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I heaved a deep sigh this morning when I realised it wasn’t Friday yet (can capitalism let go of me?). Since we’re all in this together anyway, you should fill out our salary survey if you work in tech. It will help us build an independent report on compensation and career growth across Africa’s tech ecosystem.
—Yemi
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connectivity
South Africa is getting satellite Internet, just not from Starlink
There are two ways to enter a market: change the rules or change the strategy.
Starlink, the Elon Musk-owned satellite Internet company, has spent years trying the first option—and failing—in South Africa. Amazon appears to have chosen the second.
What happened? Amazon Leo, the e-commerce giant’s satellite Internet service, is coming to South Africa in 2027. Instead of applying for its own telecoms licence, Amazon partnered with Herotel, a South African fibre network operator that is being acquired by Vumatel.
Explain like I’m new here: You may be wondering, “Wait… wasn’t this supposed to be Starlink?” You’re not wrong. Starlink has wanted to launch in South Africa since at least 2024, but the country’s telecoms licencing rules have stood in the way. Operators that hold an Electronic Communications Network Service (ECNS) licence must have at least 30% ownership by historically disadvantaged groups (HDGs). SpaceX, Starlink’s parent company, has argued against that requirement and has so far refused to restructure its ownership to meet it. Amazon looked at the same rulebook and chose a different path.
So, how did Amazon do it? Instead of becoming a licenced telecom operator itself, Amazon partnered with one that already is. Herotel already holds the licences needed to provide Internet services. Amazon supplies the satellites, while Herotel handles regulation, customer support, installation, and local operations. Together, they’ll launch a satellite broadband service called Evry.
What do you get? Pricing is still under wraps, but Evry says residential users can expect download speeds of up to 400 megabits per second (Mbps), while business customers using larger terminals could reach 1Gbps.
What does this mean going forward? Amazon may have handed other satellite operators a blueprint for entering South Africa. Rather than spending years trying to change the country’s licencing rules, partnering with an existing telecom operator offers another route to market. But there are only so many operators with the right licences, and many already have ambitions of their own. Not every global satellite company will want to share customers, infrastructure, or branding with a local partner forever.
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banking
Standard Bank is helping Helios Towers build more telecom towers
Every time you make a call or doomscroll on TikTok, there’s a chance that your network is traveling through a telecom tower that your network operator doesn’t own. That’s where Helios Towers comes in, and now it has secured a financing facility to help bring more towers online.
What’s happening? Standard Bank, Africa’s largest bank by assets, has provided Helios Towers, an African telecoms tower operator, with a $29 million documentary credit facility to help import equipment for expanding mobile infrastructure across the continent.
Helios builds and owns telecom towers and then rents space on them to operators like MTN, Vodacom, Airtel, and Orange. Several companies can share a structure to reduce costs and expand coverage rather than build individual towers.
Explain like I’m new here: A document credit facility is not a loan in the traditional sense. The facility only comes into play when Helios orders equipment or services needed to build telecoms infrastructure. Standard Bank guarantees payment to suppliers, giving them confidence to ship the goods. Helios then repays the bank under the agreed trade terms once the equipment has been delivered.
What’s notable is that Standard Bank has structured this facility as a social finance product because the equipment will be used to expand connectivity in underserved communities.
Why not just get a loan? Helios could—and it already has. At the end of 2025, the company carried about $1.9 billion in debtraised through bonds, bank loans, and other financing to build towers across Africa. But financing long-term expansion is different from paying suppliers for equipment arriving next month. This facility gives suppliers confidence they’ll be paid while allowing Helios to preserve its cash until payment falls due.
How does this affect you? Trade finance usually happens behind the scenes, but when tower companies can buy equipment more easily, mobile operators can expand coverage faster. Over time, that means better network coverage and capacity for people using those networks.
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Banking
Absa wants a bigger slice of its Kenyan bank
When your business starts making more money, one question naturally follows: should you own more of it? That’s the question Absa Group is answering in Kenya.
