Pan-African operator MTN Group has announced the conclusion of the sale of its MTN Guinea-Conakry operation to the State of Guinea. This took place on 30 December 2024.

This transaction, says MTN, aligns with its focus on portfolio optimisation and simplification, as part of Ambition 2025, a strategy anchored in building the largest and most valuable platform business with a clear focus on Africa.

MTN Group President and CEO, Ralph Mupita, has been widely quoted as saying: “This milestone marks a new phase for MTN Guinea-Conakry under local ownership, and MTN thanks the staff, customers, regulators and broader stakeholders in Guinea for their support during the time MTN has been operational in the country.”

He added: “Concluding this transaction is in line with the strategy to simplify the portfolio and allocating capital to markets where we can make a difference as MTN and deliver long-term growth and returns.”

The closing of the sale isn’t a big surprise. As long ago as November 2023 we reported ongoing discussions in progress regarding the potential ‘orderly exit’ of MTN from its operations in Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry and Liberia. At that time MTN had completed the sale of MTN Afghanistan, which marked group’s exit from the Middle East.

In fact in April 2024, according to ITWeb Africa, Mupita informed shareholders and markets in April that MTN’s objective was to « streamline and restructure » its portfolio.

MTN Group completed the sale of its Guinea-Bissau business unit to Telecel in August last year. It still has a presence in Liberia.

Turkcell, globally a leading comprehensive telecom and digital services provider, has announced the successful completion of the world’s first 2.4Tbps field trial on a live transmission network in collaboration with Huawei.

This significant achievement marks a crucial milestone in optical transmission technology, addressing the ever-growing demand for data and connectivity in the future.

Turkcell, the largest telecom carrier in Türkiye, provides high-quality fixed and mobile communication services to over 43 million subscribers. With the emergence of 5G, 4K/8K video, AI, and digital services, network traffic will continue to increase significantly year on year. As a key infrastructure component, the transmission network carries the full range of companies’ services, and therefore requires reconstruction with innovative technology to meet tomorrow’s traffic and service challenges.

Turkcell successfully transmitted 2.4Tbps over a 160km distance on a live transmission network established between two data centers located in Tekirdağ and Edirne to carry high volumes of transit service traffic. The 2.4Tbps dual carrier coherent board, verified in this live trial, is empowered by a built-in high-baud rate bandwidth modulator, state-of-art non-linear compensation algorithm, and intelligent neuron function module to sense the complex link environment in an actual network in real time, and quickly optimize the network transmission performance. 

Prof. Dr. Vehbi Çağrı Güngör, Turkcell Chief Network Technologies Officer said, “Turkcell consistently remains at the forefront of cutting-edge technologies and industry trends. The introduction of the latest ultra-speed DWDM technology in collaboration with Huawei confirms our dedication to delivering next-generation innovations and providing a superior customer experience.”

Victor Zhou, President of Huawei’s Transport Network Domain, said, « We are pleased to cooperate with Turkcell to verify the reaching of this significant milestone in the ultra-high-speed optical industry. Huawei will continue to provide global operators with superior solutions that feature high quality, reliability, and sustainable evolution. »

News

The distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack caused a website failure and service disruption for around 12 hours

Today, Japan’s largest mobile operator, NTT Docomo, has revealed it has suffered a cyberattack, impacting a number of services.

The DDoS attack reportedly resulted in a system glitch at 5:27am, which disrupted access to several services – such as the company website and the company’s ‘goo’ portal – for almost 12 hours.

Mobile and other communication services were notably unaffected, though customers reported difficulty accessing the company’s ‘d payment’ mobile money service.

Cyberattacks on telecoms operators have been increasing in potency in recent years. While this attack on Docomo was relatively benign, more sophisticated attacks can put the data from millions of customers at risk. Last year, for example, a data breach at AT&T saw data from 73 million customers leaked on the dark web.

Cyberattacks are typically motivated by financial gain, primarily via blackmailing the victim or the sale of the stolen data. However, as the world becomes increasingly politically unstable we are seeing activity by state-supported hacker groups focus more on surveillance and sabotage for geopolitical ends.

Indeed, this was seemingly the motivation for a string of attacks reported at the end of last year, in which the Chinese hacker group Salt Typhoon was linked to a series of cyberattacks on the US telecoms sector. These attacks compromised data from at least nine major service providers, including AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

US Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner dubbed the breach “the worst telecom hack in our nation’s history – by far.”

