Author: ITPulse

Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria has been rated as the third largest market in terms of potential feature phone volumes, which has continued to grow over the last three years. Latest research from Counterpoint Research has shown. Nigeria is one of the countries, where many citizens live on an income of less than US$2. 50 per day. This segment can neither afford a smartphone nor the data services demanded by the growing advancement in smartphone use-cases. Thus, a feature phone, coupled with basic mobile services has been the go-to offering for these users to communicate and connect. The research also…

Global smartphone shipments declined 4percent annually in CY 2018. Emerging markets growth could not offset the decline in developed markets.Chinese Players HOVX (Huawei, OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi) continue to defy market decline ending the year with positive growth.Top 10 OEMs contribute almost 77percent of the global smartphone market, thereby leaving 600+ brands competing for the remaining 22percent of the market.Samsung led the smartphone market by volume, while Nokia HMD, Huawei and Tecno were among the fastest growing brands during the quarter.Apple iPhone shipments declined 4percent during the CY18 but overall 2018 revenues for iPhone grew 6percent.

The global refurbished smartphone market is presently dominated by Apple and Samsung with 70 percent, Counterpoint’s Refurbished Smartphone Tracker has revealed. The finding attributes this domination to the fact that many within the refurbished ecosystem cater only to Apple and Samsung’s customers because their residual value is so much greater than the remaining field. Huawei is growing in popularity, especially in South East Asia in terms of refurbished smartphone. Other key findings indicate that new business models and more marketplace, companies are entering the ecosystem. There will be numerous more online and offline business models, which will make it easier…

Findings from Counterpoint indicate that there was a one percent year-over-year slowdown of the global refurbished smartphone market in 2018, reaching close to 140 million units. The finding from Counterpoint’s Refurbished Smartphone Tracker, noted that the secondary industry slowed due to the 11% drop in new smartphone sales in key supply countries such as China and the United States. It also attributed it to the drop in new device sales, which led to a decline in devices flowing into the secondary market. The finding, however, noted that this drop was partially offset by improvements in the secondary market’s ecosystem of…

The GSMA appears to have rejected the European Union 5G action plan on connected cars, saying the choice of the Commission will jeopardize its digital competitiveness. According to GSMA, EU’s position will make it stick with an outdated Wi-Fi (802.11p) technology for connected vehicles, ostensibly ignoring technological innovation and choice. “The GSMA urges EU Member States and the European Parliament to reject the proposed rules that favour wi-fi technology to connect cars across Europe, and instead maintain flexibility to encourage the deployment of more advanced technologies, like Cellular-V2X (C-V2X) connectivity,” it said in an email message. The EU’s 5G Action…

Ericsson’s Senior Vice President and Head of Market Area Middle East & Africa, Rafiah Ibrahim will be stepping down to take the job of an advisor to the Chief Executive Officer, Börje Ekholm. Rafiah Ibrahim has held her current position since April 01, 2017, but will assume in her new office effective August 31, 2019. Meaning, she will leave the Ericsson Executive Team effective the same date. In a press release, Börje Ekholm, President and CEO of Ericsson described Rafiah as a very important leader in the company’s sales and delivery organization. Ekholm disclosed that in Rafiah’s latest assignment, she…

Six Nigerian students, all from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria will alongside other students from Tanzania, Kenya and Angola represent Africa on the global stage to compete for the world ICT title in Huawei Technologies’ flagship ICT development program set to hold in China, May 2019. The students, Abdulqadir Babagana Musa, Muhammad Mustafa Maihaja, Fahad Danladi, Shuaibu Abbas Usman, Kamaludeen Umar and Abdulqudus Adebayo Temidayo ranked number one leading to a dominant score of 790.4, followed by Tanzania with 745.6, then Kenya with 737 and Angola with 700.8 in the regional competition finals consisted of 14 teams (with 42…

  One of the Ghanaian leading telecom companies, Vodacom Ghana has rolled out over 200 LTE sites across the country with a view to launching commercially by next month. Yolanda Cuba, the company’s Chief Executive Officer disclosed this, saying it is in the final stage of its rollout preparation after it was awarded the LTE-suitable spectrum in the 800MHz band in January 2019. “We are in the final stage of LTE rollout as we already have over 200 sites installed across Ghana,” he emphasised. Vodacom Ghana in January this year secured 2×5MHz of spectrum in the 800MHz band with a…

  Rolof Computer Academy is set to organise its first matriculation ceremony by next week Saturday in Warri, Delta State – South-South Nigeria. In a statement issued and signed by the Founder of the Academy, Engr. Lucky Ofuafor, the first set of students that will be matriculated are seven and are studying courses such as Computer Hardware Engineering Technology, Computer Software Engineering, Multimedia Technology, and Networking and System Security. “The Rector, on behalf of the Governing Council, Management, Staff, and Students of Rolof Computer Academy cordially invite you to her first matriculation ceremony,” the statement reads. According to the statement,…

  At first glance, the case for investing in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) seems incredibly strong. In practically every business, no matter how large or small, employees spend many hours of their week on basic manual tasks—copying and pasting data from one system to another, capturing and rekeying data from the customer letters and emails, and so on. “It’s obvious,” we say to ourselves. “If we can automate those processes with RPA, we’ll save thousands of hours, and we’ll be able to focus on much more interesting, important and profitable work.” But there’s a catch. Among companies that have already…