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Microsoft Airband to Connect nearly 40 Million People across Latin America and Africa (By Vickie Robinson)

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3 years ago

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Airband

Through new and expanded partnerships, Airband is delivering against its goal to connect 250 million people by 2025

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, May 17, 2023/APO Group/ — 

By Vickie Robinson, GM, Microsoft Airband Initiative (https://www.Microsoft.com)

Today, we’re announcing new and expanded Airband partnerships set to provide high-speed internet access to nearly 40 million people across Latin America and Africa. These partnerships in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala and Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda mark significant progress in our commitment to extend high-speed internet access to 250 million people living in unserved and underserved areas around the world, including 100 million in Africa.

Across both Latin America and Africa, limited access to broadband can mean that people have fewer opportunities to develop the digital fluency and skills needed to participate in the digital economy.

At Microsoft, we believe that internet access and meaningful connectivity is a fundamental right. The Microsoft Airband initiative was launched to bring transformative connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world. Through the Airband initiative and its partners, Microsoft is serving as a catalyst to enable affordable access to connectivity, specifically focusing on regions with lower digital connectivity rates.

Connecting communities across Latin America

In recent years, about 37 percent of Latin Americans in rural areas have connectivity options, compared with 71% of the urban population (https://apo-opa.info/3o7ZQvD). Airband together with Wayfree in Guatemala, Fundacion Pais Digital in Chile, Brisanet in Brazil, and Anditel in Colombia will deliver 18 million people with access to high-speed internet.

Latin America combines thriving urban cities and rural areas with vast cultural heritage sites, however, like most places, there are unique challenges in advancing connectivity in certain regions. With greater access to the internet, Airband through its partners, hope to address societal issues, such as employment and education that can be strengthened through greater connectivity.

  • Brazil: Airband is expanding our footprint to Brazil, the largest market in Latin America, as part of our new partnership with Brisanet (https://apo-opa.info/435Pdsb). Working with Microsoft and NGOs like Amigos do Bem (https://www.AmigosdoBem.org/en/) and Mais Unidos (https://apo-opa.info/3IiPlML), Brisanet will extend high-speed internet access to more than 11 million people and support social and economic development in low-income regions of the country.

At Microsoft, we believe that internet access and meaningful connectivity is a fundamental right

  • Chile: Fundación País Digital (https://apo-opa.info/3WeCOjd) is a nonprofit organization working to develop Chile’s digital economy, expand connectivity, and improve digital literacy throughout the country. Through their newest initiative, Programa Conectando Territorios (https://ConectandoTerritorios.PaisDigital.org/), Fundación País Digital will expand connectivity to rural and underserved areas in two regions: the Biobío Region in central Chile, which has been significantly impacted by earthquakes; and the Antofagasta Region, known for its mining industry. With Airband support, in addition to connectivity, the program will target economic opportunities through training and employing local community members to maintain the new networks and will bring internet access to an additional one million people by the end of 2025.
  • Colombia: Our commitment with longtime partner Anditel (https://apo-opa.info/3M7ETch) to provide coverage for more than 600,000 people in five years has gone well ahead of plan. To date we have nearly doubled that target and are now expanding our partnership to cover an additional three million people by the end of 2025. Partnering with the Colombian government on ICT 360 (https://apo-opa.info/3IhtMfN), the national connectivity program, Anditel aims to cover 85% of Colombians by 2026.
  • Guatemala: Wayfree is the leading provider (https://apo-opa.info/3Wexvk2) of Internet connectivity in Guatemala. They are deploying wireless access zones in towns and villages, already covering over 40 percent of the 340 Guatemalan municipalities with the goal of making universal wireless internet access a reality. Airband’s support will catalyze deployments in the remaining municipalities in Guatemala and ultimately provide three million people with access to high-speed internet coverage by the end of 2025.

Crossing the continent of Africa

Our efforts on the African continent are some of our most longstanding and farthest reaching. Today many African nations are rising economic powers, but on a continent with so many vast rural areas, delivering connectivity can be a challenge. On average Africa has a 40 percent (https://apo-opa.info/3IiPuQj) internet usage rate. Partnerships are key to the success of the Airband model, and we are building upon our existing partnerships in Africa, including with Mawingu and Tizeti.

  • Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda: Microsoft Airband’s relationship with Kenyan service provider Mawingu (https://apo-opa.info/3Ijr75f) began in 2014 with a pilot in Nanyuki and has since expanded to deliver high-speed internet access to four million Kenyans living in rural areas. Mawingu was Airband’s first partner, and thanks to the public-partnership model, today the company is Kenya’s leading internet service provider dedicated to rural and peri-urban markets. This latest expansion of our partnership with Mawingu will bring coverage to an incremental 16 million people across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda by the end of 2025, ultimately covering a total of 20 million people.