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Also in the news:
VEON and Starlink to launch Direct-to-Cell Satellite connectivity in Ukraine
Swisscom completes acquisition of Vodafone Italia
Equinix to buy BT’s Irish data centre business for €59m

News 

The connectivity could prove vital in areas where infrastructure is destroyed by Russian military activity 

Telecoms group VEON has announced a new partnership with Starlink, a division of SpaceX, to bring direct-to-cell satellite connectivity to Ukraine.  

The deal will see Kyivstar, VEON’s Ukrainian subsidiary, offer these satellite-based connectivity services to its customers across the country. 

The deal will see Ukraine become one of the first countries to benefit from Starlink’s direct-to-cell services, with T-Mobile in the US the only other operator that has agreed to roll out the technology so far.  

Service activation in Ukraine is expected in the fourth quarter of 2025 and will include SMS and over-the-top (OTT) messaging functionality. Service offerings will expand to include voice and data services in future phases. 

Global satellite constellation Starlink is currently operational in roughly 118countries worldwide, where it aims to serve customers in regions where traditional internet infrastructure is limited. Its technology has already played a significant role in connecting areas affected by natural disasters, conflict, and other infrastructure challenges. 

All of these deployments, however, currently require the use of a Starlink terminal dish. Direct-to-cell capabilities, on the other hand, will allow customers to use the satellite connectivity without any deploying any additional equipment.  

These capabilities are limited the latest Starlink satellite models, of which SpaceX has launched over 100 in the past year. 

For Ukraine, this satellite connectivity could provide customers with an invaluable emergency resource, allowing them to stay connected even when terrestrial infrastructure has been destroyed by Russian military action. 

“Kyivstar has done a tremendous job in investing in Ukraine’s 4G connectivity, expanding coverage to remote areas and increasing the energy resilience of its network. Today’s announcement helps us take our commitment to Ukraine’s connectivity to the next level, exponentially amplifying the resilience of our services with satellite connectivity,” said Kaan Terzioglu, CEO of VEON Group in a press release. 

Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov emphasised the importance of the collaboration in ensuring continuous communication for customers in Ukraine, especially during ongoing challenges.  

“Kyivstar has been the backbone of Ukraine’s resilience throughout the war, and we are committed to leaving no stone unturned to keep Ukraine connected. Our collaboration with Starlink is a game-changer in our journey towards achieving our ‘LTE everywhere’ ambition,” he said. 

VEON, which has invested over $10 billion in Ukraine since 2013, has committed an additional $1 billion for the country’s recovery and reconstruction between 2023 and 2027. The company was named the top international investor in Ukraine for 2022 and 2023 by Forbes Ukraine and NV Ukraine. 

“Working with Starlink allows us to extend connectivity to underserved areas, supporting our broader mission to provide reliable services in emerging markets,” said Augie K Fabela II, Chairman and Founder of VEON.  

At the World Communication Awards held last month in London, VEON Kyivstar won the Crisis Response Award. 

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

Also in the news:
Equinix to buy BT’s Irish data centre business for €59m
Part 2: More US broadband predictions as we approach 2025
World’s first 5G-A region in Mobile AI Era launched 

Happy New Year to all!  While network operators were mostly focused on the organic path last year, there were a few significant deals.    Verizon is buying Frontier, Lightpath bought UFD, and of course Uniti and Windstream are merging.  And that last one was not a big surprise, as Windstream topped last years poll with Uniti in 4th. What is on tap for 2025 among US network operators?  Who you think are the likeliest candidates to be sold (in part or in whole)?  (Not including already pending transactions). … [visit site to read more]

Operator MTN Uganda says it has secured UGX370 billion (about US$100 million) in committed debt financing from five local banks.

This debt financing is described as one of the largest local currency debt transactions in Uganda. The syndicated debt facility from five local banks was 1.6x oversubscribed.

MTN Uganda says this deal reflects robust confidence from lenders in the operator’s long-term potential and focus on expanding its digital and financial services offerings. The financing will be used by MTN Uganda for general corporate purposes including the expansion and improvement of the network.

The arrangement was led by Stanbic Bank Uganda, partnering with Absa Bank Uganda, Citibank Uganda, Standard Chartered Bank Uganda and Centenary Rural Development Bank.

MTN Uganda’s Chief Financial Officer, Andrew Bugembe, says: “MTN Uganda’s achievement in securing this substantial funding underscores our competitive strength and reflects the growing appetite for premium corporate debt instruments within Uganda’s financial sector.” MTN Uganda continues to operate with a strong balance sheet, he points out.

MTN Uganda serves approximately 21.6 million mobile subscribers as of September 2024. Its main competitor in the market is Airtel Uganda with 15.6 million customers by 30 June 2024. The company is 76% owned by the MTN Group, Africa’s leading telecommunications company with more than 280 million customers in 17 markets.

