₦airaland Forum

Spacecom, operator of the AMOS satellite fleet, has announced its long term agreement with Cobbett Hill Earthstation for C-Band capacity covering the Sub-Sahara region on the AMOS-17 communication satellite. Scheduled for launch in Q2 2019, AMOS-17 is specifically designed for meeting the growing demands of the African continent. With extensive Ka-band, Ku-band and C-Band HTS services, the satellite will combine broad regional beams and high throughput spot beams to maximize throughput and spectral efficiency from the 17°E orbital position.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/03/13/spacecom-cobbett-hill-ink-first-pre-launch-agreement-amos-17-sub-sahara-africa/

The Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation, has announced the launch of the 2018 edition of the Zambezi Prize for Innovation in Financial Inclusion. The prestigious competition, awarding a total of $200,000 in prizes, was established to discover Africa’s most promising and innovative early-stage start-ups that promote and advance financial inclusion on the continent.

Continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/03/12/applications-open-200000-africas-innovative-start-ups-award-financial-inclusion/

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has announced plans to further integrate technology into its processes to fast rack the registration of businesses in Nigeria within two hours. The commission said it was working to align with the Federal Government’s Executive Order on ease of doing business in the country.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/03/13/cac-plans-2-hour-online-registration-deepen-ease-business-nigeria/

Jamb candidates may start writing entry examinations into tertiary institutions from the comfort of their homes across the country soon, the Spokesman for the Joint Admission and Matriculation Examination Board (JAMB), Dr. Fabian Benjamin has revealed.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/03/13/jamb-says-candidates-may-start-writing-exams-home-soon/

It’s women’s day! The technology sector is male-dominated but it is not entirely masculine. In Nigeria, the technology industry is still largely male dominated but an increasing number of women are finding their game on the turf. They are at the forefront, initiating and implementing decisions altering the direction of the ICT sector for good.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/03/09/five-women-changed-nigerian-technology-narrative/

The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Garba Danbatta has assured the global investment community of the commitment of the Nigerian government to expanding the country’s economy through improving the ease of doing business and robust digital transformations. Danbatta spoke at a panel session during the just ended 2018 World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/03/08/telecom-regulator-danbatta-assures-world-nigerias-commitment-digitally-transform-economy/

A panel of experts at the recently held NerdsUnite 2018, organized by MainOne in Lagos, have called for positive collaborations among IT players in Africa to move the continent forward in its digital march. Africa is a very slow entry into the knowledge economy. Only two countries – Mauritius and South Africa made the list of top 65 countries in a recent global publication of countries’ e-Readiness.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/03/05/africa-needs-collaboration-advance-innovation-agenda/

The Director of ICT, Benue State University (BSU), Mr. Terna Abuul has tasked Nigerian universities to review their ICT curriculum in order to bridge the gap existing between the universities and the industry. Abuul, a tech-expert and an academic believes the gap between gown and town is too wide and for universities to remain relevant, they must rework their curriculum to reflect the dynamics of the industry.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/03/05/universities-must-review-ict-curriculum-function-tech-industry-says-terna-abuul/

The government of Bayelsa State has revealed plans to launch one of the country’s largest public funded innovation hubs later this year even as the state appealed for the support of the deferral government in setting up the hub as a centre to build capacity and strengthens the country’s desirous journey into the knowledge economy.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/03/02/shittu-dickson-explore-collaboration-ict-capacity-development-bayelsa-ignition-week-2018/

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Africa are to benefit from a $100m loan support following a new deal inked by United Bank for Africa (UBA) and China Development Bank. More than 10, 000 SMEs in Africa will be benefiting from the loan scheme include SMEs that make up the continent’s financially challenged tech-startups.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/03/02/uba-china-devt-bank-ink-100m-loan-deal-support-tech-smes-others-africa/

CELLCORE Ltd, an IT firm based in Ibadan has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) solution to enhance the gaming experience of Nigerians online. Dubbed, “LOTTOBOT”, it’s a ChatBot technology that automates the playing of lotto games via Facebook Messenger and it’s coming as part of plans to celebrate the company’s 10 years anniversary.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/03/02/cellcore-launches-ai-solution-enhance-online-gaming-experience-nigeria/

