MTN Group has struck an agreement with IHS Holding that will see the operation of more than 9,000 towers in Nigeria transferred to the tower company.

MTN said the move is in line with its efforts to improve service levels in Nigeria but also reduce operating costs in the country, drive network efficiencies and expand its voice and data capacity.

The deal will see 9,151 towers that support MTN Nigeria’s network transferred to a new company jointly owned by MTN and IHS, with the latter having full operational control of the business.

The new company has committed to invest US$500 million over the next four years in maintaining and upgrading the towers. Further investment will be made into the IHS network operations centre in Nigeria to achieve network availability of more than 99 per cent, and improve energy efficiency.

The company will also offer independent infrastructure sharing services to other mobile operators and ISPs in Nigeria.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of the year.

The deal is the fifth between the two companies, following transactions over the last few years in the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Rwanda and Zambia. Once the Nigeria deal is completed, IHS will manage more than 20,000 towers in Africa.

MTN has operations in 21 countries across the Middle East and Africa. It is the largest operator in Nigeria with 58.4 million connections at the end of the second quarter. Its closest rival is Bharti Airtel, with 26.5 million connections.

IHS purchased more than 2,000 towers from Etisalat in Nigeria at the beginning of August as the UAE-based operator group looked to improve network performance and accelerate the roll out of 2G and 3G coverage and new services.

Olleh Rwanda Networks (ORN), a joint venture between KT Corporation and the government of Rwanda, has chosen Nokia Networks to provide the radio and core network as well as managed services to build the nation’s first commercial LTE network. This public private partnership has put Rwanda on the fast track towards setting up a robust and reliable telecommunications infrastructure.

Under the terms of the agreement, Nokia Networks will deliver the LTE network using its Flexi Multiradio 10 base station and Evolved Packet Core (EPC). The radio system modules will be housed in a centralised base station hotel, and the related RF units will be distributed into the antenna sites. The EPC includes the Nokia Network’s Flexi Network Server (Flexi NS) and Flexi Network Gateway (Flexi NG).

ORN’s network will be managed, monitored and optimised by Nokia’s consolidated NetAct network management system. Nokia Networks will also provide a full suite of managed services such as network implementation, planning and optimisation, systems integration and network operations. Not only will the entire OSS be managed by Nokia Networks, but care services, including hardware, software and competence development services will also be delivered to ensure seamless operations and a smooth rollout.

Essar Telecom agreed to sell its Yu Mobile business – the third-largest mobile operator in Kenya – to larger rivals Safaricom and Airtel in a KSH10.5 billion (US$120 million) deal.

Under the agreement, approved by Kenya’s Communication Authority (CA), Safaricom receives Yu Mobile’s IT and network infrastructure while Airtel acquires the mobile operator’s GSM licences and subscribers.

The deal is expected to go through in the fourth quarter, once CA’s pre-conditions are met.

Essar Global Fund Limited (EGFL), which includes Yu Mobile as part of its portfolio, sold its US-based outsourcing company Aegis to Teleperformance for US$610 million in July, as part of its wider divestment from the telecom sector.

One of the Kenyan deal’s pre-conditions, according to previous local media reports, is the payment of Yu Mobile’s outstanding licence fees, amounting to US$5.4 million.

Another CA clause, to which Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore originally objected, is the opening up of Safaricom’s hugely popular M-Pesa money transfer network to rivals. Safaricom, however, has subsequently relented under regulatory pressure.

Subscribers to rival money services from the likes of Airtel, Telkom Kenya Orange and MVNOs can now pay in and collect cash from M-Pesa agents.

As part of the agreement, close to 90 per cent of Yu Mobile’s employees are expected to be absorbed by Safaricom and Airtel.

Yu had 2.6 million connections at the end of March 2014, behind market leader Safaricom (21.6 million). Airtel had 5.3 million connections, while Orange (Telkom Kenya), in fourth place, counted 2.5 million.

In response to the increasing demand for faster connectivity at all times and anywhere, UAE telco Du has announced plans to expand its 4G LTE network by 25 per cent – beyond the company’s original plans for expansion in 2014. Du doubled its 4G LTE footprint in the first three months of 2014, and is working on completing this additional expansion by the end of the year.

Globally, mobile data traffic in Q114 exceeded the total mobile data traffic of 2011, according to Ericsson’s latest Mobility Report. The same report anticipates a compound annual growth rate of around 45 per cent between 2013-2019, leading to a 10-fold increase by the end of 2019.

Earlier this year, Du introduced Voice over LTE (VoLTE), an innovative addition that allows customers to browse the Internet while making crystal-clear voice calls. Du is the first in the region to install and test VoLTE on a live network, and has the world’s fastest deployment at just 80 days.

Ooredoo says that it has already broken through the one million customer milestone in its newest market of Myanmar, less than three weeks after going live with its services.

The company said that people have been queuing overnight to purchase one of its SIM cards.

Speaking of the challenges faced during the development stage, Ross Cormack, CEO Ooredoo Myanmar, praised the 1,000 employees of the Ooredoo Myanmar team, and stated that – in keeping with the company’s tradition of hiring local talent – 800 of these team members are Myanmar people.

Alongside traditional sales and services jobs, which cover 6,500 dealers at launch and 30,000 points of sale for top-ups, the company estimate through the distribution network alone Ooredoo has already supported approximately 50,000 new jobs for the people of Myanmar.