NITDA rejigs, ready to fulfil mandate – DG

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has hinted that the Agency will now focus on its core Mandates, in a renewed move to serve the ICT industry and the economy better.
NITDA established in May 2001 has been a waltzing story of failures and inadequacies, unable to meet its clear mandate of fostering the development and growth of IT in Nigeria.
But Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, director general of the agency said all that is about to change because NITDA was not established as a mere ‘contract’ awarding agency. ‎
He stated this at a meeting ‎with heads of parastatsls under NITDA, CEOs, presidents of Associations and other stakeholders in the ICT industry, ‎ ‎at eNigeria conference and exhibitions 2016.
“We need collaborations to reform NITDA and make it more productive. First, I am reiterating that I am not in NITDA to award contracts. If we must, such contract must take us closet to implementing our core mandates; it has to lift the nation from economic quagmire. I have spent few months into my appointment

Gov. Ahmed to build N500m Computer Village in Ilorin

The Kwara State Government commitment’s to the expansion of employment opportunities and entrepreneur development has received a boost with the groundbreaking of Harmony Hub (Computer Village) in Ilorin, the state capital, by Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed.
Speaking at the groundbreaking, Governor Ahmed said the Computer Village would directly employ about 600 youths when fully operational.
This will be apart from the hundreds of indirect jobs that would be created in the process of its construction.
The Governor noted that the Computer Village, which is estimated to cost N500 million, would be funded through contractor financing as well as pre-sales or off-taker arrangements.
He noted that Information Communication Technology has huge potential of employment generation and empowerment.
“Nigeria’s ICT sector is reputed as the largest in Africa with $18 billion investments and 28 per cent internet penetration as of 2013,” the governor said.
Governor Ahmed promised that his government would continue to work with the network of investors and

NCC receives 4,304 complaints on unsolicited telemarketing in 9 months

The Nigerian Communications Commission received a total of 4,304 complaints concerning unsolicited telemarketing, both voice and text, within nine months, Ayoola Oke, the Chief Executive Officer of ICT Derivatives Ltd, has said.
Oke made this known at the 4th Quarter Meeting/Open Forum of the Industry Consumer Advisory Forum (ICAF) on Thursday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the theme of the forum is: “Do-Not-Disturb: Panacea To Unsolicited Messages”.
He said that the complaints were received from telecommunications consumers through ‘Walk-in, Outreach Events, Letters, Emails, Consumer Web Portal and the Call Centre (622).
According to him, in the first quarter of 2016, the regulatory body received a total of 2,325 complaints on unwanted and disturbing telemarketing.
He said that of the 2,325 complaints, 13 were through walk-in to NCC’s centre, outreach events and letters from telecommunications subscribers, 28 were through emails and CWP, while 2,284 were received through

Minister urges OPS to provide support for informal sector

The Minister for Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, has identified non-availability of resources and poor marketing skills as the major ills militating against the Nigerian Informal sector growth, urging the Organised Private Sector (OPS) to provide advertising support for the industry.
The informal sector is a sector, which encompasses all jobs which are not recognised as normal income sources, and on which taxes are not paid. It sets the foundation for promoting the evolution of large firms that ultimately dominate the formal sector.
The Minister, while addressing participants during the KPMG Chief Finance Officer (CFO) of companies’ forum held in Lagos on Tuesday, stressed the need to stimulate the sector for growth, noting that the sector plays a very important role in the development of the economies of nation.
He lamented that limited access to capital and lack of skills are major constraints for operators working in the informal sector.
He explained that operators in the sector should be provided with the needed finance and advertising support to grow their businesses to enable the economy achieve the required production potentials.

mCash will help realise government’s cashlite policy – Globacom

Next generation telecoms company, Globacom, has thrown its weight behind the new value payment solution, mCash, recently launched by the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System in collaboration with financial institutions and telecoms operators in the country.
The innovation is aimed at making e-payment easily accessible to peasants, petty-traders, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and other low income earners who carry out their transactions in cash through the services of telecoms operators.
The company said that its advanced network is well positioned to accommodate the new payment system.
Esaie Diei, Globacom’s Head, Mobile Money Financial Business, praised the initiative and commended the NIBSS for a solution that is geared towards the cashless policy and financial inclusion drive of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Security firm Optiv files for IPO, seeks to raise $100 million

