Mobile and Telecoms
Vodacom is The First Telco to Zero-Rate what3words
The what3words technology, available as an app or online map, has divided the world into a grid of 3m squares, giving each square a unique combination of three words: a what3words address. Vodacom has become the first telco globally to zero-rate the lifesaving addressing technology, what3words, for its more than 43 million subscribers across South Africa. The UN estimates that 75% of countries in the world have a poorly maintained addressing system – or none at all. This is an issue that South Africa knows well, with large parts of the country still lacking spatial planning. This might be an inconvenience when you are expecting a delivery, but it is a far graver issue for locals living in rural areas or informal settlements when it comes to emergencies. Without an address – or in the event...
Why South African Enterprises Will Benefit The Most from 5G Technology
Over the past forty years, the mobile industry has introduced a new generation of technology every decade. The enhanced capabilities introduced by 5G technology are valuable for business because of the potential to directly impact on core operations, unlocking much-needed efficiencies, and enhancing productivity, to an extent that we have not seen before. Key capabilities offer big benefits to business Prior to 5G, mobile technologies were primarily focussed on the individual consumer. The benefits to business have been indirect, particularly across Africa, where the coverage of fixed-line infrastructure could not provide the mass connectivity needed to impact on core operations. 5G was designed with the needs of the enterprise in mind, and its key capabilities — Enhanced Mobile Broadband ...
Why Getting Students Online Poses a Major Challenge
The COVID-19 lockdown has forced many schools, colleges and educational institutions to rapidly switch to online learning. Although there are many advanced online learning platforms available, the one critical factor that still remains is reliable connectivity to online learning platforms. The reality is that only a small percentage of homes in South Africa are covered by uncapped fibre connectivity. This is where mobile data connectivity is the only option. There has been ongoing lobbying of mobile networks led by various educational organisations such as the National Association of Social Change Entities in Education as well as the DG Murray Trust. The current reality, however, is that learning institutions are forced to provide data connectivity to learners. Last week, the U...
Uganda Starts Mass Production of its First Smartphone
Sourced from Gadgets Africa. Uganda will begin manufacturing its first smartphones through SIMI – a brand of smartphone makers that are said to have the average customer specifically in mind. The phones currently focus on one major aspect, battery life. The ‘regular’ non-smartphones can last up to at least two weeks and can charge via Solar power too. The smartphones have a battery capacity of at least two days. Currently, SIMI has the capacity to make 2000 phones a day. SIMI has already flagged off an 18,000 phone consignment that Uganda is exporting to Morocco sometime soon. The company also wants to involve university students in the development of apps and software for the handsets. Together with the production of the smartphones comes new regulations in the country, where phone import...
MTN Ranked as the Most Admired African Brand
MTN has again been ranked as the ‘Most Admired African Brand’ based on spontaneous consumer responses in Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands 2020 survey. The survey, which was released on Monday, shows that MTN is also the only African brand in the rankings of the ‘Most Admired Brands in Africa’. Covering 27 countries, representing around 80% of the population and the GDP of Africa, the group is now also considered one of the continent’s most admired media brands. MTN Mobile Money – through which MTN provides more than 35 million Africans access to financial services – remains one of Africa’s most admired finance brands. The Group also maintained its top position in the telecoms provider category. “We are thrilled to receive these accolades as the continent celebrates Africa Day,” says ...
UK Cybersecurity Review May Mean the End for Huawei 5G Deal
Sourced from Getty Images. The UK’s National Cybersecurity Agency is expected to conclude that US sanctions against Huawei will make it impossible to use the Chinese company’s technology as planned for implementation of 5G throughout the country. Announced on Sunday, this emergency review is designed to pave the way for the country’s government to push for the total elimination of Huawei equipment in British phone networks by 2023, while also having the political consequence in dispersing a Conservative backbench revolt. The Guardian reports that this move will amount to a hasty reversal of the policy announced by ministers in January to limit Huawei to 35% of the British 5G network supply. The move likewise may irritate China, and add hundreds of millions in costs to UK-based BT and other...
