[caption id="attachment_5112" align="alignnone" width="300"] Mitwa Kaemba N'gambi, AirtelTigo CEO[/caption]

Today, 5th February, 2019 is Safer Internet Day. This global event takes place in February every year. Safer Internet Day promotes a safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones especially by children and young people across the globe.

This year’s theme is “Together for a better internet”. I am particularly excited about the theme because it calls upon policymakers, parents, teachers, law enforcement, telecom operators, among others, to join hands in walking the journey of creating a better and safer internet together.

According to a 2018 GSMA report, smartphone adoption continues to see rapid growth in sub-Saharan Africa. The report said that the total number of smartphone connections stood at 250 million at the end of 2017 and would double by 2025 to reach two-thirds of all total connections.

In Ghana, three out of 10 people now own a smartphone and the country’s data subscriptions stood at over 23 million ending September 2018. The internet is a great tool that has changed the way we work and interact with our families, friends, buy and sell, learn new things and meet new people.

I’ve been in Ghana, for just over 6 months now and I am amazed at how the youth and young entrepreneurs are leveraging the use of the internet to not only socialize but pursue their ambition.

Children and young people adapt to new technologies quickly and easily. My 6-year-old son, when asked to write about some of the things he enjoys, easily writes about how he likes to watch his favorite cartoon on YouTube – so you can imagine how happy a parent I was when I saw the launch of the YouTube Kids app (which I’ve already downloaded!).

The reality is that more young people are becoming technology savvy than we adults. My social media evolution stalled at Instagram – which makes me ancient in many young people’s eyes. I do believe though, that the internet remains a great tool that brings us fantastic opportunities but also poses some challenges, for our children and young people. Cyber bullying, cyber-crime and access to age inappropriate content are some of the dangers that our young people are exposed to.

To create a better internet, the ‘Safer Internet Day’ offers us stakeholders in the ICT industry an opportunity to join forces to address any negative experience young people may face online.  No telecom operator, non-governmental organization or ministry can create a better internet on their own and thus this year’s Safer Internet Day calls for collaboration among us all.

During this February, we at AirtelTigo will use our social media platforms to raise awareness on safe internet practices, because as a responsible telecom operator, we have an enormous responsibility to ensure young people’s safety on the internet. We will lend our voice to the cause.

I would like to see us protect the next generation of creators who will develop new solutions for our critical problems. We all have a role to play. Let’s collaborate to protect our young people online.

Source: AirtelTigo

Social network platform, Facebook, has announced plans to open a content review centre in Nairobi, Kenya.

The company will work together with Samasource one of the largest digital employers in East Africa in creating employment as well.

Facebook’s first content review centre in Sub-Saharan Africa will employ approximately 100 reviewers by the end of the year, who will support a number of languages, including Somali, Oromo, Swahili and Hausa.

The move comes after the company, was put under scrutiny for data and privacy violation.

Fazdai Madzingira, Public Policy Associate for content said: “Over the years, we have made significant investments globally, and locally in ensuring that people see the content they want to see, and are aware of what is and isn’t allowed on the platform. That’s why we have a set of Community Standards and last year published the more detailed internal guidelines around these rules. We want Facebook to be a place where people can express themselves and freely discuss different points of view, whilst ensuring that it remains safe for everyone.”

Commenting on the forthcoming opening of the centre, Ebele Okobi, Facebook’s Public Policy Director, Africa added: “This further highlights our commitment to serving the community of people using our platforms across Africa, as well as our commitment to continuing to invest and partner locally across the continent. I am delighted that through our partnership with Samasource we will be opening our first content review centre here in Africa.”

Facebook says its content review team members are assigned a queue of reported posts to evaluate one by one. Facebook says the reviewers are not required to evaluate any set number of posts — there is no quota they must meet when it comes to the amount of content being reviewed.

The content review teams include a combination of full-time employees, contractors and partner-companies located around the world, along with 27 third-party fact-checking partnerships in 17 countries. In addition to human reviews, Facebook uses AI and machine learning tech to identify harmful content.

