Morocco’s Competition Council tames Glovo’s market power

ជំរាបសួរ,

Victoria from Techpoint here,

Here’s what I’ve got for you today:

Glovo ends legal battle in Morocco
Is this the end of pay-TV in Nigeria?
“Please Call Me” battle gets fresh court round

Glovo ends legal battle in Morocco

Glovo’s been under the microscope in Morocco for over a year, and now, it’s struck a deal with the country’s Competition Council to avoid further legal drama. The food delivery giant, owned by Germany’s Delivery Hero, will pay a fine (amount undisclosed) and make big changes to how it operates in the country, per Launch Base Africa. The agreement, announced on July 24, ends an official probe into whether Glovo abused its dominant position in Morocco’s delivery space.

The Competition Council had some strong words, accusing Glovo of locking restaurants into exclusive partnerships and fostering economic dependence. As part of the settlement, Glovo now has to drop exclusivity clauses, cap commissions at 30%, and explain exactly how its platform ranks restaurants. No more mystery algorithms or unfair advantages for paid promotions.

This comes at a tense time. Just days before the settlement was announced, Glovo riders in Casablanca took to the streets, protesting low pay. They said they’re expected to make deliveries for just 6 dirhams (around €0.55) each, barely enough to cover fuel, let alone other expenses. Glovo’s also facing backlash over a brief map glitch in its app that left out Morocco’s disputed southern regions.

To stay on regulators’ good side, Glovo’s agreed to launch a full compliance programme and treat its delivery riders more fairly, though they’ll still be considered independent workers. The company will also appoint a compliance manager to oversee all these changes.

Related Story: 9Mobile faces fresh ownership dispute in court

Glovo has been pouring cash into Morocco, with over MAD 200 million (€18.5 million) invested since 2018 and big PR around its Startup Lab. But the company’s aggressive growth may have crossed a line. Local rival Kooul filed the initial complaint, accusing Glovo of muscling out smaller players with its size and tactics.

With exclusivity gone and commissions capped, Morocco’s food delivery market could get more competitive. Restaurants will have more wiggle room, and platforms like Kooul could get a fairer shot. But Glovo still has to win back trust from both regulators and its couriers.

Is this the end of pay-TV in Nigeria?

Remember when DStv and GOtv dishes were everywhere, like a rite of passage for every Nigerian household? Those days may be fading fast. Pay-TV, once the king of home entertainment, is slowly losing its throne across Africa.

MultiChoice, the South African company behind DStv and GOtv, posted some worrying numbers for the year ending March 31, 2025. The media giant lost 1.2 million subscribers across its African markets. The reasons? Price hikes, inflation, currency troubles, and a growing sense that MultiChoice no longer gives people what they want.

The financial hit is no small matter. Group revenue dipped by 9%, largely driven by an 11% drop in subscription earnings. Nigeria, its largest market, took the biggest blow — revenue from subscriptions nosedived by 44%, down from $355.93 million in 2024 to $197.74 million in 2025. And this comes after a 30% decline the year before.

So, the big question: is it time for MultiChoice to switch gears? Forecasts once claimed pay-TV subscribers would reach 55 million in Africa by 2029. But with MultiChoice losing ground this fast, those numbers feel shaky at best. On top of that, a new report predicts that while pay-TV revenue will fall by $42 billion globally, streaming will grow by a whopping $93 billion between 2024 and 2029.

Experts are saying the pivot is overdue. Olayode Agboola of Lagos Business School puts it this way: “Multichoice is facing a mobile-first, price-sensitive audience. The question is no longer about relevance. It’s about how boldly and creatively they can adapt to the digital shift.”

Sarah digs deep into what this means for MultiChoice in her latest for Techpoint Africa. Could this be their streaming era? Read it here.

“Please Call Me” battle gets fresh court round

The highest court in South Africa has just thrown a serious curveball into the 16-year-long legal fight between Kenneth Nkosana Makate and Vodacom over the Please Call Me invention, per MyBroadband. In a strong rebuke, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) must re-hear the case, this time with an entirely new panel of judges.

Why? Because, according to Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, the SCA flopped its duty. The court accepted Makate’s revenue models without properly examining Vodacom’s side, and failed to consider key evidence, a move South Africa’s apex court says was a major lapse in judgment.

This decision is massive. It means Makate’s years-long push for what he sees as fair compensation for his idea isn’t over yet, but it’s also not the clear-cut victory he had with the SCA ruling earlier this year. That ruling would’ve forced Vodacom to pay Makate between 5% and 7.5% of all Please Call Me voice revenue earned over 18 years with interest. Using Makate’s own models, that could run as high as R63 billion ($3.5 billion).

Let’s rewind. Makate first pitched the idea for Please Call Me in November 2000 when he was a trainee accountant at Vodacom. His concept was simple: allow users to send a missed call to someone even if they had no airtime. Vodacom launched the service a few months later, and it quickly became a staple. In 2016, the Constitutional Court acknowledged that a verbal agreement existed between Makate and Vodacom and ordered both parties to negotiate compensation but nothing ever came of it.

Vodacom eventually offered R47 million ($2.6 million), which Makate called insulting. He went back to court asking for much more and got favourable rulings. But now, the ConCourt is essentially saying, “Hold up, this case needs a proper second look.”

Justice Madlanga, who retired yesterday, said this case was agonising to review. “We had to face the possibility that a top court completely failed its job,” he said. The next step? A new set of judges will re-hear the case. And with that, Makate’s David-vs-Goliath battle continues, possibly reshaping how innovation and compensation are treated in African corporate settings.

What I’m watching

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