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AfICTA e-NEWSLETTER

30/June/2022 Vol 139

Request For Expression of Interest to Host the 10th AfICTA Summit

AfICTA – Africa Information and Communication Technologies Alliance is desirous to license the hosting of its annual Summits to its members in good standing as part of its strategic implementation plan for the realization of its vision and mission.

This Request for Proposal covering 2021 till 2024 is therefore the instrument for members to express their willingness, capacity and capability to host this important Summit.

The RFP outlines AfICTA expectations from potential hosts, which include information on Concept Note, Budget, Marketing/Media Plan, Schedule of Events

IGF Publishes the 2022 Session Proposals Received

Linked below are all session proposals received for the IGF 2022 meeting, taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 28 November-2 December 2022.

IGF 2022 workshop proposals are subject to qualitative evaluation by the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG). All other session proposals are screened against basic criteria outlined in the IGF 2022 Call for Session Proposals.

A final selection of all sessions will be released in mid-July 2022, following the Second Open... Read more

ICANN Announces Recipients of the ICANN75 Fellowship

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced the successful candidates selected to participate in the ICANN Fellowship Program at the ICANN75 Annual General Meeting. A total of 37 applicants from 32 countries will take part in the 17–22 September 2022 meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The successful candidates represent all sectors of society including civil, government, country code top-level domain operations, academia.. Read more

Kenya’s President Rejects Controversial ICT Practitioners Bill

Kenya’s controversial ICT Practitioners Bill has been returned to parliament after President Uhuru Kenyatta declined to assent to it and make it law.

The Bill included several stringent measures to regulate ICT practitioners and relevant compliance, including that all ICT practitioners must have a university degree, have at least three years’ experience and must pay an annual fee.

The ICT Ministry’s Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru posted a tweet on Tuesday evening... Read more

Major Investor Drops Malawi Telecommunications Ltd

Malawi’s Press Corporation is divesting from fixed phone and broadband operator, Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL).

As is the case in other African countries, Malawi’s fixed phone market continues to face pressure as more cost effective digital communication channels develop.

Listed on the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) Press Corporation is a major investor in the country’s telecommunications industry and also has an interest in mobile operator, Telkom Networks Malawi (TNM)... Read more

Register to Join AfICTA  (Africa ICT Alliance) Today

Hi, are you concerned about the realization of a Digital Africa? If yes, AfICTA (Africa ICT Alliance) welcomes you to register and join other group of concerned IT National Associations, Companies, Multinationals and Organisations in Africa to engender the realization of the digital Africa and the Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs.

AfICTA is a 35 member nations' alliance, in partnership with the African Union, with the vision to fulfill the promise of the digital age for everyone in Africa and to connect IT players on the continent.

How Emerson's Flow-Control Tech Helped BioBusiness Fight COVID-19 in Egypt

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, Egyptian health authorities recognised the likely shortage of critical medical equipment, especially ventilators. Egypt has very little domestic device-manufacturing capacity, and, in early 2020, no-one was producing ventilators. A company named BioBusiness was interested in taking up the challenge, but they recognised precise pressure and flow control would be critical to success and turned to Emerson for expert assistance.

BioBusiness was founded in 2009, and is... Read more

The Economic Costs of Digital Exclusion in South Asia: 7 Takeaways

The Costs of Exclusion research series has a message for broadband policymakers: the digital gender gap is real, it’s sexist, and it’s costing all of us over a trillion in lost economic productivity.

Now, our latest report zooms in on women’s experiences across South Asia – a region with one of the world’s largest digital gender gaps according to GSMA. It includes interviews and focus groups in India and Bangladesh and a telephone survey in India.

Here are the top takeaways from our latest report... Read more

A4AI Announces Pledge to Advance Meaningful Connectivity Through the

Partner2Connect Digital Coalition

The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) is pleased to announce our pledge to the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition, a multistakeholder initiative of ITU and the UN, to foster meaningful connectivity and digital transformation throughout the world, with a focus on but not limited to the most difficult to connect communities in the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States.

As a longtime partner and collaborator, we support ITU‘s leadership and efforts to mobilize action towards achieving the universal meaningful connectivity targets... Read more

Namibia Keeps Mum on 5G Rollout Strategy

Mobile network operator Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) Namibia continues to negotiate with the Southern African country’s government to end the current moratorium placed on the deployment of 5G networks.

The company wants the moratorium lifted so that operators can start laying the foundation for 5G deployment.

MTC chief human capital and corporate affairs officer Tim Ekandjo said 5G was important to 4IR, and there is a need for “a conducive policy” to... Read more

Africa Readies Remedy to Transform Pharmaceutical Industry

The African Development Bank’s Board of Directors has approved the establishment of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation, a new institution that is expected to significantly enhance Africa’s access to the technologies that underpin the manufacture of medicines, vaccines, and other pharmaceutical products. 

African Development Bank Group (AfDB) President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina said: “This is a great development for Africa. Africa must have a health defense... Read more

Shoprite Attack – Another Wake-up Call for Africa

Global cybersecurity solutions provider Check Point Software Technologies is reminding African organisations of the importance of cybersecurity training for employees, following the recent cyber-attack on Shoprite Holdings.

In early June, ITWeb reported that the retail chain was hit by a data breach and most recently, that a hacker group known as RansomHouse is demanding ransom.

ITWeb added in its report that Shoprite announced it suffered a suspected data compromise that impacted money transfer services... Read more

A4AI and The Gambia Sign a Memorandum of Understanding to Advance Universal Access

The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) and The Gambia Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy signed an agreement on June 23rd, 2022 focusing on convening stakeholders from all ICT sectors to engage them in the review of the universal service policy, development of the national strategy for universal access and advancing overall digital development. In addition, the entities will also collaborate to align the universal service policy and strategy with the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) 2017 Universal Service Act... Read more

Fido, a Ghanaian Fintech Startup, Has Raised $30 Million in a Series A Funding Round

Fido, a fintech company based in Ghana, has closed a $30 million Series A funding round led by Fortissimo Capital with participation from Yard Ventures and other private investors.

To improve access to financial services in areas with few banks, Nadav Topolski, Tomer Edry, and Nir Zepkowitz founded Fido in 2016.

“We are fostering a new financial culture in Africa,” Fido CEO Alon Eitan stated. In addition to making financial services more accessible, we also want to improve them by making them quicker, easier, and more... Read more

Internet Price Wars Loom as Capacity Becomes Idle

More than two-thirds of Kenya’s internet supply remained idle in the quarter to March, laying ground for vicious price wars as more firms stepped up investment to add their capacities.

The latest data by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows that between January 1 and March 31, the country only used 3,386.19 billion bits per second (Gbps) of internet bandwidth out of the total available capacity of 10,891.65 Gbps —indicating an oversupply that is likely to trigger price competition among service providers... Read more

Uganda Enters Cash-light Phase on Road to Cash-less Economy

Uganda has experienced a significant increase in the use of internet and mobile device-based banking, as well as in debit and credit card usage, as the country steadily advances towards a cashless economy.

The country now has 2.9 million active debit cards, according to the Bank of Uganda Deputy Governor Michael Atingi-Ego.

Speaking at the launch of a smart card issued by the National Social Security Fund in Kampala this week, Atingi-Ego said the East African country... Read more

Job Cuts Inevitable as Zamtel Urgently Seeks US$265m to Stay Afloat

Zambia’s state-run operator Zamtel needs a recapitalization to the tune of US$ 265 million in order to survive, according to the country’s Minister of Science and Technology Felix Mutati.

Mutati said the government will not recapitalize the company because it has other financial priorities, adding that about 90% of Zamtel’s revenue is being utilized for administrative expenses.

The Minister added that Zamtel has a working capital deficit of approximately ZMK1-billion, with its balance sheet unable to support the maintenance... Read more

Cameroon’s Government Commits to eVisa Rollout by Year-end

Cameroon’s government says it will go live with its new electronic Visa system (eVisa) system by year-end.

The Director of Protocol, Ceremonies and Consular Affairs at Cameroon’s Ministry of External Relations (MINREX), Ntaribo Ashu Agbor Ngah yesterday received the requisite equipment for the system.

The new system is an upgraded version of an existing DIPLOMAT system developed by MINREX’s New Technologies and Cryptography Unit... Read more