Africa By Region
Why Africa Needs to Take Advantage of the Cloud
Sourced from ZDNet. As a unified online platform for communication and collaboration, the cloud is now widely considered to be one of the most valuable resources we have at our disposal. It’s reported that by the end of 2020, 82% of workloads globally will reside on the cloud and more than 40 zettabytes of data will be flowing through cloud servers and networks. If African businesses are to take advantage of the opportunities that the cloud will present in the next decade, there are some key numbers we should all be paying attention to: 402.5 GB That’s how much data European and American broadband subscribers used on average every month during the first quarter of 2020. This reflects an increase of 47% in broadband data usage from the first quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of 2020. Of ...
Ethiopian Airlines Could Supply SAA with Planes and Pilots
Image sourced from News 24 Ethiopian Airlines has offered to supply South African Airways with planes, pilots and maintenance services as part of a new venture with the South African government, reports Bloomberg. Ethiopian Airlines CEO, Tewolde Gebre Marium says that they’re looking at providing operational assistance and aren’t interested in “helping with debt repayments or the cost of reducing the workforce”. “We don’t want to deal with the legacy issues — the debt, labour claims and so on because that is very difficult for us not only in terms of financial outlay but also in terms of managing the restructuring,” says Gebre Marium. “We want to make it very easy for them to start the airline by providing aeroplanes, by providing expertise, pilots, technicians, leadership.” SAA, which has...
Rwanda to Host MWC 2021
GSMA has revealed that it will host MWC Africa in Kigali, Rwanda in 2021 – this comes after MWC 2020 was scrapped in the wake of numerous wireless tech heavyweights deciding to pull out from the conference citing the coronavirus outbreak. MWC21 Africa is expected to bring together the leading names in business and technology from all around the world. “I am proud of what we have built with Thrive and the previous Mobile 360 events, which have helped shape the continent’s connected digital future,” says GSMA Director General, Mats Granryd. “From 2021 we will celebrate MWC Africa, joining our world-leading platform for thought-leadership and technology, recognising the important role Africa will play in our connected future.” /* custom css */ .tdi_3_b57.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: ...
3 Digital Transformation Priorities for Healthcare Organisations in Africa
South Africa’s healthcare sector has conducted roughly four million COVID-19 tests with around 650 000 positive cases identified. While infection rates continue to climb in much of the developed and developing world, stringent measures to contain the coronavirus in South Africa have helped flatten the curve to the point where most normal economic activity can resume. While public efforts at hygiene and social distancing have certainly contributed greatly to the decline in daily case numbers, it’s undoubtedly the tireless work of the healthcare sector that has helped the country get through the greatest public health challenge in a century. Efforts to treat infected patients were complicated by a prevailing shortage of medical staff. The World Bank estimates South Africa has only 0.9 medica...
Telkom Makes New Changes to Board
Telkom has made new changes to its board committees. In a recent statement, the telco says “shareholders are advised that Telkom will reconstitute various of its Board Committees with effect from 28 September 2020.” Here is a closer look the changes that Telkom will make to its board committees: Botha will resign from the nominations committee and the remuneration committees Dolly Mokgatle will be appointed as a member of the nominations committee Sibusiso Sibisi will be appointed as a member of the risk committee Rex Tomlinson will be appointed as the chairman of the remuneration committee and a member of the nominations committee. He will retire from the audit committee Louis Von Zeuner will be appointed as a member of the remuneration committee and will retire from the social and ethics...
Global 5G Networks Reach Major Connectivity Milestone
101 mobile operators in 44 countries have launched one or more fully commercial 5G networks, according to the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA). Of these commercial networks, GSA data records that there are now 94 operators live with 3GPP-compliant 5G mobile services (up from 63 at the end of March 2020), while 37 have launched 3GPP-compliant 5G FWA or home broadband services (up from 34). “5G remains on track to become the fastest adopted mobile technology ever,” says Joe Barrett, GSA President. “There are now over 400 announced 5G devices; 5G subscriptions are doubling quarter on quarter; there are 20 commercially available 5G mobile processors and platforms and eight discrete 5G modems from five different semiconductor companies.” “With over 100 commercial 5G networks now launch...
