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Airtel Africa partners with WebEngage to enhance digital customer management, driving personalised experiences and boosting engagement across Africa. (Image source: Airtel Africa)

Airtel Africa, a prominent telecommunications group with over 150 million subscribers in 14 African countries, has teamed up with WebEngage to enhance its digital customer base management

As Africa’s second-largest telecom provider, Airtel boasts over 60 million data users among its total customer base. Committed to bridging the digital divide and fostering financial inclusion across the continent, Airtel delivers mobile money, entertainment, and digital services to all its users.

How is digital engagement enhanced?

Through this integration, Airtel aims to closely monitor user activities and offer highly personalised services, thereby boosting customer retention and engagement. The partnership will extend to Airtel Money, Smart Cash in Nigeria, and Airtel TV, ensuring seamless and tailored digital experiences across various platforms, including Web, App, in-app, Meta, Google, and traditional channels like SMS and email.

Airtel Africa’s group senior vice-president: digital & product, Priya Thakoor, stated, “With a massive rollout completed within three-month timeframe, WebEngage’s CDP is now observing more than 600 user actions across all 14 markets and consistently building an actionable digital profile list. More than 30 highly personalized customer journeys are live, engaging more than one million subscribers and resulting in over 30% conversions.

Our objective is to improve CLTV for every customer with highly targeted offerings across channels that meet their individual needs. We have built a foundation of digital customer base management with WebEngage for My Airtel app, driving customer engagement and deeper product penetration into mobile money and adjacent digital services. It must be stated that in all this we ensure complete customer privacy.”

Hetarth Patel, vice-president - growth markets (MEA, Americas, APAC), WebEngage, said, “We are elated about this partnership with Airtel Africa to transform their customer value management. With our advanced customer data platform, cutting-edge analytics, generative AI, and personalided capabilities, we will help them achieve 1:1 customer engagement on owned, paid media, and digital channels. There are numerous use cases we have planned to increase app usage, retain users on digital properties, and improve CLTV. Our on-ground customer success teams based in Nairobi and Dubai will work hand-in-hand with Airtel OpCos and Group to accelerate this execution.”

This collaboration signifies a larger trend of digital transformation within the telecom industry, where companies are evolving into technology-driven entities by collaborating with innovative solution providers like WebEngage. Telecom companies are leveraging their deep insights into customers’ non-linear journeys and setting benchmarks for exceptional customer experiences across all channels, both traditional and digital, as well as paid, owned, and third-party media.

WebEngage is a distinguished player in the MarTech (marketing technology) SaaS sector worldwide, serving over 800 clients across various industries such as retail, education, finance, food and beverages, media and publications, and healthcare. Its partnerships have led to significant improvements in customer experiences, operational revenue, and digital transformation. With Airtel Africa, WebEngage anticipates a substantial impact both financially and socially.

A financing package from IFC and Proparco is set to support the expansion strategy of digital infrastructure provider WIOCC Group in three African countries.

This funding will bolster the continent’s digital infrastructure and connectivity, promoting economic growth.

The package comprises loans totaling US$10mn and ZAR 200 million (approx. US$11mn) from IFC, part of the World Bank Group, and US$20mn from Proparco, a development finance institution affiliated with the Agence Française de Développement Group. Additionally, WIOCC anticipates securing another US$10mn loan from RMB in the coming weeks to further its expansion in Nigeria. The funds will enable WIOCC Group to enhance its core and edge data centres in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and South Africa to meet the increasing demand for colocation and other data centre services. Furthermore, it will expand its fibre networks, helping to bridge the digital divide and fostering economic growth across Africa.

Sustainable growth how?

The financing is structured as sustainability-linked debt, with interest rates tied to WIOCC's commitment to enhancing the energy efficiency of its data centres and achieving EDGE green building certification. EDGE, an innovation by IFC, simplifies the design and certification of resource-efficient and zero-carbon buildings.

We are excited to conclude this next stage of our capital raise, which will enable significant expansion, adding further capacity to our open-access data centre operation and extending open-access hyperscale national, international, and metro connectivity across our key markets in Nigeria, southern Africa, the DRC and Greater East and Central Africa,” said Chris Wood, CEO of WIOCC Group. “Our policy of continual investment in infrastructure to create Africa’s first, truly open-access interconnected digital ecosystem means ongoing investment for growth, ensuring readiness to meet the future demands of our clients’ customers throughout Africa.”

“The Agence Française de Développement Group have been supporting WIOCC since its inception back in 2007,” said Ariane Ducreux, head of energy, digital and infrastructure at PROPARCO. “We are very proud to pursue this long-term partnership by supporting the expansion of the Open Access Data Centres’ activities in Nigeria, South Africa, DRC and beyond. Truly neutral and open-access data centres are the cornerstone of a diversified digital ecosystem. Local data storage and processing capacity are also vital for the resilience of Africa’s digital network, as recent outages have demonstrated. The sustainability-linked structure of this new financing, along with technical assistance support, also aims to incentivise the rollout of energy and water efficient data centres, while adapting implementations to the specs of each site environment.”