How Telecoms Can Rebuild Nigeria in the Wake of COVID-19
Sourced from the Guardian Nigeria. The COVID-19 worldwide pandemic has had and could continue to have long-lasting devastating effects on all social and economic sectors. For Nigeria, the pandemic can be seen as an eye-opener and a rude awakening to a new normal-knowledge economy. Apart from certain ingenious initiatives in Lagos and a few other states, Nigeria’s overall response to the pandemic has been less than satisfactory, writes The Guardian Nigeria. New, upcoming phases of recovery and thriving will be defining for the country. Now, in this crisis, it has become clear that telecommunications are playing a large role in retaining any semblance of normalcy in the country. In the recovery stage, telecoms could continue to help manage the transition out of COVID-19 related stagnation as...
Konnect Africa Offers Free Internet to Clinics in South Africa during Pandemic
Konnect Africa, a subsidiary of Eutelsat Communications, is offering its services to the South African authorities to help them manage the COVID-19 health crisis. The communications company says that it will provide temporary free broadband connectivity to eight clinics in the Mpumalanga province where terrestrial networks are not able to provide appropriate bandwidth. Each site will benefit from 300GB of monthly data for several months, renewable if necessary. The deployment was undertaken by Konnect Africa’s local ECNS-licensed distributor, Logical Wireless, which has been authorized to operate during the lockdown as an Essential Services provider. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_400.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_400.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } “This operation demonstrates ...
Mobile Connectivity: Staying Flexible is Key During Uncertain Times
As many companies in South Africa scramble to keep their employees working from home, the reality of connectivity costs, control and flexibility is becoming more important than ever. In the traditional office environment, managing connectivity and data use was not such a serious issue for IT managers, as data costs were essentially a part of overall fixed network infrastructure. Now, with many employees being forced to work from home, using mobile data where home fibre connectivity is not available has become costly and difficult to manage. Mobile data use has shot up while trying to keep employees connected and productive. Furthermore, many traditional mobile connectivity options such as corporate APN’s are not ideal for certain uses due to high data costs, not hav...
5G Connections in Sub-Saharan Africa will Reach 28-Million by 2025, Says GSMA
The Global System for Mobile Telecommunications Association (GSMA) has stated that about 28-million devices in Sub-Saharan Africa – representing a total of 2.7% of total mobile connections – will be connected to a 5G network by 2025. Akinwale Goodluck, Head of Sub-Saharan Africa for the GSMA said this during a Huawei online interview. He explained that when 5G eventually comes to Sub-Saharan Africa, it will be more for the enterprise market as opposed to the retail consumer market. “We will see little 5G hotspots in countries like South Africa. I know that some operators have started some of those, but the ultimate goal will be for us to fill up the 4G pipes. Then when 5G comes there will be a sort of limit in terms of wireless roll-outs, but the bottom line is governments need to aggressi...
Over 1 Billion SMSs Sent since the Beginning of Lockdown in Nigeria
Sourced from allAfrica. Nigeria’s lockdown triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the usage of SMSs – the quintessential short message service used all across the world – as subscribers were discovered to have sent over 1-billion messages within the last month. Though this mass of messages was largely free, checks on some operators revealed the rate of how customers made use of the SMS platform to send messages to one another. For instance, a check on MTN showed that within the first five weeks of lockdown, where people all across the country began to work remotely. Over one billion text messages were sent by customers within the first four weeks of the pan-African telecom introducing a new free SMS package – the package allows MTN Nigeria subscribers across the country to send 1...
MTN Zambia Invests $9.8 Million in Network Upgrade Operation
Image sourced from Pinterest. MTN Zambia has announced that it will be investing $9.8 million to boost network capacity and enable high-speed data services on 337 3G and 4G (LTE) network sites across Zambia. The site-by-site technical roll-out, which focuses on areas with the highest demand pressure, started in the Copperbelt northern regions followed by Lusaka. MTN says its customers will experience the benefits of the increased capacity immediately and that the upgrade is expected to finalise in August. The improvements are done by adding additional carriers on existing 3G and 4G network sites and upgrading current 3G sites to 4G. It also includes the activation of the 800Mhz 4G spectrum which was released by ZICTA recently. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_654.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.t...
