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Western Union and MTN sign mobile money partnership

Western Union and the MTN Group today announced the launch of a mobile money transfer service in Uganda enabling MTN customers to send and receive money via their mobile phones.

MTN and Western Union teaming to promote mobile money in Uganda. (image: file)

This service was announced at a press conference today in Kampala. The Western Union/MTN mobile money transfer service in Uganda will allow users cut down on visits to Western Union branches to pick up cash. Instead, they can “pull” transactions into their MTN Mobile Money accounts.

To access the service customers need an active MTN Mobile Money account.

“Our network of nearly half a million locations, our experience in moving money across borders, and our relationships with the world’s most successful mobile operators such as MTN, ideally position us to introduce many people to cross-border financial services,” Western Union President Diane Scott said.

“We currently have more than 2 million Mobile Money customers, and we continue to grow exponentially. By joining forces with Western Union, our customers can now receive funds directly in their MTN Mobile Money accounts quickly and easily,” MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer Christian de Faria said.

Staff writer

March 28, 2012/by actualize

New news

NMC Horizon Report for Higher Education: What to Expect from ICT in the Next 5 Years

Photo Credit: hsctoolkit.bis.gov.uk

Of all of the new innovations in ICTs — mobile apps and games, open educational resources (OER), and everything else related to ICT for education (ICT4E) — which will be the most important in the next five years?

That’s just one of the questions that the new NMC Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education Edition aims to answer. The report was released last month by the New Media Consortium (NCM), an international community of experts in educational technology, and Educause, a nonprofit association which aims to advance higher education by promoting intelligent use of information technology.

The report charts the path of emerging technology innovations, trends, and challenges in higher education from around the world to highlight which have the most potential for impact within the next several years. It’s the ninth edition of a decade-long research project and over 450 technology and education experts from more than 30 countries have contributed to the research, discussions, and conclusions made in the report since the NMC Horizon Project began in 2002.

What to expect within the next 12 months:

Mobile Apps

As the fastest growing component of mobile technology, students are using these for formal and informal learning, teachers are using them to be more efficient and innovative in their classrooms, and both are enabling apps for research, ePublishing, recording, etc.

Tablet Computing:

Now preferred in a growing number of classrooms in the developed world, tablets cause less disruption than mobile phones, can be easily stowed and used for field and lab work, and allow one-to-one computing opportunities, usually at an affordable price.

2-3 Years:

Game-Based Learning

This has been a fast-growing field within recent years and there are now more studies and reports that offer quantitative data on its effectiveness in education. The report highlights educational gaming as an important tool for fostering student collaboration and engagement in the learning process.

Learning Analytics

A valuable tool for teachers, this allows educators to record, process, and track student achievement and engagement. This data can lead to curricula revision, teaching assessments, and improved teaching methodologies.

4-5 Years

Gesture-Based Computing

This enables students to learn by doing. From touchscreens to voice interpretation software, students use gesture-based computing to expand their ICT-enabled learning opportunities to encompass embodied learning. The report expects that this technology will soon develop to allow numerous students to use large multi-touch displays for collaborative learning.

The Internet of Things

This emerging technology provides online data about an object’s unique characteristics and allows students to record, study, and learn about the physical world around them. The potential benefits for this technology in education are still being explored.

Key Trends:

A rise in student expectations to be able to work and study whenever and wherever they want
More advances in cloud-based technologies and applications
An increase in student collaboration as project-structures change with new technologies
Teachers will continue to be challenged and redefine their roles with the addition of new resources and relationships
New models of learning, like hybrid and online learning, will change education paradigms
Teachers will use more active and challenge-based learning methods

Photo credit: www.latestdigitals.com

Current Challenges:

Traditional Models of teaching are being challenged by new ones enhanced by technology; often the two compete to find a balance that ensures the quality of education.
Research, authoring, and publishing methods are expanding with the growing use of social media in research; many academics still do not accept these new methods as valid.
Demand for digital media literacy continues to rise in work and educational settings, however it is still rare in teacher education and training.
Emerging technologies are slow to be adopted by teachers on a large scale because of their conflict with traditional teaching models and their self-perceived role and comfort level.
University Libraries are challenged with determining how to categorize and support scholarly resources made available through social media and open content, and how to evolve with this growing trend.

