ਸਤ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ,
Victoria from Techpoint here,
Here’s what I’ve got for you today:
- Glovo riders in Morocco launch 48-hour strike
- Djibouti Telecom plans new landing points in Africa
- Cell C to be listed as Blue Label plans exit
Glovo riders in Morocco launch 48-hour strike
Glovo riders in Morocco have downed tools for 48 hours, demanding better pay and fair treatment. Backed by the Moroccan Labour Union (UMT), the couriers say the company’s pay rates and policies are unsustainable, leaving them struggling to survive.
Right now, Glovo pays a base rate of just 6 dirhams (about €0.55) per delivery. Riders argue this barely covers fuel, data, maintenance, or insurance, let alone leaves anything to live on. “We demand an immediate increase in the base rate to cope with the high cost of living,” the riders said in a statement.
Their demands go beyond pay hikes. They want night rates doubled, double pay during national and religious holidays, full compensation for cancelled orders, and an end to Glovo’s controversial grouped orders system. Riders are also pushing for algorithm changes that prioritise safety, rather than pressuring them into breaking traffic rules.
Another sore point? Arbitrary account suspensions. Many riders say they’ve been unfairly blocked from the platform without explanation. They’re demanding more transparency in how Glovo sets pricing, incentives, and disciplinary rules. “We want the prohibition of suspensions without fair investigations,” the union stressed.
This isn’t the first time riders in Morocco have clashed with Glovo. Just last year, workers staged protests in Casablanca, sparked not only by low pay but also a controversial “map glitch” on the app that excluded parts of Morocco’s southern regions, labelling them “Western Sahara.” The company blamed a technical error, but the incident left riders and the public fuming.
This move happened just a month after Glovo made a deal with Morocco’s Competition Council to avoid legal trouble after being under the spotlight there for a whole year.
Glovo, meanwhile, continues to expand in Morocco, investing millions and partnering with thousands of businesses. It operates in 38 cities and counts Morocco among its biggest global markets. But as riders push back against precarious working conditions, the latest strike has again forced a spotlight on the human cost behind on-demand convenience.
Djibouti Telecom plans new landing points in Africa
Djibouti Telecom is gearing up to stretch its Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1 (DARE1) submarine cable all the way down to South Africa by 2028. The move comes hot on the heels of Meta announcing fresh investment in Safaricom’s Daraja subsea cable, underscoring how fast the race for Africa’s Internet backbone is heating up.
The extension will run from Mombasa to Mtunzini in South Africa, covering about 3,200–3,500 km, with new landing points planned for Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar. Once complete, the system promises more capacity, lower latency, and greater resilience for businesses, cloud providers, and carriers across East and Southern Africa. Construction is slated to begin in 2026.
Launched in 2021, the DARE1 cable already connects Djibouti City to Somalia (Bosaso and Mogadishu) and Kenya’s Mombasa, delivering 36 terabits per second via three fibre pairs. The upgrade will transform it from a regional East African lifeline into a broader continental infrastructure asset.
Telkom Kenya, part of the DARE1 consortium alongside Hormuud Telecom Somalia and Somtel International, said the system has been a game-changer for connectivity since its $86 million rollout. The new build will tap into Mombasa as the trunk hub, ensuring seamless integration between the existing route and the planned expansion.
The announcement comes just as Safaricom pushes forward with Daraja, its own 4,108-km subsea system linking Oman to Mombasa. Backed by Meta, Daraja is expected to go live in 2026 and will carry 24 fibre pairs, significantly boosting bandwidth for 4G, 5G, and fixed broadband users.
Together, these projects signal a new phase in Africa’s digital infrastructure drive, with telcos, tech giants, and governments all jostling to secure faster, cheaper, and more reliable Internet for a rapidly growing market.
Cell C to be listed as Blue Label plans exit
Blue Label Telecoms is finally plotting its way out of Cell C. The company has kicked off a complex pre-listing shake-up that will eventually see the struggling mobile operator listed separately on the JSE and both firms walking away debt-free.
The plan is to clean up Cell C’s messy balance sheet first. Blue Label, which currently owns 49.5% of the operator, is waiting for regulatory approval to bump its stake up to 53.5%. From there, all shares will be bundled into a brand-new company called ListCo, which will then head for a JSE debut.
Part of the restructuring includes Cell C issuing R3.7 billion worth of new shares instead of paying back money owed to The Prepaid Company (TPC), the Blue Label unit that’s been financing its rescue. Other share-for-debt swaps and asset moves are also lined up to make sure ListCo starts off with a clean slate.
Blue Label joint-CEO Mark Levy says the goal is simple: wipe out the “ghosts of the past” and give Cell C a fair shot at survival for the next two decades. He stressed that this listing is about standing Cell C on its own, after years of bailouts that saw Blue Label pour billions into the debt-ridden operator.
Interestingly, Cell C’s management will also be handed 4.5% of ListCo for free, as part of an incentive plan. Levy praised current CEO Jorge Mendes for dragging the business back from the brink, calling him the kind of leader who turned Cell C into an asset rather than a liability.
Still, Blue Label itself isn’t exactly coasting. Its latest results disappointed investors, dragging its share price to R12.20 last week. Even so, the stock has more than doubled in value this year, and Levy insists the listing will finally close a painful chapter in Blue Label’s history with Cell C.
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Have a lovely Tuesday!
Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa
