U.N.-Backed Virus Tracker Draws Major African Mobile Firms (1)

The United Nations is partnering with Africa-focused wireless carriers including MTN Group Ltd. and Orange SA on a mobile-data platform that delivers coronavirus-related information around the continent.

The free-to-use service has the potential to reach almost half of the African population, or about 600 million people, through their phones, according to Vera Songwe, the executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa. “If we get this right, it could be rolled out in other areas like Latin America,” she said in an interview.

Vodacom Group Ltd. and Airtel Africa Plc make up the quartet of companies putting rivalries ...