TheNewsGuru

Tag: internet

  • Bitcoin continues downward slide

    Bitcoin has continued a downward slide as cryptocurrency plunged by as much as 12 percent on Friday on track for its heaviest two-day drop in two years.

    Bitcoin had been on a tear until Wednesday, gaining more than 40 percent in two weeks to hit around $1,139 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, just shy of its all-time record of $1,163.

    But the Web-based digital currency plunged on Thursday, falling as much as 20 percent at one point. It continued that fall on Friday, with its losses accelerating.

    It fell as low as $871, down almost a quarter from its peak on Wednesday, before recovering to about $900 by 1455 GMT. That still left it down 10 percent on the day and on track for its worst two-day performance since January 2015.

    Meanwhile, China’s central bank has noted in a statement that Bitcoin prices had shown abnormal fluctuations in recent days, and said those investing in it should do so carefully, with awareness of the currency’s volatility.

    The trading between Chinese Yuan and Bitcoin had made up about 98 percent of the market for the past six months, according to market analyst because there are no trading fees on Chinese exchanges, making it is much easier to get in and out of trades and therefore creates a higher trading volume.

    The central bank’s words carried echoes of its 2013 warning that financial institutions should steer clear of the digital currency, which sparked a $300 slide in Bitcoin. It also repeated on Friday its 2013 view that Bitcoin is not a currency and could therefore not be circulated as a real currency in the market.

    “This is the Chinese authorities saying: we’re watching,” said Charles Hayter, CEO of digital currency data analysis Website Cryptocompare, adding that “The relative size of the Bitcoin market is minor, but trading has reached up to $10 billion a day on the Bitcoin-yuan pairs”.

    “The full meaning of the government’s comments is not 100 percent clear, but restrictions and regulation of trading is one avenue that could affect volumes and therefore price,” the CEO added.

  • Despite IT boom, over 90% of Africans have no Internet access

    While Internet services have been quite phenomenal in the rest of the world, access to the Internet remains very low in Africa, especially in rural communities, according to the Internet World Stats for Africa 2016.

    According to the Internet World Stats, only 9.3% of people across the African continent have direct access to the Internet, and analysts, stressing that the Internet is one of the most important enablers of social development and education, have decried this “backwardness”.

    Dayn Amade, Founder and CEO of Kamaleon, a Mozambican technology startup saddled with the responsibility of helping to solve problems relating to lack of access to much-needed health education and counselling platforms in Africa, has said, “A few years ago anyone who could not read and write was considered illiterate, but today this concept goes further, encompassing people who do not know how to use information and communication technologies”.

    Dayn Amade stressed that “In today’s digital world, bringing Internet access to rural communities is a tremendous step in the right direction of social development and education”.

    Calling on the leadership of African nations and major stakeholders in the industry to develop innovative and engaging ways of promoting digital literacy, and Internet access to Africans, the Kamaleon said, “I believe technology and digital literacy can contribute to greater effectiveness of civic education campaigns in various communities”.

  • CashlessAfrica Expo 2017 holds March in Lagos

    CashlessAfrica Expo 2017 event as part of the MobileMoneyAfrica conference series has been announced to hold in March 2017 in Lagos by the event organizers.

    According to a press release by the Event Director, West Ekhator, the CashlessAfrica conference, which is a platform for financial services supply side actors to share their innovation, will hold beginning 22 March 2017 with the theme: “the future of finance”.

    Ekhator said, “Digital disruption is shifting the balance stay of power in financial services and influencing the way, millions of people bank their money, make payments, remittances and more, in a continent where mobile phone penetration exceed bank accounts and bank cards ownership, combined”.

    “Africa’s highly regulated financial industry now needs to adapt itself to the on-going disruptions in the Fintech space and the increasing demands of young and energetic customers which represent a significant percentage of the continent’s population”.

    Ekhator said that this series of the event represents a unique opportunity for the industry players to “rethink their current models and gain valuable market insight of the African digital financial services market.”

    According to the release, the conference agenda, keynote and interactive sessions will focus on carefully selected topics such as:

    • The digital bank and evolution in a competitive market;
    • The future of banking, money and payments in Africa;
    • Disruptive technologies and their impact on financial services in Africa;
    • Balancing regulation against innovation;
    • Remittances in the digital age;
    • Fintechs and Banks: Collaboration or Competition;
    • Protecting the customer in a digitalized economy.

    “New for 2017, the expo will host a Hackathon session which will drive collaboration to co-create solutions to compelling financial services challenges across Africa and the CashlessAfrica champion awards, given to organizations that have made a significant contribution to the digital financial services industry in Africa,” a statement read on the release.

    The conference which will round off 23 March will hold at the Lagos Oriental Hotel, Nigeria with the industry key thought leaders converging from more than 40 countries to address the theme.

    According to the release, speakers already signed up for the event are from Helix institute, Pwc Nigeria, Oradian, Millicom, Voguepay, Barclays Bank, Musoni, Wallettec, Konga, Redcloud, TransferTo, Chamsmobile, ConnectAfrica, Hormuud Telecoms, Impala pay and M-paya.

  • Internet users in Nigeria drop to 93.2m in October – NCC

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Tuesday said the number of internet users in Nigeria’s telecommunications networks had reduced to 93.2 million by October.

    The telecommunications industry umpire made the disclosure in its Monthly Internet Subscribers Data for October in Lagos.

    The data revealed that internet users on both Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks had decreased by 391,679 in October.

    It showed that of the 93.2 million internet users in October, 93.1 million were on GSM networks, while 38,309 users were on CDMA networks.

    Also, the GSM service providers lost 378,015 internet customers after recording 93.1 million users in October, as against 93.5 million it recorded in September.

