Safaricom strategizes...to take M-Pesa to Nigeria, Angola

Safaricom Ltd may expand its popular mobile-banking service M-Pesa into countries such as Nigeria and Angola, as East Africa’s biggest company grapples with regulatory scrutiny in its home market of Kenya.

The sale of a 35 percent stake in the Nairobi-based company to Vodacom Group Ltd. by parent Vodafone Group Plc has enabled Safaricom to look to new markets, Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore said in an interview at his office in the Kenyan capital. That’s because Vodafone has an agreement with the South African government to only expand in Africa through Vodacom, its majority-owned Johannesburg-based unit.

“Before the end of the year, I would expect to have something to roll out,” Collymore said June 8. Safaricom may seek to agree to platform-sharing deals with competitors such as MTN Group Ltd. to expand M-Pesa rather than set up in new countries, he said.

The expansion of the mobile-banking service would be Safaricom’s first significant move since Vodacom’s $2.6 billion stake purchase last month and will enable the company to examine growth opportunities outside its home country, where its market-leading position is under pressure from regulators. M-Pesa, which means mobile money in Swahili, had more than 25 million customers in 11 countries such as Tanzania and Ghana at the end of March, proving popular in countries without developed banking systems.

In Kenya, 79 percent of mobile banking transactions are made over M-Pesa, which processed 851 billion shillings ($8.2 billion) in the third quarter of last year. Safaricom shares have gained 19 percent this year, valuing the company at 911 billion shillings.

Kenya’s telecommunications regulator is finalizing a market study on Safaricom’s dominance of the industry amid calls by some lawmakers for the company to be broken up. The report will probably conclude that while Safaricom isn’t abusing its market position, it should be ordered to share infrastructure and say up front when it plans to change prices or introduce new offers, Collymore said.

“We are not objecting to share, because sharing means you get additional revenue,” the CEO said. “What we are losing sleep about is compelling us to share at a regulated price. If you are going to start to regulate how much we are going to charge, we are going to have a problem. We’re going to have a fight about this one, because why would my investors invest?”

The release of the regulator’s report has been delayed by the expiry of the Communications Authority of Kenya Chairman Ben Gituku’s three-year term in office last month and the fact that no replacement has been found yet, Director-General Francis Wangusi said last week.

But just like Rocket Internet, a Berlin-based startup builder which has spread itself so thin across the world, the launch of M-Pesa into new markets would mean new partnerships and capital investments which will sent Safaricom’s revenues and share price tumbling down as the telco adapts to these new markets. For short-term retail IPO investors, this is likely the best time to cash out.

South Africa’s Vodacom Group which is set to acquire a 34.94% stake in Safaricom is itself a failure at operating mobile money in its own market even though it had at money, the M-Pesa platform and personnel it needed. Just buying into Safaricom and replicating its success across sub-Saharan Africa M-Pesa won’t miraculously save its soul. Vodacom said following a thorough review, it discontinued its M-Pesa product after showing a little prospect of growth in the country.

Speaking about the decision, Shameel Joosub, Vodacom Chief Executive Officer, said: “Vodacom’s decision is based on the fact that the business sustainability of M-Pesa is predicated on achieving a critical mass of users. Based on our revised projections and high levels of financial inclusion in South Africa there is little prospect of the M-Pesa product achieving this in its current format in the mid-term.”

Though M-Pesa continued to gain solid traction in Kenya, Tanzania, Lesotho, Mozambique and the DRC, Vodacom failed to save it South Africa arguing high levels of financial inclusion in South Africa and a less supportive macro environment unlike in Kenya and other growing markets.

Sony talks PlayStation VR and blockbuster titles

Unlike Microsoft's unveiling of the Xbox One X at E3, Sony didn't focus on new hardware when it took to the conference stage in Los Angeles. Instead, the company, which already has the lion's share of the gaming console market, celebrated the biggest titles which will be arriving for the PS4 and for Playstation VR.

Its media showcase was very heavy on its gaming titles, especially exclusive content such as Spider-Man, which Sony has foregrounded as the main difference between itself and console rival Microsoft.

The gaming trailers shown on the E3 stage were almost all sequels to existing gaming franchised and brands. The eighth instalment of the God of War series was a soft reboot of the franchise, moving the narrative away from the Greek mythology which had influenced the previous games into Norse mythology.

A glimpse at the sequel to Uncharted 4: A Thief's End displayed some of the series' highlight set pieces and puzzles.

For most attendees and onlookers, PlayStation's Spider-Man title was the blockbuster announcement with its extravagant visuals and choreographed stunts, including parkour, web-slinging and, of course, a helicopter chase.