What’s happening? Absa Group, South Africa’s third-largest lender by assets, is in the middle of a KES30.9 billion ($240 million) tender offer to increase its stake in Absa Bank Kenya from 68.5% to 85% by buying shares from minority investors. It now says that once the offer closes, it could continue buying shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), potentially taking its ownership even higher.
Explain like I’m new here: Absa already controls the bank, owning 68.5% of it. But listed subsidiaries still have thousands of minority shareholders who own the remaining shares. By increasing its stake, Absa gets a bigger share of future dividends and profits, while still keeping the Kenyan bank listed on the stock exchange.
A tender offer invites existing shareholders to sell their shares at a fixed price. But not everyone has to accept. If some investors hold on to their shares, Absa can still increase its stake later by buying shares on the open market, subject to regulatory approval.
Why now? Absa Bank Kenya has become one of the group’s stronger-performing subsidiaries. Since 2019, its annual profit has risen from KES 7.46 billion ($57.2 million) to KES 22.9 billion ($177.1 million), while annual dividend payouts have increased from KES 6 billion ($46.4 million) to KES 11.1 billion ($85.8 million). Owning more shares means Absa Group gets a larger share of those future earnings.
This has happened before. Standard Bank, South Africa’s largest bank by assets, used a similar approach in Kenya. After launching a tender offer for Stanbic Holdings, it continued buying shares on the stock exchange, increasing its ownership from 60% in 2018 to about 74.3% by 2022. Today, it still holds that percentage.
Zoom out: Foreign banking groups are becoming more selective about where they deploy capital. In markets where subsidiaries are consistently growing profits and paying healthy dividends, increasing ownership lets parent companies capture more of that growth without building a new business from scratch.
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Regulation
Uganda wants to stop piracy before it starts
You’ve probably watched a movie on a website that definitely wasn’t paying the people who made it. (No judgement.) But while you saw free entertainment, Uganda saw tax revenue disappearing, creators going unpaid, and telecom networks carrying traffic that nobody was earning from.
What’s happening? Uganda’s Communications Commission (UCC), the country’s telecoms regulator, has brought together broadcasters, telecom operators, copyright holders, law enforcement agencies, tax authorities, and technology companies to build a national framework for tackling digital piracy.
Explain like I’m new here: Previously, piracy enforcement mostly happened after the damage was done. Content owners filed complaints, police investigated, and courts handled individual cases. Uganda now wants those institutions working together before illegal streaming platforms and content distributors become harder to shut down.
Why now? In a Monday post on X, the UCC estimated that Uganda lost over $100 million to digital piracy, adding that the government’s tax revenue dropped by $25.3 million. Officials also argue that piracy has become more than a copyright problem. Illegal streaming platforms often expose users to malware, scams, and identity theft, while discouraging broadcasters, creators, and telecom operators from investing in new content and infrastructure.
What changes? Not much overnight. The meeting itself doesn’t create new offences; Uganda already has laws that can send offenders to prison for up to 10 years, a law that was approved in March. This time around, the country’s goal is to create a National Anti-Piracy Coordination Framework so regulators, law enforcement, telecom companies, and copyright owners can share information and respond faster.
Zoom out: As more Africans pay for streaming, music, and other digital services, governments are under growing pressure to protect the businesses behind them. Telecom operators, streaming platforms, broadcasters, and app developers all lose when digital content circulates outside legitimate channels. Protecting that content is becoming as important to governments as expanding the infrastructure that delivers it.
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CRYPTO TRACKER
The World Wide Web3
Source:
|
Coin Name |
Current Value |
Day |
Month |
|---|---|---|---|
 Bitcoin |
$64,854 |
+ 0.37% |
– 1.74% |
| Ether |
$1,923 |
+ 2.77% |
+ 9.17% |
| XRP |
$1.11 |
+ 1.48% |
– 8.90% |
| Solana |
$77.21 |
– 0.52% |
+ 4.83% |
* Data as of 06.32 AM WAT, July 16, 2026.
Opportunities
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Written by: Opeyemi Kareem and Zia Yusuf
Edited by: Emmanuel Nwosu & Ganiu Oloruntade
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