The Uganda Department of Meteorology (UDoM), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), MTN, Ericsson, National Lake Rescue Institute (NLRI) and the Kalangala Fishing community have partnered to launch a localised weather alert service to fishing villages on Lake Victoria which uses mobile technology, called Mobile Weather Alert service. The system makes it possible for the partners to deliver daily weather forecasts and well-timed warnings in local languages.  The service, still in its pilot phase, is being tested [...]

Nairobi is set to host the Pivot East Africa regional mobile applications developer competition which will culminate in a pitching conference on 5th and 6th June 2012. The competition has five categories with each having finalists pitching to a distinguished audience of investors, development partners, telecoms operators and other industry players from East Africa and across the globe. The competition also gives companies the opportunity to showcase their applications to Operators, Venture Capital Community, Angel [...]

Orange has today launched a month long 3G data offering for the youth in target universities and colleges. The campaign, dubbed 3G Campus Offer, will see students from target universities enjoy one month’s free unlimited internet with the purchase of an Orange Internet Everywhere 3G Modem. Orange is the only service provider with an unlimited data offering for its customers. Orange mobile customers currently enjoy unlimited internet for as low as KSh 39 daily, KSh [...]

The recently established Samsung East Africa Engineering Academy has opened its doors to the pioneer class of 200 students. The institution, built at a cost of Kshs 84 million (US $ 1 million) and aimed to address the critical technical and engineering skills shortage in Kenya, is the second such training facility in Africa. Its overall goal is to develop 10,000 electronic engineering apprentices across Africa by the year 2015. Speaking during an induction and [...]

Airtel Kenya has donated 200 phones to the Kenya Police Post in Coast province which will each be bundled with golden numbers, a special number with digits that are easy to recall from memory in times of need and emergencies. The partnership will cover all police stations, police posts and patrol bases in the Coast Province. “Airtel’s association with the police in the Coast Province is a way of creating positive impact in our communities [...]

Three quarters or three in four Kenyans with mobile devices are willing to share their location details online via their devices with their close friends, family members and business associates. According to survey titled Mobile Life Study, conducted TNS Global and whose results were released this week, about 74 per cent of Kenyans who participated in the survey as respondents indicated their willingness to share their location status online. According to TNS, the results reveal [...]

Orange Uganda and Intel Corporation, the global computer chip maker, have come together to deploy a new sales model with regional telecommunication companies to reach more buyers in developing markets through high speed broadband and affordable PCs – as part of the efforts to bridge the widening gaps in high speed internet access and broadband connectivity and boost the region’s information hub credentials. The partnership will see Intel and Orange Uganda work to have a [...]

Kenya’s largest independent ATM network- PesaPoint – is in mid May 2012 set to launch a system that will make it possible for M-PESA users to directly interact with their bank accounts. The system, said to have been developed by PesaPoint with support from Safaricom’s M-PESA division will be revolutionary in the mobile money scene in Kenya and seeks to give M-PESA customers new capacity to interact directly with over 32 banks in Kenya. PesaPoint network [...]

Kenya Airways, in conjunction with local IT firm Cellulant, has launched a new mobile technology platform that will enable the airline’s customers to enjoy enhanced interactive services.  KQ becomes one of the first airlines in Africa to deliver a mobile phone-based solution as part of its customer service information enhancement programme. Kenya Airways chief executive officer Titus Naikuni said that the information will be delivered on their customer’s mobile phones via multiple channel solutions. The recently [...]

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group and MasterCard Foundation have launched a partnership to increase access to financial services for an estimated 5.3 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa. Building on recent economic momentum and stability in many African economies, the project will create new opportunities for economically disadvantaged people to expand businesses, gain access to cost-effective financial services, and manage risk. Through this new US $ 37.4 million partnership, [...]