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Subscribe to our FREE weekly email newsletters for the latest telecom info in developing and emerging markets globally.

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.

A US Trade and Development Agency-funded feasibility study for Nigeria’s Hotspot Network Limited has led to the issuance of financing for the deployment of 120 solar-powered rural telecommunications base stations across 22 states in Nigeria.

USTDA’s focus is the export of US goods and services for priority infrastructure projects in emerging economies. In this case the project will utilize renewable energy to provide last-mile mobile connectivity to underserved rural communities that lack the requisite power infrastructure for reliable telecommunications.

Hotspot is a telecommunication infrastructure and solar-powered rural telephony network provider, using renewable energy and climate-smart technology in operating telecom sites in off-grid rural parts of Nigeria.

Co-financing the project are Nigeria’s Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) and the Climate Finance Blending Facility, funded by the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). This co-financing attracted matching investments from nine Nigerian institutional investors.

USTDA’s feasibility study, announced in 2021, assessed Nigeria’s rural telephony market, defined the project’s technology, cost and revenue options, and recommended financing and implementation plans.

USTDA’s support for this activity results from a memorandum of understanding (MoU), also in 2021, with InfraCredit to jointly identify infrastructure projects in Nigeria that could benefit from project preparation funding and subsequent credit enhancements. The sectors of cooperation highlighted in the MoU include clean energy, information and communications technology, transportation, agribusiness and healthcare infrastructure.

A bunch of interesting infrastructure news items from EMEA: … [visit site to read more]

Hard on the heels of yesterday’s news about its sister company Vumatel’s success in the South African FTTH market, fibre infrastructure provider Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) has launched a R400 million (about US$21 million) fibre network infrastructure expansion project.

The news came in the form of a statement from Maziv, the parent company of both DFA and Vumatel.

Quoted in a number of local news outlets, Maziv says the reason for the expansion was to enhance provision of connectivity hardware to allow high-speed connectivity to more businesses and contribute to South Africa’s digital transformation efforts, “enabling greater access to online services and improving economic growth”.

This isn’t unexpected. The project has apparently been in trial phase since February and is now being rolled out at scale.

News resource MyBroadband says DFA will deploy 800 additional dry underground distribution cabinets (DUDCs) as part of the upgrade project. These units have been developed and manufactured in South Africa to DFA’s specifications.

Maziv says the additional units will dramatically shorten the distance data travels from the customer and over the network using dedicated cables, ensuring the shortest possible installation times and, Maziv suggests, reduced downtime during repairs and maintenance activities. The infrastructure upgrade will be carried out in three phases over roughly 18 months.

The project should also accommodate future growth and demand on the network, with the ability to scale up fibre deployment to meet demand as it increases.

This news comes a week after South Africa’s Competition Commission blocked a Vodacom takeover of Vumatel and DFA, though the proposal may now be taken to the country’s Competition Tribunal.

Kenya’s leading operator Safaricom says it has increased account limits on its wildly popular M-Pesa mobile money service to KSh500,000 (about US$3,477) following approval from the Central Bank of Kenya.

The higher account limit was effective from 15 August 2023, for all M-Pesa customers.

In addition to the higher account limit, M-Pesa customers are also set to enjoy an increased daily transaction limit of KSh500,000 per day. The current per transaction limits of KSh150,000 (about US$1,043) will remain. However, customers can make as many transactions up to the daily limit as they wish.

Safaricom suggests the move is set to be a boost for businesses in the country, especially SMEs, as the share of cashless transactions continues to rise. In the last financial year to March 2023, more than 606,000 businesses were receiving payments through Lipa Na M-Pesa, with a total of KSh1.625 trillion (about US$11. 3 billion) transacted in the 12 months.

M-Pesa transaction limits were previously increased in March 2020 when the Central Bank of Kenya approved the doubling of transaction limits to KSh150,000 and daily and account limits to KSh300,000.

Of the new limits, Peter Ndegwa, CEO of Safaricom, says: “We appreciate the role that the Central Bank of Kenya has played by constantly providing guidance on innovations and protections that we have put in place to strengthen M-Pesa’s adherence  to KYC, anti-money laundering and other financial regulations and safeguards. The increased account limits will provide customers and especially small businesses with increased convenience as the share of cashless transactions continues to rise.”