Telecom

ITU Strengthens Effort to Address Counterfeit ICT Devices

Published

11 years ago

July 29, 2014

Kindly share this post

ITU discussions to address the growing problem of counterfeit ICT devices was actively participated, contributed to and progressed at the latest ITU-T SG11 (Protocols and test specifications) meeting held in Geneva this July.

A group of experts from various administrations and industry, as well as international organizations including the World Trade Organization (WTO), World Custom Organization (WCO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the Mobile Manufacturing Forum (MMF), contributed to the progress of the draft Technical Report on “Counterfeited and Substandard ICT Equipment”, which is anticipated as a baseline document for further developments in this area.

Several forums and conferences have called for ITU’s assistance in addressing the growing problem of counterfeit telecommunications/ICT products and devices, which is adversely affecting all stakeholders in the ICT field (vendors, governments, operators and consumers).

As a result, ITU-T SG11 agreed to revise the terms of reference of its Question 8(Q8/11) ‘Guidelines for implementations of signalling and protocols, and for addressing counterfeit ICT devices’, which is the group dealing with this work.

Isaac Boateng, National Communications Authority, Ghana, and Rapporteur of Q8/11said: “The study on Counterfeit ICT devices currently going on in SG11 was driven by Resolution 177 (Guadalajara, 2010) of the Plenipotentiary Conference, on Conformance and Interoperability which ‘instructs the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, in close collaboration with the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and the Director of the Radio communication Bureau, to assist Member States in addressing their concerns with respect to counterfeit equipment’. I expect that the publication of the Technical Report could support the ITU Member States, particularly those in developing countries, to develop policies and regulatory framework to combat counterfeit devices in their national telecommunications/ICT strategies.”

An event on “Combating counterfeit and substandard ICT devices” will be taking place on 17 and 18 November 2014 at ITU Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland. Substandard and fake ICT products are a serious issue that impacts developed and developing economies, the ICT industry, as well as the consumer population around the world.

The objectives of this event are threefold, namely to: discuss the global scope and impact of counterfeiting and substandard ICT products on various stakeholders; highlight the common concerns, challenges, initiatives, practices and opportunities of the various stakeholders in their fight against counterfeiting and substandard ICT products; and examine the possible role of ICT standards development organizations (SDOs), and in particular the ITU, as part of the global strategy and solution to curtail counterfeiting and substandard ICT products.

The ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) also approved in Dubai (2014) a new Resolution on “The role of telecommunications/information and communication technologies in combating and dealing with counterfeit telecommunication/information and communication devices” (see draft final report Members restricted).

The next physical meetings of the group focusing on Counterfeiting in ITU-T (Q8/11) will take place back-to-back with the “Combating counterfeit and substandard ICT devices” event in ITU Headquarters on 19-21 November 2014. The Technical Report on “Counterfeited and Substandard ICT Equipment” will then be stable for approval. ITU Members are also invited to submit Contributions to Q8/11 to start new work items on this topic.

Gartner Warns Organizations of Data Lake Fallacy

The growing hype surrounding data lakes is causing substantial confusion in the information management space, according to Gartner, Inc. Several vendors are marketing data lakes as an essential component to capitalize on Big Data opportunities, but there is little alignment between vendors about what comprises a data lake, or how to get value from it.

“In broad terms, data lakes are marketed as enterprise-wide data management platforms for analyzing disparate sources of data in its native format,” said Nick Heudecker, research director at Gartner.

“The idea is simple: instead of placing data in a purpose-built data store, you move it into a data lake in its original format. This eliminates the upfront costs of data ingestion, like transformation. Once data is placed into the lake, it’s available for analysis by everyone in the organization.”

However, while the marketing hype suggests audiences throughout an enterprise will leverage data lakes, this positioning assumes that all those audiences are highly skilled at data manipulation and analysis, as data lakes lack semantic consistency and governed metadata.

“The need for increased agility and accessibility for data analysis is the primary driver for data lakes,” said Andrew White, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

“Nevertheless, while it is certainly true that data lakes can provide value to various parts of the organization, the proposition of enterprise-wide data management has yet to be realized.”

Data lakes focus on storing disparate data and ignore how or why data is used, governed, defined and secured. The data lake concept hopes to solve two problems, one old and one new. The old problem it tries to solve is information silos. Rather than having dozens of independently managed collections of data, you can combine these sources in the unmanaged data lake. The consolidation theoretically results in increased information use and sharing, while cutting costs through server and license reduction.

The new problem data lakes conceptually tackle pertains to Big Data initiatives. Big Data projects require a large amount of varied information.

The information is so varied that it’s not clear what it is when it is received, and constraining it in something as structured as a data warehouse or relational database management system (RDBMS) constrains future analysis.