For further reading, each section of the report concludes with a list of resources and examples of how the technology is already being used in higher education. In addition, these and additional resources can be found in an online database on the NMC Horizon Project Navigator website.

March 28, 2012/by actualize

New news

Innovation Africa Digital Summit gets underway in Ethiopia

One of Africa’s largest ICT gatherings got underway in Ethiopia today with the kick-off of the Innovation Africa Digital Summit in the capital Addis Ababa.

Aida Opoku-Mensah, Officer-In-Charge of UNECA speaking at a podium

Aida Opoku-Mensah, Officer-In-Charge of UNECA (image: Charlie Fripp)

Now in its tenth year, the summit aims to promote digital connectivity across all spectrums to the benefit of Africa as a whole. The event will also provide for a platform for Ethiopia to share more details on the country’s plans to for develope one of Africa’s largest and most ambitious ICT parks.

“This is an opportunity for us to share our best ideas, to learn about the latest developments and to form powerful partnerships. The theme of creating sustainable national and international ICT ecosystems is indeed a powerful concept which will transform the global socio-economic environment,” conference chair Madanmohan Rao said.

Aida Opoku-Mensah, Officer-In-Charge of UNECA (United Nations Economic Conditions for Africa) added to the welcome address by saying, “it gives me great pleasure to be addressing the tenth Innovation Africa Digital Summit, which comes at a moment when the African continent is experiencing tumultuous advances in the growth and development of the telecoms and ICT sector. We are of the view that in order to unleash Africa’s potential, special attention needs to be paid to innovation, particularly in ICT innovation”.

MTN CEO Sifiso Dabengwa said growth in the sector has been enormous over the years. “Africa has more mobile phones than fixed lines and is still growing. Mobile phones have become the defacto standard for telecommunications on our continent. The growth has had an enormous impact on commerce, connectivity and all other streams of life. The enormity of the socio-economic impact of the mobile sector in Africa cannot be over emphasized.”

IT News Africa is currently in Ethiopia covering and participating in the summit which runs until Thursday 29 March 2012.

Charlie Fripp – Online editor

March 28, 2012/by actualize

New news

Kenyan Farmers Take Advantage of Carbon Trading

New Agriculturist reports that International Small Group & Tree Planting Program (TIST) has begun to train over 50,000 farmers in eastern Kenya on carbon trading. TIST reports that it has planted over six million trees in Kenya. TIST is involved in tree planting ventures across Africa and Asia.

In this particular initiative, TIST acts as a broker between farmers with trees and individuals or companies who wish to offset their carbon footprint. TIST trains locals to track farmers’ trees using hand-held computers and GPS devices. The trained locals record the location, number, size, species, and take photos that are uploaded and posted online. Three to six months after planting, a tree is eligible for carbon credits that earn farmers 1.50 shillings (US $0.02) per tree annually.

Besides monetary benefit, the tree planting also provides farmers more secure water storage during rain and drought and aid soil health and fertility. TIST is thrilled with the results of this initiative, which are leading to more sustainable land management practices.

March 28, 2012/by actualize

New news

Opening the Discussion of Data Privacy in mHealth

Photo Credit: Technorati.com

During New America’s Mobile Disconnect talk on February 9th, Katrin Verclas, Co-Founder and Editor of MobileActive.org, brought up an interesting question about data privacy in mhealth – what is being done to protect patient data in mhealth projects in developing countries?

“If you are gathering sensitive health data over completely clear text and insecure SMS, somebody’s HIV status, sensitive information protected by HIPAA standards in this country, completely unregulated by development organizations, they don’t self-regulate. Countries certainly don’t have any privacy or data protection stipulations…If we are talking about mobile telephony and mobile phones in development, we need to talk about how we protect the data that we are gathering, the information that we are distributing…”

Data privacy is an important, yet undiscussed topic. As Katrin mentioned, an individual’s health information is extremely personal, especially because it can be used against the person to make them a social outcast. But there is little talked about how patient information is being protected, especially the structure and framework of data protection on a large scale. As mentioned in the white paper “Barrier and Gaps Affecting mHealth in Low and Middle Income Countries” by the Earth Institute at Columbia University, many mhealth studies expressed the need for data protection and some measures were taken. But further security steps need to be taken as projects scale into national programs.