    The CDMA operators lost 13,664 internet users, after recording 38,309 in October, against 51,973 recorded in September.

    The data revealed that MTN had 32.4 million subscribers browsing the internet on its network.

    It explained that MTN recorded a decrease of 306,480 internet subscribers in October, after recording 32.7 million in September.

    According to the data, Globacom has 27.2 million customers surfing the net on its network in October, giving an increase of 297,623 users, from the 26.9 million that surfed the internet on the network in September.

    Airtel had 18.8 million internet users in October, the same it recorded in September.

    The data also showed that Etisalat had 14.7 million customers who browsed the internet in October, revealing a decrease of 369,158 users against the 15.1 million users recorded in September.

    The NCC data revealed that the CDMA operators, Multi-Links and Visafone, had a joint total of 38,309 internet users on their networks in October.

    It showed that the only two surviving CDMA networks in the country recorded a decrease of 13,664 internet subscribers in the month under review from the 51,973 users they recorded in September.

    According to the data, Visafone has a decrease of 13,664 customers surfing the internet in October, as it has 38,305, compared to the 51,969 users in the month of September.

    Multi-Links had just four internet users in October, same as the users recorded in September.

    The decrease in the use of the internet in October showed that more Nigerians needed to embrace data, as the next revolution.

  • BlackBerry unveils mobile security platform for enterprises

    BlackBerry unveils mobile security platform for enterprises

    Canadian mobile company BlackBerry on Friday launched a cloud-enabled mobile security platform for “Enterprise of Things” that will address entire businesses from endpoint to endpoint.

    “Enterprise of Things” is defined as the network of intelligent connections and endpoints within the enterprise that enable products to move from sketch to scale.

    It is a collection of devices, computers, sensors, trackers, equipment and other things that communicate with each other to enable smart product development, distribution, marketing and sales.

    “Businesses must be able to confidentially and reliably transmit sensitive data between endpoints to keep people, information and goods safe,” John Chen, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BlackBerry, said in a statement.

    The platform completes the integration of the BlackBerry’s prior acquisitions of key technologies such as Good Technology, WatchDox, AtHoc and Encription, the company said.

  • 4G LTE Internet experience gets enhanced with Gemalto’s latest Device Management

    4G LTE Internet experience gets enhanced with Gemalto’s latest Device Management

    Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, has announced the latest version of its LinqUs Device Management solution, designed to help mobile operators provide subscribers with a seamless journey to LTE.

    “The latest version of Gemalto’s Device Management will foster an even better instant customer intimacy,” said David Buhan, Senior Vice President for Mobile Subscriber Services at Gemalto.

    “It delivers the user intelligence and analytics needed to enhance subscriber 4G experience, build revenue, address device fragmentation and strengthen loyalty,” the Gemalto boss added.

    The company listed key benefits of the device to include increased 4G adoption and usage by customers, faster return on investment in LTE networks, and improved subscriber retention, while stressing that the device now offers operators real-time identification and automatic over-the-air configuration of subscribers’ 4G devices and instant promotion of targeted tariff plans and offers.

    Fierce competition and decreasing average revenue per user in Africa have created the need for solutions that assist mobile operators to stay relevant; Gemalto said it has effectively answered this need.

    “Our Device Management platform already has an extensive presence in Middle East and Africa where we have 38% of our customer references for this field-proven solution,” says Sherry Zameer, Senior Vice President for Africa at Gemalto.

    “The launch of the advanced version will further support our mobile operator customers in the region in their LTE migration and data boosting strategy,” Sherry Zameer added.

    “As operators continue their quest for ever greater speed and capacity, Gemalto is equally committed to a roadmap that embraces 4.5G and beyond,” David Buhan said.

  • S-Court throws gavel at Facebook, others for sexual offence, cybercrime videos

    S-Court throws gavel at Facebook, others for sexual offence, cybercrime videos

    The Supreme Court of India on Monday sought responses from three Internet search engines and social networking site, Facebook, on a plea that sought curbs on sharing of videos related to sexual offences and cybercrime.

    A bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit sought responses from Google India, Yahoo India, Microsoft Corporation (India) Ltd. and Facebook by January 9 on NGO Prajwala’s plea seeking a defined place where one could report such rape videos and seek their blocking.

    The court’s notices for response came during the course of hearing of a letter by Hyderabad-based non-governmental organization Prajwala along with two rape videos. The two videos submitted in a pen drive showed a man raping a woman and another man filming it.

    The NGO’s lawyer Aparna Bhat said videos of sexual offences are shot and posted online, and pleaded for court directions to them to take steps to curb cybercrime.

    As the court sought responses on the plea, Additional Solicitor General, Maninder Singh, told the bench about the steps taken by the government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to curb cybercrime.

    The CBI happens to be the nodal agency to deal with the cases of cybercrime.

    The government said this in response to an August 28 direction by the top court, asking the Information Technology Ministry about the way it could assist in reporting and blocking videos of rape under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, which are in circulation on social networking websites.

    As ASG Maninder Singh said that a debate is on in the country and abroad on making public the identity of sexual offender, the court said the identity of an alleged rape offender should not be made public merely on the registration of an offence but only after conviction.

    The court said if a person gets acquitted even then he would suffer damage to his image because of prior disclosure of his identity. “It will tarnish the image of a person, (even) if he is acquitted in the sexual offence case,” the bench said.

    The bench said if a person is acquitted of a sexual offence, the CBI will not investigate him for the cybercrime aspect of the offence.

    Pointing to National Crime Record Bureau statistics on a sharp rise in cases of sexual violence against children, the apex court asked the Centre to include in the list of measures for curbing crimes against women, the steps to protect children from sexual violence.

    The NGO’s co-founder Sunitha Krishnan is engaged in the rescue and rehabilitation of victims of trafficking for sex trade.