All Tech News

The Bank of Central African States (BEAC) has launched a new mobile application called BEAC NG2020 to help the public and financial professionals authenticate BEAC banknotes from the Type 2020 series.

Czech telecoms firm České Radiokomunikace (CRA) says that it has obtained a building permit to construct a data centre on the outskirts of Prague, in the Zbraslav – Jíloviště area.

Operator MTN Uganda, its mobile finance business MTN Mobile Money (U) Limited, and the Uganda Hotel Owners’ Association (UHOA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), marking what they call the beginning of a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating digital transformation in Uganda’s hospitality sector.

Xtelify, a fully owned subsidiary of Indian operator Bharti Airtel that houses Airtel’s digital assets and capabilities, has announced the launch of what it describes as a sovereign, telco-grade cloud platform called Airtel Cloud, along with software platform deals in a number of territories.

Satellite communications firm EchoStar is moving ahead with plans to join the global direct-to-device (D2D) satellite race via a new LEO satellite constellation, and has awarded an initial US$1.3 billion contract to MDA Space to help build it.

PLDT and its wireless arm Smart Communications said on Monday they are testing fixed wireless access (FWA) technology from Radisys as a potential alternative for fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), particularly in areas in the Philippines where fibre is difficult to deploy.

Lao Telecom’s fintech unit Lao Mobile Money – which operates the MmoneyX mobile wallet – has become a strategic business partner with Visa in a deal aimed at boosting digital payments and financial inclusion in Laos.

MTC Namibia has reportedly teamed up with Letshego Micro Financial Services to launch a pilot for a new mobile microlending platform that will provide instant loans to customers via their mobile phones.

Operator MTN’s mobile money business in South Africa, known as MoMo, has announced plans to make 4G and 5G smartphones available on credit to prepaid customers – without the need for background credit checks.

Eutelsat said on Wednesday it has signed a new agreement with India-based maritime communications firm Station Satcom to incorporate Eutelsat’s OneWeb LEO satellite services into its maritime connectivity portfolio.

Google is reportedly planning to invest US$6 billion to establish its first data centre in India, with a planned IT load capacity of 1GW that would make it one of the largest such facilities in Asia-Pacific.

Space42, a UAE-based spacetech company, has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with tech giant Microsoft and GIS mapping software specialist Esri to deliver high-resolution, scalable base maps across all 54 African countries, serving over 1.4 billion people.

Money transfer services continue to make headlines in Africa. This time it’s the turn of Zambia where Western Union, Zoona Transactions Zambia Limited and Chipper Cash have announced the launch of international money transfer services in the Chipper Cash app.

Mauritania’s digital transformation ministry MTNMA (Ministère de la Transformation Numérique et de la Modernisation de l’Administration) and EllaLink, the owner of a high-capacity optic fibre submarine cable directly connecting Europe and Latin America, have signed a contract for the construction, operation and maintenance of an international link that will directly connect Mauritania to Madrid in Spain.

Nokia revealed on Wednesday that Indonesian digital infrastructure provider Solusi Sinergi Digital (a.k.a. Surge) has deployed its subsea optical solution in a new subsea fibre network connecting Jakarta and Singapore.

Thai telco True Corp said on Tuesday it has begun implementing dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) technology on the 2600-MHz band that it says will improve the performance and efficiency of its 4G and 5G services.

Private network development is, arguably, one of the few successful applications of 5G technology so far. Indeed, Eviden, a specialist in advanced computing, cybersecurity products, mission-critical systems and vision AI (and a brand of the digital transformation-focused Atos Group), has just announced that it has been awarded a strategic contract to deploy a 5G mobile private network at the Port of Ploče in Croatia.

India’s Birla Cable, a fibre optic cable manufacturer, and Nedia Fiber, a US-based optical fibre cable supplier, have formed a strategic alliance to accelerate the delivery of high-performance fibre optic solutions across the Americas.

PLDT’s wireless unit Smart Communications announced on Tuesday that it has conducted a successful lab test of optical transport network disaggregation technology that it hopes to use to make its transport network more open, agile, efficient and flexible.

Nokia announced on Monday that it is supplying its subsea optical solutions for the Medusa Submarine Cable System owned by AFR-IX Telecom that aims to connect North Africa and Europe when it goes live later this year.

Nxtra by Airtel, a data centre-focused subsidiary of Indian technology giant Bharti Airtel Limited, and Indian renewable energy transition company AMPIN Energy Transition say they have strengthened their partnership.

Orange Money Group has expanded its mobile money offering by introducing small loans, following a new partnership with financial services platform Jumo.

Provider of integrated information and communication technology solutions ZTE Corporation has announced the successful completion of what it calls a landmark nationwide deployment in collaboration with Pakistan-based digital operator Jazz.

Oman Investment and Finance Company (OIFC), a.k.a. Khedmah, announced on Sunday it has launched an international mobile recharge service in collaboration with Prepay Nation that allows mobile customers to top up their prepaid mobile accounts in 16 countries.

Malaysian telco CelcomDigi launched a new range of AI-driven cyber security solutions on Friday that it said will give large enterprises higher resilience against evolving digital threats with real-time threat prediction, detection, response, and recovery.

Saudi Electric Company – National Grid, the entity responsible for the transmission of power to different categories of customers in all locations in Saudi Arabia, has awarded Wipro, an AI-powered technology services and consulting company, a multi-year strategic contract involving smart metering.

Malaysian telco Maxis said on Thursday it has entered a partnership with Aduna – the open network API JV led by Ericsson – to help drive adoption of standardised network APIs in Malaysia and accelerate digital innovation for businesses.

China is reportedly planning to build a network to connect thousands of new data centres in the country with the aim of selling the excess compute power and alleviating a capacity glut.

Algerian operator Algerie Telecom, which offers a wide range of fixed-line, internet and enterprise solutions and Sparkle, an Italian international service provider, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of a new subsea cable linking Italy and Algeria.

International network services provider RETN announced on Tuesday it has upgraded its Lithuanian fibre network ring connecting Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys to support growing data traffic demand in the Baltic region.

Digital infrastructure provider WIOCC said on Wednesday it has signed a framework agreement with Mozambique’s national telco Tmcel to collaborate on high-capacity connectivity solutions across Mozambique and the Southern African region.

Scala Data Centres, which describes itself as Latin America’s leading platform for sustainable digital infrastructure serving the hyperscale market, says it has secured its first international project finance transaction: US$254 million in long-term funding to support the construction of three hyperscale data centres and a major power substation in Chile.