UK-based chip designer Arm reportedly became the latest company to suspend business with Huawei, in what would be the biggest blow yet to the Chinese vendor.
BBC News reported it obtained internal documents in which Arm instructed its employees to halt all active contracts, support and “any pending engagements with Huawei”, to comply with a recent US ban against the company.
Arm, which was acquired by Japan-based SoftBank in 2016, is headquartered in the UK but employs 6,000 workers across eight offices in the US.
In its note to staff, Arm said its products contain “US origin technology”, meaning it has a duty to comply with the ban.
Chip concerns
If true, Arm’s decision could have crippling affects on Huawei’s smartphone business, as it would impact the company’s capabilities to develop its own mobile chips.
While Arm does not manufacture chips, it provides technology vital to the running of processors under licence.
Huawei sources some of its mobile chips from HiSilicon, which it owns. But HiSilicon’s chips, including Huawei’s forthcoming Kirin 985 processor, are built using Arm’s technology.
The Kirin 985, which is to be used in upcoming Huawei devices is not expected to be affected by Arm’s ban, BBC News stated, but a source said the next iteration of the chip may have to be built from scratch.
In a tumultuous week already for the vendor and its smartphone business, Google said it will limit Huawei’s use of its Android operating system and other services.
CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber told BBC News an Arm ban would be “an insurmountable obstacle for Huawei”.
Huawei stepped up efforts to develop an alternative to Android, with the company preparing to launch its own operating system by the fourth quarter or early 2020, Nikkei Asian Review reported.
Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, said the OS will be compatible with its handsets, tablets and PCs, the newspaper said, citing Chinese media reports.
The company could be left seeking an alternative to Google’s platform after being blacklisted by US authorities.
Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said the company can and will develop its own operating system, local media reported. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported Huawei’s VP for Europe Abraham Liu said at a launch event an “alternative option will naturally come out, either from Huawei or someone else”, if its devices are blocked from Google services.
The vendor declined to comment on its OS efforts, so it’s unclear if it is working on an entirely new OS or an Android fork, which analysts reckon is more feasible.
In 2018, the company played down reports it was planning to develop its own mobile platform to reduce its reliance on the Android operating system.
Limited impact
Richard Windsor, founder of research blog Radio Free Mobile, said in a post the immediate impact of the Android ban will be negligible, as current devices will be unaffected and Huawei has launched its main models for 2019.
He noted the company won’t lose access to Android itself, which is open source, but Android devices outside of China must offer access to Google services “to have any prospect of being sold”.
In a statement, the vendor said it will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphones and tablets.
MTN Nigeria shares rose another 10% to 108.90 naira in pre-market bids on Friday after its debut $6.5 billion stock market listing on the Lagos bourse.
Nigeria’s biggest telecoms firm, owned by South Africa’s MTN Group, listed in Lagos on Thursday in a flotation that made it the second-largest company on the exchange by market value after Dangote Cement.
A total of 150,000 bid orders had been placed for the stock by 0847 GMT. The shares, which listed at 90 naira, closed 10% higher at 99 naira on Thursday.
Apple expanded the reach of Apple Pay by enabling it as an option to complete transactions on the company’s services, including the App and iTunes stores.
In a support document released by the company, Apple said its mobile payment service can be used to make purchases from Apple Store, iTunes Store and Apple Books, along with buying iCloud storage.
The move comes as Apple prepares to launch a new credit card designed to work with the iPhone and delve deeper into the payments market.
As an incentive to use the Apple Card, Apple is offering cash rewards on purchases, with 2 per cent offered on those made with Apple Pay.
The card is due to be available this summer.
Transactions made on the card will be logged in the Wallet App, which will track transaction history and colour coded into different categories, such as spending on food and shopping.
The new features are rolling out in a number of markets, including the US, Canada, Hong Kong and Australia.
