Cloud-native banking platform 10x Banking has announced a strategic partnership with HassemPrag, a leading African digital banking and orchestration platform, targeting African banks.

The partnership will combine 10x Banking’s core banking platform with HassemPrag’s integration capabilities and regional expertise to deliver a unified, complete banking solution to replace legacy core banking technology.

This, the partners say, will enable African banks to modernise without risk, and increase the speed and scalability with which they can bring new products to market.

10x Banking explains that banks across the African continent are facing a combination of pressures, with evolving local regulations, rising fintech competition, and spiralling costs of maintaining legacy technology. Core infrastructure investments are rising across the region.

10x and HassemPrag claim that their proposition helps address these issues by delivering cloud-native infrastructure that enables the deployment of new products in months with lower operational overheads.

Jayesh Prag, CEO at HassemPrag, explins: “Banks need a de-risked path to transformation, and a partner that truly understands the market they operate in. Together with 10x, we’re going to offer that. In turn, African banks will now be able to slash the time to market for new products that improve how individuals and businesses across this high-growth region manage their money.”

10x Banking’s cloud-native core banking technology is proven by trusted financial institutions, like Old Mutual and Chase UK, to deliver at speed and massive scale. By combining this with HassemPrag’s deep regional expertise, excellence in integration, and flexible banking offering, says 10x, financial institutions across Africa will benefit from real-time processing to support instant payments and dynamic customer engagement.

The unified digital banking platform will feature a modular architecture, allowing banks to upgrade incrementally, without a risky ‘rip-and-replace’ of their existing core, taking out the uncertainty that comes with traditional core banking transformations.

With access to this technology, say 10x and HassemPrag, more banks can launch new digital services in weeks rather than years, reduce complexity, and unlock a wave of growth.

Telkom Indonesia is reportedly considering the sale of a significant stake in its data centre arm NeutraDC, in a move that could raise around US$1.5 billion.

According to Bloomberg, the operator has appointed financial advisers and is in the early stages of discussions with potential buyers. The potential divestment comes amid surging demand for AI-driven computing, which has driven up the value of data centre capacity and related infrastructure.

NeutraDC operates 34 data centres across Indonesia and Singapore. The company has previously said it is building two additional hyperscale facilities, adding to an existing hyperscale site in Jakarta, as it seeks to capitalise on growing demand for cloud and AI workloads.

The possible stake sale would mark Telkom Indonesia’s latest portfolio reshuffle. In October last year, the operator divested its wholesale fibre connectivity unit, Telekom Infrastruktur Indonesia, for IDR35.8 billion (US$2.1 billion), as it continues to optimise assets and unlock value from its infrastructure business.

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The breach, which was reported earlier this month, jeopardised the data of 6.2 million customers

On Thursday, Dutch mobile operator Odido notified customers that the company had been hacked and their personal data may have been leaked.

The incident, which took place earlier in the month, saw data from 6.2 million customers compromised, according to an Odido spokesperson.

Both Odido’s direct customers and those of its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Ben NL were affected.

Customers’ names, addresses, phone numbers, and bank account numbers were among the data points leaked.

Odido emphasised that no passwords, call records, or billing data had been accessed, but urged customers to be vigilant about suspicious calls and texts.

In a statement, the operator said that an investigation into the incident was ongoing and it had reported the breach to the Dutch Data Protection Authority.

“The unauthorised access to the system was ended as quickly as possible,” said the Odido statement. “In addition, Odido has brought in cybersecurity experts to implement additional security measures in response to this incident.”

While Odido did not explicitly explain how the hackers had gained access to their systems, reporting from Dutch public broadcaster NOS suggests it may have been a case of social engineering.

According to anonymous sources speaking to the news agency, the hackers gained access to Odido’s systems by attempting to log into the accounts of customer service representatives that had fallen for phishing emails. The hackers then contacted these employees by phone, posing as Odido’s IT department, and manipulated them into approving a fraudulent login attempt.

