Eurobites: Ericsson cozies up to MTN for larger slice of African 'mobile money' market

Ericsson is hoping to increase its share of the African "mobile money" market from 10% to 50% through an extension of its partnership with MTN which brings MTN's mobile money service on to the Ericsson Wallet Platform. The agreement was signed during a visit by senior MTN executives to Ericsson's headquarters in Kista, Sweden, where further collaboration between the two companies was discussed.  More than 63 million MTN subscribers already use its mobile money platform in some form across 16 African countries.

Ericsson has also teamed up with T-Mobile and Qualcomm for what the trio describe as the world's first six-carrier aggregation call using sub-6GHz spectrum on a live production 5G network. In the test, the three companies merged six 5G channels of midband spectrum – two channels of 2.5GHz Ultra Capacity 5G, two channels of Personal Communications Services (PCS) spectrum and two channels of Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum – creating an effective 245MHz 5G channel. Download speeds beyond 3.6 Gbit/s were achieved.

Nokia has been chosen to upgrade the circuit-switched core network of UAE-based du. As part of the project, Nokia will expand the existing IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) voice core network in order to extend voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) services. Nokia will also provide du with its AVA Traffica and Mediation network management software.

Strand Consult predicts that 2024 will be "another year in which the EU will publish reports showing that Europe is behind" in the telecom race, as European policymakers continue to pooh-pooh in-country consolidation. According to the Danish market research company, Denmark is the only European country bucking the trend, having made it "easier and significantly cheaper to roll out infrastructure" there.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has landed a a £94 million ($119.4 million) cloud hosting contract with the UK government's Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). As Data Center Dynamics reports, last month the UK's Home Office signed a similar deal with AWS valued at £450 million ($568.64 million).

After what it says was a successful launch in Portugal, Vodafone is introducing its Vodafone TV Play offering in Ireland. The device, which combines an entertainment hub with Dolby Atmos-powered audio, comes with hands-free voice control via Google Assistant.