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EEU partners with Wingu Africa to strengthen digital infrastructure. (Image source: Wingu)

Wingu Africa, a leading carrier-neutral data centre operator in East Africa, has announced a colocation partnership with Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) to strengthen digital infrastructure

Under the collaboration, EEU has deployed critical infrastructure within Wingu Africa’s Tier III-certified facility in Addis Ababa, ensuring greater reliability, security, and efficiency for its digital operations.

The partnership underscores the vital role that secure, high-availability data centres play in enabling national utilities and enterprises to modernise and scale their services.

The collaboration marks a step forward in EEU’s digital transformation journey.

By hosting its infrastructure within Wingu Africa’s state-of-the-art colocation environment, EEU is enhancing the resilience of its digital services and positioning itself to better serve millions of customers across Ethiopia.

“This partnership with Wingu reflects our vision to modernise the way we deliver electricity services in Ethiopia,” said Michael Debela, CIO at EEU.

“By strengthening the resilience of our digital infrastructure, we are improving the reliability of our operations and laying the foundation for smarter energy services that meet the needs of our citizens.”

Demos Kyriacou, Wingu’s deputy CEO, COO and co-founder, said the implementation was completed seamlessly, with the infrastructure now fully active and operational.

“We are honoured to support Ethiopian Electric Utility in this important milestone,” said Kyriacou.

The collaboration also underscores the growing synergy between the energy and technology sectors, a theme that is being echoed not only in Ethiopia, but across Africa and beyond.

“Hosting mission-critical infrastructure in our Tier III-certified environment ensures the highest levels of security, efficiency and uptime,” Kyriacou added.

“Together, we are building a foundation for Ethiopia’s energy and digital future.”

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The new installation in remote Madagascar. (Image source: Nokia)

Airtel Madagascar and Nokia have launched Madagascar’s first fully off-grid Rural Connect site, powered by solar panels, calling it a “milestone in extending mobile connectivity to underserved communities”

Leveraging Nokia’s innovative Rural Connect solution — which combines AirScale Radio Access, Nokia renewable power systems, and lean civil structures — the sites will enable Airtel Madagascar to deliver reliable, high-quality coverage in remote areas where connectivity was previously impossible.

This initiative reinforces Airtel Madagascar’s commitment to bridging the digital divide and fulfilling its universal service obligations, while advancing Nokia’s strategic focus on connecting the unconnected through sustainable, energy-efficient solutions across Africa.

“Our collaboration with Nokia marks a transformative step forward in ensuring that no community is left behind in Madagascar’s digital journey,” said Anne Catherine Tchokonte Tcholagheu, CEO of Airtel Madagascar.

“By expanding coverage to rural areas, we are not only fulfilling regulatory obligations but opening new doors to education, healthcare, and economic opportunity for thousands of people.”

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 2.6 billion people worldwide remain without internet access, with 1.8 billion living in rural areas.

These figures highlight both the urgency and opportunity to close the connectivity gap.

Studies by the World Bank show that a 10% increase in broadband penetration can boost GDP by up to 2.5% in developing economies, while GSMA research estimates that closing the mobile internet usage gap could add $700 billion to global GDP by 2030.

Nokia’s Rural Connect solution directly addresses these challenges by delivering cost-optimised, sustainable connectivity for rural and low-density areas.

It integrates renewable power sources, enabling fully off-grid operation via solar or hybrid solar-wind systems.

It also reuses refurbished RAN hardware, encouraging circular-economy principles, and supports flexible backhaul, including microwave, UE relay, and LEO satellite, ensuring performance even in the most remote terrains.

“Working with Airtel Madagascar to deliver our Rural Connect sites exemplifies how innovation and sustainability go hand in hand,” said Mustapha Salah, head of mobile networks for Central, East & West Africa at Nokia.

“Through Rural Connect, we provide operators with a scalable, energy-efficient, and affordable solution to extend connectivity to the hardest-to-reach communities.”

Nokia’s Rural Connect deployments in Ethiopia, Egypt, Cameroon, and Mali have already demonstrated measurable impact.

In one rural Cameroonian community, mobile usage increased fivefold within two weeks of site activation, giving residents their first access to education, healthcare, digital commerce, and government services.

Through such initiatives, Nokia said in a statement that it continues to “connect the unconnected and empower the connected with secure, sustainable, and high-performance networks that drive inclusive digital growth across Africa."

