Samuel Gebre and Loni Prinsloo Ethiopia has a set amount it expects to receive from the part-privatization of the country’s telecommunications industry and could scrap the process if bidders don’t meet the target. Three independent teams have calculated the value of two new licenses that would compete with state monopoly Ethio Telecom, Eyob Tekalign, the...
November 10, 2026
265 search results for: mobile money
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Ethiopians are dipping into digital wallets
In several parts of Africa, paying for food, clothes or public transport with a phone is commonplace. Mobile money is taking off in Ethiopia, too, with COVID-19 as the catalyst. Maria Gerth-Niculescu It’s early in the afternoon, yet small groups of men have already started to gather around the khat stands in the city of Jijiga....
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WORLDREMIT CELEBRATES THE LAUNCH OF THEIR REMITTANCE SERVICE IN SOMALIA
The money transfer service, empowering Somalis at home and abroad. WorldRemit, the global online money transfer service has announced the launch of its remittance services in Somalia. WorldRemit operates in over 50 send countries to over 150 receive countries and is now the first global digital money transfer player to operate in Somalia. According to...
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Ethiopia unlocks one of the world’s last closed telecoms markets
BY ROBBIE COREY-BOULET Addis Ababa, For delivery man Sisay Alebachew, the difference between a good and bad day depends on Ethio Telecom, Ethiopia’s monopoly telecoms provider. When the internet is down or too slow to use, customers struggle to place orders on the website of Deliver Addis, Sisay’s e-commerce employer, meaning he has little to...
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Many refugees living in Nairobi struggle to survive because of COVID-19
Naohiko Omata The economic impact of COVID-19 is being felt across the world. This also applies to refugees. For about eight years a team of researchers in the Refugee Economies Programme at the Oxford Refugee Studies Centre has been carrying out studies in East Africa. We work closely with refugees as our research assistants. Since the global pandemic began,...
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Self-Declared Somaliland “Marks 29 Years Independence”
BY ODINDO AYIEKO There was no Pomp and Colour as the self-declared Republic of Somaliland “marked its 29th Independence Day” on Monday. Due to the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic that has swept across the world, Somaliland opted for muted celebrations of the day the country broke away from Somalia and declared its independence. “May 18, is...
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Shabaab crafts new ways to replenish funds
By NYAMBEGA GISESA Local Al-Shabaab terrorists are leading a vicious extortion ring for the Somali-based terror organisation within Kenyan borders, a security report seen by the Sunday Nation indicates. The Kenyans were recruited by the group and trained in Somalia before being deployed in the northern counties of Wajir, Mandera and Garissa to lead in the extortion...
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Lockdowns: Saving lives, but ruining livelihoods in Africa
Alexis Akwagyiram, Mfuneko Toyana LAGOS/JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – In a dark ground-floor room in Lagos, dressmaker Kemi Adepoju gazes at a pile of dresses she has made but which cannot be collected due to the lockdown in force to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. “This lockdown came upon us suddenly. I used all my money...
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Alarm as Shabaab infiltrates Somalia State institutions
By AGGREY MUTAMBO Abshir Gaarane Ahmed was a lead singer in a government band in Benadir, the region that covers the capital Mogadishu in Somalia. The public knew him as the man who belted out patriotic songs about his country. His trimmed beard and smooth voice suited a youthful artiste. Then on January 21, the...
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‘If I don’t pay, they kill me’: Al-Shabab tightens grip on Somalia with growing tax racket
By Omar Faruk and Max Bearak MOGADISHU, Somalia — The calls from an unknown number had been coming for weeks, but Osman, a household-goods trader in the Somali capital’s largest market, disregarded them — until he got the text message. “Will you pick up our call? Yes or no. This is the mujahideen,” it said. The mujahideen, the Islamist...