The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has charged stakeholders in the ICT sector to join hands with the Ministry and its agencies in their quest to promote the development of indigenous digital solutions in Nigeria. The minister was speaking during the presentation of N3 million prize money to each of the three promising startups that emerged winners in the COVID-19 Virtual Hackathon, organized by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in Abuja on Tuesday, September 1, 2020. The Virtual Hackathon was initiated by NCC to ignite the Nigerian youths to develop adaptable and innovative digital solutions…
Author: DigitalTimesNG
HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, brings one of the most secure Android experiences to the mobile market by delivering regular software and security updates to ensure peace of mind for Nokia smartphone customers. Nokia smartphones lead in software and security updates against other major Android brands with 94% of the portfolio updated to the latest Android version within a year of release. Additionally, with up to two years of free OS upgrades, Nokia smartphones provide access to the latest innovations for longer. Being one of the only smartphone manufacturers to bring the benefits of regular software updates across price…
MTN Group has announced changes to the board of directors of MTN Group, as well as to the board of major subsidiary, MTN South Africa. After six years as an independent non-executive director of MTN Group – the last five as audit committee chairman – Christine Ramon will step down on 30 September to focus on her extended executive responsibilities. Sindi Mabaso-Koyana will join the MTN Group board as an independent non-executive director on 1 September, assuming the chairmanship of the audit committee on 1 October. Sindi is a chartered accountant with extensive experience in the public and private sectors, where she…
The pioneering work and series of innovations introduced by Smile Nigeria into the nation’s telecommunications sector have continued to set it apart among its peers. Smile had from the inception created a network that outperforms the existing benchmark in the Nigerian market. In 2013, it launched the first 4G LTE network in West Africa in Nigeria, in Ibadan, thereby revolutionising the way people access the internet. It deployed the 4G LTE radio network in partnership with Ericsson, which enabled Smile to provide the most advanced telecommunications technologies and standards available anywhere in the world using the 4G LTE network technology. Smile…
MTN is adding its voice to global efforts to raise awareness about the importance of wearing masks to fight the spread of COVID-19 with the launch of the #WearItForMe campaign across its markets. As society navigates the “new normal” brought about by the pandemic, wearing face coverings remains one of the most effective measures to slow its spread. However, many people refuse to wear them, wear them incorrectly, or still underestimate their importance. “COVID-19 has had profound health and socioeconomic impacts across the world. We empathise and mourn the lives lost to the pandemic. And even though the outbreak appears…
Chairman, Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh, has in a recent virtual chat with technology correspondents called on the Federal Government to declare October 1st 2020, Nigeria’s technology independence day. The serial digital entrepreneur, who has remained one of the foremost personalities in Nigeria’s technology ecosystem, based his recommendation on the giant strides recorded by the country in the area of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). ‘‘October 1st 2020 is traditionally Nigeria’s Independence Day. It is a day that commemorates Nigeria’s emergence as a sovereign state. Considering the massive strides recorded so far in our journey to technological emancipation, the Federal…
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it has concluded plans to award research grants to the tune of N9 million to three deserving Nigerian startups with proposals for adaptable digital solutions for containing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The Commission said in a statement signed by Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, Director, Public Affairs at the NCC that the selection of the three companies followed a careful and painstaking evaluation of 282 entries in the NCC COVID-19 Virtual Hackathon from digital innovation Startups and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) by an evaluation committee set up by the Commission. The…
By Fadi PHARAON As a continent with very high potential for growing economies, how can African countries accelerate their digital adoption and leapfrog into a new era of socio-economic prosperity? This could be achieved by leveraging new technologies that make it easier to conduct business, raise productivity and efficiency while encouraging an inclusive society. Embracing new ways of enabling positive change will boost livelihoods, promote financial inclusion and improve access to health, education, government services and more. With the ambition of supporting the acceleration of Africa’s digitization journey, we are working jointly with our customers – the service providers -…
Ericsson and UNICEF have announced a global partnership to help map school connectivity in 35 countries by the end of 2023. Mapping the internet connectivity landscape for schools and their surrounding communities is a critical first step towards providing every child with access to digital learning opportunities. This joint effort is part of the Giga initiative. Launched last year and led by UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Giga aims to connect every school to the internet. Ericsson is the first private sector partner to make a multimillion-dollar commitment to the initiative and does so as a Global UNICEF…
Unacast, an award-winning location platform and analytics firm, and MTN Nigeria, a leading mobile telecommunications provider, have announced a partnership in which the two will use privacy-friendly, aggregated and anonymized, human mobility insights derived from MTN’s network data, to make available a version of Unacast’s recognized and widely used COVID-19 Social Distancing Scoreboard for Nigerian citizens and officials. The companies will together provide this easy-to-use dataset on a pro-bono basis to enable public officials, public health leaders and other organizations, and the public itself to understand and convey the importance of social distancing in fighting the spread of COVID-19. “Social distancing has proven…