Author: Tapiwa Matthew Mutisi

MTN Group has announced it will launch an instant messaging (IM) service akin to China’s WeChat and Facebook’s WhatsApp as it seeks to expand revenue from digital services and mobile money. With the IM platform, which will form part of the group’s mobile money initiatives, MTN wants to build what group…

Zoaib Hoosen has resigned as MD of Microsoft’s South African subsidiary and will be replaced by Lillian Barnard, the software giant recently announced. Hoosen, who has been at the helm of Microsoft South Africa for nearly five years, replaced Mteto Nyati in the role. Nyati, who joined MTN South Africa as…

EcoCash, Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe’s mobile money Fintech business, has partnered with Cassava Fintech South Africa to provide an enhanced cross-border money transfer service from South Africa to Zimbabwe. Announcing the launch of the service, Cassava Fintech International Group CEO Darlington Mandivenga said he was confident the service would do very…

The Founder and Executive Chairman of the Econet Group, Strive Masiyiwa, has bought back Mascom Botswana from MTN for US$300 million, 14 years after losing control of the telecoms giant. Mascom was Strive Masiyiwa’s first mobile company before he obtained a licence to launch Econet Wireless after a protracted court battle…

Rwanda has embraced technology and is now preparing its young population for the future by launching a coding academy. The school’s motto “born to code” encourages young people interested in coding to pursue it as a career. The academy focusses on cyber security and software programming, and 30 girls and…

It comes after Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s CFO, filed legal proceedings against Canadian authorities alleging they arrested, detained and searched her in violation of her constitutional rights.

Liquid Telecom South Africa has secured its first customer, MTN, to offer 4G roaming to millions of South Africans. Liquid says the deal includes LTE services to fuel the growing demand for high-speed mobile broadband. The wholesale roaming service will be made available across Liquid Telecom’s network nationwide. “With MTN as a…

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer has filed a lawsuit against Canadian border and police authorities for “violating her constitutional rights” while arresting her at a Vancouver airport at the request of the US late last year. Her lawyers Howard Mickelson and Allan Doolittle said in a statement on Sunday that Meng, the…

Germany’s largest luxury carmakers are merging their car and ride-hailing services, including ReachNow and Car2go, in a bit to strengthen their position against Uber, Didi and Lyft.

MultiChoice set the stock market ablaze, leaping 16 percent from its debut of R95 a share on the JSE as the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) raised concerns that the listing had gone ahead despite complaints before the Complaints and Compliance Committee (CCC). Icasa, the communications regulator, said…

So the big day for MultiChoice Group (sharecode MCG) arrived as the owner of M-net, SuperSport and showmax has finally been unbundled from Naspers. So all the speculation about where the share price will trade at can finally come to an end. Background on Naspers and MultiChoice Below a bit…

TikTok, the popular video-sharing app formerly known as Musical.ly, has agreed to a record $5.7m (£4.2m) fine with the US Federal Trade Commission after being accused of illegally collecting personal information from children under 13. The app, which is owned by the Chinese giant Bytedance, a private startup with a…

For the weekend of 2-3 March, all SuperSport channels will be available for all DStv customers to stream on DStv Now. This means that DStv Compact Plus, Compact, Family or Access customers will all get the full sports experience if they watch SuperSport using the DStv Now app. It’s going to…

The Supreme Court dismissed claims by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) that it was owed $100 million by Econet Wireless through tax evasions. The curtain closed on a near 10-year battle between Zimra and Econet, wherein the tax authority claimed that the latter owed millions of dollars in unpaid taxes.…

In the first phase of the rollout, Rain has deployed 20 new base stations in Johannesburg and Cape Town, covering the main districts of the two cities.

Wim Vanhelleputte, the MTN Uganda Chief Executive Officer, was deported to Belgium for allegedly conspiring with other workers to record phone conversations of high ranking government officials and security chiefs. Last week, Minister of Internal Affairs, Gen. Jeje Odongo ordered for the deportation of Vanhelleputte who has been in the…

It’s official — 5G is here. Qualcomm ushered in this next generation of connectivity by applying 30 years of mobile leadership. 5G is the culmination of years of investment — intensive R&D, standards development, prototyping, interop testing, and product development — and the excitement is evident at MWC19 Barcelona. Multiple flagship 5G phones…

Sony unveiled the Xperia 1, 10 and 10 Plus smartphones at Mobile World Congress on Monday.

It packs the world’s first 4K HDR OLED smartphone display.

The two screens on the new V50 ThinQ work independently.