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In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy Eid ul-Mawlid. It’s a packed newsletter today. Let’s get into it. Become smarter about tech and commerce in Francophone Africa, and the policies shaping them. Read previous editions here first and subscribe below. Subscribe MTN secures Nigeria’s approval for IHS deal MTN’s new data centre company Kenya’s gambling regulator to reinstate fees Tighter border-crossing monitoring between Kenya, Uganda World Wide Web 3 Opportunities M&A MTN secures Nigeria’s approval to acquire IHS Towers Image Source: Tenor MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecom company, has cleared a major hurdle in its $2.2 billion takeover of IHS Towers in Nigeria. But regulators have ensured the telecom giant doesn’t get the whole tower cake. What happened? Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), the competition watchdog, has given MTN conditional approval to acquire the remaining stake in IHS, with one important catch: MTN must sell up to 30% of its stake in IHS Nigeria to local investors at market prices over time. Between the lines: The condition is aimed at preventing MTN from having too much control over the infrastructure its competitors depend on. IHS Nigeria operates nearly 16,000 towers used by MTN Nigeria, Airtel, and T2 Mobile (formerly 9mobile). In other words, MTN is buying the landlord while remaining one of the biggest tenants. Explain like I’m new here: In February, MTN agreed to buy the remaining 19.2% of IHS Towers Nigeria for about $2.2 billion, after already holding a stake in the tower company. The deal would make MTN the majority owner of one of Africa’s biggest tower operators, giving it more control over infrastructure used by rival telcos State of play: MTN will retain majority ownership, giving it greater control over network expansion, costs and capacity while still allowing competitors access to the towers. The deal could also help MTN recover some of the capital tied up in the acquisition and reduce pressure on its balance sheet. The bigger issue is whether infrastructure ownership can deliver efficiency without weakening competition. Towers are becoming increasingly important as operators expand mobile broadband and 5G networks, making control of them strategically valuable. Zoom out. For MTN, the FCCPC approval means the IHS deal is moving closer to completion. But in Nigeria’s telecom market, owning the towers comes with a reminder from regulators: you can be the landlord, just don’t change the rent because you own the building. Every business owner needs to watch this. The business questions you Google, answered by experts. Watch for free. Companies MTN is building a home for Africa’s AI ambitions Image Source: Tenor MTN wants to do more than connect Africa’s businesses to the internet; it wants to build and operate the facilities that store and process the cloud software, enterprise tools, and artificial intelligence applications those businesses use. The South African telecoms company has created Africa Data Hub Holding Limited, a new company that will develop data centre capacity across Africa backed by an undisclosed United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based investment platform. What happened? MTN disclosed the partnership in its interim results for the six months ended June 30, 2026. Africa Data Hub will combine MTN’s footprint and local market knowledge with international funding and data centre expertise. MTN has identified South Africa and Nigeria as its priority markets for the data-centre and AI-infrastructure push. Nigeria has Africa’s largest mobile market, while South Africa is a key regional technology and enterprise market. MTN has already started laying the concrete. In 2025, MTN Nigeria opened the first phase of its 9MW Sifiso Dabengwa Data Centre in Lagos, Nigeria. That first phase delivered 4.5MW of capacity; the full facility is being built in two stages. In South Africa, MTN operates facilities in Centurion, Randburg, Cape Town, and Mtunzini. The Mtunzini site connects to 2Africa, a subsea cable system that carries internet traffic between Africa, Europe, and Asia. Explain like I’m new here: The new company is the latest step in a plan MTN began outlining with its 2025 full-year results, when it said its Digital Infrastructure business was preparing an AI-enabled data-centre network. The group then opened the first phase of the Lagos facility, and in March 2026, invested in ORAN Development Corporation (ODC), a US technology company developing systems that turn mobile-network sites into computing hubs.Africa Data Hub gives it a vehicle to sell more of the computing and storage happening at the other end. Between the lines: MTN is looking to turn its telecom footprint into a broader digital infrastructure business. The strategy goes beyond traditional data centres: in March, its