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Posted inConnectivity

Start-up solves Zimbabwe’s change problem with a mobile airtime solution

Since the adoption of the mixed hard currencies monetary regime in Zimbabwe at the end of 2009, the one problem that has refused to go away is that of change. Retailers just don’t have enough change to give shoppers. It’s the same situation with commuter bus operators, street vendors and just about anyone that sells goods.
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Posted inConnectivity

MTN Uganda loses billions to mobile money fraud involving employees

Ugandan news sources reported this week that African mobile giant, MTN, reportedly lost billions of shillings from its mobile money service in a fraud case involving the operator’s employees. Though information about the fraud and the investigations around it is only surfacing this week, the fraud itself is reported have occurred in 2011.
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Nigerian Twitter & Facebook traffic update service nominated for Shorty Awards
Posted inConnectivity

Nigerian Twitter & Facebook traffic update service nominated for Shorty Awards

Lagos’ traffic guide Gidi Traffic received a nomination for the globally renowned Shorty Awards which recognize the best short format content creators on the Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. In the “Life Saving Hero” award category, Gidi Traffic is up against 399 other nominees with most of them coming from the United States.
Addressing Revenue Assurance in telecoms
Posted inBroadband

Addressing Revenue Assurance in telecoms

According to a market research report released by global research firm, Frost & Sullivan (May 9 2011), Zimbabwe’s mobile communications revenue will reach US $ 1.34 billion by 2016, with 20.1% compound annual growth rate. This is only achievable if these firms consider and monitor tightly the revenue assurance cycle. Let’s look at the prominent areas in depth;
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Posted inBroadband

Either Brodacom has poured another US $25 million into the company or…

You may also have noticed an article in today’s Herald newspaper that’s saying that Brodacom has invested some US $25 million on network infrastructure. The figure reminded us of news we posted almost a year ago that basically said the same thing; that Brodacom (then just Spiritage) had invested $25 million into the network.
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ForgetMeNot Africa Apps Challenge
Posted inConnectivity

ForgetMeNot Africa brings the eTXT Apps Challenge to Zimbabwe

Last week we posted that ForgetMeNot Africa has opened up its eTXT platform to 3rd party developers and that the company launched an Apps Challenge in Kenya in partnership with iHub and Safaricom. Well, there’s another announcement this week, more specific to Zimbabwe this time.
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Her Zimbabwe goes live
Posted inConnectivity

Her Zimbabwe goes live

Last week, we read on iZimbabwe that one of our favourite writers in Zimbabwe, Fungai Machirori, was going to launch a website dedicated to discussing and articulating Zimbabwean women’s issues and experiences. Being one of Zimbabwe’s most insightful writers (yes she is, read her blog), and one who’s already been already writing so much about her experience as a woman means the website is set to deliver quality content, something that you’ll agree is so much in short supply on our local web.
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Classifieds.co.zw introduces daily emails to consolidate its leading position
Posted inConnectivity

Classifieds.co.zw introduces daily emails to consolidate its leading position

Local classifieds website classifieds.co.zw announced in an email yesterday that they will be introducing daily email digests for all or selected categories depending on your subscription preferences. The move comes at a time when several other websites have sprung up following the successes of classifieds.co.zw and they’ve all come for a chunk of what’s arguably the most trafficked website in the country.
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Africom too now offering unlimited calls, for $10 a month
Posted inConnectivity

Africom too now offering unlimited calls, for $10 a month

In what will become the lowest priced voice call deal in Zimbabwe, Africom revealed today that the company is now offering unlimited calls for just $10 a month within the network. The revelation was made on the company’s new website that came online today. Africom’s follows hot on the heels of Brodacom’s almost similar announcement last night, which we posted here earlier. The Africom price, which we have confirmed is a promotion, is $5 cheaper than Brodacom.
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Prosper Mutswiri
Posted inBroadband Connectivity

Brodacom introduces unlimited calls for $15 a month

Yesterday, we attended a Brodacom event where the company announced some new services they will be offering. One new product presented, a gadget Brodacom calls a ‘talking modem’, is primarily a wireless internet modem, which really looks like a phone and that indeed can do voice calls. The 'talking modem' is the basis of a more exciting announcement from the company; Brodacom now offers unlimited calls within the network for US $15 a month.
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Zimbabwe in top 5 African countries with fastest download speeds
Posted inBroadband Connectivity

Zimbabwe in top 5 African countries with fastest download speeds

Current download speeds rankings for Africa by Ookla, show that Zimbabwe is now in the top 5 Africa countries with the fastest broadband download speeds on the continent. Ookla runs the popular internet speed testing website, Speedtest.net, and uses the millions of tests carried out on the platform to show the current global rankings for consumer broadband speeds.
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Microsoft to hold a developer day in Harare
Posted inConnectivity

Microsoft to hold a developer day in Harare

Microsoft has announced that it will be holding Developer Day in Harare this week. At the event, Microsoft will showcase the latest Microsoft technologies for developers with an intention to build a Microsoft technology developer community in Zimbabwe.
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CNN 0 Violence in Kenya report
Posted inConnectivity

#SomeoneTellCNN Twitter backlash in Kenya forces CNN to apologise

A backlash on Twitter by Kenyans accusing US news channel CNN of sensational reporting has forced the channel to apologise to Kenyans and pull down a video report on suspected terrorist bombing that took place in downtown Nairobi. The CNN report portrayed the grenade blasts in Nairobi as “violence in Kenya”, wording that triggered outrage from the tweeting Kenyans.
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If you can’t beat them, just quit: H-Metro is off Facebook
Posted inConnectivity

If you can’t beat them, just quit: H-Metro is off Facebook

This social media thing didn't work for H-Metro. Last month, we reported that H-Metro, an extremely popular tabloid in Harare, was faced with the difficult problem of dealing with a more popular impostor. On Facebook that is. The fake H-Metro Facebook page had 11,379 fans then while the real one was struggling for attention, only managing 3,854 likes, well less than half their impostor enemy.
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Event: Discussion on cyber crime in Zimbabwe
Posted inConnectivity

Event: Discussion on cyber crime in Zimbabwe

We just received an announcement from the Computer Society of Zimbabwe (CSZ) for a Cyber crime discussion to be held in Harare next week. The title of the discussion is "Computer-assisted crime and the state of preparedness of Zimbabwe's law enforcement agencies". We think it’s important to attend this one and learn issues from an angle you’ve probably not had a chance to get yet; the Zimbabwe Republic Police angle.
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Posted inBroadband

TelOne responds on extent of internet disruption from EASSy cable break

Earlier this week we reported that the TelOne had been affected by the EASSy cable breakage between Djibouti and Port Sudan almost 3 weeks ago. We sent TelOne some questions on the extent of disruption that the EASSy issue has caused them. We also asked them if some recent ADSL issues were related to the EASSy cable break.
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