Olusegun Abolaji Ogundeji

Author Archives: Olusegun Abolaji Ogundeji

Bitcoin companies move ahead in Africa

Efforts to get Bitcoin off the ground in Africa received a boost this week as BitX announced it has raised $4 million in funding.Africa is a market ripe for Bitcoin: it’s underserved by financial institutions due to the high cost of having a physical presence like ATMs, bank branches and remittance offices, according Werner van Rooyen, head of business development and growth at BitX.The company was founded in 2013 and runs a bitcoin exchange and provides wallets for the cryptocurrency. Its headquarters are in Singapore and it has offices South Africa, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia and Nigeria. The Series A funding round was led by South Africa’s Naspers Group.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Legacy telcos make peace with Internet services in Africa

Companies providing audiovisual content and apps over the Internet are becoming increasingly influential in Africa, to the point where traditional telecom operators are essentially being forced to accommodate them.A growing number of telecom company executives themselves believe that so-called over-the-top (OTT) service providers, delivering apps and multimedia content over the Web, will only increase in influence, according to an Ovum survey.The Digital Africa survey, presented at Ovum’s recent Connecting West Africa conference in Dakar, found that 35 percent of telecom company executives polled believed that OTT service providers will be very important in five years, compared to only 18 percent who think that they are very influential today.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Newer technology pushes out CDMA in Africa, bringing faster speeds

A variety of technologies, LTE in particular, is making CDMA obsolete in many parts of Africa, bringing faster mobile communication to people throughout the region.This month, Orange, which operates LTE networks in Mauritius and Botswana, said it is moving its Kenyan subscribers off CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and that it will launch five LTE networks in Africa this year. CDMA can no longer favorably compete with 3G and LTE, CEO Vincent Lobry said in February.On its part, Telecom Namibia shut down all its CDMA sites on March 31 after moving its customers to faster HSPA+ and LTE networks. It said it wanted to repurpose spectrum and offer mobile voice, data, and video services over a more modern platform.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

UNESCO, Chinese school tech fund helps Liberia recover from Ebola

A school technology project funded by UNESCO and the Chinese government will help Liberia’s educational system recover from the Ebola virus outbreak, which has led to more than 10,000 deaths in West Africa.The US$700,000 “Harnessing Technology for Quality Teacher Training” project is part of a US$8 million funding agreement signed in March 2012 between UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and the Chinese government that was established to support teacher education and development. The funding agreement is intended to help African nations achieve the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Social media helps curb Nigerian election deathtoll, paving future path

The dozens of deaths that marred the recent Nigerian elections would be considered shocking by the standards of most developed nations. Compared to past elections, however, the violence this time around was limited, and many observers say social media and technology such as biometric card readers played a big role in minimizing conflict.Online services are credited with keeping people informed during the runup to the elections, promoting the feeling they could communicate and express their views without resorting to violence, and other technology helped to ensure cheating would be kept to a minimum. Nigeria’s experience suggests that tech can play a role in reducing election-related violence in other countries.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Orange Money deal with Airtel in West Africa part of expansion plan

Orange’s move to work with Airtel to offer mobile money transfer between the Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso is just one step in an effort to expand its services throughout Africa.Orange Money customers in the Ivory Coast can now send and receive money to or from Airtel customers in Burkina Faso. Orange Money has over 13 million customers in 12 African countries, including Jordan. The partnership with Airtel, which runs its Airtel Money service in 16 African countries, is likely to trigger more internetwork and mobile money transfers.In West Africa, Orange Money International Transfer already serves users in Senegal, Ivory Coast and Mali, but the pact with Airtel fills a gap in the region.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Huawei leads new efforts to develop cable infrastructure in Africa

Due to increasing need for bandwidth, cable infrastructure in Africa is being upgraded, and China-based Huawei Technologies is involved in some of the bigger projects.Stakeholders in the West Africa Cable System (WACS) Consortium will be upgrading the fiber cable using Huawei Marine Networks, a joint venture between Huawei Technologies and Global Marine Systems.The approximately 16,000 kilometer-long cable is owned by 17 international telecom carriers in Africa and Europe. According to Telecom Namibia’s WACS project engineer, Sevelus Nakashole, the initial phase of the project will upgrade will upgrade the cable from its current 10Gbps capacity to 100Gbps by June 2015.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

With expansion into West Africa, VMK ignites Africa-designed brands competition

By opening its first store in the Ivory Coast, VMK, based in the Republic of the Congo, is taking a big step in its expansion plans and potentially setting up a designed-in-Africa brand competition with RLG.VMK has up to now offered products manufactured in China but has plans to start making phones in Africa. RLG, which has global headquarters in Dubai, runs its West African phone-assembling operation from Ghana.VMK’s move into West Africa from its Central Africa base in Brazzaville coincided with the Ivory Coast’s launch of a project aimed at equipping 500,000 families with a computer or a tablet, plus an Internet broadband connection.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

