Top Stories
Opera’s OPay Still Planning African Expansion via Nigerian “Super App”
Sourced from TechCrunch. Opera’s African fintech startup OPay remains committed to building a multi-service super app in Nigeria as the foundation to expand on the continent. OPay will also continue to operate ORide for limited passenger service — though the company is shifting the motorcycle ride-hail operation toward logistics businesses. These updates were offered by Opera’s VP of Investor Relations and advisor to Opay, Derrick Nueman speaking to TechCrunch. Opera’s plans are coming to fruition in the context of fierce competition among fintech and mobility companies in the West African country. Nigeria is home to the continent’s largest economy, biggest population and is the top destination for VC to African startups, as of 2019. In 2018, Opera launched the Opay mobile money platf...
TikTok Accused of Breaching Child Privacy Regulations
Sourced from Cosmico At least twenty advocacy groups have accused TikTok of violating child privacy regulations in the US and breaching a settlement that the viral video app agreed with the Federal Trade Commission last year over a previous privacy complaint. The groups, which include the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the Center for Digital Democracy and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, have all filed complaints with the US Watchdog saying that they believe that the social media platform is “in contempt” of the terms of the 2019 settlement, as well as children’s privacy regulations. ArsTechnica reports that TikTok, owned by Chinese tech group ByteDance, was fined $5.7-million in February last year for illegally collecting children’s data as it began to rise in popular...
How to Streamline Data Access for Remote Teams during the Pandemic
The enterprise workforce has long been spread across multiple office sites. But today they’re also working from living rooms, airports, coffee shops and other remote locations. In fact, research shows that nearly two-thirds of organizations today have remote workers. This new reality presents several IT and data management challenges. With remote teams, file sharing can be cumbersome and can slow down productivity because of poor bandwidth. Moreover, if your organization lacks a centralized data management system, storage usage will increase due to unnecessary redundancies. There’s also the risk of losing critical data due to a lack of centralized backup and recovery. With the right data management strategy, businesses can turn challenges of the modern workplace into advantages that set yo...
This App Helps Parents Control How Much Time Their Kids Spend on their Phones
Sourced from Microsoft Microsoft is launching a new app called Family Safety – created to make a difference in how you monitor your family’s, and your own, screen time. Designed primarily to manage the screentime and app usage of children. “Protect what matters most with physical and digital safety,” is how Microsoft describes the app on its official website. The electronics juggernaut announced in a blog post on Monday that the app is available now in preview form on both Android and iOS. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_157.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_157.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Microsoft says in the announcement that “With families working and learning from home, many of us are spending more time on our computers and phones. Microsoft Family Safety helps you to facili...
Uber Launches Mask Verification Safety Measure
Sourced from CNet. As governments begin to lift lockdowns, Uber says that it is taking unprecedented safety measures to help everyone who uses its app to stay safe and healthy. From next week, all Uber riders, drivers and couriers in South Africa will be required to wear a mask or face covering when taking a trip. As part of a new in-app safety checklist, before drivers and couriers go online they will be asked to take a selfie to verify they are wearing a mask or face covering using new object recognition technology. Any driver or courier who is not wearing a mask or other face-covering will not be able to go online. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_eee.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_eee.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Drivers will also be asked to confirm they’ve taken additional...
What South Africans Think of Digital Payment Methods
Sourced from Innovation Village. As digitization makes its way into Africa across sectors and industries, digital payment methods are being offered as safe and convenient alternatives to traditional options. Borderless Access conducted a study across South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria to explore the uptake of digital payment methods, including e-wallets, money payment apps, and mobile money transfer. It is important to note that this study was conducted just before the lockdown was implemented in any of these countries, the results indicate a long term trend, rather than being skewed by the unusual spending behaviour of the past few weeks. Non-bank digital methods are still under-utilised in South Africa /* custom css */ .tdi_3_55a.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_55a.td-a-rec-...
