The global pandemic has proved a catalyst for reshaping health care as venture capitalists reached deep into their pockets to deliver a record level of funding to medical-related startups in 2020. According to a report in The Verge, venture capitalists sprinkled the money across sectors ranging from telemedicine to AI to medical devices in an effort to seize the moment and shake up an industry that has been notoriously resistant to reinvention. The latest State of Healthcare report from research firm CB Insights shows that health care startups raised $80.6 billion in 2020, up from $53.7 billion in 2019. The report notes that COVID-19…
Author: DigitalTimesNG
Web browser maker Opera has acquired YoYo Games, the maker of the GameMaker Studio 2 game engine, for $10 million, and it has also launched its Opera Gaming division. The deal underscores Opera‘s efforts to differentiate its web browser, Opera GX, through a gaming community, according to a report by Venturebeat. Opera itself has more than 380 million people using its web browsers worldwide. Its new Opera GX gaming browser has seven million monthly active users as of December, up 350% from a year earlier. Opera Gaming will focus on expanding Opera’s capabilities and monetization opportunities in the gaming, said Krystian Kolondra in an…
…. As Ministry’s New Perm Sec Hails Danbatta’s Leadership The improved broadband/telecoms services delivery being experienced by Nigerians has been attributed to the massive deployment of 3G and 4G base transceiver stations (BTS) and laying of Fibre Optic Transmission Cables across the country. A recent data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) shows that the third-generation (3G) and fourth-generation (4G) base transceiver stations (BTS) deployment in Nigeria, increased from 30,000 to 53,460, while Fibre Optic Transmission cables grew from 47,000km to 54,725km in the last five years. Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta…
More than a third of UK consumers have been blocked from paying with notes and coins since the start of the pandemic, prompting warnings that the cash economy is on the verge of disintegration. In a survey of 2,000 people conducted by consumer champion Which?, 34% reported being unable to pay with cash at least once when trying to buy something since March, when coronavirus restrictions were first introduced, reports Finextra. Which? cites one case in which a diabetic man in urgent need of food because his blood sugar levels had dropped was refused service in two restaurants that had…
MultiChoice has announced a brand-new Pan-African lifestyle channel on its DStv platforms, HONEY, on DStv channel 173. “As part of our ongoing effort to enhance our customers’ viewing experience and delight them with additional content, MultiChoice is thrilled to bring this latest venture in African storytelling. “HONEY launches on Friday, 12 February 2021 and will be available for Premium Compact Plus, and Compact,” the company said in a statement. HONEY is a bold, unscripted lifestyle TV channel for curious and connected Africans. The channel is about celebrating and exploring African lives and loves, and the content is focused on lifestyle,…
A total of 47.8 million NINs have been collected by Nigeria’s mobile telecom operators, DigitaTimesNG can authoritatively report. This disclosure was made in a statement signed by Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)’s Director of Public Affairs on Tuesday and made available to DigitalTimesNG. DigitalTimesNG understands that at an average of three to four SIMs per subscriber, millions of telephone subscribers will be linked up before the deadline in February 2021. Adinde said in the statement that at the end of a review meeting held on 18th January 2021, the Technical Implementation Committee under the Ministerial Task Force reported significant…
Zeta-Web Nigeria Limited, a Lagos-based indigenous Information Technology (IT) firm, has reiterated their commitment to bring robust broadband and internet solutions that would ease productivity for Nigerians in the post-Covid 19 workplaces. To this end, the company lately introduced Z-Force, a super-fast internet service designed for Nigerians working from home and other notable services for other market segments. Chris Obasi, Managing Director, Zeta–Web Nigeria Limited, who addressed the media on the importance of the Z-Force to the current workplace, said, “Our Z-Force service is unique in its design as it came out at a point where users wanted internet services…
Telecom companies in Nigeria are reported to have submitted about 43 million National Identity Numbers to the National Identity Management Commission for verification in order to have them registered with their respective Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs). The Punch reports that as the deadline for telephone subscribers with NINs to register their SIMs with the identity numbers elapsed today (January 19, 2021), operators have said that SIMs with unlinked submitted NINs would not be blocked. The paper also reports that NIMC had been able to provide about 45 million NINs, as it was able to register about two million people in…
Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Muhammadu Badaru Abubukar, has urged Nigerian youths to key into the digital technologies and focus more on critical thinking in order to find solutions for Nigeria’s economic and security challenges. Badaru, who noted that this is the only way to move the country forward, spoke at the 1st Jigawa Innovation Summit themed: ‘Creating a Viable Innovative Ecosystem for Economic Development.’ The programme was organised by the Jigawa State government in collaboration with National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Youth Coalition for Development (YCD), an NGO that canvasses youth engagement in changing the status quo for…
As part of its commitment to ensuring access to affordable broadband connectivity in Africa’s underserved populations, Tizeti, West Africa’s pioneer solar-based internet service provider is rolling out its 4G LTE network in Edo State, with monthly fixed broadband costs pegged at N4000. With this move, millions of people in Edo State previously outside the broadband envelope can now take advantage of high-speed broadband internet from Tizeti. Chief Executive Officer of Tizeti, Kendall Ananyi, while announcing the rollout of its new low-cost unlimited 4G services in Edo, said that this 4G broadband internet will empower more Nigerians in Edo State, stimulate…