November 2019

Telecommunication giant, MTN Ghana in collaboration with Micfrim phones has launched affordable smartphones onto the Ghanaian market.

The Ipro Amber 5S (3G) and Ipro Amber 5S pro (4G) smart phones are to provide all customers the opportunity to enjoy faster internet coverage.

The phones have been specially designed taking into consideration and improving on the issues that customers raised on the MTN Smart phone introduced by the Telco seven months ago.

At the launch of the phone in Accra, Wednesday, Noel Ganson, Chief Marketing Officer at MTN, indicated that MTN looks forward to pushing the percentages of the smartphone penetration on the network higher by the end of the year.

“Our vision to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world is in many ways made apparent through partnerships that lead to the introduction of devices such as the IPRO Amber 5S/5S Pro. Today’s launch marks another step towards the advancement of this vision, one that will make the customer’s life a whole lot brighter.

He recalled that in April, MTN launched its first entry level smart feature phone, the MTN KaIOS Smart phone.

“Seven months after the launch, we are happy to say that the uptake has been very good and we have sold close to 15,000 pieces and still counting.” he disclosed

As leaders within the industry, he said MTN understands the importance of providing affordable smartphones to its customers adding that “we have been doing our best to partner Original Equipment Manufacturing companies who buy into our vision.

He was of the view that, in spite of the progress made at improving smartphone penetration, there is still room for improvement and that is why, MTN continue to invest in partnerships aimed at giving desired result of having close to 100% penetration in the near future.

The two phones are 4G and 3G entry level smartphones that run on the Android Go Operating System.

With a 5inch screen, the MTN IPro Amber 5s/ ipro Amber 5s Pro phones come well equipped with pre-installed apps such as WhatsApp, Google Maps, Facebook, YouTube, and many more.

The adaptability of the device makes it easier than ever to connect with others wherever you go.

The phones come at a retail price of GH₵275 and GH₵255 for the 4G and 3G respectively.

Source: myjoyonline.com

Mobile Telecommunication giant, MTN Ghana has expressed its determination to support the promotion of Ghana’s cultural heritage.

This is the most sustainable way to preserve the rich Ghanaian culture and traditional institutions, promote national integration, cohesion and development.

“We are determined to sustain the rich Ghanaian culture and prevent it adulteration and extinction to essentially promote national integration and cohesion to create employment opportunities for the people and promote local tourism.

“This forms an integral segment of the organization’s unwavering commitment to support economic empowerment initiatives as part of efforts to give back to society through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).”

Mr Kennedy Ofosuhene, Corporate Services Adviser for Southern Ghana, said this at a presentation made towards celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Odeefo Amuakwa Buadu VIII, Omanhene of the Breman Traditional Area in Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa (AOB) District of the Central Region.

The anniversary coincided with the 2019 Breman Odwira festival of the chiefs and people in the area which was held under the theme: “Promoting citizens’ responsibility for Bremanman’s development”.

On behalf of MTN, Mr Ofosuhene donated cash of GH¢3,000.00 and airtime worth GH¢ 3,000.00, souvenir and a hamper.

He called on the public to maximise Ghana’s unique cultural heritage and enhance it.

Odeefuo Amuakwa Buadu VIII, hailed MTN for the gesture and its resoluteness in taking a bold lead in providing telecommunication services to its growing customers across the country.

The Omanhene of the Breman Traditional Area who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Baxoil Company Limited, a Ghanaian oil company that produces quality Baxoil-branded lubricant, ascended the throne on May 31, 2009 at age 41 after succeeding his late uncle, Odeefuo Amuakwa Buadu VII.

The celebration would be climaxed with a grand durbar at the Catholic Boys Basic School park at Breman Asikuma on Saturday, November 17, 2019.

The Omanhene expressed his commitment to the development of the social and economic well-being of the area, hence, the formulation and adoption of a five-year medium-term strategic development plan and the formation of the Breman Development Committee with Kyidomhene, Nana Barima Fi III, as the chairman to spearhead its implementation.

The six goals contained in the new plan are youth development, agriculture, education, health, tourism and resource development.

The Omanhene called for the support of citizens of the area, both home and abroad, towards the growth and development of the area.

Odeefuo Buadu commended the chiefs and the people, including all stakeholders for their immeasurable support during the last 10 years of his reign which has witnessed peace, unity and progress.

He also thanked the people for living in harmony since his ascension to the throne, saying “it is only when we live in peace and harmony as a people that our traditional area can achieve the desired growth”.

Source: GNA

Vodafone Group partnered with Google Cloud to develop a real-time data analytics platform, in an aim to drive AI and gain insights in a single “ocean of data”.

The operator said its new Neuron platform, built on Google Cloud Platform, “will act as a brain and driver for AI and business intelligence for Vodafone’s global business”.

