Three expansion projects on three continents worth keeping up with: … [visit site to read more]

The deadline for complying with the Indian government’s controversial new cybersecurity directives is likely to be extended, according to Indian media – though only for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In)’s guidelines originally appeared in late April. They required all companies, intermediaries, data centres and government organisations to report any data breach to the government within six hours of becoming aware of it.

However, they also mandated virtual private network (VPN) service providers to maintain all the information they had gathered for five years and hand it over to the government as and when required. SMEs and MSMEs have to hold on to the data for three years.

As we have reported, citing security and privacy concerns, some VPN service providers such as ExpressVPN, Surfshark, and NordVPN have announced plans to stop offering their services in India.

The Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar told India’s Economic Times: “We will not make SMEs or MSMEs bear the burden of this additional compliance until they are ready.” However, the ministry itself seems not to have been ready for the disruption the new ruling might cause. 

In fact this is the second extension in the compliance deadline for SMEs and MSMEs by the ministry. There was an extension in late June to September 25, after representations from SMEs, MSMEs, data centres, VPS, VPN, and cloud service providers that they needed more time to “build capacity”.

It seems, however, that some SMEs and MSMEs still lack the cost-effective human resources needed to comply with the cybersecurity rules. And of course maintaining data will add to their operational costs.

ESnet has launched the latest iteration of its next-generation network backbone. ESnet6 is the U.S. Department of Energy’s research & development network and is headquartered at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It connects up all the national laboratories, supercomputing centers, researches, and instruments, enabling the processing and sharing of massive data sets. … [visit site to read more]

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A bit of M&A, some R&D, and a couple of interesting technology deployments: … [visit site to read more]

Nigeria’s Globacom has joined the rush to open payment service banks (PSBs) with the launch of its MoneyMaster PSB offering. MoneyMaster was granted a payment service bank licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2020.

MoneyMaster PSB will, like other PSBs, and working in line with CBN regulations, facilitate payment and remittance services within Nigeria, accept deposits from individuals and small businesses, issue debit and prepaid cards, operate electronic wallets and inbound remittances and carry out other services.

To open an account, all the customer needs to do is dial a code and then follow the prompts from any telecommunications network; MoneyMaster PSB is network-agnostic. However, the operator says it will leverage Globacom’s nationwide coverage and many agents in rural and urban areas for its rollout.

As for product branding, the main solution is called G-Kala, which turns a phone into a wallet (the customer’s phone number will be used as his or her account number). With G-Kala a user can receive cash from any mobile app and move money to other accounts.

According to the Nairametrics website, Globacom has said it will be engaging over 100,000 agents and deploying kiosks across the country. Moneymaster will, says the operator, be leveraging mobile phones, PoS, and the web to provide financial services to millions of Nigerians who may otherwise be excluded from the financial system.

Local media outlets point out that Moneymaster’s launch completes the entry of all mobile network operators in Nigeria into the financial services business through services like 9Mobile’s 9PSB, MTN’s MoMo and Airtel’s Smartcash. Another service, Hope Payment Service Bank Limited (Hope PSBank) is described as Nigeria’s premier digital-first bank.

Globacom has said that close to 50% of Nigerians do not have access to a banking service and 82% of Nigerians are currently receiving their income in cash. It has added that its PSB is geared towards the 95% financial inclusion target by 2024 set by the CBN.

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