Telecom Vendors

Benya Cables, a subsidiary of Benya Group, signed a facility agreement worth EGP 481 million with Banque Misr on the sidelines of the Cairo ICT exhibition.

By Dr Alper Turken, senior vice president service provider, Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East & Africa

Although the COVID-19 pandemic brought some disruption to wireless operator rollouts, the race to 5G has not slowed down. According to a Q1 global market study by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 158 local operators now run active 5G networks in 67 markets across the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia. Compared to Q1 of 2020, the number of active 5G networks has increased by nearly 70% as of March 2021 during a year when many operators had to delay their infrastructure improvements.

Nokia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) to drive digital transformation and the knowledge economy for socio-economic development across the continent. The two parties will leverage the power of telecommunications, including 5G networks, to connect the unconnected and identify innovative use cases, as well as business models. In addition, the MoU will lay ground for both organizations to better help governments shape telecom policy, develop talent and promote inclusion and diversity. This includes women, as well as the underprivileged in both rural and urban areas.

Huawei, the world pioneer in information and communication technology solutions, is participating in the 25th edition of Cairo ICT 2021 under the theme "New Value Together", which comes in line with its strategy that seeks to provide solutions and new technologies to serve various sectors. Thus, contributing to achieving digital transformation and sustainable development in line with Egypt’s Vision 2030.

Nokia announced that it has been selected by MTN, a leading emerging markets operator in Africa and the Middle East, to drive its voice core evolution and network modernization in South Africa.

“Benya Group” has decided to merge all of its companies under one trademark in order to create a new distinctive branding identity and boost the market value of the group. Through this strategy, Eng. Ahmed Mekky, chairman and CEO of the group announced the changing of trademarks of the two subsidiaries Fiber Misr Systems and Fiber Misr Engineering to "Benya Systems" and "Benya Engineering” respectively.

Tech giant Huawei will build a research, development, and innovation center in Tunisia, announced President of Huawei North Africa Terry He during a meeting with President Kais Saied.  According to Terry, Tunisia meets all the criteria to become a technology hub in Africa.

Ericsson said its sales dipped in the third quarter as the Swedish telecoms giant faced reprisals in China after rival Huawei was barred from selling its equipment in Sweden.

Nokia has come together with multiple stakeholders, including Safaricom, UNICEF, and the Kenyan Ministries of Education and ICT, to connect close to 90 schools to the internet in Kenya. Serving an estimated 32,670 students, both rural and disadvantaged urban settlements have benefitted from the initiative. Supporting digitization and digital literacy, the initiative is in line with the Kenyan Government’s plans to scale broadband connection to all schools by 2030.