Author: ITPulse

By kester Omu Concerned Nigerians have called on the federal government to pay attention to the country’s gaming market, especially Sportbetting, saying the market, which industry watchers estimated to be a N2bn+ a day business has the capacity to contribute greatly to the country’s economy, when properly harnessed. Some Nigerians, who spoke to ITPulse on the street of Lagos, noted that, apart from the huge financial resources that go into betting among the youths, the industry has also proven to have created direct and indirect jobs for millions of Nigerian youths, placing bets on football games weekly. They believe…

  By Martin Ekpeke The Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN) has made a five points demand from the Honorable Minister of Communications, Barr. Adebayo Shittu. CAPDAN, the umbrella body comprising the Dealers, Vendors, Artisans, Technician and SMEs at the popular Lagos Computer Village listed the demands, when the Minister paid a one-day working visit to the market yesterday. The demands, which the association’s President, Ojikutu Ahmed Adeniyi, described as areas of working relationship with the Minister in order to improve the Nigeria’s ICT Ecosystem are recognition of the informal sector like the Computer Village in the…

  The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has cleared the insinuations that it has anointed a preferred bidder to acquire 9Mobile. The Commission, in a statement signed by Tony Ojobo, its Director of Public Affairs, said it decided to provide the clarification and update for the avoidance of doubt, following the insinuations being published by some Newspapers. The six points clarifications are: Barclays Africa remains in full control of the process leading to the emergence of a new owner for the company. Barclays has not authorized any publication on the matter and is obliged to maintain full confidentiality thereon. An approval…

  By Lukmon Oloyede Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), one of the stems of sound corporate governance, is increasingly attaining wider global and local adoption as its impacts in achieving the United Nations sustainable development goals become more perceptible. Today, top executives across different industry want to demonstrate their corporate citizenship through altruistic, ethical and legitimate initiatives that present their organizations as socially responsible. However, the big challenge for executives is how to develop an approach that can truly deliver on these lofty ambitions—and, as of yet, few have found the way. Some innovative companies have managed to overcome this hurdle,…

  By Martin Ekpeke Pioneer and indigenous technology firm, Sidmach Technologies Limited has predicted some technology trends that will receive major focus and ultimately reshape the Nigeria’s ICT and business climate. According to Michael Olajide, Executive Director, Finance and Administration at Sidmach Technologies Nigeria Limited, Nigeria should look out for Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Block-chain & Bitcoin and Enterprise mobility in 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7QPhBMlZtI Olajide, while speaking to some Journalists at the company’s corporate headquater in Lagos, noted that as the consumer continues to stay hooked to more gadgets, the expanse of…

  Facebook is shutting down its text-based virtual assistant called ‘M’ that helped researchers train an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system. According to a report in The Verge, ‘M’ which was available through a bot on Facebook Messenger and it was available to only about 2,000 people. ‘M’ was first introduced in August 2015. The final day of the virtual assistant will be January 19. “We launched this project to learn what people needed and expected of an assistant, and we learned a lot,” Facebook told The Verge. “We’re taking these useful insights to power other AI projects at Facebook.…

  The Founder of CWG Plc, Mr. Austin Okere has challenged banks in Nigeria to innovate and meet the changing needs of their customers, especially now that Financial Technology is ravaging the financial services industry. Okere made the challenge to the bank as part of his take on the outlook of Nigerian Fintech space in 2018, and was published on his official Linkedin page. According to him, having understood how to meet the financial needs of ordinary people, Fintechs are fast becoming the driving force of financial inclusion, noting that the banks seem to be more attuned to providing services…

  Global viewing of over-the-top (OTT) video services content more than doubled to 12.6 billion hours in 2017, according to a study by Conviva, a measurement and analytics services provider. Conviva provides services for seven of the top 10 US SVOD publishers, and its data set is composed of viewers from about 180 countries connected to the internet by more than 1,200 internet services providers (ISPs). The increase in 2017 OTT streaming hours reflects the ongoing shift away from linear TV. Over 1 million consumers cut the cord in the first three quarters of 2017 alone, and the vast majority…

  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said National Payment System Operators will be paying a fine of N10,000 per day if they fail to apply for the renewal of an operating licence three months before the expiration date of the licence. The Apex bank disclosed this in a circular, signed by CBN Director,  Banking and Payment Systems Department, Dipo Fatokun. According to the circular, the operators would also be sanctioned for failure to respond to observations noted by the bank in the course of processing an application for renewal of an operating licence within three weeks. The circular,…

  Apple’s iOS has broken a record in sales of applications on its App Store, as customers spent a whopping $300 million on January 1, 2018. This year’s New Year’s Day sales marks the highest for the App Store since its launch in 2008. It  outstrips last year’s record-breaking figure of $240 million in purchases on January 1, 2017. The strong New Year’s Day performance culminated a successful holiday season, during which customers spent $890 million on apps from December 24-31. Insights into app spending during the holiday season are indicative of the strength of the iOS platform for the…