All our stories, in order, Dakar time (GMT).
Sunday 4 October
The BCEAO is revising the fees for its PI-SPI platform less than a year after its launch. From 2 November 2026, domestic transfers of up to 8,000 CFA francs a day will remain free, while transactions above that threshold may be charged up to 0.8%. A change that could reshuffle the cards for mobile money and digital payments across WAEMU.
Saturday 3 October
Ghana is seeing strong growth in digital payments, driven largely by mobile money. But this transformation is also widening the attack surface for cybercriminals. The authorities want to strengthen the security of the digital financial sector while keeping users’ trust.
Wednesday 30 September
Authorised in November 2025, launched in February and billed as a pillar of the state’s digital strategy, Starlink had its licence suspended on 7 September after a legal challenge by Orange Sonatel. The story of a showdown that goes well beyond satellite internet.
Tuesday 29 September
Ndubuisi Ekekwe, a Nigerian engineer who once helped design sensors for the first iPhones, is launching a closed, encrypted phone linked to his future stock exchange. A niche product in a market where more than 60% of phones sell for under $150.
Monday 28 September
South African startup Vambo AI trained MORENA, a model covering twelve African languages, on a supercomputer lent free of charge. The hardest part was finding text. A lesson for the whole ecosystem.
A Lagos court rejected the idea that non-users whose numbers sit in someone’s phonebook give “implied consent”. For lack of proof of harm, the case was nonetheless dismissed. Truecaller points out that anyone can remove their number.
About a hundred internet shutdowns in Africa between 2016 and 2025. Behind each one, an operator carrying out a government order. Ranking Digital Rights is calling MTN, Vodacom, Airtel and the others to account.
The CBN has cut its policy rate by 3.5 points to 23%, its biggest cut on record. Yet ten years of data show that rates explain only a small part of lending to small businesses, which remains marginal.
A scam can target one country, cash out in a second and launder the money in a third within hours. For Franck Kié (Cyber Africa Forum) and Ouanilo Medegan Fagla (Benin’s CNIN), only permanent African cooperation can keep up.
Free courses for public servants across the continent on one side, a national platform for 15,000 Cameroonian civil servants on the other. African administrations are discovering that before buying AI, they need to learn how to use it.
180 mini-grids, 146,000 households connected: the electrification programme has shown that decentralised solar works. But the naira’s devaluation sent costs soaring, and a new $300 million fund must prove that private investment can be attracted.
Irrigation pumps, solar kits, loans to smallholders: three companies closed funding deals in September. All rely on the same idea, getting customers to pay for equipment as they use it, and face the same challenge: finding money in local currency.
The trackers disagree, the trend does not: the money came back earlier than in 2024, driven by a few very large rounds. Behind the record figure, the number of start-ups funded and of active investors is falling.
Sunday 27 September
ITU, WIPO, WTO: a delegation of African decision-makers spent four days touring the institutions where digital standards are set. The main lesson: whoever writes today’s standards shapes tomorrow’s markets.
H-1B visa issuances fell by 52% in five months. State Department data shows that no other route has taken over. For Africa, visas have been halved, and those granted to Nigerians have collapsed.
Luno buys Kenya’s GTXN, Yellow Card raises $40 million, Onafriq settles in USDC across more than 40 countries. Dollar-backed cryptocurrencies are becoming payment infrastructure, while regulators are still writing the rules.
The figure made the rounds in the media: Nigerians supposedly spent ₦6.98 trillion on mobile data in the first half. Operators’ accounts show less than half that. And behind the spending lies an invisible tax: that of a network that keeps breaking.
Three billion transactions, some twenty countries, around fifty connected operators: the company that links merchants to mobile wallets has been authorised by the Central Bank of Kenya, the continent’s most mature market.
Saturday 26 September
The first bank in East and Central Africa to become a direct participant in China’s yuan payment system, Bank of Kigali promises faster, cheaper settlements with Rwanda’s top trading partner.
Hackers spent three weeks inside a system that IT provider MIP was in the process of retiring. About 400,000 records stolen, a ransom paid, and data published anyway. Regulators point out that insurers remain responsible.
Savings at 7%, investments of up to 16%, loans from 500 to one million shillings, chamas and accounts at other banks in one app, accessible with just an ID card. Absa Kenya wants to win over a generation that no longer walks into branches.
The data centre race has sent memory prices soaring. In an entry-level phone, memory now accounts for nearly half of the components. The GSMA warns: internet access for the poorest is under threat.
Friday 25 September
The third edition of this pan-African programme brought together young people from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Zambia, Senegal, Ethiopia and Mozambique. The final took place on 19 September in Abidjan.