Sony announced that it had sold more than 60 million PS4 consoles over the last four years, with titles such as Horizon: Zero Dawn, which is getting an expansion, contributing to more than 487 million games being sold.

Also announced at E3 were a number of new games for the PlayStation Virtual Reality (PSVR) headset, which was released worldwide last October - and which the company claimed had sold over one million units.

VR games announced included The Inpatient, a psychological horror and puzzle game requiring the user to figure their way out of the terrifying Blackwood Pines Sanatorium, untangling intrigue, conspiracy and moral dilemmas.

The £349.99 headset is designed to be fully functional with all of the PS4 consoles on the market, hitting the VR gaming market which doesn't have access to the expensive gaming PCs which dominate the sector.

Taxify to protect Nigerian drivers and riders...launch insurance cover

Rivals to Uber in the mobile taxi industry, Taxify, has launched a new personalised insurance package for their partner drivers and riders, called Taxify Cover in Nigeria.

Uchenna Chukwuebuka Okafor, Operations Manager in Lagos, highlighted the fact that most traditional insurance covers differ from driver to driver and these covers usually do not extend to cover a rider’s belongings.

This means that if there had to be an accident, riders various insurance companies in order to ensure that they were properly compensated.

“Before the introduction of Taxify’s Cover, riders who depend on the vehicle comprehensive insurance to settle liabilities have been disappointed as these policies do not totally cover accident and personal effect liability,” said Okafor.

“To ensure an added layer of safety during trips, we partnered with Autogenius and Aiico insurance PLC to provide industry leading insurance coverage to our driver partners and riders on all Taxify trips,” he added.

Driver partners who already have their own personal comprehensive cover will still be able to take advantage of the Taxify Cover, this will allow them to protect their rider’s personal effects. Another option for the drivers will be to opt for comprehensive cover if they have third party insurance or no insurance at all.

“Should they lose their assets or should such assets be damaged either as a result of an accident or assault, the cover also makes provisions for that. So phones and tablets can be replaced or repaired,” Okafor said.

Although Okafor was not clear whether Taxify planned to implement a similar program in other markets, he did hint that the company could be looking to launch the service in other regions. “Safety of riders and driver-partners during trips is a priority at Taxify. The local teams in these countries would definitely have something cooking,” he concluded.

Microsoft Co-founder unveils world’s biggest plane ever

Billionaire and co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen, has just unveiled the world's biggest plane, possessing a wing span longer than an entire football field. The Stratolaunch carrier plane rolled out of its hangar and in to public view at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California on Wednesday to undergo fueling tests.

The giant plane is designed to launch rockets into orbit from an altitude of around 30,000 feet. It has a wingspan of 385 feet (117 m), a length of 238 feet (72 m) and a tail height of 50 feet (15 m).

According to Stratolaunch Systems Corporation, the plane uses six Boeing 747 engines built by Pratt & Whitney and has a maximum payload capacity of approximately 550,000 lbs.

Jean Floyd, Chief Executive Officer of Stratolaunch Systems, wrote in a statement Wednesday that the fuel testing "marks a historic step in our work to achieve Paul G. Allen's vision of normalizing access to low Earth orbit."

Stratolaunch previously announced that it will initially launch a single Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket, but the firm intends that the plane could ultimately launch up to 3 satellite rockets in one flight.

"Over the coming weeks and months, we'll be actively conducting ground and flightline testing at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

"This is a first-of-its-kind aircraft, so we're going to be diligent throughout testing and continue to prioritize the safety of our pilots, crew and staff," said Jean Floyd. He added that Stratolaunch is on track to perform its first launch demonstration in early 2019.

Ericsson appoints new head of GCC... partners Tigo in 'as-a-service' capacity in Rwanda

Ericsson in Market Area Middle East and Africa has appointed Wojciech Bajda as head of Ericsson in Gulf Council Countries (GCC) and Global Customer Unit (GCU) Zain and a member of the Market Area’s Leadership Team.

Bajda will be based in Dubai and he will be responsible for driving the company’s business in the GCC markets in addition to driving the company’s business for Zain Group within Ericsson.

Ericsson Middle East and Africa President Rafiah Ibrahim says: "The new leadership team is set to enable our customers’ current and future success with the ambition of becoming more responsive to their needs. Our focus remains to be our customer’s trusted partner of choice across the Middle East and Africa market and with this new team, I am confident that we will be able to achieve our wanted position."

Prior to assuming his current role, Bajda held the responsibility of driving Ericsson’s non-operator business across region Middle East.

In a related development, Tigo Rwanda has partnered with Ericsson to completely overhaul its Business Support Systems (BSS) ecosystem.

