Safaricom announces 10 percent raise in dividend (Kenya)
Safaricom Ltd. has raised its dividend by 10 percent after full year profit beat analyst estimates, causing the share price to climb 3 percent to $0.5. Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore, said that net income fell 4 percent to $151 million, in the 12 months through March.
Collymore told BN in an interview that profit declined as a result of unrealized foreign-exchange losses amounting to $13.05 million and an increase in interest payments by $7.12 million. Sales rose 13 percent to $1.27 billion, as the number of customers increased 11 percent to 19 million.
As per the report, the company increased call charges on Oct. 1 for the first time in 11 years amid a weakening currency and rising inflation in East Africa’s biggest economy. Rates increased an average of $0.01 per minute after the company reported a 47 percent plunge in first-half profit amid a price war with competitors.
Collymore added that business improved in the second half as increased tariffs boosted voice revenue and the shilling recovered against the dollar after hitting a record low.
Talking about the future profit growth, Collymore said that both data penetration and usage in Kenya are still low and the company will boost that by providing more affordable smartphones to its customers.
The company plans capital expenditure of $250 million in the financial year ending March 2013, with most of that being spent on its fiber-optic network, Collymore revealed in the interview. Investment last year was $300 million.
Safaricom aims to reduce capex to 20 percent of sales from about 24 percent now, Collymore said, without giving a timeframe.
Vodacom launches low flat rates for Africa roaming (Africa)
Vodacom customers can expect huge roaming savings when travelling to 6 African countries where Vodacom and Vodafone operate. These countries include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania. Vodacom is leveraging its presence and that of its parent company Vodafone in these African countries, to provide customers who travel to these countries with reduced rates applicable across the Vodacom and Vodafone networks.
The flat rates have resulted in roaming data rates being reduced by more than 70 per cent, from $ 2.2 per MB to only $ 0.64 per MB. In addition, roaming customers will also enjoy free incoming calls when they travel in these countries.
Commenting on the new Africa roaming service, Romeo Kumalo, Chief Commercial Officer at Vodacom said that they know that people want to remain connected whether they are at home or on holiday in Mozambique, and that nobody likes the headache of worrying about roaming bills. What they’re launching today is a solution to give their customers peace of mind when travelling. They now have one low roaming rate across our African family of networks and an especially aggressive data rate – just in time for the Easter holidays.
These rates are only applicable when roaming on the Vodacom Lesotho, Vodacom Mozambique, Vodacom Tanzania, Vodacom DRC, Vodafone Ghana and Safaricom Kenya networks. The reduced rates will automatically apply to all customers who are roaming on the networks above. Standard roaming rates will apply if roaming on a non Vodacom or Vodafone network in these countries.
France Telecom plans 500,000 subscriber additions in Kenya (Europe, Africa)
As per reports, Mickael Ghossein, CEO, France Telecom has said that the Kenyan unit plans to add 500,000 users to its network by the end of 2012 and wants the regulator to double rates operators can charge to carry each others’ voice calls.
He added that Telkom Kenya is targeting 3.3 million customers, or 11.2 per cent market share, from 2.8 million users now. Further, the company wants Kenya’s telecommunications regulator to raise termination rates to $0.05 a minute to help it recover costs.
Ghossein also said that it is good to protect the consumer; but it is also good to protect the investors.
According to a report by the Communications Commission of Kenya, the number of people using mobile phones in Kenya rose to 26.5 million in September, up from 25.2 million in June. The report revealed that Safaricom accounted for 68 per cent share of the market, followed by Airtel Networks Kenya Ltd. with 16 percent.
Airtel‘s East – African e-money connection (East Africa)
As part of a business expansion, Bharti Airtel is aiming at East Africa as a potential market for growth. Being functional in 16 African countries, Airtel is planning further expansion in an attempt to avail the benefits of increased trade in East Africa, due to the launch of the common market in 2010. The company opined that the e-money service will make the money transactions hassle free for businessmen by saving their time, usually wasted at bank queues.
The company is optimistic about its East African venture on the grounds of its partnerships with East African international and regional banks. Partnerships with financial institutions have enabled Airtel to work efficiently towards providing banking services, money transactions and payment of bills, among others.
