AfICTA e-Newsletter (October 14, 2022)

Kayode Oyeyemi 14 October 2022 Hits: 830

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AfICTA e-NEWSLETTER

14/October/2022 Vol 150

Register Now for The 10th AfICTA Summit

Hi {firstname},

Registration is ongoing for the 10th AfICTA Summit slated for 7-8 December, 2022 with the theme "Africa Digital Future: Fostering a New Paradigm". Register now and mark your calendar for adequate plan to attend.

For sponsorship opportunities and other inquiries please contact Kayode +2348068674380 | Samuel +2348130876682 | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

10th Africa ICT Awards: Nominate Now

Nominations are now open for the 10th edition of the Africa ICT Award categories listed below:

1. Africa ICT Champion Award®

2. Africa ICT Personality Award®

3. Africa CIO Award®

4. Africa Innovation Award®

5. Africa Community Development Award®

For further details on nomination & sponsorship opportnities please contact Kayode +2348068674380 | Samuel +2348130876682 | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.... Read more

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) invites the community to join a public webinar to discuss the Pilot Holistic Review and its Draft Terms of Reference (ToR), which is currently available for Public Comment.

This webinar will provide answers to community questions raised during ICANN75 and offer an additional opportunity for community groups to ask questions as they prepare their comments for submission... Read more

Botswana’s Telecoms Regulator Takes Swipe at Digital Broadcasters

Despite having made significant progress in the migration from analogue to digital, Botswana’s broadcasting industry is way off the pace set by global counterparts.

This is according to the country’s industry regulator who criticised operators for their muted response towards the digital opportunity.

The Acting Director Broadcasting and Corporate Communications at the Botswana... Read more

Five Transformative Trends in Medical Devices and Digital Health

Telehealth, or telemedicine, allows healthcare services to be provided to patients remotely. For example, a patient could be using a wearable medical device that monitors their physiological signals, such as heart rate, and stores the data in the cloud for analysis. Another example would be an operation conducted by a doctor using a remotely operated surgical robot on the patient.

Virtual doctor visits have also gained popularity due to the recent pandemic and by some estimates, the utilisation of telehealth services is now up to 38 times higher than before. Telehealth’s... Read more

Kenya’s Data Commission Clamps Down on Digital Lenders

Kenya's Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) has confirmed its intention to audit 40 digital lenders after having received over a thousand complaints, including that of data privacy breach.

The Commission released a statement which reads: “The Data Protection (complaints handling and enforcement procedures) regulations, 2021, took effect on February 2022 paving the way for data subjects to file complaints and report data breaches to the Data Commissioner. As of 30th September... Read more

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 38 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.

Join AfICTA

Kenya: Cyber Bandits Rebond as in-Person Shopping Back

Cybercriminals are now shifting their targets to physical points of vulnerability as in-person commerce resumes to pre-Covid-19 levels, a new report shows.

The Visa Global Risk Investigations report shows that while fraud during the pandemic period was concentrated to online scams, in-person attacks are now trending higher as criminals widen their gambits.

According to the report released Tuesday, card-present threats such as physical skimming on ATMs and point-of-sale terminals increased 176 percent during the 12-month period to December 2021... Read more

EcoCash Takes Strain as Struggling Economy Impacts Growth

The number of Zimbabweans receiving diaspora remittances through mobile money platform, EcoCash has increased to 260 000 (up from last year’s figure of 230 000), with US$7.5-million in transaction value processed through the e-wallet.

EcoCash, a spin-off of Econet Wireless and listed separately on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, experienced a drop in the number of registered user numbers from 8.4 million last year to 7.7 million this year... Read more

Communications Minister, Lenovo Officials Discuss Investment Opportunities in Egypt

Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, met on Tuesday Giovanni Di Filippo, President of Lenovo in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and the company’s accompanying delegation.

The meeting dealt with a review of the most prominent investment interests of Lenovo in the coming period, the competitive advantages of the Egyptian ICT sector, and ways to expand the company’s investments in Egypt.

