👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Each day – IHS towers are tall once more

IHS Towers simply pulled off a glow-up worthy of a Netflix comeback particular. 

The African cell infrastructure large swung from a gut-punch $124.3 million loss in Q2 2024 to a crisp $32.3 million revenue in Q2 2025. A steady Nigerian naira, lighter finance prices, and the total punch of tariff hikes for large shoppers like MTN and Airtel Nigeria helped full the corporate’s rebound

State of play: Income dipped a tiny 0.5% to $433.3 million—blame a one-time $14.5 million tweak in a South African energy deal—however strip that out and the expansion story appears stronger. Natural development hit 11.1%, adjusted EBITDA landed at $248.5 million with a juicy 57.3% margin, and capex bought slashed by greater than half as IHS tightened the purse strings.

The turnaround isn’t simply on paper. Shares popped 8% to $7.33, a far cry from final yr’s $2 per share. IHS additionally agreed to dump its Rwanda operations for $274.5 million, knocked $154 million off its debt pile, and upgraded its full-year steering on income, EBITDA, and money circulate. CEO Sam Darwish is already teasing attainable shareholder buybacks or dividends as soon as debt targets are nailed.

Zoom out: With 5G rollouts gathering steam and Nigeria’s foreign money behaving for as soon as, IHS isn’t simply again within the black—it’s strutting. After a yr of portfolio pruning and operational self-discipline, the towers are tall, the steadiness sheet’s lighter, and the expansion runway appears large open.

Within the African telecom sector, rivals are studying that generally it’s cheaper to construct bridges than partitions.

Living proof: Airtel Africa and Vodacom, two of the continent’s largest telecom gamers, are teaming up to share fiber and cell tower infrastructure in Mozambique, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), three of the least-connected markets on the continent. 

Web penetration is roughly 20% in Mozambique, 32% in Tanzania and 27% within the DRC, leaving big gaps in protection and loads of room for cooperation.

State of play: The settlement, awaiting regulatory approval, will permit each firms to increase service sooner and at decrease price, particularly in distant areas the place solo builds make little monetary sense. 

Catch up: The deal follows a comparable Airtel pact with MTN in March, the place each telecom operators agreed to share community infrastructure in Uganda and Nigeria. This may very well be the clearest indicator but that Airtel is leaning towards a leaner solution to construct and co-manage telecom infrastructure, whereas shielding its steadiness sheet from the total weight of high-cost community enlargement in troublesome markets.

Is Airtel space-borne? Add Airtel’s Starlink partnership to convey satellite tv for pc web to the continent, and a sample begins to indicate. The pan-African operator, energetic in 14 international locations, could also be easing away from pricey, on-the-ground telecom infrastructure in favour of satellite tv for pc web. With that shift in play, teaming up with different operators to share community prices appears like a logical subsequent step.

Between the strains: Sharing networks with opponents dangers funding, redundancy, and regulatory points. However in pricey, underserved markets, wider protection, decrease prices, and sooner upgrades outweigh downsides if regulators monitor intently.

Zoom out: Cell subscribers are the winners in these offers. With shared (cheaper) working prices, these telecoms may construct telecom rails sooner in rural areas, connecting hundreds of thousands of shoppers to the digital economic system.

South Africa’s Competitors Fee (CompCom) has cleared telecom firm Cell C to accumulate Comm Tools Firm (CEC) from its largest shareholder, Blue Label Telecoms 

The deal folds CEC’s postpaid operations—billing, provide chain, advertising, and collections—immediately into Cell C, ending the necessity to run them by a Blue Label subsidiary.

Right here’s why it issues: It’s a small transaction in construction, but it surely’s central to Blue Label’s slow-burn plan to stabilise and finally listing Cell C on the Johannesburg Inventory Alternate (JSE). Blue Label already owns almost half of Cell C and is attempting to take a small additional stake to realize management. By integrating CEC, Cell C positive aspects full management of its postpaid buyer base and a clearer operational profile forward of an IPO.

Catch up: Cell C has spent years struggling beneath heavy debt and shrinking market share. The restructuring deal will see Blue Label flip its debt claims into shares. It can additionally merge the varied particular goal automobiles (SPVs) that maintain Cell C shares. These steps intention to simplify its capital construction and enhance investor confidence. The CompCom even known as the transaction a “lifeline,” a notably completely different tone from the more durable scrutiny it utilized to different telecom mergers (learn: Vodacom and Maziv saga).

