Mobile 360 Series Africa: Dar-es-Salaam hosts GSMA event

Mobile 360 Africa serves as an extension of established GSMA conferences which highlight the work of Mobile for Development focusing on increasing access to and use of life enhancing mobile services, accelerating socio-economic improvements for the undeserved, especially women, rural and youth, particularly in digital inclusion, financial inclusion and identity for the unregistered. The event will be held in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania on the 26th – 28^th July, 2016.

The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organizations in adjacent industry sectors.

Mobile 360 series Africa, an enriching and enlightening event will gather stakeholders; operators, regulators, policy makers, service providers, NGOs and so forth to meet and exchange invaluable experiences, visions, solutions, innovations, for the benefit of the mobile industry.

This event follows the previous Mobile 360 series Africa which was held in Cape Town South Africa on 7^th – 9^th October, 2015. It registered a huge level of success with over 550 attendees, 62% senior level attendees and brilliant line up of speakers addressing highly relevant topics for the market.

Keynote speakers of the event included: Fredrik Jejdling; President & CEO Ericsson SubSaharan Africa, Ben Moskowitz; Senior Development Director Mozilla Foundation, Sifiso Dabengwa; Executive Director, Group President & CEO MTN Group, Sanjana Bhardwaj; Chief of Health & Nutrition UNICEF South Africa, Erik Hersman; CEO, BRCK Founder, iHub Nairobi & Co-Founder of Ushahidi.

A wide range of topics were discussed such as;

• The Economic Impact of Mobile Money in the Digital Economy.
• Digitising Government Payments.
• Spotlight on Rural Supply: Critical Factors to Create Successful Mobile Money Agents.
• The Importance of Distribution in Mobile Insurance: Lessons Learnt.
• Accelerating Digital Literacy for Women.
• Approaches to Local Content Creation: Realising the Smartphone Opportunity.
  

Mobile 360 series Africa 2016 will focus on new strategies and cross-industry collaboration required to accelerate access across the region. This year’s programme includes, but is not limited to, enabling access for all, delivering quality of experience, creating local digital content and the next wave of value-added services.

Some of the topics of this conference include;

• The Disruption of Mobile Money in International Remittances.
• Creating an Enabling & Trust-Based Environment.
• Impact & Innovation and the Role of the Mobile Industry.
• Capturing the Importance of Data-Driven Analytics for the Mobile Money Industry.
• Bridging the Gender Gap in Mobile Money: Insights from Rwanda & Mali.
• Digitising Government Payments: Why and How, Benefits and Success Factors.
  

The two day programme will feature top notch keynote speakers, panel discussions and in-depth case studies from across many industries.

This event will also give a platform to GSMA’s Jumpstart where start-ups with regional mobile operat

Kongapay effectively disrupts the ecommerce scene...signs up DSTV

At the recently held Nigeria Summit in Lagos, the Ag Chief Executive Officer of Konga.com, Shola Adekoya revealed how his company is using an innovation, KongaPay to tackle epayment issues to aid e-commerce ecosystem in Nigeria.

Despite barriers hindering electronic commerce growth in Nigeria and the rest of the world, the system has received significant attention in the country as buying goods online with smart devices is fast becoming an essential part of life for many people in Nigeria. This is even as absence of adequate basic infrastructural, socioeconomic factors, regulatory environment, trust, among others have combined to create a significant barrier in the adoption and growth of e-commerce in Nigeria.

Kongapay is an attempt to democratize card payments.

That is: by deeply integrating with all major banks, they get users to link their bank accounts to the payments platform just once. After that, paying for goods and services becomes a one-click affair. The money is moved from the users’ bank accounts into Konga’s accounts in whatever banks. Of course, this also means that making refunds for defective products will be a lot easier, since there’s no inter-bank red tape to deal with. Previously, the option was restricted to purchases on Konga.com, where they offered a 5% discount on every purchase as an incentive.

But speaking at the summit during a panel discussion on ‘Meeting the Needs of Consumers,’ Adekoya told the gathering that in contrary popular notion, buying online is cheaper. “When you shop on Konga, you can choose to pay securely in advance with KongaPay, with your ATM/Debit card, or on delivery with cash or POS.

With this system, the e-commerce giant has collaboration with banks and operators, by developing secure, flexible mobile financial platforms that help build an interconnected and transparent financial ecosystem. There is also an incentive for the buying public as by using KongaPay, each consumer gets a five percent discount on each and every purchase made on Konga.com.

Following up on this, Konga.com, and the country’s leading entertainment company, MultiChoice Nigeria, also announced a partnership for the provision of a new platform for making DStv and GOtv subscription payments. MultiChoice subscribers all over the country can now make their subscription payments using KongaPay, Konga’s online payment solution.

The announcement, which was made at a joint press conference held by the two companies in Lagos will allow customers using KongaPay to pay their DStv and GOtv subscriptions with ease.

Unlike other payment channels, the subscriber does not need to pay any processing charges or convenience fees. Payments can be conveniently made from any smartphone, computer, tablet or via the Konga mobile app.

KongaPay is a secure innovative solution that allows customers to perform one-click payments for their transactions. It was developed by Konga in partnership with leading Nigerian banks. With KongaPay, the inconvenience of entering debit card or bank token details to complete each transaction is eliminated.

While maintaining the highest security standards, KongaPay is also built to give instant refunds at the click of a button for goods or services that customers are dissatisfied with.

Commenting on the partnership, John Ugbe, the Managing Director of MultiChoice Nigeria, said: “MultiChoice is delighted that with this partnership we are further expanding the payment and accessibility platforms available to our customers”. He went on to say, “The inclusion of Konga in the suite of self-help options available to our customers, can only yield improved customer satisfaction, which is our key objective.”

Next Generation Broadband Network as focus at unique Atlanta event

The Broadband Forum has announced it will host a three-day special meeting in Atlanta where ten of the world’s leading service providers, as well as major manufacturers, will gather to share their vision of requirements that drive the Next Generation Broadband Network.

The event, hosted by AT&T, will include presentations from AT&T itself, NTT, BT, Sky, Deutsche Telecom, CenturyLink, Orange, Telecom Italia, Vodafone and Spark New Zealand.

“Since we launched our Broadband 20/20 Vision last October, we have been delighted with the industry response and have made significant progress in areas including Software Defined Networking (SDN), Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), Cloud Central Office and the whole concept of Broadband Assured IP Services,” said Broadband Forum CEO Robin Mersh.

“There is therefore no better time to bring the broadband industry together. Operators and vendors are going through many readjustments as new technologies open up new possibilities and new challenges. The Broadband Forum exists to support the whole broadband eco-system that delivers the capability to meet the needs of the users, and the Atlanta special meeting will make sure we are on track to deliver the exciting new services that we all want and are most critical for the industry.”

The Special Meeting – which will take place at the Renaissance Atlanta Midtown Hotel from May 18 to May 20 – will discuss the requirements driving the next generation network as well as some proposed approaches such as the Flexible Access System Architecture project from NTT and the Central Office Reimagined as a Datacenter (CORD) project, with OnLab delivering an interactive demo and presentations, which will also involve the wider CORD community.

“There are some interesting developments which complement the work we are already doing around SDN, NFV, ultra-fast access and 5G, and the CORD demonstration will be a valuable experience for both our members and our guests,” added Mersh.

The Atlanta gathering comes as the Forum nears completion of a landmark document, which looks at virtualized service delivery to the Residential Gateway. Final approval on this document is currently taking place, with the final version expected to be released next month.

Details of the Atlanta meeting were revealed during the Broadband Forum’s quarterly gathering in Prague, which took place last week. The conference also saw Drew Rexrode, of Verizon, and Marcin Drzymala, of Orange – who are stepping down as Board Members - presented with the Forum leadership award in recognition of their work as “outgoing, commendable leaders” by Broadband Forum chairman Kevin Foster. Both were thanked for their efforts to support the growth and development of the Forum over several years.
For more information on the Broadband Forum’s work, visit: www.broadband-forum.org.

Broadband Forum, a non-profit industry organization, is focused on engineering smarter and faster broadband networks.

