LATEST REGIONAL PROJECT UPDATE
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SENEGAL
At the recently held AfricaTech Festival international trade fair , telecoms provider Orange and its subsidiaries announced the commissioning and commercial launch of Djoliba , the first pan-African backbone . The infrastructure is based on a terrestrial fibre optic network , coupled with undersea cables , offering secure connectivity abroad from West Africa . This investment aims to support the digital ecosystem and meets the growing needs for connectivity in the region . Djoliba is the first unified superfast broadband network that provides seamless connectivity , with better availability thanks to network redundancy and security , and excellent quality of service .
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Telco Systems , a provider of innovative SDN / NFV , CE 2.0 , MPLS and IP solutions , and Dimension Data , a global technology services provider , recently announced that Telco Systems is in the process of upgrading Dimensions Data ’ s carrier ethernet network in Kenya . The network upgrade , which is expected to be completed early in 2021 , will see Telco Systems double the capacity of Dimension Data ’ s carrier Ethernet network in Kenya .
Smartphone shipments into Nigeria increased 13.7 % quarteron-quarter ( QoQ ) in Q3 2020 to almost three million units , according to the latest figures from global technology and consulting services firm International Data Corporation ( IDC ). Citing the Quarterly Global Mobile Phone Tracker , IDC stated that Nigeria ’ s smartphone market remained healthy in the third quarter as vendors shifted their model portfolios to entry-level and mid-range devices .
3 RWANDA
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SOUTH AFRICA
Global technology company Babylon is supporting the Government of Rwanda in that country ’ s latest project to digitise its healthcare system by introducing digital tools , such as digitally enabled triage , to over-stretched government healthcare centres . The digital tools will help patients access the care they need faster while also reducing the burden on health centres . The project is being funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation .
Internet changes are planned for South Africa including lower data prices and 5G roll-out across the country , Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has stated . Ndabeni-Abrahams met with senior executives in her department recently to discuss a performance agreement that she has entered into with President Cyril Ramaphosa . The agreement sets out a number of targets which Ndabeni- Abrahams is expected to meet within the next years when it comes to the access of Internet services in South Africa .
24 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www . intelligentcio . com