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Huawei aims to break the 4G capacity ceiling to unlock fresh traffic opportunities

At the MBB Summit during AfricaCom 2025, Samuel Chen, vice-president of Huawei's Wireless Network Business Marketing, introduced five scenario-driven innovations aimed at accelerating high-quality development across Africa’s mobile sector

In his keynote, titled “Inspiring the African Mobile Industry for the Next Golden Decade,” Chen highlighted Huawei’s strategic focus on new traffic, new experience, new business, new connectivity, and new energy saving.

The African mobile landscape continues to expand as a powerful engine for economic transformation. In 2024, the sector generated more than US$22bn in total output, representing 7.7% of the continent’s GDP, while directly supporting 5 million jobs. With AI, emerging spectrum resources, and upgraded infrastructure coming together, the potential for continued advancement is substantial.

However, challenges such as limited capacity, uneven digital access between cities and rural areas, and unreliable power infrastructure hinder progress. Addressing these issues, Huawei has introduced five targeted solutions designed specifically for Africa’s diverse needs.

New traffic:

Huawei aims to break the 4G capacity ceiling to unlock fresh traffic opportunities. By enabling all frequency bands to support M-MIMO, the company’s tri-mid-band and tri-low-band Massive MIMO products offer operators a strong path to maximise site efficiency, tackle 4G congestion, and capitalise on rising data demand.

New experience:

Huawei is working to establish a new standard in 5G performance through operations guided by user experience. Its advanced dual-band MetaAAU, featuring extremely large antenna array (ELAA) technology, brings superior 5G performance, while the lightweight EasyAAU simplifies deployment. Together, they help operators deliver the high-quality experiences needed for experience-driven growth.

New business:

Huawei is expanding intelligent broadband access opportunities for residential markets. The Easy FWAi solution is an end-to-end platform supporting more device types and precise service delivery. It enhances intelligence across experience management, after-sales support, and O&M, allowing operators to ensure end-to-end performance and deliver advanced digital services to households.

New connections:

To close the digital divide and strengthen digital inclusion, Huawei provides multi-scenario connectivity solutions such as RuralLink, RuralStar, and RuralCow. These offerings help operators extend mobile coverage to remote areas and communities with little or no grid access, bringing reliable connectivity to underserved populations across Africa.

New energy saving:

To support network resilience and maintain continuous services, Huawei continues to lead with its Single SitePower solution, unique within the telecom equipment industry. This system keeps networks operational during power outages, ensuring stable and dependable connectivity. Such reliability is essential for building mobile networks that serve as critical communication lifelines, especially during emergencies.

“Africa is a vibrant digital hotspot, with infinite possibilities, particularly when coupled with AI,” concluded Samuel Chen. “Looking ahead, Huawei will continue to develop innovative all-scenario solutions together with partners to foster leading networks, vibrant ecosystems, and inclusive services that will empower all to thrive in a next golden decade of Africa's mobile future.”

2Africa subsea cable Africa connectivity project. (Image source: Bayobab)

MTN Group’s digital infrastructure arm, Bayobab, was among the consortium members honoured at a ceremony in Cape Town, celebrating the completion of the world’s longest subsea cable infrastructure project.

This achievement marks a major step forward in global connectivity and reinforces MTN’s position, through Bayobab, as a key digital ecosystem driver committed to providing Africans with hope, dignity, and opportunity.

2Africa, a digital infrastructure initiative spearheaded by META, is the first subsea system to offer a continuous connection between East and West Africa, with further extensions to the Middle East, South Asia, and Europe. The project, nearly six years in the making, traverses 50 jurisdictions and required ongoing adaptability to evolving regulatory and technical landscapes.

Its successful completion represents years of cooperation, engineering progress, and a unified commitment from 2Africa consortium members to connect people, stimulate economic advancement, and support transformative digital services across Africa and beyond.

“For MTN, 2Africa isn’t just a cable but rather a statement of intent of what can be achieved when the world’s technology leaders and Africa’s own champions come together with purpose,” said Mazen Mroué CEO, MTN Group Digital Infrastructure, receiving the award on behalf of MTN and Bayobab.

“This project stands as proof that global scale and African leadership can combine to build the infrastructure that will define the next chapter of Africa’s growth story. Yes, together we’re connecting Africa to the world, but above all, we’re connecting Africa to its potential.”

