WhatsApp Hits 100m Voice Calls Daily

Over 100 million voice calls are made every day on messaging app WhatsApp. The company announced this in a blog post.

“For more than a year, people have used WhatsApp Calling to talk with friends and family around the world. It's a great way to stay in touch, especially when connecting with people in other countries, or when messages alone won't do. Today, more than 100 million voice calls are made every day on WhatsApp - that's over 1,100 calls a second! We're humbled that so many people have found this feature useful, and we're committed to making it even better in the months to come,” said the Facebook-owned WhatsApp in the post.

Celebrating the achievement, WhasApp CEO Jan Koum wrote on his Facebook page, “When I first moved to the USA, making a phone call to friends and family that I left in Ukraine was a frustrating process. You had to pick up a phone that was connected to a wall and hope that the person you were calling was near their phone on the other end.

“Years later, mobile phones began to make this a bit easier, but switching SIM cards and worrying about your mobile plan still made it challenging to call home. Since the early days

World Wi-Fi Day: More Than Half of World’s Urban Population Has No Broadband Access

By Danish Khan

More than half of the global urban population still doesn't have broadband access , with more than a third living in some of the world's wealthiest cities, according to an independent research study commissioned by the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), to mark Monday's inaugural World Wi-Fi Day.
The report, which aims to identify the amount of unconnected citizens living in urban areas across the globe, in both developed and emerging economies, has found the number of urban unconnected is highest in the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions. Yet connectivity still remains a key issue in Europe and North America.
According to the findings, Europe has the lowest percentage of urban unconnected at 17%, the Middle East and Africa has the highest proportion of urban unconnected citizens at 82%. It said that London is the most connected major global city (only 8% unconnected), while Lagos is the least connected city (88.3%).
Almost a quarter (23%) of people in North America don't have broadband connection despite having the world's highest average monthly income. In Los Angeles, 24.9% of citizens lack a broadband connection.
The report said that just over two thirds (68%) of people in Asia Pacific have no broadband connections, while 55% of people in Latin America are without broadband.
The study reveals that levels of income are closely linked to broadband adoption rates, but

Etisalat’s Adia Sowho Speaks At Global Summit

*Adia Sowho

Etisalat Nigeria’s Director of Digital Business, Adia Sowho is among eminent personalities that would be speaking at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 billed to hold from June 23 through 24 at Silicon Valley, California, United States of America. Sowho will be speaking on the topic, ‘Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa: Infrastructure and the Enabling Environment’ during a session that will be moderated by the CEO, African Technology Foundation, Stephen Ozoigbo.

A carefully chosen group of erudite discussants including Alexandra (Lexi) Novitske, Principal Investment Officer, Singularity Investments, Breanna Zwart, Executive, Access Strategy Team, Google, Ime Archibong, Director, Global Product Partnerships, Facebook and Kevin Connolly, Affordable Access Initiative, Business Development, Microsoft will join Adia Sowho to analyze the technology entrepreneurship ecosystems in Sub-Saharan Africa and highlight the infrastructure needs, gaps, and opportunities.

Expectations are high that this intellectual group of discussants would present current market solutions that have created an enabling environment for Africa’s digital entrepreneurs to discuss the next wave of market opportunities across leading industries.

Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 will be the 7th session in a series previously hosted by the United States and the governments of Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Morocco, and Kenya. 

MTN Names Vodafone’s Shuter New CEO

*Rob Shuter

MTN Group has named Netherland-based Vodafone executive Rob Shuter as its new CEO, according to a report by itnewsafrica.com.

The company revealed, in a media statement, that Shuter is expected to return to South Africa to take up the role no later than 01 July 2017.

The announcement comes shortly after MTN had revealed that it reached an agreement with the government of Nigeria regarding its record fine of $5.2 billion USD. 

MTN will allow Shuter to complete his current contractual obligations with his current company. MTN revealed that is confident that Shuter will bring experience and new insights to the CEO role having had many years in the telecoms sector both in Africa and Europe as well as in banking where his expertise will help as MTN continues to develop its new business strategy.

Shuter has served as Vodafone NL CEO since 2012 and last year was named to the Vodafone Group Executive Committee with responsibility for Vodafone’s smaller European markets. He’s also

Facebook Expands Messenger’s Functions

Facebook on Thursday unveiled its redesigned Messenger app, which replaces the list of conversations it previously displayed with a home screen that will let users perform more actions within a chat, according a report by technewsworld.com.

The Home tab now organizes Messenger into recent conversations, favorites, active users, and messages awaiting a response.

It has a shortcut that reminds users about Facebook friends' birthdays.

Messenger now prepopulates users' favorites list based on whom they exchange messages with most often.

The active users list identifies people browsing Facebook or using Messenger at any given point in time.

Improved search features help users find what they're looking for, even if the conversation is ancient history.

An Active Now section indicates who is currently available.

The redesign is in line with what CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in January, when

ISIS Targets Nigerian Children With Mobile App, FG Alleges

*Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Nigeria's Information Minister

The Federal Government of Nigeria has alerted Nigerians to the existence of a newly-launched mobile application developed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) for propagating Jihad to children.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, minister of Information and Culture, said the mobile application, tagged 'Huroof' (Arabic alphabets or letters), will be used by ISIS to teach children the Arabic alphabets with the aid of guns, military tanks and cannons.

''The application utilizes colourful illustrations that attract and engage the attention of young children,'' the Minister said, urging members of the public in general and parents in particular to be vigilant and to prevent their children and wards from being indoctrinated.

ISIS, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is a Salafi jihadist militant group that follows an Islamic fundamentalist, Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam.