Telecom
Mastercard, AfDB Partner to Accelerate Digital Transformation in Africa
Mastercard and the African Development Bank Group have launched the Mobilizing Access to the Digital Economy (MADE) Alliance: Africa to extend digital access to critical services to 100 million individuals and businesses in Africa over the next 10 years. The announcement was made on the sidelines of the U.S.-Africa Business Forum hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The Alliance will initially focus on supporting the agricultural sector and women. Among the first efforts will be a pilot program launching this year to support three million farmers in Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria by working with local banks to provide digital identities and access to high-quality seeds and agricultural inputs. The Alliance intends to expand to Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana and the rest of the continent.
“Mastercard’s work leading the new MADE Alliance: Africa aims to provide 100 million people greater digital access to critical services,” said Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard. “Across Africa, people are driving new growth and opportunity, and Mastercard wants to support their success.
“This Alliance builds on the innovations and investments we are already making with partners in 45 countries to enhance Africa’s digital infrastructure and accelerate inclusive growth.”
As co-chairs, the African Development Bank Group will invest $300 million to support Alliance programs, providing funding for digital infrastructure and incentivizing ecosystem actors to enhance digital access, and Mastercard will register 15 million users in Africa onto its Community Pass platform within five years, with interoperable digital infrastructure to facilitate involvement from a range of ecosystem participants.
Launched in 2020, Community Pass is a social enterprise at Mastercard that digitizes and connects remote, underserved communities to governments, NGOs and the private sector for access to critical services.
“The African Development Bank Group believes that digitalization via Mastercard Community Pass can play a vital role in increasing the adoption of agricultural technologies to help feed Africa, as well as improve incomes of millions of African smallholder farmers. Joining the Mobilizing Access to the Digital Economy Alliance: Africa will amplify and multiply the impact of the Bank’s investments to build sustainable, climate-smart food systems across the continent.
“We applaud U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ commitment to financial and digital inclusion in Africa,” said African Development Bank Group President Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina.
To enable more people to join the digital economy, an ecosystem of public and private sector partners is critical. The Alliance matches partners’ complementary strengths in key geographies to promote sustainable digital access. Together, the partners will deliver connectivity, skilling, employment and digital access to financial and other critical services.
More than half a dozen organizations have committed to participate in the MADE Alliance: Africa at launch, including Equity Bank, Microsoft, Heifer International, Unconnected.org and Syngenta Foundation. The African Development Bank Group and Mastercard will serve as initial co-chairs of the effort.
The efforts of the MADE Alliance: Africa will support the U.S. Digital Transformation with Africa Initiative (DTA) and the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (DTS). It also ties into other business objectives announced this year focused on Africa, including:
- A memorandum of agreement with the International Trade Administration, a bureau within the U.S. Department of Commerce, to advance digital access and inclusion in Africa based on a mutual interest to support the aims of the U.S. Government’s Digital Transformation with Africa initiative and MADE Alliance: Africa. This collaboration builds on Mastercard hosting U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo during AmCham in Nairobi in April for a “Digital Showcase” on best practices and lessons learned for building and scaling digital solutions across the continent of Africa.
- EdTech Africa, a new partnership between the Government of Kenya, Kenyan President Ruto and the U.S., which builds on Mastercard’s existing multi-million-dollar investments with the Atlanta University Consortium (AUC) Data Science Initiative and Howard University’s Center for Applied Data Science & Analytics Initiative. This effort cultivates educational exchanges between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and African scholars in the ever-evolving landscape of emerging technology and is an example of innovation, talent empowerment and cross-cultural connectivity across the African diaspora, poised to drive forward education and technology for young leaders of Africa and America.
- A new partnership involving Mastercard Community Pass, the Co-operative Bank of Kenya, the Shell Foundation, and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office that gives smallholder farmers access to a digital marketplace and enables affordable credit to buy clean energy tools that support farmers’ incomes, such as solar-powered irrigation pumps. First announced in January, the effort aligns to Mastercard’s involvement with two USAID initiatives: the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE) and the Women in the Digital Economy Fund (WiDEF).
Bringing together public and private sector leaders will create and enhance accessible, affordable and trusted technology and digital tools that are scalable, enabling more people to join the digital economy.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed telecommunications operators to make dedicated budgetary provisions for cybersecurity as part of efforts to strengthen the resilience of Nigeria’s communications infrastructure against the growing wave of cyber threats.
The directive forms part of the Commission’s Cyber Resilience Framework for the Nigerian Communications Sector (CRF-NCS), which introduces new governance, risk management and operational requirements aimed at safeguarding the country’s critical telecommunications infrastructure from increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks.