“Our long-standing partnership with WIOCC of more than 15 years demonstrates IFC’s commitment to increasing affordable and reliable digital connectivity in Africa through shared infrastructure. This new debt facility will help WIOCC fulfil its ambition to establish an integrated, open-access, core-to-edge cloud ecosystem throughout the African continent, which is critical to bridge the digital divide,” said Bertrand de la Borde, IFC global industry director of infrastructure.

“RMB is thrilled to be a Strategic Banking Partner to WIOCC. Digital Infrastructure is one of our core sectors of expertise as a Bank. As such, we are excited at the opportunity to support this deal and remain committed to partnering with WIOCC on its growth journey across the continent,” said Chidi Iwuchukwu (head of investment banking, broader Africa - RMB).

Since its inception in 2007, WIOCC has been investing in Africa's digital backbone, delivering open-access infrastructure to meet the growing demand for reliable connectivity solutions throughout the continent.

As WIOCC Group continues to transform digital Africa, this latest capital raise signifies a major milestone in its journey towards building a more connected Africa, fostering long-term partnerships and sustainability.

Onix Data Centres and Africa Data Centres are partnering to enhance Ghana’s digital infrastructure and support data security and accessibility. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

The Africa Data Centres (ADC) and Onix Data Centre have joined forces to expand their presence in West Africa, starting with Ghana

Digital partnership in Ghana

This strategic partnership aims to bolster the region’s digital infrastructure, ensuring data remains within national borders for improved security and performance. UniCloud Africa Limited, a pan-African cloud service provider, is also part of this collaboration, signifying a significant advancement in digital services that will benefit customers across West Africa and drive regional economic development.

During the signing ceremony in Accra, Dr Krishnan Ranganath, the regional executive for West Africa at Africa Data Centres, emphasised the importance of this partnership. By entering the Ghanaian market alongside Onix, the Centres can harness innovative technologies and sustainable practices to deliver exceptional data services to the West African market.

“We’re stepping into the Ghana market through the partnership with Onix. Along with that, I have UniCloud Africa Limited. It’s one of the pan-African cloud service providers. So, it’s the first baby in this marriage between ADC and Onix. Our collaboration with Onix Data Centre allows us to leverage innovative technologies and sustainable practices, enhancing our ability to serve the West African market effectively,” stated Ranganath.

Yen Choi, CEO of Onix Data Centre, expressed excitement about the collaboration, highlighting Onix’s commitment to global tech standards. As a leading Tier 4 data centre in the region, Onix Data Centre plays a crucial role in the digital transformation of Ghana and the broader region. Ladi Okuneye, CEO of UniCloud Africa, emphasised that this initiative supports both large organisations and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), fostering economic growth and enabling digital transformation.

Rack Centre and AWS boost Africa's connectivity, linking local centers to global AWS network for digital growth. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Rack Centre and AWS have partnered to enhance internet connectivity across Africa 

This collaboration, facilitated by a recent webinar titled “AWS Direct Connect: Extend Your On-Premise Networks into AWS,” brought industry experts together to discuss critical connectivity challenges.

During the session, experts emphasised how AWS Direct Connect provides reliable solutions for managing and scaling network traffic. Real-time bandwidth adjustments prevent businesses from exceeding limits, while built-in security features make it a trusted choice for sectors like finance and consulting.

The collaboration also bridges local and global connectivity. By enabling direct connections from local data centers to AWS’s extensive global network, businesses reduce reliance on public internet, ensuring higher speeds and lower latency for efficient data exchange. Local service providers play a crucial role in facilitating these connections, seamlessly integrating with existing infrastructure.

AWS Solutions Architect Ashraf Altalleh highlighted Direct Connect’s technical advantages, emphasising its importance for streamlining operations and expanding digital capabilities. He described it as a dedicated, high-performance connection that minimises latency and maximises reliability.

Obinna Adumike, head of Interconnection and Peering at AF-CIX, discussed the role of AF-CIX as a mediator between AWS and businesses. He highlighted the availability of hosted Direct Connect services through AF-CIX.

“AF-CIX serves as a vital bridge, providing businesses with cost-effective and dependable cloud interconnection solutions. Our goal is to bolster cloud interconnection, peering, and efficient traffic localisation, thereby supporting digital transformation across Africa,” Adumike said.

The webinar concluded with an interactive Q&A session, addressing network resilience, equipment requirements, and AWS gateway availability in Nigeria. Participants were encouraged to connect with AWS representatives for personalised consultations, demonstrating AWS’s commitment to assisting businesses in regulatory navigation and compliance.

This collaboration between Rack Centre and AWS strengthens Africa’s connectivity infrastructure. As a carrier-neutral data center, Rack Centre continues to provide comprehensive connectivity solutions, fueling Africa’s digital ecosystem and growth.