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A license to operate telecommunication services in Ethiopia has been awarded to a consortium made up of Safaricom, Vodafone, Japan’s Sumitomo and UK finance agency CDC Group.

Global consortium wins telecom license in Ethiopia

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The liberalisation of Ethiopia’s telecoms market has been much anticipated for almost three years now. MTN Group and a consortium involving Safaricom and Vodacom have bid for telecommunications licenses and the Ethiopian government is set to look at the technical offers this week, CNBC Africa spoke to the Senior Adviser to the Minister of Finance for Ethiopia, Brook Taye for more.

MTN, Vodafone bid for Ethiopia telecom licenses

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The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the use of technologies and digital transformation in businesses. According to research conducted by Vodafone, 71 per cent of firms have made at least one new technology investment in direct response to the pandemic. Joining CNBC Africa to unpack more on the adoption of digital technology is William Mzimba, Chief Officer for Vodacom Business.

How COVID-19 has fast tracked the use of technologies & digital transformation in businesses

Given the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic, Africa could be facing an economic crisis of unprecedented magnitude. Although the peak of the epidemic has not yet hit the continent, all economic indicators are currently flashing red as a result of preventive measures such as lockdowns and national border closures across most of the continent.



Why should we be so concerned with what is happening across the Mediterranean? Because if the growth dynamic recorded in Africa over the past several decades stalls, it is Europe that will suffer the consequences in a later stage. Everything that has been undertaken with the help of development aid and the setting up of structuring partnerships at the economic level as well as at the health and education levels is at risk of being reduced to nothing. For example, more than 8 million children have been enrolled in primary and more than 160,000 in secondary education in Africa as a result of EU-funded interventions in 2013-2014. This ambitious partnership needs to continue on an ever-stronger footing. Needless to also say that a new wave of migration would also have an impact on our societies: the looming economic crisis would be coupled with a real political crisis that would undoubtedly give populist parties the upper hand in the next elections.



As European politicians, Africa is one of our priorities. Sceptics need only remember the first trip made by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; her first official trip, just a week after taking office, was to Addis Ababa, to the African Union&#8217;s headquarters. Two months later she went back, along with 20 of the 27 European Commissioners, a sign that Africa and the EU have a real “common destiny” and an ambitious partnership to rebuild.



We need to think, and fast, about how we can help our African partner in the race against time as it faces the predicted economic disaster in the wake of the global covid-19 pandemic. Let&#8217;s ask ourselves the right questions: what works in Africa, what are the factors for development and growth? One is undoubtedly Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), since Africa had more than 400 million Internet users in 2018 – that’s 20% more than in 2017. Mobile phones are the preferred means of accessing the Internet (used three times more than computers) and the United Nations estimates that mobile phone operators are major job creators today. Before the crisis, it was predicted that the mobile phone industry would generate 7.9% of GDP and create 3.45 million jobs in sub-Saharan Africa by 2022.



As Co-Chair and Vice-Chair of the soon to be established RUMRA &amp; Smart Villages Intergroup in the European Parliament, we know how important access to a good Internet connection is as a factor for growth. The intergroup aims to “promote the integrated development of European territories in all their diversity”. And what is true for Europe is all the more true for Africa! ICTs facilitate access to education, they contribute to increasing business productivity, and they represent real added value in the agricultural sector, for example by giving family farmers access to targeted information on techniques to improve their yields.



In light of these facts, there is an urgent need to support the companies operating in the ICT sector that are working on providing Internet access and deploying fibre optics on the African continent, such as Vodafone, Orange, or Huawei Northern Africa. Huawei for instance provides 200,000 kilometers of optical fibre network coverage on the African continent, and owns 50% of the 3G and 4G networks. Orange invests 1 billion euros every year in network development in Africa and Vodafone now has more than 170 million mobile customers across eight African countries, with 4G networks launched in many African markets. These groups are engines of growth and potential solutions to the impending crisis. In this process we need to make sure not to single out any of these companies for geo-strategic considerations that should have no place in our economic considerations. As free marketeers our decisions need to be based solely on merit and the ability of any given company to provide the ICT solutions needed.&nbsp;



Without complicity, without naivety, we have to think about what will impact us positively in the short, medium and long term. Our fear is that our reluctance to move towards greater connectivity will impact our economies, and those of our neighbors, and Africa first and foremost. So let&#8217;s be responsible, let&#8217;s be political, and let&#8217;s take responsibility for our choices. ICTs are one of the ways out of the crisis caused by Covid-19, so let&#8217;s not deprive anyone, and especially not Africa!



Franc Bogovic, Member of the European Parliament from Slovenia in the centre right group of the European People&#8217;s Party &amp;



Engin Eroglu, Member of the European Parliament from Germany in the liberal Renew Europe Group



For more coverage on COVID-19 visit: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/</a>

Op-Ed: Supporting the ICT sector in Africa as a cure for the economic crisis

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African mobile operator Vodacom Group reported a 8.9% rise in annual earnings on Monday, buoyed by an improved second half performance in its domestic market and the sustained growth of its international businesses.



Headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the full-year ended March rose to 945 cents from 868 cents a year earlier.



HEPS is the main profit measure in South Africa and strips out certain one-off items.



Vodacom, which is majority owned by Vodafone, declared a final dividend of 405 cents per share.



(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Kim Coghill)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKBN22N0U0-OZABS">https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKBN22N0U0-OZABS</a> and is republished with its permission.

Administrators propose sales plan for SA retailer Edcon, see potential job cuts

South Africa’s Vodacom reports 8.9% jump in full-year earnings

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Kenya’s top telecoms operator Safaricom has seen a 70% surge in data usage as people stay at home to <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/east-africa/2020/04/08/how-african-economies-can-survive-the-covid-19-crisis/">curb the spread of the new coronavirus</a>, it said on Tuesday.



The government closed schools and asked people to work from home where possible last month, after the East African nation reported its first case of the virus.



<a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2020/04/14/how-kenya-plans-to-help-its-informal-sector-survive-the-covid-19-crisis/">Confirmed cases have risen to 208</a> and additional restrictions, including a night time curfew, have been imposed.



Safaricom, which is partly owned by South Africa’s Vodacom and Britain’s Vodafone, said mobile phone data usage had jumped 35% as users streamed movies, worked from home and used social media sites like Facebook.



The company is one of the biggest providers of internet access in Kenya, supplying 300,000 homes with a fibre connection, and nearly all of the 47 million population with second, third and fourth generation mobile internet coverage.



Along with financial services platform M-Pesa, the data business has been one of the key drivers of earnings growth for Safaricom in recent years.



(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Jon Boyle and Mark Potter)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKCN21W1NH-OZABS">https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKCN21W1NH-OZABS</a> and is republished with its permission.



For more coverage on COVID-19 visit: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/</a>

Here’s how to apply for SA’s COVID-19 loan guarantee scheme

Kenya’s Safaricom sees 70% jump in data usage during COVID-19 lockdown

(Reuters) &#8211; South African mobile phone operator Vodacom Group Ltd on Friday said it has entered an agreement to sell its Business Africa unit’s Angolan operations and assets to Internet Technologies Angola for an undisclosed amount.



Separately, Vodacom, which is majority owned by Vodafone Group Plc, also announced an agreement to sell the unit’s operations in Nigeria, Zambia and Cote d’Ivoire to Synergy Communications.



Vodacom said it will no longer service enterprise customers directly in any of the four markets but will continue to service clients through local service providers.



Reporting by Shariq Khan in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich

Vodacom unit plans to sell operations in four African markets, what you need to know

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s mobile phone operator Vodacom reported a 6.6% drop in full-year earnings due to one-off costs related to a share scheme offered to black investors.



Headline earnings per share (EPS) for the full-year ended March fell to 862 cents from 923 cents a year earlier.



Headline EPS is the main profit measure in South Africa and strips out certain one-off items.



Vodacom, which is majority owned by Vodafone, concluded a broad-based black economic empowerment (BEE) ownership deal in September, which saw Vodacom issue additional shares.



Under black economic empowerment rules, South African companies are encouraged to meet quotas on black ownership, employment and procurement as part of a drive to reverse decades of exclusion under apartheid.



It also updated its medium-term capital expenditure target to reflect the IFRS 15 accounting standard and also changed its profitability target to operating profit from earnings before interest and taxes to include the benefits of the Kenyan Safaricom acquisition.



Medium-term group capex is now expected to be in the range of 13%-14.5% from 12%-14%, while the operating profit target is expected to be in the mid-high single digit growth rate.



Vodacom, which competes with MTN group and Telkom, said group service revenue jumped 5 percent, led by a strong performance overseas.



“It was a stellar year for our International portfolio where economic and political environments have improved,” group Chief Executive Officer Shameel Joosub said in a statement.



Vodacom grew service revenue there by 15.6 percent and expanded margins, while in South Africa service revenue inched up by 2.1 percent due to price cuts and a stagnant economy.



South Africa has been considering regulating the price of internet data as well as out-of-bundle charges as part of efforts to bring costs down.



Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Louise Heavens

South Africa’s Vodacom reported a 6.6% drop in earnings, here’s why

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 6 (Reuters) &#8211; Vodafone has sold down its stake in South African subsidiary Vodacom by 5.2 percentage points, it announced on Wednesday, sending the African mobile firm’s share price down by more than 6 percent.
The sale of 90 million shares for 14.85 billion rand ($1.15 billion) in a private placement reduces Vodafone’s stake in Vodacom to 64.5 percent.
The sale follows Vodafone’s move to consolidate its African holdings by selling most of its holding in Kenya’s Safaricom to Vodacom in exchange for a larger stake in the South African company.
That deal pushed the proportion of the South African firm’s shares that are traded on the Johannesburg Security Exchange below the JSE’s minimum threshold of 20 percent.
“As part of the Safaricom transaction, Vodafone therefore committed to Vodacom that it would sell down a sufficient number of shares to ensure that Vodacom will meet the 20 percent minimum free float requirement on the JSE,” Vodafone and Vodacom said in a combined statement.
http://cnbc.africa/news/southern-africa/2017/05/15/vodacom-agrees-2-6-bln-safaricom-deal-tap-kenyan-market/
After the South African market closed on Tuesday Vodafone sold the shares to institutional investors for 165 rand apiece, which compared with Vodacom’s closing price of 178.30 rand.
Shares in Vodacom, South Africa’s market leader which now also holds a 35 percent stake in Safaricom, were down 6.5 percent at 166.75 rand at 1049 GMT. ($1 = 12.9328 rand) (Reporting by TJ Strydom; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

