Author: Akin Naphtal

Wildfires that have plagued countries like Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, taking lives, and causing substantial damage, may soon have less rein with the introduction of an advanced, early fire detection drone system. This technological breakthrough, developed in collaboration with mobile operator, Cyta, and the start-up company, Probotek, as part of Huawei’s Smart & Green Village program, promises to revolutionize wildfire prevention. The system allows for direct connection and communication with drones, which can be piloted from anywhere in the world through a high-speed 5G mobile network. What differentiates this new system from previous ones is the integration of artificial intelligence…

South African multinational bank, First National Bank (FNB) has been named the best digital bank in South Africa, by the SITEisfaction survey, conducted annually by Belgium brand consultancy company, Human8. The survey, which was first conducted in 2011, is in its 12th year, and evaluates the satisfaction rate of South African consumers with digital banking. Banks are ranked with a score of 100, based on various criteria to identify the best digital bank, the best internet banking platform, the best mobile banking solution, etc. FNB won with a score of 73.94 out of 100; Nedbank placed second with a score…

Samsung’s Galaxy A series has proven to be an affordable yet innovative smartphone class, acknowledging the challenging economic situation that currently faces members of its target market. The A series smartphones offer top-notch features without compromising on quality or breaking the bank. Mr. George Kebaso, Head of Product and Marketing at Samsung Electronics East Africa, stated the Galaxy A Series represents Samsung’s commitment to democratizing technology and making premium features accessible to everyone. The A54 5G and A34 5G are the latest models in the Galaxy A series, both capable of connecting to 5G networks. The Galaxy A54 5G and…

Meta’s text-based social network, Threads, has achieved under 100 million monthly users three months after its launch, according to the company. Founder and CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, said during the latest earnings call that the company is pleased with Threads’ progress and believes it could reach a billion users in the next few years. However, it should be noted that monthly active users may not be the best measure of engagement on a social network. Threads’ rival X (formerly Twitter) has almost 550 million monthly active users, according to Elon Musk. While Meta did not disclose daily active user…

Apple has announced price increases for its Apple TV+ and Apple News+ services in several global markets, but South Africa has been spared for now. In the US, the monthly price of Apple TV+ has been raised by $3 to $9.99, while Apple News+ is now priced at $12.99, up from $9.99. This follows similar moves by media giants such as Netflix and Disney, who have also raised their prices recently. However, in South Africa, Apple TV+ remains priced at R124.99/month, and Apple News+ is not available. The price of Apple One, a bundle of Apple services, remains unchanged at…

Tom Bartlett, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of the Board of Directors of American Tower Corporation, will retire from his positions effective February 1, 2024. The announcement was made by the company earlier today. The Board of Directors has named Steve Vondran as Bartlett’s successor, who will take over as President and Chief Executive Officer and be appointed as a director of the Board. The decision was made after a thorough succession planning process that took place over the last few years. To facilitate the transition, Mr. Vondran will serve as the Executive Vice President and Global Chief Operating…

Leading telecommunication firm, MTN Group has appointed David Behr as the new chief executive of the ICT Centre of Excellence (CoE) from 1 November 2023. The ICT CoE is a central unit within MTN that develops and promotes best practices, processes and standards for the business. It also drives platform and solution development, which are then deployed to business units for execution and customer implementation. As a seasoned industry expert with more than 20 years of experience in the enterprise field, Behr has a strong background in enterprise cloud, cyber security, IOT solutions and platform development, among other areas. Behr’s…

IHS Towers one of the largest independent owners, operators, and developers of shared communications infrastructure in the world by tower count, has announced a one-year partnership with the Limitless Space Institute (LSI), a non-profit education and research organization. This partnership will commence in January 2024 and is designed to help broaden access to space education in our two largest markets. Through this collaboration, 20 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educators from Brazil and Nigeria will be invited to join the 12-month Limitless Global Educator Program and access a carefully curated space education curriculum. Delivered by experts from the Limitless…

US-based IT company, Veeam Software, has announced the release of the New Veeam Data Platform 23H2 update and Veeam Backup & Replication v12.1. The announcement was made during the VeeamON Resiliency Summit held on Tuesday, 24th October. This update focuses on data security, recovery, and freedom, offering improved data security, malware detection, automated recovery, and hybrid cloud capabilities. These advancements aim to ensure business continuity, especially in the face of ransomware and cyberattacks. Veeam’s CTO, Danny Allan, highlighted the increasing sophistication of cybercriminals and their targeting of backups. According to the Veeam 2023 Ransomware Trends report, 93% of ransomware attacks…

Fidelity bank Nigeria, has reportedly blocked neobanks such as OPay, Palmpay, Kuda, and Moniepoint due to concerns over their weak know your customer (KYC) processes, leading to an increase in fraud cases. Multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter have confirmed that Fidelity Bank is restricting consumer fund transfers to these neobanks, which are no longer listed on the approved financial institutions on the Fidelity Bank app. While the bank has informed customers that the restrictions are related to an app upgrade, sources at the affected fintechs have confirmed that transfer restrictions began at least two weeks ago due…