Cybersecurity company Optiv Security, majority owned by Blackstone Group, filed with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering of its common stock on Friday.
The company set a nominal fundraising target of $100 million in its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The filing showed that both Optiv and its shareholders were offering shares in the IPO, but did not disclose the number of shares being sold or their expected price.
Optiv was created when cyber security companies Accuvant and FishNet Security merged in 2015. Blackstone made a majority investment in Accuvant in 2014.
On a pro forma basis, the company posted a loss of $5.7 million on revenue of $643.8 million in the nine

Automobile technicians decry multiple taxations, embark on warning strike in Niger

The Niger State chapter of the Nigeria Automobile Technicians Association, on Friday embarked on a two-day warning strike in protest against alleged multiple taxation on its members by the state government.
According to its Chairman, Ayuba A-Oluobor, the taxes imposed on the technicians “have become simply unbearable”.
A-Oluobor told the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Minna that the levies were “so many and heavy”, making it impossible for members to break even.
“We pay for business premises, development levy, Local Government levy, sanitation levy and now registration and certification levy,” he fumed.
He explained that the association was not against the payment of taxes, but that members were paying more than the money accruing to them from their trade.
The association’s chairman said that the levy in contention, registration and certification of business, was recently imposed on the association by the Vehicle Inspection Office of the Ministry of Works.

ICT contributes 12.6% to GDP in second quarter – Shittu

As at the end of the second quarter, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector increased its contribution to the country’s nominal GDP by 0.37 per cent, moving from 12.25 per cent in first quarter to 12.62 per cent.
The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, who disclosed at the ISACA Abuja’s eighth yearly international conference, said the Federal Government was redoubling efforts to increase ICT’s contribution to the country’s GDP, “as we consider it to be a veritable alternative to the oil sector whose contributions have dwindled over the past year.”
At the conference, which discussed cyber security, technology optimisation and national development, Shittu said without any equivocation, virtually all developmental moves in the world involve the application of ICT, but added that the challenge remains the security implications.
According to the minister, in his keynote address, the traditional banking was essentially

Samsung to recall 2.8 million washing machines in US

Samsung is recalling 2.8 million washing machines with a potential for a dangerous detachment of its top lid, the South Korean company and US safety officials announced Friday.
The recall delivers a new blow to the electronics giant, which has scrapped production of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphones due to risks of overheating batteries that can catch fire.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement the Samsung washing machine top “can unexpectedly detach from the washing machine chassis during use, posing a risk of injury from impact.”
Samsung received 733 reports of problems with the machines. Nine of those incidents involved injury, including a broken jaw and injured shoulder.
Samsung said in a statement the recall affects models manufactured since 2011 due to “reports highlighting the risk that the drums in these washers may lose balance, triggering excessive vibrations, resulting in the top separating from the washer.”
John Herrington, senior vice president of Samsung Electronics America, said, “We are moving

Microsoft says Russia-linked hackers exploiting Windows flaw

Microsoft said on Tuesday that a hacking group previously linked to the Russian government and U.S. political hacks is behind recent cyber attacks that exploit a newly discovered flaw in its Windows operating system.
Microsoft said that a patch to defend Windows users against this sort of attack will be released on Nov. 8.
The software maker said in an advisory on its website there had been a small number of attacks using “spear phishing” emails from a hacking group known Strontium, which is more widely known as “Fancy Bear” or APT 28.
Microsoft did not identify any victims of the attacks.
A U.S. intelligence expert on Russian cyber activity said that Fancy Bear primarily works for or on behalf of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency, which U.S. intelligence officials have

Salesforce’s Marc Benioff addresses failed efforts to buy Twitter and LinkedIn

Marc Benioff is chairman and CEO of salesforce.com. He founded the company in 1999 with a vision to create an on-demand information management service that would replace traditional enterprise software technology. Benioff is regarded as the leader of what he has termed "The End of Software," the now-proven belief that multi-tenant, cloud computing applications democratize information by delivering immediate benefits at reduced risks and costs.

Salesforce.com Inc Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff spoke on Wednesday about a pair of key acquisitions that got away, suggesting his vision for LinkedIn Corp (was different from Microsoft Corp’s and that he would have pursued Twitter Inc if shareholders had not learned of his plans.
Speaking at a technology conference hosted by the Wall Street Journal in Laguna Beach, California, Benioff declined to elaborate on what he had hoped to do with micro-blogging site Twitter.
Twitter hired bankers earlier in October to explore selling itself. Technology and media companies including Salesforce.com, Walt Disney Co and Alphabet Inc’s Google looked at the company but passed on buying it.
Some regarded Twitter as an unlikely fit for Salesforce.com, whose platform is popular among sales teams. Benioff said he was forced to drop the deal when investors began voicing concerns.