“Addressing both of these issues with a data lake certainly benefits IT in the short term in that IT no longer has to spend time understanding how information is used — data is simply dumped into the data lake,” said Mr. White.

“However, getting value out of the data remains the responsibility of the business end user. Of course, technology could be applied or added to the lake to do this, but without at least some semblance of information governance, the lake will end up being a collection of disconnected data pools or information silos all in one place.”

Data lakes therefore carry substantial risks. The most important is the inability to determine data quality or the lineage of findings by other analysts or users that have found value, previously, in using the same data in the lake. By its definition, a data lake accepts any data, without oversight or governance.

Without descriptive metadata and a mechanism to maintain it, the data lake risks turning into a data swamp. And without metadata, every subsequent use of data means analysts start from scratch.

Another risk is security and access control. Data can be placed into the data lake with no oversight of the contents.

Many data lakes are being used for data whose privacy and regulatory requirements are likely to represent risk exposure. The security capabilities of central data lake technologies are still embryonic. These issues will not be addressed if left to non-IT personnel.

Finally, performance aspects should not be overlooked. Tools and data interfaces simply cannot perform at the same level against a general-purpose store as they can against optimized and purpose-built infrastructure. For these reasons, Gartner recommends that organizations focus on semantic consistency and performance in upstream applications and data stores instead of information consolidation in a data lake.

“Data lakes typically begin as ungoverned data stores,” said Mr. Heudecker. “Meeting the needs of wider audiences require curated repositories with governance, semantic consistency and access controls — elements already found in a data warehouse.

“The fundamental issue with the data lake is that it makes certain assumptions about the users of information,” said Mr. Heudecker.

“It assumes that users recognize or understand the contextual bias of how data is captured, that they know how to merge and reconcile different data sources without ‘a priori knowledge’ and that they understand the incomplete nature of datasets, regardless of structure.”

While these assumptions may be true for users working with data, such as data scientists, the majority of business users lack this level of sophistication or support from operational information governance routines. Developing or acquiring these skills or obtaining such support on an individual basis, is both time-consuming and expensive, or impossible.

“There is always value to be found in data but the question your organization has to address is this — do we allow or even encourage one-off, independent analysis of information in silos or a data lake, bringing said data together, or do we formalize to a degree that effort, and try to sustain the value-generating skills we develop?” said Mr. White.

“If the option is the former, it is quite likely that a data lake will appeal. If the decision tends toward the latter, it is beneficial to move beyond a data lake concept quite quickly in order to develop a more robust logical data warehouse strategy.”

Kindly share this post

Telecom

Why Econet Wireless is Switching to VFEX

Published

4 days ago

December 19, 2025

Ebere Melum-Nwogbo

Kindly share this post

After nearly 30 years on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE), Econet Wireless, the country’s biggest technology company, is preparing to leave the bourse and move its property and infrastructure assets to the US dollar-based Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX).

Why Econet Wireless is Switching to VFEX

Econet plans to spin off its towers, property and power installations into a new company, Econet InfraCo, which will be listed on the VFEX. Its mobile network operator business will be delisted from the ZSE.

Econet believes the market has failed to properly value its business and its assets. At the time Econet first released a cautionary on December 3, its market capitalisation was the equivalent of US$628 million.

A rally over the past days has lifted it to a market capitalisation – the number of shares times the share price – to around US$1 billion.

“For the last several years, the company has traded at a significant discount to its peers across Africa which trade at 6 – 8x EV/EBITDA.

“These peers have all already separated and realised value from their tower infrastructure whereas the company still owns its tower and other passive infrastructure which the company has now housed under a separate infrastructure company to be listed on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange,” Econet said.

Econet will keep 70% of Econet InfraCo, with up to 30% used to settle an offer to shareholders who do not wish to remain invested.

The company argues that infrastructure assets are better suited to the VFEX, which trades in US dollars and attracts investors familiar with property and long-term infrastructure.

“Unlike the mobile network operator business in Zimbabwe, infrastructure assets represent a different class of investment, one that is better understood and valued within USD-based property and infrastructure markets.

“This is demonstrated by the higher Price-to-Earnings multiples at which listed real estate and infrastructure companies trade on the VFEX,” the company said.

Econet dominates Zimbabwe’s mobile market, with 88% of voice traffic, 82% of data usage and 73% of all subscribers. It has built the largest portfolio of telecoms assets.

By the end of the second quarter, it had 234 5G sites, 1,700 LTE sites, 1,900 3G towers and 2,860 2G locations.

In the half-year to August alone, it added 27 new 2G–4G sites and 100 new 5G sites.

In addition to these locations, Econet also holds other properties and power assets, including solar installations, Tesla batteries and generators.

The move follows a well-established trend in Africa.

