CommsMEA caught up with Chafic Traboulsi, vice president and head of networks at Ericsson Middle East and Africa, to find out how GCC nations can take the next step down the road to realising its full 5G potential……DigitalTimesNG reproduces the interview… As operators look to ramp up their 5G offering, how important is spectrum sharing technology going to be? With 5G networks going live and consumers getting their hands on the first 5G devices, user expectations are high. Communications service providers need to make the best use of their spectrum assets and utilise each band’s performance characteristics to support…
Author: DigitalTimesNG
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) says it has partnered with Airtel Africa to provide access to remote learning for children in 13 sub-Saharan countries. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Fayaz King, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, Field Results, who made the disclosure on Wednesday, said they would also provide cash assistance for their families via mobile cash transfers. King said that UNICEF and Airtel Africa would use mobile technology to benefit an estimated 133 million school-age children currently affected by school closures in 13 countries across sub-Saharan Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The partnership…
PayPal has launched payment by QR codes in the UK and 27 other markets around the world, providing a touch-free way for businesses to receive payments and for consumers to make purchases during Covid-19. From local takeaway coffee shops to selling secondhand goods – the rollout of the QR code functionality in the PayPal app allows customers to buy or sell in in-person, without the need to exchange cash or key in PIN codes, according to a report in finhextra.com. John Kunze, SVP of branded experiences, PayPal, says: “The rollout of QR codes for buyers and sellers not only incorporates…
Facebook Tuesday revealed it’s rolling out a major update called Shops that would effectively turn Facebook and Instagram pages into digital storefronts, and the company is pitching it for small businesses. CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the new feature during a Livestream. A Shop would function on a business‘s page or profile, from which a customer could browse their collection of goods. A business could, in theory, have their whole shopping mechanism on Facebook. Shops will be supported by third-party software like Shopify and BigCommerce, and businesses will also be able to implement customer loyalty programs in the future. According to Facebook, setting up…
Uber confirmed Monday that it will cut 3,000 more jobs while closing dozens of offices and scaling back money-losing bets in order to slow steep revenue losses incurred due to the coronavirus pandemic. Monday’s announcement by CEO Dara Khosrowshahi follows a media report over the weekend that more layoffs were imminent. Coupled with earlier cuts in May, the total of laid-off employees now stands at 6,700. In an email to staff first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Khosrowshahi said the uptick in Uber Eats orders amid shelter-in-place rules throughout much of the world just isn’t enough to make…
The Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS) have set-up a joint committee to review Science and Technology reports that have so far been submitted to the Federal Government, Vanguard reports. The committee was inaugurated at a high-level meeting held via skype between the Institute and the Ministry at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology in Abuja on Monday. At the meeting, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu emphasized the need to re-evaluate the reports of the Institute since its inception, which according to him…
A new report on global e-waste (discarded products with a battery or plug) shows a staggering 44.7 million metric tonnes (Mt) generated in 2016 – up 3.3 Mt or 8% from 2014. In 2016, the world generated e-waste – everything from end-of-life refrigerators and television sets to solar panels, mobile phones, and computers – equal in weight to almost nine Great Pyramids of Giza, 4,500 Eiffel Towers, or 1.23 million fully loaded 18-wheel 40-ton trucks, enough to form a line from New York to Bangkok and back. Experts foresee a further 17% increase – to 52.2 million metric tonnes…
A TV channel in the UK owned by one of Nigeria’s most flamboyant evangelical pastors has been sanctioned by Ofcom, the broadcasting authority in London, BBC reports. According to BBC, the authority punished Chris Oyakhilome’s Loveworld Limited, which runs the Loveworld channel that can be viewed in the UK, “after a news programme and a live sermon included potentially harmful claims about causes of, and treatments for Covid-19”. Pastor Oyakhilome had linked the virus to 5G networks and alleged that it was part of a plot to create a “new world order”. Such views have been widely condemned by scientists,…
By Austin OKERE On May 04, 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in a report about poverty and inequality from September 2018 to October 2019 in Nigeria, said 40 per cent of people in the continent’s most populous country lived below its poverty line of 137, 430 naira ($381.75) a year. It said that represents 82.9 million people. I had written this article about four years ago on Nov 15, 2016, about how society today is split more along the lines of those who are included and those left behind. This is even truer today with Businesses and…
Airtel Nigeria has extended by two additional weeks its remote working policy in a bid to safeguard its employees from Covid-19 and help stem the spread of the virus. DigitalTimesNG gathered that in a memo to employees, the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Segun Ogunsanya, told employees particularly in Lagos, Ogun State and FCT, the epicentres of Covid-19 infections in Nigeria, to continue to work from home till the end of May. Ogunsanya urged employees in other parts of the country to observe the nationwide 8 pm to 6 am curfew while adhering to whatever restrictions and laws obtainable…