43% of banks cited the rise of fintechs and challenger banks as the biggest threats to their business according to the third edition of the African Digital Banking Transformation Report released by The African Banker Magazine in which a record 153 banks across 33 countries on the continent were surveyed. This was further reflected in the priorities carried by the banks this year with at least 83% of the banks considering building digital payments mobile app or a mobile wallet app as a priority to stave off the competition from the fintechs. However, there are possible synergies between fintechs and…
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Tower Corporation of Africa (Tower Co Africa), a company incorporated in Port Louis, Mauritius has acquired 90% of Ubuntu Towers Uganda Limited (UBUNTU). Tower Co Africa is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Axian Group Mauritius with a reported USD 1.3 Bn in total revenue in 2021. Axian is a pan-African group that operates in ten countries and is invested in telecoms, financial services, real estate, energy and open innovation. Madagascan billionaire Hassanein Hiridjee, the Axian Group CEO. The Group was founded and is owned by Madagascan billionaire Hassanein Hiridjee, who is also the Group CEO. Hasssanien was named one of…
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Reduced intra and foreign trade as well as travel restrictions imposed by government to contain the spread of the Covid-19 causing coronavirus has badly hit telecom companies in Uganda. According to a preliminary report by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) the industry regulator, revenue from voice calls, declined by 26 per cent while revenue from mobile money services declined by 34 per cent. However, there was a 9 per cent increase in revenue from data/internet as more people stayed at home and turned to the internet for entertainment and news. The decline in revenue, according to Engineer Irene Kaggwa…
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Silvia Nyambura Smart Telecom has become the 7th player to join Uganda’s competitive telecom sector after having bought off Sure Telecom’s operations in Uganda as well as established in Tanzania and Burundi in a US$ 300 million investment. The telecom which is owned by the Aga Khan Group under the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) launches months after an online campaign that aimed at getting the public to pick a name for the company in what they termed as an innovative customer focused idea. Addressing the media at the launch event held at the company offices in Kampala…
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By Taddewo Senyonyi After successfully integrating Warid customers into the Airtel family, Airtel Uganda has relaunched a bigger and better brand, with a new thematic promise, dubbed: “Together we can
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Silvia Nyambura Centenary Bank account holders will no longer have to visit Umeme offices to pay their electricity bills following the unveiling of a partnership between the two companies dubbed Umeme CenteMobile Yaka Service. The partnership will enable subscribers to the bank’s CenteMobile banking platform prepay and post pay their power bills instantly using their mobile phones without any charges levied. Centenary Bank MD Fabian Kasi speaking during the unveiling of the partnership on February 18, 2014 at the bank’s headquarters in Kampala said, “We have an existing relationship with Umeme having been involved in physical over the counter payments…
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By Patrick Kagenda In a bid to return UTL to sound competitiveness in the telecoms sector, UTL has appointed Mr. Stephen Kaboyo the Managing Director and founder at the Alfa Capital Partner`s as the new board Chairman of Uganda Telecom effective February 3, 2014. The appointment was announced over the week ended February 7, 2014 in Kampala. Commenting on his new role, Kaboyo who sounded bullish said, “UTL has great potential. We shall need to look at growth areas and continue the massive push for all round improvement in performance as we re-position the company.
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Silvia Nyambura MTN Uganda has announced that it recorded an increase in SMS traffic by 1 million from 14 million to 15 million for the festive period between December,24, 2013 and January,1, 2014 compared to the same period in 2012. The company also announced increased activity in voice, data and mobile money services for the same period. Social Media continues to be a key focus area for the company with MTN Uganda’s Facebook and Twitter pages becoming the fastest growing and most popular social media pages in Uganda. By the end of 2013, the number of Facebook followers on the…
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Silvia Nyambura With the growing trends in technology, MTN Uganda through the MTN Foundation has continued to helped bridge the digital divide in the country with the recently commissioned Ushs 200 million ICT Resource Center in partnership with the Mukono District administration. The Resource Center which was fully funded by the foundation is equipped with 60 work stations, a fully connected internet Hot spot and is expected to attract over 1000 users from the surrounding community every month. Speaking at the commissioning ceremony held on Friday 17th January 2014, the CEO MTN Uganda Mazen Mroue reaffirmed MTN’s commitment to continue…
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By Taddewo Senyonyi While bringing financial services to the people is one step towards cultivating a saving culture and ultimately fighting poverty, most of the banking activity is concentrated around Kampala, the country’s capital and other large towns, leaving 42% of Ugandans at the mercy of the informal financial sector, and another 30%, totally excluded from the financial services sector, according to a 2010 Finscope report. However, while it appeared as a problem then, smart innovative banks including PostBank, Centenary and Opportunity viewed it as an opportunity, they introduced mobile units/vans to reach out to the unbanked in rural areas who would otherwise have no access owing to physical distance or…
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