MTN Group and Airtel Africa were given the green light to resume the sale of new Sim cards in Nigeria following the implementation of a new policy linking them to national ID numbers.
Mastercard will invest $100-million in Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations, valuing the business at $2.65-billion, the London-listed company said on Thursday.
London-listed Helios Towers has reached agreements to buy and deploy over 2 500 high sites from and for Airtel Africa Group in deals that potentially give it access to four “attractive new markets”.
Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator has ordered mobile phone users to link their devices to their national identity numbers, raising the prospect of millions of lines being blocked.
Nigeria has ordered telecommunications companies, including MTN Group, to suspend the sale of Sim cards while authorities check their compliance with registration guidelines.
Airtel Africa plans to sell about 4 500 telecommunication towers across five countries including Tanzania and Madagascar to help reduce $3.5-billion of debt and prepare for looming bond repayments.
The United Nations is partnering with MTN, Vodacom, Orange and Airtel on a mobile data platform that delivers coronavirus-related information around Africa.
As part of an ambitious reform programme, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed plans to award telecommunications licences to two private operators next year, and sell a minority stake in Ethio Telecom.
Bharti Airtel’s Africa unit plunged in London trading after raising about $750-million in an initial public offering, making it among the worst debuts on European exchanges this year.
Safaricom’s market share dropped 1.6 percentage points to 65.4% in the three months to June as Bharti Airtel’s Kenyan unit and Telkom Kenya increased mobile phone customers at a faster pace.