Zuckerberg, Ambode and the emerging IT revolution in Lagos

Both are young, articulate, dynamic and share a similar passion for quality education delivery. Both are also driven by futuristic ideas with a global vision. Incidentally too, both are information-savvy philanthropists and providers of veritable platforms for the youths to freely express their views. But while one is a Jewish-American, the other is Omo Naija gon-goni, as we describe true-born Nigerians in Pidgin English parlance. Yet, there is still more to their point of convergence than people may readily admit. But who really are we talking about here?
The first of course, is Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook .
His name certainly rings a loud and crisp-clear note in the vast firmament of our knowledge- economy that drives several global thoughts and processes, virtually on daily basis. He, along with his friends, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin, by their sheer creative ingenuity came up with the site which allows users to create their own profiles, upload photos and communicate with other users. That was in 2004. By the end of that year it had reached 1 million users. But it has since grown to more than 250 million people, over the past 12 years, making Zuckerberg a billionaire.

Hackers cripple US internet in wide-scale cyber attack

Several of the world’s best-known websites were inaccessible across parts of the United States on Friday after hackers unleashed a series of attacks on a company that acts as a switchboard for the internet.
The attacks affected access to Twitter, Paypal, Spotify and other customers of the infrastructure company in New Hampshire called Dyn, which processes large volumes of internet traffic.
“The attacks came in waves,” Al Jazeera’s Rob Reynolds, reporting from Los Angeles, said. “First targeting the East Coast of the United States, spreading then to the other parts of the country and even to Western Europe.”
“The websites that were disrupted were some of the top names in the internet: CNN and the New York Times, AirBnB, Reddit, HBO… a whole variety of sites were attacked.”
“Dyn is kind of a middle man that directs users to different websites and routes traffic from server to server in a complex way,” said Reynolds.

Facebook apologises for removing cancer video

Facebook has apologised for taking down a breast cancer awareness video because the images were flagged as offensive, saying the move was “an error”.
Swedish cancer charity Cancerfonden said Thursday that its video explaining to women how to check for suspicious lumps, featuring animated figures of women with circle-shaped breasts, had been removed from the US social networking site.
“We find it incomprehensible and strange how one can perceive medical information as offensive,” Cancerfonden communications director Lena Biornstad told AFP.
“This is information that saves lives,” she said. “This prevents us from doing so.”
In a tongue-and-cheek open letter to Facebook, Cancerfonden had offered a different version of the offending round cartoon breasts.
“After having tried to meet your rules for several days without succeeding, we have now reached

Turkish Airlines bans Galaxy Note 7 from all flights

Turkey’s flagship carrier Turkish Airlines on Friday said it has banned Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 smartphones from all of its flights with immediate effect after reports of fire risk.
“Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices can no longer be transported on person, in carry-on baggage, in checked bags or as air cargo on all Turkish Airlines flights with immediate effect,” the company said in a warning note to passengers on its website.

Scientists discover giant, long-necked dinosaur species in Australia

Scientists unveiled fossils Thursday from a new species of giant, long-necked dinosaur unearthed in northeast Australia, speculating that its ancestors had trekked across Antarctica some 105 million years ago.
At least 14 metres (45 feet) from head-to-tail, Savannasaurus elliottorum was a plant-chomping, barrel-chested member of the sauropod group, which includes the largest land animals to ever have roamed the planet.
The discovery, along with a specimen of another sauropod called Diamantinasaurus matildae, was detailed in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.
Palaeontologists nicknamed the two dinos Wade and Matilda. Both species are thought to be unique to Australia.
How and when these and other dinosaurs made it Down Under is a source of ongoing debate, and the new find is sure to add fuel to the fire.

