The West Africa Cable System (WACS), a submarine fiber-optic line that carries data between the UK and the west coast of Africa, tore about 24 miles from Britain in roughly the same spot that the cable broke in January due to heavy-rains over the Congo river resulting in a short circuit. South Africans are now confronting slow and unreliable Internet. The timing could not be worse as the country enters a lockdown period of 21 days to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The Somalia cabinet has approved the National ICT and Strategy as the first ICT policy framework for the country. It work in parallel with the National Development Plan, national roadmaps, and the broader vision of the government of Somalia for leveraging ICT as a driver of economic and social development. The policy aims also to strengthen the central ICT co-ordination, consistency and collaboration among public and private sectors working in the field.
Recently, TECNO announced that it will hold its product launch through TV broadcast on April 2nd to unveil its camera phone – the TECNO CAMON 15 series on DSTV golden time – 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. It will be streamed live online on TECNO's Facebook and will include a generous giveaway for TECNO fans. This online product launch will be the first-ever online smartphone launch in African history, which is not only a big breakthrough in the smartphone industry, but also shows that Internet development in Africa has stepped into a new phase. Here are some key facts.
Package delivery giant UPS said it became the first company to obtain US regulatory approval to operate a “drone airline” and would expand its airborne operations in healthcare and other sectors.
European satellite operator SES reported a 1.3% increase in net profit to EUR 296.2 million and a 1.3% decrease in revenues to reach EUR 1.98 billion in 2019, as its video business continued to decline, the company announced.
With the aim of promoting digital learning for girls and women in Senegal, South Africa, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Morocco, UN Women and HP sealed a new partnership that shows commitment to the United Nations’ fourth goal of the SDGs which is quality education.
Focused on improving financial inclusion for West Africa’s low-income segment, a Nigerian fintech start-up, Aella has raised a $10m debt financing round, from HQ Financial Group (HQF), Singapore-based private company specializing in new material science, semiconductor and blockchain financial investments. This debt financing round is Aella’s second raise and will bolster the company’s commitment to serve the underbanked population in West Africa and other emerging markets.
Most of the global internet traffic today utilizes infrastructure located primarily in the northern hemisphere to link Asia, Europe and North America. Meanwhile, the southern hemisphere, which includes parts of Asia, Africa and South America is heavily connected via links coming from the North as well. However, the traffic to the southern region currently travels a longer route which may affect the internet experience of the end users.
Visa announced Euronet Worldwide, a leading global financial technology solutions and payments provider based in Dubai, is working with Visa to augment Visa’s fintech fast-track program in the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) region.
On the sidelines of the 4th China-Arab States Expo, which took place recently in Ningxia, China, the Egyptian Space Agency and the China National pace Administration (CNSA) proceeded to launch the second implementation phase of the Egyptian satellite project which is the construction of “MisrSat-II”. The first phase, which took place in January 2019, focused on closing the financing.