CWG's Negative profit warning may contribute to Capital Market downturn

Exchange rate losses, reduction in margins in traditional reseller business and inability to transfer increased cost of doing business to customers has combined to affect the bottom-line of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) for 2015.
The company, which is into systems integration, operating in Nigeria and other part of Africa, had sent a profit warning to the capital market community that it would end the 2015 year with a loss.

Although the company recorded a gross profit of N2.443 billion, it ended with a loss after tax of N1.796 billion. According to CWG, foreign exchange loss to the tune of N600 million was recognised arising from the fluctuations in the exchange rate, the decline in United States dollars availability and the dearth of hedging options.

“This significantly impacted CWG’s traditional business which is in most part vulnerable to foreign exchange risks (payments from customers are in naira while the corresponding payments to Original Equipment Manufacturers and other partners are in dollars),” it said.
The company added that it wrote off  N431 million following technology changes and ongoing business model changes which made some previous investments such as the investments in Very Small Aperture Terminal(VSAT)) and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network obsolete.

“This performance occurred on the back of a challenging and uncertain macroeconomic environment including the general elections of 2015 and the subsequent takeover by a new administration which caused significant delays in investments by our traditional customers,” the company noted.

Looking ahead, CWG said despite the many challenges of 2015, it has stayed focused on re-inventing itself  to be in better control of its  costs, margins and product offering, saying it is in the last stages of  transition from a reseller of technology to being a provider of technology platforms that enable growth across a broad spectrum of the economy.

“The company is accelerating her strategic focus from the resale of technology to the provision of platforms and services sold on subscription basis or revenue share basis which are more predictable and guarantee annuity income. This is evident in a slew of new products and services including the Smart Utility Solution (SUS) provides a theft prevention solution, Energy audit, Demand Side Management, Real Time Billing Efficiency and Network Asset Management. SUS is offered to power companies in order to efficiently manage and monitor energy flow to end users.”

It added that there is the SMERP solution, which is  a business management tool that provides functionalities such as accounting management, inventory management, sales, and order tracking amongst others and   BillsnPay, which  is a  platform that provides a robust electronic bills presentment and payment service that can be carried out via channels such as mobile, web, bank branches, ATM or banking kiosks.

The Company was listed by introduction on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on 15 November 2013 at a value of $85million and a market price of ₦5.48.

The Company is ISO 9001:2008 certified across its subsidiaries and has over 334 certified professionals.

Over 80% of CWG staff are Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Certified.

The Company enjoys an industry Pioneer Status and is thus exempt from Company Income Tax payment for five years from 2012. CWG’s total assets amounted to ₦17.4 billion while the shareholders’ funds stood at ₦5.2 billion. During the nine months ended 30 September 2013, the Company generated turnover of ₦14.1 billion and recorded profit before tax of ₦511 million.

With the downturn in the ubiquitous Systems Integration sub sector, whereby businesses are built around building computing systems for clients by combining hardware and software products from multiple vendors (mostly international), there certainly must be a paradigm shift for the industry in Nigeria. Its already a known fact that 85% of ICT companies in Nigeria are systems integrators with little or no originality or bespoke solution for the local challenges in the country. With fluctuating foreign exchange, incursion of China in mainstream IT, and the quest for local IT solution patronage, the era of re-sale of OEM systems in the sector may be in the horizon.

Oracle harnesses opportunities in Ghana

Ghana's growing information and communications technology (ICT) ecosystem received a boost recently when global software giant, Oracle, opened its local office in the country. Oracle's direct presence in the country will come as a big relief for the ICT community, especially for companies that use large data and information and relies largely on IT software to drive operations.

The company's vast array of software and hardware solutions cut across industries – private and public. The company, which has been indirectly present in Ghana through partners for more than two decades, intends to push cloud computing and data centre applications strongly, one of the areas that oracle is competitive in.

Ghana Country Manager, Mr Joseph Asumang, told the Graphic Business ahead of the inaugural ceremony that Ghana remained an important market for the company adding that Oracle was committed to operating in the country for the long haul.

"We see that the African market in general is growing so there is a lot of potential, particularly for us. We see that the use of information technology is growing and Ghana being one of the key growth potential in Africa, we feel that it’s about time Oracle committed more resources to the market.”

