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Tanzania: Govt, NMB Sign Deal to Promote Digital Economy

DAR ES SALAAM: MINISTER for Information, Communication and Information Technology Nape Nnauye has called on the corporate sector to join forces with the government in advancing the steadily growing digital economy in the country. Speaking in Dar es Salaam during the signing of the partnership deal between NMB Bank and the ministry to promote the […]

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Kenya: Safaricom Restores Paybill Services After Temporary Disruption Affects Millions

Nairobi — Safaricom, Kenya’s leading telecommunications provider, says it has successfully resolved a technical issue that had disrupted its PayBill service, affecting millions of users. The disruption resulted in intermittent service interruptions on Monday night, causing some transactions to remain incomplete on the M-Pesa mobile money platform. Safaricom moved swiftly to address the problem and […]

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Rwanda: Going Paperless – How Much Could Rwanda Save?

Rwanda is expected to save billions of money as it pushes the implementation of a cashless economy and paperless policies. One of the key sectors that were made paperless is the land registry whereby e-titles [electronic land titles] were introduced. A new system to help landowners access land titles online was launched in 2023 to […]

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Seychelles’ Cabinet of Ministers Approves New Virtual Assets Law to Be Submitted to Parliament

Seychelles’ Cabinet of Ministers approved the new virtual assets law that will be submitted to the National Assembly, said the Vice President last week. Ahmed Afif said in a press conference that now that the Cabinet has given its stamp of approval “this will be presented to the National Assembly as soon as it reconvenes.” […]

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Nigeria: Telecom Subscribers Hit 221.7 Million in Q3 – NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has stated that 2,504 subscribers of 9mobile moved to another telecommunication service provider in the third quarter of 2023. The report stated that the 3,389 customers that ported out during the period saw 9mobile being the highest followed by Airtel with 370 subscribers leaving. MTN had 325 and Globacom […]

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Seychelles: Digital Surveillance – Seychelles Parks and Gardens Authority to Use Earthranger for Protecting National Reserves

The Seychelles Parks and Gardens Authority (SPGA) has taken steps to revolutionise its operation by implementing a new digital system covering the different protected areas it manages. The chief executive of the SPGA, Allen Cedras, said that Authority has partnered with a Kenya-based organisation as it begins to make use of the EarthRanger. A team […]

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Kenya: M-Pesa Down As Safaricom Attributes the Outage to Scheduled Maintenance

Nairobi — M-Pesa currently down as Safaricom attributes the outage to scheduled maintenance M-Pesa is currently unavailable, as the telco attributes the outage to scheduled maintenance. The service is unavailable on the M-Pesa app, USSD code, and SIM card tool. A spot check by Capital Business confirmed the downtime in what could see several services […]

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Kenya: Fuel Stations, Online Food Delivery Platforms Hit By M-Pesa Outage

Nairobi — Several fuel stations and online food delivery platforms were affected by the M-Pesa outage today, which affected transactions. At major gas stations, attendants were turning away customers due to the downtime. “It is quite frustrating. I am taking my son to school. I can’t refill my car because M-Pesa is down,” lamented one […]

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Kenya: M-Pesa Services Back After Experiencing Downtime

Nairobi — Safaricom’s M-MPesa, the mobile phone-based money transfer service application is after over two hours of delay. The countrywide delay, which began on Tuesday around 11:00 am, was being experienced on the M-PESA app and on the Sim Toolkit. The telco however apologized to its customers about the delay which also affected mobile bank […]

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Tunisia: Six Tunisian Women in Tech of Year 2023 (Reconnect)

Tunis/Tunisia — Six Tunisian women have been named in Tech of the Year 2023 by the Tunisian association RECONNECTT, based in France and bringing together highly qualified Tunisian skills from all over the world. The winners were chosen on the basis of their professional careers, scientific publications and commitment to Tunisia. Through their work, projects […]

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Kenyan Content Pulled Down By Google Grows Nearly 10 Times to 58

Nairobi — Kenyan online contents removed by Google on its platform grew by nearly 10 times in the six months to June last year as the state sought to stop abuse of the internet. The latest data from the tech giant shows that a total of 58 items were removed from the platform between January […]

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South Africa: Nationwide Home Affairs Failure As New Year Begins

Thousands of people across the country unable to access government services The Department of Home Affairs has been offline since Tuesday due to a “technical problem” at the State Information Technology Agency. As a result, thousands of people across the country have been unable to apply for necessary documentation at the start of the new […]

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Namibia: Three-Month Grace Period for Mandatory SIM Card Registration

The Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Hon Peya Mushelenga has given mobile operators a grace period after recently extending the mandatory Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) registration for another three months. SIM Registration is a policy adopted by the Namibiabn Government to address security concerns, restrict digital crime and enable the application of selected digital […]

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Africa: Artificial intelligence Expert Warns of ‘Digital Colonization’ in Africa

Artificial intelligence (AI) is ripe to help resolve certain major problems in Africa, from farming to the health sector, but Senegalese expert Seydina Moussa Ndiaye is warning of a new “colonization” of the continent by this new technology if foreign companies continue to feed on African data without involving local actors. One of 38 people […]

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Africa: Interview – Ai Expert Warns of Digital Colonization in Africa

Artificial intelligence (AI) is ripe to help resolve certain major problems in Africa, from farming to the health sector, but Senegalese expert Seydina Moussa Ndiaye is warning of a new “colonization” of the continent by this new technology if foreign companies continue to feed on African data without involving local actors. One of 38 people […]

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Namibia: Govt Extends SIM Card Registration Deadline to March

The minister of information and communication technology, Peya Mushelenga, has announced the extension of the SIM card registration deadline to 31 March. The deadline was set for 31 December, with users who haven’t registered facing deactivated SIM cards. Mushelenga on Friday said as of 27 December, mobile operators have indicated that 62,5% of active SIM […]

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Uganda Targeted As Africa’s Telcos Adopt SIM-Enabled Consumer Devices

Special Report — Africa’s telcos have begun an aggressive push to replace traditional plastic Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards with virtual alternatives to tap into the fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) market. MTN and Airtel are the latest to expand this offering to their subscribers in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. MTN South Africa has […]

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Zimbabwe: Bulawayo City Rolls Out CCTV Camera Project

BULAWAYO City Council in partnership with Tendy Three Investments will roll out the first phase of CCTV surveillance of major roads in February to help curb crime and enhance the easy flow of traffic. The cameras will check the speed at which vehicles are travelling at robots and traffic violations, conduct traffic counts by recording […]