Germany asks Tesla to stop using ‘Autopilot’ in advertising

German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt has asked Tesla to stop advertising its electric vehicles as having an Autopilot function as this might suggest drivers’ attention is not needed, his ministry said on Sunday.
A spokeswoman for the ministry, confirming a report in the daily Bild am Sonntag (BamS), said the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) had written to Tesla to make the request.
“It can be confirmed that a letter to Tesla exists with the request to no longer use the misleading term Autopilot for the driver assistance system of the car,” she said in a written response to a Reuters’ query.
A Tesla spokeswoman said the Autopilot term, describing a system operating in conjunction with a human driver, had been used in aerospace for decades, and that the company had always made

Samsung announces it is killing Galaxy Note 7 smartphone

Samsung has announced it is permanently halting production of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, a gadget that was intended to propel a comeback but instead has engulfed the South Korea company in a major corporate crisis.
Samsung had a been on a roll earlier this year with the introduction of the Galaxy 7, which saw its mobile sales pickup after a couple of rough years. The Galaxy Note 7, with its bigger design and stylus, also came just as rival Apple was seeing a first-time-ever slump in iPhone sales.
Any sense of victory, however, quickly turned sour amid reports of exploding Galaxy Note 7s. The company initiated a clumsy recall process that left consumers confused and angry. It seemed to finally stop the bleeding with the delivery or replacement units.
However, in recent weeks, new reports emerged that at least three replacement units had exploded.

Self-driving car with passengers to be tested on UK streets for first time

A driverless vehicle carrying passengers will take to Britain’s public roads for the first time on Tuesday, as part of trials aimed at paving the way for autonomous cars to hit the highways by the end of the decade.
The government is encouraging technology companies, carmakers and start-ups to develop and test their autonomous driving technologies in Britain, aiming to build an industry to serve a worldwide market which it forecasts could be worth around 900 billion pounds ($1.1 trillion) by 2025.
Earlier this year, it launched a consultation on changes to insurance rules and motoring regulations to allow driverless cars to be used by 2020 and said it would allow such vehicles to be tested on motorways from next year.
A pod – like a small two-seater car – developed by a company spun out from Oxford University

WHO develops electronic solution to child, maternal deaths

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has developed an electronic solution using hospital-based study on 10,000 pregnant women in Nigeria and Uganda to reduce the high labour-related child and maternal death rate in sub-Saharan Africa.
The software, an electronic health solution, tagged Simplified, Effective, Labour Monitoring-to-Action (SELMA) tool, would be built into mobile phones, tablets and other mobile devices. It promises to enhance the capacity of less skilled persons working in rural areas but does not replace the expertise of a specialist.
WHO BOLD Research Group was led by João Paulo Souza, a Medical Officer at the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research, and a professor of Social Medicine at the Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Other members of the team include Prof. Olufemi T. Oladapo, a medical officer at the Department of

WikiLeaks plans to release documents on US election and Google

WikiLeaks plans to release documents pertaining to Google and the US electoral system over the next ten weeks, the organization announced today. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange announced the planned release schedule in a video address at the end of a press conference in Berlin on Tuesday morning, where the organization was celebrating its tenth anniversary.
Assange said the forthcoming documents will pertain to Google, the US presidential election, arms trading, war, oil, and mass surveillance. The organization plans to release them on a weekly basis over the next ten weeks, with Assange saying that all information related to the US presidential race will be published before election day on November 8th.
There was a lot of build-up to today’s press conference, in anticipation of what had been billed as an “October surprise” that could swing the US presidential election. Instead, WikiLeaks devoted most of the event to recounting its most notorious releases and refuting criticism levied against it.

NCC sets up taskforce to enhance QoS offerings

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it has set up a high level taskforce to identify all issues militating against quality of service in the networks.
Prof. Umar Danbatta, executive vice chairman of NCC who stated this at a press conference in Abuja to mark to mark his one year in office, said that the report of the committee is already being implemented for the resolution of some urgent issues militating against quality of service.
He said that the quality of service on the various networks, which includes infrastructure, service providers facilities had taken considerable attention of the commission.
“The commission has been able to identify and taken notice of the difference between the records of quality service as recorded in the switch of the service providers and from the practical experience of the consumers.
“We have therefore taken some measures to address the issue of quality of service.’’ Danbatta said that the commission was also promoting a Telecom Industry Working Group on Quality of Service that engages service providers to discuss germane matters leading to resolution of critical quality of service.

Automakers partner to compete against Apple and Google for autonomous car services

Alarmed by the threat posed by Silicon Valley firms developing autonomous driving systems, carmakers at this week’s Paris Motor Show showed signs they are ready to hit back by cooperating in areas where they might have been expected to compete.
“This is how the automotive industry may be able to fight off the threat that Apple and particularly Google represent to their brands as digital services become more and more important,” technology investment analyst Richard Windsor said.
BMW, Daimler and VW’s Audi announced this week they would launch new traffic monitoring services next year which give drivers a view of road conditions miles ahead. They are based on video data collected from sensors in other cars and fed to the three carmakers’ jointly-owned navigation mapping services firm HERE.
Separately HERE’s Dutch rival TomTom on Thursday announced traffic data deals with truckmaker Volvo and carmaker Skoda, a VW subsidiary.