MTN and Airtel Africa sold towers in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and Kenya to independent operators like IHS Towers and Helios Towers. Vodacom, Orange and Telkom South Africa have also carved out tower units through sale-and-leaseback deals.

Credit: Newsday

Kindly share this post

Telecom

Qualcomm Completes Third Edition of Make in Africa Startup Mentorship Program

Published

5 days ago

December 18, 2025

Chike Onwuegbuchi

Kindly share this post

Qualcomm Technologies Inc. has announced the successful completion of its third annual Make in Africa (QMIA) Startup Mentorship Program, marked by the virtual Make in Africa Finale 2025. The initiative underscores Qualcomm’s long-term commitment to fostering Africa’s vibrant innovation ecosystem through the broader Qualcomm Africa Innovation Platform.

Highlights:

The 2025 Qualcomm Make in Africa program supported ten innovative startups from Kenya, Tunisia, Nigeria, Benin and Senegal, each addressing local challenges by developing tech-enabled solutions across critical sectors such as healthcare, sustainable agriculture, climate resilience and mobility.
This year, the program attracted more than 400 applications from 19 countries, showcasing remarkable talent across the continent.
Farmer Lifeline, of Kenya, was announced as the 2025 Wireless Reach Social Impact Fund winner, recognizing its impactful use of wireless technology.
Applications for Qualcomm Make in Africa 2026 are now open. Applicants can visit the Qualcomm website to apply.

As a flagship initiative of Qualcomm, the equity-free program shines a spotlight on the creativity and drive of African founders leveraging advanced technologies such as AI, 4G/5G, robotics, connectivity and IoT to address pressing real-world challenges.

Now in its third year, the program remains steadfast in its mission to accelerate early-stage technology startups by providing tailored mentorship, targeted business coaching, expert engineering consultation and comprehensive intellectual property protection guidance – exemplified by resources such as Qualcomm’s L2Pro Africa training. This holistic support empowers founders to transform their visionary ideas into sustainable, market-ready solutions.

“This year’s cohort has demonstrated incredible ingenuity, transforming complex challenges into scalable, tech-driven solutions that will drive social and economic impact across the continent,” said Elizabeth Migwalla, Vice President International Government Affairs, Qualcomm Incorporated.

“Innovation is the driving force behind Africa’s future, and this year’s startups are a brilliant demonstration of that. The African Telecommunications Union (ATU) is proud to partner with Qualcomm for the Make in Africa 2025 program,” said John Omo, Secretary General of the ATU. “We are working to harmonize spectrum management policies, regional standards, and open data practices, but we know that true progress relies on large-scale support. That’s why we call on governments, universities, investors, and industry to support these initiatives – and any endeavor that places African ingenuity at the forefront.”

The 2025 cohort includes the following groundbreaking startups:

Aframend (Nigeria): Uses AI to explore African medicinal plants for new drug discovery and aims to turn local remedies into safe, affordable treatments for diseases.
AmalXR (Tunisia): Offers AI-powered virtual rehabilitation sessions on everyday devices, enabling easy patient and clinician progress tracking.
Archeos (Benin): Automates fish farming with solar-powered sensors and feeders, providing real-time data on water quality and feeding levels for improved fish health.
ClimatrixAI (Nigeria): Installs connected weather and flood stations with an AI platform to forecast street-by-street risk, enhancing early warnings and disaster response for local communities.
Ecobees (Tunisia): Builds smart hive monitors and a digital platform for real-time insights into beehive-health, to protect bees and crops that depend on them.
Edulytics (Senegal): Applies AI on handheld ultrasound devices for early detection of liver disease, aiming to make this special screening widely accessible.
Farmer Lifeline (Kenya): Deploys small, solar-powered devices that scan fields for pests and diseases and send alerts straight to farmers’ phones to protect crops.
Pollen Patrollers (Kenya): A women-led agritech startup using connected hive technology and AI to keep bee colonies healthy.
Solar Freeze (Kenya): Provides solar-powered cold rooms with remote monitoring enabling farmers to keep fruits and vegetables fresh and increase earnings.
Pixii Motors (Tunisia): Designs electric scooters with smart batteries that can be swapped in and out at local stations, aiming to revolutionize urban mobility.

Wireless Reach Social Impact Fund Winner

Kenyan innovator, Farmer Lifeline, was announced as the winner of the 2025 Wireless Reach Social Impact Fund. The fund, sponsored by Qualcomm® Wireless Reach™ Initiative, champions the innovative use of wireless connectivity to address pressing community. As the winner, Farmer Lifeline will receive dedicated funding and tailored technical support to scale its groundbreaking solution.

“Farmer Lifeline stood out with its innovative small solar-powered devices that scan fields to detect pests and diseases. This technology enables local farmers to effectively protect their crops, significantly increase yields, and improve food security”, stated Erica Ciaraldi, Vice President, Wireless Reach, Qualcomm Incorporated.

