This agreement extends the tenure of Smile’s existing services with MainOne and will bolster remarkable growth for Smile Communications in the Nigerian market.
Folu Aderibigbe, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer (CSMO) at MainOne, said that the agreement with Smile Communications will strengthen broadband penetration in the country as well as empower future generations to be competitive and tech-savvy.
“This project is an important example of MainOne’s commitment to bring high-speed broadband access to Africa. We are proud to be providing international capacity to Smile Communications, thereby supporting their efforts in ensuring broad-based economic growth in Nigeria,” Aderibigbe said.
Rwanda’s communications authority Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority, RURA, has said its firm on its resolve to switch off analogue TV signal on Friday.
The digital coverage is approximately 95 percent, while the analogue currently lags with 50 percent, in the country. According to director of RURA Patrick Nyirishema, the government decided in 2008 to digitize the entire network of Rwanda Broadcasting Agency in line with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) deadline for analogue-to-digital switchover in June 2015.
RURA has increasingly continued with the digital migration since the beginning of the year. On January 31, 2014, analogue transmitters in Kigali were turned off.
RURA’s head of communication Jean Baptiste Mutabazi stated: “Because of the time needed to import distribution constraints and decoders, we took on a phase approach for analogue transmitter switch-off.”
Four companies including Transafrica, Sorim, Star Africa Media and Tele 10 satisfy the conditions licensed to import decoders.
Rwanda will be the second country after Tanzania within mainland Sub-Saharan Africa to migrate fully to digital.
Just weeks after launching in East Africa, Africa’s Netflix, iROKOtv.com, has signed a brand new international content package that will see its subscribers on the continent watch TV series and movies from around the world.
The deal to have Hollywood, Bollywood, Korean and Telenovela content will complement the platform’s extensive Nollywood catalogue of over 10,000 hours and will cost for as little as $2.50 a month for subscribers throughout English Speaking Africa (ESA).
According to Jason Njoku, iROKOtv.com Co-founder and CEO, “We have been passionate about bringing affordable content to viewers across Africa. This is just another milestone towards that. Internet TV will enable hundreds of millions of fans across the continent to finally be able to access awesome content.
“We see the web and mobile platform almost as equal to DTH and DTT platforms in the next few years and our focus is on achieving this in Africa, supplying the 800-million strong population of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) with the best content on the planet, be it from Nollywood, Hollywood or Bollywood.”
This brings both Nollywood top series like Mercy Johnson, Majid Michel and Mama G and international online content package featuring Hollywood royalty for the subscribers.
The subscription service allows for unlimited, commercial-free viewing and in an effort to conquer the ongoing challenge of expensive data charges across Africa, all new content will also be subjected to advance encoding, allowing files to be compressed and significantly reduce costs associated with video streaming, whilst keeping picture quality as high as possible.
Whilst the company plans to expand its international library, there will also be a renewed focus on local films, TV series and documentaries with at least 50% of the iROKOtv.com catalogue being homegrown African content.
Since its launch in 2010, iROKOtv.com has closed on $25Mn of international VC investment from Tiger Global, Kinnevik and RISE Capital over five rounds and is valued at over $50Mn.
John Henry Skillern, 41, from Houston was arrested by police for possession of child pornography. The police were tipped off by Google after finding the illegal content in the defendant’s mail.
The police say they discovered more evidence of child pornography on Skillern’s devices.
“Google has seen in Skillern’s email three allegedly pornographic pictures of children and had informed the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” the Police told KHOU-TV.
Google has never kept secret of the fact that it reads email content. In its April Term of Service, Google clarified that its “automated systems examine your content, including emails.” The company further clarified that the analysis happens as the content is sent, obtained and stored. The changes came soon after the company was sued in California over its email scanning being employed to deliver ads to college students.
According to a Google spokeswoman, the company does not comment on personal accounts. However, it has been clear about making use of technology, which other sites use too, to try to identify child pornography across the web.
The company confirmed that it does not wish to disclose too much of its operations since it does not want criminals to be aware of how they can be caught. For Google, trying to eradicate child pornography takes priority over what others might look at private communication. It is an argument with underlying dangers.
South Africa’s clothes retailer Mr. Price becomes the among the country’s first traders to launch mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) it has since dubbed MRP Mobile.
This move makes the company the second, after Virgin Mobile, to take up this type of technology for its customers.
According to Rex Samuelson, who is the managing director at Mr. Price financial services, the company is not yet ready define strategic direction but it intends to update the market in November, at the JSE-listed group’s half-year financial update.
MRP Mobile is now the only other MVNO in South Africa apart from Sir Richard Branson’s local offering, Virgin Mobile South Africa. BMI-TechKnowledge director Brian Neilson estimates VMSA has about half a million subscribers – compared to SA’s leading mobile operator Vodacom’s 32.5 million-strong base.
Mr Price is working with mobile virtual network enabler MVN-X – a subsidiary of Durban-based Ignition Group that offers established retailers and banks a platform to launch mobile offerings, using Cell C’s network.
Microsoft has announced the appointment of John Stanton, a pioneer and innovator in the U.S. and global wireless industry, to its board of directors.
Stanton currently serves as chairman of Trilogy Equity Partners, a private equity fund that invests in early-stage companies in the wireless ecosystem, and Trilogy International Partners, a wireless operator in Central and South America and New Zealand.