First, security is a tough question to answer in any setting. In the U.S., there are strict laws that require health information to be protected (HIPAA). Corporations holding patient health information must internally regulate how this information is being stored and transmitted in order to avoid penalties (both monetary and brand loss) if data is lost or there is a security breach. Along with setting user policies to further protect this sensitive data, corporations also leverage security software to protect against internal and external data lost. This includes protection against network attacks or unprotected lost/stolen devices. In these cases, the companies not only spend money on security measures but also employ a team solely focused on security. Chief Information Security Officer is vastly becoming an important and necessary role with large enterprises.

But the reason for all these security measures is the value individuals and families put on the privacy of their health information. Similarly to people protecting information about their finances, people want to keep their personal and family health information private. With the stigma of specific diseases or the unknown of the future as testing, diagnosis, and treatment is occurring, individuals and families want to have the power to inform others when they are ready. Do individuals and families in other countries place the same value on their health information? My guess is very much so.

But, as Katrin mentioned, many of the countries using mobile phones for data transmission do not have strict data privacy laws to regulate how patient data is protected. This leads to a lack for incentive for development organizations to create their own data protection policies which includes user policies and technology solutions to protect the storage and transmission of patient information. The GSMA recently began a movement to support data privacy on mobile devices. This includes providing principles, guidelines and resources in order to tackle the new challenges of data protection on global mobile networks. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and infoDev have created the ICT Regulation Toolkit to provide insight and best practices for policy-makers, government regulators and the telecommunication sector to implement telecom policies. There is a section directly focused on Data Protection and Privacy Laws. While these are steps forward, they are more generally focused on the over telecom industry. There needs to be a greater focus on the mhealth sector as it continues to grow.

Some organizations have included data privacy in mhealth projects. eMOCHA, developed by Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education, is a program for Android smartphones that stores and transmits data. Included in the program is security on both the endpoint device (the smartphone) and the servers. The servers that store the data are encrypted to protect against internal leaks. The smartphones also utilized encryption to send messages. They also are password protected in order to prevent data access if the phone is lost or stolen. Dimagi has also used technology to protect both internal and external leaks. This includes individual logon passwords and full data encryption on handsets and full server database encryption and auditing of who has logged into the database. It would be great to hear from other mhealth developers to see what they are doing to protect data. As is the case with the open dialogue of discussing best practices implementing and scaling programs in the mhealth community, it would be beneficial to the sector to share advice on data privacy.

MobileActive has been focusing on data security lately with the release of their SaferMobile website. It has helped to open the discussion and provides knowledge and advice to activists, human rights defenders and journalists to better protect their mobile privacy in their jobs. Those in the mhealth community should piggyback on their work. The discussion of data protection has been brought up before, but it is time to have it on the forefront of developers and implementers minds working on mhealth projects in developing countries. The goal is to understand all issues of data privacy (from the regulatory, technological and social aspects) and how we can make sure to always be aware of the patient’s right to privacy. It will be interesting area to continue to follow, and I hope this at least opens the door to a more in depth discussion on the topic.

March 28, 2012/by actualize

New news

Gambian ISP selects American 4G solution

Gambian internet service provider Netpage has selected American communications technology provider Airspan Networks to rollout their 4G network in Gambia.

American communications technology provider Airspan. (image: bikyamasr.com)

The network will operate on the 2.3 GHz frequency band, leveraging Airspan’s Air4G flagship macro base station. Air4G allows Netpage to offer customers high-level connectivity, unique features like MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) and advanced antenna techniques. Expansion plans are already in place for nationwide coverage. Despite the competition, Netpage remains one of the top five ISPs in Gambia.

“Gambia has been very fortunate to avoid much of the economic turmoil experienced by the rest of the world, this stability has enabled us to leverage the economic situation and help deliver faster and more dependable internet connectivity to our country,” Netpage CEO Simon Abraham stated.

