technology news
MTN Ghana Continues to Fight Against Regulator’s Attempts to Restrict Operations
Sourced from The Techie Guy MTN Ghana has initiated a new move in seeking a judicial review of Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA)’s decision to declare the telecom a Significant Market Power (SMP) in the country. MTN says that this declaration could mean significant regulatory restrictions being placed upon it by the NCA which could potentially limit the telecom’s growth in the country, as well as its performance, innovativeness and competitiveness in the global telecoms market. MTN Ghana heads to court All Africa reports that a statement issued by MTN Ghana in Accra on Friday and signed by its CEO, Selorm Adadevoh, who says that that the SMP declaration raises concerns about clear procedural breaches. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_ec2.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_ec2.td-...
Kenya Introduces Digital Tax for Online Sales
Sourced from Phys.org. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has approved the 2020 Finance Bill, proposing amendments to multiple statutes including the Income Tax Act, the Value Added Tax Act of 2013, the Excise Duty Act of 2015 and the Tax Procedures Act of 2015. The most notable aspect of the approval of this new bill is the foundation of the Digital Services Tax. This new bill will see the introduction of a digital tax at 1.5% the gross value of any online transaction. Taxing online transactions What this means is that people whose income is from the “provision of services and products” sourced through the digital marketplace will have to pay the tax. What’s more, the digital service tax will be payable at the time of transfer of payment to service providers. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_ecc.td-a...
Tanzanian FinTech Launches Personal Finance App
Mipango Fintech has launched a new app that will provide free personal financial management to Tanzanians on IOS and Android mobile devices. The app – which is underpinned by AI and operates in Swahili – aims to support Tanzanians to better manage their expenses, provide an opportunity to set up budgets, view, analyze expenses and track personal finances. “Financial literacy is a key gap in the growth and development of this market. Over 50% of Tanzanian adults do not keep track of their expenditures and have no financial goals. This factor leads many citizens to engage in bad debt practices which in turn leads many people into abject poverty,” says Lilian Makoi, co-founder of Mipango Fintech. “We see the launch of this application as an opportunity to change the way our citizens run their...
India Bans TikTok and Other Chinese Apps Amid Border Tensions
Sourced from Gadgets 360. Popular Chinese video and music app TikTok has been banned in India, along with 58 other apps – most of which are Chinese. This comes as tensions between the two countries continue to rise. Developed by Chinese company Bytedance, TikTok allows users to share short videos usually set to music. The app and its developers have long denied allegations of being involved in any way with the Chinese government, going as far as to say that its data centres are kept outside of China and therefore is not under the sovereignty of Chinese law. India’s Reaction The Indian government has seen fit to block the app from Indian phones, as well as 58 others. Amongst them Alibaba’s UC Browser and Tencent’s WeChat which is also alleged to be working with the government of China. Even...
ICC Appoints First Black Female to Executive Board
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has appointed Valentina Mintah to the executive board – marking the first time a black woman has been positioned as an executive board member in the 100 year history of the organisation. In her new role, the Ghanaian-British technology executive – who is based in Dubai – will be responsible for boosting trade ties between Africa and the rest of the world. Mintah, internationally-recognised for her expertise in trade facilitation and process automation, is the founder and former CEO of West Blue Consulting, an award-winning ICT organisation based in West Africa. Having established West Blue Consulting in 2012, she led the company to successfully develop and deliver a national single window platform for Nigeria – significantly optimising and improv...
A Second Next-Gen Xbox is Reportedly Set for Reveal in August
Sourced from jiveduder on Reddit. A newly leaked document from Microsoft has hinted that the tech giant could be preparing to announce a second next-gen Xbox console other than the Series X, and now rumours allege that the new console is planned for an August reveal. Eurogamers reports that Microsoft had originally planned to unveil the console, codenamed “Lockhart” in June. These plans have been moved to August by the company, with Eurogamer claiming that the console will be named the Xbox Series S. According to The Verge, Microsoft has been working on this second, cheaper next-gen console for months. Documents leaked last week seemingly confirm the second console being slightly toned-down performance-wise to lower the price. According to the documents, Microsoft’s Xbox Series X devkit – ...