“John’s insights into mobility around the globe and his expertise in working with organizations as CEO and as a board member will be invaluable as we transform Microsoft for growth and leadership in the mobile-first, cloud-first world,” said Microsoft chief Satya Nadella.
During the 1980s, Stanton served as CEO and vice chairman of McCaw Cellular. From 1992 to 2005, he served as chairman and CEO of Western Wireless Corp. Between 1995 and 2003, he served as chairman and CEO of VoiceStream Wireless, which was acquired by Deutsche Telekom and subsequently renamed T-Mobile USA. He also served as director and later as the chairman of Clearwire Corp from 2008 to 2013.
Commenting on his appointment, Stanton said:“I’m happy to be joining Microsoft at such a pivotal moment in the company’s history. I know firsthand what an indispensable role Microsoft plays in the technology industry, in the lives of countless people around the world, and in the Puget Sound region, so I’m excited to have the opportunity to help shape Microsoft’s future.”
Stanton is active in civic and community activities serving the Puget Sound community. He has chaired the Business Partnership for Early Learning, the United Way of King County campaign, the Washington Roundtable, and the Regional Transportation Commission. He presently serves as chairman of Year Up of Puget Sound, a trustee of Whitman College, and a director of the Seattle Foundation.
Stanton also serves as a director at Columbia Sportswear Co.
Vodacom Mozambique has partnered with Flytxt to improve its revenue and customer experience through analysis of customer behavior and extension of next best offers to its subscribers in real-time.
Flytxt solutions use fully integrated man-machine collaborated approach. They generate insights and recommendations from varied data feeds within the CSP’s network and IT systems in addition to transforming them to real-time marketing actions and decisions for creating economic value across business workflows.
“We continually strive to create moments of rewarding experience for customers. We chose Flytxt to augment our customer value management practices for their innovative analytics driven customer segmentation and engagement approach, to ensure we continue delivering on our Brand promise to our customers said Paula Zandamela, Head of Corporate Affairs, Vodacom.
“This, together with our network quality and continuous expansion of services, will without a doubt keep Vodacom in leading position in Mozambique”.
Hetarth Patel, Vice President Worldwide Sales, Flytxt said: “We are excited to have Vodacom Mozambique on board. I am confident that our solutions would enable Vodacom to leverage touch points to optimize customer value by delivering contextually relevant offers and in real-time too.”
Flytxt has over 50 CSPs, serving more than 500 million subscribers across APAC and EMEA countries. The company’s Big Data Analytics powers customer experience, revenue management and mobile advertising solutions.
Flytxt has launched in three MTN Markets in Africa, becoming live in Ghana, Rwanda, Guinea Conakry, Uganda and Zambia.
Flytxt, a company that provides analytics-driven real-time, integrated, closed-loop campaign management platforms for Communication Service Providers (CSPs), partnered with MTN to deploy real-time, on-trigger decision-making and customer engagement solution across MTN’s operations in the EMEA region.
Pieter Verkade, Group Commercial Officer, MTN said: “Flytxt platform has gone live in three markets in last two weeks. We appreciate Flytxt team for supporting our aggressive roll out plans. Flytxt’s platform enables us to have more informed interaction with our customers and at the right time too, further enhancing their network experience.”
“Telcos are some of the largest and most complex IT environments for deploying analytics platforms as they have varied data sources, and volumes, running into many terabytes with millions of real-time events every day. Our deployments usually span 4 to 8 weeks; depending on the scale and scope of implementation.
“We could deliver our solution faster in MTN markets, thanks to their clarity on business objectives and proactive implementation support. It is also a reflection of the robust carrier-grade plug-and-play architecture of the platform and our trained field presence with rich domain expertise,” said Prateek Kapadia, CTO, Flytxt while speaking on the occasion.
Flytxt is a preferred analytics partner for over 50 CSPs in some 32 countries where it drives the nations’ internal and external insight monetization initiatives centred on improving revenue and customer experience.
Jumia Kenya has unveiled its new Fashion blog dubbed Nation254 it says is designed to engage and interact with fashion lovers and to keep them posted on the new fashion trends.
Already, the e-commerce firm has contributed immensely to the Kenya’s fashion retail industry with many local fashion enterprises and designers showcasing their products on Jumia’s online marketplace, which gives them the opportunity to increase their reach, access new markets and generate more profits.
With this new blog, Jumia Kenya is keen to reiterate its dedication to promoting Kenya’s fashion industry.
Nicholas Saints, Head of Fashion for Jumia Kenya, said: “We are thrilled to introduce Fashion254. Our customers will love the variety of fashion products available on the new blog and the inspiration to put together a perfect look. When you order a fashion product on JUMIA, we deliver anywhere in Kenya, either at home or your office, and you only get to pay for it if it fits you. The blog will make sure you’re always updated on the newest trends.”
The fashion blog, which hosts leading brands such as Burberry, Adidas and Nike among others at http://www.jumia.co.ke/fashion-nation-254/, is grouped for both men and women fashion to create an easier shopping experience.More links to fashion products and information are can be found on the Jumia Kenya Facebook and Instagram pages .
The e-commerce company, which retails wide array of products including fashion, electronics, home appliances and beauty products, was established to provide customers with a shopping experience that is safe, convenient and stress-free.
Global communications provider SkyVision Global Networks has said the execution of first phase of its project with Burkina Faso’s premier banking institution the Bank of Africa is “successful”.
