From L to R, Sam Darwish; IHS Tower CEO $ Karl Toriola; MTN NG CEO

MTN Nigeria and IHS Towers are locking horns.

The federal government of Nigeria has issued a stern warning to telecommunications giants MTN NG and IHS Towers, asking them to not disrupt telecom services amidst their ongoing collocation dispute. 

What dispute? The conflict revolves around the lease of telecom towers. In September, MTN NG announced that its tower operations would be run by the Nigerian subsidiary of the American Towers Corp (ATC) from 2025. ATC will be taking over from IHS Towers—whose lease to run MTN’s 2,500 network sites—will expire in 2024 and 2025.

MTN NG recently finalised the deal with ATC asserting that this transition would not disrupt the country’s network connectivity. However, IHS Towers has expressed concerns, suggesting potential disruptions, and offered improved commercial terms to MTN in an attempt to retain the contract. MTN NG has not budged, reiterating the finality of the agreement.

There was a boardroom fight: Prior to this development, there was an ongoing boardroom fight between IHS Towers and MTN Group over MTN’s request for more control of the tower company. MTN Group holds 26% of IHS Towers but only controls 20% of the voting share. MTN had said that it could not sell its non-voting shares and wanted its stake in the company to be reflected in its voting power. However, IHS Towers said in response that the proposals were not in the company’s best interests.

What now?  Concerned about the lingering collocation dispute, the government is threatening severe sanctions in case of service quality degradation. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has also issued a gag order, restraining the disputing parties from making inflammatory public statements.

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Investor, Mark Cuban

Renowned billionaire investor Mark Cuban has backed Congo’s $1 billion carbon project. 

What project? The project, spearheaded by climate startup dClimate, aims to generate carbon credits worth $1 billion by preventing deforestation in the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest tropical forest. This initiative will help combat the alarming rate of deforestation and mitigate carbon dioxide emissions.

Reducing emissions: The initiative, led by climate startup dClimate, intends to produce $1 billion worth of carbon credits by stopping deforestation in the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest tropical forest.

This programme will lessen carbon dioxide emissions and contribute to the fight against the startling rate of deforestation in the Congo Basin.

Climate has also signed a deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo to capture and store 100 million tons of carbon dioxide for 10 years. The startup plans to achieve this by safeguarding approximately 500,000 hectares of peatlands from deforestation. To guarantee that deforestation is effectively stopped, dClimate will carefully monitor the protected territory. The vital information gathered from this monitoring will help build a carbon-credit registry and make it easier to sell carbon credits on the open market.

Lights out: According to World Bank estimates, Congo’s forests absorb 822 million tons of greenhouse gas annually, worth billions of dollars. In addition to assisting in the fight against climate change, this project will benefit local communities and promote sustainable economic growth by protecting the Congo Basin’s rich biodiversity and halting deforestation.

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Image source: BURN

In more climate news, BURN, a Kenyan cook-stove maker has secured a $10 million investment from the Africa Go Green Fund (AGG), managed by Cygnum Capital Asset Management. 

The funding will enable BURN to distribute clean cook-stoves across Mozambique, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Per TechMoran, the plan is to provide cook-stoves to 50,000-150,000 customers in each country. 

Launched in 2011, BURN uses funding like this—carbon funding—to subsidise the cost of cook-stoves, making them affordable for low-income households. BURN’s latest funding aims to reduce approximately 6.9 million tons of carbon oxide (CO2) emissions—the continent’s leading cause of CO2 emissions. According to its site, BURN has sold over four million stoves to low-income African households who rely on charcoal and firewood for cooking.

Zoom out: This week, BURN sold Africa’s first cook-stove carbon credits futures, allowing the company to get funding in the future based on the expected emissions reduction from their cook stoves. The move will also help them provide more of the cook stoves to families across Africa.

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Travellers will no longer need a visa to visit Kenya.

The country has introduced a digital platform that eliminates the need for traditional visa applications. 

Starting January 2024, international travellers can obtain an electronic travel authorisation in advance. This comes merely two months after Kenya scrapped visa requirements for Africans, to boost economic growth, intra-African trade, tourism and investment.

A growing list of countries offering visa-free travel: The Kenyan government’s decision to waive visa requirements follows in the footsteps of other African nations like Seychelles, which is the first African country to grant visa-free access to all African countries in 2018. Gambia and Benin also followed suit in 2019, leaving Kenya and Rwanda to be the latest African countries to offer visa-free travel to all Africans in 2023.

These advancements are expected to attract a diverse range of professionals. 

Zoom out: While Kenya aims to attract foreign investment, the desired results may hinge on the establishment of necessary infrastructure. On December 10, 2023, a power outage affected large parts of Kenya. Energy cabinet secretary, Davis Chirchir, mentioned the government’s consideration of load-shedding to prevent overloading the power transmission network. 

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L to R; Zia Sadik, head of growth and retentions $ Denver Alwar, head of regional operations.

Cell C’s executive overhaul continues.

The South African telecom company has announced the promotion of two key executives into newly created roles. 

What are the new roles? Denver Alwar, who joined in January as the executive head of sales, distribution, and regions, is now elevated to the position of executive head, regional operations. Simultaneously, Zia Sadik, previously overseeing customer value management (CVM), has been promoted to the role of executive head, growth and retention.

In 2023, Cell C experienced a series of executive shake-ups, appointing a new CEO, chief marketing officer, chief of staff, and board member in the past six months, with expectations of additional changes in 2024.

Zoom out: While these executive appointments breathe new life into Cell C, the financial challenges persist. In 2023, the company reported a loss of R2.3 billion($120.8 million), continuing a trend from the R8.3 billion($436.2 million) loss in 2019. Last week, Cell C’s largest shareholder, Blue Label Telecoms, initiated a move to take full control of Cell C, increasing its shareholding above 50% from 49.5%, a development that underscores the challenges faced by the telecom giant.

Coin Name

Current Value

Day

Month

Bitcoin

$42,965

+ 3.89%

+ 17.54%

Ether

$2,260

+ 2.97%

+ 9.52%

SATS

$0.0005112

– 1.94%

– 17.58%

Injective

$29.13

+ 11.23%

+ 87.72%

* Data as of 00:18 AM WAT, December 14, 2023.

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Deji Alli ARM Young Talent Award (DAAYTA) 2024 for Innovative Nigerian startups (₦12,000,000 in funding) is open for applications. DAAYTA is an ARM initiative, in partnership with TechnoVision’s TVC Labs, that aims at providing young Nigerians with an opportunity to develop innovative startup ventures that add economic value to Nigeria. Apply by January 16.

Applications are open for the World Press Photo Contest 2024 for Photographers Worldwide (5,000 euros cash prize). The Contest recognises and celebrates the best photojournalism and documentary photography produced over the last year, selected by an international independent jury. Apply by January 11, 2024

Applications are open for the Mastercard Foundations Scholars Program 2023/2024 at the Carnegie Melon University Africa. The programme provides generous financial, social, and academic support for students whose talents and promise exceed their financial resources. Apply by January 15, 2024.

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Written and edited by –

Mariam Muhammad, Faith Omoniyi & Kelechi Njoku

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