2Africa brings a major upgrade to Africa’s international bandwidth. On the West route between England and South Africa, the system provides 21 Tbps per fibre pair across eight fibre pairs, reaching a total of 168 Tbps. In the Mediterranean, shorter routes allow more than 30 Tbps per fibre pair, and with 16 fibre pairs the system exceeds 180 Tbps in those sections.

This substantial increase in capacity is projected to contribute up to US$36.9 billion to Africa’s GDP within its first two to three years of operation, supporting employment, entrepreneurship, and the growth of innovation ecosystems across the region.

With more than 33 landing points and additional sites forthcoming, 2Africa is expected to support connectivity for around 3 billion people — representing over 30% of the global population. This unparalleled scale has only been possible through wide-ranging cooperation across the digital ecosystem.

Mroué said, “At MTN, we view connectivity as the foundation of Africa’s digital future. Through Bayobab, we bring world-class infrastructure capability and the reach of a network serving over 300 million subscribers across 16 African markets. Of course, the Bayobab footprint, which embeds just under 135 thousand kilometres of cable extends beyond these markets to accelerates Africa’s Digital Transformation and AI adoption.”

Constructing 2Africa demanded significant innovation in subsea engineering. The system delivers double the capacity of older networks and integrates undersea optical wavelength switching, enabling adaptable bandwidth management to meet growing needs for AI-enabled data centre solutions, cloud services, and high-capacity applications.

The project deployed advanced Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM) technology and incorporated optical wavelength switching beneath the sea for dynamic bandwidth allocation. Cable burial depth was increased by 50%, and routing was carefully planned to avoid risks such as hot brine pools and the Congo Canyon’s turbidity currents, ensuring both performance and durability.

More than 35 offshore vessels and extensive local teams were engaged, supported by specialised equipment to ensure safe and resilient installation across 50 jurisdictions.

2Africa’s achievement is rooted in collaboration. The consortium, led by Meta, included Bayobab, center3, CMI, Orange, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone Group, and WIOCC.

The celebratory event took place at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town.

 
 

Ericsson strengthens presence in Zambia. (Image source: Ericsson)

Ericsson has officially opened its new office in Lusaka, Zambia, marking a major milestone in strengthening its footprint across the country and wider region

The move aligns with Zambia’s National Digital Transformation Strategy 2023 to 2027 and supports the nation’s push towards advanced, inclusive digitalisation.

The inauguration ceremony was graced by His Excellency Felix Mutati, Minister of Science and Technology in Zambia, His Excellency Johan Hallenborg, Swedish Ambassador to Zambia, Alain Maupin, vice-president and head of Ericsson East and North Africa, along with several distinguished guests.

The new Lusaka office deepens Ericsson’s collaboration with its partners and customers in Zambia. It will help accelerate their digital transformation journeys by giving them access to the company’s latest technologies and solutions, improving talent development initiatives, and expanding Ericsson’s operational presence. Through this expansion, Ericsson aims to deliver cutting edge products that support national digital growth and promote wider digital inclusion.

Felix Mutati, Minister of Technology and Science in Zambia, commented, “Ericsson’s strengthened presence in Zambia marks an important step as we continue advancing our national digital transformation agenda. This development supports our efforts to expand connectivity, empower innovation, and ensure that digital technologies contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable future for all Zambians.”

His Excellency Johan Hallenborg, Swedish Ambassador to Zambia, said, “Sweden and Zambia share a strong partnership built on innovation, sustainability, and inclusive growth. Ericsson’s new office is a testament to the enduring collaboration between our nations, enabling technology to act as a bridge for opportunity and development. This milestone reflects our shared ambition to leverage digitalization as a driver for economic growth and social progress.”

Alain Maupin, Vice President and Head of Ericsson East and North Africa at Ericsson Europe, Middle East and Africa, says: “Establishing a new office in Lusaka reinforces our long-term commitment to Zambia and our ambition to advance digital inclusion across Africa in line with our #AfricaInMotion vision. This presence enables us to collaborate more closely with our partners, customers, and stakeholders, ensuring that our solutions continue to deliver high-performing, energy-efficient networks that meet national connectivity goals.”

With nearly two decades of presence in Zambia, Ericsson has played a key role in advancing the country’s telecommunications sector. The company has supported network operators in expanding mobile services, strengthening connectivity, and enabling the growth of digital services across the nation.

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