This came on the sidelines of Talaat’s participation in the 42nd GITEX Global Exhibition and Conference, held in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates... Read more

Uganda Strengthens Broadband Backbone with RCIP

Uganda’s government has confirmed the installation 600 Wi-Fi hotspots nationally as part of the US$75-million World Bank-funded Regional Communications Infrastructure Programme (RCIP). The free internet is available to government officials during business hours in the week, and to the public after business hours and the weekend.

Officials have confirmed the Wi-Fi will be rolled out wherever the national infrastructure backbone exists and extend connectivity to remote areas of the country.

National Information and Technology... Read more

Call for Nominations Begins for ICANN Academy 2023 Leadership Program

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has issued a call for nominations for the 2023 Leadership Program to be held 9-10 March 2023 in Cancún, Mexico, which is just prior to the ICANN76 Public Meeting.

The Leadership Program helps current and incoming leaders better understand the complexities of ICANN, while also helping to develop their facilitation skills.

Current and incoming community leaders interested in participating in the program need to be... Read more

Registrations Open for Coding Bootcamp for African Girls in Namibia

This year, the 5th edition of the Connected Africa Girls Coding Camp was launched by ECA in collaboration with the government of The Republic of Namibia, UN Namibia, UN WOMEN, and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

The participants in the last four coding camps created 198 innovative projects, of which 40 received awards for their community service.

100 participants from Namibia will physically attend this hybrid boot camp for young African women and girls between the ages of 12 and 25, while... Read more

Airtel Tanzania Secures Spectrum for US$60m

Airtel Africa said its Tanzanian subsidiary Airtel Tanzania has purchased 140MHz of additional spectrum from the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) for US$60.1-million.

The company said the spectrum is spread across the 2600MHz (2 blocks of 2x15 MHz) and 3500MHz bands, and this will help it expand its broadband capability including 5G rollout.

A statement released to the media reads: “This additional spectrum will support our network... Read more

Why PolarSeal Collaborated with 3M and FLEXcon for Wearables

With the wearable technology market surpassing $116.2 billion in 2021(1), and demand rising alongside this exponential market growth, global medical technology companies are realising the market potential and developing user centric solutions such as glucose patches and smartwatches to aid in the recovery and monitoring of human health.

Conceptualising and realising a medical monitoring wearable device requires disciplined project management, especially stick-to-skin solutions, and several layers of external involvement... Read more

United Bank for Africa Llaunches M2U Money as Fintech Flourishes in Cameroon

Nigerian multinational pan-African banking group United Bank for Africa (UBA) has launched a new mobile money solution M2U Money in Cameroon.

In 2018 UBA announced its intention to collaborate with Viettel Cameroon SA (Nexttel) to launch a solution and engage the Cameroon market. The company secured authorisation from the Central African Banking Commission (COBAC) to run a mobile money service known as Possa in partnership with Nexttel.

However, the project was beset by delay due mainly to a drawn-out managerial crisis at Nexttel... Read more

ICANN Board Elects New Leadership

During the ICANN75 Annual General Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced a new leadership team to head the ICANN Board of Directors. Tripti Sinha and Danko Jevtović were elected Board Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively. Additionally, four new Board members took their seats.

The new ICANN Board Chair Tripti Sinha brings more than three decades of experience in Internet and Internet infrastructure technologies. She... Read more

Shoprite SA App Bags R1m MTN App of the Year Prize

Shoprite SA app has won the MTN Business App of the Year award and a R1-million cash prize, beating one thousand entries into this year’s competition. Among the winners announced at the 11th Annual MTN Business App of the Year Awards, hosted on 13 October, Appy Saúde, an online platform that aggregates the stock information of pharmacies, took top honours as Winner of the Best African Solution.

Kholofelo Magagane, Head of Marketing at MTN Business, said, “Both the public and... Read more