Telkom Cuts Uncapped Data Prices
Image sourced from My Broadband In response to the increased demand for home connectivity during the COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa, Telkom has reduced prices and removed caps on its copper-based DSL broadband portfolio to new customers. Telkom’s new promotional prices start from R199 ($10.72) for an initial 6-month period for a 4 Mbps line, with the company hoping to enable access for those who currently do not have fixed broadband. This pricing of the uncapped data is part of Telkom’s COVID-19 relief efforts to enable access to education, work, and entertainment platforms. “Telkom already has copper access technology which can provide cost-effective home connectivity. During the lockdown we decided to use all the infrastructure available to us to provide good, affordable quality...
2Africa: The New Subsea Cable Connecting Africa to Europe
Sourced from 2Africa.com Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, STC, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC have all partnered to build 2Africa – said to be the most comprehensive subsea cable to serve the African continent and Middle East region ever. The companies have appointed Alcatel Submarine Networks (“ASN”) to build the cable in a fully funded project which will greatly enhance connectivity across Africa and the Middle East. At 37,000km long, 2Africa will be one of the world’s largest subsea cable projects and will interconnect Europe (eastward via Egypt), the Middle East (via Saudi Arabia), and 21 landings in 16 countries in Africa. The system is expected to go live in 2023 to 2024, delivering more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables serving Africa today, with a design ...
Trump Lengthens Ban on Huawei
Image sourced from Al Jazeera US President, Donald Trump has extended the national emergency order that prohibits American companies from buying, selling or using any hardware from Chinese technology company, Huawei, in fear that it will result in ‘cyber-exploitation’ by China for another year. The order also means that Chinese companies do not have legal access to American technology. Bloomberg reports that this is one way the US is limiting China’s dominance over 5G networks. Huawei has repeatedly challenged claims that it operates in conjunction with the Chinese government. US-China Trade Ban: A History /* custom css */ .tdi_3_7bc.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_7bc.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Back in 2019, Trump claimed that Huawei is a threat to American national s...
Chatbot Uptake to Remain Robust in Nigeria
Sourced from UC Today. Nigerian firms that offer extensive customer support on their platforms are eagerly snapping up chatbot solutions to improve Customer Experience (CX) and drive down costs. This technology is becoming simpler, cheaper to deploy, and can be integrated across various chat channels. Chatbots are rapidly changing the game for many businesses, as AI-driven bots start to communicate more efficiently and effectively with end-users while giving organisations better insight into their customers. What’s more, this technology provides organisations with cost optimisation by decreasing operating expenses, in addition to offering scalability without impacting quality. As a result, this frees up resources for the organisation in order to pursue other opportunities. /* custom css */...
Telegram Shuts Down its Own Cryptocurrency
Sourced from Tech Inside. Telegram is officially calling it quits on its crypto-focused subsidiary, Telegram Open Network (TON). “Telegram’s active involvement with TON is over,” writes Pavel Durov, founder and CEO, in an announcement on his channel. “For the last 2,5 years, some of our best engineers have been working on a next-generation blockchain platform called TON and a cryptocurrency we were going to name Gram. TON was designed to share the principles of decentralization pioneered by Bitcoin and Ethereum, but to be vastly superior to them in speed and scalability,” the announcement continues. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_c4b.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_c4b.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Durov claims that technology had the potential to revolutionize how people store ...
5G Critical to Nigeria’s Development, Claim Engineers
Sourced from PC Mag Engineers in the field of electronics have thrown their weight behind the need for Nigeria to deploy 5G technology. This comes after the country’s communication commission announced that, despite news on social media, it had not given out any licenses for network operators to begin to deploy 5G technologies. These engineers, under the umbrella of the Nigerian Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers (NIEEE), say that despite false claims that have impacted the deployment of the technology globally, the development potential for the country is massive. Keeping with this, the body says that Nigeria should not be left out of the opportunities that come with 5G technology. Speaking at a Zoom meeting on the topic “Expert Insights on 5G Concerns,” the national chairman ...