Four million businesses advertise on Facebook

Over four million businesses currently advertise on Facebook, with 70 per cent outside the United States of America.
According to the Facebook, which disclosed this on Wednesday, the fastest growing region is South East Asia with the following countries: Vietnam, Indonesia, Greece, Ukraine and Philippines.
Founded in 2004, Facebook, founded by Mark Zuckerberg, claimed that its mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.
The social media platform currently has 1.04 billion daily active users on average worldwide and

Google unveils free photos management service

Google has unveiled Google Photos, a free photos management system that could be used to create the ultimate album and memorable wedding.
Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google’s Anglophone West Africa spokesman, said Google Photos also offered unlimited storage for high resolution images and videos.
“A wedding is that beautiful ceremony where two people are united in marriage and it is dependable on budget.
“Checklist done; the wedding venue, guest list, the cake, caterer, don’t forget the “aso ebi” frenzy and so on, but still, an essential item for any wedding ceremony is the photograph.
“Not capturing beautiful moments of weddings can be a disaster and so photos are essential even after the ceremony,’’ the Google spokesman said in a statement.
He said that smartphones had made it possible for almost everyone to be a photographer and Google was making it easier with Google Photos.
“Nowadays, wedding photos have moved from the usual hard copy printouts to having photo

Uber to introduce panic buttons in cars after series of alleged attacks in S’Africa

Uber is preparing to introduce panic buttons in its cars in South Africa after a series of alleged attacks linked to the app.
The company said it was testing a number of ways to improve security over the coming month, including a pilot of dashboard-mounted cameras in Cape Town and the “SOS” button service in Johannesburg, which will link cars to the company’s central security system.
It comes in the wake of a high-profile incident in which a woman was allegedly picked up by an Uber driver, strangled, thrown in the boot of the car, robbed and sexually assaulted.
The woman was raped after the driver took her to an ATM and ordered her to withdraw 5,000 rand – around £280 – according to Ulrich Roux, the lawyer who is representing the victim and another passenger involved in a alleged similar assault.
“She is still traumatised from the incident,” Roux told the eNCA news agency. “However, she’s determined and has been working with police to make sure the perpetrators are prosecuted.”
After another incident last week involving an alleged attack on a female Uber passenger, the ANC

NDDC to create 6,300 jobs for youths in online marketing

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has earmarked 6,300 jobs for youths in the Niger Delta region.
Beneficiaries of the scheme that will include unemployed youths, university undergraduates as well as persons in employment who desire to earn more cash, will be trained by online marketing giant, KONGA. COM.
According to the NDDC acting managing director, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, the entrepreneurship training will create jobs and offer financial stability to families.
Semenitari stated that the partnership between NDDC and KONGA. COM is one of the numerous ways the commission under her, is reducing unemployment in the Niger Delta region and creating new entrepreneurs.

NCC allows spectrum refarming for service optimisation

As part of efforts targeted at making spectrum usage more efficient in the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is encouraging the refarming of various frequencies.
The NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who disclosed this on Monday, in Abuja, said through this process, some service providers, who hitherto, providing services on the 1800 MHz spectrum band have been allowed to re-farm and deploy services on the 4G/Long Term Evolution Band.
Re-farming is reassigning government-regulated electromagnetic spectrum for services with higher value. The frequency bands are assigned to communications services that yield greater economic or social benefit.
Danbatta disclosed that through re-farming, the commission has been able to revive some of the companies whose services have been hampered by the characteristics of the frequencies.
Already at a forum in Lagos, the former EVC of the commission, Ernest Ndukwe, also made a case

Cybercriminals using IoT devices to spread malware attacks

A Symantec report has revealed that cybercriminal networks are taking advantage of security shortcomings in Internet of Things (IoT) devices to spread malware and create zombie networks, or botnets, without the knowledge of their device owners.
Symantec’s Security Response team discovered that cybercriminals are hijacking home networks and everyday consumer connected devices to help carry out Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks on more profitable targets, usually large companies.
A DDoS attack is an attempt to make an online service unavailable by overwhelming it with traffic from multiple sources.
More than half of all IoT attacks originate from China and the US, based on the location of IP addresses to launch malware attacks.
High numbers of attacks are also emanating from Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Ukraine and Vietnam.