South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria Suffer 28 Million Malware Attacks
Sourced from IDG Connect More than 28 million malware attacks have been recorded in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria so far this year, according to research from Kaspersky, as well as 102 million detections of ‘grey zone’ software or potentially unwanted programs (PUAs). PUAs are programs that are usually not considered to be malicious by themselves. However, they are generally influencing user experience in a negative way. For instance, adware fills user device with ads; aggressive monetising software propagates unrequested paid offers; downloaders may download even more various applications on the device, sometimes malicious ones. While calculating interim results of threat landscape activity in African countries, the researchers noticed that PUAs attack users almost four times more often...
Airtel Africa Introduces ‘Amazing’ Data Bundles
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel Africa has introduced a new range of data bundles that could see customers receive up to 15GB of free data. According to Gadgets Africa, new daily, weekly and monthly data promotion will allow customers to get 500MB free data every day – depending on their data plan. For a weekly plan, customers can get Free 3.5GB – 500MB is awarded on a daily basis for 7 days. For a monthly plan, customers can get Free 15GB – 500MB is awarded on a daily basis for 30 days. Here’s a closer look at the data bundles: /* custom css */ .tdi_3_2b2.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_2b2.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Airtel Nigeria Introduces New Unlimited Data Plans Airtel Nigeria has introduced a new range of unlimited data plans – known as ‘Unlimited Ultra Plans’. Th...
All the Benefits of Sponsoring Digital Transformation Congress 2020
Digital Transformation Congress virtual event will be taking place on 07-08 October 2020 where it aims to feature an exciting list of visionaries, thought leaders and industry experts who will explore the benefits and challenges of digital transformation within your business and in key industries.As the premier digital transformation event on the continent, #DTC2020 offers you a platform to showcase some of the latest solutions to a diverse audience drawn from the public and private sectors. It brings together IT leaders and senior business executives to take part in insightful presentations, panel discussions, industry-focused break-away sessions and interactive case-studies, all to take a closer look at how organisations can really get the most out of digital transformation to see the be...
What does a Cloud-Connected Africa look like?
Sourced from ZDNet. With a region as large and as vast as Africa, it is difficult to imagine a fully connected continent where every individual across all demographics and every business across all sectors can harness the power of cloud computing. Yet as technology continues to drastically change how we conduct our lives and connect with the world around us, this notion of a cloud-connected Africa becomes far more plausible and realistic. In fact, many of us are already utilising cloud-enabled technologies on a daily basis. From cloud-based productivity apps to collaboration services like Microsoft Teams, the cloud is seamlessly integrating into our everyday lives. A future where a healthy cloud ecosystem is supported by integrated and innovative technologies is much closer than we t...
Vodafone Foundation to Expand ‘Ambulance taxi’ Programme in Africa
The Vodafone Foundation has announced that it will commit $28 million to expand its ‘ambulance taxi’ programme beyond Tanzania for the first time to sub-Saharan African countries. The programme is expected to initially expand to Lesotho, with a co-investment of $4.5 million by the Foundation and the Government of Lesotho. Lesotho has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, and the programme could potentially save 200 lives over the next four years alone. “Vodafone Foundation shares the commitment of the Government of Lesotho to reduce maternal mortality and contribute to the UN’s health goal. Our long-term investment of US$28 million to expand m-mama within sub-Saharan Africa will save the lives of thousands of women through an emergency service that governments can af...
How COVID-19 has Impacted Africa’s Wealthiest Countries by GDP
Sourced from IDG Connect Spanning 54 countries, Africa is a powerhouse in the world of natural resources and innovation. And despite the social and political issues the continent faces, there’s was no doubt that it was on track to see an abundance of opportunities to grow in the coming years – however, there was no telling what impact COVID-19 and subsequent national lockdowns would have on local GDPs. Here is a quick look at the richest countries in Africa in a COVID-19 economy: Nigeria A key component of the African economy, Nigeria has a population amounting to half of West Africa (just over 202 million). With an abundance of natural resources, it remains Africa’s number one producer in terms of GDP output, roughly $446,543 Billion at the end of 2019. The country is Africa’s large...
