Olá,
Victoria from Techpoint here,
Here's what I've got for you today:
- What’s going on with 9Mobile?
- Local providers step up after Mercury’s withdrawal
- Google flags SA sites to enhance local visibility
What’s going on with 9Mobile?
9Mobile customers are seriously frustrated right now because their network has been down since Saturday. This outage means they can’t make or receive calls, and it’s still going on as of Wednesday.
LH Telecoms Limited just acquired a majority stake in 9Mobile, a telco in Nigeria, and is supposed to fix things, but so far, there’s no end in sight for the outage.
The situation is made worse by 9Mobile’s complete silence. They haven’t communicated with customers about the issue, which only fuels the anger.
Attempts to reach the company’s spokesperson for comments have been unsuccessful, as their phone line is unreachable and they haven’t replied to messages.
Posts on X (formerly Twitter) and Nairaland are full of angry comments and demands for better communication.
Customers initially thought their lines might be blocked because of new SIM verification rules. Many users are complaining that their phones are showing “not registered on the network” and can only make emergency calls.
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However, it turns out that 9Mobile’s network problems are separate from those issues. People are losing their cool on social media over this 9Mobile mess.
They are talking about switching to other networks, and a lot are baffled at how a company can run like this without giving any updates or apologies.
This isn’t the first time 9Mobile has messed up, but this outage is dragging on longer than usual. They’ve had issues before, and they’ve always promised to fix them fast, but right now, it feels like their patience is wearing thin.
Due to ongoing problems, many users have already switched to other networks. Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) shows that a large number of subscribers moved to MTN, Airtel, and Globacom earlier this year, with 9Mobile being one of the biggest losers in subscriber losses.
Local providers step up after Mercury’s withdrawal
On Monday, July 22, 2024, many African startup founders woke up to a shocker: they had until August 22, 2024, to close their profiles with American neobank Mercury or risk losing their deposits.
Mercury, which had been popular with VC-backed startups, said it could no longer serve businesses in these countries due to new compliance rules.
Mercury's CEO, Immad Akhund, explained on LinkedIn that the tiny number of customers from these countries (less than 1% of their deposits) was putting too much strain on their operations and financial partners. As regulations tightened, they had to rethink their approach.
This sudden change left many founders feeling frustrated. Jessica Long, CEO of Senegalese startup Maad, highlighted the challenge: “Many African founders with international VC funding have US or European parent companies to simplify things for investors.
As US-incorporated businesses, we need US bank profiles, but few banks will work with international business owners.”
African startups often have to open Western bank profiles to build credibility with investors and manage dollar-denominated expenses.
Want to understand why African startups need tailored compliance procedures? Check out Chimgozirim's story to get the full scoop.
Google flags SA sites to enhance local visibility
Google has added South African flags and “za South Africa” tags to search results to boost visibility for local eCommerce platforms.
This move follows a 2023 ruling by South Africa's Competition Commission, which found that Google's dominance was distorting competition in the country. The new identifiers help users easily spot and support South African platforms when they search online.
The tags now appear next to South African e-commerce sites and in the Google shopping carousel. Although not all local sites have the tag, several prominent ones like takealot.com and bobshop.co.za do.
This update is part of broader measures imposed on Google to address its market dominance and the competitive imbalance created by its search engine.
The report from the commission highlighted that Google’s search results are heavily influenced by paid ads and its properties, which often overshadow organic results.
It also criticised Google for favouring its shopping and travel units, which impacts the visibility and traffic of smaller, competing platforms.
In response to these findings, Google has been instructed to introduce a new display for smaller South African platforms and provide substantial advertising credits and training for small businesses.
Additionally, Google must cease promoting its services over others in search results to comply with competition regulations.
In case you missed it
- Lending product drives MTN Nigeria's fintech revenue growth in H1 2024
What I'm watching
- Words That Hide the Truth - George Carlin
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Have a terrific August!
Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa.
