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MTN Launches Supersonic AirFibre in South Africa

MTN has launched its Supersonic AirFibre offering in South Africa. The product is said 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 Collett, MD of MTN SA’s ISP: 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.” Supersonic AirFibre is expected to bring high-speed, inexpensive, and uncapped connectivity solutions to areas in which traditional fibre installations are not available. Built on unlicensed spectrum, the ...

vivo Introduces the Y20s Smartphone to Kenya

vivo has announced the launch of its newest Y-Series smartphone, the Y20s, in Kenya. This comes after the company was ranked fifth in the global smartphone market in 2020 by the International Data Corporation (IDC) with a market share of 8.6 percent and shipments exceeding 110 million devices. Within last year, vivo was one of the three smartphone brands to maintain an increase in shipments despite the overall downturn experienced. “vivo’s success in the global market can be attributed to its persistent efforts to understand and tap into specific consumer behaviours,” says James Irungu, Brand and Communications Manager at vivo Kenya. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_004.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_004.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } “In line with its ambitions to continue its gr...

5 Cloud Computing Trends for 2021

Sourced from ZDNet. When it comes to the world of work, 2020 will be remembered as a year that accelerated technological change. Forced out of their comfort zones, companies either adopted or more fully embraced technologies that they might have given short shrift to previously. Cloud computing is no exception. According to the most recent “Cloud in Africa” report, cloud technology was vital in helping businesses manage the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Among the most common uses of the cloud were disaster recovery (91%), remote working (82%) and customer service activities (52%). Just a few years ago, they might not have been able to survive the storm in the same way. As recently as 2013, just 50% of businesses in South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria were using some form of ...

How to Establish a Digitally Inclusive Economy Through Technology

Technology has a runaway effect. Through devices and broadband, people can find services, resources and opportunities—and those who have access to it get further ahead. However, there are still billions of people who are being left behind due to a lack of availability and cost of devices. This is the paradox of the digital divide, and it affects communities, societies and economies globally. The world’s leading international institutions are sounding the alarm. The World Trade Organisation believes levelling the playing field should be a strategic focus for everyone who participates in the digital economy because when such considerable amounts of human potential are left untapped, nobody wins. At the same time, the United Nations affirms that social inequality will be exacerbated unless pe...

5 Digital Privacy Predictions for 2021

2020 demonstrated how overwhelmingly important a connected infrastructure and digital services have become for the daily functioning of society. This realisation has led to a shift in attitudes to privacy and the way citizens, organisations and governments perceive it. With that in mind, here are five trends that lie ahead in the privacy field in 2021 – according to Kaspersky: Consumer privacy is going to be a value proposition and will, in most cases, cost money. Increased data gathering during the pandemic, and growing political turmoil that crossed into digital platforms, have combined to yield rapid growth in public awareness of unfettered data collection. As more users look to preserve their privacy, organisations are responding by offering privacy-focused products – the number and di...

Airtel Africa and Telkom Under Investigation by the Communications Authority of Kenya

Airtel Africa and Telkom have been placed under scrutiny after allegedly violating the quality of services across their networks. According to Gadgets Africa, The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) believes both telcos failed to meet the minimum 80% threshold on quality of calls across 33 counties in 2020. “Telkom Kenya scored an average mark of 73% while Airtel had 52% in the survey conducted last year. Meanwhile, Safaricom dominated with a 92% overall mark in the survey.” In a recent report, the CA says that “as Airtel’s and Telkom’s performance did not meet the set target of 80 percent for voice services they were issued notices of non–compliance that require the firms to improve their quality of services in the country in compliance with the set threshold.” “The Authority is evalua...

Ukheshe Partners with KCB to Boost Payment Services in East Africa

Ukheshe has partnered with the Kenya-based lender KCB Bank Kenya to issue both physical and virtual banking cards across East Africa. According to Victor Ndlovu, VP of Ukheshe Africa, the deal will include other innovative digital products such as QR issuing and acquiring. “By joining forces with KCB we are well-placed to address several open-loop market opportunities while boosting wider consumer adoption. Payment options across various segments will benefit such as payroll, companion cards, multi-currency prepaid cards, travel cards and gift cards, together with social security and other government benefit programs such as insurance claims.” Ndlovu says financial inclusion remains a massive challenge in the region and across the continent where millions of people are either unbanked or s...

IN PICTURES: 2020 tt100 Business Awards Programme

The 2020 tt100 Business Awards took place on Thursday, 12 November 2020, at The Da Vinci Institute based in Modderfontein, Johannesburg. The awards programme serves to showcase business who have demonstrated excellence in the Management of Technology, Innovation, People, Systemic Thinking, and Sustainable Performance. Endorsed by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), The Da Vinci Institute and PwC, the 2020 awards highlighted success stories of how innovative and disruptive organisations, through tenacity and perseverance overcame the challenges, and yielded positive results on their journey of technological and innovation excellence. Awards were handed out in these categories; the Management of Technology, Management of Innovation, Management of People, Systemic Thinking, S...

Facebooks Warns of ‘Significant Uncertainty’ Despite Surge in Usage

Facebook reported its financial results for the quarter and full-year ended December 31, 2020. The social media company revealed that it’s seen an increase in usage, proving that it could thrive despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s a closer look at the full-year highlights: Facebook daily active users (DAUs) – DAUs were 1.84 billion on average for December 2020, an increase of 11% year-over-year. Facebook monthly active users (MAUs) – MAUs were 2.80 billion as of December 31, 2020, an increase of 12% year-over-year. “We continue to face significant uncertainty as we manage through a number of crosscurrents in 2021,” says Facebook CFO, David Wehner. “We believe our business has benefited from two broad economic trends playing out during the pandemic. The first is the ongoing shif...

Nutanix Appoints New Regional Sales Director Sub-Saharan Africa

Nutanix has appointed Rowen Grierson as regional sales director for Sub-Saharan Africa. Grierson succeeds Paul Ruinaard who has left to pursue personal interests. A seasoned professional, Grierson was formerly the regional sales director for the West, East and Central Africa regions, and with his new appointment will now add the Southern Africa territory to what is a growing market for the company. Prior to joining Nutanix he served a tenure in the leadership of Fortinet and was amongst others the territory manager for F5 in Sub-Saharan Africa. With more than 20 years’ experience in the IT industry, he has a proven track record in business and strategy development, sales execution, and customer experience. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_411.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_411.td-a-rec-img...

3 Cyber Threat Predictions for 2021

The beginning of the year is always a sound time to review the main developments and incidents that took place in the cybersecurity industry. Lockdown measures driven by the ongoing pandemic have changed systems around the world. Digitalisation, which is the main driver of these changes, will maintain momentum in 2021. To look at the impact these events had on organisations and individuals, and predict what they could mean for the overall evolution of the threat landscape, Kaspersky shares its vision on what we could face in terms of cyber threats in such areas as healthcare, education and ICS attacks in 2021: 1. Evolution of ICS oriented attacks Each year actors develop more and more advanced targeted threats. Some closely examined features of industrial businesses and gained access to va...