OPay's IPO hits a wall

Egypt has spent years saying it wants to make more of the cars it drives. Now its first locally assembled electric vehicle (EV) has rolled off the line.

What happened? State-owned El Nasr Automotive has begun producing the MAGE EV, the electric version of Chinese automaker Dongfeng’s MAGE, at its Helwan factory in Cairo, Egypt. SN Automotive, a joint venture between El Nasr and Al Safy Group, Dongfeng’s Egyptian agent, handles production.

About 45% of the car is locally sourced. El Nasr wants to produce 3,000 units in the first year and gradually increase both production and the share of Egyptian-made parts.

Explain like I’m new here: Egypt does not just want more EVs on its roads. It wants more of those vehicles to be made in Egypt.

Launched in 2023, Egypt’s Automotive Industry Development Programme (AIDP) rewards manufacturers that produce more cars locally, increase local content, and invest in cleaner vehicles. The country wants local value added to reach 60% and annual vehicle production to exceed 100,000 units.

The wider car market is already recovering. Egyptians bought 135,445 vehicles in the first eight months of 2026, up 25.8% from the same period last year.

Between the lines: Assembly is the easy part. At 45% local content, more than half of the MAGE EV still comes from abroad. Egypt now wants factories to produce batteries, motors, and other components locally, because that is where more jobs and industrial value sit.

There is also an awkward policy problem. Fully imported EVs enter Egypt without customs duties, while manufacturers still pay duties on imported batteries and electric motors used to build cars locally. The government is now considering removing those duties for factories.

Zoom out: Egypt’s EV push is becoming an industrial policy, not just a clean-transport policy. Getting the first car off the line is useful. But making more cars in Egypt is the real prize.

Airtel Kenya, the country’s second-largest telecom operator, has paid $65 million (KES 8.4 billion) for 100 MHz of 5G spectrum, securing the airwaves it needs to expand its network over the next 25 years. The purchase comes as Kenya's 5G market grows, but also as Airtel tries to close the gap with Safaricom and put years of licencing disputes behind it.

What happened? Airtel acquired 100 megahertz (MHz) in the 3500 MHz band, one of the main frequency ranges used to deploy 5G networks globally.

The purchase gives Airtel more room to carry data traffic, serve more customers, and improve connection speeds. It also gives the operator a long-term asset for its network expansion plans.

Why does this matter? According to the Communications Authority (CA), Kenya's 5G subscriber base reached 2.1 million in June 2026, up from 1.2 million in the previous year. More customers are using 5G, and operators need enough spectrum to accommodate that demand.

Airtel is also competing against Safaricom, which launched commercial 5G services in October 2022. Airtel followed in July 2023. Safaricom had 803 5G sites in March 2024, compared with Airtel's 690.

The spectrum purchase gives Airtel more capacity to compete, but it doesn't automatically mean better coverage, since that depends on how much it spends on equipment, sites, and network upgrades.

Explain it like I'm new here: Think of spectrum as the road on which mobile data travels. Operators need government permission to use specific portions of these radio frequencies.

More spectrum means more room for data traffic. The 3500 MHz band is particularly useful for 5G because it can deliver high speeds and substantial network capacity.

The bigger question: Airtel has spent more than a decade dealing with uncertainty over its operating licences. It has now secured a 25-year operating licence in 2026, but regulatory approvals for other authorisations were still pending in August.

The $65 million purchase settles one part of its 5G expansion plans. Can Airtel now turn that investment into a serious challenge to Safaricom?