The project involved implementation of a full-scale communications solution through the SkyVision VPN service that currently connects Bank of Africa headquarters in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou to the bank’s operations nationwide.
Commenting on the issue, SkyVision chief Ori Watterman said the project is a critical win and milestone for SkyVision, adding that they “welcome the opportunity of a long term partnership with BOA and highly value our business relationship and look forward to continue growing its joint business and offering solutions to the entire Bank of Africa Group.”
SkyVision has centered on enhancing connectivity in rural Africa over the last one decade. It has established several hubs and PoPs continent-wide to deliver quality information and communications services.
In a statement, SkyVision indicated that the joint solution includes a Romantis UHP hub and SkyVision VPN, a VSAT-based communications solution that provides organizations with superior network performance and reliability.
The advanced technology that drives SkyVision VPN provides customers with enhanced flexibility, enabling reliable control and system management across immense remote areas, such as those in Burkina Faso, according to SkyVision.
SkyVision VPN is managed by SkyVision. It is currently regarded among Africa’s “solutions of choice,” delivering superior connectivity at a minimum cost.
Bank of Africa centre in Ouagadougou will host the Romantis hub, set to converge to the remote bank’s operations as well as operate in a fully autonomous environment dedicated strictly to BOA sites.
SkyVision commented that this allows them “to connect their remote branch offices and quickly and efficiently, share information by means of voice and data applications, with no investment in additional infrastructure. Combined, the end-to-end solution meets BOA’s communications’ needs, including a full disaster recovery plan.”
“In Africa, and in particular, Burkina Faso, reliable communications is mandatory to our business and one of our highest priorities. It is for this reason that we turned to SkyVision to deliver the most trustworthy and efficient connectivity solution on the market to ensure our daily operations run smoothly and securely. We have every confidence in their ability to meet and exceed our needs and to partner with us into the second phase of this important project.” said Toni Sebastien, CEO of SkyVision Burkina Faso.
Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Group Chairman Ngeny Biwott has announced the bank’s half-year trading results reflecting a pre tax profit of KSh11.7 billion, a 16-percent increase from KSh10.1 billion for the same period last year.
“This good performance also comes at a time when KCB has just been awarded ‘Best Bank in Kenya’ by Euromoney. This prestigious recognition is a very positive reflection on the significant progress that we have made over the past few years to grow our business in the East African Region through innovation, partnerships and new business lines,” said the Group Chairman.
The Global Credit Rating (GCR) also affirmed the national scale ratings assigned to KCB of AA and A1+in the long term and short term respectively with the outlook accorded as stable. The international business contributed 7.3 percent to the Group profits and we are planning to roll out mobile banking and agency services to the subsidiaries in the next quarter.
The group’s chief executive Joshua Oigara said: “Foreign exchange income also leaped by 25 percent from KSh1.78 billion during the same period in June 2013 to KSh2.22 billion this year following increased marketing activity for our foreign exchange business. Fees and commissions also went up by 13 percent from KSh5.04 billion in June 2013 to KSh5.67 billion this year following increased usage of our alternative channels such as M-Benki, agency banking and strategic partnerships.”
Recently, KCB and Safaricom signed an SME partnership deal that will allow over 1 million micro and SME businesses to effectively use technology to streamline their operations and at the same time open up new possibilities for them for expansion and growth through Biashara@smart. This journey will revolutionize the SME sector by enabling entrepreneurs to scale up their growth on a one-stop-solution platform using mobile phones.
The Bancassurance profits grew by 482.7 percent (annual growth) from KShs21.4 million during the second quarter of 2013 to KSh124.9 million during the same period in 2014. Fees and commissions now stand at KShs102.6 million in the second quarter of 2014 against fees and commissions of KSh34.1 million in the same period in 2013. Total Assets for Bancassurance grew by 284 percent from KSh68.4 million to KSh263.2 million.
“Our operating expenses grew by 16 percent from KSh11.69 billion in June 2013 to KSh13.62 billion in June 2014 attributed to operating expenses relating to the ongoing upgrade in IT, and managing the additional business that is coming into the bank. However we have been encouraged with the reduction in our cost to income ratio from 51.0 percent to 49.6 percent during the six months, a 140 basis points improvement that is within industry norms,” said Oigara.
The Bank’s balance sheet grew by 19 percent from KSh370.91 billion in the first half of June 2013 to KSh439.70 billion this year, the largest in the region. Net loans and advances grew by 14 percent from KSh214.09 billion in the previous quarter of June 2013 to KSh244.01 billion this year following increased lending to the micro and small and medium enterprises in the economy. The Bank’s investment in government securities was modest with a 6percent increase from KSh88.21 billion in June 2013 to KSh93.33 billion in June 2014.
Following the successful tapping of long-term debt from IFC and Ghana International Bank that brought in an additional US$70 million, KCB continues to enjoy strong capital ratios and is in a position to take additional deposits and increase the asset book significantly. The funds will enable KCB to lend to SMEs and foreign currency mortgages.
The Bank continues to remain strong on all prudential ratios with core capital to total risk weighted at 15.9 percent, total capital to total risk weighted assets at 20.7 percent, core capital to total risk depositsat 16.8 percent and liquidity ratio at 40.9 percent. The Bank has an excess capital of KSh18.1 billion over minimum requirements to fund its growth.