5G to reach 690m connections, 300m handset shipments

In a pair of related reports released by Strategic Analytics (SA), the reality of 5G evolution is analysed.
One report concluded significant work is needed to marry the appeal of a unified early 5G standard with the longer term need to support diverse market requirements. Leading operators such as NTT DoCoMo, SK Telecom, Verizon, AT&T and more cautious European operators are plotting very different 5G paths.
The other report predicts 5G commercial handset sales will begin in 2020 and exceed 300 million by 2025.
Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, Guang Yang, comments “5G network plans have developed

Smartwatch shipments to hit 20.1m by year-end

Global smartwatch shipment is expected to reach 20.1 million units at the end of 2016, a new forecast by the International Data Corporation (IDC) has revealed.
According to IDC worldwide quarterly wearable device tracker, smartwatch shipment in 2016 will see an increase of 3.9 per cent from the 19.4 million units shipped in 2015.

Samsung complies with CPC’s directive on recall of Galaxy Note 7 devices

Samsung Electronics West Africa Limited has complied with the ultimatum given to it by the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), requiring it to give a status report on the global recall of Galaxy Note 7 in Nigeria, following reports of explosion of dozens of the device while charging.
It would be recalled that the council had given the company a seven-day ultimatum for it to provide information on the full status of its compliance with the global directive on the recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.
A statement by the CPC on Tuesday morning said the company disclosed that the device was yet to be launched in Nigeria, and had announced its readiness to provide voluntary exchange to consumers, who may have purchased it elsewhere in the world and brought it into Nigeria.
CPC said the status report which it got said, “customers who already have Galaxy Note 7 devices, Samsung will voluntarily exchange their current device with a new one over the coming weeks,” adding that “customers who have this device should submit it to Samsung authorized Service

Senate probes MTN over $13bn transfer

The Nigerian Senate is probing Africa’s biggest telecoms company MTN for alleged illegal transfer of $13.92 billion out of the country.
Senators Tuesday agreed to begin the investigation and then the members who resumed this week after a long holiday adjourned plenary till Thursday.
MTN declined to comment on the Senate decision.
With 62 million subscribers, Nigeria is MTN’s biggest market.
A motion
MTN shares were down by 4.20 per cent, at 2.46pm (13:46 GMT) on Tuesday.
The cash transfer allegation was made in a motion submitted to the Upper House by Senator Dino Melaye, which said $13.92 billion had been repatriated “illegally” out of Nigeria by MTN through its bankers between 2006 and 2016.

Germany blocks WhatsApp data transfers to Facebook

German data protection authorities on Tuesday said they had blocked Facebook from collecting subscriber data from its subsidiary WhatsApp, citing privacy concerns.
Facebook and WhatsApp promised in the wake of the Silicon Valley giant’s 2014 acquisition of the messaging app that they would not share data, Hamburg’s Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information Johannes Caspar recalled in a statement.
He added that Facebook would be required to delete any data already received from WhatsApp in Germany.
“It has to be (the users’) decision whether they want to connect their account with Facebook,” Caspar said. “Facebook has to ask for their permission in advance.”
WhatsApp announced in August that it would begin sharing data with Facebook, in a bid to allow better targeted advertising and fight spam on the platform.
Currently, users of the instant messenger must opt out of sending information to Facebook through WhatsApp’s settings on their smartphone.

Nigeria’s broadband penetration reaches 21 per cent

The Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Umar Danbatta, says the Nigeria Broadband Penetration has reached 20.95 per cent.
Mr. Danbatta said this on Monday in Abuja while presenting the first progress report of the eight point agenda he unveiled to the media in 2015.
According to him, broadband is a flagship of the eight point agenda he unveiled in Kano and Lagos.
“The active mobile broadband penetration released by the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development shows that Nigeria has reached a penetration of 20.95 per cent.
“On the percentage of internet penetration, the country has reached a milestone of 47.44 per cent, second to South Africa in the continent,” he said.
Mr. Danbatta said the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development was set up by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and UNESCO in 2010.
He said the provision of the National Broadband Plan that had a set target of 30 per cent penetration from 2013 to 2018, also accentuated emphasis on broadband penetration.

