| Safaricom, a big player in East Africa’s telecoms space, will consider contracting Huawei to engineer its 5G network this year. The United States government has expressed concerns over China’s lead in the development of 5G technology. But for Michael Joseph, Safaricom’s CEO, Africa does not have to be caught up in the attrition: “We will use Huawei in 5G. What will we do in terms of the American statements about not using Huawei? We don’t have that situation in Africa,” Joseph was quoted as saying.
It is perhaps no surprise that Safaricom is set to engage Huawei again; the Chinese company built Safaricom’s 2G, 3G and 4G networks. MPesa, Safaricom’s flagship product, is also based on Huawei’s mobile money platform, TechWeez reports. |
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| In South Africa, new rules are under consideration to help taxis compete with ride-hailing services like Uber. The country’s Competition Commission has produced a preliminary report on the state of competition in the taxi industry. According to its findings, drivers of metered taxis are at a disadvantage because ride-hailing drivers currently do not present as much paperwork as regular taxi drivers.
What solution is being proposed? Uber and Bolt drivers in South Africa may be required to get area-based operating licenses to be allowed to operate. “A key concern indicated by the Commission was the prevalence of e-hailing drivers who provide services without the necessary operating licenses,” mybroadband reports. The catch is that the country’s laws already stipulate that ride-hailing drivers should have such licenses but enforcement has apparently been inefficient, especially with Uber drivers: between 35% and 55% of Uber drivers operated without a valid operating license in major cities.
Why you should care: Following up on its recent ban of commercial motorcycles including those operated bike-hailing startups, Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, maybe preparing to crack down on ride-hailing. A recent protest by Uber drivers to a regulator’s office underscored the rising tensions even if state officials deny claims that they are requesting operational license fees from Uber. Definitely a space to watch on the future of ride-hailing on the continent. |
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| Vesicash has followed up its $100,000 pre-seed fundraise in November 2018 with an undisclosed amount of funding from Ingressive Capital. Founded in 2018, Vesicash is a Nigerian digital escrow service that aims to eliminate peer-to-peer fraud by providing payment security for all parties involved in a given transaction. “The investment will help us focus on our mission of empowering Nigerians through a secure, safe and transparent way of carrying out digital transactions without the fear of being defrauded,” Ibrahim Oladele, Vesicash co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), told Disrupt Africa. |
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| Did you know that about 250 million fake phones are being sold annually in Nigeria?
That is according to the Nigerian Communications Commission. The commission notes that in the sea of mobile phones flooding the market, popular brands are being aped by clever-by-half manufacturers, deceiving thousands of consumers. It’s probably common knowledge anyway but the commission wants Nigerians to know it ‘approves 1,492 different brands and models for use,’ per Techpoint. The list includes the Transsion electives – Tecno, Infinix and itel – as well as Huawei, ZTE and Xiaomi. Of course Samsung, Apple, Nokia and Blackberry are in there. |
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| Artificial intelligence has become a major tool affecting how we live and experience services – in transportation, healthcare and e-commerce. Here’s a grim reality: Africa, a continent of over 1 billion people, is currently playing catch-up to the rest of the world on AI. Young Africans have a genuine appetite to develop AI competence but structural issues and data scepticism hold us back. As I remind you in this piece, it is dangerous for Africa to sit back while the AI rules are written by more developed economies. |
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| Financial Services Innovators (FSI) in conjunction with Google Development Group (GDG) is hosting its first Hackathon tagged ‘PayAsyouKnow’ on the 5th and 6th of March 2020 across 50 locations in Nigeria. This challenge is designed to tackle payment and identity problems. Register now at https://fsi.ng/hackathon to participate. |
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As savvy as you are with social media and modern technology, you probably can’t spot a cyber security threat. Blame this verdict on a 2019 survey by KnowBe4, an international security awareness training company. Here are the main findings from the survey which focused on Africans, according to IT News Africa:
- 53% think that trusting emails from people they know is good enough to preclude them from security threats.
- 28% have fallen for phishing email scams before
- 50% have claimed to have had malware infections
- 52% of Africans surveyed don’t know what multi-factor authentication is
- 64% don’t know what ransomware is,
- Yet 55% believe they can easily identify a security threat.
Where do you honestly belong? Your assignment for the weekend. |
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| Dan Holdings, a Blockchain & Fintech investment firm and headline sponsor TC Townhall Emerging Tech is giving away a limited amount of tickets to members of the TechCabal community. Please fill this form for a chance to get one.
Dan Holdings’ mission is to act as a powerhouse for widespread blockchain and fintech adoption and innovation, creating a sustainable legacy by devising technology-based solutions. Its portfolio includes: Telechat – a chat application with an integrated wallet for global digital currencies called Coins App which will be available both inside Telechat and as a standalone application; a cryptocurrency exchange BlockFinex, which is a crypto to crypto and Fiat to Crypto Exchange and Dan Ventures – which acts as the venture investment arm of Dan Holdings.
TC Townhall: Emerging Tech will convene entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers and corporate organizations including telcos and financial institutions to examine how businesses, individuals and countries across the continent can maximize the benefits of emerging technologies, specifically AI and Blockchain. Learn more above the event here. Further discounts apply for companies/individuals buying at least 5 tickets. Click here to redeem our 20% corporate discount. |
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