TechCabal Daily – “This Changed Everything”

Likely disruption to telecoms services in Nigeria from today

Nigerians might experience a disruption to cellular and data services on the 16th, 17th and18th of June 2021.

Why?

Nigeria’s sole trade union in the telecommunications industry, the Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PTECSSAN), has threatened to go on a nationwide three-day warning strike over alleged violation of national labour laws by employers.

Tell me more

According to reports, less than 5% of workers in the telecoms industry are hired on a permanent basis with most companies relying on subcontracting and outsourcing, a practice that shortchanges workers. Meanwhile, big telecom operators are reportedly laying off their managerial staff for reasons tied to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Also, telecom operators like HUAWEI, MAINONE and Globacom, reportedly do not allow trade unionism and deny workers’ rights to collective bargaining as spelt out in International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions.

Read more: Disruption to telecoms services in Nigeria likely as trade union plans strike action from Wednesday

Egyptian e-commerce startup Fatura secures $3 million

Fatura, a Cairo-based tech startup that connects wholesalers and manufacturers with retailers through a mobile application, has raised $3 million in pre-Series A funding. The round was co-led by Sawari Ventures and Arzan Venture Capital with participation from Egypt Ventures, EFG-EV, Cairo Angels, and Khwarizmi Ventures.

The startup plans to use the new funds to introduce services that support the different players in its ecosystem, offer several digitisation initiatives with a focus on digital payments, and expand to other countries in the North African region.

“This Changed Everything”

By this time next week, British computer scientist and inventor Tim Berners-Lee will be auctioning the original code for the World Wide Web as an NFT in London. This NFT is titled “This Changed Everything.” 

Remind me, what are NFTs?

Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are unique digital items – images, music, videos, tweets, works of journalism, real estate – traded on the internet between creators and collectors. They are designed to show that someone has ownership of a unique virtual item.

What’s inside this NFT: It includes original time-stamped files containing the source code written by Berners-Lee, an animated visualization of the code, a letter written by Berners-Lee on the code and its creation, and a digital “poster” of the full code.

Interested in owning a piece of history? 

Bidding starting at $1,000. The proceeds of the auction will benefit initiatives that Berners-Lee and his wife support.

Zoom out: The hype around NFTs might have died down but they’re still a thing. Last Thursday, a rare digital avatar known as a CryptoPunk sold for over $11.7 million. In March, Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, sold his first tweet as an NFT for $2.9 million. Also in March, Alex spoke to Osinachi, a Nigerian artiste who’s made about $100,000 from sales of his crypto art.

We got a number of Guesses

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