Researchers restore first ever computer music recording

New Zealand researchers said Monday they have restored the first recording of computer-generated music, created in 1951 on a gigantic contraption built by British genius Alan Turing.
The aural artefact, which paved the way for everything from synthesizers to modern electronica, opens with a staunchly conservative tune — the British national anthem “God Save the King”.
Researchers at the University of Canterbury (UC) in Christchurch said it showed Turing — best known as the father of computing who broke the WWII Enigma code — was also a musical innovator.
“Alan Turing’s pioneering work in the late 1940s on transforming the computer into a musical instrument has been largely overlooked,” they said.
The recording was made 65 years ago by a BBC outside-broadcast unit at the Computing Machine Laboratory in Manchester, northern England.

Thailand is considering tougher tax rules for tech firms like Alphabet

Thailand is studying plans for tougher tax collection rules governing internet and technology firms, according to the head of the country’s Revenue Department.
The plans would also cover the mobile transfers and internet payment sector, Prasong

Samsung delays South Korea re-start of Note7 sales by 3 days

Tech giant Samsung Electronics said on Sunday it was delaying the start of new Galaxy Note 7 smartphone sales in South Korea by three days to Oct. 1, a move it says is needed for speedy completion of the ongoing recall in the country.
Samsung announced on Sept. 2 a recall of at least 2.5 million Galaxy Note7 smartphones in 10 markets, including South Korea, due to a faulty battery causing the phones to catch fire, offering refunds or replacement devices using safe batteries.
The firm hopes to complete the recall quickly and restart sales in the fourth quarter to salvage earnings, but the latest hitch in South Korea underscore continuing challenges in those efforts.
Though product exchanges in South Korea began on Monday, only about 200,000 affected customers have turned in their devices – which Samsung says represents half of affected customers and a recall pace that is much slower than other markets such as Singapore and the

NCC receives 6,163 complaints from telecoms subscribers in Q2

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it received 6,163 complaints from telecommunications subscribers in the second quarter of 2016.
Mr Abdullahi Maikano, the Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB) of the commission made the disclosure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.
Maikano said that of the 6,163 complaints, 4,739 issues were resolved, giving a resolution of 76.9 per cent.
He also said that the commission received 23,694 complaints from telecommunications consumers in the first quarter.
NAN reports that the complaints received in the second quarter reduced by 17,531 or by 73.99 per cent compared with that of first quarter.
The director said that the reduction was as a result of the “2442 Do Not Disturb’’ directive of the regulatory body to the operators.

Trump opposes plan for US to cede control of ICANN to global community

U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump opposes a long-planned transition of oversight of the internet’s technical management from the U.S. government to a global community of stakeholders, his campaign said in a statement on Wednesday.
Congress should block the handover, scheduled to occur on Oct. 1, “or internet freedom will be lost for good, since there will be no way to make it great again once it is lost,” Stephen Miller, national policy director for the Trump campaign, said in a statement.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a former presidential primary foe of Trump’s who has refused to endorse the real estate developer, has led a movement in Congress to block the transition, arguing it could cede control of the internet itself to authoritarian regimes like Russia and China and threaten online freedom.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg pledges $3bn to wipe out ‘all disease’

Mark Zuckerberg and his wife have pledged more than $3bn towards an ambitious plan to rid the world of disease.
The Facebook founder and his wife, paediatrician Priscilla Chan, said the goal was to “cure, prevent or manage all disease within our children’s lifetime”.
Investment will go towards research into cancer and infectious disease as well as heart and neurological disease, the couple said.
The plans were revealed during an event in San Francisco for their philanthropic group, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, on Wednesday.
Dr Chan said they launched the initiative following the birth of daughter Max last year, with the goal of dramatically improving the lives of all other children in her generation.
She recalled experiences of telling parents their child had an incurable disease or could not be

Apple is reportedly interested in British supercar maker McLaren

Apple has approached British Formula One team owner McLaren Technology Group for a strategic investment or a potential buyout, the Financial Times reported, citing sources.
The loss-making automotive group could be valued at between 1 billion pounds ($1.30 billion) and

Google’s bid for smarter messaging hits market

US internet giant Google launched Wednesday a smart messaging app aimed at muscling into a busy market with popular rivals such as WhatsApp and Facebook’s messenger.
Allo’s “smart” capabilities aims to make it easier to respond to messages and over time adjusts to users’ own style, Google said in an official blog.
The app introduces Google Assistant where users just type @google to ask the US search engine questions and have it help you directly in chats, it said.
“You no longer need to leave a conversation with friends just to grab an address, share your favorite YouTube video, or pick a dinner spot,” it said.
The app works on phones using Google’s Android system and Apple’s iOS.

