Author: Francis Muli

LG mobile phone users can breathe easy after the company announced that it would continue to provide operating system updates for three years. The electronics company this week announced its exit from the smartphone business. “All premium LG smartphones currently in use will receive up to three iterations of Android operating system updates from the year of purchase,” the company said in a statement released early Thursday. “The three OS update guarantee applies to LG premium phones released in 2019 and later (G series, V series, VELVET, Wing) while certain 2020 models such as LG Stylo and K series will…

Telkom’s Digital Service Delivery Managing Director Kris Senanu and Consumer Service Delivery Unit Managing Director have opted out of the company’s latest shift. Telkom CEO Mugo Kibati confirmed the exit of the two senior employees, saying the company was already addressing continuity plans in the two units that have are soon to fall vacant. “Steve Okeyo leaves after two years having provided the requisite leadership and ensuring that the processes and systems needed for the next phase of growth in the Consumer Unit are in place.” Kibati said in a statement. Read: Number Of Telkom, Airtel Internet Subscriptions Decline Over…

Sitoyo Lopokoiyit is the new Managing Director for Safaricom’s M-pesa Africa. According to an announcement of the appointment made on Wednesday, he will assume the new position immediately. Lopokoiyit served as the company’s immediate former Chief Financial Officer. He joined Safaricom in 2011 as the head of M-pesa strategy and business development  before moving to Tazania where he served as  director of M- Commerce in Vodacom. The position equipped him with experience in the mobile money sector. “Prior to Safaricom, Sitoyo worked at Total Kenya as diversification manager and later as the head of Total Solar business,” read part of…

The ministry of health on Wednesday confirmed 1,523 new Covid-19 infections from a sample size of 7,423. The total number of cases has as a result risen to 141,365. The positivity rate is currently at 20.5%. The number of fatalities hit 2,276 after 18 more patients succumbed to the virus. On the other hand, 616 others were discharged bringing the total to 97,194. 522 were from the home-based care programme, while 94 were discharged from various health facilities. 1,591 patients are currently admitted in various hospitals across the country. Another, 6,112 patients are on the home-based care programme. Read: LSK Challenges…

M-PESA Foundation in collaboration with the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) has officially commissioned the Impact Philanthropy Africa Forum which aims to bring together self-funded corporate charitable foundations. The forum was launched during a virtual workshop themed Building Back Better: Growing Corporate Social Investment (CSI) in Kenya. The forum provides a platform for Impact Philanthropy Africa members, key thought leaders across policy, research, funding and government to share their perspective on the state of the sector and emerging opportunities to scale corporate giving for social impact in Kenya. Read: Google, Gates Foundation Develop Digital Finance Platform, Mojaloop For Developing Countries According to…

Uber is expanding its taxi hailing and food delivery business to Nakuru. Uber is looking to get a slice of the market share as the region is currently dominated by Bolt, Little Cab and Wasili cabs. “We remain optimistic about the business opportunity in Kenya, and the launch of Nakuru shows our commitment to the region,” said Brian Njao, Uber Head for East Africa. “With the Covid-19 pandemic, we are committed to helping people take essential trips safely, while providing more avenues for economic opportunities for Kenyans.” Read: Uber Launches Digital Wallet in African Countries Jumia Eats has already partnered…

Whatsapp is working on a feature that will allow users transfer their chats from iOS to Android and vice versa. The messaging app had earlier announced plans to allow users access their accounts on multiple devices. This feature will reportedly allow users access to Whatsapp web on their devices even without an internet connection. According to WABetaInfo, the development of this feature will probably take a long time, given that a lot of things have to be tweaked to enhance compatibility. Read: WhatsApp Rolls Out Face, Fingerprint Authentication for WhatsApp Web Currently, a number of apps including Whatsapp GB or…

Signal is developing a peer-to-peer payments system in the beta version of its app. The feature, called signal payments, currently supports cryptocurrency under the MobileCoin wallet. The new development might be due to Signal CEO’s Moxie Marlinspike’s close relationship with MobileCoin. “The first payments protocol we’ve added support for is a privacy focused payments network called MobileCoin, which has its own currency, MOB,” Signal’s Jun Harada said in a blog post. Read: WhatsApp’s Latest Data Sharing Policy Update Prompting Users To Join Competitor, “Signal” “As always, our goal is to keep your data in your hands rather than ours; MobileCoin’s design…

Yahoo Answers, one of the longest post threads filled with terrible answers is coming to an end on the 4th of May. “While Yahoo Answers was once a key part of Yahoo’s products and services, it has become less popular over the years as the needs of our members have changed.” The company announced in a post. “While we could not have been prouder of what we accomplished together, we are reaching out today to let you know that we have decided to shut down Yahoo Answers on May 4th, 2021” The platform, which has been operational since 2005 will…

Airtel Kenya has upgraded about 600 sites with 5G mobile internet as it prepares to battle it out with Safaricom for a share of Kenya’s fast growing internet market. “These 600 sites are now 5G-ready. We don’t have to make any further modifications to the network. We will just get the spectrum and decide when to switch on,” Airtel Kenya managing director Prasanta Das Sarma told the Business Daily in an interview. The Managing Director however said the switch is expected to take place in about two or three years when the price of 5G handsets drops. Read: Safaricom Launches…

Kenyans are now sending less SMSs compared to making phone calls and using mobile data.  Data from the Communications Authority shows that the number of SMSs sent fell by 16.5 percent to 14.2 billion in the three months to December 2020. Safaricom posted the highest margins with subscribers sending 18 percent less SMSs from 15.99 billion in September to 13.07 billion in December. CA attributed the drop to Safaricom’s offering on mobile data and voice calls. More users also opted for Whatsapp’s voice-based calls amid the Covid-19 pandemic that caused financial difficulties. Read: Safaricom Offers Subscribers Free Access To Digital…

Personal data belonging to at least 500 million Facebook users re-emerged online over the weekend. According to Business Insider, The information is available for for free on a hacking forum. Anyone with basic data skills can easily access the information. The data available from the 533 million Facebook users include phone numbers, Facebook user names, Full names, birthdays, location and for some, email addresses. Facebook responded to the news, saying the data was from a 2019 leak. Read: Facebook Denies Granting Tech Companies Access to Data Without User Permission “This is old data that was previously reported on in 2019,”…

LG has officially announced the closure of its mobile phone division. The company had earlier in the year hinted at plans to pull the plug on its smartphone business. “LG has recently made the difficult decision to close its mobile business to focus on other businesses that will provide new experiences and value for the consumers.” the company said in a notice on its website. Last month, LG sent out an internal memo to staff, saying it was considering shutting down the mobile phone division after failing to secure a sales deal. The company had been in talks with two…

Microsoft has introduced a virtual solution for people working from home. The Viva employee experience platform helps to create a more accessible, discoverable workplace by allowing companies to integrate their existing systems and tools with fresh features. The system, which was developed by Microsoft365 and Teams was first tested with employees. “We have participated in the largest at-scale remote work experiment the world has seen, and it has had a dramatic impact on the employee experience,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement. “Viva brings together everything an employee needs to be successful, from day one, in a single,…

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has filed a petition at the high court in Kakamega seeking to reverse the election of Amani National Congress’s Peter Nabulindo. The ODM candidate David Were is seeking to challenge Nabulindo’s victory, citing corruption and illegal practices during the voting process. “I pray that it will be declared that Nabulindo was not validly elected as MP. That the non-compliance, irregularities and improprieties in the by-election were substantial and significant to affect the results thereof,” he said. Read: ODM To Field Candidate In Matungu By-Election Were further wants Nabulindo, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC),…