Netpage is providing customers with various devices like small indoor, desktop, self-install units, as well as outdoor units to maximise range.

Mohamed Abdel Salam

March 28, 2012/by actualize

New news

Q&A: Nigerian Communications Commission’s Dr Bashir Gwandu

During the Innovation Africa Digital Summit in Ethiopia, IT News Africa had the opportunity to talk to Dr Bashir Gwandu, Nigeria’s Communications Commission’s Executive Commissioner. Gwandu discussed the future of mobile devices in Nigeria, content creation and the country’s recent efforts to free up spectrum.

Dr Bashir Gwandu, Nigeria’s Communications Commission’s Executive Commissioner (image: Charlie Fripp)

* Please elaborate on the need to free up spectrum in Nigeria?

What we realized is that we don’t have fiber on the ground; and that we don’t even have as much copper as we need. So we asked ourselves what infrastructure will allow for communication – and the only solution that we can have is wireless- and the most important resource to allow that communication is spectrum.

We have a growing requirement for data with a lot of content coming out of Nigeria. Going into the future, we will need a way of transmitting this content to the population and indeed other parts of the world. Now, if you don’t have fiber or copper underground, you have to have an alternative. If you go and ask for spectrum now, you won’t get it and we don’t have it. Every spectrum that is being identified by the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) becomes harmonised around the world, making it lucrative – because infrastructure will be developed for it. So what we went to the ITU for, is to prepare for the future. Its not just about content, but the ability to actually use your mobile as a partner- to purchase products at a shop instead of using a debit or credit card.
To prepare for the future, we have to create infrastructure that will make that kind of thing available and one of them is spectrum. There are technologies around, for example improving spectral efficiency is one way to improve data speed – but there is only so much you can do because you can have LTE but that is still not enough. The second alternative is to go back to erecting more towers, but that is more costly and there is an environmental impact- so clearly that is not the best option for us. The third alternative is co-location of towers, but you can only use that to a degree because not every tower can be co-located. So by far, the most important and effective way to improve the potential of being able to accommodate the higher data demand, is to free up some spectrum.

* It has been reported that Nigeria creates the second largest amount of content in the world? Where does this content come from?

That is what has been mentioned, I hope that is correct. We have many movies that we have created in Nigeria; I think that is where this is coming from. We have more movie content, and future content will also be movies, videos and so on. I can agree that we are maybe the second or third largest content creator, because of the number of movies that are coming out of Nigeria.

Which content should we be focusing on?

Other content like software and development, we are not at the level at which I want to see. I want to see us better in terms of producing software, in terms of the evolution of hardware – we are not there yet. But in terms of the content that people can buy on the internet, yes Nigerians are very good at it – probably the number one player in Africa. To prepare for all of this is difficult, because if you want to download a movie in Nigeria today, you will be very frustrated because there internet speed is poor. So that is where we are, and you have to look ahead and have the vision to prepare for the future- and that is why we went to ask for the extra bandwidth spectrum.

* Is Near-Field Communication an option for Nigeria in the future?

This is a combination of so many things – we have RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology in Nigeria, which has to be built into the product. In the shops, they have RFID stickers that give customers information about products such as expiry date and price. What we are hoping to see is that phones will be designed in such a way that they actually read RFID. If the shelves are automated, it can group all your purchases together outside the shop. But naturally it will need to have short-range communication like Bluetooth. In the proposal that we have tabled with the ITU (International Telecommunications Union), we have asked for spectrum for these other improvement services. And that will include Wi-Fi for SRD (short-range devices).

* What is the future of mobile devices and usage in Nigeria?

The future of the mobile industry, I think, as more people get connected and our lives become more digital, we will have more efficient services. We will continue to rely on mobile as part-and-parcel of our lives, and we’ll one day see cars talking to each other using spectrum. In time, RFID technology will be part of our lives in such a way that you will know the location of many different things. These things are coming; it is just a matter of time. There is a very bright future ahead, and our lives will be managed more efficiently. We are thinking ahead – as regulators in Nigeria we are really among the people who think ahead, so that we give our people the best chance at making efficient use of their time and resources.

