Articles by Tom Jackson

Articles by Tom Jackson, Page 56

Tue, October 23rd, 12:48 · Tom Jackson

MTN Rwanda slashes BlackBerry fees 40 percent as competition intensifies

Rwanda’s largest telecom operator MTN Rwanda has announced that it has reduced all BlackBerry fees by 40 percent, signaling the latest intensification of the country’s price war as the telecom seeks to combat falling profits. → Read more
Tue, October 23rd, 09:15 · Tom Jackson

SA’s average connection speed declines in Q2

The latest State of the Internet Statistics from Akamai have revealed that South Africa’s average Internet connection speed has declined to 1.81Mbps, remaining some way off the global average of 2.6Mbps. → Read more
Tue, October 23rd, 08:49 · Tom Jackson

Only three percent of Nigerian businesses safe from hacking

Nigerian banks and businesses are making an easy target for hackers, with 97 percent of organizations yet to obtain crucial full proof virtualisation technology, further adding to concerns about cybercrime in the West African country. → Read more
Tue, October 23rd, 08:09 · Tom Jackson

Access to ICT helps the very poor, says new research

Access to ICT contributes around 0.5 percent to an annual household income in East Africa, according to new research conducted by the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, suggesting a link between the use of ICT and poverty eradication. → Read more
Mon, October 22nd, 08:38 · Tom Jackson

SA university launches new courses to fill ICT skills gap

South African university College Campus, based in Pretoria, has launched three new technological degrees seeking to fill the widening skills gap in the country when it comes to ICT. → Read more
Mon, October 22nd, 07:22 · Tom Jackson

Start-ups gear up for 88mph Demo Day

Time flies when you’re going 88mph. For Steve Ngethe, founder of Manyatta Rent, it must have felt like he was moving even faster. It has only been a month since 88mph welcomed its 2012 cohort of budding entrepreneurs, but with the much-anticipated Demo Day approaching on December 13, for Steve it has been a month in which he has come full circle. → Read more
Fri, October 19th, 13:01 · Tom Jackson

Kenya’s Yu doubles market share in third quarter

Telecom operator Yu Mobile has doubled its market share in the first quarter to 9.1 percent, with the company saying its efforts at increasing its subscription base with new offerings had paid off handsomely. → Read more
Fri, October 19th, 12:19 · Tom Jackson

Namibia’s MPs to use tablets in Parliament

Namibia’s parliamentarians will shortly be using tablets rather than paper to conduct their business in the National Assembly as the country looks to implement an e-government programme. → Read more
Fri, October 19th, 09:41 · Tom Jackson

UN agencies launch m-Health initiative to tackle non-communicable illnesses

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), both agencies of the United Nations (UN), have teamed up to launch a new ‘m-Health’ programme that will use mobile messaging and applications to fight non-communicable illnesses such as diabetes and cancer. → Read more
Fri, October 19th, 09:00 · Tom Jackson

Smartphones hit one billion, Africa new growth market

A report last week claimed that more than one billion smartphones are now in use around the world, with Africa identified by experts as the next big area of smartphone penetration growth. → Read more
Wed, October 17th, 11:35 · Tom Jackson

Huawei popular in SA despite US security fears

Chinese telcom Huawei’s products are popular in South Africa due to their high quality and affordability, according to experts, in spite of fears raised by the U.S. House of Representatives' Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that they pose security risks and should be barred. → Read more
Tue, October 16th, 12:34 · Tom Jackson

Digital divide closing but still significant, report says

The most recent report by the United Nations telecoms agency the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has said that the international ‘digital divide’ is closing as telephone, broadband and Internet services becoming cheaper across the developing world, increasing the access to ICT. → Read more
Tue, October 16th, 12:06 · Tom Jackson

GITEX Tech Week focuses on African opportunities

The GITEX Technology Week, currently running at the Dubai World Trade Centre, is putting the spotlight on ICT opportunities in Africa as leading industry experts foresee the continent becoming a centre for tech investments. → Read more
Tue, October 16th, 09:20 · Tom Jackson

Tech jobs unaffected by SA economic woes

Though the country faces an unemployment rate of close to 25 percent and economic growth negatively affected by striking miners, demand for ICT skills remains relatively unaffected in South Africa. → Read more
Tue, October 16th, 08:08 · Tom Jackson

SA ranks low in ICT infrastructure, affordability

South Africa is underperforming in terms of ICT infrastructure and affordability, according to new figures, adding weight to calls for the speedier rollout of broadband services across the country. → Read more
Tue, October 16th, 07:03 · Tom Jackson

ITU report ranks Rwanda’s ICT sector most dynamic

Rwanda is among the most dynamic developing countries in terms of ICT, according to the latest report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), due in part to its efforts in bridging the “digital divide”. → Read more
Fri, October 12th, 10:05 · Tom Jackson

OPINION: Consumers bound to be affected by cynical mobile money tax

The taxman is by definition unpopular, but an unscrupulous and brazen taxman is a tough master indeed. How else to describe Kenyan Minister of Finance Njeru Githae, who has watched the runaway success of the telecommunications sector in Kenya and now wants his piece of it to paper over cracks elsewhere. → Read more
Thu, October 11th, 11:22 · Tom Jackson

Zimbabwe PM urges involvement in ICT

Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister of Zimbabwe, has called on ICT stakeholders to participate in the country’s ICT policy review, which is now at a consultation stage, in order to position the tech sector as the main driver of economic growth in the country. → Read more
Wed, October 10th, 12:39 · Tom Jackson

CCK to be disbanded and replaced by independent body

The Kenyan government is to replace the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) with a new, independent, corporate body free of government influence, in line with the country’s constitution. → Read more
Wed, October 10th, 08:19 · Tom Jackson

CCK: Kenya’s mobile and Internet penetration continues to rise

The latest statistics released by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) have shown that mobile and Internet penetration in the country increased again between March 30 and June 30 this year, growing by 1.7 percent and 19.2 percent respectively. → Read more