Wireless Federation

MTN extends managed services contract with Ericsson (Africa, Sweden)

On 01.30.12, In Mobile, By Editor

South-Africa based mobile telecommunications company MTN has extended its managed services contract with Sweden’s Ericsson for its Ghana operations. According to company reports, the contract was originally signed between the two companies in 2009 for the roll-out of MTN’s 3G network in Ghana. As per the agreement, MTN will retain full ownership of the network and responsibility for its strategic direction, while Ericsson will manage the network operations, optimization and field maintenance for MTN’s 3G sites.

Jon Hoffmann, Chief Technical officer, MTN Ghana said that their first two years together achieved the results they were hoping for: they could focus on subscriber growth, and Ericsson delivered network reliability and efficiencies.

Valter D Avino, Head of Managed Services, Ericsson, has said that MTN and Ericsson collaborate in many areas across this and other regions for several years now and in Ghana they are especially pleased to have been part of the journey towards 10 million subscribers. With Ericsson continuing to run the operations of the network, MTN will be able to dedicate even more time and focus on delivering innovative products and services relevant to the needs of their customers.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: 3G • Africa • Ericsson • Ghana • Managed services contract • MTN • Sweden

Bharti Airtel contemplates mobile service launch in South Africa and Cameroon (Africa)

On 01.02.12, In Mobile, By Editor

India’s leading telecommunications operator Bharti Airtel may be planning to expand its network in South Africa and Cameroon, as learned through industry sources. Airtel is a dominant player in the mobile industry with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa.

Mobile penetration has steadily been increasing in African countries, and with most of the global markets being saturated, emerging markets such as Africa provide mobile operators with new opportunities to increase their subscriber base and enhance their revenue.

Currently Airtel offers services in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. By adding South Africa and Cameroon, two of Africa’s fastest growing mobile economies to the list, Airtel aims to strengthen its position in Africa.

Airtel is the leading mobile operator in India and is well known for its innovative and competitive tariff pricing. The operator’s entry into these new markets is expected to take the mobile industry by storm and introduce an unprecedented level of competition.

Airtel presently offers services in 15 cities in India and with the population of one Indian city being similar to that of one African country, South Africa and Cameroon have the potential to be extremely lucrative for Bharti Airtel.

Further, sources claim that rival operators currently offering services in these economies such as MTN, Vodacom and Orange are already working on strategies to maintain their market share and offer stiff competition to Airtel.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Bharti Airtel • Burkina Faso • Cameroon • Chad • Congo Brazzaville • Gabon • Ghana • India • Kenya • Madagascar • Malawi • MTN • Niger • Nigeria • Orange • Seychelles • Sierra Leone • South Africa • Tanzania • Uganda • Vodacom • Zambia

Glo Mobile plans to launch services in Ghana by January 2012 (Africa)

On 01.02.12, In Mobile, By Editor

Nigerian telecom operator Glo Mobile has reportedly announced that it will launch its commercial services in Ghana by January next year. According to reports, George Andah, Chief Operating Officer, Glo Mobile has said that the company will pre-empt the launch by holding a series of activities designed to ensure that Glo Mobile’s superior services get the launch they deserve.

The operator had received its licence in November 2008 and had initially planned to commercially launch its services in November 2011. However, sources claim that Glo Mobile is planning an aggressive entry strategy and expects to go live with 100 percent coverage in January 2012. Further, the operator claims that they have already invested US$ 600 million in Ghana with initial capacity for at least ten million customers initially which could be expanded later.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: George Andah • Ghana • Glo Mobile • Niger • Nigeria

MTN launches 3G enabled HTC phone to drive data usage (Ghana)

On 12.01.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Africa’s leading telecommunications service provider, MTN has reportedly launched the MTN/Qualcomm 3G enabled HTC phone in Accra, in collaboration with Qualcomm, in an attempt to increase awareness and usage of data services, especially among business users.

According to reports, Rahul De, Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Ghana, has said that their partnership with Qualcomm to promote these HTC 3G phones ties in with their broad objective to encourage Ghanaians to tap into the benefits of surfing the internet in order to boost productivity and generally impact the socio-economic development of the country.

As per sources, De hopes this initiative will cause more users to take advantage of the wide range of data services available on the network, enhancing their mobile experience. Further, it has been reported that some services such as MTN Business provide total ICT (Information and Communications Technology) solutions to businesses and individuals along with a wide range of 3.5G services.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: 3G • Ghana • HTC • Mobile Data • MTN • Qualcomm • USA

Vodafone Ghana Q3 service revenue rises by 32.5 percent (Ghana)

On 11.14.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Vodafone Ghana, an operating company of Vodafone Group Plc., the world’s leading mobile telecommunications company, is reportedly the only operator in the country to introduce its own custom-made affordable mobile handsets and other devices for users in the country.

According to reports, the company has unveiled 14 of its branded handsets along with a number of different devices such as Mi-fi, Torres, Ideos and Webbox among others, in order to cater to the specific users requirements in Ghana. Further, reports suggest that Vodafone has been a pioneer in introducing users in Ghana to high-end devices such as Samsung’s Galaxy Tablet and the Galaxy SII along with the HTC Sensation.

As per sources, Evans Boake, Portfolio Manager for Terminals, Vodafone Ghana has said that they are the only telecom company in Ghana that goes to the market to look for what people want and then commission handset manufacturers to design handsets from concept in order to meet the specific needs of the different categories of their customers. He added that other telecom operators buy existing brands like Nokia and others and put their sticker on them, but they actually order the phones to be custom-made and branded Vodafone from source.