“At Samasource we believe that giving work is the most powerful solution to ending global poverty. We use technology and private sector methods to measurably improve access to work and job training. As one of the largest digital employers in East Africa, we’re excited to partner with Facebook in Nairobi to help keep people on Facebook safe and continue our mission. Our team will receive extensive training and support, benefit from industry-leading facilities, and have the opportunity to advance their careers in tech through this partnership,”concluded Carolyn Komen, Samasource Program Director.

Source: itnewsafrica.com

Mobile communications industry body GSMA has proposed a crisis meeting to discuss a plan to ban Huawei 5G equipment in the European Union amid mounting industry concerns that such a move could set operators back by years.

The European Commission is weighing a de-facto ban on Huawei's 5G network equipment for next-generation mobile networks due to security concerns, sources told Reuters.

Some Western countries, including the United States and Australia, have restricted Huawei  from building next-generation mobile networks and Germany is considering whether to do so.

GSMA Director General, Mats Granryd, had written to members proposing to put the debate around Huawei onto the agenda of its next board meeting, a spokesman for the federation told Reuters on Saturday.

The meeting will be held in late February on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress, the industry's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona.

"It is to be confirmed for now," he said.
As many operators are relying on Huawei to build out 5G networks, a de-facto ban would be a considerable setback for Europe's efforts to stay competitive in communications, with implications for connected factories, self-driving cars and medical technology.

Deutsche Telekom has said it would set its plans to roll out the new services back by two years.

Source: Telecomspaper

Vodafone Ghana in collaboration with Facebook has launched a new data product as part of its strategy to promote access to reliable and cheap internet and reach underserved areas across the country.

Dubbed ‘Express Wi-Fi’ by Facebook, it is a product that helps retail entrepreneurs to offer fast and affordable Wi-Fi services at hotspots spread across the communities and residents at Jamestown in Accra, Nima, Maamobi and Abossey Okai.

[caption id="attachment_5115" align="alignnone" width="200"] Yolanda Cuba - CEO VF[/caption]

Speaking at the launch in Jamestown in Accra yesterday, the Chief Executive of Vodafone Ghana, Yolanda Cuba said the product was to provide Ghanaians reliable internet at an affordable rate.

She explained that in the current technological work, no individual could be left behind without access to reliable data, saying, “Vodafone Ghana sees this extension of a strategy to ignite a digital revolution in Ghana by leaving no one behind.”

“It is certainly a demonstration of our strategy in action. We remain committed to making sure every Ghanaian becomes part of the data revolution, which currently represents the next stage of growth in this age of digital dominance. Affordability remains an issue for users in the underserved regions of the country, despite their high demand for data, and this initiative is the answer,” Ms. Cuba said.

The CEO of Vodafone Ghana said plans were advanced to extend the product to other parts of the country to enable the citizens to have access to data.

The Deputy Minister of Communications, Vincent Nii Odotei Sowah in his address lauded Vodafone Ghana for the initiative, meant to deepen internet penetration in the country. He said in this “technological age you cannot do anything without the internet,” indicating that currently Police, Military, and Immigration recruitment forms were done online and access to data was very critical.

Mr. Odotei said the government was heavily investing in digital infrastructure to help deepen internet penetration in the country and promote quality education delivery in the country.

Currently, he said, students easily do their research by accessing the internet for information without physically visiting the library.

Akumajay Mantse, Jamestown, Accra, Nii Ayikai III, in his remarks expressed gratitude to Vodafone Ghana for introducing the product at Jamestown.

He encouraged the people of Jamestown to take advantage of the product to expand and enhance their businesses.

How to use the Vodafone express WIFI

Connecting to the Vodafone express WIFI service is very simple.

Put on your WIFI on your smart device (phone, laptop, tablet etc) and connect to Vodafone express WIFI hotspot in any express WIFI connected community.

The Vodafone express WIFI portal will automatically open, which you will have to input your mobile number (either Vodafone or any other networks).

An SMS will be sent to the mobile number which the customer would use to log onto the internet to proceed to browse.

Every first-time user will enjoy a jumpstart data of 100MB and can purchase data from as low as GHC1.00.

Data packs can be purchased at the nearest branded and accredited Vodafone express WIFI retailer in your community.