Telecom
Tips to Save Time with Your Smartphone
Time is an essential commodity that cannot be trifled with. Notable American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker, Jim Rohn captured it succinctly when he declared that: “Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.”
Nevertheless, your smart phone, when used effectively, can be a very useful tool for helping you use time more judiciously. The following tips from the Research and Development Unit of Yudala, Nigeria’s fastest growing e-commerce outfit – will help you become smarter in saving time.
Set up task lists
Most busy people always seem never to have enough time in a day. This is often due to clashing engagements and loads of crucial tasks to attend to. However, your smartphone can make life easier for you in this regard by helping you make smarter use of your 24 hours. One of the ways to achieve this is by setting up a task list. You can create a simple spreadsheet with the major tasks you have set out to achieve each day with timelines attached to each. You can even set a reminder for each task. With this list accessible on your smartphone, you can work smarter and maximize your productivity. When managed properly, a task list can be a fantastic organizer.
Create access to your documents
Today’s fast-paced, knowledge-driven economy has resulted in more mobility, with more time being spent on the move and away from work spaces or the office. Valuable time and potential business deals will certainly be lost if you have to get to your laptop or the office to take action or respond to important correspondence. With your smartphone, you can access your emails, save your important documents online and access them on the move, thereby reducing down-time. Whether at home or out of the office, you can still get crucial work done with apps such as Microsoft One Drive, Google Drive or Dropbox which allow you to store and retrieve your documents whenever you need them.
Online Shopping
Considering the crushing daily schedule most individuals pass through to earn a living, finding time to visit an open-air market or physical store for your shopping needs may be a tough ask. This is where your smartphone comes in. Online shopping is gradually growing in popularity and you can leverage on this to manage your time more efficiently. Interestingly, platforms such as Yudala combine physical stores with an online presence, thus offering the consumer more convenience.
As a result, you no longer have to physically visit a store for your shopping requirements. You can place orders online and have your items delivered straight to your door, with the additional convenience of paying on delivery. Interestingly, some supermarkets have also caught the online shopping bug and now offer home delivery for provisions and food items.
Digital Banking
The days of filling out numerous forms and standing in a queue in a crowded banking hall while waiting to carry out a simple transaction are decidedly over. Banks and other financial institutions are fully in on the digital revolution. Therefore, you can save more valuable time by cashing in on the ease of digital banking. With your smartphone, there is no reason why you cannot carry out all the transactions you previously visited a bank for. You can check your account balance, transfer money, request a debit card, pay bills and even set up a monthly savings plan. All you have to do is subscribe to online banking and download and install your bank’s app.
Educational/Reading materials
The increasing convergence of technology has seen the world shrink to a global village. An amazing depth of educational, informative and other reading content is available on the internet. This is in addition to books and materials related to your career, industry or area of study. These can be accessed from the convenience of your smartphone in various formats including audio, video and written form. What’s more, you can save valuable time by using apps such as Audible or Librivox Audiobooks to listen to useful literature or other contents while carrying out other activities such as your daily workout, a long drive or while cleaning or doing the dishes.
Travel arrangements and hotel reservations
Gone are the days when making travel plans can be a time-wasting affair. With your smartphone and in the comfort of your home, you can save time by booking your flight and making hotel reservation. Irrespective of your destination, this can be achieved with a good internet connection and the right app on your smartphone. With your smartphone, you can make payments, check in online and choose a seat without physically visiting the airline’s booking office. This applies even for trips by road to other parts of the country, as a number of transport companies now have their mobile apps with which you can book and pay for a trip.
Time Management Apps
You can carry out all of the tips given above without additional time management apps, your smartphone is already equipped with the features mentioned. However, there are many fantastic applications available for Smartphones in this category.
If you choose to use one of these, ensure that it complies with your overall strategies for better time management. A comprehensive task management application or program might have many valuable features, but if you find that its complexity means that you are spending a lot of time using it, you will be defeating the object of having an application to help with your time management in the first place. If this is the case, consider using one of the myriad of other programs available or simply use the features already available on your smartphone. Remember, the point of a task manager is to make you more efficient with your time and reduce the stress in your life, avoid anything that adds to it!
MTN Nigeria is accelerating investments in network expansion and modernization to address rising demand for mobile and data services across the country.
The operator is deploying additional base stations, upgrading existing infrastructure, and expanding fiber connectivity to improve network capacity, coverage, and service quality.
The investments are designed to support increasing smartphone adoption, higher data consumption, and the growing use of digital services by consumers and businesses.
MTN said the expansion aligns with its long-term strategy to enhance customer experience while strengthening Nigeria’s digital infrastructure.
