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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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This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Bala Vasanth Murugan, Associate Directory – Deliver at Prodapt Solutions

The demand for broadband communication services has soared, with an increased focus on fiber internet connectivity. Major countries around the globe are aiming to deliver full-fiber broadband to millions of premises in the next 5-10 years. Also, the global pandemic has changed the way we work and live, and fiber networks have never been so vital in unlocking our digital futures. … [visit site to read more]

Google has announced the launch of a cloud region in South Africa, its first in the African continent. South Africa now joins Google’s network of 35 cloud regions and 106 zones worldwide.

Google is also said to be building what are called ‘Dedicated Cloud Interconnect’ sites on the continent. These sites, in Nairobi, Lagos, Cape Town and Johannesburg, will link users’ on-premises networks with Google’s grid. They will also be supported by links to Google’s Equiano subsea cable.

Google Cloud regions allow users to deploy cloud resources from specific geographic locations and access several services including cloud storage, compute engine and key management systems. 

Obviously the fact that, as Google Cloud Africa Director Niral Patel puts it, “The new region will allow for the localization of applications and services,” and that the new region and interconnect sites will take its cloud computing services closer to its clients are both very important. 

This move should also make it easier for Google to address the growing trend towards privacy and data laws that require companies to store their data within borders and process it through servers hosted locally.

While South Africa is the biggest market for cloud services on the continent, Google is said to be looking to launch in more markets within Africa, although, as more than one local media outlet points out, it’s not obvious why the company waited so long. Giants like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure made inroads into the continent a few years ago. In fact South Africa now houses four major cloud storage providers on the continent.

That said, Google last year announced a five-year, $1 billion plan to boost digital services across Africa and the company has made quite a few investments in local technology infrastructure and initiatives, including its first product development centre in Africa, which is in Nairobi. An AI and research centre opened in Ghana in 2019.

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