MTN Ghana has launched its 2019 Internet Festival, dubbed: “iFest” in Accra to educate customers on the relevance of using the internet to enhance their everyday lives.
iFest 2019, which is the ninth in the series, focused on three thematic areas of; Educating customers on internet usage; How to access data and smart devices; and Enhancement in technology and infrastructure to support the drive in data penetration.
Mr Bless Sefenu Agordjo, the Senior Manager of Products and Services, MTN Ghana, said the telecom company had 1.5 million subscribers using internet services in 2011 when iFest was first introduced, however, more than 13.5 million subscribers were currently using the service.
“It is for this reason that MTN saw the need to educate internet users, especially those on the network, on how they could acquire knowledge, learn skills and do businesses with the internet to ensure their welfare,” he said.
Mr Agordjo said the MTN was setting up experiential zones for customers to experience its fast internet services.
The iFest 2019, he said, was part of the company’s way of celebrating customers this year, as 2019 had been declared as the “Year of the Customer”.
He advised customers to submit their mobile devices to MTN customer care centres or experiential zones for 4G networks to be set up for them.
Mr Agordjo encouraged all MTN users, including educational institutions, students, and traders, to use the internet to learn, improve on their technical and vocational skills as well as trading activities.
A cross-section of stakeholders and invited guests at the meeting
Mr Ishmael Yamson, Chairman of MTN Ghana Tuesday said the company recorded a strong financial performance in 2018 with profit before tax increasing by 16.5 per cent to GH¢1.6 billion, while earnings per share was GH¢0.067.
He said the performance was a testament to the disciplined execution of the company’s strategy of maintaining a strong balance sheet, improving profitability and driving operational efficiencies.
Speaking at the company’s Annual General Meeting in Accra, Mr Yamson said, at the close of 2018, the company had a market capitalisation of GH¢9.7 billion, making it the third largest listed company on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
Touching on dividends, Mr Yamson said the board declared an interim dividend of 2 pesewas per share after reviewing the 3rd quarter performance of the company.
“After reviewing the full year performance of the company in 2018, the board shall be recommending a final dividend of 3 pesewas on ordinary shares, bringing the total dividend for the year to 5 pesewas per share or 81.2 per cent of profit after tax”, he added.
Touching on the share price performance, he said the company’s share price recorded a 5.33 per cent price gain for the year ended December 31, 2018, with a 52-week high of GH¢0.93 and low of GH¢0.75, and a share price at the end of 2018 was GH¢0.79.
On corporate governance, he said the company remained resolute in upholding high standards to drive sustainable growth, and would continue to embed a culture of no tolerance for corruption through its robust conduct management framework.
He said the company had invested in relevant tools needed to provide an integrated approach to the management of governance, risk and compliance across the business space.
Focusing on the country’s political and economic performance, Mr Yamson said the country sustained its democratic credentials and remained politically stable and vibrant.
“We urge the government to work with parliament to give sustained assurance to long-term investors, as the country gets closer to its Presidential and Parliamentary elections in 2020”.
He said the establishment of an Independent Fiscal Responsibility Council and a Fiscal Stability Council by government must provide anchors to fiscal prudence and if pursued with rigour, the company would see macroeconomic stability for the rest of 2019.
Mr Selorm Adadevoh, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana said Mobile Money (MoMo) subscribers increased by 17.8 per cent to 13.6 million supported, by consistent service delivery across all channels.
He said the increase in subscriber resulted in a 23.5 per cent increase in the service revenue as recorded and it was driven by the strong growth in voice, data and digital revenue including MoMo.
MoMo revenue, he said, increased by 60.3 per cent year on year, adding that, MTN MoMo supported digital growth and increased its contribution to 17.7 per cent of total revenue.
He said for the company to maintain its relevance in the telecommunications industry, it would have to continue to innovate, create and build meaningful relationships to improve customer experience.
He said the improved network, coupled with aggressive marketing, sales and products, had resulted in growth in subscriber base.
Mr Adadevoh said the National Communications Authority opened a tender for the 800Megahertz spectrum of three blocks of 2x5MHz, and that MTN Ghana was excluded from the tender on the basis that it already holds spectrum in the 800MHz band.