Mr Asumang said coming directly into the market would bring Oracle closer to its clients to help them deploy IT solutions better. Oracle is a unique software company that has the widest portfolio of products and services and wants to push all areas, depending on market needs.

The company has backed its words by taking up office space within the Stanbic Heights at the Airport City where it has further retrofitted into a state-of-the -art modern office for its sales, engineers and service support staff.

Although the company has just made a triumphant direct entry, its products took a lead years ago and has been deployed in various forms for various entities including electronic banking, healthcare, insurance, human resource management, retail, aviation, for deploying enterprise and public sector portals, real estate, telecommunication and the likes.

"Yes we had reached the market through our partners, but we think the time has come to be closer to our customers so that we will be able to deliver superior service and deploy products to the market much quicker," Mr Asumang said.

The company’s presence is also good for young Ghanaian IT enthusiasts and professionals, as the company has a policy for using local talents as much as possible. "One of our key objectives is that we rely on local skills sets to settle in the market. This means we are going to give opportunities for Ghanaians to develop and utilise their skills. So there is a correlation between our physical presence and the development of local capacity.”

This will also mean that Ghanaian IT professionals can be deployed within the Oracle global network, irrespective of geography. Already, the company, through its training academy, has worked with two IT students of Ashesi University and Valley View University to develop apps for the hospitality industry.

However, with cloud computing fast catching on in Africa as in the rest of the world, Oracle also intends to work towards adoption of cloud services either as a service or platform. This is expected to give the market the choice to either deploy its own small data centres for cloud solutions or rely on Oracle Cloud services which has servers hosted elsewhere.

Currently, the company does not have a data centre in Africa. Oracle Cluster Leader for Africa, Mr Cherian Vanghese, said the company believed in the economic potential of Ghana and its human capital, saying Oracle would help train the local professionals and deploys them within the group.

Mr Vanghese said the cloud adoption was considered a non-starter in Africa some few months ago but the service was catching on fast, which makes Africa one of the rapidly changing markets across in the world.

Global Tech Companies That May Be Acquired in 2016

2016 will be a robust M&A market and there are several already public companies that might be ripe for picking, a new Merrill Lynch analyst note predicts.

The large cash balances of large cap internet companies combined with the suddenly attractive small-cap valuations of others may contribute to an uptick in public companies cannibalizing each other.

Here are the seven companies that Merrill Lynch singled out in its analyst note as M&A targets for 2016.

Groupon

Potential acquirers: Google

Reasoning: "Groupon was a target of Google before it went public in 2012, has had recent management changes, and according to press reports some companies may still be interested." Merrill Lynch writes. "However, newly appointed CEO, Rich Williams, was quoted as saying the company has not received any takeover offers."

Stock performance: In January 2014, Groupon traded for more than $11 a share. Two years later, the company is priced at $2.60, a 76 percent decline.

Yelp

Potential acquirers: Google, Yahoo, or Priceline

Reasoning: "Yelp could be a good fit for Google, Yahoo and even Priceline per press articles. Its large user audience and advertiser base has taken years to build, and could be an interesting asset for companies trying to build a bigger mobile or local presence," Merrill Lynch wrote.

Stock performance: At its high in March 2014, Yelp was trading for $98 a share. Since then, the company has lost nearly three quarters of its value and is listed for $22.15.

GrubHub

Potential acquirers: Yelp or Amazon

Reasoning: "GrubHub could be a fit with local services providers such as Yelp to support their own restaurant delivery businesses. In 2014, Nasdaq reported that Amazon could interested in acquiring GrubHub as a way to accelerate its expansion into new markets. Amazon operates its own local restaurant delivery service in select markets and could look at GrubHub as a way to accelerate its expansion into new markets," Merrill Lynch wrote.

Stock performance:The drop-off for GrubHub didn't come until April 2015. Throughout 2014, GrubHub's stock rose from $34 to around $46 a share at its peak. Since April though, GrubHub has lost half its value and now trades around $21.

Pandora

Traders work at the kiosk where Pandora internet radio is traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange June 15, 2011.

Potential acquirers: Sirius

Reasoning: "Pandora could be a target for another music service provider. At an investor event earlier in 2015, the CEO of Sirius indicated that Pandora could fit with the company's strategy of monetizing the large number of automobiles that are not subscribing or actively trialing a music service," Merrill Lynch wrote.

