Rwanda’s Mara Group launched two smartphones on Monday, describing them as the first “Made in Africa” models and giving a boost to the country’s ambitions to become a regional technology hub.

The Mara X and Mara Z will use Google’s Android operating system and cost 175,750 Rwandan francs ($190) and 120,250 Rwandan francs ($130) respectively.

They will compete with Samsung, whose cheapest smartphone costs 50,000 Rwandan francs ($54), and non-branded phones at 35,000 Rwandan francs ($37). Mara Group CEO Ashish Thakkar said it was targeting customers willing to pay more for quality.

“This is the first smartphone manufacturer in Africa,” Thakkar told Reuters after touring the company alongside Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame.

Companies assemble smartphones in Egypt, Ethiopia, Algeria and South Africa, but import the components, he said.

“We are actually the first who are doing manufacturing. We are making the motherboards, we are making the sub-boards during the entire process,” he said. “There are over 1,000 pieces per phone.”

Thakker said the plant had cost $50 million and could make 10,000 phones per day.

Mara Group hopes to profit from the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, a pact aimed at forming a 55-nation trade bloc, to boost sales across Africa, Thakkar said.

The agreement is due to begin trading in July next year, aiming to unite 1.3 billion people and create a $3.4 trillion economic bloc. But it is still in the very early stages and no timelines have been agreed for abolishing tariffs.

Kagame said he hoped the phone would increase Rwanda’s smartphone usage, currently at around 15%.

“Rwandans are already using smartphones but we want to enable many more. The introduction of Mara phones will put smartphones ownership within reach of more Rwandans,” Kagame said.

Source: Reuters

U.S. based OpenRAN company Parallel Wireless on Monday announced working with Vodafone to deploy a macro OpenRAN pilot in Asia (Turkey) and in Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Both production trials are a part of a telecom infra project OpenRAN initiative to reduce deployment and maintenance costs for RAN platforms, according to a joint statement.

The association stems from the need to reduce operating expenditure(opex) amid growing demand for mobile broadband services and rising capital expenditure(capex) and operating expenditure (opex) in relation to network deployment, both the companies added.

Amrit Heer, head of Business Development, EME, Parallel Wireless said, “Hardware-based networks are costly and difficult to maintain and upgrade. By shifting networks to virtualized OpenRAN, telecom operators can cloudify their networks to deliver coverage to every single subscriber at much lower cost.”

Lux Maharaj, Director, Africa Sales, Parallel Wireless, said, “ Parallel Wireless enables cloud native architectures, providing greater flexibility for operators.”

Source: Economic Times

The National Cyber Security Awareness Month 2019 and the Cybersecurity and Cybercrime Incident Reporting Point of Contact (PoC) have been launched in Accra.
The PoC is a platform that will facilitate the reporting of cybercrime and cybersecurity incidents in the country.

The Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu Ekuful, who launched the two programmes yesterday, said the establishment of the platforms demonstrated the country’s readiness to enhance the state of security in its cyberspace.

She said the PoC cuts across all demographics, which include government, the private sector, the public and children, explaining that the “multi-platform approach had been adopted to provide multiple channels through which incidents could be reported to the National Cyber Security Centre by e-mail, corporate and government sectors or by filing through online platforms such as Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook.

A voice call PoC is also available for children, businesses, government and individuals who are less technology savvy, and citizens who do not possess smart phones or have access to the Internet to report on incidents”.

Mrs Owusu Ekuful added that an SMS option was also available, saying voice calls and SMS use were all toll-free.

A mobile app was also available for people who were technology enthusiasts to report on cybercrime incidents, she said, adding that it also served as repository of cybersecurity and safety advisory to users, allowing them to access cybersecurity safety tips on a regular basis.

She said apart from facilitating the reporting of cybersecurity incidents by the public, the initiative would also improve the collection of statistics on cybercrime and cybersecurity incidents.