In a blog post, John Wibergh, Vodafone CTO, noted that Vodafone’s original big data system was built five years ago and comprised 600 servers, but faced “a lot of limitations.” A year ago the company decided to change things and instead create a cloud-based big data system.

“We can [now] much better plan and optimise our network and build that functionality into the My Vodafone app to provide better offers to our customers and also to guide our own staff on how to act in certain situations.”

Neuron currently covers 11 countries, where it has combined data from the 600 servers in a single “data ocean,” in an effort to get insights in the field of 5G network optimisation and smart retail.

Insights from Neuron are already being used in the company’s Gigabit Networks which were “increasingly optimised by AI to push capacity to where customers need it most”, and real-time analytics enabled the operator to push personalised commercial offers to customers when they are most likely to buy.

Source: MWL

Vodafone Ghana has announced new giveaways for its fixed broadband customers between now and the end of the year when they pay two or more months advance subscription fees.

The move aligns with the company’s overall commitment to put its customers first in all its offerings.

As part of the package, fixed broadband customers will enjoy unlimited browsing on the various broadband packages, free shopping at Melcom, dinner at Starbites and African Regent Hotel, tickets to SilverBird Cinemas and Roverman Production stage play, as well as grooming at the X-Men Spa.

Customers whose accounts have been inactive for three or more months can also enjoy three months unlimited browsing by reactivating their accounts at ¢150, in order to be part of the Christmas Magic promotion.

Pushpinder Gujral, Consumer Business Director at Vodafone Ghana said, “Christmas is here again and it’s a great time to give customers a thrilling experience for their dedication and commitment to our products and services.

“We want them to enjoy seamless connectivity with their loved ones this festive season. Being the telecom company with the biggest broadband packages and offerings in the industry.”

He added that they want their customers to enjoy more data; unlimited landline calls and have the option to share data with up to four mobile devices.’

The package will give customers on Vodafone One Family unlimited data in line with the fair usage policy whilst those on standard packages will get up to 100GB extra data, depending on their package.

Additionally, all fixed customers now get unlimited Vodafone landline calls in the evenings and weekends and the ability to share or move 20GB of their broadband data up to four Vodafone mobile numbers.

New customers can apply for Vodafone’s broadband service or grab a cordless landline for their home by visiting any Vodafone Retail Shop nationwide.

Source: myjoyonline.com

Facebook has formed an internet consortium to focus on online child safety on its platform.

The Ideal Internet Consortium is a working group of child safety practitioners that will deliberate on safety issues and give recommendations to civil society, industry and government. Its findings are expected to help create strategies to keep young users safe online.

The US-based social media leader has also partnered with the Ministry of Women and Child Development to build digital literacy campaigns around women and child safety online.

This will be done through a #CreateCareConnect comic series which was launched on Tuesday, along with the next edition of the Thumbstoppers campaign in 2020, which will be a series of short creative mobile videos under 10 seconds that will focus on issues like gender equality, domestic violence and education for the girl child.

As part of efforts in this direction, Facebook has also set up its global digital literacy programme, We Think Digital, in India. Smriti Irani, minister for women and child development, said: “While the internet opens doors for women and children to learn and gain knowledge, it comes with the responsibility to ensure their safety… With Facebook, we want to build ways in which we equip and educate people to help them make smarter choices online and learn about internet safety.” So far, the consortium, which is led by the Aarambh India Initiative, has had seven focus group discussions with people from cities across Odisha, Tripura, Jharkhand and Kerala. Ankhi Das, director of public policy for Facebook (India, South & Central Asia), said: “We are building programmes that are aimed at internet users’ digital hygiene and maintaining online privacy and security.”

As part of the We Think Digital programme, Facebook will partner with agencies from both government and civil society, which will help it achieve its aim of training more than 5 million people by 2021.

Source: Economictimes

MTN Group has announced that its messaging platform, “Ayoba” has reached one million monthly active users.

Ayoba is an advanced communications application localised for the needs of African and Middle East consumers under an independent Over the Top (OTT) brand with unique features for MTN customers.

A statement from MTN and copied to the Ghana News Agency, the app supports many local languages spoken across the MTN markets including isiZulu, isiXhosa, Pidgin, Yoruba, Swahili, Hausa, French and English.

It said MTN, together with its partners, are driven to improve access to affordable communications to ensure that people in its markets could reap the social, economic and developmental dividends of being online.

“Ayoba underscores this goal to bring more people into the digital world by providing them with affordable and simplified digital communication services.”

Mr Rob Shuter, the MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “We believe that our customers in Africa and the Middle East deserve a communication platform that expresses our unique voice, honours our rich identity through local languages, and addresses our customers’ specific needs and challenges by offering a data-included offering for MTN users, Mobile Money transfers and locally relevant content via channels.”

The platform which was launched earlier this year, the statement said, is now operational in eight MTN markets in Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Congo Brazzaville, Nigeria, Guinea Bissau, Afghanistan and South Africa.