Charlie Fripp – Online editor

March 28, 2012/by actualize

New news

6 Ghanian schools set for e-schooling

Six schools have benefitted from the first phase of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) e-school initiative in Ghana. This initiative aims to equip young people with the skills and knowledge they need to participate in the global economy.

Six schools in Ghana to receive e-schooling. (image: futurechallenges.org)

The selected schools were Wa Senior High School, Ola Girls Senior High School, Walewale Senior High School, Acherensua Senior High School, St Augustine’s Senior High School and Akomadan Senior High School.

According to a statement issued in Accra on Tuesday, Ghana will launch the next phase of NEPAD e-schools later this year.

A Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model was built into the e-school initiative to help tackle challenges and constraints in the NEPAD demonstration project. This is in a bid to improve on key lessons learnt from the first phase of the initiative and best practice worldwide.

A two-day Public-Private Dialogue Forum is scheduled to take place in Accra as part of the launch from March 26-27, and is expected to attract over 100 participants to discuss a new e-school PPP model.

Segun Adekoye

March 26, 2012/by actualize

New news

Virtual Centre Provides Access to Climate Change Knowledge

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in partnership with the Centre for Development Informatics (CDI) released a report entitled, Building the Evidence Base for Strategic Action on Climate Change: Mexico City’s Virtual Climate Change Centre. The report critiques the development and execution of Virtual Center for Climate Change in Mexico City (CVCCCM).

Mexico City has experienced heat waves, heavy rainfall, flooding, and reduced water availability due to severe droughts in its supply catchment basin. The city government has voiced strategic adaptive actions that should be taken including hydro-meteorological, micro-basin, epidemiological, energy, and waste monitoring.

When considering possible task forces, it was decided that the creation of a new research institution would create political frictions and draw staff away from existing institutions. Instead, a virtual center would allow researchers to contribute when convenient, acting upon issues such as climate change, water, air, ground resources, the health sector, public services, and land use planning management. Besides being a forum for researchers and policy-makers, the website has connected with society at large through ICT-based networks such as web-seminars, Youtube, and Twitter.

The Virtual Centre is deemed successful for various reasons, including its involvement of many stakeholders and centralization of accessible data. The report criticizes the need to use ICTs to create a broader dialogue outside of scientific institutions and policy-makers to build civil society, writing that “essentially the scientific community has focused on production and presentation of their results, but has not sought – whether via ICTs or other means – to engage others, or to engage with the formulation and implementation of the strategic actions which their work points to.” The report suggests customized ICTs to different sets of audiences, the addition of short briefings, interactive demonstrations, GIS/map-based graphics, audio and visual presentations will strengthen appeal.

March 26, 2012/by actualize

New news

A business model for delivering information to smallholder farmers: RUNetwork

Founder of RUNetwork, Marc Bernard (left) explaining the model

As the hype for integrating new information and communication technologies (ICTs) into agricultural value chain projects increases, one of the common questions that ICT4D analysts often try to answer is, who pays for the service – the poor farmer, the project, the government, or a donor agency?

Payment for information services to farmers is one of the components of a business model for deploying ICT solutions to rural agricultural communities. A business model, however, goes beyond just the cost of the service to the user, to the sources of funding of the service, avenues for income generation, the value of the service to the user, the potential to scale beyond pilot stage, and the capacity to sustain itself after the initial funds runs out. Business models are seen as systems that organizations use to create, deliver, and capture value.

The clip below describes how Rural Universe Network (RUNetwork) uses a voucher system to answer some of these important questions in its bid to bridge the gap between smallholder farming and scientific research.

As you watch, try to identify how RUNetwork creates value to the users of the service; how the system generates revenue for operation; who pays for the services being provided; how is the system being scaled; and how is the service sustained?

The model was successfully tested in 5 different countries and scaled up to 14 communities all over Uganda. It is presently introduced in another 15 African countries in a collaborative project between the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE Germany) with financial support from the African Development Bank (AfDB).

For more information on RUNetwork, visit here.

March 26, 2012/by actualize

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