Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has inaugurated two inter-agency committees with the mandate to review, collate, commission and communicate in local languages, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects implemented for Nigerians under President Muhammadu Buhari. The two Ministerial committees which are Completed Projects Review Committee and Committee on Media Engagement in Local Languages are chaired by Ayuba Shuaibu, Executive Secretary, Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) and Dr Usman Gambo Abdullahi, Director, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), respectively. DigitalTimesNG understands that membership of the committees is drawn from all the five agencies supervised…
Author: DigitalTimesNG
Zimbabwe has ordered mobile payments firms to suspend transactions, accusing them of conspiring to sabotage the economy. In a statement on Friday, the country’s secretary for information, publicity and broadcasting services Nick Mangwana said the government is suspending “all monetary transactions on phone-based mobile money platforms.” The stock exchange has also been closed, according to a report by finextra. With banknotes scarce, mobile payments account for more than 80% of all transactions in the southern African country, according to central bank data. But, the administration, led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, claims that operators, particularly the hugely popular Ecocash, have…
Pan-African digital payments hub, MFS Africa has bought Beyonic, a digital payments management provider of business services for SMEs across the continent. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, according to a report by finextra. MFS Africa connects more than 200 million mobile wallets on the continent through one API. Beyonic focuses on domestic payments and collections coupled with secure front-end business functionality. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval in Tanzania, is designed to give the fast-growing SME sector across Africa the ability to manage digital transactions with individuals and businesses around the world. In practice, MFS…
Foremost ICT solutions company, Task Systems Ltd. has disclosed that businesses can still carry out major rollouts without worrying about the associated huge outlay through a revolutionary enterprise solution known as Technology-as-a-Service (TaaS). This is despite the harsh business climate occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic and attendant lockdown which have drastically shrunk expenditure on tech-related projects for many corporate organizations. Technology-as-a-Service is a cutting-edge, comprehensive and flexible solution that has gained prominence the world over for its useful benefits to businesses. The Technology-as-a-Service (TaaS) solution represents one of many through which Task Systems Ltd. is repositioning businesses in the…
Konga, Nigeria’s composite e-commerce giant is set to roll out its flash sales today, Monday, June 29, 2020, as part of efforts to mark its eighth-anniversary celebrations. The flash sales, four daily, are set to go live by 10 am, 2 pm, 4 pm and 6 pm. The flash sales are expected to be a daily feature of the eighth-anniversary celebrations effective today, Monday, June 29 until the end of the promotion on Tuesday, July 2, 2020 – a development that has heralded intense excitement among eager shoppers, many of whom have awaited the commencement of the flash sales…
Excitement is in the air as preparations for the 8th edition of the Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition billed for August 25-27, 2020, reach fever pitch. This year’s edition of the foremost annual gathering of ICT experts, stakeholders, public and private sector players, policymakers and students will for the first time in its 8-year history, hold virtually as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversations at the virtual event will be centred around Agriculture, Banking, Retail, Resiliency, Sustainability, Education, Transportation and Logistics, Health and Wellness among others. Since the flagship event in 2013, the Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition…
MainOne, West Africa’s leading provider of Wholesale and Enterprise connectivity and data centre services is celebrating 10 years of delivering innovative, world-class service in West Africa. Ten years ago, the company launched its operations with the commissioning of the first private submarine cable on the West Coast of Africa. The company has played a critical role in enabling internet access across West Africa where penetration rates have grown from less than 10% in 2010 to close to 40% ten years later. Since inception, MainOne has invested over $400m in infrastructure in West Africa as part of its efforts to…
Nigerian Youths have been advised to join hands with government and other relevant stakeholders to acquire necessary digital skills in order to be self-reliant during the post-COVID-19 era. Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, gave the advice during an online interactive session with Nigerian youths on the topic: ‘Education, Employment & Technology in Nigeria: Gaps & Opportunities Post-COVID-19 Pandemic’. The online interactive meeting was organised by the Global Shapers Community, an international non-governmental organisation which specialises in outsourcing talents, creating jobs and building careers. He said Nigerian youths should stay committed and focused on…
MTN South Africa will finally launch its 5G network next week, 30 June 2020, becoming the first of the telecommunications group’s 22 operations to launch the next-generation broadband technology, according to a report in itnewsafrica.com The pan-African telecom is hosting a live event on its YouTube channel that same day. The event will be hosted by CEO Godfrey Motsa, chief consumer officer Mapula Bodibe and chief technology & information officer Giovanni Chiarelli. At the beginning of the month, MTN began announcing that it would launch 5G networks in major cities across South Africa. The exact locations for these launches…
Africa is set to roll out a groundbreaking mobile-based public communications platform to provide more than 600 million users across the continent with the latest public health advice. Already, MTN, Airtel, Orange SA, and Vodacom have signed a partnership deal with the United Nations to build a mobile platform that delivers COVID-19 information in particular, to about 600 million people in Africa. Vera Songwe, the Executive Secretary, UN Commission for Africa, who disclosed this on Wednesday, said the platform will be free to use for nearly half of Africa’s population and if well implemented will be rolled out to Latin…