Samsung begins replacement programme for Galaxy Note 7

Samsung Electronics West Africa Limited (“SEWA’) has announced the postponement of the launch of Samsung Galaxy Note7 in Nigeria.
This is sequel to the postponement of sales of the device globally due to isolated battery cell problems.
On September 2, 2016, Samsung had announced an official Galaxy Note7 replacement programme

MultiChoice, Eutelsat satellite seal new capacity lease deal

Eutelsat Communications and MultiChoice Africa, one of Africa’s most prominent video entertainment companies, have announced at IBC in Amsterdam, the signature of a nine-year contract for the expansion of the MultiChoice DStv platform at Eutelsat’s 36° East video neighbourhood.
The new contract for one transponder reinforces the longstanding relationship between MultiChoice Africa and Eutelsat and will further anchor 36° East as a premier location for digital video entertainment services in Africa.
MultiChoice Africa Chief Executive Officer, Tim Jacobs, said: “Thanks to the additional capacity

Google smartphone expected at Oct. 4 event

Google late Monday sent out invitations to an October 4 event, hinting that the Internet titan will show off a new smartphone powered by its Android mobile software.
Emailed invitations revealed only the time and place for the gathering in San Francisco, the message topped by blue, red, yellow, and green dots of color.
Google fired off a Twitter message with hashtag #madebygoogle and a video of what appeared to be a long rectangular search term box morphing into a silhouette of a smartphone.
Industry trackers have been expecting Google in October to show off its own smartphone, showcasing the prowess of its new Nougat version of Android software.
Google may stamp its latest smartphones with a “Pixel” brand instead of the “Nexus” name it has used in the past for Android smartphones it has made in collaborations with partners.
A Google smartphone would be fielded as a standard to which other’s making Android devices

Grab bags $750m round as Uber’s competition in Southeast Asia gets tougher

Grab, the biggest rival to ride-sharing service Uber Technologies Inc in Southeast Asia, has raised $750 million in a funding round, turning up the heat on the U.S. firm now seeking to expand in the region after exiting China.
The successful cash-injection just a month after Indonesian peer Go-Jek raised $550 million highlights the intensifying competition in the region, as Uber shifts its focus following a deal to sell its China operations into Didi Chuxing.
Four-year-old Grab said it planned to expand its services in Southeast Asia through the funding round, which was led by Japan’s SoftBank Group with new and existing investors.
The region has become a key battleground for ride-hailing firms thanks to a burgeoning middle class as well as a youthful, internet-savvy demographic.

Battery manufacturer denies role in Samsung smartphone fire hazard

The Chinese manufacturer of batteries used in Samsung’s recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphones says its battery is not the cause of the phone’s explosive tendency.
“Test results show that the fire is not directly connected to the battery produced by our company,” parts manufacturer, Amperex Technology Limited, said.
Meanwhile, Samsung had previously said initial investigations showed faulty batteries as the cause of the fire hazard.

U.S. considers pre-approving self-driving car technology

The Obama administration said Monday it was considering seeking the power to review and approve technology for self-driving cars before they hit the road and said U.S. states should not set separate rules.
The U.S. Transportation Department, in its most comprehensive statement yet on autonomous vehicles, also issued voluntary guidelines and urged automakers to certify that their highly automated vehicles were ready for public roads.
“If a self-driving car isn’t safe, we have the authority to pull it off the road. We won’t hesitate to protect the American public’s safety,” President Barack Obama wrote in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette op-ed published Monday. “We have to get it right.”
Automakers and technology companies are racing to develop vehicles that can drive themselves at least part of the time. They have complained that state and federal safety rules impede the process.

NITDA want research findings uploaded for global access

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has called on tertiary institutions and research institutes to always use internet facilities to upload research works for global view.
This is contained in a statement issued by Mrs Hadiza Umar, the Head, Corporate Affairs of NITDA in Abuja on Monday.
The statement said Dr Vincent Olatunji, the Acting Director-General of NITDA made the call while unveiling the virtual e-library infrastructure donated by the agency to Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti on Friday.
Olatunji said that the facility would enable the university improve on its teaching and research on Nigeria’s development.
“One of the ways to contribute to the economy is by using Information Communication and Technology (ICT) to upload research works so that others can have access to them and read, not