Under the framework, all licensed telecom operators are expected to establish formal cybersecurity governance structures, dedicate adequate financial resources to cyber resilience programmes, and integrate cybersecurity into their enterprise-wide risk management processes.
The Commission said operators must ensure cybersecurity investments are no longer treated as optional operational expenses but as strategic business priorities necessary to protect network infrastructure, customer information and the country’s digital economy.
According to the NCC, licensees are expected to allocate sufficient budgets to support cyber risk assessments, security technologies, staff training, incident response capabilities, continuous monitoring and compliance with regulatory requirements.
The framework also requires operators to designate senior executives responsible for cybersecurity oversight.
At the same time, boards of directors are expected to provide strategic direction and ensure adequate funding for cyber resilience initiatives.
Speaking on the need for a stronger cybersecurity regime during the unveiling of the framework, Abraham Oshadami, executive commissioner, Technical Services, NCC, said, “Given the increasing digitalisation of services, the rapid growth of data exchange, and the sophisticated nature of modern cyber threats, the need for a robust, adaptive and inclusive cybersecurity framework has become more urgent.”
He added, “Both state and non-state actors are targeting essential sectors—including ours—through coordinated cyber and physical attacks. These attacks frequently target control systems and data integrity, underscoring the critical risks posed to operational technology (OT), especially in our sector.”
“As cyber threats evolve, they endanger not only system performance but also human safety, amplifying the severity and consequences of disruptions to vital communications infrastructure. Cybersecurity now encompasses human safety and must address the real risk to people’s lives when a system is attacked or compromised.”
The Commission further stated that operators are required to develop comprehensive cybersecurity implementation plans, conduct periodic risk assessments, establish business continuity and disaster recovery procedures, and regularly test their cyber defence capabilities.
In addition, the framework makes cyber incident reporting compulsory. Licensees must inform the NCC’s CSIRT of any major cybersecurity breach within four hours of discovery, and provide a thorough post-incident analysis after mitigation is complete.
Digital solution provider, Globacom has recorded the highest Internet subscriber growth among Nigeria’s major telecom companies for the month of May.
Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Nigeria’s total Internet users increased to 157 million in May, up from 154.3 million in April. That is a growth of 2.67 million users in one month.
Globacom led the market by adding about 1.2 million new Internet subscribers. This means Glo was responsible for almost half of all new Internet users in May.
The company’s subscriber base grew from 15.5 million in April to 16.8 million in May. Airtel came second with 1.07 million new users, moving from 54.8 million to 55.8 million. MTN added 382,894 users to reach 83.5 million.
T2 Mobile, formerly 9mobile, recorded no growth for the second month in a row. Its subscriber base remained at 802,534. This is despite its roaming agreement with MTN, which was approved almost a year ago to help T2 customers use MTN’s network in areas with poor coverage.
Industry experts say Glo’s strong growth is due to its ongoing network upgrade. Since last year, the company has been building new base stations, expanding its fibre network, and adding thousands of new 4G sites across cities and rural areas.
The upgrades have improved voice and data quality for customers, while Globacom remain committed to providing better network experience and affordable Internet services to more Nigerians.
MTN Nigeria’s half-year 2026 performance reflects more than revenue growth, highlighting the wider economic activity generated through tax payments, infrastructure investment and shareholder returns.
Kadri, MTN CFO
Beyond its financial results, the telecommunications operator said it continues to channel substantial resources into expanding network infrastructure, meeting statutory obligations and delivering value across its stakeholder ecosystem.
The company disclosed that it paid more than ₦600 billion in taxes, customs duties, regulatory levies and other statutory obligations over the past year.
It also invested over ₦1.6 trillion in capital expenditure since January 2025 to expand network capacity and improve service quality, while declaring an interim dividend of ₦26 per share for shareholders.
Speaking on Arise News’ Global Business Report, MTN Nigeria’s Chief Financial Officer, Modupe Kadri, explained that the company’s earnings are shared across several stakeholders before returns reach investors. “For every one naira of revenue, about 24 kobo becomes profit.
“The government receives over ₦600 billion through taxes and levies, operating costs account for a significant portion of our revenue, and every participant within the ecosystem benefits from the value we create,” he said.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), telecommunications remains one of the largest contributors to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, supporting digital financial services, education, healthcare, commerce and public services. Continued investment by operators has also been identified as critical to expanding broadband access and improving digital inclusion across the country.
Kadri noted that shareholder returns remain an important part of MTN’s capital allocation strategy, but stressed that they represent only one aspect of the company’s broader economic contribution.
“Even when we declare dividends, the government still receives withholding tax, while we continue investing heavily in our network because sustaining quality service requires ongoing capital commitment,” he said.
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