Telecom
Trusted Data to Tip Balance between Success, Failure This Year
The wheels are turning ever faster in the telecom industry. For every year, there are new and often unexpected developments.
As we face another eventful year, industry expert David King, CEO of leading data centre and power management systems supplier Flexenclosure, describes which developments had the biggest impact in 2014 and what we can expect from 2015.
A year ago, when I was asked which trends would have a significant impact on the mobile industry in 2014, I predicted that there would be an increasing interest in prefabricated modular data centres to cope with the expected data boom in developing countries.
One year later, we can see that prefabricated modular data centres have proven to be just as flexible, energy efficient and quick to deploy as manufacturers had promised and customers had hoped, and many telecom companies and mobile operators have chosen this path – ACS Angola, Vodacom Mozambique and MTN Côte d’Ivoire being just a few examples in emerging markets.
Another trend that I predicted was a renewed focus on increasing reliability and reducing operating expenses when powering mobile base station sites.
In the last 12 months we’ve seen that this is indeed a critical combination for the specialised tower companies that are increasingly taking over ownership and management of these sites, as the success of their core business depends much more on the long term reliability and cost efficiency of their power equipment than it did to the mobile operators themselves.
Implementation of green power solutions that reduce diesel fuel consumption has been one result of this trend, as well as efforts to increase telecom sites’ reliability and uptime.
So what’s in store for 2015? Here are the three trends I think will have a major impact on the ICT industry in the year ahead:
1. 2015 is the year that prefabricated modular data centres will truly come of age. As the data boom continues to accelerate globally, prefabricated facilities will be increasingly adopted not only by telcos, but also by colocation and global Internet companies worldwide, driven by their ability to be quickly and easily expanded as required.
The data centre colocation market has been quietly putting down roots in Africa and will now enter a growth phase – with prefabricated facilities giving colocation providers the ability to precisely time facility expansion, thus allowing them to maintain a high level of utilisation (return on capital) while avoiding missing out on new customers due to a lack of capacity.
At the same time, global Internet companies will take increasing advantage of the capital-efficient expansion opportunities and risk-free build process offered by prefabricated data centre buildings.
And of course, an additional benefit is that prefabricated data centres can offer very high quality and price competitive solutions compared to traditional brick and mortar buildings. This previously tended to drive demand mainly in developing economies, but we will now see exponential growth in the adoption of prefabricated modular data centre solutions from developing and developed nations alike.
2. In the mobile telecom site arena, we will see specialised towercos continuing to take over responsibility for tower sites from the mobile operators.
For the towercos, operational cost savings are key to driving business profitability, while for the operators it’s network uptime. Power solutions that can reduce diesel-related expenditure in areas where grid power is unreliable or unavailable, while at the same time guarantee network uptime, will therefore be in much demand and drive significant innovation.
To ensure that this combination of operational reliability and guaranteed network uptime can be delivered, power equipment vendors will need to develop long-term partnerships with managed service companies and we will see new energy service companies (ESCOs) start to establish themselves in many markets. T
he broader presence of ESCOs will in turn reinforce the green site power trend, as these companies look to invest in the most cost efficient power equipment for generation and sale of power to the telecom operators under long term contracts.
3. As mobile towerco networks increase in both size and the number of tenants hosted, the availability of trusted site data will drive the difference between profitability and failure. To keep control over and reduce network energy costs (which can constitute up to 60 per cent of operating expenses for tower companies), as well as to prevent system failures, tower companies need to be able to trust their data and will invest in software-driven intelligent monitoring systems that are fully integrated with the power systems right from day one.
These solutions will give site owners and managers the ability to broadly monitor their entire networks as well as to perform deep dive analyses on a site-by-site basis. This will ensure that they understand the status of their equipment at all times, thus giving them full control over their assets and business.
David King, CEO, Flexenclosure, a designer and manufacturer of prefabricated data centres and intelligent power management systems for the ICT industry. Mr King has decades-long experience from C-level work with many international high-tech companies, several in emerging markets.
As Africa and MENA’s startup ecosystems transition from post-correction resilience into a new phase of disciplined growth, the Africa Startup & VC Landscape Preview (ASVLP 2026) will convene leading founders, investors, policymakers, and ecosystem builders on January 29, 2026, for its second annual, agenda-setting virtual forum.
Following a challenging global venture cycle, 2025 marked a notable rebound across the African ecosystem, with startups raising an estimated $3.2–$3.3 billion over the full year.
The recovery was accompanied by significant structural shifts: Kenya emerged as the leading destination among Africa’s “Big Four” markets for the first time, while Nigeria recorded a year-on-year funding decline, reflecting changing investor preferences, macroeconomic pressures, and a broader recalibration toward capital efficiency and sustainability.
Sectorally, fintech remained the most funded vertical, while climate & energy, AI-enabled solutions, healthtech, and infrastructure-adjacent businesses gained increasing attention. Across Africa and MENA, development finance institutions (DFIs) and family offices played a more pronounced role in anchoring funds, deploying catalytic capital, and supporting blended-finance structures, reshaping how early-stage and growth capital is mobilized.
