Telecom
Zipline Launches New Autonomous Home Delivery Services

Zipline has unveiled its new platform that provides quiet, fast and precise autonomous delivery directly to homes in cities and suburbs. The company’s next generation home delivery platform is practically silent (designed to sound like wind rustling leaves), and is expected to deliver up to 7 times as fast as traditional automobile delivery, completing 10-mile deliveries in about 10 minutes.
Zipline has spent the last several years building and fine tuning its next generation technology, Platform 2 (P2), to provide an optimal customer experience at scale. Unlike other drone delivery services, Zipline’s drones (Zips) fly more than 300 feet above the ground and are nearly inaudible. When the Zip arrives at its destination, it hovers safely and quietly at that altitude, while its fully autonomous delivery droid maneuvers down a tether, steers to the correct location, and gently drops off its package to areas as small as a patio table or the front steps of a home. This is all made possible through major innovations in aircraft and propeller design.
Several businesses across the healthcare and restaurant sectors have already signed on to use Zipline’s new home delivery service. Sweetgreen is partnering with Zipline to further its mission of connecting people to real food in the U.S., while moving a step closer to its pledge to be carbon-neutral by 2027. By ordering through Zipline’s marketplace, Sweetgreen customers can get their orders using 97% less energy than traditional automotive methods.
“The future of delivery is faster, more sustainable and creates broader access, all of which provides improved value for our customers,” said Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO of Sweetgreen. “We couldn’t be more excited to work with Zipline to complement our delivery strategy. Zipline’s sustainable technology and ability to reach customers quickly, with a great delivery experience, will help us give our customers what they want, when they want it.”
Michigan Medicine will use Zipline’s new service to more than double the number of prescriptions it fills each year through its in-house pharmacy. Intermountain Health will use it to deliver prescriptions to patients’ homes in the Salt Lake City metro area.
MultiCare Health System plans to use the new platform to expedite diagnostics and deliver prescriptions and medical devices throughout MultiCare’s network of facilities, including hospitals, laboratories and doctors’ offices. And Zipline’s first customer, the Government of Rwanda, will use the company’s new home delivery service to enable urban aerial last-mile delivery to homes, hotels and health facilities in Kigali and elsewhere in the country.
Zipline’s end-to-end solution seamlessly integrates with a business’s current operations. That includes its dual-use docking and charging hardware, software that easily works with third-party inventory management and ordering systems, an intuitive app that allows order tracking down to the second, and an autonomy system that has already guided the flight paths of 40 million commercial miles. Zipline designed its docking and charging hardware to have a light footprint that can be attached to any building or set up as a freestanding structure.
A Zip can be easily loaded by a business’ employee who can send off orders in seconds, right from their location, without even having to leave the kitchen, pharmacy or doctors’ office. Businesses can offer Zipline’s home delivery service in a variety of ways, including native integrations into apps and websites, white labeled opportunities, and by joining Zipline’s marketplace. Customers can make on-demand orders, or schedule the exact time they’d like their package to arrive, down to the second.
Each P2 Zip has a 10-mile service radius while carrying a 6-8 pound payload for out-and-back deliveries from a single dock. Alternatively, it can also fly up to 24 miles one way from dock to dock, charging at each dock before picking up its next delivery. Because Zips can move from dock to dock, Zipline can dynamically respond to peak order times – ensuring there’s enough delivery capacity for an urgent prescription delivery or a busy Friday pizza night or weekday lunch rush.
“Over the last decade, global demand for instant delivery has skyrocketed, but the technology we’re using to deliver is 100 years old. We’re still using the same 3,000-pound, gas combustion vehicles, driven by humans, to make billions of deliveries that usually weigh less than 5 pounds. It’s slow, it’s expensive, and it’s terrible for the planet,” said Keller Rinaudo Cliffton, co-founder and CEO of Zipline.
“Our new service is changing that and will finally make deliveries work for you and around your schedule. We have built the closest thing to teleportation ever created – a smooth, ultrafast, convenient, and truly magical autonomous logistics system that serves all people equally, wherever they are.”
Zipline plans to conduct high-volume flight tests this year involving more than 10,000 test flights using about 100 aircraft. The first customer deployment of P2 will follow shortly after that. Zipline’s record for safety has been proven over the past seven years of operations and over more than 500,000 commercial flights. Its long-range platform, P1, has autonomously flown 40 million miles worth of commercial deliveries through all kinds of weather without a safety incident – the vast majority of which were flights flown beyond visual line of sight.
Zipline has received Part 135 certification, is authorized to complete the longest-range, on-demand commercial drone flights in America, and recently received FAA approval to enable its onboard autonomous detect and avoid system.
Zipline completed more deliveries in 2022 than in all previous years combined, and is planning to complete about 1 million deliveries by the end of 2023. By 2025, Zipline expects to operate more flights annually than most airlines.
Telecom
Telcos: How and Why Network Services have Been Poor

Telecommunications operators (telcos) in Nigeria have explained that the recent poor quality of network services experienced across the country is largely due to the widespread vandalism and theft of critical telecom infrastructure, not a failure on their part.

