Africa Tech News

Starlink is on the verge of approving payments made with naira cards. The Elon Musk-owned internet company informed customers of its plans to process payments in naira, including more local cards in Nigeria. By June 6, customers will need to update their payment information on their account. This update is being implemented in response to customer feedback and may also be influenced by the challen...

Kenyan President, William Ruto, launched the second phase of the Hustlers Fund. As part of this phase of the Fund, the government plans to provide financial support to Chamas and SACCOs, aiming to address issues of exclusion and barriers hindering their access to credit and savings opportunities. Ruto, says in this phase of the Hustler programme, the loan amounts provided range from a minimum of K...

Per South African tech publication MyBroadband, hackers recently got into MultiChoice’s streaming platform Showmax and made public over 27,000 usernames and passwords of people who use the platform. MultiChoice confirmed that the usernames belong to their customers, but added that they have automatically logged the affected customers out of their Showmax accounts. MultiChoice also claims that the...

Senegal has shut down its internet again. Starting Thursday, several social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube, started facing serious access restrictions in Senegal. Interior Minister Antoine Diome acknowledged the blockages, citing the dissemination of hateful and subversive messages on social networks. Reuters reported that Senegal’s minister of communications, telecommu...

The Lagos-based health tech company secures $30 million to power credit financing to healthcare providers via its fintech product, HeliumCredit. Helium Health, a Nigerian health-tech company, has secured $30 million in investment from a Series B funding round. Helium Health, says the funding will be used to expand the reach of its fintech product, HeliumCredit. This round of funding was led by AXA...

A recent investigation by Reuters reveals that Chinese hackers specifically targeted Kenyan ministries, state institutions, and the State House from 2019 to last year. Reuters says the defence contractor, pointing to identical tools and techniques used in other hacking campaigns, identified a Chinese state-linked hacking team known as BackdoorDiplomacy as having carried out the attack on Kenya’s i...

Multichoice Group has announced that it is launching a new integrated payments platform in partnership with Rapyd, a B2B payment processing platform, and General Catalyst, a venture capital firm that provides early-stage and growth equity investments. The platform, to be housed under an entity called “Moment”, will aim to offer payment infrastructure for businesses across Africa to help them colle...

The Bank of Ghana, announced the launch of a new cybersecurity platform, the Financial Industry Command Security Operations Centre. FISOC is now integrated with all 23 commercial banks which the Bank of Ghana regulates. The platform will be used to send these banks reports and alerts on cybersecurity threats, so they can act fast. The platform will help banks coordinate cybersecurity efforts withi...

South Africa wants to use tech to drive down its crime rates. The Gauteng Department of e-Government announced that it had approved R1.7 billion for e-policing in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Executive council member Mzi Khumalo, the money will be used to procure crime-fighting tech such as drones. The department is also planning to have CCTV across every major road, business centre and c...

The Central Bank of Nigeria revoked the licences of 179 microfinance banks, four primary mortgage banks, and three finance companies in Nigeria. The revocation was done in two tranches with the first list suspending licences of 47 MFBs, and the second affecting 132 more MFBs. The financial institutions’ licences were revoked because they “ ceased to carry on, in Nigeria, the type of business for w...

Automotive Design and Development Council, Jelani Aliyu, announced that Nigeria would offer all-electric vehicle manufacturers a 10-year tax break. The tax break is part of Nigeria’s new Auto policy from 2023 to 2033 which is set to help develop a competitive and sustainable automotive industry in Nigeria. The policy also promotes investment in the auto sector and fiscal incentives which includes...

TikTok filed suit in US federal court to stop the state of Montana from implementing an overall ban on the video-sharing app. The unprecedented ban, set to start in 2024, violates the constitutionally protected right to free speech, TikTok argued in the suit. Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed the unprecedented prohibition into law on May 17 and says that he endorsed the ban in order to protec...

