September, 2018 - itbusinessdirect

Mobile now accounts for 47% of all online transactions in Middle East and Africa, Criteo

September 26, 2018September 26, 2018 Editor

The advertising platform Criteo released its 2018 Q2 Global Commerce Review, having analysed browsing and purchasing data from over 5,000 retailers in more than 80 countries. Michele Iozzo, managing director for the Middle East & Africa, Criteo, says, “Mobile continues to command a higher share of the online transactions pie driven by high smartphone penetration across the MEA region. The study has revealed a year-on-year increase of the share of In-App Transactions for retailers who promote their shopping app, proving that it isn’t enough to just launch an app, but…

Competitive Edge: Tech Giants spent a combined $80 billion last year on big-ticket physical assets stockpile

September 26, 2018 Editor

General Motors Co. and Google couldn’t be more different. GM musters an army of people and machines to produce the 10 million cars it sells each year. What Google makes doesn’t really exist: You type on a laptop or click play on a YouTube video, and Google zips back bits of digital information. But Google parent Alphabet Inc. and the other four dominant U.S. technology companies—Apple, Amazon.com, Microsoft, and Facebook—are fast becoming industrial giants. They spent a combined $80 billion in the last year on big-ticket physical assets, including manufacturing…

Safaricom faces $4.5 million fine $4.5 million for failing to connect smaller firms

September 26, 2018 Editor

Kenya’s biggest telco Safaricom may be fined about $4.5 million by the regulator for failing to connect calls made to smaller firms, according to company and regulatory documents reviewed by Reuters. The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has imposed a fine on Safaricom, part-owned by South Africa’s Vodacom and Britain’s Vodafone, of 0.2 percent of its gross revenue for the last financial year, equivalent to 449 million shillings ($4.5 million), the documents show. Safaricom denies the accusation and has secured a temporary suspension of the fine pending a hearing before…

Benin Govt abandon social media tax decree after protests

September 25, 2018 olivia Craig

After 10 days of mobilisation with more than 500 000 people being affected by the social media tax, the government in Benin have decided to cancel the tax. The government passed the decree in late August taxing its citizens for accessing the internet and social media apps reports Mail & Guardian. It taxed the use of Over The Top services like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. Mylène Flicka, an Beninese activist, working on IRAWO, a digital media platform spoke to The Daily Vox about the decree and the cancellation of the…

Sources Intimate that Rocket Internet is preparing a Jumia IPO

September 21, 2018 Dianne Jacobs

Reuters sources have intimated that German start-up investor Rocket Internet (RKET.DE) is preparing its African online shopping platform Jumia for a possible New York listing in the first quarter of 2019 which could value the firm at about $1 billion. Citi (C.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Berenberg are coordinating the IPO, the sources said. Shares worth up to $250 million may be sold, one of the sources said, adding that no final decision about the timing or metrics of the deal had yet been taken. The investor and the banks…

Surprise overdue dual-SIM support coming to the iPhones

September 13, 2018 olivia Craig

Apple’s introducing letting you embrace your inner duality with your iPhone. At Wednesday’s Apple event, the company announced the launch of dual-SIM support for the iPhone. Both the iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max will offer the dual SIM card option. This will allow you to have two different phone numbers and two different carriers on the same phone. The dual SIM support is possible because Apple’s newest iPhones will have an eSIM as well as a regular nano SIM card. The eSIM means you won’t have to swap…

Fintech Will Contribute $150 Billion to Africa’s GDP by 2022

September 12, 2018 Dianne Jacobs

The contribution of the financial-technology industry to sub-Saharan Africa’s economic output will increase by at least $40 billion to $150 billion by 2022, according to Financial Sector Deepening Africa, a development-finance organization. The industry currently employs about 3 million people directly and indirectly in the region, FSD Africa Financial Markets Director Evans Osano said in an interview on Thursday. Sub-Saharan Africa’s gross domestic product is about $1.6 trillion, according to data compiled by the International Monetary Fund. “If you look at the value chain, most of that money is coming…

Internet Solutions pilots pay-per-use Internet

September 11, 2018 Editor

Internet Solutions (IS), formerly Access Kenya Group, will offer consumption-based billing for businesses as opposed to the traditional fixed billing. The Internet firm is piloting the service that will see businesses pay as per their usage, cutting down on extra costs experienced during down time and off-peak seasons. “Bandwidth is widely considered a utility like power and water and users want it where and when they need it. “Enterprises are demanding convenience and flexible consumption models that respond to their needs,” Internet Solutions managing director Richard Hechle (pictured). According to…

SEC Suspends Exchange-Traded Bitcoin and Ether Investment Vehicles as market crash continues

September 10, 2018 olivia Craig

Ether, the second-largest virtual currency, slumped 8.9% from its level at 5 p.m. New York time on Friday, according to Bloomberg composite pricing. Bitcoin lost 2.1%, while the market capitalization of digital assets tracked by CoinMarketCap.com shrank to $197 billion — down about $640 billion from its January peak. Cryptocurrencies have declined for five of the past six weeks amid concern that a broader adoption of digital assets will take longer than some had anticipated. That worry was underscored over the weekend after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission temporarily…