Airtel, Ghana’s second national operator announced an upgrade of its cellular network to a newer/faster mobile broadband technology called 3.75G earlier this week. 3.75G, otherwise known as HSPA+, is the latest iteration of the 3G mobile broadband technology. The launch makes Airtel the pioneer of 3.75G in Ghana, and the fastest mobile broadband service in [...]

…You can thus understand how frustrating it has been in the past 10 days that I have been without the full benefits of my BlackBerry smartphone. Most personal emails remain unread, I’m struggling with a piling workload, over 150 comments are pending moderation on my personal blog alone, I’m out of touch with friends I normally chat with regularly.

Mobile Number Portability (MNP) launched in Ghana on 7th July 2011, enabling mobile subscribers to move from one mobile network to another, whilst still retaining their full mobile number. It has generated some buzz in the Ghana’s mobile communications sector with all the mobile providers offering mouth-watering incentives to woo subscribers from other networks whilst [...]

Following the launch of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in Ghana on 7th July 2011, the mobile networks all launched campaigns geared towards enticing mobile subscribers to port to their network. Newspaper ads, radio jingles and TV ads have taken the lead but since the internet is slowing going mainstream in Ghana, the leading mobile networks [...]

It appears MTN failed to sufficiently communicate the new packages to its mobile broadband subscribers, early enough. Users have lost their airtime because they simply loaded airtime and continued browsing as usual, without actually subscribing to any data packages. Thus they were billed at the very high tariffs that MTN now charges outside the packages.

In case you missed the memo, Africa is rising. Having been largely ignored in the development of the Internet, things have been changing rapidly in the past decade with telecommunication companies forming alliances with financial institutions to bring serious data connectivity into Africa, and with it, lots of potential for prosperity. You can thus understand [...]

I was a bit amused by a bold promise from MTN Ghana’s Facebook update recently: Dear All Thank you for your commendations .We are working hard to even give you much more better coverage for both voice and data services Indeed, MTN’s USD 90 million West African Cable System (WACS), the biggest in Africa, has [...]

Note: the information I am sharing below is based on my personal experience only. Other BlackBerry users in better circumstances might not experience all or any of the annoyances elucidated in this blog post. The BlackBerry is a great smartphone, no doubt. Along with the device comes a bouquet of services that keep a user [...]

Vodafone launched its Blackberry services a few weeks ago, targetted at individuals, small businesses and large enterprises in Ghana. The telco announced BlackBerry service packages that were different from that of its main competitors – MTN and Zain. Currently, both MTN and Zain offer very similar BlackBerry services. They both offer a flat monthly fee. [...]

MTN, the leading cellular network in Africa, is an official sponsor of 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africaâ„¢. They have been leveraging their pan-African presence with ads & promos all geared towards increasing their market share. Since MTN is pan-African, supporting a particular national team would make no sense. Thus, AfricaUnited is born. AfricaUnited is [...]

When last did you visit a cyber cafe? Eight years ago, my answer would have been “right now”. I would have been writing/reading this on a computer in a cyber cafe. Right now however, I am lying somewhere comfortable in my home, whilst punching the soft keys on my laptop. A few years ago in [...]

As the Internet penetrates the world’s second largest continent, there is no better way to reach Africa’s youthful population. The Internet is increasingly becoming a medium of sharing information in Africa and leading brands and media houses are in the loop to take full advantage of this medium, in marketing their goods & services. My [...]

I picked-up an MTN Nigeria mobile broadband kit recently and have used it heavily, since then. Find below my review of the service. The entire kit cost N18,650: HSDPA USB stick: N8,500 MTN SIM: N150 Airtime: N10,000 (24/7 monthly plan) The MTN agent asked for an ID and passport photo. As I had no prior [...]

With over 7.4 million subscribers as of September 2009, MTN is easily Ghana’s leading telecommunications network, offering mobile telephony services, Internet connectivity and more. I recently picked up an MTN “Exclusive 3G Pack” for 100 Ghana Cedis (about $69) and have used it extensively for about 14 days mainly in Accra. The information below is [...]

Glo Mobile is very likely to be launched in Ghana before the end of this year 2009. Having shifted their launch date severally, a launch in December 2009 seems imminent. Glo Mobile’s entry into Ghana comes at a time when Ghana’s mobile communications industry appears to be saturated already. For a population of about 22 [...]