Author: ITPulse

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has exonerated the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami of any involvement in the withdrawal of office space from Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM. The Chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM, Hon. Abike Dabiri had earlier this week accused the Minister of forcefully evacuating the Commission from the NCC’s Communications and Digital Economy Complex located at Mbora District, Abuja. But in a statement today signed by its Director Public Affairs, Dr. Henry Nkemadu, the NCC takes full responsibility, reiterating that exigencies were responsible for office withdrawal from NiDCOM. “For the…

The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) is set to host a virtual conversation to discuss the Socio-Economic and Political Impact of COVID-19 on Telecom and ICT Sector in Nigeria on Thursday, June 4, 2020, via Zoom by 10 am. In a statement signed by Olusola Teniola, President of ATCON, the telecom advocacy group disclosed that the objectives of the virtual meeting are to ensure effective regulation and development and building of local capacities for the speedy spread of telecom and ICT infrastructure facilities across the country. Other objectives include pushing for the buy-in of governments at all levels…

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has given some clarifications about the concerns of a legal practitioner on the propriety of NITDA licensing law firms as Data Protection Compliance Organisations (DPCO) to provide data-privacy related services to the public. The IT regulatory body noted that though the concern is genuine, the licencing of law firms as DPCO will no way stifle the growth of data privacy in Nigeria as posited by the legal practitioner. Rather, it exemplifies creativity and innovation in information technology regulation. In a statement signed by Mrs. Hadiza Umar, Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations, NITDA…

A new report by one of the world’s most advanced VPN service provider, NordVPN has identified Nigeria as one of the safest countries in the world to be online after India, suggesting that cybercrime increases with wages and time spent online. In its Cyber Risk Index, which covers 50 countries comprising 70 percent of the world population, NordVPN noted that India is the least with the lowest cyber risks in the world, followed by Nigeria, Iraq, Indonesia and South Africa. The report uses high-income economy, advanced technological infrastructure, urbanization and digitalization as the factors that increase the prevalence of cybercrime.…

Dr. Wale Adeosun of Nigeria, founder of Wellvis, which uses machine learning to help patients assess their risk for COVID-19 and two other Africans have emerged as winners of the Brilliant African Innovations against COVID-19 competition. The two other winners in the competition organized by Africa.com are Laud Basing of Ghana, founder of Incas Diagnostics and Mary Mwangi, founder of Data Integrated. While Laud Basing of Ghana won the first prize and received a $500 prize; mentoring by Harvard Business School Professor of Entrepreneurship, Tarun Khanna; and a $5,000 media package from Africa.com, the duo of Dr. Wale Adeosun and…

The suspension of the 2018 spectrum trading guidelines by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is as a result of President Muhammadu Buhari’s request that these Guidelines be reviewed to ensure that unutilized Spectrum is fairly traded and to facilitate rollout by other operators amongst others. The President made during the launch of the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020 – 2025, noting that it will address the need for ubiquitous broadband deployment to accelerate penetration and access in line with the economic Agenda of the Federal Government. Nigerian telecom regulator, the NCC had earlier today announced the suspension of Spectrum…

By Peter Oluka Lately, I have been seeing some KG Express “KGExpress.ng” bikes in parts of Lagos. In fact, my observation is that they have been conducting pilot operations since the COVID-19 lockdown. While I was hunting for news relating to the COVID-19, I saw some of their riders along Allen, Ikeja GRA, Mushin and Victoria Island showing that they cover the whole of Lagos already! It is not like they are the only new pick-up and delivery startups I noticed on the road, but there is something different about their mode of operations. Just click on the website before…

A new report by data and analytics company, GlobalData has revealed that globally, the technology industry deals $34.4bn in April 2020, an increase of 33.8 percent over the previous month and a drop of 21.2 percent when compared with the last 12-month average of $43.65bn. In terms of the number of deals, the sector saw a drop of 11.8 percent over the last 12-month average with 1308 deals against the average of 1483 deals. The top five technology industry deals of April 2020 tracked by GlobalData are General Atlantic Singapore Fund, Jinbo Yao, Ocean Link and Warburg Pincus Asia’s $13.99bn…

Despite the restart of supply chains, a report by GlobalData says the Covid-19 pandemic will adversely affect the telecom sector for a long time, causing a supply and output slump, especially for popular smartphone brands. According to the data and analytics company, consumer spending in the telecom sector will remain inhibited and cause delivery backlogs for popular smartphones even as supply chains restart. “In the short term, the financial impact and ripple effect of lockdowns will mute consumer demand for expensive flagship phones and stretch upgrade cycles. Carriers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) will have to take strong measures to…

CWG Plc, the Pan-African Information and Communications Technology Company and Nigeria’s largest system integration company has released its audited full-year financial statement for the period ended December 2019. The results showed positive improvements from the 2018 audited financial statements, as it increased its gross revenue by 23.4 percent to N9.6 Billion in FY 2019 from N7.8billion in 2018. However, Net Assets grew by 67.4 percent to N192million from N115million in the previous year. The growth in revenue and profit was achieved with a reduced OPEX of 23 percent over the 2018 financial year. CWG Plc closed 2019 with a positive EBITDA…