The company expects the ongoing upgrades to improve connectivity, support economic growth, and enable broader access to reliable telecommunications services as demand for high-speed broadband continues to increase.
Airtel Africa’s CEO, Sunil Taldar, has announced the telco’s commitment to connecting 5,000 schools across its operating countries in Africa to the internet by 2027 through its philanthropic arm, Airtel Africa Foundation, in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
So far, the $57m partnership, which was launched in 2021, has cumulatively connected 3,296 schools and provided access to over 2 million learners and about 40,000 teachers. 64 digital learning platforms have been zero-rated thereby enabling more than 11m users to access educational content at no cost.
Speaking during a visit to St. Monica’s Girls School in Lusaka, which is one of the 300 schools already connected to the internet in Zambia, the Airtel Africa CEO stated that the initiative is having a profound impact on the quality of education by expanding access to digital learning resources for African children, in collaboration with governments.
Mr Taldar added: “Students are accessing best-in-class education from the curriculum developed by UNICEF in partnership with various Ministries of Education and provided through Airtel’s connectivity.
“We are also training teachers, so that they deliver digital education effectively. We aim to continue deepening meaningful connectivity in schools by providing free internet access, zero‑rated platforms and training teachers across the continent”.
Expressing her appreciation, the Headmistress of St. Monica’s Girls’ School, Sr Matilda Soloko said: “Being among the first schools connected in the initial stage, our learners have been able to study using the learning portal and their studies have been intensified. We remain grateful to Airtel and UNICEF.”
UNICEF’s Country Representative for Zambia, Dr Saja Farooq Abdullah said: “What this partnership has brought is really bridging the equality gap and the digital divide. It is making sure that every child learns wherever they are. It was exciting and interesting to see and hear from the girls how they can learn at their own pace, how they can review the materials, and how they do their homework with comfort.
The Director of Secondary Education in Zambia’s Ministry of Education, Yvonne Mwemba Chuulu lauded UNICEF and Airtel for the partnership saying: “At the Ministry of Education, we cannot do it alone, and we are grateful for the partnership that we have today.
“Our children are able to learn in a blended fashion, where we have a teacher who is also employing digital devices. We have also heard from the learners that they are able to access the portal when they are at home, which is a good thing because our learners continue to learn in the comfort of their homes”.
The School Connection programme is expanding digital learning to learners in 13 countries: Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. By equipping these schools with internet connectivity and training teachers on using the digital tools, it is providing children, particularly in underserved and remote regions, with the digital tools and skills they need to thrive.
Airtel Africa Foundation is advancing inclusive development across four strategic pillars, Financial Inclusion, Education, Environmental Sustainability and Digital Inclusion.
MultiChoice has officially become a wholly owned subsidiary of French media company Canal+, marking the completion of one of the largest acquisitions in Africa’s media and entertainment industry.
The integration brings the South Africa-based pay television operator under the full ownership of Canal+, a global media group with operations in 70 countries.
Announcing the completion of the transaction on Thursday, Chief Executive Officer of Canal+ Africa and MultiChoice, David Mignot, described the development as the beginning of a new phase of growth for the broadcaster.
“MultiChoice is now a full subsidiary of a truly international media group operating in 70 countries.
“The group was founded in France, is listed in London and Johannesburg, and has a strong African presence with operations in more than 45 countries,” Mignot said.
The acquisition combines Canal+’s international operations with MultiChoice’s extensive footprint across sub-Saharan Africa, where it serves millions of households through its DStv and GOtv platforms, as well as the Showmax streaming service.
According to Canal+, the integration will strengthen MultiChoice’s competitive position by giving it access to broader financial resources, technology, content partnerships and operational expertise.
The company said the combined business would increase investment in local content production, sports broadcasting and streaming services as competition intensifies from global platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+.
The transaction is also expected to provide MultiChoice with greater access to international markets at a time when traditional pay television operators are adapting to changing consumer viewing habits and the rapid growth of digital streaming platforms.
Canal+ has expanded steadily across Africa over the past decade and now assumes full control of a business operating in more than 45 African countries, further strengthening its position in the continent’s media and entertainment sector.
The acquisition followed Canal+’s gradual increase in its shareholding in MultiChoice, which began in 2024.
After exceeding the regulatory threshold, the company launched a mandatory offer in April 2024 to acquire the remaining shares of the Johannesburg-listed broadcaster.
Following regulatory approvals and shareholder acceptance, Canal+ secured control of MultiChoice in 2025 before completing the process that has now made the company a wholly owned subsidiary.
Industry observers describe the acquisition as one of the most significant media transactions involving an African company, reflecting a broader trend of consolidation as global entertainment firms seek greater scale to compete in the streaming era.
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