Mobile and Telecoms
How to Find WiFi Dead Spots at Home
Sourced from The Guardian Nigeria We tend to take Wi-Fi for granted at times, expecting it to miraculously work 24/7 and in every room of our homes – even on that remote patio that doesn’t quite reach the wireless router’s signal. As wireless connectivity runs on radio waves, obstructions and interferences come with the territory, resulting in Wi-Fi dead spots where wireless signals can’t penetrate. This means that your wireless devices won’t pick up Wi-Fi signals in these zones, and you’ll have to move to gain Internet access again – a particularly annoying ordeal if you’ve just settled in a comfy, quiet spot away from your kids or colleagues. For a frustration-free connection that you can count on, identifying these network dead zones and fixing them is a must. Let’s look at how yo...
TelOne Zimbabwe Partners with Tejas to Expand Network Footprint
TelOne Zimbabwe has deployed Tejas’ 100G/100G+ coherent DWDM solution for its network expansion. This partnership is expected to see the high-speed transmission of multiple 100G lambdas while meeting the stringent performance and reliability requirements in a cost-effective manner. CEO and MD of Tejas Networks, Sanjay Nayak says “We are delighted that TelOne has deployed our latest 100G/100G+ DWDM/OTN technology for its network expansion. Our solution empowers our customers to diversify their existing DWDM vendor base and use our proven, cost-effective solution to expand and inter-operate”. MD of TelOne, Chipo Mtasa says “TelOne offers access to a vast network footprint in Zimbabwe. With the rising demand for bandwidth and higher speeds from our customers, we were looking for a versat...
Facebook Joins Forces with Eutelsat to Expand WiFi Connectivity Across Sub-Saharan Africa
Eutelsat Communications is expanding its use of the Express WiFi platform in partnership with Facebook to provide broadband services via satellite across several regions in Sub-Saharan Africa. With Express Wi-Fi, Eutelsat aims to connect thousands of people in rural and underserved communities spanning the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa, Cameroon, Ghana and Zimbabwe. Express Wi-Fi is a platform developed by Facebook Connectivity that enables partners to build, grow and monetize their WiFi businesses in a scalable way while providing their customers with fast, affordable, and reliable internet access. Express Wi-Fi is used in more than 30 countries, including in multiple Asian, South American and African ...
MÉTISS Undersea Cable Connects South Africa to Mauritius
MÉTISS is a 3,200 km subsea fibre optic cable system that connects South Africa to the Indian Ocean islands of Madagascar, Reunion and Mauritius – it lands in Amanzimtoti and is backhauled by Liquid Telecoms to Teraco’s data centre in Durban. With MÉTISS consortium members having the infrastructure in both the Teraco Durban (DB1) and Johannesburg (JB1)data centre facilities, the Indian Ocean Islands have direct access to Teraco’s ecosystem of over 300 networks, 130 IT service providers, 50 global content providers, and the key global cloud providers says Michele McCann, Head of Interconnection and Peering at Teraco. The availability of a new cable servicing the Indian Ocean Islands region widens the addressable market for content and cloud providers in South Africa. It adds new r...
New M-PESA Update Allows Users to Send Money to Multiple People
Sourced from Tech Weez. Safaricom has introduced a new M-PESA app feature that allows users to send money to up to five people at the same time. According to Gadgets Africa, a big reason why the telco may have introduced this feature is to make it easier for companies to pay employees via the app. “Most times you’d have to send them their dues one by one which can be tedious. Now this update should help ease that pressure. We’re not sure yet if it lets you select different amounts for different people but if that’s the case it’s even better.” MTN Bids for Ethiopian Telco Licence Alongside Vodacom and Safaricom MTN Group has reportedly made a bid for an Ethiopian telecommunications licence alongside Vodacom Group and Safaricom. Finance ministry adviser, Brook Taye says that the consortium o...
Are All Satellite Internet Services Created Equal?
Are all satellite services created equal? Are the low latency services promoted by Starlink the holy grail to a mass market for satellite broadband? What is really required to support business connectivity requirements, and what are the real details to be considered? As media awareness grows and the market realises the potential of satellite services, it is becoming increasingly important to discuss architecture specifics in order to guide application design and network implementation considerations. Smart Satellite Services Current satellite services are much more advanced than previous generations. It is no longer just about the myths that satellite is slow, expensive, and has a latency problem. Satellite platforms have evolved way past those days and are now advanced IP connectivity sol...
500,000 People Pre-Order’s SpaceX’s Internet Service Starlink
SpaceX’s satellite Internet service – Starlink – has recorded more than 500,000 orders and deposits from customers. Starlink uses satellites that are over 60 times closer to Earth than traditional satellites, resulting in lower latency (the time it takes to send data from one point to the next) and the ability to support services typically not possible with traditional satellite internet. “To date, over half a million people have placed an order or put down a deposit for Starlink,” says Siva Bharadvaj, SpaceX operations engineer. “With every launch, we get closer to connecting more people across the world.” According to Business Insider, the company launched 60 more Starlink satellites into orbit using one of its Falcon 9 rockets, completing its 10th Starlink mission of 2021 and its 26th m...
MTN Group Reports Service Revenue Growth in 2021
Sourced from TheTechieGuy (https://thetechieguy.com/) MTN Group has reported strong operational and financial performance for the first quarter of 2021. “The MTN Group has delivered a solid Q1 2021 trading performance, with service revenue and EBITDA margins expanding on the back of continued commercial momentum and resilient networks,” says MTN Group President and CEO, Ralph Mupita. He adds that the Group’s Ambition 2025 strategy had gained execution traction during challenging COVID-19 macroeconomic conditions in the quarter. In constant currency terms, service revenue grew by 17.8% to R42.3 billion at end-March 2021, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 21.3% and the EBITDA margin widened to 44.2% from 42.7%. “The overall Group results were suppo...
Supersonic Begins AirFibre Rollout in South Africa
Image sourced from SpaceNews Supersonic – in partnership with MTN – has officially announced the installation of its wireless broadband solution. This service is expected to overcome distance and a lack of infrastructure in urban, township and rural communities to bring fibre-quality connectivity to more households across the country. “We are breaking down the traditional barriers to entry that have denied much access to a modern, connected life,” says Calvin Collet, MD of Supersonic. “From Soweto to Swellendam, we believe that every household deserves the speed and benefits of fibre-like connectivity, and through AirFibre we believe we can achieve this.” He goes on to say that the use of open spectrum frequencies potentially has the risk of incurring interference, however, this technology...
Telkom Unveils Fraud and Corruption Reporting Platform
Telkom has unveiled a multi-channel whistleblowing platform that allows users to report any acts or suspected acts of fraud, corruption, and irregular conduct within the organisation. The company says that this service is part of the Group’s ethics and corporate governance mechanisms to ensure that the Telkom Group remains a corruption and fraud-free organisation. “Every individual has a responsibility to play their part in rooting out fraud and corruption in our society, communities, and organisations. South Africa was recently ranked #69 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2020, further highlighting the severity of fraud and corruption in our country,” reads a statement from the telco. “That is why Telkom Group has partnered with safe lin...
