MTN’s Cote d’Ivoire subsidiary has outlined plans to spend US$250 million on upgrading its mobile network.

The mobile network operator holds 37 per cent market share, just behind Orange which is the market leader.

"We want to be first," MTN Cote d’Ivoire’s CEO, Wim Vanhelleputte said, adding that the company wants "at least 40 per cent, and that will be possible through this kind of investment."

The investment will span three years.

Cote d’Ivoire has five mobile networks, although it is dominated by Orange and MTN. There are also two unused, but active mobile licences, bringing the theoretical number of possible networks in the country to seven.

Huawei has announced the launch of a standalone mobile money solution as the company seeks to tap into the growing demand for mobile banking services.

The software offers a range of services, from mobile banking and payments to a mobile commerce service.

Huawei has already deployed mobile money services with Vodafone, as the M-Pesa supplier in a number of countries.

Three of Tanzania’s four mobile networks, Tigo, Airtel and Zantel have announced Africa’s first agreement to allow their customers in the country to send money to each other whether using Tigo Pesa, Airtel Money or EzyPesa on their mobile handsets.

The service is expected to begin this month.

This is the first agreement in Africa to adopt interoperable mobile money services, whereby one network allows another network’s customers to send money to its clients.

With this agreement, the potential number of customers able to send money by mobile to each other in Tanzania, regardless of network, will increase to over sixteen million.

Vodacom Tanzania is expected to conclude a similar agreement.

Tigo has over 6.2 million customers in Tanzania overall and 3.4 million users of its Tigo Pesa mobile money service.

In February 2014, Millicom launched a cross-border mobile money service with currency conversion between Tanzania and Rwanda.

India’s Department of Telecom has rejected a request by Vodafone for automatic renewal of seven of its expiring mobile operator licences.

The company will instead be required to buy one of the replacement unified licences, then bid in an open auction for the necessary radio spectrum.

The licences in question cover Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh East, Maharashtra and Gujarat. As with the company’s dispute in Kolkata and Delhi, it was awarded the licences in 1995, with an option to renew for an additional 10 years when they expired – subject to an agreed renewal fee.

The government has however been blocking renewals, seeking initially to simply re-auction the licences, and now to change them into a different form of licence.

The government argues that the telecom market has changed too dramatically since the licences were originally awarded and that to renew them for another 10 years overlooks the opportunity to include the changes into new licences.

An option by the government to guarantee renewal of the radio spectrum, which is the main risk in the current offer, does not appear to be favoured. At the moment, in theory, Vodafone could buy the unified licences, but then be outbid by someone in the radio spectrum auction – rendering its operations worthless.

Vodafone has appealed the dispute in Kolkata and Delhi, and may do so again with the latest licence renewals.

Ericsson has appointed three new heads of regions, with Rafiah Ibrahim, currently Head of Marketing Broadcast Services, being appointed Head of Ericsson’s Region Middle East. She replaces Anders Lindblad, who was last month announced as the head of the newly formed business unit Cloud & IP, effective July 1, 2014.

Sam Saba, currently Head of Customer Unit Indonesia, is appointed Head of Ericsson’s Region South East Asia and Oceania.

Charlotta Sund is appointed Head of Ericsson’s Region Northern Europe and Central Asia.

Sund’s appointment is effective June 1, 2014, while Ibrahim’s and Saba’s appointments will be effective July 1, 2014.