ASVLP 2026 is designed to translate these data points into forward-looking strategy.
The forum will bring together venture capitalists, angel investors, LPs, DFIs, family offices, founders, corporate leaders, and regulators from Africa, MENA, Europe, and North America to assess 2025 outcomes and chart priorities for 2026.
The program will feature keynotes, fireside chats, panels, and deep-dive roundtables, including discussions on:
· The 2026 Africa & MENA FinTech Landscape, focusing on security, profitability, regulation, and growth frontiers
· Emerging Fund Managers, capital formation, and LP alignment
· Talent, operator depth, and institutional capacity as constraints to scale
· Regulatory evolution and cross-border market integration
A major highlight of ASVLP 2026 will be the Final DealRoom Pitch Session, where a curated group of high-potential startups will present to an experienced panel of investors.
• Founders can apply to pitch via: bit.ly/ASVLP-DR-Founders
• Investors seeking DealRoom access can request entry via: bit.ly/ASVLP-DR-Investors
Confirmed speakers for ASVLP 2026 include Khaled Ismail (HIMangel), Idris Ayodeji Bello (LoftyInc Capital), Zachariah George (Launch Africa), Tosin Faniro-Dada (Breega), Selma Ribica (FirstCircle Capital), Maha Mandour (COREangels MEA), Joe Kinvi (Borderless), Remi Prunier (Orange Ventures MEA), Karima El Hakim (Plug and Play Tech Center), Souheil Guessoum (President, The Confederation of Citizen Employers – Algeria (CAPC)), Remi Prunier (Partner, Orange Ventures, MEA), Maha Mandour (COREAngels MEA), Ali Hussein (President, Kenyan FinTech Association), Patrick Okebu (CIO, Interswitch Group) among other leading voices shaping capital, policy, and innovation across the region.
“The conversation has shifted,” said Uche Aniche, Convener of ASVLP. “It’s no longer about whether capital will return to Africa and MENA, but what kind of capital, deployed with what discipline, and in service of which long-term outcomes. ASVLP exists to help the ecosystem make sense of that transition.”
Participation in ASVLP 2026 is free but strictly by invitation.
Interested participants are encouraged to repost the official announcement on LinkedIn and comment #ASVLP2026 to receive a private registration link. They could also email [email protected] and request invite.
Major social media giants Meta Platforms, TikTok and Alphabet’s YouTube will face a landmark jury trial this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court over allegations that their addictive designs have fuelled a youth mental health crisis, marking the first such case to reach this stage.
Social Media
The pivotal personal injury lawsuit centres on a 19-year-old Californian woman identified as K.G.M., who claims her childhood immersion in Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok—engineered with endless scrolls, autoplay videos, notifications and algorithms—sparked severe anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.
Dozens of similar suits have surged since 2022 from families, schools and states, accusing the firms of burying internal research on teen harms while prioritising ad revenue through youth-targeted engagement hooks, despite Section 230 protections for user content.
Plaintiffs seek damages and design overhauls, arguing platforms bypassed parents and preyed on vulnerable kids; defendants counter there’s no clinical “social media addiction” diagnosis, no proven causation—kids with issues often use less—and they’ve added safeguards like parental controls and time limits.
Echoing Australia’s under-16 bans, the trial will scrutinise thousands of internal documents, expert testimonies and K.G.M.’s story, potentially expanding tech liability amid debates where studies show complex links, not direct causation, between screen time and disorders like eating issues or self-harm.
A win could mandate warning labels, age gates or algorithm tweaks, reshaping global platforms as U.S. Surgeon General advisories and global scrutiny intensify pressure on Big Tech to prioritise child safety over profits.
Meta is gearing up to trial paid subscription services on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, aiming to diversify revenue streams beyond advertising while maintaining free core access for all users.
Meta
The subscriptions will offer enhanced tools tailored for everyday users, creators, and businesses, including advanced content creation, sharing, and workflow features distinct from the existing Meta Verified verification program. Unlike a uniform rollout, Meta plans varied testing formats per app to match diverse audiences, experimenting with feature bundles based on user feedback to refine the model.
A key element involves integrating Manus, the autonomous agent firm Meta acquired for $2 billion in December, into these apps alongside its enterprise sales. Manus enables complex task automation with minimal input, with early signs like Instagram shortcuts already spotted by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi.
Video tools feature prominently: Meta’s Vibes short-form video generator in the Meta AI app shifts to freemium, where paid tiers unlock higher monthly creation limits beyond the free baseline. On Instagram, subscriptions could enable unlimited audience lists, non-follower tracking, and anonymous Story views, though specifics for Facebook and WhatsApp remain under wraps.
Drawing from Meta Verified’s 2023 launch—which provides badges, support, and protection mainly for creators—these broader plans target wider appeal amid industry shifts. Ad growth slows against TikTok competition, while Snapchat+ boasts 16 million subscribers at $3.99 monthly, proving demand for value-driven paid perks despite subscription fatigue risks from streaming and storage fees.
Meta will phase tests gradually, prioritizing feedback to shape long-term viability without alienating free users.
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