KCB shares at Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) have increased from KSh47.25 at the beginning of 2014 to close in June at KSh51. KCB was amongst the most liquid counters with a turnover of KSh14.9 billion year to date ranking it second on the FTSE NSE Kenya 25 Index.
The African Innovation Foundation (AIF), a South Africa-based organization that mobilises entrepreneurs and innovators to stimulate African ideas and perspectives, has launched the fourth edition of its annual Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) challenge.
AIF provides a sum of USD 150,000 to innovators who develop market-focused solutions for African-led development. The prize also pushes private equity investors and governments to invest across sectors and build environments contributive to economic growth.
AIF said in a statement that the challenge has enabled and encouraged African innovators to come up with creative concepts and technologies designed to overcome challenges the continent faces.
AIF and IPA founder Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais said the prize is a great way of unleashing creativity and promoting growth within the African continent, adding that his organisation is passionate about Africa and its potential.
“But we also recognise that this new generation needs the resources and the opportunities to realise their ambition,” de Morais said, “IPA provides a platform to encourage and harness these entrepreneurial skills in order to help improve the lives of Africans and to help realise untapped potential.
The challenge is instrumental in facilitating revolutionary ideas and creativity as well as triggering awareness to the outstanding work being done in Africa by Africans.
“Africa needs meaningful investment to alleviate poverty and provide inclusive prosperity. To achieve this, we need to be able to provide environments that promote quality investment for the people and reduce risks. Forums like the IPA are necessary to make the most of the continent’s investment,” said AgriProtein spokesperson, David Drew.
According to AIF, all innovations are evaluated based on the following criteria: originality, marketability, scalability, social impact and scientific or technical aspects.
The best submission will win a grand prize of US$100,000. The second prize of US$25,000 will be awarded to an innovator with an innovation which has the best commercial and business potential. An additional award is a special prize granted to the innovator whose innovation has the best social impact in the community.
Entries are encouraged in five key categories: Agriculture and Agribusiness, Environment, Energy and Water, Health and Wellbeing, ICT applications, and Manufacturing and Services Industries.Last year, the IPA winner AgriProtein went on to raise $11 million to build its first two commercial farms in Cape Town, AIF stated.
IPA 2014 named Dr Nicolaas Duneas and Mr Nuno Pires from South Africa the winners of the grand Prize and received USD 100’000 for their Altis Osteogenic Bone Matrix (Altis OBM TM), the first inject-able porcine derived BMP medical device in the world — an innovative product for the treatment of bone injuries and voids through the use of a regenerative biological implant.
IPA invites submissions from applicants. The deadline for IPA 2015 application is October 31, 2014.
MTN South Africa CEO Zunaid Bulbulia has been replaced by Ahmad Farroukh with immediate effect. Bulbulia becomes MTN Group’s chief operating officer, a post that Farroukh had initially filled.
MTN is yet to give details as to why it replaced Bulbulia. According to the company, the decision was “in line with MTN’s plan to frequently rotate major talent within the business.”
Sifiso Dabengwa, the group president and CEO of MTN, stated: “I wish both Farroukh and Bulbulia great success in their new offices, as they proceed to contribute to the development of MTN in South Africa and throughout our footprint.”
Bulbulia was MTN’s chief financial officer and the founding member. Farroukh had , on the other hand, served as a CEO of MTN Nigeria and Ghana.
Both Bulbulia and Farroukh will keep serving on the MTN group executive committee.
Kenya’s ICT sector has lost yet another icon following the death of Tony Githuku, who until his death was the immediate former Business Connexion Kenya boss.
After working as a CEO of Business Connexion Kenya between Sept 2011 and Nov 2013, Githuku left to set up Techgen as CEO until his sudden demise this week. Techgen is a startup that seeks to support regional African businesses grow using strong tech solutions.
Before joining Business Connexion, the late Githuku worked as IT Director at Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB). His LinkedIn profile indicates he was “both a technology change catalyst to lead the essential technology improvements needed to move KCB forward and a business driver to guide these changes in agreement with the rest of the business.”
Githuku is also known for “showing his capability by rolling out the biggest and most complicated core banking implementation within Eastern Africa.” Formerly, he was Fintech’s Group of Companies CEO, which is based in Nairobi. He also worked as chair of CIO Forum in Kenya.
Githuku studied in the US where he obtained a doctorate degree in Engineering. He also obtained a Masters Degree from Scotland and a Bachelors degree from Kenya.
Nigerian Chief of Army Staff Lt General Kenneth Minimah has issued a stern warning to army officers to refrain from discussing military issues on social media.
While addressing the troops at Ibereko, Topo and Ojo Barracks in Lagos, Minimah warned the soldiers against using social media to spread false information, especially about the war against terrorism and exposing the perceived weaknesses and strength of the military.
“Another trend that is also risky to the service, which we all cherish, is the misuse of social media. I advise you to be cautious of the social media, especially those who like to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media to report the army as if you are not part of it. One thing that you are not aware of is that you have been loosening the systems that you are part of,” said Minimah.
He further stated: “You can tweet on social issues though do not tweet about our weapons, ammunition, equipment and locations. All the information passed out there affects you therefore; do not try to undo the system before enlisting. I advise you to refrain from reporting the army.”
Minimah portrayed himself as a wartime chief who will stop at nothing to stop Boko Haram’s threats. The welfare of the troops that is currently deployed in different operations has remained his top priority.