He said only one lot of the 2x5MHz was taken up by Vodafone Ghana and so MTN Ghana is interested in acquiring the remaining spectrum for network expansion and quality of service improvement.
Some of the stakeholders commended MTN Ghana for the achievements and called for increment on their dividend.
They urged management to institute proactive and effective governance management measures to ensure sound fiscal performance.
Facebook’s instant messaging app WhatsApp has been hit with a security breach, which leaves users vulnerable to malicious spyware being installed on their phones reports.
The company said it discovered the breach this month and informed the US Department of Justice last week, as well as its lead regulator in the EU, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission.
A Facebook spokesperson urged users to upgrade to the latest version of the app and keep their operating system up to date, as a way to protect against threats designed to compromise information stored on mobile devices.
“We are constantly working alongside industry partners to provide the latest security enhancements to help protect our users,” the spokesperson told Reuters.
The Financial Times (FT) provided details on the breach, reporting attackers were able to inject commercial Israeli spyware on both iPhones and Android powered smartphones by ringing users and targeting the app’s call function.
FT said the code was developed by Israeli company NSO Group, and could violate devices even if users did not answer their phones. Often, the calls would disappear from call logs.
WhatsApp, which is still investigating the issue, said it was too early to reveal exactly how many users had been affected, an FT source added.
NSO’s products and technology are designed for intelligence agencies in the west and Middle East, with its flagship Pegasus programme intended to fight crime and terrorism. The programme can turn on a phone’s microphone and camera, as well as access emails, messages and location data. NSO told the FT it carefully vetted customers and investigated any abuse, adding it was looking into the WhatsApp hack.
CEO of AirtelTigo; Ms. Mitwa Ng’ambi-on-the-right-side-of-Asantehene-Otumfuo-Osei-Tutu-II
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has commended AirtelTigo for its continued support and investment in education, specifically its efforts in improving the lives of children within deprived communities across the country.
His Royal Majesty made the remarks at his Palace in Manhyia, when the leadership of AirtelTigo led by the Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Mitwa Kaemba Ng’ambi paid a courtesy call on him to congratulate him on his 20th anniversary celebration as the King of Asanteman.
The Asantehene applauded the company for its enormous contribution towards teaching and learning in Ghana by improving the learning conditions of pupils in underprivileged communities.
He also pledged his support for the company’s new Corporate Social Responsibility initiative “Yεn Nkͻsoͻ Nti” (meaning ‘for our development’) which aims to support and enhance public school education in disadvantaged communities in the Ashanti, Bono and Ahafo regions.
Under “Yεn Nkͻsoͻ Nti” initiative, AirtelTigo will invest one percent of proceeds from airtime recharge by its customers in those regions, into the development of educational facilities.
On behalf of the team, Mrs Ng’ambi commended Asantehene for his strong and enduring leadership exhibited over the years, adding that: “Beyond Ashanti region, it is also significant to note your contribution to peace and developments in Ghana.”
She donated an amount of GHS20, 000.00 towards the Otumfuo Charity Foundation to support education while affirming the company’s commitment to supporting education as one of the focus areas of its Corporate Social Responsibility programmes.
“We believe that education holds the key to the successful development of any nation and us investing in the education of children is one of the surest ways of having a long-term impact in these communities,” she said.
She explained that the company’s long-term goal to heavily invest in education is a way of contributing to help Ghana advance on the Sustainable Development Goal 4. She reiterated its commitment to making life simple through innovative products and services for its customers and businesses across the nation.
MTN Ghana has stated that the government of Ghana loses millions of cedis as a result of fibre cuts that the company has been experiencing.
They say the company has been losing millions in recent months due to persistent fibre cuts.
According to them, they lost 39 million Ghana cedis as a result of fibre cuts suffered between October 2018 and February 2019.
Speaking to Journalists in Kumasi at an editors’ forum and as part of MTN Ashantifest, Corporate Service Executive of MTN, Mr. Samuel Koranteng said out of the 39 million loss, they would have paid a tax component of about 17.5 million Ghana cedis.