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has again warned Nigerians to be wary of investing in cryptocurrency, stating that they are not legal tender in Nigeria. The warning is coming even as investment in bitcoins surge in Nigeria to consolidate the country’s position as Africa’s capital of cryptocurrency.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/03/02/cbn-issues-warning-cryptocurrencies/

The Internet of Things (IoT) is impacting the lives of millions around the world – but none more so than those in Africa. SolarNow, a social business passionate about transforming lives by providing high quality solar energy, appliances and financing solutions in East Africa, has turned to IoT, while also integrating M2M cellular connectivity and AWS Cloud within its solutions to provide more and better services to SolarNow customers.
continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/26/enabling-iot-change-lives-across-africa/

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Republic of Ireland are exploring technical and capacity collaborations that would allow beneficiaries of the National Information Technology Development Fund (NITDEF) Scholarship to attend Irish universities as the ‘Agency Scholars’ under the NITDEF Scholarship scheme.

continue reading:http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/23/nitda-explores-collaborations-ireland-partners-facebook-taming-hate-speech/

No fewer than 20 Nigerian Air Force officers have been trained on cyber security and software development in India and the United States (US) to effectively operate the recently launched indigenous manufactured Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), dubbed Tsaigumi.
The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar who made this known, explained that 12 of the officers were trained as software developers, while 8 were trained as cyber security experts.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/20/nigerian-air-force-trains-20-officers-cyber-security-software-development-us-india/

Zeta-Web Nigeria, an  internet service provider (ISP) with expertise in innovating, deploying and designing technological solutions  in Nigeria and various parts of Africa  hosted its channel partners and consultants at L’eola hotel, Maryland Ikeja.
This is  in a bid to drive their services to various parts of the country as well as deepen  broadband penetration in the country in line with  Nigerian Communication Commission’s three As of Affordability, Availability and Accessibility

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/19/zeta-web-nigeria-hosts-channel-partners-consultants/

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has alerted Nigerian businesses on the implications of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The new GDPR particularly concerns those that collect, store and process personal data of European Union (EU) citizens for the provision of goods and services.

continue reading:http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/19/nitda-alerts-nigerians-new-eus-gdpr-implementation-enforcement/

The techniques developed by Singh and her colleagues at Carnegie Mellon analyse and compare tiny differences, imperceptible to the human ear, in how individuals articulate speech. They then break recorded speech down into tiny snippets of audio, milliseconds in duration, and use AI techniques to comb through these snippets looking for unique identifiers.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/19/catch-criminal-using-milliseconds-audio/

Mobile money remittance services are a genuine game-changer for those who are abroad (such as Diaspora or migrants and refugees) and are looking for a quick, convenient and simple service to send money home, especially to or from African and Arabic countries. Historically, banks have charged high fees but more recently, innovative and enterprising currency transfer companies have made migration easier with a reasonably priced service.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/19/save-money-remittances-africa/

The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has urged Nigerians to get registered and have their national digital identity at the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), saying compliance would enhance proper planning for national development.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/15/ambode-registers-nimc-itemises-benefits-digital-registration-citizens/

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has embarked on a tour of critical ICT facilities in Akwa Ibom State as part of the plans to promote the Akwa Ibom ‘StartUP Friday’ edition, an event designed to bridge the gap that exists amongst ICT startups and investors.
The National Coordinator, Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE), Dr. Amina Sambo led the team to assess the ICT facilities in the state. The OIIE is managed under the NITDA as the vehicle to promote and foster ICT entrepreneurship.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/13/nitda-ignites-plans-startup-friday-akwa-ibom/

Phase3 has announced plans to commence a strategic metro network upgrade. The Abuja based company is touted as West Africa’s largest independent fibre optic infrastructure and telecommunications services provider,
With clients that include private and public sector players, Phase new upgrade will enhance communications and improve high-speed broadband and turn crucial in providing telecommunications services for seamless regional and multi-locations in Nigeria, said Chief Executive Officer, Stanley Jegede while speaking on the plans.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/09/phase3-set-upgrade-broadband-connectivity-nigeria/