According to company reports, Vodafone recorded an increase of 32.5 percent in service revenue in the third quarter, with a major contributing factor being attributed to its value offerings, inclusive of packages on its affordable handsets.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: affordable handsets • Ghana • HTC • Samsung • Service Revenue • Vodafone Ghana

Vodafone Ghana launches the ’138′ tariff plan (Ghana)

On 11.14.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Vodafone Ghana has launched another tariff plan for users offering them much more affordable rates at specific times. According to reports, the ’138′ promotion launched by Vodafone offers users a discounted rate of US$ 0. 00615 per minute for on-net calls made between 9pm and 11pm and between 5am and 7am every day. Further, the scheme also offers users discounted rates of $ 0.01846 per minute for on-net calls made on weekends along with $0.04924 per minute for the rest of the week.

As per sources, Mr. Julius Owusu-Kyeremanten, Customer Value Manager, Vodafone Ghana has said that in order to activate the US$ 0.00615 per minute at night, a user would need to spend at least $ 0.30774 within the day, while to activate the $ 0.01846 per minute offer, the user would need to have spent at least $ 1.53872 during the week.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: discounted call rates • Ghana • Tariff Plan • Vodafone Ghana

MTN Ghana, Yemen and Uganda implement International Airtime Transfers (Africa)

On 11.11.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Africa’s leading telecommunications operator, MTN Group has reportedly begun the implementation of its International Airtime Transfer (IAT) in partnership with TransferTo, a global airtime remittance hub that interconnects mobile operators’ prepaid systems, enabling the transfer of small amounts of value in the form of prepaid mobile credits.

According to reports, the partnership will provide MTN customers access to prepaid services so as to receive airtime transfers from the TransferTo IAT network around the world. Sources suggest that currently MTN’s companies in Uganda, Ghana and Yemen have integrated their operations with TransferTo, with other MTN operators expected to follow soon.

As per sources, the airtime services will enable all TransferTo partners along with the general public abroad, to send top-ups to MTN users in Ghana, Yemen and Uganda. Further, mobile users on partner networks will be able to use their handsets to send airtime to MTN prepaid customers, while those who haven’t yet subscribed to TransferTo can do the same via its website.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Ghana • International Airtime Transfer Service • MTN Ghana • Prepaid Service • TransferTo • Uganda • Yemen

Tigo Ghana reduces call rates even further (Ghana)

On 11.07.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Tigo Ghana has reduced its on-net and off-net call rates even further ahead of Glo mobile’s launch in Ghana on 17 November 2011. According to reports, Tigo Ghana is offering customers new call rates of US$ 0.02 per minute for on-net calls and $ 0.058 per minute for off-net calls. As per sources, Carlos Caceres, CEO, Tigo Ghana has said that the new rates will replace all other promotional call rates on Tigo. He added that the many call tariff plans and promotions in the telecom market are very complex for the average phone user to understand and they make it difficult for customers to know how much they are spending.

Mr. Caceres also said that for those who were on more than one network, the several tariff plans becomes even more confusing because it is difficult to monitor the different charges for different locations at any point in time. He said the new rates Tigo had announced were straight forward and they remain unchanged for 24 hours every day, no matter the location or time of day, so customers do not have to get confused about different charges at different times of the day. The CEO has also hinted that Tigo may also be reviewing their data packages to better suit the customers’ needs.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Call Tariff • Ghana • Glo • Tigo Ghana

Ghana’s mobile subscriptions cross 20 million users

On 10.25.11, In Mobile Operators, By Editor

According to industry reports, Tigo the second largest operator in the country, reported a subscriber base of 3,998,489 users at the end of September, accounting for 19.6 percent of the market share. Tigo has witnessed a downfall of 3.8 percent (157,574 subscribers) from 4,156,063 subscribers as at August 2011.

On the other hand, telecommunications giant, Vodafone reportedly has 3,890,083 subscribers, representing almost 19.1 percent market share. The company added almost 312,520 subscribers in the past couple of months and may soon replace Tigo as the second largest operator in the country in terms of subscribers.

The country’s total number of mobile subscriptions is at 20,419,635 accounting for almost 80.5 percent of Ghana’s population, with MTN Ghana emerging as the strongest player having 9,894,074 subscribers and representing 48.4 percent of the market share. Further, while Airtel crossed the two million subscriber mark, representing almost 11.9 percent of the market, Expresso’s subscriber base fell from 219,290 in July to 204,153 by September end, accounting for less than 1 percent of the market share.

Filed under:Mobile Operators Tagged with: Airtel Ghana • Expresso • Ghana • MTN • Tigo • Vodafone

Airtel Money to enhance mobile banking services for Airtel customers (Ghana)

On 10.21.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Airtel Ghana has launched Airtel Money, allowing customers to use their mobile handset in place of their wallet. As per reports, Mr Luck Ochieng, Sales Director, Airtel Ghana has said that this innovative mobile service would help customers to overcome many challenges that they go through when transacting business in their daily lives. He added that the company’s objective was to make communications, banking, payments, retail, and infotainment affordable and accessible to all in Africa, especially in Ghana through Air Money. He said the company had enhanced public safety by initiating a ‘cashless society’ where one could make direct purchases with e-money instead of the actual exchange of cash from one source to another.

Mr. Emmanuel Kola, Head of Airtel Money, has reportedly said that the service was in partnership with Ecobank, Standard Chartered Bank and Zenith Bank and assured customers their money would be safe through that facility. He added that after successful registration, a customer could access the service with their pin numbers with which they could access their bank accounts. This service also allows users to transfer money from the phone to their bank account and vice versa.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Airtel Money • Ecobank • Ghana • Mobile Banking • Standard Chartered • Zain • Zenith Bank