According to information supplied by the companies, Tigo Rwanda is the first operator across the Millicom group that has transformed its BSS operations and gone live with Ericsson's 'as a Service' model for its complete BSS needs. The solution covers the full spectrum of charging, billing, provisioning, mediation and roaming functionality combined with advanced customer care and self-care solutions for management and ordering of services.

Ericsson says the partnership will benefit Tigo customers with "new and innovative offerings combined with shorter time to market, improved customer experience and increased operational efficiency."

Xavier Rocoplan, Chief Technical and IT Officer at Millicom says, "This is another major step in our IT transformation and process improvement journey. The 'as a Service' operating model is a very important component of our long term strategy. This new way of looking at BSS activities is a cornerstone in Millicom's operational excellence program that strives at always delivering a better experience for our customers in a more efficient manner. The partnership with Ericsson has enabled us to quickly meet our strategic needs and provide a solid foundation for future development. We have already begun to see improvements in the experience for our consumers and employees in Rwanda."

Rafiah Ibrahim, SVP and Head of Market Area Middle East & Africa, Ericsson, says: "Our partnership with Tigo Rwanda and the implementation of Ericsson's innovative BSS 'as a Service' model signifies an important first step towards future collaboration across the Millicom group. We are confident that the trust and cooperation embedded in this business model, which lies at the centre of revenue generation for Tigo, will further strengthen the strategic relationship in BSS between Tigo Rwanda and Ericsson, as well as the entire Millicom group."

In March this year, Tigo in Tanzania and Ericsson partnered to launch the first of a series of rural pilot tower sites to extend mobile broadband coverage to specific regions.

As Java turns 22, Amazon signs ‘father’ James Gosling

In 1990, Sun Microsystems employees were growing tired with C and C++. Engineer Patrick Naughton was frustrated at Sun’s APIs and was given the opportunity to do something about it; he would create an alternative language as part of The Stealth Project. The Stealth Project was soon renamed the Green Project and Naughton was joined by Mike Sheridan and James Gosling to create what later became Java. That’s 22 years ago!

Ironically, Amazon Web Services has chosen the anniversary period to sign up computer science heavyweight James Gosling, often referred to as the “Father of Java,”. Amazon made the announcement on Facebook this week, that he would be joining the cloud provider as a distinguished engineer.

Gosling came up with the original design of Java and implemented its first compiler and virtual machine as part of his work at Sun Microsystems. He left Sun in 2010 after the company was acquired by Oracle, spent a short time at Google, and most recently worked at Liquid Robotics designing software for an underwater robot.

Amazon confirmed that Gosling had joined the company but didn’t offer any further comment on the work he would be doing there. Gosling will join other tech luminaries, including Adrian Cockroft, Swami Sivasubramanian, and Werner Vogels.

While it’s unclear exactly what he’ll be working on, Gosling seems like a natural fit for the teams creating AWS’s tools for the Internet of Things. He’s intimately familiar with the process of deploying IoT systems, as well as the challenges that arise when it comes to using the public cloud with IoT.

“In my case, there are no cloud providers [Liquid Robotics] can use, so we end up rolling our own for everything, which is a real pain,” Gosling said at IP Expo Europe in 2016, when discussing IoT systems. “I mean, a lot of the cloud providers would make my life hugely easier, but convincing [a] random Coast Guard from some random country that they should trust Amazon is really, really hard.”

athenahealth to Acquire Praxify Technologies

athenahealth, Inc., a leading provider of network-enabled services for hospital and ambulatory clients nationwide, has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Praxify Technologies, Inc., a Palo Alto, US-based company focused on reinventing how doctors work with health data to drive productivity, portability, and improved decision support. athenahealth expects that the acquisition of Praxify will advance the company’s platform strategy and mobile capabilities to drive frictionless workflows and intelligence at and around the moments of care. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

“Leveraging advancements in machine learning and natural language processing, Praxify has invested several years in developing highly intuitive technology to enhance the delivery of high quality patient care. In combination with our cloud platform and services, Praxify’s team and technology will help us further reduce the many inefficiencies of healthcare’s clinical and operational workflows,” said Prakash Khot, chief technology officer, athenahealth. “We will work together to surface new streams of knowledge in natural and mobile ways, so providers and care teams can be fully present, informed, and efficient. We’re thrilled to have their talented team join our mission to make healthcare work as it should.”

athenahealth believes this acquisition will accelerate research and development initiatives across the company by adding significant expertise in mobile and user experience design. Additionally, the underlying technology on which Praxify is built will be integrated into athenahealth’s cloud platform, and will create new opportunities for both internal and third-party developers to rapidly build and launch applications. Together, the organizations will be better positioned to speed development and delivery of innovation at scale for the healthcare industry at large.