The report suggests that the staff targeted may have been external call centre workers based outside the Netherlands.

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The participating companies pledge to follow the same standards of transparency, security, and data protection

Fifteen international tech giants have joined forces to launch the Trusted Tech Alliance, an initiative aimed at promoting transparency and trust across the tech sector.

The founding members – which includes the likes of Anthropic, Google, and Ericsson – are pledging to adhere to a set of shared principles to help foster a more open and reliable tech industry.

The initiative’s five founding principles, according to its website, are as follows:

• Transparent Corporate Governance and Ethical Conduct
• Operational Transparency, Secure Development, and Independent Assessment
• Robust Supply Chain and Security Oversight
• Open, Cooperative, Inclusive, and Resilient Digital Ecosystem
• Respect for the Rule of Law and Data Protection

These principles, the members say, will help ease cross-border collaboration at a time when geopolitical tensions are eroding international trust.

Tech companies are under increasing scrutiny over their origin and political independence, while governments are increasingly pushing for technological self-sufficiency and digital sovereignty.

“This is a period of time when many governments and countries are feeling pressure to create stronger technology borders, to focus more on their own digital sovereignty,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith in an interview with Reuters. “Our companies are working together to set this high standard to really make clear what the definition of trust is.”

The members will self-assess their compliance with these ‘high standards’, though Smith notes that provisions are also included for independent assessment.

The other founding members are Amazon Web Services, Cassava Technologies, Cohere, Hanwha, Jio Platforms, Microsoft, Nokia, Nscale, NTT, Rapidus, Saab, and SAP.

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Amazon’s satellite connectivity arm Leo has launched its largest payload to date, expanding its low-Earth orbit (LEO) constellation to 200 satellites as it ramps up competition with SpaceX’s Starlink.

In a statement, Amazon said Leo – formerly known as Project Kuiper – completed its first heavy-lift mission, defined as payloads exceeding 20,000kg, aboard Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket on February 12. The launch took place at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Satellite deployment began around 90 minutes into the mission, with them being released sequentially over a 25-minute window.

Arianespace CEO David Cavaillolès said the mission marks the start of a planned series of 18 launches to strengthen Leo’s constellation. The first mission has been designated Leo Europe 01 (LE-01).

Rajeev Badyal, Vice President of Amazon Leo, described the launch as the company’s first of 2026 and its inaugural mission with Arianespace under an 18-launch agreement. He added that the use of heavy-lift vehicles will allow more satellites to be deployed per mission, accelerating the rollout of services to customers.

Russia’s government has blocked access to WhatsApp.

As reported by BBC News, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that the decision was taken « due to [WhatsApp owner Meta’s] unwillingness to comply with the norms and the letter of Russian law ». Peskov added that the ban could be lifted if Meta complied with the law and engaged with Russia’s government.

Meta criticised the ban as a government bid to “isolate over 100 million users from private and secure communication” by pushing them towards the state-owned messaging app Max, which it described as a “surveillance app” since it lacks end-to-end encryption. Meta argued that adopting Max would be a step backwards for users in terms of security.

Russian regulator Roskomnadzor this week also stated that it will further restrict access to the encrypted messaging app Telegram due to security concerns. The app is used widely in Russia, particularly by the country’s military forces, and the restrictions have been met with criticism by proponents of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, arguing that it has restricted communications on the ground.

Russia’s government has attempted to justify its actions on legal grounds, arguing that WhatsApp and Telegram have failed to comply with Russian law by refusing to store domestic user data locally. It has also denied suggestions that Max could be used for surveillance, with Peskov describing it as simply an “available alternative” for WhatsApp’s 100 million Russian users.

The Max platform is part of Russia’s efforts to create a domestic alternative internet, which were already underway prior to the country’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The state-backed platform is being heavily pushed within Russia through media, advertising, and government endorsements. Last year, Russian authorities ordered that all devices sold in the country should have Max pre-installed, and the BBC reports that public sector workers including teachers are increasingly obliged to use the app for their work.

