All Tech News

Beyon Money, part of Bahrain technology business Beyon Group, has secured two new licenses from the Central Bank of UAE (CBUAE). The two licenses are RPSCS (Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes) and SVF (Store Value Facilities).

Qatari telecommunications and ICT services provider, Ooredoo, with Infobip, a global cloud communications platform, and tech giant Microsoft, plan to bring what is described as a revolutionary tool in conversational artificial intelligence to the Qatar market. It’s called AI Hub.

Yango, one of Côte d’Ivoire’s most trusted platforms, which handles millions of rides and deliveries each month through its partners, has teamed up with COFINA, a leading mesofinance institution in the country and Yabx, an embedded finance platform that builds credit profiles for thin or no-file customers, to introduce a driver cash advance service.

MTN South Africa and sportech company Telecoming said on Wednesday they have extended their partnership to launch a new cloud gaming service in South Africa.  

Global digital operator Veon said on Friday that its unit Beeline Uzbekistan has developed and launched an AI-powered super app called Hambi for all mobile users in the country.  

Malaysians are generally optimistic about the potential of AI to improve mobile services, but they don’t quite trust it yet, as concerns about security, privacy and control over personal data remain high, according to a new study released by Telenor Asia on Wednesday.

Africa-focused e-commerce platform Jumia Technologies has announced plans to exit the South African and Tunisian markets at the end of this year to concentrate on markets with stronger growth potential.

The government of Mauritius has launched a new scheme under which citizens aged 18 to 25 years are eligible to get free mobile internet services as part of a government drive to prepare the younger generation for the country’s digital future.

Delivering a satisfying customer experience is essential to any sales process, but the expectations that telecom operators face are higher than most.

There have been further developments in the controversy in Pakistan reported yesterday relating to slow internet speeds.  A new contribution from regulator the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has moved the blame away from VPNs.

We are now some weeks into an apparent internet slowdown in Pakistan, but no clearer on what is causing it, albeit activists and the state seem to have decided who is to blame.

Nepalese telco Ncell says it is collaborating with Meta to allow mobile subscribers to access Facebook Basic Mode and text-only web browsing even if they used up their data balance or don’t subscribe to a data package at all.

Malaysian telco CelcomDigi has launched its “AI Experience Centre (AiX)”, which aims to foster cross-industry collaboration for emerging technologies including 5G, AI, robotics and the metaverse.

Thai telecoms operator True Corp says that its 5G revenue is now growing at 15% per year, which it credits mainly to its strategy of targeting domestic and international tourists with 5G packages.

In yet another example of the continuing importance to fintechs of emerging markets, Pyypl, a fintech company in the Middle East and Africa (MEA), has announced a principal licence membership and strategic framework agreement with payment giant Visa.

Access Bank Group, a multinational bank, says it has today launched an innovative solution in collaboration with payments giant Mastercard to expand access to cross-border payments and remittances to and from the African continent.

Lebanon-based OTT video platform provider Mangomolo says it has won a deal with UPICtv, the OTT commercial wing of Botswana Fibre Networks (BoFiNet), to provide a turnkey solution for The Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport & Culture (MYSC) of Botswana.

YouScribe, described as the largest digital reading library on the African continent with over one million subscribers, has announced the launch of its services in Ghana in partnership with mobile payment specialist Digital Virgo and operator MTN.

Thai operator True Corp announced on Monday it has partnered with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to launch a campaign that it hopes will not only boost Thailand’s tourism sector, but also showcase its 5G chops and boost its prepaid SIM and roaming business.

NEC Indonesia says it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Telkom Indonesia to collaborate in developing smart cities in the upcoming new capital city of Ibu Kota Nusantara (IKN), as well as other Indonesian cities.

Cloud-based OTT video platform vendor Perception Group announced on Tuesday that mobile operator Africell Angola has launched AfriTV, an OTT mobile TV service using Perception’s TVCDN platform.

The Nigerian neobank Kuda is reportedly expanding its reach with new payment licences in Tanzania and Canada.

The volume of payment technology news from Africa grows apace with two recent announcements: a payment services licence for Unlimit in Tanzania and two companies – ExiPay and Izwe – teaming up to launch a new point of sale device in Zambia.

Indonesian operator Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and India’s Tech Mahindra, an information technology services and consulting company, have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at MWC 2024 to build Garuda, a large language model (LLM) to preserve Bahasa Indonesia, the official and national language of Indonesia and its dialects.

At MWC24, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to help establish Indonesia as a leading player in the AI sector.

Hungary’s 4iG Group and Elisa Polystar have signed a cooperation agreement for the implementation of an automated network management and customer experience monitoring system.

Sri Lankan telco Dialog Axiata says it has released a new mobile app that serves as a single remote control point for its suite of smart-home devices.

Indonesia’s internet penetration rate has reportedly edged up from 78.1% this time last year to 79.5% as of January 2024, with younger people – particularly ‘Generation Z’ – continuing to be the key demographic in terms of usage.

Telkom Indonesia’s startup incubator Indigo and digital entertainment unit Nuon Digital Indonesia have agreed to collaborate with the Ministry of Trade to accelerate development of the country’s games industry.

Digital micropayments facilitator TPAY Mobile said on Tuesday it has launched direct carrier billing for PUBG Mobile in Egypt as part of an expansion of TPAY’s partnership with Tencent.

Kenya’s Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary, Eliud Owalo, has announced that the development of 1,450 ICT hubs in all wards across the country will begin in 2024.