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Across both developed and emerging markets, technology can act as the ultimate equaliser, bridging the divide and providing more equal opportunities to people around the world. In particular, mobile devices and the capabilities they offer can help people to access services they might otherwise not be able to procure and help businesses and customers to stay connected 24/7.

For mobile network operators, feature phones that rely on the legacy of 2G are no longer worth servicing. With the mass usage of 4G and introduction of 5G, and their abilities to power mobile broadband services, there’s no longer the same reason or incentive to keep providing coverage for 2G featurephones when that spectrum could be re-farmed into more profitable 3G, 4G and5G. This effectively means switching off service to older feature phones that still rely on 2G. Although many customers hold onto legacy devices out of habit or to spend less on mobile costs, the returns of continuing to service them are no longer worth the effort for MNOs. It’s time for MNOs to stop providing coverage feature phones and migrate customers over to more robust and serviceable smartphones. Keep reading to find out why it's in MNOs best interest to stop servicing feature phones.

According to the World Bank, around 2 billion individuals around the world remain unbanked and have no bank account. These people struggle to access basic banking services like loans and credit and are drastically underserved by these financial institutions. MNOs, with their vast access to customer data, are in a unique position to step in and help bridge the gap between banks and the underbanked. Airtime-based credit scoring is the way to do this. Through airtime-based credit scoring, MNOs can safely and incrementally offer credit to existing customers without taking on exorbitant risk and ultimately increase their bottom line. Dubbed the “mobile identity market”, credit profiling based on advanced airtime usage represents a lucrative opportunity for pursuing new service avenues and growing their customer base. Read on to learn how airtime-based credit scoring can help MNOs and the underbanked.

Mobile money has become a key financial enabler for many customers across developing markets, particularly here in Africa. The ease of access to instant funds without needing an existing bank account or credit card is particularly appealing to consumers in rural areas or lower-income households who might not have access to traditional banking services. However, mobile money services are also extremely popular across the socioeconomic spectrum, especially the younger generation of consumers on the continent, who run their daily lives from their mobile phones. For mobile network operators, securing profits and driving ongoing revenue growth have proven challenging in recent years, thanks to a drop in demand for traditional mobile services and emerging competition from fintech companies. Providing liquidity for mobile money and offering mobile money services has the potential to benefit both MNOs and consumers. Read on to discover the benefits of providing liquidity for mobile money.

Across the board, but especially in emerging markets, mobile network operators are eager to migrate customers from 2G to 4G. This migration moves customers off of outdated feature phones that bring in minimal revenue and equips them with smartphones that allow them to access a range of digital services and enjoy a superior customer experience. However, the cost of upgrading from a feature phone to a smartphone has risen significantly over the years and, for many customers in developing markets, it remains prohibitive. Handset financing is a solution to this problem that allows customers to access smartphones and prevents MNOs fromleaving revenue on the table. Read on to learn more about the risks and benefits of offering handsetfinancing to your customers.

As remote work becomes a permanent fixture and mobile connectivity becomes an integral part of daily life, telcos are facing the challenge of meeting evolving customer expectations.

Within the telecommunications industry, telcos face a constant battle against churn. It can be difficult to do this, as the industry is heavily saturated and competitive, with new entrants emerging regularly offering their unique products, plans and packaging.The nature of the telco industry has evolved as well. Offering extensive mobile and broadband services is no longer enough to remain competitive. International fintech giants are drawing customers in the telco industry to their services like moths to a lamp. With ARPU and churn becoming increasing concerns for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), the two key questions on all telcos’ minds are: How can they increase their ARPU while reducing churn? In other words, how can they win - and keep - customers for the long term?

It can be difficult to keep track of the rapid pace of change happening in tech and services across the African continent. The widespread adoption of feature smartphones coupled with the rising demand for access to mobile banking, mobile money lending and spending have turned Africa into a global mobile money wallet hub.A report from GSMA states that out of the 1.2 billion registered mobile money accounts around the world, 560 million are registered in Africa alone.

Handset financing is a contentious issue within the mobile network operating industry. Everyone is talking about it and everyone wants it, whether they’re an MNO or a customer. It’s not hard to understand why. From an MNO’s perspective, handset financing is a lucrative, low-risk means of onboarding new mobile customers or upgrading existing customers. Customers also love the idea of receiving a mobile device without the hefty up-front price. Despite its obvious benefits, handset financing is not as easy to procure from airtime and data suppliers, or financiers, as one might think. Often, MNOs assume it’s a simple turnabout solution to implement, but the reality is far from that. So should MNOs give up on handset financing as a means of revenue generation? Definitely not. Handset financing is a viable means for MNOs to increase their revenue, but the “how” is a little more complicated than the “why”. Let’s take a closer look at why this, and how MNOs can use handset financing to their advantage.

Mobile connectivity is driving change and digital transformation across all industries. On top of powering now indispensable digital services like mobile banking, shopping, online transactions and travel services, mobile connectivity also has the ability to extend financial services to unbanked individuals in developing or more rural communities. However, the challenge doesn’t simply end with access to a smartphone. Being able to perform these tasks remotely from a mobile device necessitates the need for a means of swiftly and simply verifying people’s identity to prevent fraud from happening.

The rapid pace of change in the world can be difficult to keep up with. Services evolve and the demand for them grows and ebbs, particularly in today’s tech-driven culture. The advancement of A.I, the internet of things (IoT) and wireless connectivity has greatly reduced customer demand for traditional voice call services from Mobile Network Operators.

In today's digital world connectivity is more important than ever. Of course, this connectivity is a telco’s bread and butter, but what happens when it simply isn’t enough? Emerging markets currently depend on airtime and data, but the fact is that airtime is eventually going to be phased out, especially among the younger generation. We only have to look at the ability to make calls using apps such as WhatsApp to determine that regular, non-cost-effective airtime will soon become a thing of the past.

Airvantage is proud to announce the latest deployment of their proprietary prepaid advance system to MTC Namibia customers called Taamba Advance. The service was launched on in March 2020 and has seen an amazing uptake since launch.

Subscribers can now use emergency airtime advance services when they need it the most.

Airvantage is a leading innovator of value-added services across numerous emerging markets and across multiple continents.