Vodafone sells down stake in South Africa’s Vodacom

Nqobile Dludla | JOHANNESBURG
South Africa&#8217;s Vodacom said on Monday it will buy a 35 percent stake in Safaricom from its parent company Vodafone for 34.6 billion rand ($2.59 billion), expanding its reach into Kenya.
Safaricom, which is 40 percent owned by Britain&#8217;s Vodafone and 35 percent by Kenya&#8217;s government, has the largest subscriber base in its home market and dominates the thriving mobile financial services sector through its M-Pesa platform.
&#8220;The proposed transaction will expose Vodacom Group to the attractive high growth Kenyan market, being one of the largest and most advanced economies in east and central Africa that has made significant strides in technological innovation,&#8221; Vodacom said in a statement.
Vodafone will retain a 12.5 percent interest in Vodafone Kenya, equivalent to 5 percent interest in Safaricom, after completion of the proposed transaction, the company said.
($1 = 13.3415 rand)
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Joe Brock)
&nbsp;

Vodacom agrees $2.6 bln Safaricom deal to tap Kenyan market

South Africa&#8217;s biggest mobile phone operator Vodacom Group reported flat half-year earnings on Monday, hurt by a one-off tax adjustment and currency effects.
The mobile operator said headline earnings per share, which strips out certain one-off items and is the main profit measure in South Africa &#8212; was unchanged year on year at 440 cents for the six months to Sept. 30.
&#8220;The overall strong operational performance for the six months was negatively impacted by a one-off adjustment in taxation for Tanzania as well as the impact from weaker local market foreign currency,&#8221; Vodacom said in a statement.
The Group delivered service revenue growth of 5.3 percent, led by a 2.3 million increase in active customers since March 2016, mostly in South Africa.
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<div class="teads-player" id="teads4">Active international customers decreased 11 percent to 27.9 million as authorities in markets that include Tanzania made changes to the way Vodacom registers subscribers.</div>
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&#8220;As expected, our international operations have been impacted by customer registration requirements,&#8221; Chief Executive Officer Shameel Joosub said in a conference call, referring to the Tanzania telecoms regulator&#8217;s disconnection of 600,000 phones from mobile networks lats June in an effort to stamp out counterfeit devices.
&#8220;However, the monthly customer acquisitions trend has improved, with net customers additions turning positive and recovering during the second quarter.&#8221;
 Shares in Vodacom rose by almost 1 percent to 144.50 rand by 0704 GMT.
Group data revenue was up 18.7 percent, supported by strong network investment, the company said.
The South African unit of Britain&#8217;s Vodafone has spent 37 billion rand ($2.58 billion) over the past three years to expand its network, with a strong focus on providing faster Internet services as increasing numbers of consumers use smartphones.
In the first half of the year the group invested 5.7 billion rand. Vodacom is targeting group capital expenditure of 12-14 percent of group revenue in the medium term.
Vodacom declared an interim dividend per share of 395 cents, the same as last year.
($1 = 14.3648 rand)

Vodafone

Global consortium wins telecom license in Ethiopia

MTN, Vodafone bid for Ethiopia telecom licenses

How COVID-19 has fast tracked the use of technologies & digital transformation in businesses

Op-Ed: Supporting the ICT sector in Africa as a cure for the economic crisis

South Africa’s Vodacom reports 8.9% jump in full-year earnings

Kenya’s Safaricom sees 70% jump in data usage during COVID-19 lockdown

Vodacom unit plans to sell operations in four African markets, what you need to know

South Africa’s Vodacom reported a 6.6% drop in earnings, here’s why

Vodafone sells down stake in South Africa’s Vodacom

Vodacom agrees $2.6 bln Safaricom deal to tap Kenyan market

South Africa's Vodacom posts flat profit

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Vodafone

Global consortium wins telecom license in Ethiopia

MTN, Vodafone bid for Ethiopia telecom licenses

How COVID-19 has fast tracked the use of technologies & digital transformation in businesses

Op-Ed: Supporting the ICT sector in Africa as a cure for the economic crisis

South Africa’s Vodacom reports 8.9% jump in full-year earnings

Kenya’s Safaricom sees 70% jump in data usage during COVID-19 lockdown

Vodacom unit plans to sell operations in four African markets, what you need to know

South Africa’s Vodacom reported a 6.6% drop in earnings, here’s why

Vodafone sells down stake in South Africa’s Vodacom

Vodacom agrees $2.6 bln Safaricom deal to tap Kenyan market

South Africa's Vodacom posts flat profit

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