Author: Cyrus

In the report, TCRA puts the number of mobile phone subscribers in Tanzania at 19Million. “Mobile wireless is leading by 45 per cent, followed by fixed wireless. The Internet usage is now becoming a popular means of communication option next to voice telephone for many people in Tanzania,” reads part of the report. According to  TCRA , Tanzania has; 2,206,480 mobile wireless internet users, 1,514,580 users of fixed wireless 471,524 users of VSAT, 388,176 users of other broadband 269,536 cable internet users The TCRA report also indicates that out of 68 application services licencees only 46 (67%) were found…

Nigeria Newsdesk account tweeted that Nigeria Communication Commission had ordered the operators to shut down BlackBerry Messenger services to prevent the anti-fuel subsidy protesters coordinating their protests and sharing the news about the protest. Blogger Loy Okezie also reported the same on Techloy. Nigerian Telecom providers ordered to shut down Blackberry Messenger (BBM). #OccupyNigeria #FuelSubsidy — Nigeria Newsdesk (@NigeriaNewsdesk) January 3, 2012 When I sought comment from RIM officials in Africa, Waldi Wepener, Regional Director for West, East and Central Africa at RIM said, “We do not comment on rumor or speculation.” Nigeria Communication Commission reverses order to suspend Blackberry Services. #OccupyNigeria…

yuMobile has today announced the launch of a new service that enables subscribers to make calls paid for by the receiver. The service dubbed Pay4me-6565, allows yuMobile subscribers with low and even zero balances to request for the person they would like to call to pay for the phone call they are making. To enjoy the new service, subscribers have to dial 6565 in place of the zero at the beginning of the mobile number they are calling. The recipient will then receive a call requesting him or her to pay for the call, and lastly, after accepting, the call will be connected…

Nigeria based tech blogger, Loy Okezie, has just revealed that Nigeria’s web solutions developers, WebSoft, have unveiled a new Android powered tablet called Vantium V1. This brings to 3 the number of tablets coming from Nigeria which we can tell and around 5, the number of total tablets designed in Africa. When Africans cannot get tablets cheaply from USA, Europe and far East, we will make out own tablets and suit them to our environment. China is helping to this end by providing components like those that have made VMK, Encypher, Kaboo and Ovim popular. trying to get the iPad, Galaxy, TouchPad or…

Intellect Group is a rapidly expanding software development and value added services ( VAS ) firm. The Group is looking for a skilled software engineer to join their team: Qualifications A university degree in any technical field Technical Skills Compulsory Java: including Java EE, Spring, Java ME and Android Linux: knowing how to point and click your way around a Linux desktop does not count. You shall need guru-grade command line skills Web Development: a good grasp of CSS, HTML and Javascript. You should have significant experience with at least one modern Javascript toolkit / library ( eg JQuery or…

Safaricom has now started selling the rumoured Vodafone 555 aka Facebook phone. The device is available at all Safaricom retail outlets for Ksh 6,999. Though I thought I might never need a Facebook dedicated phone, this phone almost makes me change my mind. The phone is an Alcatel brand exclusive to Vodafone and its affiliates. The phone does not have 3G which I find a plus and not a minus because with 3G, I would turn into a Facebook zombie with this phone. The phone will prompt you to login to your Facebook account the moment you switch on the…

Orange has announced that its Orange Money service is now serving up to 3 million customers in the eight African. The company has also announced in a release that Orange Money has tripled its customer base in the past one year. The service recently launched in Botswana in partnership with the Standard Chartered Bank, and in Cameroon in partnership with the BICEC (BPCE group). Orange Money allows its customers to open an Orange Money account whether or not they have a bank account. It also allows customers to carry out simple banking operations and transactions in total security. The three…

2011 is gone and 2012 is here. We need to look back, not with regrets, but learn from the negative and positive experiences as we initiate and involve ourselves in challenges coming with the new year. As a techie, you are not suppose to be sitting and waiting for others to initiate new ideas while you chorus on the sidelines. You must have what you drive whether you are employed in a traditional company setting or simply self employed. If your ideas are big enough to blow the roof and commotion at your employers premises, look for a yard and…

By Robert Alai So NTV interviewed former Electoral Commission of Kenya Chairman, Samuel Kivuitu. Kivuitu was the in-charge of Kenya’s elections in  2007. His premature and disputed announcement of the winner in a dark room somewhere with only state broadcaster, KBC, present sparked more fears of rigging. His actions after that did not help with Martha Karua having sneaked him to State House to go and Present Kibaki with a certificate as the eventual winner of the 2007 elections. At the almost late night swearing in of Kibaki where even the President had a slip of tongue to say that he…

Safaricom is reportedly bringing into the country a better version of the 3G Webbox device according to very reliable source. The plug-n-play keyboard which turns every TV into a web enabled device is set to arrive in Kenya soon as the mobile operator betters its portfolio of devices for data access. Kenya has high TV penetration and low internet, a perfect market for such a device. The previous version of the device which could only run on EDGE networks was not that great but provided Safaricom with great lesson on the readiness of the Kenyan market for such an offering.…

We told you that we spotted the Samsung’s tablet-phone, Galaxy Note in October in South Africa. We just realised that for the last two weeks, the device has been selling at FoneXpress shops for Ksh 69,999. The device which has been released in Asia, Europe and selected Africa market has a 5.3″ display, measuring 146.85 x 82.95 x 9.65mm and weighing just 178g. The device looks like a large galaxy S2 with a 2MP front facing camera and 8MP rear camera. The screen is Super AMOLED and the device comes with stylus referred to as “S-Pen”. It runs on a 1.4Ghz…

We are just a day or two away from 2012, depending on where you are. It has generally been a great year at Techmtaa as we have grown from that small blog where I occasionally posted rants to a source of breaking and trending news as well as trusted reviews blog. We have covered most of the news from Kenya just by the fact that we are located in Nairobi and so we have bias for Kenyan news. Below are some of the posts which made great impact the whole year. Safaricom Launches Webbox, Conencting Every TV to the Internet Safaricom launched…

It was such a surprising news both for me and the eventual readers. We got wind of what was happening in Kakamega while visiting the Western Kenya town. I decided to get the evidence with the help of locals. In the end, I had more than 300 photos of locals together with even policemen in full uniform having sex in the open. When we did post the pictures and the story on Walalahoi, the whole country responded in furor and we even got politicians issuing threats. Others accused us of being out to soil the name of the government. But…

Michael Joseph was formerly the CEO of Safaricom and later the Chairman of Kenya Tourist Board before being hired by World Bank to drive the implementation of mobile payment in emerging economies. Michael Joseph has recently been appointed the director of mobile payments at Vodafone. Michael Joseph is now charged with driving M-Pesa adoption in India as well as Vodafone markets in Africa like Ghana, Egypt and Mozambique. M-Pesa’s largest clientele is in Kenya where there are over 15 million users and around 34,600 agents. Tanzania has 2 million M-Pesa users with South Africa and Afghanistan lagging behind in adoption.…

Those who have been trying to access the KNEC exam link have not been able to go through since when the exam results were officially announced. Both the website and the premium SMS service, 5052, cannot handle the volume of queries so they have either been returning errors or simply going blank. Meanwhile, KCPE trended worldwide as the results were being announced as witnessed in the image above. You can learn how to access KCPE results through this link