Five interesting projects to catch up with: … [visit site to read more]

In a rather unusual turn of events, a Kenyan lobby group has apparently filed a lawsuit against operator Safaricom, along with regulator the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), and Kenya’s Competition Authority, demanding that they allow satellite operator Starlink access to the Kenyan market.

We reported in late August that Safaricom had apparently written a letter to the Communications Authority of Kenya complaining that Starlink posed a threat to the telecoms market and should be required to partner with local operators rather than compete with them.

However, the lobby group, Kituo cha Sheria, had a different take on the move, suggesting that Safaricom’s allegations were unsubstantiated and that it is in fact apprehensive about the entry of Starlink into the market due to its competitive pricing which appears to undercut Safaricom’s internet service.

Kituo cha Sheria also suggests that that this move would block Kenyans from accessing faster internet speeds and maintain high costs.

Safaricom is said to charge KES6,000 (US$46.52) for its internet service; Starlink offers 50GB of internet for just KES1,800 (about US$14). Of course equipment also needs to be purchased for the Starlink service, although we noted recently that there is now a rental plan in Kenya for Starlink’s equipment.

Kituo Cha Sheria-Legal Advice Centre describes itself as a national non-governmental organisation established in 1973 to empower the poor and marginalised and to enhance equity and access to justice for all.

It is seeking a court declaration that Safaricom’s letter is unconstitutional and wants the court to affirm that internet access is a socio-economic right. The lobby group also requests a permanent injunction preventing the CA from acting against parent company SpaceX or restricting its devices in Kenya.

Further south, Starlink is having fewer problems. The company officially turned on service in Zimbabwe just before midnight, on 6 September 2 just a few days after neighbour Botswana also went live.

ITweb Africa reports that Starlink high-end kit’s one-time pricing of US$350 and monthly service fee of US$50 is far less than the charges offered by the country’s three main operators.

Four bits of news, both domestic and overseas, to catch up with: … [visit site to read more]

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In addition to the big Verizon/Frontier deal, there was an interesting infrastructure M&A deal yesterday over in southeastern Europe. EXA Infrastructure has agreed to acquire Global Communications Net AD (GCN). … [visit site to read more]

There was a major bit of fiber M&A yesterday of course, among what we once called incumbent telcos. Verizon has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Frontier. The purchase will combine Verizon’s FIOS footprint with the FTTH that Frontier has been building out as well. … [visit site to read more]

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.

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.

Service provider Ooredoo Qatar has announced the successful completion of its trial of Wi-Fi 7 technology. The trial was completed on fibre-to-the-room (FTTR) devices for the first time in the region. The company plans to launch the technology in 2024.

Ooredoo explains that Wi-Fi 7 is set to redefine the internet landscape by enhancing Wi-Fi speed by four times, offering wider coverage and more reliability and reducing latency.

Describing the key features of Wi-Fi 7 on its website, technology company Qualcomm explains that is built upon the IEEE 802.11be Extremely High Throughput (EHT) standard and incorporates ultra-wide 320MHz channels, allowing for massive capacity gains and accommodating the ever-growing demands of modern connectivity.

Additionally, Qualcomm says, the implementation of 4K QAM modulation enables peak speeds to surge for lightning-fast data transfer. Wi-Fi 7 also introduces multi-link operation (MLO), a groundbreaking feature which significantly boosts throughput and maintains consistent low latency even in highly congested environments.

In the case of Ooredoo’s FTTR offering, these improvements are critical for supporting next-generation home applications such as 8K video streaming, immersive augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences, and high-definition interactive gaming.

Beyond home use, says Ooredoo, Wi-Fi 7 will drive substantial innovation across various industrial sectors, including telemedicine, cloud computing and industrial IoT, catalysing Qatar’s ongoing digital transformation.

The initial commercial launch of Wi-Fi 7 will be with Ooredoo’s FTTR solution, designed to enhance connectivity across larger homes, thereby, it says, providing a consistently superior internet experience for its customers across all corners of their premises.