“The lack of credible statistics on cybercrime is a major concern, as it affects the ability to critically analyse cybersecurity issues affecting the digital economy to inform relevant interventions and capacity-building programmes,” she added.

She noted that the platforms would further enable the government to produce relevant statistics in a timely manner to support strategic planning, as well as investment in cybersecurity.

It would also help the security and the law enforcement agencies to conduct evidenced-based analysis of criminal issues and the impact of cybercrime on a wider criminal justice system in order that they no longer relied on anecdotal evidence, she said.

The minister, therefore, urged citizens to take full advantage of the platforms and report incidents in a timely manner for prompt response.

“I urge you all — organisations, individuals, businesses and children — to report all cyber-incidents as soon as they become known, whether you are a victim or a witness.

The part you play in this will go a long way to secure Ghana’s digital journey, and I cannot stress how important your role is in this process,” she said.

The National Cyber Security Advisor, Dr Albert Antwi-Bosiako, said cyber security was increasing at an alarming rate, both regionally and globally.

He said cyber attacks were likely to escalate in the near future, especially with the increase in Internet penetration and the massive reliance on information and communications technology (ICT) devices such as mobile phones for day-to-day transactions and interactions by citizens.

He said over the past two-and-a-half years, the country had shown tangible deliverables with respect to cybersecurity development “because we have been privileged to have a President who believes that building a digital economy requires sustainable investment in our cybersecurity”.

Members of the National Cyber Security Technical Working Group, comprising agencies with responsibilities over cybercrime and cybersecurity, had been instrumental in working towards enhancing the state of security in cyberspace, Dr Antwi-Bosiako said.

According to him, the launch of the two cyber platforms constituted another milestone in ensuring that Ghana achieved its mandate of addressing cybercrime.

Source: Graphic Online

The MTN Ghana Foundation has been highly commended for the decision to put up a six hundred (600) capacity girls’ dormitory block, washroom facilities and a housemistress’ bungalow for the Tamale Secondary School (SHS).

The commendation follows the sod cutting ceremony which was held recently at the school by the Vice President of Ghana Dr Mahamadu Bawumia and the CEO of MTN Ghana Selorm Adadevoh.

The sod cutting was also done with the assistance of a Board member of the MTN Ghana Foundation Mrs Nabilla Williams and other dignitaries.

Speaking to the media, the CEO of MTN Ghana, Mr. Selorm Adadevoh said, “this dormitory project will be the 148th project of the MTN Ghana Foundation since its inception in 2007.

The Foundation is honored to be given the opportunity to brighten the lives of the people in the communities in which we operate”.

He said, “Aside providing a healthy living environment for our young, female future leaders, this project is expected to touch the lives of thousands of young ladies in the surrounding communities and the regions of the north”.

The school currently has a female population of 1,200 with accommodation for only half of the girls’ population. Upon completion, the dormitory block will be fully furnished and fitted with beds to suit the needs of students of Tamale SHS.

H.E. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President of the Republic of Ghana who was the Special Guest of Honor highly commended the MTN Ghana Foundation. He said “Indeed, MTN continues to demonstrate its commitment to supporting the socio-economic development of Ghana.

The decision by MTN Foundation to invest in providing accommodation for 600 girls as well as a housemistress’ bungalow in Tamale SHS is a major step in helping to keep our girls in school”.

He added “access to secondary education in this country has never been this higher. Our hopes to achieving gender equality has never been greater.

MTN’s support with this project is therefore very timely and laudable. It is worthy of note that this is the single largest support to the school since 1967 and it will help address the current accommodation challenges facing the Tamale Senior High School.”

Mr. SW Adams, the headmaster of the school was full of praise for MTN Ghana Foundation and said the girls who get the opportunity to use the dormitory upon its completion will always remember MTN for the intervention.

Among dignitaries who graced the occasion were the Northern Regional Minister, Deputy Regional Minister, Regional Police Commander, Municipal Chief Executives and the Member of Parliament for Tamale North Constituency.

Source: NewsGhana