Earlier this year, Russia’s state-run news agency Tass reported that WhatsApp faced a permanent ban in the market before the end of 2026. In 2022, parent firm Meta was designated an “extremist” organisation by Russian authorities, and its services Facebook and Instagram have since been removed from the country’s list of functional domain names, meaning they cannot be accessed in the market without a VPN (virtual private network).

Could the olive-growing industry be of benefit to data centre development? That’s a question that a new biomass-powered data centre planned in Croatia may be able to answer.

Croatian engineering solutions firm Inovapro says it is planning to develop a green AI data centre in Čaporice near Trilj, some 48 kilometres) northeast of Split, the coastal city that is the second largest in Croatia after the capital Zagreb.

The US$23.8 million project will total around 3MW. Construction work will begin soon and is due to be completed in the first half of 2027.

However, that alone isn’t what makes this facility newsworthy. After all the country has some 16 facilities from 13 operators, according to the Data Center Map website.

This facility, however, will be located at an energy park that will generate biomass power from waste from the olive industry, as well as waste from the tourist and hospitality industries.

As the Data Centre Dynamics news service explains, the agro-energy park in Čaporice would use waste material from olive growing. This is pomace, the pulpy residue remaining after fruit has been crushed in order to extract its juice. Most of the olive fruit is wasted after oil production and can be difficult to deal with due to acidity and toxicity.

There’s even a circular element to this, as heat from the data centre would be re-used by the energy park to dry out much of the olive pomace. Designed for a capacity of 12,900 tons of bio-waste per year, the plant is being built on a five-hectare site.

The news service Bioenergy Insight says that Inovapro, which specialises in rooftop solar systems, HVAC installations and other energy-related projects, is seeking co-financing from European Union funds to support the development.

It adds that the project reflects a broader trend of repurposing agricultural waste to meet the substantial energy demands of data centres, which require significant cooling and power infrastructure.

(Image credit: Amazon)

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The approvals bring Amazon’s planned constellation to 7,700 satellites

This week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given Amazon Leo the green light to launch a second tranche of low Earth orbit (LEO) communications satellites.

The approval will allow the company to launch 4,504 additional satellites, bringing the burgeoning constellation’s full complement to 7,727 devices.

Of the newly approved satellites, 3,212 are the more advanced Gen 2 satellites, while 1,292 are Gen 1 satellites aimed at expanding coverage to polar regions, including the northernmost parts of North America and Europe.

Under the approval, Amazon Leo must launch half of the approved satellites by February 10, 2032, and the remaining half by February 10, 2035.

Amazon Leo (previously known as Amazon’s Project Kuiper) has been in development since 2019, aiming to challenge meteoric rise of SpaceX’s Starlink.

Starlink already has around 9,000 satellites in orbit, and recently secured approval to increase this number to 15,000.

As such, Amazon Leo has a lot of catching up to do – a fact made more daunting by its slow deployment rate since it began launching satellites in April last year.

Amazon’s initial FCC clearance required the company to launch half of its 3,232 Gen 1 satellites by July 30, 2026; however, last month the company filed a request for an extension, citing launch vehicle limitations. Amazon is asking that the deadline be extended to July 2028 or even waived entirely.

Amazon Leo has currently launched just 180 of the 1,616 satellites required. (Thirty-two additional satellites are set to be sent into orbit later today, delivered by Arianespace’s latest Ariane 6 launch vehicle.)

Despite this, the company still reportedly aims to begin providing commercial services later this year.

In related news, this week maritime connectivity reseller MTN has announced it will be the first to offer the sector access to Amazon Leo.

According to MTN’s website, the company’s existing partnership with Starlink is ‘the core of [the company’s] strategy’, but it also notes other satellite partners including OneWeb an GEO (geostationary) satellite operators.

“But Starlink is only part of the solution. MTN combines LEO networks like Starlink and OneWeb with GEO satellites, wireless, and near-shore RF to deliver a hybrid model that consistently outperforms legacy connectivity.”

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