Google to Discontinue Outdated G Suite Apps
Google has decided to discontinue several old versions of specific G Suite apps in August 2020 – and encourages users to update their apps as soon as possible. In an official blog post, Google says that it began making changes to its API and service infrastructure in 2018 in order to improve performance and security. “As a result of these changes, some older versions of G Suite desktop and mobile apps may stop working on August 12, 2020. In particular, versions released prior to December 2018 may be impacted.” /* custom css */ .tdi_3_f54.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_f54.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Google notes the apps that need to be updated so that users’ workflows are not disrupted include: Classroom iOS app Docs Android and iOS apps Drive Android and iOS apps Dri...
MTN Launches 5G Network – Everything You Need to Know
Image sourced from Pinterest. MTN South Africa has launched its commercial 5G network, providing access to 100 sites across the country. “Today, from MTN’s birthplace of South Africa, we are stepping up our digital revolution with the next generation of telecommunication technology, demonstrating to all South Africans that 5G is no longer just an idea. It is here, it works and it has the capacity to bring about exponential improvements to our economy, and to the lives of the people we serve,” says MTN SA CEO Godfrey Motsa during the company’s live-streamed launch event. The network today covers specific parts of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth, Durban and other smaller towns. “Our 5G strategy has been years in the making and we are confident that we have built a stron...
South African Organisations Lag Behind Global Average of Cybersecurity Resilience
Email and data security company, Mimecast, unveiled its fourth-annual State of Email Security 2020 report. This report summarises details from 1,025 global IT decision-makers on the current state of cybersecurity. The findings in this year’s report demonstrate that despite high levels of confidence in respondents’ cyber resilience strategies, there is a clear need for improvement. While a large majority (77%) of respondents say they have or are actively rolling out a cyber resilience strategy, only 62% of South African organisations are doing the same. Yet an astounding 47% of local organisations – and 60% of global ones – believe it is inevitable or likely they will suffer from an email-borne attack in the coming year. South African respondents cite data loss (35%), a decrease in employee...
Are We Facing A Global Skills Crisis?
Sourced from TTEC.com The World Economic Forum believes that business across the globe could be facing a reskilling emergency. According to them by 2022, 42% of core skills required to perform existing jobs are going to change. Technology skills, for example, will be in high demand, making it one of the driving forces behind job transformation. Ntombi Mphokane, e4’s HR and Transformation Executive, says that while business is under pressure to evolve, the people need to be nurtured, developed and grown accordingly. “It is clear that all workforces are under pressure as almost everything is changing. We are squarely in what the United Nations calls the “decade of delivery”, and while it is forcing a focus on sustainable and responsible growth, it is also placing significant pressure on...
Microsoft Reportedly Suspending Advertising on Facebook and Instagram
Sourced from Getty Images. Microsoft has reportedly paused advertising on Facebook and Instagram worldwide due to growing concerns about the content that is accompanying its adverts. Interestingly, the company isn’t participating in the industry-wide Facebook advertising boycott alongside mega-corporations like Coca-Cola and Unilever. Instead, Microsoft is more worried that their adverts might be shown with “inappropriate content” such as hate speech or pornography, according to internal communication viewed by Axios. Microsoft distances itself from larger boycott “Based on concerns we had back in May we suspended all media spending on Facebook/Instagram in the US and we’ve subsequently suspended all spending on Facebook/Instagram worldwide,” Microsoft CMO Chris Capossela said in an intern...
eCommerce Activity Reaches Record High – Offering Hope for Local Economy
Sourced from IOL. eCommerce is said to be providing a ray of hope for South Africa’s local economy with transactions hitting a record high in May and June. And, while there will be some levelling off, DPO South Africa says the new love affair with digital commerce is unlikely to fade in coming months, offering some relief in an otherwise grim economy. “The last weekend in May saw transactions per minute hit four times that of the busiest minute experienced during Black Friday last year. June was similar to May and we expect our monthly volumes for the rest of the year to settle at around 40 per cent higher than last year,” explains Peter Harvey, MD of DPO South Africa. According to Harvey, the adoption of eCommerce should be seen as a very positive sign after the depressing financial metri...