Kick starting the business in Africa, Airtel launched its e-money service and mobile money platform in Uganda, allowing customers to withdraw cash through ATM’s. Airtel’s mobile money platform will serve various purposes like ATM transactions, airtime top ups, etc.
The company is planning to embark its presence in countries like Kenya, Tanzania, etc. Including Airtel, there are almost four operators in the e-money business in East Africa. Thus, for a stronger foothold in the market, Airtel is aiming to launch the e-money transactions amongst Uganda and its neighbouring countries.
Safaricom gains stock value with increase in subscriber base (Kenya)
Safari
com, a leading mobile network operator in Kenya, has added maximum number of subscribers in the second quarter of 2011, causing its share price to rise. According to reports, the stock rose 1.7 percent from US$ 0.033 on 30 December 2011 to US$ 0.034 on 6 January 2012.
As per sources, the Communications Commission of Kenya revealed that Safaricom is currently the most dominant operator in Kenya with a market share of 67.7 percent. Further, the Commission has reportedly stated that Safaricom added the highest number of new customers at 593,177 followed by Airtel Networks Kenya Ltd., with 557,567 new subscriptions in the quarter ending September. Also, Essar Telecom Kenya Ltd., added 46,742 new customers while Telkom Kenya Ltd., added 16,683 new users.
Bharti Airtel contemplates mobile service launch in South Africa and Cameroon (Africa)
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.
Bharti Airtel goes green with Ericsson (Africa)
Telecommunications operator Bharti Airtel has reportedly signed an agreement with Sweden based Ericsson to upgrade its diesel powered stations in Nigeria with E-site, a new green energy solution. According to reports, Manoj Kohli, CEO and joint Managing Director, Bharti Airtel, has said that the new E-site solution would enable Airtel to harness solar energy to power mobile base stations across Nigeria.
He added that they are happy to take the lead in deploying and rolling out state-of-the-art green power solutions and reducing dependency on diesel. Further, this latest initiative will not only enable Airtel to significantly reduce operating costs but also contribute to the reduction in the greenhouse effect.
As per sources, the E-site solution developed by Flexenclosure, has been tested for two years in Kenya helping them in reducing the diesel consumption and emissions of the diesel powered sites. Further, the E-site is said to use renewable sources of energy including wind turbines.
Reports reveal that Lars Linden, President (sub-Saharan Africa) Ericsson, has said that they are driving the implementation of this innovative solution in support of sustainability and development of the networked society. The new green and highly cost efficient base station solution makes not only environmental sense but also financial sense for their customers, enabling the efficient deployment of services to previously un-served or underserved areas.
Safaricom to launch fibre-optic network (Kenya)
Kenya’s dominant mobile network operator, Safaricom, has reportedly announced that it plans to roll out its own independent fibre-optic network, in an attempt to strengthen its position in the mobile data market, and reduce its dependence on the declining voice market.
According to reports, Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom has said that this move is a part of their strategic decision to be the regional leader in broadband provision. He added this new direction will offer them greater control of the quality of service offered to their customers. As per sources, the operator is on the lookout for a company to build and maintain the inland network expected to cost US$10.22 million.
As per sources, Safaricom activated a fibre-optic link between Nairobi and Mombasa in February last year, using infrastructure leased from the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) for $ 2.9 million.
Safaricom launches cloud computing services (Kenya)
Mobile network operator Safaricom has launched an indigenous public cloud solution in the region. According to reports, Safaricom invested US$ 24 million for setting up the infrastructure and is expected to invest an additional US$ 18 million over the next two years.
Cloud Computing is online-based computing in which shared resources (such as network printers), software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand. Companies essentially pay for one license for each user and receive a host of applications as opposed to paying for them individually and installing them on their machines.
According to reports, Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom has said that this launch means a great deal for them and shows that the partnerships they have built pack great strategic potential and value for their customers. With this move, they have solidly positioned themselvea as the go-to provider for cost-efficient and secure corporate data solutions of scale and impact in this market.
He added that they believe that the full potential of enterprise data services will not be tapped unless they deploy ‘world class’ solutions to match corporate and public sector requirements. Their partnership with SST, Cisco and EMC² on the SafaricomCLOUD is sharply focused on achieving this end through an unmatched cloud computing offering.