“All I know as an infantry General is to plan and fight war. By doing this, we have ensured that our troops are well taken care of. As I speak, the troops are being given their operational allowance for the month of August and that is how it has forever been.
“We paid July’s allowance in June and we also have made efforts to improve medical facilities at the 7 Division to help soldiers who are wounded while in the line of duty. For those whose cases are complicated and cannot be treated at the 7 Division, we take them to 45 Reference Hospital, Kaduna. Seven casualties, whose condition could not be treated back home are currently being handled in Germany and India and we will keep on doing our best to take care of troops, said Minimah.
88mph-backed BookNow, a bus booking platform has raised $75,000 from 10 angels including businessmen Mahendra K.D. Shah, Ravi Shah, Ritesh Doshi and four of 88mph’s investors and team members.
Confirming to TechMoran, Francis Gesora, Co-Founder and CEO of BookNow said, “We have raised $75,000 from angel investors and the bulk of this is going to be used on hiring customer support staff and to accelerating growth and also improve our product offering.”
Earlier the firm had raised $15,000 from 88mph to bring sanity to the public bus system which is used by the majority of travellers in Sub-Saharan Africa. BookNow, the first of its kind in East Africa gives users access to information on schedules, pricing, availability of seats as well as enabling them to book their bus tickets pre-travel to avoid congestion and commotion associated with last minute bus bookings.
The funds will also help BookNow continue its journey of bringing advantages in speed, information, cost and time savings to bus travellers and the industry. “We have been able to pull together an investor pool that brings strategic advantages to BookNow’s operations through their skills and expertise, which we are able to draw upon as we grow and expand,” he said in a statement.
Gesora together with a friend Michael Nguru founded the company in August 2013 and today, it is East Africa’s premier online bus ticket ordering service providing travellers the convenience of pre-booking their travel tickets online or on mobile phone for their journey’s in Kenya and Uganda.
The Nairobi-based company pegs its growth to its initial funding from pan-African seed fund 88mph.
As smartphones eat the world, LynkMii, is a new mobile business directory that aims to enable businesses to take advantage of them and drive their growth internationally.
LynkMii aims to help users find Businesses, Special Offers, events, Jobs, latest news and blogs and just about everything. Businesses can also advertise their business, products and services on the platform and also add their Special Offers and Events anytime.
Using GPS, the site will pick u users locations from around the world and also help stranded users get Emergency Services around them.
According to the founder Dele Odusanya, the online business directory for companies of all sizes, sectors and industries says it enables business owners to publish details of their products and services to these mobile customers based wherever they are to enable their prospective customers to review them and see the specific services or any special offers that may be available.
“By registering on the LynkMii portal each business is provided with the tools to complete a detailed business profile containing images, business description, business category, contact information and any social media links outlining the expertise they provide,” Odusanya said.
The LynkMii App is available for download from both Apple and Android stores. Once downloaded, users will be able to navigate and search for business, special offers, jobs and events by geographic location or category. App users will be able to communicate directly with any business by phone or email and get directions instantly to the business location.
Over 85% of the world’s population lives in areas with existing cellular coverage, yet only about 30% of the total population accesses the internet. Affordability and awareness are significant barriers to internet adoption for many and today we are introducing the Internet.org app to make the internet accessible to more people by providing a set of free basic services.
With this app, people can browse a set of useful health, employment and local information services without data charges. By providing free basic services via the app, we hope to bring more people online and help them discover valuable services they might not have otherwise.
The Internet.org app will be available first to Airtel subscribers in Zambia and we’ll continue to improve the experience and roll it out to other parts of the world.
Through the Internet.org app, Airtel customers in Zambia will have basic access to:
E-Government Principal Secretary Olive Chikankheni said government appreciate the need to govern internet because as a global network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business and government networks, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies, and therefore, carrying extensive range of information resources and services, there is need that it be governed.
“As a member of the United Nations, African Union and SADC organisations which have called on their members to have IGFs, Malawi celebrated the Malawi-IGF and committees to ensure that there is maximum multi-stakeholder participation in the forum foe internet related policy dialogue,” she said.
Chikankheni expressed that forum should certainly participate in promoting ICT for both inclusive and sustainable development. The current indicators call for more concerted effort in this area.
According to, Chikankheni, the ICT sector has contributed 3.5 percentages to the country’s GDP in 2010 to 3.8 percent in 2013 and this is expected to reach 3.9 this year.
Chairperson of the The country’s National ICT Working Group (NICTWG), which will coordinate the forum’s functions, Seyani Nayeja, said Malawi will now achieve global recognition with the launch of the forum.
“This will give us an opportunity to give platform to discuss the use and misuse of internet and provide solutions in internet use. We need to make this work. This is a live activism of voluntary participation. We should work towards a common good,” he said.
Before the launch, stakeholders deliberated the launching of the forum and agreed to call the Malawi Internet Governance Forum (Malawi IGF) Charter.
According to the charter, the forum’s aim is to provide a platform for inclusive multi-stakeholder discussions in the issues pertinent to the internet in Malawi n general and internet Governance issues in particular
The country’s National ICT Working Group (NICTWG), according to the charter, will coordinate the activities of the Malawi IGF while the Department of E-Government will be the secretariat and coordination of the forum will be reviewed within a specified period.
The charter further states that the overall objective of the forum is to establish a multi-stakeholder process that will shape the development of Malawi’s internet economy with a number of specific objectives.
