NEWS
NEWS
Digitising Malawi for a brighter digital future
The World Bank has provided a $72.4
million International Development
Association credit to help Malawi build
the digital foundations needed to
help the country connect to the global
digital economy.
The Malawi Digital Foundations
Project, which is Phase 1 of the
Digital Malawi Program, will
significantly expand access to the
Internet by making it more affordable,
reliable and available in all parts of
the country.
“This project assures Malawi of
a better digital future – using
technology to modernise government
operations, enabling citizens to access
public services and information online
from any corner of the country and
preparing today’s youth with the
digital skills needed for the jobs of
tomorrow,” said Honourable Nicholas
Dausi, Minister of Information and
Communications Technology.
Laura Kullenberg, World Bank
Country Manager for Malawi said:
“Digital technology is absolutely
essential to Malawi’s socio-economic
development. Across the world,
communications, commerce and
services are moving online. Malawi
cannot afford to be left behind.” Commission (PPPC). Other key
partners include the Ministry of ICT
and the Malawi Communications
Regulatory Authority (MACRA).
Implementation of the project will be
led by the Public–Private Partnership The project is expected to close
in 2022.
Safaricom invests SH.200 million in
technology R&D lab
Safaricom has announced Kenya’s
first ever telecommunications lab,
located at the firm’s headquarters
in Nairobi. The first phase of the lab
has been put up at the cost of Sh.200
million and replicates Safaricom’s
entire networking including the
billing platform, application servers
such as M-PESA, Safaricom’s cloud,
microwave, 2G, 3G and 4G networks in
a single room.
Industry players including Cisco,
Huawei, Nokia and others have
donated equipment and expertise to
the lab.
Safaricom’s customers will benefit
from this investment, which will see
fast tracking of deployment of new
technology and solutions. Previously,
the inherent risk of testing and
deploying upgrades on live networks
has impacted the pace at which such
improvements can be rolled out.
In addition, the lab will serve as
a training environment for new
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INTELLIGENTCIO
The Technology Lab will allow vigorous
and expedited testing of such
upgrades meaning that they can be
deployed on the live network at less
than half the time it has usually taken.
Technologies currently undergoing
testing in the lab ahead of live
network deployment include a 1
gigabit per second (Gbps) LTE-
Advanced 4G technology which
allows aggregation of up to a
GE is bringing new digital
infrastructure solutions to the Kenyan
market by connecting software, apps
and analytics to industrial businesses,
enabling them to operate faster,
smarter and more efficiently. In
sub-Saharan Africa, the company
is pioneering technologies to help
companies capitalise on the industrial
Internet, fuelling productivity and
value from existing assets and
enabling new business models and
growth potential.
Getty Melaku, the Chief Financial
Officer for GE Africa said: “We are
excited to bring our cutting edge
digital solutions and expertise to
Kenyan businesses to optimise
operational and business innovations
for increased productivity and profit.
We see a huge opportunity for Kenya
and the continent at large”.
Thanks to technological advances, GE
can optimise operations to improve
asset performance while keeping
costs down.
“The digital Industrial Revolution is
both a cultural and technology shift
and companies that don’t evolve,
will fail to deliver critical business
outcomes and stunt their productivity
gains.
“Our customers in Africa demand the
same equipment performance as the
rest of the world and are constantly
looking at ways to enhance asset
Abu Sulemana, Chief Information
Officer GE SSA
performance. 40 of GE’s oil and gas
customers in Africa are using digital
solutions to optimise operations,”
said Chief Information Officer for GE
Africa, Abu Sulemana.
Efacec chosen to bring electricity
to Rwanda
engineers and those working on
new technologies.
“In the last five years, Safaricom has
put in place various measures to
attract, retain and develop world-class
local talent in the telecommunications
sector. The launch of this research
and development lab, the first in the
region, is a step towards shifting the
country from simply being an importer
of telecommunication solutions to
one that also creates such solutions,”
said Thibaud Rerolle, Director of
Technology, Safaricom.
GE brings new digital infrastructure
solutions to the Kenyan market
Efacec Power Solutions has been
chosen by the winning consortium of
the international tender, launched
by the Republic of Rwanda, for the
construction of three new 200kV
substations. These infrastructures
are essential to distribute power to
the country’s rural areas, such as
Rwabusoro, Mamba e Rilima.
Visionary Tech Leader, Andrew Masila
(left) with Safaricom Technology
Director, Thiboud Rerolle (centre) and
Safaricom Financial Services Director,
Ronald Webb (right)
maximum of five 4G carriers, a trial
mobile network that runs on the
cloud and Internet of things (IoT)
trials, including IoT-enabled smart
water meters.
www.intelligentcio.com
The technical abilities and skills of
Efacec’s high tension substation area
was the reason behind being chosen
by the tender’s winning company
– STEG International Services, from
Tunisia – to implement the project
of engineering, supply, supervision
and commissioning of the three new
substations on a turn-key basis. This
contract is worth approximately 10.5
million euro and has an 18 month
execution deadline.
This construction work will be
fundamental to give flow to the
www.intelligentcio.com
Ângelo Ramalho, CEO, Efacec
80MW produced in Mamba’s Biomass
Power Station for the national
electricity grid. Currently only 25%
of Rwanda’s households have power.
This project is part of the government
ambition to bring electrical energy to
70% of Rwanda’s families, until 2018.
According to Ângelo Ramalho, Efacec’s
CEO, “Being chosen for this project
attests, once again, Efacec’s skills.
We are proud of this new act of trust
bestowed to our company. We’ll
continuously work in order to bring
power to all the parts of the world.”
INTELLIGENTCIO
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