Canal+ gets approval for MultiChoice takeover

French media giant Canal+has received conditional approval from South Africa’s Competition Tribunal, to acquire the remaining shares of MultiChoice, Africa’s largest satellite TV provider. 

Why does it matter? Canal’s approved $2 billion takeover offer for MultiChoice is the largest media merger in African history. It will give Canal+ control over major content platforms, including DStv, Showmax, and SuperSport. The Tribunal’s approval will allow Canal+ to move towards full ownership. 

A third of Canal+’s global subscribers already come from Africa. The deal gives Canal+ a unique opportunity to expand beyond Francophone Africa into Anglophone Africa, where MultiChoice already has 19.3 million subscribers. 

ICYMI: Canal+ initially got a 6.5% stake in 2020 and steadily increased it to 41.6% by April 2024. According to South African rules, exceeding the 35% threshold meant that the French media company had to make a mandatory offer to buy all the shares it didn’t already own. By December 2024, it made an offer of R125 ($7.14) per share for Multichoice. The deal had received an approval recommendation from the Competition Commission in May 2025, but was now subject to approval by the Competition Tribunal. 

State of play: The tribunal’s approval is subject to some key conditions: a R26bn ($1.48 million) package that supports the participation of firms managed by Historically Disadvantaged Persons (HDP) and SMEs in South Africa’s audio-visual industry for the next three years. MultiChoice Group will also establish a new domestic unit called LicenceCo to meet a regulatory requirement that prohibits foreign entities from owning more than 20% of a South African broadcasting licence. 

Big picture: Canal+‘s acquisition of MultiChoice plays into its broader strategy to increase its subscriber base and position itself as a global media contender by expanding across Africa and Asia markets. For MultiChoice, this acquisition could bring essential capital to boost some of its ventures and local innovation needed to ensure its continued success in an increasingly competitive environment.

Safaricom wants to make it easier for freelancers and remote workers to access their money. 

The company has introduced a PayPal mini app inside the M-PESA super app to allow easier access to funds earned abroad. But make no mistake, Safaricom is eyeing a larger share of Kenya’s fast-growing digital freelance economy.

Before now, withdrawing from PayPal to M-PESA was slow and clunky. Users had to bounce through a separate web portal with multiple logins and browser redirects. Now? A few taps on the app, and your funds are in, often within two hours.

But the speed comes at a cost. To access this new service, users will pay a 3% withdrawal fee, a 4% top-up fee and currency conversion charges. M-PESA also caps single transactions at $1,938 and has an account balance limit of $3,875. If you compare that with Equity Bank’s PayPal withdrawal service, which handles up to $10,000 per transaction, M-PESA’s convenience looks a bit pricey. 

Although Kenyans have also turned to Wise and Payoneer to receive international payments, citing better exchange rates and fewer restrictions, PayPal remains dominant. Maybe it will come down to exchange rates, transaction volumes, or how desperate Kenyans are for liquidity. 

Zoom out: By bringing PayPal into the M-PESA app, Safaricom is meeting foreign currency earners right at the source, offering a faster way to cash out, and positioning itself to lock in more transaction volume. At a time when the mobile money market is shifting, if Safaricom becomes the go-to for cross-border payments, it might just be where its next revenue bump comes from. 

BasiGo is hitting the throttle on Kenya's clean transport future.

The Nairobi-based electric mobility startup has launched Kenya’s first electric matatu pilot programme on inter-city routes. Matatus are vibrant, music-blaring minibuses that are central to public transportation in Kenya.

This pilot may be powered by BasiGo's recent $41.5 million fundraise in October 2024, which aimed to expand local EV assembly and operations. BasiGo is betting on the success of this pilot program to scale its operations and achieve its dream of supplying over 1,000 across Kenya.

How will this work? BasiGo will partner with two transport Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (Saccos)—4NTE and Manchester Travellers Coach— to deploy three e-vans (types).  These e-vans, which have a 300km range on a single charge and a 90-minute recharge time, will ply three popular corridors outside the country’s capital. 

The vans will be powered by BasiGo’s “Pay-As-You-Drive” lease model, which lowers the cost barrier for matatu owners looking to switch from diesel to electric.

It won’t be an easy ride. Kenya's matatu culture is informal, unpredictable, and diesel-dependent. Operators are often wary of unfamiliar tech. In this case, worries about charging downtime, maintenance, and general doubts over the electric vans' performance come into play. The e-minivan will have to earn trust, and it won't be easy.

What will BasiGo offer to tempt operators away from the charm of colourful graffiti, pounding music, and diesel-fuelled bravado? The startup will need to sell more than clean air and climate goals. If electric is going to replace diesel, it has to feel familiar, profitable, and low-risk. It will need to offer a new kind of matatu magic.

Shortly after unveiling its Tier III data centre in Lagos, MTN Nigeria rolled out its Cloud Accelerator, a 12-week programme for African startups offering mentorship, investor access, cloud credits, and ₦5 million ($3,300) in grant funding.

Catch up: MTN recently completed the first phase of the Dabengwa Sifiso Data Centre in Ikeja. The facility is part of its broader push to reposition itself from a traditional telecom operator into a tech-first infrastructure company.

The Cloud Accelerator fits that ambition. For one, it puts MTN Nigeria in the conversation around startup ecosystem building—useful for future customer acquisition. It also makes a play at plugging the hole in local cloud infrastructure, where spend still largely flows overseas. For example, Jumia, the African e-commerce giant, spent $13.7 million (38% of its revenue) on cloud bills in Q1 2025.

Can MTN compete with AWS or Google Cloud? Not in raw horsepower. But with a local data centre, proximity to customers, regulatory alignment, and pricing that reflects local realities, it doesn’t have to. MTN’s edge is regional trust, bundling power, and a pre-existing enterprise client base.

There’s also a longer-term bet: if MTN helps startups grow by giving them infrastructure, mentorship, and cloud services early on, those startups might stick with MTN as they scale. Layering in full stack offerings from sister companies like Bayobab, which provides wholesale voice, SMS, roaming, APIs, and cloud-numbering, gives MTN Nigeria a shot at becoming deeply embedded in how African tech operates.