarding its interest in a share buyback scheme.  

Orange has owned the 40% stake in the company since 2000, with the remaining 60% stake held by the Mauritian government various state-owned investment vehicles. 

As the largest carrier in Mauritius, Mauritius Telecom serves approximately 1.3 million subscribers.  

 The potential stake sale comes as part of Orange’s strategic realignment to concentrate on its core assets and divesting from what it considers to be non-core holdings. 

Orange is actively pursuing consolidation projects in Spain and Belgium. Its merger with MasMovil in Spain was given the greenlight by the European Commission back in February, subject to conditions on the sale of spectrum. Romania’s Digi (the largest MVNO in Spain) will acquire spectrum from MásMóvil in order to become a new fourth mobile operator. 

“Convergence in Europe has proven to be key to our leadership in Europe and demonstrates how Orange’s new strategy, Lead the Future, will continue to meet the digital needs that our customers in Europe demand,” said Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière, the CEO of Orange Europe upon the company’s acquisition of telco operator VOO SA in June last year. 

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter 

Also in the news:
Freshwave to deploy small cells in Manchester for VMO2
SGP.32: A reality check on the latest remote SIM provisioning standard
Vodafone Germany partners with FlyNex on industrial drone platform     

The quantum future gets a little closer, some interconnection across the straits of Taiwan, and a network upgrade in Europe. … [visit site to read more]

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Keep up-to-date with all the latest news, articles, event and product updates posted on Developing Telecoms.
Subscribe to our FREE weekly email newsletters for the latest telecom info in developing and emerging markets globally.