Stock performance: In February 2014, Pandora stock reached its high at $38 a share. Since then, the stock has been tumbling lower and two years later, trades closer to $10.

TripAdvisor

Potential acquirers: Priceline or Google

Reasoning: "TripAdvisor could be a fit for OTA rival Priceline or Google for its wealth of traveler review data, according to Bloomberg. Priceline could also look to acquire TripAdvisor to consolidate its share of travel bookings or limit dependence on Google for traffic," Merrill Lynch wrote.

Stock performance: Unlike the other companies on Merrill Lynch's list, TripAdvisor's stock has not been on a clear downward trend the past two years. In January 2014, the stock was priced at $84, only $12 more than the $72 it was trading at two years later. During that time though, the company's shares have sold for as high as $110 in June 2014 and as low as $62 in September 2015.

Twitter

Potential acquirers: "a search engine", likely Google, AOL, Yahoo, or Facebook

Reasoning: "Twitter is struggling with growing users and press articles have highlighted that Twitter content could be a good fit with a search engine looking for more real-time social content to index," Merrill Lynch wrote.

Stock performance: For the first time ever, Twitter shares have crossed below the $20 mark in January 2016. Two years ago, the social network was trading around $60, so it's lost two-thirds of its value.

Shutterfly

Potential acquirers: Unknown

Reasoning: "Shutterfly initiated a sales process in mid-2014 and decided to remain independent following a strategic review, according to Bloomberg," Merrill Lynch wrote.

Stock performance: Reaching a high of $54 in early 2014, Shutterfly's stock has fluctuated up and down in the past two years. While it hit a low in October 2015, trading at $35, the stock has improved slightly to be valued at $39 to start 2016.

(via Merrill Lynch)

Is it another End of an Era? As Lexmark is Bought by Chinese group for $3.6bn

Lexmark, the global printing and software company, has agreed to be sold to a consortium led by Apex Technology of China and PAG Asia Capital, a private equity firm, for $3.6 billion, including debt.

Lexmark had been looking into strategic alternatives for a while. The consortium buying it, which also includes Legend Capital Management, a venture capital firm, will pay $40.50 a share in an all-cash transaction. Lexmark said the deal represented a 30 percent premium to its closing price on Oct. 21, when it became known that the company was looking into its options.

Lexmark said the deal would allow it to expand in Asia. “With the Consortium’s resources, we will be able to continue to invest in and grow the business to more fully penetrate the Asia Pacific market for hardware, software and managed print services,” Paul Rooke, Lexmark’s chairman and chief executive, said in a news release.

Jackson Wang, the chairman of Apex, added that the two businesses were likely to be complementary, as Apex manufactures parts for ink cartridges. “Apex has traditionally been successful in emerging markets and in cost-effective production,” Mr. Wang said in a news release. “We are excited to work alongside Lexmark as they continue to invest in advanced technologies and solutions to best serve their customers and business partners, while simultaneously pursuing untapped opportunities in emerging markets particularly in Asia for future growth.”

Lexmark said that it intended to keep its company headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky, and that Mr. Rooke would remain in his current role. Shares rose about 11 percent in after-hours trading.

Lexmark’s board has approved the transaction, but it is still subject to shareholder and regulatory approval from agencies including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2016.

Towards the end of 2015, it was reported by the Wall Street Journal that Lexmark was reviewing strategic options including a sale. It was said then that Lexmark was working with Goldman Sachs Inc on the process and could have possible buyers in private equity firms and other technology companies, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter. However it was flatly denied. "Lexmark does not comment on rumor or speculation," company spokesman Jerry Grasso had said.

Lexmark actually started showing distress as far back as 2013 when it announced that it'll quit the inkjet printer business as part of efforts to improve its profitability. It subsequently closed its inkjet supplies factory in Cebu, Philippines last year. After shedding 1,700 jobs, the company claimed it expected the move to save it $95m (£60m) a year in savings. It also intends to sell some of its 1,000 inkjet-related patents.

The firm will continued to sell laser printers and also focussed on its imaging software and document management services.