With expansion into West Africa, VMK ignites Africa-designed brands competition

By opening its first store in the Ivory Coast, VMK, based in the Republic of the Congo, is taking a big step in its expansion plans and potentially setting up a designed-in-Africa brand competition with RLG.VMK has up to now offered products manufactured in China but has plans to start making phones in Africa. RLG, which has global headquarters in Dubai, runs its West African phone-assembling operation from Ghana.VMK’s move into West Africa from its Central Africa base in Brazzaville coincided with the Ivory Coast’s launch of a project aimed at equipping 500,000 families with a computer or a tablet, plus an Internet broadband connection.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

UNICEF, Airtel team up in Africa to widen access to free health, data analysis apps

UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Fund, has made its RapidPro suite of apps available to Airtel customers for free across the 17 African countries in which the telecom company operates.The open-source family of applications is designed to help governments deliver rapid and vital real-time information and connect communities to lifesaving services. The apps offer health, education and youth-focused content.By introducing the apps to Airtel users, UNICEF content will be more accessible and data-gathering across regions made easier. RapidPro makes data related to interactions on the platform available in Excel for analysis.RapidPro also allows organizations to create personalized messages based on information collected from users, which could in turn increase response rates.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Competition, new rules to spur West African electronic financial services

New regulations, competition and product diversity are likely to help boost digital financial services across the eight West African Economic and Monetary Union countries.Making financial services available and affordable to all segments of the population, especially those excluded by income level, political instability, gender, location, or education, has been a major topic over the past few years in Africa.The availability of financial services to those who historically not had access to them—so-called financial inclusion—is essential for widespread economic growth, according to the African Development Bank (ADF). However, Africa has been lagging behind other continents in this area, with less than one out of four adults holding an account at a formal financial institution, according to an ADF report, “Financial Inclusion in Africa.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Competition, new rules to spur West African electronic financial services

New regulations, competition and product diversity are likely to help boost digital financial services across the eight West African Economic and Monetary Union countries.Making financial services available and affordable to all segments of the population, especially those excluded by income level, political instability, gender, location, or education, has been a major topic over the past few years in Africa.The availability of financial services to those who historically not had access to them—so-called financial inclusion—is essential for widespread economic growth, according to the African Development Bank (ADF). However, Africa has been lagging behind other continents in this area, with less than one out of four adults holding an account at a formal financial institution, according to an ADF report, “Financial Inclusion in Africa.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

GeoPoll, Control Union tap mobile tech to bring African farmers into supply chain

U.S.-based GeoPoll is partnering with Control Union, an international provider of agricultural inspection and safety services, to reach out to African farmers and bring them into global supply chain networks while ensuring compliance with standard business practices.GeoPoll provides technology for data collection, using mobile platforms for surveys. Control Union will be able to use GeoPoll technology to reach small-holding farmers to gain more information about their practices. The idea is to bring increased transparency to food supply chains globally, with a focus on key products such as cocoa, coffee, cotton, fruits and vegetables, palm oil, rice, and tobacco. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

GeoPoll, Control Union tap mobile tech to bring African farmers into supply chain

U.S.-based GeoPoll is partnering with Control Union, an international provider of agricultural inspection and safety services, to reach out to African farmers and bring them into global supply chain networks while ensuring compliance with standard business practices.GeoPoll provides technology for data collection, using mobile platforms for surveys. Control Union will be able to use GeoPoll technology to reach small-holding farmers to gain more information about their practices. The idea is to bring increased transparency to food supply chains globally, with a focus on key products such as cocoa, coffee, cotton, fruits and vegetables, palm oil, rice, and tobacco. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cyberattacks in West Africa spark debate over online security

A wave of cyberattacks aimed at government-related websites in Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal over the last two months has triggered a debate over how to bolster online security and deal with politically motivated hacking.A popular Senegalese news site, Seneweb and the website of the government’s ICT management agency, L’Agence De l’Informatique de l’Etat (ADIE), were the first to be hacked in the latest round of attacks, in December and January, respectively (though the Seneweb hack was not disclosed until January).The attacks were reportedly launched in response to Senegalese President Macky Sall’s participation in a rally in support of the French magazine, Charlie Hebdo. Twelve people were killed on Jan. 7 by two heavily armed men at the Paris office of satirical news weekly Charlie Hebdo. The attack was reportedly prompted by satirical material involving Muslim themes and historical figures.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here