Zimbabwe’s EcoCash has partnered with MasterCard in a move that will see more than three million MasterCard debit cards being issued to mobile money provider EcoCash’s customers in the next five years.
“The EcoCash MasterCard debit card is a milestone towards realising MasterCard’s vision of a cashless society,” says Charlton Goredema, Vice President and Area Business Head, Southern Africa, MasterCard. “Demonstrating the value of close collaboration in the financial services and payments technology industries, EcoCash and MasterCard have devised an innovative payment product that addresses Zimbabwe’s market realities, particularly by acknowledging the impact mobile money has on the country’s economy.”
The largest rollout of secure EMV Chip and PIN payment cards in Zimbabwe to date, the cards will assist in reducing cash dependence and increase financial inclusion through the provision of electronic payments in Zimbabwe.
“The adoption of electronic payments is critical to Zimbabwe’s economic development. Reducing dependency on cash while increasing financial inclusion benefits the whole country including the government, industry sectors like tourism and retail, merchants and citizens,” says Douglas Mboweni, CEO of Econet.
According to Today, research 40% Zimbabweans are financially excluded while another 22% rely on informal financial products or services. EcoCash aims to help change this. as its customers will be able to withdraw money from MasterCard-licensed ATMs and pay for goods and services at millions of merchants that accept MasterCard payment cards, both in Zimbabwe and internationally.
“The integration of these products and services are particularly exciting for EcoCash customers,” says EcoCash CEO Cuthbert Tembedza. “We look forward to offering Zimbabweans even more ways to benefit from the security and convenience of electronic payments as they engage with, and contribute to, the formal economy.”
Though over 85% of retail payments globally still involve cash or cheque, they are riskier and bulky. Governments are rapidly driving the conversion from cash to electronic payments as they realise the benefits of a cashless society, namely increased transparency, cost effectiveness, financial inclusion, foreign investment and economic growth.
“As EcoCash enables its customers to benefit from MasterCard’s global payments network, we are assisting Zimbabwe to integrate its economy with those elsewhere in the world. Importantly, we are also contributing to the financial freedom of individuals,” says Goredema.
Buyers Laboratory LLC, an independent tester of document imaging products, has announced its prestigious Summer 2014 Pick awards in the scanner category, recognising Epson’s WorkForce DS-860 high-quality performance and honoring it as the Outstanding A4 Departmental Scanner.
Andy Bray, Product Manager, Epson Europe, said: “We are delighted to have been recognised by BLI for our WorkForce DS-860 scanner. The award is testament to the speed, reliability and functionality of the product, as well as its seamless integration into any document management system. The product is ideal for businesses looking to bring improved efficiencies to their data capture and management processes.”
BLI’s awards are the industry’s most coveted, with devices only being considered for honours after months of rigorous testing at BLI’s testing facilities. Epson’s WorkForce DS-860 outperformed the competition with its speed and versatility, earning the Pick award for the Summer 2014 award season.
The DS-860 exhibited outstanding results in the different performance categories tested, including higher than average OCR accuracy, faster than average speeds in the hardware throughput tests and the ability to accommodate a wider than average range of paper sizes. The device also has an estimated TCO that’s up to 40 percent lower than average.
“The Epson WorkForce DS-860 offers the total package: robust software, a rich feature set and an intuitive design all for a lower than average price. It provides virtually everything needed to capture and route documents in fast-paced workgroup and departmental scanning environments,” said Lisa Reider, BLI’s senior product editor for scanners.
Announced twice a year, the Pick awards acknowledge the products that give the best performances in BLI’s extensive suite of laboratory tests in the previous six months.
US based payment technology and services solutions firm First Data, has acquired Gyft Inc., a gift card startup founded by South African entrepreneur Vinny Lingham for around $50 million according to reports.
The move aims at enabling consumers to buy, send, manage and redeem gift cards using mobile devices. Gyft is a mobile wallet accessible by website and as a free app on iPhone and Android devices and says it has over 200 recognized retailers and brings its power to First Data’s 300 plus national retail prepaid clients.
“Gyft, with its mobile gifting platform, and First Data, with its global scale and distribution network, together will accelerate the growth of virtual prepaid with powerful new tools for merchants of all sizes to deepen their relationships with their customers,” said Guy Chiarello, president, First Data. “This means that the same robust toolset deployed by big box retailers will be coming soon to small- to mid-sized businesses, perfectly synched with our mission to offer innovative solutions to help our clients grow.”
In addition, to bring these new tools to small business owners who have adopted First Data’s Clover™ Station, an elegant touchscreen point-of-sale solution, Gyft for SMBs will be added to the Clover App Marketplace.
Virtual and mobile cards are gaining share rapidly in the near $100 billion U.S. gift card market. Retailers reported that, on average, loads onto digital cards tripled from 2012 to 2013, according to Mercator Advisory Group’s annual survey of retailers. First Data’s research shows that electronic gift card sales grew 71 percent from 2012 to 2013. “Retailers need to begin tapping into digital distribution channels to be responsive to early-adopter customers and stay competitive for the long term,” said Ben Jackson, Director of Mercator’s prepaid advisory service.
“We are joining First Data to accelerate our growth and significantly improve the gift card experience for both customers and retailers,” said Vinny Lingham, co-founder and chief executive officer, Gyft. “As a part of First Data’s suite of innovation-powered products, Gyft will be added to a portfolio of technology-driven gift solutions that link advanced consumer-engagement technology with point-of-sale business solutions.”