Mawingu provides meaningful internet access to locations throughout Kenya, such as hotspots, vocational schools and businesses. Just one example of Airband’s partnership has resulted in the deployment of more than 700 hotspots and connectivity for more than 100 primary schools, enabling community members to access digital skills training and essential education materials. The company has also partnered with Unilever and Microsoft Philanthropies to provide access and skills to female entrepreneurs.

  • Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire: Airband partner Tizeti (https://www.Tizeti.com/) has brought coverage to more than 900,000 people in Nigeria, expanding from Lagos to focus on underserved states across the country. Microsoft and Tizeti are expanding this partnership to Cote d’Ivoire, a cultural crossroads of West Africa, to bring internet access to almost 5 million people. Given that electricity is frequently unavailable, insufficient or unreliable in many parts of Africa, this expansion of our partnership includes infrastructure support and deployment of eight solar powered towers to help provide connectivity to households, small businesses and hotspots. This access will empower greater access to education, healthcare, and employment.

Bringing more digital opportunities to more people

Through partnering with Microsoft’s Airband Initiative, organizations have additional support to create the infrastructure needed to provide connectivity support in many different ecosystems that ultimately drives self-empowerment and sustainable development and growth. These partnerships are essential in providing local expertise and experience to help achieve a greater goal tied to what can be harnessed with the support of connectivity.

As technology, like AI, advances, being connected provides a path forward to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Microsoft.

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Why Your Communications Strategy is Undermining Your Decisions (By Bas Wijne)

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7 minutes ago

on

May 13, 2026

By

Bas Wijne

As markets become more complex and information moves faster, communications is now part of strategy, embedded in how boardroom decisions are formed, framed, and executed

For organisations operating across multiple African markets, fragmented communications create fragmented decisions

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, May 13, 2026/APO Group/ —By Bas Wijne, CEO, APO Group (https://APO-opa.com).

 

At last month’s PRCA South Africa conference, the leading PR and communications forum in the region, I joined a panel on PR as a Strategic Advisor: Ethics, Sustainability and Boardroom Influence alongside Annaleigh Vallie (Executive Head of Integrated Communication, Nedbank), and Larry Khumalo-MacArthur (Managing Director and Market Lead, Weber Shandwick Africa). The discussion reinforced that when communications is excluded from the boardroom, decision-making breaks down between formation and execution. In complex organisations, executive decisions are often interpreted differently across stakeholders, leading to early misalignment.

The most effective leadership teams address this by involving communications when decisions are formed.

Without this, the same course of action fractures in execution across stakeholders. The issue is not variation in interpretation itself, but the absence of a structured way to account for it in advance.

Communications is a co-architect that belongs in the boardroom, shaping how intent becomes a decision and how a decision becomes reality. This is especially clear in African markets. Differences in regulatory environments, culture, and stakeholder expectations mean the same announcement can be interpreted in fundamentally different ways across jurisdictions. Consider a single boardroom decision. A multinational announces a restructuring across several African territories – typically involving changes to operating models, workforce alignment, cost structures, and local responsibilities.

In one country, the decision is seen as a move toward efficiency and long-term growth. In another, it signals contraction. In a third, it raises questions about market commitment. The underlying decision stays the same, but its meaning shifts depending on where it lands.

These differences affect how decisions are executed across markets. Alignment weakens, not from a flawed strategy, but from fragmented meaning.

For a co-architect, this means stress-testing decisions before they are final. Advising and assessing how they will land in different markets. Working directly with leadership teams to adjust how decisions are framed, sequenced, and released so that intent translates across markets.

APO Group operates as an example of this co-architect model, serving as a strategic communications consultancy that integrates advisory and execution. We don’t just execute communications – we consult and advise at the boardroom level. We apply this approach across multiple African markets. Africa-Newsroom.com, our pan-African newswire and the only platform of its kind on the continent, distributes to 250+ Africa-focused news sites and 450,000+ journalists in all 54 countries. The same infrastructure that delivers messaging across the continent gives us the monitoring data to test how it will be received before a single line is published. That is what stress-testing means in practice.

When a global Fortune 500 telecommunications operator with multi-market African operations needed transformation across six African countries, they consolidated nine agencies into one partner: APO Group. Before announcing the decision, it was tested in each market. We checked how it signalled efficiency, retreat, or questions about commitment.

That insight was fed directly back into how the announcement was structured, sequenced, and released.

Messaging was then executed through a single coordinated system across all markets, rather than multiple disconnected systems.