Reuters notes that in June MTN Uganda sold shares left over from its 2021 Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Ugandan stock exchange, leaving its parent owner controlling 76% of its shareholding.

As years go, 2024 was a bit surreal on lots of fronts, but not here. In telecom and internet infrastructure it was pretty smooth. Growth has been largely organic, layoffs haven’t been a thing, investments have been sane and plentiful, and technology has continued to advance. This smoothness makes the job of a prognosticator more difficult, but there’s always next year!  So what does 2025 hold for us? Hmmm, let’s make some guesses, topic by topic: … [visit site to read more]

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has enabled prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) to make unified payments interface (UPI) transactions via third-party mobile applications, a concept that may sound arcane on first glance, but one that could speed up the money transfer process in India.

PPIs are financial tools that allow users to store funds for future transactions on cards or digital wallets. Until recently, UPI payments linked to PPIs could only be carried out using the mobile application of the PPI issuer.

This change wasn’t unexpected. In fact it was first outlined in RBI’s statement on Development and Regulatory Policies in April 2024, stating that users of full-KYC (know your customer)-compliant PPIs can use any third-party app’s interface to transfer and receive money in their wallets. With the new rules now in place, PPI issuers are permitted to facilitate the discovery of their full-KYC PPIs on third-party UPI mobile applications.

As news resource Electronic Payments International notes, these third-party applications will enable PPIs to be linked to their payment service provider (PSP) handles. Transactions made from PPIs using third-party UPI applications will require authentication with UPI credentials.

As for what this means in practice, Indian news resource Mint explains that the UPI is a sort of bank-to-bank money transfer, where the interface is a mobile application such as Google Pay.

Users can transfer money across platforms via a mobile number and QR code. PPIs are mobile wallets which have preloaded money. This money can be transferred to another person who is also using the mobile wallet by the same PPI provider.

But a PPI is not a UPI; the money does not move from one bank account to another. To move money from one mobile wallet to another requires interoperability, which the RBI has now allowed with its latest rollout.

In other words, by integrating PPIs with UPI, the RBI has made it easier for users to link their digital wallets to UPI-enabled apps. The latest change means that users of PPIs will now be allowed to use third party apps as well as the UPI functionality provided by the PPI provider.

While much of this was in the April statement, the latest move on 27 December was apparently a follow-up action where the RBI instructed all prepaid payment instrument (PPI) issuers to enable UPI payments from and to full-KYC PPIs through third-party UPI applications.

So is this a positive move for customer – and could it be a boost to the digital payment ecosystem in India? Almost certainly, because the new ruling makes PPI instruments easy to use for UPI transactions. In fact Mint says UPI is an essential payment mode for everyday usage of more than 500 million Indians. 

An internet law that gives the government power to regulate online content took effect in Vietnam last week. Decree 147, as the law is known, expands government control over access to information on the internet for reasons of ‘national security’ and ‘social order’.

The law expands radically on guidelines from 2021 that codify ethics for social media companies and the public, and rules, issued in a decree in August 2022, that require technology firms to store their users’ data locally and set up local offices.

It requires social media platforms providing services to users in Vietnam to store user data and provide it to the authorities on demand. Essentially this means social media giants like Facebook and TikTok must now verify user accounts using people’s phone numbers or personal identification numbers and, of course, store that data. 

The law also requires organisations to take down anything the authorities consider ‘illegal content’ within 24 hours.

Rights groups say the move is aimed at stifling dissent. The government issued the decree this November, though it appears it was actually effective from Christmas Day.

A large proportion of the Vietnamese population is on social media. Some sources estimate that there are about 65 million Facebook users, 60 million users on YouTube and 20 million users on TikTok, a significant proportion of a population estimated at close to 101 million.

The new laws also include curbs on gaming for under-18s, though these are supposedly designed to prevent addiction. Games publishers are expected to enforce a time limit of an hour a game session and not more than 180 minutes a day for all games. Just over half of Vietnam’s population – more than 50 million people – apparently regularly play games, so it’s not clear how these curbs can be enforced. 

Decree 147 also requires organisations to provide search and content-scanning tools to government authorities upon request. It limits certain functions, like live video streaming, to only verified accounts. As a number of news resources have pointed out, this not only an attacks freedom of expression; it also affects the large number of people earning a living through social media channels.

As a number of news outlets have noted, in October, independent Vietnamese blogger Duong Van Thai was sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of anti-state propaganda.

It’s not yet clear how Facebook’s parent company Meta, YouTube owner Google and TikTok will respond to the new laws.