I didn't know that Seacom belongs to Nation Media Group too!
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MY TAKE
Aisee RA si wa kuchezea! Kumbukeni Yas ilishanunua 99.6% of Wananchi group (ZUKU guys)!
Yas completes acquisition of Wananchi, reinforcing its leadership in Fibre across Africa
AXIAN Telecom Fibre Ltd (“Yas”), a subsidiary of AXIAN Telecom Holding and Management PLC, has completed the acquisition of 99.63% of Wananchi Group (Holdings) Ltd (“Wananchi”), one of East Africa’s leading fixed broadband and enterprise connectivity providers. The transaction marks a major milestone in Yas’s strategy, strengthening its presence across high growth fibre markets, with over one million home passed across the region.
East Africa is one of the continent’s fastest-growing broadband regions, fuelled by rising data demand and accelerating enterprise digitalisation. The integration of Wananchi positions Yas to capture this momentum by delivering reliable, high-speed and inclusive connectivity across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Malawi, and paving the way for future expansion into neighbouring markets. In Tanzania, this acquisition is expected to strengthen the company’s market position by leveraging synergies with Yas existing operations.
Operating under its well-established brands Zuku (consumer) and Simbanet (entreprise), Wananchi serves customers through an extensive fibre backbone and last-mile network. Under Yas’s ownership, the company will benefit from enhanced investment capacity and group-wide expertise to scale its Fiber To The Home (FTTH), Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) and cloud connectivity solutions across the region.
Hassan Jaber, CEO of AXIAN Telecom, commented: “Wananchi Group’s network, customer relationships, and local expertise align perfectly with our ambition to be a leader in broadband connectivity across Africa. Yas already has a strong presence in East Africa, and this acquisition builds on our deep understanding of the region’s opportunities and needs while giving us access to new vibrant markets in Kenya and Uganda. Together, we will unlock new potential for growth, innovation, and value creation—delivering better access and new digital services for the communities and businesses we serve”.
Bertrand Lacroix, CEO of AXIAN Telecom Fibre, said “Our goal is to build a leading pan-African broadband connectivity provider, and Wananchi’s addition is a big step forward. We are committed to bringing high-speed Internet to millions more Africans. Our strong performance so far, doubling of our fixed broadband base and achieving double-digit revenue and EBITDA growth, shows the strength of our model.”
Yas already operates in Tanzania, Madagascar, Comoros, Senegal and Togo. The integration of Wananchi will leverage Yas’s operational scale, investment capacity, and cross-market expertise. Continuity of employment and business operations will be maintained, ensuring a smooth transition for employees, customers, and partners as Wananchi begins its new chapter within the Yas family.
About AXIAN Telecom
AXIAN Telecom is a pan-African telecommunications service provider operating in eleven markets in Tanzania, Madagascar, Togo, Senegal, Uganda, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Comoros, Malawi, Réunion, and Mayotte. It operates across three key business segments, providing mobile and fixed networks as well as digital infrastructure and mobile financial services.
AXIAN Telecom has unified its mobile network operators in Madagascar, Comoros, Senegal, Togo and Tanzania under a single brand, Yas, while its fintech operations in Tanzania, Togo and Senegal are now branded as Mixx by Yas. The Yas brand aligns to AXIAN Telcom’s aim to create a pan-African powerhouse which brings a more streamlined customer experience and innovations that are solutions driven with real impact.
Yas positions itself as a trusted partner, dedicated to helping customers unlock their digital potential. By uniting its operations under one brand, AXIAN Telecom can better serve its customers leveraging the combined resources and assets of a strong, unified pan-African business under one brand.
Yas is Africa’s 6th largest mobile operator serving more than 41 million customers and is a market disruptor, having expanded through active acquisitions and heavy network investments since 2015.
Yas systematically ensures that its businesses have a sustainable and positive impact on the daily lives of millions of people.
Find more about AXIAN Telecom: www.axian-telecom.com
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