The result was a 573% increase in top-tier media placements for the programme across key African markets compared to the previous multi-agency model, driven by unified messaging and faster execution cycles.

For organisations operating across multiple African markets, fragmented communications create fragmented decisions. Integrated communications strengthen delivery. In this environment, communications is part of how leadership decisions hold their meaning as they move across borders.

The question for leadership teams is not whether communications supports decisions, but whether it is involved early enough to ensure those decisions hold their meaning as they move across markets.

And ultimately: is communications shaping the decision itself, or only being asked to manage its interpretation after it leaves the boardroom?

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of APO Group Insights.

 

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Liquid Intelligent Technologies revitalises access to cloud and cyber security services in support of improved national digital resilience

Published

2 hours ago

on

May 13, 2026

By

Liquid Intelligent Technologies

These services will be available to existing and potential customers in Botswana, and at the centre of the new offering is Secure360, the company’s integrated security framework

GABORONE, Botswana, May 13, 2026/APO Group/ –Liquid Intelligent Technologies (https://Liquid.Tech), a business of Cassava Technologies, a global technology leader, brings cloud and cyber security solutions and services to businesses and enterprises of all sizes in Botswana. The announcement comes as Liquid celebrates a decade of operations in the country.

 

These services will be available to existing and potential customers in Botswana, and at the centre of the new offering is Secure360, the company’s integrated security framework that enables organisations to move beyond reactive breach response towards proactive intelligence, protection and assurance. The solution combines local delivery with continental-scale infrastructure and global technology partnerships to provide organisations with enterprise-grade digital security and cloud capabilities aligned with national digital priorities.

When organisations engage with Liquid Intelligent Technologies in Botswana, they are connecting to the strength of Cassava’s integrated digital ecosystem

“Over the last decade, Liquid has deployed over 1174.08 km of fibre, bringing multi-terabit capacity and unmatched resilience to the region. By establishing a 730km backbone along the A1 road, we’ve positioned Botswana as a critical hub, linking networks from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan,” said Odirile Tamajobe, Managing Director of Liquid Intelligent Technologies Botswana. “Now, by bringing the cloud and cyber security services into the country, we are empowering local businesses with world-class digital solutions, ensuring they can compete and win on the global stage.”

The expansion of Liquid’s offerings in the market reflects the broader Cassava strategy to deliver integrated digital infrastructure and platforms through its One Cassava approach.

“When organisations engage with Liquid Intelligent Technologies in Botswana, they are connecting to the strength of Cassava’s integrated digital ecosystem,” said Ziaad Suleman, CEO of Cassava Technologies SA and Botswana. “Beyond cloud and cyber security, customers can access data centres, AI readiness reviews, and tailored technology journey roadmaps, all within a unified platform designed to support secure innovation and long-term digital resilience”.

As Botswana advances on its Vision 2036 ambitions to expand digital services across government, financial services, telecommunications, and critical infrastructure sectors, Cassava’s digital services aim to strengthen national digital resilience, fostering pride and confidence in the country’s progress.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Liquid Intelligent Technologies.

 

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Verdant IMAP Act as Financial Advisor and Arranger to Metro Africa Xpress (MAX) on its USD 8 Million in Debt Capital Raise

Published

3 hours ago

on

May 13, 2026

By

Verdant IMAP

The transaction establishes a foundation for further institutional capital deployment into the business

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, May 13, 2026/APO Group/ –Metro Africa Xpress (MAX), Africa’s leading electric mobility platform, has secured USD 8 million in debt funding from Triple Jump, marking a key milestone in scaling its clean mobility operations.

Triple Jump, a Netherlands-based impact investment manager with a strong track record of financing inclusive financial institutions and clean energy businesses across emerging markets, represents one of MAX’s first international institutional lenders. Its participation underscores confidence in MAX’s operating model, asset-backed lending structure, and long-term scalability within Africa’s evolving mobility sector.

The funding will support:

  • Expansion of MAX’s electric vehicle (EV) fleet
  • Rollout of battery swap infrastructure
  • Continued development of its Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) financing platform

MAX’s model is designed to lower barriers to asset ownership for commercial drivers (“Champions”), enabling income generation through access to productive mobility assets while reducing operating costs relative to internal combustion alternatives.

Operating across Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon, with Nigeria as its core market, MAX is building an integrated ecosystem comprising:

  • Purpose-built EVs adapted for local conditions
  • Battery swapping infrastructure to address charging constraints
  • IoT-enabled fleet management systems
  • Embedded financing solutions for underserved drivers

Verdant IMAP acted as sole financial advisor and arranger on the transaction, supporting structuring, investor engagement, and execution. The transaction establishes a foundation for further institutional capital deployment into the business.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Verdant Capital.

 

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