Telecoms

Nokia Q1 earnings report exceeds expectations, aided by 5G sales

Finnish telecoms equipment vendor Nokia reported on Thursday a better-than-expected Q1 financial report, with revenue and profit bolstered by a growth in 5G equipment sales. According to the earnings report, quarterly revenues spiked at three percent to 5.08 billion euros ($6.16 billion), beating a consensus figure of 4.72 billion. “We expect our typical quarterly earnings […]

To gain a head start, Ethio Telecom to offer mobile money services in May

Ethiopia’s state-owned provider, Ethio Telecom, announced on Wednesday the rollout of its mobile money service TeleBirr, which will be made available to subscribers starting May 2021. The announcement comes just two days after two telcos – South Africa’s MTN and a consortium from Vodafone – made bids to enter the Ethiopian telecoms market, which is […]

China's Huawei says sales down 16.5% amid US sanctions

Embattled Chinese tech giant Huawei said Wednesday first-quarter revenue fell after it sold its lower-priced Honor smartphone brand, but profitability improved. Sales declined 16.5% from a year earlier to 152.2 billion yuan ($23.5 billion) due in part to lower revenue for its consumer unit, the company said. It gave no earnings but said its profit […]

MTN, Vodafone bid for telecom operating licenses in Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s Finance Ministry announced on Monday that two bids have been made for two new telecoms operating licenses, as the country looks to liberalize its telecoms industry and economy. The two license bidders include South Africa’s MTN Group and a consortium of Kenya’s Safaricom, Vodafone, Vodacom, CDC Group (a UK development finance institution) and Japanese […]

Huawei to launch two 6G network satellites in July, report finds

Chinese tech titan Huawei is reportedly looking to launch two satellites alongside two Chinese partners during July 2021 meant for verifying 6G network technologies, as the company aims to take the lead in its global R&D efforts, The Global Times reported late last week. According to the report – which cites independent digital blogger Chang’an […]

Millicom bids adieu to the African market

Luxembourg-based telco Millicom International Cellular announced on Monday that it has signed agreements for the sale of its operations in Tanzania and for its stake in the AirtelTigo joint venture in Ghana. Once closed, the transactions will complete Millicom’s multi-year plan to divest its African operations and focus on its Latin America markets, the company […]

FCC makes speed test app available

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is offering a speed test app to the public for measuring their broadband speed. The app provides a way for consumers to test the performance of their mobile and in-home broadband networks.  In addition to showing network performance test results to the user, the app provides the test results to […]

Virgin Media CEO to head joint venture between VM and O2 UK

Head of Virgin Media Lutz Schuler will head a merger between both VM and O2 UK, making it the UK’s largest mobile network operator, as it seeks regulatory approval by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for the $42.67 billion tie-up, both companies said on Wednesday.  Schuler’s appointment, who joined Virgin Media in 2018 as […]

Corporations gave over $50M to voting restriction backers

When executives from Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines spoke out against Georgia’s new voting law as unduly restrictive last week, it seemed to signal a new activism springing from corporate America. But if leaders of the nation’s most prominent companies are going to reject lawmakers who support restrictive voting measures, they will have to abruptly […]

EXPLAINER: What Biden's new $100B plan for broadband means

The problems with U.S. broadband networks have been obvious for years. Service costs more than in many other rich nations, it still doesn’t reach tens of millions of Americans and the companies that provide it don’t face much competition. Now the Biden administration is promising to do something about all of those issues as part […]