A new social video advertising network called Skits seeks to reward users for attracting customers to view videos of favorite brands.
Skits’s new strategy allows brands to engage customers by rewarding them with mobile airtime to view targeted video ads.
To Skits, marketing is fundamental in any kind of set-up or business. This explains why companies pay PR agencies a lot of money for branding and marketing. Skits however believes that the best kind of marketing is when it is user-generated, to be precise, by word of mouth.
Consumer who feel inspired by the ads and want to earn more rewards can continue presenting his 15-second creative video that supports his favorite brand. If it is good enough, the brand is published on Skits. This implies that contents on the Skits network will be user-generated.
The concept Skits employs was first conceived in 2013 and has been evolving over the last one year.
All users of Nokia X series of mobile phones will soon be seeing some brand new features and enhancements.
The new features include an app switcher, which is a new platform that will help users to see which apps are running. You get the app switcher by swiping down from the top of the screen and tapping the app switcher icon. Select the app you want to switch to, or just tap the X icon to close an app.
Next is the X series, which will come with more Microsoft services pre-installed. They include the Outlook.com, OneDrive and OneNote.
The improved Nokia Store makes it easier to search, find and download gamed or apps onto your Nokia X. the store also integrate other third-party app stores. This means that your ability to explore the apps is greatly increased.
Other improvements include new Home screen Spotlight widgets for app discovery and one-click downloads for faster access to apps.
The new software will arrive at your Nokia X, Nokia X+ and Nokia XL as an over-the-air (OTA) update. All you have to do is wait for the push notification that prompts you download it. You also have the option of doing it manually by:
Navigating to settings >About phone >System updates> check now.
Nokia advises that the download should be done through Wi-Fi rather than the regular data plan, because it will be quite something for your pocket.
Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has announced today that it has added 140MW to the national grid from the 280 MW Olkaria geothermal project. Therefore Kenyans should expect to see the cost of electricity starting to decline in the coming months as geothermal gradually replaces the expensive thermal power.
The 140MW is from two units – one of which has already completed reliability test while the other is expected to complete the test by mid August. The firm also announced that two more units are expected to commence reliability tests in September and October respectively.
It is expected that before the end of the year, the entire 280 megawatts will be fully commissioned. The firm said it’s currently implementing the ambitious 280 MW geothermal project in Olkaria aimed at scaling up supply and reducing the cost of electricity.
“We have already uploaded 140 MW and the balance will be fully commissioned and connected to the national grid before the end of this year,” KenGen Managing Director and CEO Eng. Albert Mugo said.
Mugo added that KenGen is also putting up mobile geothermal wellhead power plants which are expected to generate an additional 70MW, bringing to 350MW the total additional output from Olkaria.
“This year alone, 25.6 MW generated using this innovative method has been added to the national grid,” said Mr. Mugo.
To accelerate its geothermal power production programme, KenGen has also resorted to the mobile wellhead plants which are faster to deploy
Airtel Nigeria has launched internet bundles specifically designed for Android devices, becoming a first of a kind product for Android devices in Nigeria’s telco market.
Airtel Nigeria, which is the second largest telecommunications company in Nigeria, said the move is a step towards making internet affordable in the country.
The new Android Internet Bundle plan allows Android device users to enjoy “amazing data experience” on their smart devices.
The bundle plan comes in two types: the Android 2.0, which comes with 2GB data, is designed for medium Internet users, while the Android Bundle 4.5, which comes with 4.5GB data, is tailored for high Internet consumers.
Maurice Newa, the chief Commercial Officer for Airtel Nigeria, said the telco will continue blazing the trail in revolutionizing the mobile Internet landscape in Nigeria with highly innovative and affordable solutions.
“At Airtel, we understand that our Internet bundle for Android users will help increase productivity, boost personal relations, family happiness and business profitability,” Newa said.
To subscribe to this offer, customers are advised to dial *437# for the 2G Android Bundle while customers who prefer to subscribe to the 4.GB Android Bundle are advised to dial*438#.
The 2GB and 4.5GB Bundles, go for a rate of N2,000 and N3,500, respectively. They are both valid for 30 days. Both Bundles have different burn rates, allowing customers to enjoy the service at more affordable rates during the night.
Finserve, Equity Bank’s telcos subsidiary, has been designated the task of distributing the recently licensed MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operations) and is now looking to roll out SIM-cards that have the prefix “0763xx”.
Equity Bank hopes that the rollout of the new SIM-card will bring more “choice and freedom” to the mobile transfer services and mobile telephone clientele.
Talking to investors at the bank’s headquarters, James Mwangi, Equity Bank’s CEO said that the SIM-cards, which bear the prefix 0763xxx, were already being used by the internal staff and a countrywide roll out for every Equity Bank customer will happen once they receive an approval from the Communications Authority of Kenya, CAK, most likely before end of July.
It is estimated that 25 million Kenyans will be “empowered” by the novel innovation that will allow for increased synchronicity, as customers will now access services from at least two telecom service providers. The innovation will also save consumers the inconveniences of changing SIM-cards in addition to saving the country billions of shillings that could be used to purchase dual-SIM phones.