Digital Infrastructure arm joined ODC’s $45 million Series A round, which is developing technology to turn mobile sites into distributed computing hubs. The new holding company and the ODC investment point in the same direction: MTN wants to capture the spending that follows Africa’s digitisation, not just the connectivity that enables it. Zoom out: Africa’s AI opportunity will depend on unglamorous infrastructure: reliable power, fibre, data centres, and enough computing capacity to keep applications running. MTN already has the customers, licences, and physical footprint. The next test is whether it can turn those advantages into a data centre business without losing focus on the telecom markets funding its expansion. Moonshot is back! Moonshot 2026 is coming! Join us at the National Theatre, Lagos on October 28 & 29 for two days of tech and innovation. Grab your early bird tickets now and get 15% off. Regulation Kenya’s gambling regulator can now collect the fees it was told to stop collecting Image Source: Tenor Kenya’s gambling industry has spent the past month in a regulatory limbo. The government said it needed new rules to clean up the sector, operators said some of those rules were too expensive, and the courts have been stuck in the middle. Now, the regulator has won a temporary round. What happened? Kenya’s High Court has ruled that the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Kenya (GRAK), the regulator that licences and supervises gambling businesses,
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MTN Group expects its Nigerian business to regain momentum in the second half of 2026 after airtime lending resumed after a regulatory suspension in April. MTN said it cut its airtime lending base to about a quarter of its first-quarter run rate, weighing on revenue through April, May and June. The company is now rebuilding the service, with four vendors in place, and expects lending activity to recover through the second half. Airtime lending was a key source of MTN Nigeria’s fintech revenue, and its suspension cost the business about ₦50 billion ($37.1 million) in revenue in the first half of 2026. With the service returning, MTN expects growth to pick up. The telco reported 13% service revenue growth for the period, but group management said growth would have been in the high 20s if the airtime lending suspension and the effect of last year’s tariff increase were excluded. MTN suspended its airtime lending service in April after the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Nigeria’s consumer watchdog, subjected the service to new licencing and consumer-protection requirements. In rebuilding the service, Ralph Mupita, MTN Group CEO, said the company expects the eligible customer base to gradually recover through the third and fourth quarters. “We received communications from the FCCPC, and we’re back on a recovery path with airtime advance,” Mupita said during MTN Group’s H1 results presentation on Monday. “So, in Q3 and Q4, we should start to see that build back up in terms of the whitelisting base, where we can extend airtime advance in Nigeria.” The recovery is key to MTN’s plans for Nigeria, one of its biggest growth markets. Despite the disruption, demand remains strong, with more people signing up and using more data. MTN Nigeria added about 7.5 million subscribers during the period while stepping up investment in network expansion, including mobile services, fixed wireless access and fibre. The company spent ₦620.5 billion ($460.8 million) on capital expenditure, excluding leases, with ₦390.3 billion ($289.8 million) spent in Q1 2026 alone—up 92.8% from the same period in 2025, according to its H1 2026 financial report released on July 30, 2026. But the airtime lending dispute also shows that telecom services in Nigeria are coming under closer regulatory scrutiny. Services such as MTN’s XtraTime, Globacom’s Borrow Me Credit, and Airtel’s Extra Credit allow customers to receive airtime or data on credit and repay when they next recharge. While traditionally treated as telecom value-added services, regulators have increasingly viewed such products through a consumer-credit lens, bringing them into a more complex regulatory environment. The disruption also shows how dependent telecom revenue can be on services that sit outside the traditional voice and data business. Airtime lending may appear small compared with core connectivity, but its impact on revenue becomes visible when millions of customers rely on it to stay connected between recharges. True scale demands moving beyond surface-level integrations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the noise out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections between startup founders, global financial operators, enterprise leaders and individuals rewiring Africa’s technical frameworks. Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a limited time.