The large image: Past survival, the deal helps shore up Cell C’s place as South Africa’s main platform for cell digital community operators (MVNOs), powering manufacturers like Capitec Join, Shoprite Okay’Nect, and FNB Join. That MVNO area of interest has been one in every of Cell C’s few development engines, driving worth competitors and new service fashions in a market dominated by Vodacom and MTN.

If the itemizing occurs, Cell C should be extra financially clear—a win for traders backing its turnaround story.

Yamify, a DR Congo-based AI infrastructure startup, simply banked $100,000 in pre-seed funding from Felix Anane—an early Paystack backer—with one other $100,000 nonetheless on the desk. The startup needs to turn out to be Africa’s “App Retailer for AI instruments,” minus the Silicon Valley price ticket.

State of play: Based in 2024 by ex-TikTok and Salesforce engineer Luc Okalobé, Yamify lets freelancers, startups, and businesses spin up AI instruments—from chatbots to video turbines—in minutes. Its flagship Managed Cloud Prototypes (MCP) characteristic turns a chat immediate (“I desire a translation bot”) right into a reside, hosted app, immediately. Every thing runs on GPU clusters in Nigeria, Congo, and South Africa, billed in native currencies.

Right here’s why it’s completely different: Most cloud AI platforms are constructed for enterprise groups within the West, cost in {dollars}, and assume you’ve bought an in-house cloud engineer. Yamify flips that: open-source instruments, community-led development, and cost-saving methods like auto-shutting idle workloads. “Hyperscalers don’t flip issues off for you. We do,” says Okalobé.

Since its personal beta launch in July 2025, Yamify has wooed over 1,500 builders and startups throughout Lagos, Kinshasa, Brazzaville, and Johannesburg. Shoppers vary from indie devs to YC-backed Vaultpay.io. Paid plans begin at $15/month for people and $500/yr for businesses, with free tiers for tinkering.

Backside line: The startup founder tells me that Yamify needs to turn out to be the go-to AI spine for Africa’s subsequent technology of startups. “If builders are telling others, ‘Yamify helped me launch this,’ then we’ve already gained,” he says.

Coin Title	Present Worth	Day	Month
Bitcoin	$119,542	+ 0.66%	– 2.29%
Ether	$4,664	+ 8.39%	+ 53.09%
Chainlink	$24.32	+ 13.22%	+ 49.93%
Solana	$197.88	+ 12.67%	+ 18.06%

* Information as of 06.30 AM WAT, August 13, 2025.

Occasions

• Bridge And Worth and AlexBoyo World (ABW) are internet hosting a bespoke commerce mission to Paris for Nigerian companies seeking to scale into France and the broader European market. From September 22–26, 2025, members will attend the Highlight Nigeria Enterprise Discussion board (eighth version), Europe’s premier Nigeria-focused summit, and BIG 2025, Bpifrance’s flagship entrepreneurship occasion. The itinerary additionally consists of high-level enterprise conferences, networking classes with French traders and establishments, and a guided go to to Station F, the world’s largest startup incubator. Registration is open till August 15.



• CoffeeWithBranch 2.0: Department is Opening Its Doorways to Tech Expertise: We’re again for spherical two! On August twenty seventh in Lagos, uncover the applied sciences powering Department’s success in rising markets, join with our leaders, community with our group, and interview for open tech roles on the spot. This in-person occasion’s location shall be shared with registered attendees. Register in the present day.
• The Tech & AI Worldwide Expo 2025 will happen in Zanzibar on August 22–23, bringing collectively over 1,000 leaders from 30+ international locations. Headlining the occasion is Ambassador Marie-Antoinette Rose Quatre, CEO of the African Peer Evaluate Mechanism, who will launch Africa’s first Continental e-Governance Platform. The Expo can even unveil a $50 million fund for AI, fintech, inexperienced power, and sensible infrastructure startups, alongside panels exploring digital sovereignty, coverage innovation, and the way forward for African tech. Register right here to attend.



• This November, Lagos will host Africa’s first-ever large-scale celebration of buyer loyalty—the Bvndle Rewards Pageant. Taking place November 14–15, 2025, the two-day occasion by Bvndle Loyalty Restricted will welcome 5,000+ attendees and 70+ audio system for immersive model activations, reside performances, thought management, and buyer appreciation awards—all aimed toward redefining loyalty past transactions. Be part of the waitlist.

• Nigeria nets ₦84.97 billion in six months after extending switch levy to fintechs
• The BackEnd: Blockradar believes stablecoin rails have gotten the fintech spine

Written by: Emmanuel Nwosu and Ifeoluwa Aigbiniode

Edited by: Religion Omoniyi

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