Telecommunications in Lesotho include radio, television, print and online newspapers, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
Telkom SA SOC Limited is a South African wireline and wireless telecommunications provider, operating in more than 38 countries across the African continent. Telkom is majority state-owned (55.3%) with the South African government owning 40.5% of Telkom, while another 14.8% is owned by another state-owned company - the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which is closely linked to the South African government.
Strive Masiyiwa is a London-based Zimbabwean billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder and executive chairman of international technology groups Econet Global and Cassava Technologies.
MTN Group Limited is a South African multinational mobile telecommunications company, operating in many African and Asian countries. Its head office is in Johannesburg. As of December 2020, MTN recorded 280 million subscribers, making it the 7th largest mobile network operator in the world, and the largest in Africa. Active in over 20 countries, one-third of the company's revenue comes from Nigeria, where it holds about 35% market share.
Vodacom Group Limited is a South African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 130 million customers across Africa. From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to include networks in Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, and Lesotho, and provides business services to customers in over 32 African countries, including Nigeria, Zambia, Angola, Kenya, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, and Cameroon.
Econet, officially known as Econet Group, is a diversified telecommunications group with operations and investments in Africa, Europe, South America and the East Asia Pacific Rim, offering products and services in the core areas of mobile and fixed telephony services, broadband, satellite, optical fiber networks and mobile payment.
Neotel, previously SNO Telecommunications, is the second national operator (SNO) for fixed line telecommunication services in South Africa. It was unveiled on 31 August 2006 in Kyalami in Midrand. Neotel is South Africa's first direct telecommunications competitor to the current telecommunications parastatal, Telkom.
The Lesotho Premier League, also known as Econet Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is the top football division in Lesotho and was created in 1970. Econet Telecom Lesotho are the current league sponsor, since 2017/2018 season. Vodacom Lesotho were the previous league sponsor and were also the sponsor of the now cancelled Vodacom Soccer Spectacular knockout competition, which was the Lesotho's annual national cup tournament.
Consumer News and Business Channel Africa is an African pay television network launched on 1 June 2007. Founded by Rakesh Wahi and Zafar Siddiqi, the network is produced under license from CNBC International and is owned by Africa Business News. It is headquartered in Sandton, Johannesburg.
The Internet in South Africa, one of the most technologically resourced countries on the African continent, is expanding. The internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .za is managed and regulated by the .za Domain Name Authority (.ZADNA) and was granted to South Africa by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in 1990. Over 60% of Internet traffic generated on the African continent originates from South Africa. As of 2020, 41.5 million people were Internet users.
Mobile Telecommunications Company K.S.C.P., is a Kuwaiti mobile telecommunications company founded in 1983 in Kuwait as MTC, and later rebranded as Zain in 2007. Zain has a commercial presence in seven countries across the Middle East with 49.5 million active customers as of 31 December 2019. The Vice Chairman and Group CEO is Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi, who was appointed in March 2017. Approximately 24.6% of the company is owned by Kuwait Investment Authority; 21.9% is owned by Omantel; only shareholders that own above 5% are disclosed.
Vodacom Tanzania Limited is Tanzania's leading cellular network company. As of December 2020, Vodacom Tanzania had over 15.6 million customers and was the largest wireless telecommunications network in Tanzania. Vodacom Tanzania is the second telecom company in Africa, after Vodacom, to switch on its 3G High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) which was available only in Dar Es Salaam in early 2007.
Airtel Tanzania Limited is the third-largest mobile network operator in Tanzania operated by Airtel Africa, which is a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel of India, behind Vodacom Tanzania and Tigo Tanzania. As of September 2017, Airtel Tanzania had 10.6 million voice subscribers. As of December 2017 according to data provided by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, Airtel Tanzania controlled 27.1 percent of Tanzania's mobile telephone market by customer numbers, at that time estimated at 10.86 million.
Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation, formerly Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL), is the oldest and largest fixed line telecommunications company in Tanzania. The company comes forth from the former Tanzania Posts and Telecommunications Corporation in 1993. TTCL was wholly owned by the Government of Tanzania until the partial privatisation of the company on 23 February 2001.
Uganda Telecommunications Corporation Limited (UTCL), also (UTel), is an information and communication technology network company in Uganda owned by the government of Uganda. UTel acquired the assets and some of the liabilities of the defunct Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL) which was also owned by the Ugandan government. UTL was previously in receivership which it entered after the Libyan company that owned about 69 percent shares abandoned the investment in 2017.
Mobile technology in Africa is a fast growing market. Nowhere is the effect more dramatic than in Africa, where mobile technology often represents the first modern infrastructure of any kind. Over 10% of Internet users are in Africa. However, 50% of Africans have mobile phones and their penetration is expanding rapidly. This means that mobile technology is the largest platform in Africa, and can access a wide range of income groups. AppsAfrica reports Mobile App downloads has surpassed 98 billion which is a very huge benefit for mobile app developers in Africa
Kwesé Sports was a sport website serving Sub-Saharan Africa operated by Econet Media, a subsidiary of Econet Wireless. Kwesé Sports was launched on 4 December 2015 with the announcement made by Econet Wireless founder Strive Masiyiwa, on the social networking site Facebook.
Airtel Networks Limited (Airtel Nigeria), commonly known as Airtel, is a leading mobile network operator in Nigeria. According to the Subscribers statistics released by Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on 30 August 2019, Airtel Nigeria has 26.8% mobile telephone market share and 46.8 million subscribers. The company is a subsidiary of Airtel Africa, the holding firm for Bharti Airtel's operations in 14 countries in Africa.
Rain or Rain (Pty) Ltd is a South African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services.