Fibre technology helps to improve the quality of service by network providers.
The fibre cables are fixed in the ground to help ensure strong network connectivity in areas they have been fixed, but fibre cuts result in low quality of service.
According to MTN, activities of road contractors, illegal mining activities among others lead to fibre cuts which affect their network adversely.
Mr. Koranteng indicated that one fibre cut costs the company over 6000 Ghana cedis. He added that, from January 2019 to April 2019, the company has experienced 489 fibre cuts which have been affecting the company badly.
“From January this year to the end of April, we suffered up to 489 fibre cuts across the country. Out of this figure, 150 were in the Ashanti region. So you realize that out of the total number of regions we have, the Ashanti region accounts for a very high number.”So we also went down to look at the revenue impact for MTN and we realized that as a result of the fibre cuts we suffered from October 2018, to end of February, we haven’t gone into March and April, the loss of revenue is approximately 39 million Ghana cedis.”
He said “when you look at the benefits government would have had out of it if we had realized that revenue, the tax component of that- that is an approximation of about 17. 5 million Ghana cedis so one fibre cut isn’t a revenue loss to MTN. It is a revenue loss to the state as well as all other businesses who use our network – our connectivity to do their business.”
“So you can imagine if we are able to do a survey of all businesses and all people who have experienced revenue loss as a result of this fibre cut, the figure will be much much bigger. If the government had realized this revenue, they would have put it to national development,” he added.
MTN says it is collaborating with the Roads and Highways Ministry to arrange with contractors to help avoid the prevalent phenomenon.
MTN also appealed to the general public to help avoid fibre cuts which lead to loss of revenue to both the company and government through potential tax revenue.
African operator group MTN published a trading update for the first quarter of 2019, stating it had met its medium-term revenue growth target with a 10 per cent increase led by its operations in South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana.
Group service revenue (excluding Cyprus) was ZAR33.2 billion ($2.3 billion), of which ZAR9.1 billion was from South Africa (up 4.6 per cent year-on-year) and ZAR10.8 billion from Nigeria (up 13.4 per cent at constant currency).
In a statement, the company noted a provisional report from South Africa’s Competition Commission regarding an inquiry into data pricing, stating it will respond by the 14 June 2019 deadline.
The body had said benchmarking had confirmed prices were high, particularly for prepaid customers, stating that “disturbingly”, data from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa showed higher pricing for MTN and peer Vodacom when compared with the other countries in which they operate.
Rob Shuter, group CEO, said: “In South Africa, we implemented changed pricing for prepaid propositions where we reduced, materially the out-of-bundle tariffs, making data services much more affordable.”
The company also argued for the “urgent release of high demand spectrum” to deliver lower cost data services, and noted a “viable wholesale market” which enables smaller operators and MVNOs to provide “compelling” propositions to customers.
As part of efforts to boost its fintech business, MTN launched Ayoba, “Africa’s first instant messaging platform,” in Ivory Coast and Cameroon. Expansion into other markets and the integration of payments are planned for the second half of 2019.
Rises
The group cited growth in its voice, data and fintech revenue of 5.9 per cent, 18.3 per cent and 30.6 per cent respectively. Digital revenue declined 45.4 per cent, as a result of work to optimise its value added services business.
Group subscribers increased 4 million during the quarter to reach 236.6 million. Active data subscribers were up 2.6 million to 81.3 million; active MTN Mobile Money customers increased 1.2 million to 28.3 million.
MTN said it expects the disposal of its Mascom (Botswana) stake will close by the end-June, subject to regulatory approvals. Its e-commerce joint venture, Jumia Technologies, raised fresh capital and listed on the New York Stock Exchange: MTN’s stake is valued at around $560 million.
It also completed its conversion of MTN Nigeria to a public company ahead of an expected listing on the country’s stock exchange in the near future. A tax dispute in the country is ongoing.