According to Equity Bank, the new SIM-cards will improve mobile banking security through data encryption. Easy and convenient access to SMS and USSD will also enable the bank to lower the cost of mobile banking by breaking the commercial barriers, which have so far been put by some mobile telecom operators. The barriers had initially limited the public from accessing mobile banking services due to prohibitive charges by some mobile telcos.
Dual-SIM phones capacity will also easily remove monopolistic power within the telecom sector and make even the playing field, which is fundamental for a competitive environment where product, cost and innovation will drive market behavior.
Mwangi mentioned that the actual innovation of Equity’s MVNO originates from the use of thin SIM card technology that will offer each Kenyan a chance to convert the phone into a dual SIM phone.
“Our leading vision and philosophy is to empower people who are poorly banked or financially excluded, granting them access to ICT and banking solutions that are readily accessible to wealthy members of the society even though they are at an affordable cost,” Mwangi stated.
It is not yet clear what the novel SIM-card will be named.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has unveiled the West African nation’s first ever 64-page e-passport. The president and his vice Namadi Sambo later took turns to be captured in order to be issued with the new traveling document.
Goodluck Jonathan insisted that the e-passport had to be increased from a 32-page to a 64-page so that frequent travellers will not have to change their passports every other month because of limited pages of the visa.
He tasked officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service to protect the integrity of the passport by ensuring that it cannot be easily faked.
He also asked officials who manage the nation’s airports to ensure that they conduct themselves in a manner that will portray the country well before visitors.
The new passport which takes effect from August 1 attracts a fee of N20,000.
You will love this game. Just a few hours after Nasper’s backed Flipkart announced it had raised $1 billion to fuel its mobile growth, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos doubled up the amount for his Amazon store in India. Injecting a cool $2 billlion to fuel growth of Amazon India or at least show some effort.
Amazon.in is more than a year old and says it has over 17 million products from various SME’s with its guaranteed next-day delivery service. The additional US $2 billion will support its rapid growth and continue to enhance the customer and seller experience in India.
“After our first year in business, the response from customers and small and medium-sized businesses in India has far surpassed our expectations,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “We see huge potential in the Indian economy and for the growth of e-commerce in India. With this additional investment of US $2 billion, our team can continue to think big, innovate, and raise the bar for customers in India. At current scale and growth rates, India is on track to be our fastest country ever to a billion dollars in gross sales. A big ‘thank you’ to our customers in India – we’ve never seen anything like this.”
Just a few history, Amazon’s chief, Bezos was the boss to Flipkart’s founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal before they ventured out on their own to start Flipkart in 2007. The two, both alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi began just as Amazon, initially selling books, then electronics, air conditioners, stationery, e-books. In the same line, Flipkart has its own set of tablet phones, the Digiflip Pro XT 712 Tablet while Amazon has its Kindles and now the Fire.
Now, each is trying to counter the other and the war has extended to money; something to show power, help meet customer needs but also change their perception on who is bigger and better. Of course Flipkart is the biggest in India but Amazon, Wal-Mart and another firm backed by eBay are on its toes.
Flipkart’s $1 billion has now been overshadowed in the public by Bezos $2 billion but it still remains the single largest round by an Indian internet company. Flipkart is also the first e-commerce company out of India to hit US $1 billion in GMV.
Forget Amazon’s move, Flipkart’s latest round co-led by Tiger Global Management and Naspers its existing investors, with participation from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC, Accel Partners, DST Global, ICONIQ Capital, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Sofina, will help the firm do its great leap into mobile-the holy grail of e-commerce in the country according to the founders.
Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (not relatives) said; “We believe the internet will improve the quality of life for millions of Indians, and e-commerce is going to play a huge role in this change. The focus at Flipkart is to continue to make shopping online simpler and more accessible through the use of technology.
Flipkart says it has about 22 million registered users and handle’s 5 million shipments a month but because India has 243 million internet users and growing by the day, Flipkart wants to do more.
“We want to enable every Indian to either shop or sell online. And we believe that the power of the mobile internet is going to help us achieve this goal.By 2020 India will have more than half a billion mobile internet users. Our intense focus on mobile and technology puts us in a unique position to take advantage of this massive opportunity,” they said.
Set to become a mobile e-commerce company of the future and build more warehouses and several other innovations, plus its dedicated logistics and cash on delivery offerings, Flipkart is not an easy target, and Bezos wishes he would moved fast and bigger earlier thanlet his employees ashame him far away from the confort of his home.
A woman in Houston who claims to be a victim of “revenge porn” is suing Facebook and her former friend for $123 million.
Meryam Ali claims that her former friend Adeel Shah Khan created a fake Facebook page in her name that contained doctored pictures that placed her face on “phony, false, naked body shots,” reports The Wrap.
Ali stated she learnt about the existence of the profile in December and asked Facebook to remove it, though the social network failed to take action.
According to The Wrap, it was not until months later when the Houston Police Department summoned Facebook in an attempt to name the creator of the false account that the fake page was eventually removed.
“It is a very serious situation. She is clearly quite mad about what occurred, very upset,” David Altenbem, Ali’s attorney told Texas Lawyer magazine.
The lawsuit tries to get Facebook as well as everyone connected to the site “to get up, take notice and pay attention to the serious privacy violations concerns involved in revenge porn situations,” reported the website.
The $123 million figure comes from 10 cents in damages for each of the 1.23 billion members of the social network, writes The Wrap.
Neither Khan nor Facebook has responded to a comment requested from the Texas Lawyer.
