AfICTA e-NEWSLETTER 30 April, 2019

AfICTA e-NEWSLETTER

30/April/19 Vol 67

AfICTA Devotes to Enhancing Africa Digital Transformation

In the past few months, AfICTA (Africa ICT Alliance) Secretariat under the leadership of the Chair, Engr. Hossam Elgamal with full support of its stakeholders, has worked earnestly to ensure the attainment of the digital transformation in Africa. 

It is noteworthy that AfICTA’s focus on three focal initiatives namely; Africa Digital Information Hub, Capacity Development and Africa ICT Business Summit is gradually gaining some traction for partnership. Africa Digital Information... read more

Nigeria not Ripe for Artificial Intelligence, Says Expert

Dr Jimson Olufuye, the former President of African Information Communication Technology Alliance (AfICTA) on Monday said Nigeria was not ripe for deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. 

Olufuye told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, that the AI would require huge investment; as well as stable and functional institutions for the technology to be efficient. 

AI is the theory and development of computer systems to perform tasks normally... read more

Egypt to Experiment 5G During 2019 Africa Cup of Nations

CAIRO - 21 April 2019: Minister of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) AmrTalaat affirmed Egypt's interest in cooperating with Huawei in the field of Artificial intelligence and transferring technology as well as the fifth generation technology (5G). 

Talaat added that Huawei will apply the first experiments of this technology in Cairo Stadium during the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations set to be held in Egypt... read more

Webinar: Impact of Social Media Tax on Internet Affordability

Many governments across the globe are establishing consumer taxes for  over-the-top (OTT) services — including social media apps — as a way to generate revenue in the age of digital economy. This trend is particularly apparent across Sub-Saharan Africa where such taxes were introduced in  Uganda,  Tanzania, and  Zambia in 2018.

These taxes represent a barrier to access. Three months after a levy was introduced in Uganda, the  Communications Commission... read more

Kenya's government to use AI in allocation of affordable housing

The government of Kenya plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) to assess eligibility of applications within its affordable housing scheme. 

According to a policy document, officials will use data sourced from the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB), including mobile wallet transaction history, to rate the credit worthiness of each applicant. 

The policy reads in part: "In principle the scoring will provide ... read more

Serena Williams backs Andela

Tennis champion Serena Williams revealed details of her secret investment fund last week, with Africa-focused coding accelerator Andela one of its portfolio companies. 

The 23-time Grand Slam champion announced in an Instagram post she had founded Serena Ventures in 2014 to invest in innovative companies across various industries. 

Though the fund has remained a closely-guarded secret since then, it has so far invested in 30 companies, among them... read more

Cisco Launches R10-million Incubation Hub in Durban, SA

Cisco has launched a R10-million incubation hub in Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa - the second business development resource in the country after the first was launched in Pretoria in 2018. 

Last week the company also launched its first hub in East Africa, a KES69-million centre in Kenya, hosted at the University of Nairobi. 

General Manager (GM) for Cisco East Africa and Indian Ocean Islands, David Bunei is quoted as saying: "We ar e...  read more

Court ruling on Kenya's contentious national ID system

Kenyan courts will not stop registration linked to the country's new National Integrated Identity Management System (NIIMS). 

The Kenya Human Right Commission (KHRC), Nubian Rights Forum, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) each filed cases challenging the legality and implementation of the NIIMS. 

According to a conditional ruling, the government may not...  read more

Openserve says it is experiencing a significant increase in network related faults due to the current extreme weather which has "wreaked havoc" on its infrastructure in KwaZulu-Natal coastal areas. 

The fixed broadband provider said in a statement this morning that the flooding has restricted technicians from accessing underground accesses in the fault zones and will cause delays in repair times. 

"The extent of the damage to infrastructure in KZN which spans buildings...  read more

Zimbabwe fixed phone operator TelOne is struggling to recover approximately US$30-million owed by government departments and parastatals in unpaid bills. 

The company is owed RTGS$101-million, equivalent to approximately US$30-million based on Zimbabwe's official exchange rate. 

TelOne managing director Chipo Mtasa confirmed the situation was impacting on the company's capital expenditure position... read more

Medical drone delivery company Zipline has made Ghana its third market in Africa, opening the first of four distribution centres that will use drones to make on-demand, emergency deliveries of 148 different vaccines, blood products, and life-saving medications. 