Ayoba is also available across multiple markers on the Google Play Store and via the Ayoba website www.ayoba.me as on OTT offering.

As part of continuous efforts to enhance its offerings, Ayoba would be adding more features in future.

It is also working on building on open digital platform that would enable third party innovation to ensure that rich diversified experience on the platform is offered.

Mr David Gilarranz, the CEO of MTN Digital, said the open digital platform would also enable the company to deliver more value to its users, empower local developers and create local experience that are optimised for local communities.

Ayoba’s key features and offerings include ‘Local Languages’, ‘Chat Now’, ‘Security’, ‘Chat with Everyone’, ‘Channels’ and ‘Money Transfers.’

Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a market operator with a clear vision to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world to its 244 million customers in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Source: GNA

MTN South Africa has selected Ericsson as a 5G network modernisation vendor. Ericsson will supply 5G products from its Radio Access Network (RAN), transport and Core portfolios, with commercial rollout expected to start in 2020.
As part of its transformation strategy, MTN South Africa is upgrading its core network to support 3GPP-compliant 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) architecture. The 5G commercialisation is planned between 2020 and 2022, with a focus on use cases and applications relevant in the South African context. These include enhanced mobile broadband, fixed wireless access, and the IoT. MTN and Ericsson are working together to identify and develop 5G use cases and applications that will contribute to the digital transformation of industry verticals.

In addition to providing end-to-end 5G capabilities, Ericsson has been chosen to modernize MTN South Africa’s existing LTE and legacy radio access networks as part of a three-year deal signed earlier this year. MTN is using 5G New Radios (5G NR), basebands and MINI-LINK microwave transmission products from the Ericsson Radio System portfolio to enhance network quality for the company’s 30 million customers. Ericsson has also provided MTN with an Ericsson cloud core network, including 5G Evolved Packet Core and User Data Management.

Source: Telecompaper

In the continued drive for innovation in cost-effective rural coverage MTN is pleased to announce that it has deployed over 200 commercial rural sites across its footprint, using OpenRAN technology.

MTN is amongst the pioneers of OpenRAN – the technology which enables operators to achieve cost-effective deployments allowing for greater connectivity to previously unconnected areas.

MTN is projecting to deploy more than 5,000 sites in rural areas across its 21 operations, bringing 2G, 3G and 4G connectivity to areas that were previously unconnected. In order to realise this goal, MTN will rely on an ecosystem of partners who will bring their expertise to build and maintain the sites, utilising a full turnkey approach.

“Our Group Technology team has been pioneering OpenRAN, concluding field trials in Zambia in 2018 and deploying commercial sites from the beginning of 2019. We focus on creating viable new RAN solutions alongside the traditional deployments of network technology suppliers in order to accelerate the rural expansion in our markets,” said Rob Shuter, MTN Group President and CEO.

MTN operations in Uganda and Guinea Conakry are already benefiting from this technology, as MTN has also partnered with the likes of VANU, Parallel Wireless and NuRAN Wireless to deliver the technology.

As one of the foremost members of the Telecom Infrastructure Project (TIP), MTN carries out solution testing on all hardware and software elements at its state-of-the-art head office in Johannesburg, South Africa. The TIP initiative aims to define 2G, 3G and 4G RAN solutions based on general-purpose, vendor-neutral hardware and software-defined technology.

By continuing to accelerate innovation through initiatives such as OpenRAN, MTN continues to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world, solidifying its position as a leading mobile operator in the market.

Source: www.biztechafrica.com

Social media giant Facebook is scheduled to host its first ever Facebook iD8 conference on African soil.

The event to be held in Kenya’s capital Nairobi seeks to connect Facebook with African developers.

African developers have been flying to San Francisco, US to attend the annual boot-camp that is gathering momentum across the world.

Last Month, Facebook held such camps in Sao Paulo, Berlin and New York.

It will bring together developers and startups from Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa to share the company’s latest technology and products to showcase and celebrate talent from across the region, whilst sharing their developer journey’s.

It will also feature hands-on demonstrations and discussions with Facebook product experts who will provide guidance to developers and help unblock challenges in their development process.

”Facebook iD8 is an opportunity for us to connect face-to-face with developers and share the latest technology and product updates as well as offer attendees an opportunity to share where they are in their journey,” Facebook’s Communication Manager for East Africa Janet Kemboi told Biztech Africa.

“Topics for the programme range from AR/VR, Messenger, Social Commerce and more. Facebook iD8 is a two-way dialogue where we have a chance to hear about your experiences, learn about your challenges and roadblocks and, provide an opportunity for you to connect with other members of our shared community that may face similar challenges.”

Emeka Afigbo, Facebook Global Head of Developer Programs is among keynote speakers expected to grace the Nairobi meet.

Source: www.biztechafrica.com