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Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have doubled in Africa’s digital economy within the past year. As of August 17, 2026, TechCabal Insights has tracked 84 M&A deals worth an estimated $11.4 billion in disclosed value. While startups raised $1.44 billion in H1 2026, M&As have transformed from a rare exit route into a primary strategy for companies to scale, acquire banking licences, and stay afloat. 84 M&A deals logged across 2026 so far Between January 1 and August 17, 2026, company buyouts across Africa’s tech ecosystem exceeded the total numbers recorded in previous years. Led by a busy first quarter, 2026 has already recorded 84 deals, passing the 68 total deals seen across all four quarters of 2025. The uptick in deals, starting with 37 deals in Q1, shows companies are consolidating to combine their balance sheets, share licences, and survive in a tough market. Geographic footprint: where deals are happening Geographically, Southern Africa (24) and Northern Africa (18) lead regional M&A activity in 2026. At the country level, South Africa (22), Nigeria (12), and Egypt (12) account for over half of all target companies acquired as of August 17th. African tech companies are also looking outside the continent for growth. Local businesses acquired 8 targets outside Africa, including acquisitions in the UK (4), the US (1), France (1), Germany (1), and Canada (1), to build direct operations in international markets. Sector performance: Financial services leads with 27 deals Most acquisitions are happening in heavy sectors where getting licences, agent networks, and high daily customer transactions matter most. While over 12 sectors recorded buyout deals, Financial Services led with 27 deals, taking up roughly 32% of all activity. Disclosed deal values: most numbers remain hidden Even though the total number of M&A deals reached a record high, most companies keep their deal sizes secret. Of the 84 M&A deals tracked so far in 2026, the estimated total value of disclosed deals is roughly $11.4 billion as of August 17th, 2026. A few mega-deals account for the vast majority of this figure: MTN Group’s $6.2 billion proposed deal to buy 75% of IHS Towers. Vodacom Group’s $2.1 billion stake deal in Safaricom. Pepkor Holdings’ $1.29 billion (R21.3B) merger of Flash with Shop2Shop. Nedbank’s $850 million acquisition of Kenya’s NCBA Group. Beltone’s $197.6 million buyout of Baobab Group. e-Finance’s $99.8 million (EGP 5B) acquisition of Egyptian microfinance lender Tamweely. Fintechs and banks joining forces: who stays in charge? A major story in African tech is fintech companies and traditional banks coming together. Over the last 18 months, six major deals across five countries show two very different paths companies are taking: Fintechs buying banks (founders stay in charge): In Tanzania, Selcom acquired 65% of Access Microfinance Bank. In Kenya, Moniepoint acquired 78% of Sumac Microfinance Bank. In Nigeria, Flutterwave secured its own microfinance banking licence from the Central Bank. In Senegal, Wave set up Wave Bank Africa with $30.5 million in capital. In all these deals, the fintech founders stayed in control and kept running the business their way. Banks buying fintechs (banks take control): On the other hand, Nedbank acquired South African fintech iKhokha completely for $92.4 million (R1.65B), and Capitec acquired Walletdoc for up to R400M. In these deals, the traditional bank assumes full authority over product roadmaps, board seats, executive management, and strategic directions. The core insight here is not simply whether a fintech acquires a banking licence, but whether the founders retain operational control after the deal closes. Listing on foreign stock markets: why big fintechs are looking abroad Beyond private buyouts, top African fintechs are preparing to sell shares on public stock markets. Two of the biggest payment platforms are planning to list abroad: OPay is preparing for a $4 billion listing in the US, while PalmPay is looking at a $200 million listing in Hong Kong at a $1 billion+ valuation. While some advocate for local or dual listings, allowing African retail investors to trade shares in domestic markets alongside global ones, the decision to list primary shares abroad comes down to capital depth, valuation multiples, and currency mechanics. Foreign exchanges in New York and Hong Kong offer deeper pools of growth equity, higher valuation multiples, and dollar-denominated liquidity that large-scale cross-border expansion demands. For local stock exchanges in Lagos, Nairobi, and Johannesburg to attract primary or dual listings from tech giants, they must deepen institutional liquidity, streamline multi-exchange compliance, and reduce foreign exchange repatriation risks for investors.
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