The number of active mobile phone lines in Nigeria increased to 144 million in December 2017 from about 142 million that was recorded in November of the same year, indicating an increase of 2,731,273 lines. The monthly Subscriber Technology Data published on the website of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has shown to underscore a somewhat significant growth in Africa’s largest market of nearly 145 million active mobile users.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/08/nigerias-active-mobile-phone-lines-now-144-million/

Could the future of clean energy be to turn air into petrol? It may sound too good to be true, but Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his partners are experimenting with a technology that could potentially help stop global warming as well as provide clean fuel. At their facility in Squamish, western Canada, engineers have already succeeded in extracting CO2 from the air and using it to produce a mix of petrol and diesel. They hope to eventually replicate the process on an industrial scale, the Guardian reports.
http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/06/bill-gates-planning-strip-co2-air-turn-clean-fuel/
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The Nigerian government is restricting import of foreign skills and scientific tools except procuring companies prove such skills or equipment cannot be source locally. The restriction follows a new Executive Order signed by the Federal Government in the hope of improving local content in public procurement for science, engineering and technology components; and also to conserve scarce FOREX as Nigeria battles to revamp its economy after coming out of recession.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/06/nigeria-signs-order-restricting-import-foreign-skills/

Zinox is re-inking its future with the acquisition of Konga, the e-commerce group that includes Konga.com; KongaPay, a CBN-licensed mobile money platform with over 100,000 subscribers as well as KOS-Express, a digitally-driven logistics company.
Zinox, founded by Leo Stan Ekeh more than a decade ago, is Nigeria’s top indigenous ICT original equipment manufacturer (OEM) brand and likely has over 70% market dominance of the local computer market with its Zinox brand systems.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/05/zinox-group-re-inks-future-kongas-acquisition/

Despite the fact that online shopping has grown at a colossal pace for the past two decades, brick-and-mortar stores are still as important as ever. This is mainly because the online store experience still fails to give the user a real contact with the product to be sold.
This is why it’s frequent to see a customer start shopping in one channel and finish the purchase through another one.
Consumers need to feel confident about their purchase decisions, and mere flat images, dimensions or specs can’t replace the intimacy generated by trying the products in real-time, in the customer’s real environment.

continue reading:http://itedgenews.ng/2018/02/01/end-e-commerce-just-around-corner/

The federal government will in February implement Digital Switch Over (DSO) in Enugu and Osogbo in Osun State as government moves closer to meeting the new deadline to transit from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTV) nationwide in line with the global shift by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to digital transmission. About 12 states are to be covered by the end of June.

continue reading : http://itedgenews.ng/2018/01/30/nbc-switchover-12-states-june/

Freelancing has found a new name in the digital era. A ‘Gig’ is simply a task performed as a once-off freelancing job, but because the trend towards freelancing has grown so significantly, a new economy has been born: the ‘Gig Economy’. Internationally, it has grown at a rapid pace with independent workers within Europe regarded as the fastest growing group in the EU labour market. Analysts also predict that half of the United Kingdom’s working population will be self-employed in the next five years.

CONTINUE READING: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/01/30/gig-economy-disrupts-status-quo-presenting-opportunity-africa/

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has alerted corporate Nigeria on potential cyber attacks this year and provided cautionary steps to ward off the attacks. In a press statement issued by the NITDA in Abuja over the weekend and signed by its Director General/CEO, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, agency tasks all stakeholders in the public and private sectors to be vigilant and proactive.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/01/29/nitda-warns-cyber-attacks-issues-guidance-security-threats/

Social media buffs and commentators, watch it! The government is watching you. Worried by spate of criticisms against it and rising incidents of online hate speech as Nigeria grapples with religious and ethnic violence, government wants to unplug ‘state enemies.’

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/01/26/nigerian-government-begins-monitoring-social-media-tame-hate-speech/

In Davos, Alibaba founder and Executive Chairman Jack Ma spoke openly and at length about some of the key challenges facing the world, delivering a stream of perspectives and guidance.

continue reading: http://itedgenews.ng/2018/01/26/infinite-insight-jack-ma/