MTN Group and Accenture have concluded a proof-of-concept OpenRAN trial that the two companies co-developed.

According to a statement by Accenture on Wednesday, trials of the solution were conducted on MTN’s network in South Africa and Nigeria.

“An initial trial phase exploring OpenRAN solutions was conducted in MTN South Africa’s lab, prior to the live site deployment,” said Nitesh Singh, communication, media and technology leader at Accenture.

“This project provided us with an opportunity to share our experience with MTN through the Rakuten communications platform, and to jointly create the next-generation network that will set new standards for future mobile communications in South Africa and across the continent.”

OpenRAN standards are developed by two main industry bodies, the O-RAN Alliance and the Telecom Infra Project

Operators around the world are experimenting with OpenRAN architectures as these would help decouple the components in the parts of the network connecting a user’s device to the nearest tower, preventing vendor lock-in and potentially reducing costs.

OpenRAN standards are developed by two main industry bodies, the O-RAN Alliance and the Telecom Infra Project (TIP).

The O-RAN Alliance was founded by five companies – AT&T, Orange, NTT Docomo, China Mobile and Deutsche Telekom – and has the most comprehensive body of OpenRAN standards available.

Telecom Infra Project members include operators as well as service providers, technology partners, systems integrators and other stakeholders, including Intel and Facebook.

OpenRAN technology has seen significant boosts in investment in the US following allegations by US officials that Chinese radio equipment manufacturer Huawei places backdoors and spyware into its networking kit, allegations the company has strenuously denied.

The US and EU have subsequently banned Huawei equipment from mobile networks in the two regions, exacerbating the need for open standards in the access network.

“MTN is committed to exploring innovative technological solutions to reduce the costs and deliver greater value to our customers. We are confident that in time, OpenRAN holds the potential to allow us to lower the total cost of ownership … and unlock the benefits of cloud-native deployments with greater flexibility and scalability,” said Amith Maharaj, technology executive for MTN Group

Africa Mobile Networks (AMN) has said that it has connected more than 100 rural base stations in Nigeria to Starlink’s LEO satellite network, which has resulted in a 45% boost in traffic on those sites.

AMN and SpaceX signed a commercial deal in July 2023 under which Starlink would provide satellite backhaul connectivity for AMN’s remote base stations across Africa.

The first AMN base station in Nigeria was fitted with a Starlink terminal in April this year in the rural village of Yebu.

Since then, over 100 base stations in other villages have been connected to Starlink, and AMN said in a statement it expects to double that number before the end of the year.

AMN said that traffic has increased by approximately 45% across all sites using Starlink backhaul, and that some sites are processing more than 25,000 voice minutes per day.

AMN also partly credited the traffic boost at those sites to its software-defined AMN Radio Node (ARN) technology, which enables the base stations to support up to five simultaneous carriers in either 2G+3G or 2G+4G configurations.

The combination of software-defined ARNs and LEO satellite backhaul enables AMN to boost base station capacity remotely with no change to the existing hardware on the site, AMN said.

SeerBit, Africa’s trusted payment solutions provider has announced a strategic partnership with Zoho, a global technology company that provides cloud-based business software, to unlock growth for businesses across Africa.

To scale their offerings and drive growth, businesses need to effortlessly manage and receive payments from their customers in Africa.

Consequently, SeerBit noted that the partnership marks a significant advancement in simplifying financial transactions for businesses in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and other African countries who are utilizing Zoho Books.

Zoho Books is a comprehensive cloud-based accounting software that helps businesses take care of their finance, perform core accounting functions, and day-to-day book-keeping.

This key integration leverages SeerBit’s robust payment infrastructure to empower users of Zoho Books with seamless and secure payment solutions to help businesses collect payments online from their customers.

Furthermore, this partnership will enable businesses to enhance customer experience and drive growth through relevant payment options such as card, mobile money and bank transfer.

Founder & CEO of SeerBit, Omoniyi Kolade, expressed delight with the recent partnership, stating: “Our collaboration with Zoho represents a significant step in our mission to simplify payment processes for businesses in Nigeria. Of critical importance to us is ensuring that we empower businesses to achieve their primary goals – satisfying the needs of customers without the hassles of payment complexities.

“This epitomises our shared commitment to innovation and customer-centricity. We are shaping the landscape for payment processing for SaaS platforms within the African business space, while providing businesses with the tools they need to thrive in today’s dynamic digital landscape.”

Equally significant, the strategic partnership between SeerBit and Zoho ensures the availability of reliable payment solutions integrated with essential business tools and software. This collaboration empowers users to scale their enterprises efficiently at the speed of commerce and technology.

SeerBit is a Pan-African payment solutions provider that makes it easier for businesses and financial service providers to make and accept payments from their customers across Africa. Users have the advantage of enjoying flexible features to fit any business with a single integration.

The company is building a unified payment ecosystem that removes the complexity and fragmentation of the digital payment process in Africa, enabling businesses to seamlessly accept multiple payment methods and streamline online and offline transactions.

With 55+ apps in nearly every major business category, from customer experience and employee experience to enterprise collaboration, custom solutions, and business intelligence, Zoho Corporation is one of the world’s most prolific technology companies.

Headquartered in Chennai, India, Zoho is privately held and profitable with more than 15,000 employees. Zoho respects user privacy and does not have an ad-revenue model in any part of its business, including its free products. The company owns and operates its data centers, ensuring complete oversight of customer data, privacy, and security.

More than 100 million users around the world, across hundreds of thousands of companies, rely on Zoho everyday to run their businesses, including Zoho itself.