Telecom
Blackberry’s Athoc Improves for Rapid Response Crisis Communications
BlackBerry Limited, a global leader in secure mobile communications, announced that AtHoc, a division of BlackBerry, has released a new version of its market-leading crisis communications platform.
These new capabilities give AtHoc customers additional pre-planning resources and automated processing of crisis communication activities, to help resolve critical incidents with less manual intervention and fewer improvised, on-the-spot decisions.
It also assists staff members in preparing for a wider range of emergency scenarios more easily, and in responding to crises faster with fully-automated business rules, outreach, and response.
“Critical events are inherently complex, and our customers have been asking for faster and more efficient ways to manage their crisis communications,” said Joseph Ng, Senior Director of Marketing and Strategy at AtHoc. “They want to be able to customize their workflow so that users understand the nature of threats sooner, and alerts are escalated faster. It’s all about business continuity and resilience, and we are proud to address those needs directly with this new release from AtHoc.”
AtHoc consistently monitors and evaluates the crisis communication discipline, and this updated platform directly addresses some of the core 2016 Crisis Communication Trends. It significantly simplifies the management of emergency situations with several new enhancements:
Real-Time Alert Rules. Enables users to create rules for forwarding alerts received from external organizations and sources.
It also helps operators to predefine response processes on common incident types. For example, a hospital receiving a notification from fire or police that a major crisis has led to a large number of injuries will not lose time initializing and launching its own alerts.
The incoming notifications will automatically be routed to the appropriate medical and administrative personnel. A recent example of the need to plan and coordinate communication processes is January 2016’s Winter Storm Jones, as described here.
Automated Staff Mustering. A new fill count capability automatically contacts a roster of staff members who possess the right skills and training until the required number of people has been reached, and acknowledged their assignments.
At that point, the system stops seeking additional respondents, freeing up resources and personnel for other priorities. For example, in a chemical plant, all available qualified workers can be summoned to the scene of a problem, until enough people have responded to cover all of the contingencies.
Management Alerting. Pre-configured escalation rules that automatically alert supervisors when line staff cannot be reached, or decline an assignment for some reason.
This enables managers to analyze an issue, and communicate the situation up the chain, requesting assistance from senior individuals. In an IT organization, as an example, if a critical system goes down and the normally assigned technician is unavailable, qualified managers up to the CIO can be called to step in and fill the gap, or activate a predetermined contingency plan.
Severity-Codified Notifications. Easy-to-use templates enable organizations to designate the level of severity when setting up and issuing an alert.
The look and feel of the alert will automatically correspond to the seriousness of the situation. Supervisors can receive emails with a familiar red headers at the beginning of the crisis, to denote extreme urgency, in addition to any other forms of contact.
The personnel contacted during the fill count can also receive supplementary emails with the red headers. However, people told to wait and be available for later shifts will receive companion emails with orange or yellow headers, indicating a lower level of urgency.
Together, these new innovations significantly improve rapid response time by turning complex business processes into efficient, effective, crisis communications to deliver faster, more automated actions.
Many of these new functionalities have already deployed at major North American airports, maritime ports, large refinery operations centers, and at some of the world’s largest healthcare organizations, among other customers.
AtHoc, a division of BlackBerry Limited, is the pioneer and recognized leader in networked crisis communication, protecting millions of people and thousands of organizations around the world. AtHoc provides a seamless and reliable exchange of critical information among organizations, their people and devices.
A trusted partner to the world’s most demanding customers, AtHoc is the leading provider to the U.S. Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, and safeguards numerous other government agencies and leading commercial enterprises.
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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