The war on sports betting being waged by the Kenyan government has been stepped up by the order to shut down their mobile payment avenues. The gambling regulatory body, Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB), has ordered Safaricom to shut down the Paybill accounts and SMS codes of 27 betting firms.…
Author: Charity Mbaka
The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) is a tool developed by the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Alternative Finance, that has recently revealed that Bitcoin mining has consumed close to 0.28% of the world’s total electricity supply. Every year, 61.76 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity are channeled to Bitcoin mining according to…
Kenyan telco giant Safaricom, has slashed prices for its data packages by 42% per megabyte bought, in the wake of increased competition in the telecomms space. Numerous reports also state that the firm lost some of its market share to competitors, among them Telkom and Airtel Kenya. Safaricom’s SA-based shareholder…
Google’s Google Cloud division yesterday announced its plans to acquire cloud storage company, Elastifile. The price tag for this latest acquisition has yet to be announced, however, the deal is set to fully close further along in the year. Google Cloud came under new management last year in November, with…
Kenyan telco giant has announced that it will channel USD 50,000 towards sponsoring the inaugural Afro-Asia FinTech Festival this year, between July 15th & 16th at the Kenya school of Monetary studies. The event has been dubbed ‘Fintech in the Savannah’. It will be co-hosted by Monetary Authority of Singapore…
The Kenyan High Court has temporarily lifted the suspension of Kenyan digital betting firm, Betin Kenya’s license to operate digital sports gambling services in Kenya. Kenya’s Betting and Licensing Board suspended Gamcode Limited’s (Betin’s parent company) chance to renew its betting license on July 1. This decision was made after it was…
Huawei may finally have caught a break after Trump hinted at relaxing the ban on US firms doing business with the company (Huawei) at this year’s G20 summit. However, Huawei is doing everything possible to reduce its dependency on the Android OS for its devices. Huawei Founder and CEO, Ren Zhengfei,…
Mandla Maseko, a 30 year-old South African, was on his way to becoming the first black African to get into space after beating over a million applicants from 75 countries to win one of twenty-three coveted seats to space in a 2013 competition. Sadly, Mr. Maseko will not see his…
In recent times digital credit platforms have gained popularity owing to their being easy to use, and the speed of each transaction. However, many of these lenders pose a threat to users, whose credit ratings risk taking a hit due to the often short repayment period. The Central Bank of…
Ethiopia has announced plans to award telecommunication licenses to two foreign companies that will set them in direct competition with Ethio-Telecom which is government-owned. This move is aimed at increasing private sector participation and flow of private capital into the country’s economy which is home to over 100 million residents.…
Whatsapp is one of the most widely used messaging platforms worldwide. Earlier this year it introduced a biometric feature for its users on iPhone devices, a group calling feature and an option to select who is allowed to add you to a group chat. The app is soon to see…
At the end of a week rife with technical glitches across several firms, Uber wrapped up the week with its own glitch which sent drivers to a rider’s destination before picking them up. From the numerous complaints posted on Social media, the glitch appears to affect primarily the Uber Driver…
Kenyans on Twitter, popularly referred to as KOT are up in arms over remarks made on Thursday by Safaricom interim CEO Michael Joseph at the late Bob Collymore’s memorial service. Michael Joseph took to the podium to eulogize his late friend and colleague. He described his admiration for the man…
WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook have been experiencing technical glitches for the better part of the day globally. Users globally have complained of their apps failing to download or downright send any form of media. However the chats are active. In some countries the three apps have been inactive for a…
Earlier today Westcon-Comstor Sub-Saharan Africa announced a partnership with Nokia, in which it will market, distribute and service enterprise products and solutions including Wi-Fi, WDM, SDN, SD-WAN and IP/MPLS networking. Westcon-Comstor, Collaboration Business Manager, Rentia Booysen says, “We believe that through our collaboration with Nokia, we will enable businesses to embrace emerging technologies…
YouTube has gone back on its plans to introduce sports live-streaming for South African subscribers just a day after releasing a statement sharing the plans. This came after the announcement of YouTube’s partnership with NBA Africa. Had the plan gone through (should it go through in future) users would have…
Former CEO Michael Joseph has been installed as interim CEO of the telco until Collymore’s replacement is found. The late CEO succumbed to cancer at his home, and was cremated yesterday, Tuesday, July 2, just a day later. The move spurred discussion online as to whether Safaricom’s next CEO will be a…
Liquid Telecom is set to build and operate a fiber broadband network in South Sudan. The network will connect the country to the “One Africa” broadband network, which spans 70,000 km, across 13 African countries. Phase 1 of this project is due to be completed by the end of 2019. The…
Siemon and Arista Networks collaborated to share their expert knowledge at the Cloud & Infrastructure Development Forum’ held in Lagos, Nigeria. Siemon is a global IT network infrastructure provider and Arista Networks, a leader in building scalable, high-performance and ultra-low latency cloud networks. The forum provided businesses with insight into how…
As earlier reported by Innovation Village, the late Bob Collymore, Safaricom’s CEO was pronounced dead earlier today morning. Burial plans are already underway, and a date for it has already been set. The celebrated CEO will be laid to rest tomorrow, Tuesday, July 2, 2019, just a day after his death.…