WhatsApp has finally announced one of the most anticipated features today — message editing. Mark Zuckerberg noted in a Facebook post that users can now modify a message within 15 minutes of sending the message. The edited messages will have an “edited” tag next to the time stamp to mark the change. However, the app won’t maintain any correction history. Other users won’t be able to see the previo...

Vodafone announced that it would sell M-Pesa Holding Company Limited, the company that manages all M-Pesa deposits, to Safaricom for $1. Per its statement, the transaction began on April 17, 2023, and should be completed by July 2023. While Vodafone is yet to reveal why it’s selling the trust to Safaricom, many believe that the move will boost Safaricom’s activities. With three consecutive quarter...

European Union regulators imposed a €1.2 billion fine on the tech behemoth for breaching privacy laws through data transfer. The European Data Protection Board announced the largest General Data Protection Regulation fine and also gave Meta a deadline to stop shipping users’ data to the US after regulators said it failed to protect personal information from American security services. Meta also so...

Egypt’s government wants to raise $2 billion by selling its stake in 32 companies by June. But it has only raised $25 million after selling its stake in one company since announcing the privatization program in February. Egypt’s finance ministry announced the sale of the government’s stake in Telecom Egypt is desperate to raise revenue from privatising state-owned firms in order to meet a series o...

Foxconn will invest $500 million to set up manufacturing plants in the southern Indian state of Telangana, the latest in a series of bets from the key Apple contract partner as it expands its base in the South Asian market. K.T. Rama Rao, Telangana’s IT minister, says in a tweet that the investment from Foxconn will create 25,000 direct jobs in the first phase. Foxconn, which already manufactures...

As innovation in artificial intelligence (AI) outpaces news cycles and grabs public attention, a framework for its responsible and ethical development and use has become increasingly critical to ensuring that this unprecedented technology wave reaches its full potential as a positive contribution to economic and societal progress. The European Union has already been working to enact laws around re...

South Africa's government plans to introduce incentives for individuals and businesses to save electricity. South Africa’s Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, says the South African government will provide a financial incentive for demand reduction by commercial and residential customers through its Distribution Demand Management programme. Ramokgopa stated that the programme will provide...

Nigerian telecoms announced that they had received the approval of the Nigerian Communications Commission to disconnect several Deposit Money Banks. Per the telecoms, the disconnection order comes due to the bank’s failure to pay over ₦120 billion in USSD debts. Per the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, banks have failed to remit payments for USSD transactions for an...

A Nigerian Federal High Court ruled that NBC doesn’t actually have the power to punish broadcast stations with sanctions. NBC says Stations violated the broadcasting codes during the 2019 general election however, the Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda took NBC to court, demanding that the fine be invalidated. They argued that the fine was a violation of natural justice. Justice James Om...

Telecom MTN might be reducing its portfolio size. The company is in talks to sell some of its West African assets to Axian Group, a pan-African investor in telecoms. Both companies are reportedly negotiating on MTN’s assets in Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea-Conakry. The deal is yet to be finalised and sources close to the case report that it’s still too early to conclude if it will go through....

Zimbabwe is moving forward with the launch of its gold-backed digital currency. The digital currency is set to complement the Mosi-oa-Tunya, fiat gold coins, which the country launched in 2022. The country hopes to have more citizens buy into its gold industry and fight its currency devaluation and inflation which jumped to 285% in 2022. The RBZ outlined plans for the implementation of the currenc...

LinkedIn is cutting 716 jobs and will begin phasing out its local jobs app in China. LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslanky says the decision to shutter the standalone China app, called InCareer, was because of fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate. LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft and has 20,000 employees, also plans to open about 250 new jobs in some segments of its operations, and...

Vodacom has launched Mozambique’s first 5G network. The mobile network operator plans to deploy 5G services at selected sites in Maputo, Matola; the central area of Nampula; downtown Nacala, Munhava, Maquinino and Chipanga neighbourhoods; Beira; and Tete. Mateus Magala, Mozambique’s Minister of Transport and Communications says 5G Technology will significantly improve the quality of the telecommun...