The launch of the first distribution centre took place on 24 April in the city of Omenako, and was attended by Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo... read more

The ministry of ICT and National Guidance along with its partners have committed to pursue a mobile-enabled digital transformation in a quest to foster economic development in Uganda. The commitment was made at the Uganda national dialogue for digital transformation roundtable held at the Kampala Sheraton hotel recently. 

Deputy premier Gen Moses Ali presided over the roundtable with support from various developmental partners... Read more

Rwanda is quickly becoming an innovator’s paradise. Technology companies and manufacturers from within and outside the continent are moving to the country to either set up innovation hubs or manufacturing plants. 

Last year Andela, which originally launched in Nigeria, announced it was launching a pan-African tech hub in Kigali. The hub will recruit and train software developers from anywhere in Africa. This year, CcHub, a Nigerian innovation... read more

As the digital revolution transforms business, society and the global economy, Egypt’s growing ICT sector is laying the foundations for sustainable progress. 

The Egyptian ICT sector is on a steady tick upwards, bringing with it sweeping changes that are touching every sector. Tipped at 15 percent growth for the current fiscal year, the government aims for the sector to contribute 5 percent to the country’s economy within the next three years, up from 3.2 percent in 2017, as... read more

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has disclosed that Nigeria recorded a total of 95.7 million invalid Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards registration since the exercise began in 2011. 

The NCC Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Mr. Sunday Dare, reportedly disclosed this at the South-South Regional Sensitisation Workshop on the dangers of fraudulently-activated SIM cards held yesterday in Port Harcourt. 

According to Dare who was...  read more

Zimbabwe ISPs have adjusted data tariffs to reflect new financial measures that ushered in a revised foreign currency exchange rate matrix, although payable tariffs in US Dollars have remained unchanged. 

The country had rated its local currency at 1:1 against the US Dollar until February 2019. However, after the monetary policy statement, the exchange regime has been de-regulated with the current official exchange rate at around 2:9. 

TelOne, Liquid and ZOL... read more

HID Global, an identity solutions provider, has announced that the government of Tanzania has selected HID’s citizen ID solutions to add e-Visa and e-Permit capabilities to its e-Passport

The new web-based visa and residence permit services allow visitors and residents to apply for and receive validated credentials for travelling or living in the country. Anna Peter Makakala, Tanzania’s commissioner general of immigration, said, “This is an important milestone as we continue to work with HID... read more

Broadband infrastructure company, MainOne in collaboration with social media giant, Facebook has expended $20 million to develop terrestrial fibre technology in Edo state, Nigeria. The disclosure was made by the State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, during an interview after the ninth edition of the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) in Dubai. 

According to the governor, his administration decided to work with tech companies... read more

As our schools laptops project continues to face hurdles, folks in advanced economies are forging ahead to the next level by integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into their educational sector.

AI can provide personalised learning, assist in marking or grading and offer translation services that can enhance both learning and teaching experience. 

Personalised learning means that the system can adjust the learning content based on... read more

Less than a year after it announced plans to open an AI centre in Africa, Google has officially done so in Accra, Ghana and appointed Moustapha Cisse to head up the operation. 

Cisse said Google AI Accra will focus on the application of AI to diagnose certain crop diseases, to analyse satellite images to inform policies and capitalise on the potential use cases in education, among others. 

He said, "Simply put, our goal is to advance the frontiers of this science so we expect to have scientific impact. We also... read more

The Institute for Information technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA) has announced a supporting partnership with EE Publishers on the ICT Infrastructure 2019 Conference and Expo. 

The event, to be presented by EE Publishers and Infracom, will be staged at Emperors Palace, Ekurhuleni, on 28 and 29 August, with the theme, ‘ICT infrastructure to fuel the growth of South Africa’s economy.’ Read more

The mandate of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) calls for strengthening and enhancing of the stakeholder engagement from developing ‎countries. It also calls for the Forum to contribute to building capacity for Internet governance in ‎developing countries, drawing fully on local sources of knowledge and expertise‎. 

During the 13th IGF, the United Nations Secretary-General has called for action to increase inclusiveness in the IGF... Read more

Abuja, April 9, 2019 (NAN) Mr Jimson Olufuye, former President, African Information Communication Technology Alliance (AfICTA) said on Tuesday that Africa had huge potential in internet development and wealth creation that could be sustained with good governance. 

Olufuye said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja,Nigeria. According to him, lots of youths within the  co ntinent... read more