Author: Staff Writer

General Motors is introducing Ultifi, a new end-to-end software platform designed to unlock new vehicle experiences and connect customers’ digital lives. Ultifi will help enable the frequent and seamless delivery of software-defined features, apps and services to customers over the air. It offers the potential for more cloud-based services, faster software development and new opportunities to increase customer loyalty. Ultifi is enabled by hardware built into select next-generation products starting in 2023, encompassing internal combustion and electric vehicles. “GM has decades of experience writing vehicle software, creating a solid foundation to build on,” said Mark Reuss, GM president. “Now with…

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Huawei South Africa has celebrated the success of its first Youth Upskilling program recipients at an event where the ICT company was commended for taking an outcomes and needs based approach by providing young graduates with skills required within the sector and matching them with employment opportunities. The endorsement came from business, academia and government at an event to mark the initiative and award the first group of 12 graduates with certificates for completing their theory training.  The programme aims to bridge the gap between academic learning and practical workplace skills in ICT disciplines and get young graduates “job ready”…

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The banking industry has released its annual crime statistics for 2020, and digital banking fraud increased by 33%. The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric), which released the statistics on behalf of the banking industry, said debit card fraud rose by 22%, while on a positive note, credit card fraud decreased by 7%. “COVID-19, in conjunction with the implementation of regulations of the Disaster Management Act had a notable influence on financial crime trends in 2020. It triggered changes in human behaviour, human movement, and policing, creating new opportunities for criminals which significantly impacted the number of crime incidents.…

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Pan-African cryptocurrency exchange, Yellow Card, has announced a $15 million or R227 million Series A, the largest ever by an African cryptocurrency exchange, to ramp up hiring and continue its expansion across the continent. The round was led by Valar Ventures, Third Prime, and Castle Island Ventures with participation from Square, Inc., Blockchain.com Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, BlockFi, Fabric Ventures, Raba Partnership, MoonPay, GreenHouse Capital, and more. Chris Maurice, co-founder and CEO of Yellow Card, expressed the significance of this round of investment for Yellow Card’s future. “Our mission has always been to make cryptocurrency accessible anywhere and everywhere…

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With another tough year behind us, South Africans are looking to our country’s brighter skies and warmer days with excitement and anticipation. And no matter what you want from your summertime, MTN is making it possible and accessible with compelling data offers and big prizes, that are at the heart of this year’s summer campaign. This year, MTN is making data even more affordable to all its customers, irrespective of the customer’s plan or package. Whether South Africans want to party or play, rest and revive, or just hit the road to reconnect with family and friends, they will get…

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The 2Africa consortium, comprised of China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC, announced today the addition of a new segment – the 2Africa PEARLS branch – extending to the Arabian Gulf, India, and Pakistan. This extension will bring the total length of the 2Africa cable system to over 45,000 kilometers, making it the longest subsea cable system ever deployed. Now connecting three continents, Africa, Europe and Asia terrestrially through Egypt, 2Africa creates unique connectivity by adding vital landing locations in Oman (Barka), UAE (Abu Dhabi and Kalba), Qatar (Doha), Bahrain (Manama), Kuwait (Kuwait), Iraq…

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Liquid Intelligent Technologies has launched a partner for Microsoft’s new Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams. Through its OneVoice platform, Liquid enables Microsoft customers worldwide to seamlessly integrate regulatory-compliant calling plans in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda – initiated from the Microsoft Teams Admin Centre. Operator Connect enables seamless PSTN phone services in Teams. With OneVoice for Operator Connect, businesses will benefit from the seamless integration of voice telephony directly into their existing Teams install base. In addition, Liquid’s flat-rate calling plans save money and avoid bill-shock whilst increasing control and decreasing fraud and risk, particularly as employees…

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For developers out there, having a designated space to go to when working on your next big App idea will without a doubt play an instrumental role in the successful development of your App as well as its growth. The Huawei DIGIX Lab in Johannesburg is another way that Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) is proving its continued involvement and investment in the growth of App development and the people behind it across Africa. In the spirit of collaborative innovation, the DIGIX Lab will allow developers to experience Huawei’s open capabilities and devices firsthand, master and share knowledge through hands-on practice…

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Moove, an African mobility FinTech, today announced its launch in Cape Town as part of its growth plans across the continent. The expansion marks the fourth city in which Moove has launched within only 15 months of operations, and coincides with five new hires for Moove’s global C-suite and the milestone of completing one million Uber trips in Moove-financed cars. The rollout in Cape Town follows Moove’s recent $23m Series A funding and builds on existing operations in Johannesburg, Lagos and Accra, with a goal of democratizing vehicle ownership across Africa. Plans are set to establish a presence in more…

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Huawei’s annual flagship event for the global ICT industry – Huawei Connect 2021 – kicked off today. Huawei Rotating Chairman Eric Xu opened the event with a keynote speech titled “Innovating Nonstop for Faster Digitalization”. This year’s event, themed “Dive into Digital”, explores how digital technology can better integrate with business scenarios and industry know-how to address critical business challenges, and how stakeholders can work together more effectively to foster an open industry ecosystem and drive shared success. The event is scheduled to have four keynotes, five summits, and 66 sessions, featuring more than 200 speakers, including industry visionaries, business…

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