Vodafone Ghana to Expand Network, Jack Dorsey Donates $1b for COVID-19 Relief, and Zoom Banned in Taiwan

Africa

Vodafone Ghana to address network challenges

Vodafone Ghana will begin a nationwide network expansion in a bid to address connectivity challenges, according to a report on Citi News Room. The stay-at-home directive by the Ghana government has led to a surge in demand over the past week. This has led to poor network connections in parts of the country. “We are also aware of the slow connectivity in some parts of the country, which is due to increased traffic on our network. Throughout the month of April, we are embarking on network capacity expansion to enable us to accommodate the surge…” Vodafone said. According to Vodafone, the situation has been exacerbated by multiple fibre cuts. The Telcos Chamber has provided a point-by-point direction on how to get the best of the internet during this period, urging subscribers to avoid peak hours of 7am – 11am as well as 7pm – 11pm.

Enpact invites application from women-led tech companies

Enpact is inviting applications from women-led tech businesses for its International Mentoring Programme in Europe and Africa, it has been reported. The mentoring module is an eight-month programme aimed at businesses at the matured stage looking to scale their businesses. The programme is open to businesses in Ghana, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Europe. Participants will join a global network of mentors and innovators and receive on-site visits from dedicated mentors. None of the participants will have to give up equity to participate in the mentoring programme. Enpact is a non-profit organisation established to empower entrepreneurs and improve international cooperation.

Europe

Tech companies urged to fight 5G conspiracy

The UK culture secretary will be urging social media firms to be more aggressive towards conspiracy theories linking 5G networks to the coronavirus pandemic, the BBC has reported. Rumours that next generation network systems help in spreading the virus are being spread on social media. A number of 5G masts in Liverpool, Birmingham, and Melling in Merseyside have been set on fire as a result. “We must also see social media companies acting responsibly and taking much swifter action to stop nonsense spreading on their platforms which encourages such acts,” the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said in a statement to the BBC. While social sites are working to halt the spread of the disinformation, they were yet to ban them from their platforms.

Turkey to track citizens via mobile phones

Turkey has said it will monitor the mobile phones of people diagnosed with the coronavirus to ensure they do not break quarantine laws, it has been reported. The president’s Communications Directorate said it would track patients via their mobile phones and send them a message each time they left home. Police will be forced to punish habitual offenders according to Turkish rules. The communications directorate defended its use of personal data saying Turkish rules allowed the processing of user data for “exceptional aims”. Turkey has seen 725 deaths from more than 34,000 coronavirus cases.

The Americas

Facebook releases a relationship app

Facebook has released Tuned, a purpose-built app that would allow couples to send private messages to each other, it has been revealed. Tuned will offer couples the chance to exchange messages, music, and build a digital scrapbook from the ground up. The app was designed by Facebook’s New Product Experimental Team whose focus is to create social media platforms from scratch. Analysts reckon Tuned doesn’t have the same end-to-end encryption that WhatsApp offers; this means Facebook will be able to collect data and show targeted ads. Tuned is available in the US and Canada to iOS users only.

Twitter’s Jack Dorsey pledges $1b for COVID-19 relief efforts

Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, has pledged to spend $1 billion of his wealth to aid COVID-19 relief efforts, according to reports. Jack took to Twitter to announce his plans, adding that all activities pertaining to the new fund would be made public and accessible to everyone. The billion-dollar charity will come from Jack’s stake in Square, a payments Processor he co-founded. He added that the sale of his shares from Square would be paced over time to ease pressure on the company’s stock price. The pledge represents 28% of Jack Dorsey’s purported $3.3 billion net worth.

Asia

Zoom banned in Taiwan over security fears

Taiwan has banned the use of Zoom for official government business following growing concerns over the app’s privacy security features, the BBC has reported. Researchers recently found out that communications on the video-calling app was being rerouted through China despite users living thousands of miles away in America. In addition, it has been confirmed that Zoom has hundreds of employees in China, making them potentially pliable to Chinese coercion. The revelation is particularly worrisome for Taiwan given that China doesn’t consider the country’s independence. Taiwan has since demanded all official government communications to be made using alternatives like Google’s Duo or Microsoft’s Skype.

Singapore lockdown won’t affect chip manufacturers

Despite lockdown underway in Singapore, chip manufacturers are confident there will be little disruption in the factories because of the classification of semiconductors as essential items, it has been reported. The Asian country is enforcing a ‘circuit breaker’ in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. But while many factories will be shut down across the country, chip manufacturers are confident of little to no disruption. Vague definitions of essential products have led to most factories being shut down across Asia, affecting the supply chains of many products essential in the tech industries. Factories producing semiconductors were briefly shutdown in Malaysia and the Philippines, for example.