“Their visionary approach and dedication to agricultural resilience have positioned them as leaders in their field. They are driving meaningful change for smallholder farmers and inspiring others across the continent. This fund will empower them to scale their impact further, enabling broader reach and deeper influence across Africa and the world.”

In recognition of the groundbreaking innovations demonstrated by all finalists, each will receive stipends designed to accelerate their growth, support strategic development and safeguard their intellectual property. This comprehensive support underscores Qualcomm’s commitment to fostering innovation and ensuring these visionary projects can thrive sustainably.

Looking ahead: Launch of Qualcomm Make in Africa Startup Mentorship Program 2026

Building on the significant success of previous years, Qualcomm is excited to launch the fourth year of the program in 2026.

Applications for the 2026 Qualcomm Make in Africa cohort can be found at the Qualcomm website.

Kindly share this post

Telecom

Fynd Expands Global Footprint, Adds Africa With Surtee Group Partnership

Published

5 days ago

December 18, 2025

Ugo Onwuaso

Kindly share this post

Fynd, an AI-native retail technology platform backed by Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, today announced its official expansion into South Africa, onboarding Surtee Group – one of the region’s most established luxury and fashion retailers – as its first strategic customer in the market. This milestone marks a pivotal moment for African retail, as legacy brands begin embracing digital transformation to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving consumer landscape.

Fynd

Fynd’s entry into Africa reflects its commitment to enabling digital transformation in high-growth retail markets worldwide. The move also comes at a turning point when South Africa’s e-commerce sector is projected to exceed R130 billion ($7.48 billion) in 2025, capturing nearly 10% of total retail sales – a fourfold increase since 2020.

According to Statista, South Africa is expected to have 11.7 million e-commerce users in 2025, with projections reaching 21.5 million by 2029. This growth is being driven by rising internet penetration, mobile-first shopping behaviour, and increasing trust in digital platforms. To meet rising consumer expectations, businesses are investing in AI and unified commerce platforms. Fynd’s scalable, AI-native stack is built to support this shift, enabling agility, personalisation, and operational efficiency.

“South Africa’s retail landscape is evolving fast,” said Ronak Modi, Chief Business Officer – Global at Fynd. “Consumers expect seamless, personalised experiences across every channel, and retailers need agile, intelligent infrastructure to keep up. Our platform is built to unify disconnected systems, speed up fulfilment, and elevate customer engagement; all without adding operational complexity.”

“South Africa is an exciting addition to our global footprint. The market is digitally ambitious, brand-forward, and ready for intelligent commerce infrastructure. Our goal is to help local retailers unify siloed systems, personalise engagement, and accelerate fulfilment without adding complexity.”

Surtee Group operates 94 boutiques and 2 e-commerce sites, comprising the multi-branded stores Levisons and the mono-brand boutiques, namely, Giorgio Armani, Michael Kors, Lacoste, Hugo Boss, VERSACE, TOD’S, Salvatore Ferragamo, Versace Jeans Couture, Emporio Armani, Burberry, Jimmy Choo, Luminance, Paul Smith, Coach, and Armani Exchange. They will implement Fynd’s unified commerce stack, including Storefronts, Order Management System (OMS), Warehouse Management System (WMS), and Clienteling tools to connect in-store and online operations, streamline inventory visibility, and launch brand-specific ecommerce storefronts across its brand portfolio.

While online retail continues to surge, offline sales still represent the vast majority of revenue for retailers in the country. Fynd will enable Surtee Group to unify its offline inventory online, power ship-from-store capabilities, and improve both margins and sell-throughs. Additionally, products like Clienteling will empower in-store teams to engage customers better and drive incremental sales through personalised recommendations and seamless omnichannel experiences.

Fynd’s entry into the market is designed to meet this demand. Its AI-native platform enables real-time stock visibility, ship-from-store capabilities, dark store orchestration, and intelligent customer engagement all within a single scalable solution.

As part of its digital transformation roadmap, Surtee Group aims to consolidate its leadership in luxury and fashion retail while expanding into e-commerce and improving omnichannel agility.

“We were looking for a partner who understood both the technical and strategic dimensions of unified commerce,” said a Surtee Group spokesperson. “Fynd stood out for their proven scalability, consultative approach, and deep experience with global fashion brands, many of which align with our portfolio. Their unified stack enables us to modernise operations while building a connected, brand-first customer experience.”

Fynd has already scaled across India, the GCC, and Southeast Asia, and now adds Africa to its regional presence. With Surtee Group leading the transformation, Fynd is positioned to play a key role in powering unified commerce adoption across South Africa’s growing digital economy.

Kindly share this post