Omdia View: June 2024

In the Middle East and Africa, a key highlight in the month of June was Orange Group's plans to open its Orange Smart Energies digital platform to all energy producers across Africa to provide prepaid access to energy via solar kits and smart meters.

Meanwhile in Nigeria, state-owned satellite infrastructure provider NIGCOMSAT signed partnerships with several firms to provide connectivity services in the country.

In Egypt, Vodacom Group announced the commercial deployment of the world's first triple-band mobile radio unit and South Sudan's Digitel announced the launch of the country's first 5G network trial project in partnership with Chinese equipment vendor ZTE Corporation (ZTE).

Across the Middle East, Ooredoo Group partnered with NVIDIA to advance AI capabilities within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Here are Omdia's top telecoms highlights for June 2024 across the Middle East and Africa.

Orange Smart Energies expands IoT services across Africa

— by Thecla Mbongue, Omdia research manager for the Middle East and Africa.

Orange Group is opening its digital platform Orange Smart Energies to all energy producers in Africa.

The goal is to provide prepaid access to energy through solar kits and smart meters. The platform enables bill payments via Orange's mobile money platform, Orange Money.

By reducing the risk of non-payment the platform provides a solution to one of the profitability challenges faced by energy producers in Africa.

The business model, based on a partnership between Orange and energy producers, enables Orange Energies to provide a digital service and a distribution network that makes it easier for everyone to access energy in rural areas.

Until now the service was only available in countries where Orange has operations.

By early July 2024, Orange Smart Energies served 300,000 households across 11 African markets and Jordan.

According to Omdia, Orange's IoT subscriptions increased by 6% annually to 1.5 million in 2023 in the Middle East and Africa.

NIGCOMSAT embarks on a series of key partnerships

— by Thecla Mbongue, Omdia research manager for the Middle East and Africa.

Nigeria's state-owned satellite infrastructure provider NIGCOMSAT entered various partnerships in June and July 2024.

In June 2024 it partnered with Hotspot, a local company that specializes in rural connectivity solutions. Under the agreement, NIGCOMSAT and Hotspot will deploy satellite technology to connect remote and rural areas.

In early July 2024, NIGCOMSAT signed a deal with pan-African IT solution provider Dimension Data. NIGCOMSAT will provide Dimension Data with Internet services on its NigComSat-1R network platform for one year, utilizing the dedicated Ku-band. More deals are to be signed going forward.

NIGCOMSAT has been in a slowdown for the past 10 years and the newly sealed deals reinforce its activities.

NIGCOMSAT's move can be crucial in providing broadband services to underserved areas in Nigeria.

The satellite broadband market is becoming competitive, notably since the launch of Starlink, which in less than a year has become the country's largest satellite ISP, having attracted 24,000 subscriptions in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Vodacom deploys world's first triple-band mobile radio unit

— by Danson Njue, Omdia senior research analyst, Middle East and Africa.

Vodacom Group announced the successful deployment, in Egypt, of the world's first triple-band mobile radio unit.

The radio unit, supplied by leading network equipment vendor Ericsson, combines 1800MHz, 2100MHz frequency-division duplexing (FDD) and 2600MHz time-division duplexing (TDD) frequency bands into a single radio unit, thereby reducing the cost of deployment, time of implementation, tower load and energy consumption of 4G and 5G networks.

Vodacom completed the acquisition of a 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt in 2022 and invested 4.6 billion South African rand (US$253 million) into the business in 2023 toward network expansion and modernization.

According to Omdia market data, by end-2023 Vodafone Egypt is the largest mobile network operator in Egypt with 47.8 million mobile subscriptions and a 40.5% market share.

Digitel launches first 5G trial in South Sudan

— by Danson Njue, Omdia senior research analyst, Middle East and Africa.

On June 18, 2024, Digitel, South Sudan's third-largest operator by market share, launched the country's first 5G trial project in partnership with Chinese vendor ZTE.

The non-standalone (NSA) 5G trial project used 60MHz in the 3.5GHz spectrum band, registering a download speed of 1.2Gbit/s. Digitel argues that the 5G project, when commercialized, will address the country's digital divide.

According to Omdia market data, South Sudan had 4.3 million mobile subscriptions and a penetration rate of 38.7% at the end of 2023.

MTN South Sudan is the market leader with a 63.2% share, followed by Zain with 35.7%. Digitel, which launched commercial operations in 2020, had a 1.1% market share of subscriptions.

Ooredoo Group collaborates with NVIDIA to enhance AI capabilities in the MENA region

— by Walaa Ibrahim, Omdia senior research analyst, Middle East and North Africa.

Ooredoo Group has announced a partnership with NVIDIA that will leverage NVIDIA's artificial intelligence (AI) and graphics processing unit (GPU) technology to enhance various aspects of Ooredoo's services and operations.

The focus of the collaboration is on integrating NVIDIA's AI and accelerated computing solutions.

This integration is expected to optimize network performance, improve customer experiences, and enable new AI-driven applications.

Ooredoo sees this partnership as an important step in its strategy to enhance its technological capabilities. By utilizing AI, Ooredoo aims to offer improved services and operational efficiency.

A key aspect of Ooredoo's digital strategy in 2023 was its focus on enhancing its digital portfolio. The company introduced several digital initiatives aimed at transforming customer interactions and service delivery.

In 2023 and continuing into 2024, Ooredoo's focus was on evolving into a smart telco and its aim to enhance operational efficiencies was evident.

The group implemented various initiatives to upgrade its core infrastructure, including adopting advanced technologies and strategic partnerships to improve network capabilities and service offerings across its markets.

Ooredoo leveraged partnerships with leading technology providers to accelerate the implementation of its digital strategy. Collaborations with companies including Microsoft, Google Cloud, and Huawei played a role in expanding Ooredoo's digital services.

Throughout 2023, Ooredoo made strategic moves to streamline its operations and enhance profitability. This included the creation of the largest tower group in the region, consolidating approximately 30,000 towers, and establishing standalone data center entities in Qatar and Tunisia to address the growing demand for data connectivity.

The company's capital expenditure in 1Q24 included significant investments in fiber infrastructure, submarine cables, and network rollout projects, particularly in Tunisia, Algeria, and Qatar. These investments are intended to enhance network capacity, coverage, and performance to meet the increasing demand for high-speed connectivity and digital services.

From an industry perspective, Ooredoo's collaboration with NVIDIA reflects a broader trend of telecom operators enhancing their technological capabilities. By adopting advanced AI solutions, telecom companies can diversify their offerings and improve service delivery.

Ooredoo's initiative is in line with the global trend for telecom operators increasingly to position themselves as comprehensive technology service providers. The partnership with NVIDIA is expected to facilitate the development of new AI-driven applications and services, supporting Ooredoo's strategic goals.

The emphasis on AI and accelerated computing is seen as a step towards enhancing technological capabilities in the telecom sector.

You can find Omdia's full Middle East & Africa News Digest here.

You can also listen to the full Middle East & Africa News Digest below.

For more information about Omdia's consulting capabilities, contact them directly at [email protected] or reach out to the Omdia analysts by emailing [email protected].

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