Tag: technology
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OPay Seeks to Raise $400 Million For Expansion Signaling Chinese VCs May Be Ready to Return to Africa
The Chinese-backed African fintech platform OPay is reportedly in talks with investors to raise as much as $400 million at a valuation of more than $1.5 billion, according to a report in The Information. That valuation, by the way, is three times higher than the ...
Be Wary of All Those “Hyperbolic” Reports Warning of the Dangers of Chinese Technology
The fear that China is going to export digital authoritarianism and repression to Africa is way overblown and oversimplified in Western media reports and think tank analysis cautions Iginio Gagliardone, a media scholar at Wits University in Johannesburg and one of the world's foremost scholars ...
Why You Should be Wary of the U.S.-China Narrative in the Ethio Telecom Auction Story
For years, U.S. officials have been trying to persuade African governments to abandon their reliance on Chinese-made telecom networking equipment from the likes of Huawei and ZTE. Finally, this weekend, they got their first win. Well, kind of, ...
Ethio Telecom Launches New Huawei-Powered Mobile Money Service
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed oversaw the launch this week of Ethio Telecom's new mobile money service "Tele- Birr" which will be powered by technology from Chinese telecom equipment giant Huawei. Ethiopian officials have high expectations for Tele-Birr's future ...
Huawei Mobile Money is Quietly Becoming an Important Fintech Engine For Emerging Market Payment Platforms
Most of the discussion about Huawei in places like Africa or the Americas centers on the company's 5G technology that officials in the U.S., Europe, and some Asian countries believe presents a security threat. But the Shenzhen-based company isn't generating $137 billion in annual ...
Oppo is the Latest Chinese Phone Maker to Set Its Sights on the South African Market
China's largest mobile phone maker Oppo is targeting South Africa's youth market with a new mid-range device, the A74 5G. Oppo's announcement comes less than a week after another Chinese company, Transsion's Itel division, announced that it too is targeting a similar ...
Chinese Automakers Are Making New Inroads Across Africa
Geely, China's largest independent automaker, launched its new Coolray SUV in Nigeria in what's become a big push by Chinese auto companies to expand their presence in Africa. The SUV category is especially popular, as evidenced by the strong performance in South ...
South African Telco CEO Ralph Mupita is Looking to China For Both Ideas and Cash
Ralph Mupita, head of the largest pan-African telecom group MTN, wants his South Africa-based telco to draw inspiration and attract more investment from China. On the investment side, Mupita recently partnered with the Chinese state-back Silk Road Fund that funnels ...
Shenzhen-Based Transsion Targets South African Youth Market With New Low-Priced Offering
The Chinese-owned African mobile phone giant Transsion is targeting South Africa's youth market with the launch of the Vision1 Pro smartphone from its Itel brand -- a 6.5-inch waterproof device that costs around $120. Although Transsion's suite of brands dominates the ...
This Tweet Shows Why the U.S. Effort to Dislodge Huawei in Africa is Just Not Going to Work
Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama posted a tweet on Wednesday that showcased the depth of Huawei's ties in Africa's largest market and why it is going to be extremely difficult for the United States to get Nigeria or other African countries to abandon the Chinese ...
Most G7 Countries Really Do Want to Challenge China’s BRI, They Just Can’t Agree How
It looks increasingly likely that infrastructure development in the Global South is going to be quite high on the agenda at the upcoming European Union and Group of 7 (G7) meetings in May and June. Specifically, U.S., European and Japanese leaders seem intent on elevating the ongoing ...
In a Bid to Get People Back in the Air, Ethiopian Airlines Deploys Chinese Tech For Rapid Passenger COVID Testing
Ethiopian Airlines is hoping that a new Chinese-made COVID-19 rapid testing facility at its hub in Addis Ababa will resuscitate its passenger business. The airline partnered with BGI Health Ethiopia, a subsidiary of China's biotech giant, the BGI Genomics Co, to build the new testing center at Bole ...