Author: Staff Writer
Cybersecurity in Africa: The digital landscape is overflowing with an ever-evolving array of solutions and services created to make lives easier, offices smoother and engagements richer. Smartphones, applications, social media, artificial intelligence (AI) platforms and multiple other tools have all become part and parcel of daily life on the African continent, transforming how people connect, collaborate and engage. Unfortunately, they have also opened up cyber windows that let in the attacks and the threats that compromise organisations and individuals. For Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy & Evangelist at KnowBe4 AFRICA, it has become critical for organisations to invest in training…
MTN Group announced the appointment of Marcin Waligora, Executive: Software Engineering with effect from 27 March 2023. With more than 20 years of progressive experience, exceptional technical skills, and solid business acumen, Marcin joins MTN Group from Citigroup in Tampa, USA. “As Executive: Software Engineering, Marcin will be responsible for defining, developing and executing our Software Engineering strategic programme to accelerate the PACE of Ambition 2025, and maintaining the long-term growth for delivering the software engineering on front-end customer experience layer systems, partnerships and integration points. He will also help achieve business agility, at scale, impacting a multiplier effect by…
MTN GlobalConnect, a digital wholesale and infrastructure services company and an operating company in the MTN Group, announced today that it has signed $90.8 million or R1.6 billion in fixed external infrastructure deals. MTN GlobalConnect has subsidiaries in five African countries (Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia and Kenya). The MTN subsidiary made further progress to drive its fibreco ambitions and continued to scale its fixed connectivity and wholesale mobility services. MTN group announced that MTN Global Connect’s external revenue grew by 19.3% YoY to $344.4 million or R6.2 billion, with mobility revenue up by 19.1%. MTN GlobalConnect is driving MTN’s fibreco…
MTN Group today announced that the loss of power utility Eskom (SA) has cost the local company R695 million in EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) in the 2022 financial year. The company said in South Africa, the extent of persistent power outages (load shedding) worsened in the second quarter, exacerbating the negative impact on network availability and pressures on the business. “We continued to implement our comprehensive network resilience plan to mitigate these impacts,” MTN said in a statement. “Our investment in this regard, which included dealing with vandalism and additional security on sites, put additional pressure…
MTN is making great efforts in shedding off its image as a pure mobile operator, with investments in FinTech, fibre, subsea cables, etc, fast tracking the company’s evolution from a ‘telco to a techno’. MTN today reported a strong 2022 financial performance, including an expansion in return on equity to 23.4% and a 10% increase in the dividend to 330 cents per share, in a challenging macroeconomic environment of elevated inflation across our 19 markets. In the year to 31 December 2022, total subscribers rose 6% to 289 million, with data subscribers growing by more than 12% to 137 million and Mobile Money…
Meta is in the early stages of building a decentralised, standalone dedicated app for people to post text-based updates to rival Elon Musk’s Twitter, reported the Platformer. “We’re exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates,” the company told Platformer exclusively in an email. “We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests.” Details about the project are scant. The product is still in its earliest stages, sources said, and there is no time frame for it being released. But legal and regulatory teams have already started to…
Clickatell, the Chat Commerce and business messaging firm, has launched their Chat 2 Pay feature for South Africa’s Telkom. Telkom’s millions of customers can now make payments in WhatsApp, the country’s largest chat channel. Responding to the growing demand for fast, digital, self-help services, Telkom now deploys to its customers the Chat 2 Pay pay-by-link capability in WhatsApp, providing them with the convenience of safe and effortless mobile payments. Telkom post-paid and prepaid customers can pay their phone and xDSL/fibre bills, and buy airtime, data and SMS bundles by simply sending “Hi” on WhatsApp to 0811 601 700. Currently, Telkom’s…
Kaspersky experts have discovered cybercriminals launched more than 7 million attacks on children gamers exploiting popular game titles in 2022, a 57% increase compared to 2021. Kaspersky’s latest report The Dark Side of Kids’ Virtual Gaming Worlds explores the risks for young players in online gaming and analyses threats related to the most popular online games for 3-16-year-old children. Phishing pages used by cybercriminals to target young players mostly mimicked global titles including Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, and Apex Legends games. To reach parents’ devices, cybercriminals purposely create fake game sites evoking children’s interest to follow phishing pages and download malicious…
SAP Africa today released a new report ‘Africa’s Tech Skills Scarcity Revealed‘ which seeks to unveil the specific challenges and opportunities for African organisations seeking greater tech skills availability. Cathy Smith, Managing Director at SAP Africa, says there is an urgent need to invest in skills development and training to ensure Africa can capitalise on its youth dividend. “More than half of the world’s population growth between now and 2050 will take place in Africa, where 1.3-billion people are expected to be born by mid-century. With the correct investment in skills development, Africa’s economy could transition away from its reliance…
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has submitted written questions to the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) requesting a detailed breakdown on where $145 million or R2.7 billion received from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) has been allocated. In a DFFE portfolio committee meeting where the second quarter performance report was presented, it was revealed that $145 million was raised under the climate change, air quality and sustainable development program. “What remained conspicuous by its absence though was transparency over where this $145 million had been allocated and what mechanisms have been put in place to ensure parliamentary and…