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, ALTON
The operators, under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), said their efforts to improve services through massive investments and network upgrades are being undermined by unchecked sabotage and the lack of sufficient protection from security agencies.
They warned that unless urgent action is taken, the situation could worsen in the coming days, affecting not just voice and data services but also key sectors like banking, education, healthcare, and national security that rely on stable telecommunications.
A top official from one of the major mobile network providers, who spoke anonymously, said operators had kept their promise to enhance service quality following a recent tariff adjustment approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), but their efforts are being eroded by relentless vandalism.
“At the wake of the marginal price adjustment that the NCC approved for the sector, we promised to optimize our networks to give Nigerians a very robust service,” the official said
“But what we are seeing after making such huge investments is that vandals are carting away our facilities without a challenge and selling them in open markets. That’s why services are a bit poor and that is why if nothing is done urgently, it will get worse.
In a statement jointly signed by Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, and Damian Udeh, publicity secretary, ALTON expressed deep concern over the scale and spread of infrastructure sabotage across the country.
“Since the Federal Government’s decisive interventions earlier this year to support industry sustainability, our members have committed unprecedented levels of investment in network optimization and capacity upgrades,” the statement read.
“New systems are being deployed, transmission equipment modernized, power systems overhauled, and thousands of kilometers of fiber optic networks currently being laid and expanded. Our industry has not seen this scale of investment in recent years. We are working round the clock to improve the quality of service nationwide and we cannot afford these setbacks.”
Between May and July 2025, the association recorded numerous cases of vandalism at telecom sites across Rivers, Ogun, Osun, Imo, Kogi, Ekiti, Lagos, Abuja, and several other states, resulting in widespread outages and degraded service quality for millions of subscribers.
Stolen assets include power cables, rectifiers, fiber optic and feeder cables, diesel generators, batteries, and solar panels, all vital for maintaining consistent network availability.
“These are not mere materials, but the backbone of our digital economy, security systems, and national communications grid,” ALTON said. “We are alarmed at the frequency, intensity, and geographical spread of these incidents.”
Telcos on poor network services also raised alarm over a thriving black market for stolen telecom equipment.
“Batteries are being resold for household and office inverters, solar panels are stripped from sites and traded to unsuspecting buyers, while diesel meant for powering telecom base stations is routinely siphoned and sold.”
In addition to vandalism, ALTON cited damage caused by road construction and civil engineering projects, which frequently destroy underground fiber optic cables, leading to unplanned service disruptions and financial losses.
The group has called on key security stakeholders, including the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), the Inspector General of Police, the DSS, and the NSCDC to urgently step in and protect telecom assets nationwide.
Telecom
Glo Launches Nigeria’s First-of-its-kind Device Protection Plan

Technology Company, Globacom, is making mobile phone protection accessible and affordable for its subscribers with the launch of its new Device Protection service, a pioneering initiative in Nigeria.
The innovative offering enables both new and existing Glo subscribers to protect their mobile devices against screen and water damage for a small premium.
In partnership with Cubecover, this service allows new and existing Glo customers to protect their mobile devices against common screen and water damage. Mojeed Aluko, Globacom’s Head of Value Added Service (VAS) explained that a minimal daily premium of just ₦50, or ₦300 weekly, and ₦600 monthly ensures that a customer’s device can be covered.
He stated that the micro-protection plan offers up to ₦50,000 for screen repairs or replacement once the device has maintained an active subscription for one month.
“As a responsive and innovative network, we are leveraging this opportunity to provide meaningful protection to our customers, helping them stay connected even in the event of accidental damage”, said Aluko, highlighting Glo’s commitment to innovation and customer support.
Subscribers who wish to enjoy the service should dial *7013*1# to enroll via USSD. They will then select a preferred daily, weekly, or monthly package. Payments are debited directly from customers’ Glo airtime. After payment, a link will be sent for a quick screen integrity test. After passing the test, the device’s IMEI is registered with Cubecover, thus securing coverage.
Deji Macaulay, Managing Director of Cubecover, highlighted that this collaboration with Globacom will reduce anxiety for users regarding accidental phone damage and repair costs.
“The device protection service is unique because of its simple enrolment process via mobile phones and its affordable micro-premiums. It is also fast as its tech-driven verification process eliminates delays and paper works. It also provides peace of mind for millions of Nigerians using smartphones daily”, Globacom added.
New customers without Glo SIMs can walk into any Gloworld shop across the country, purchase a SIM and any phone device of their choice and subscribe to the device protection instantly.
Telecom
MTN Executive Adeola Oduntan Emerges as Africa’s Supply Chain Leader of 2025

Adeola Oduntan, General Manager, Global Sourcing & Supply Chain Management at MTN Nigeria, has been recognised as Strategic Supply Chain Leader of the Year at the 7th Africa Procurement and Supply Chain Awards, highlighting individual excellence within the company’s broader operational success.

L-R: Victor Esemezie, Senior Manager, Sourcing & SRM, MTN Nigeria; Olufunmilayo Jegede, Senior Manager, Facilities and Fleet, MTN Nigeria; Akin Naphtal, Group CEO, InstinctWave and CEO of Africa Procurement Summit Group; Adeola Oduntan, General Manager, Global Sourcing & Supply Chain Management, MTN Nigeria and Olademeji Shonubi, Senior Manager, Planning and Fulfillment, MTN Nigeria, during the 7th Africa Procurement & Supply Chain Awards where MTN Nigeria won 5 awards, held at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos.
The award, presented at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos, recognises Oduntan’s role in transforming MTN Nigeria’s supply chain operations through digital innovation and strategic sourcing. His leadership has been instrumental in driving the company’s strong business performance, reflected in MTN Nigeria’s comprehensive local procurement framework that prioritises suppliers with genuine local value creation. Under Oduntan’s strategic guidance, the company has implemented sophisticated procurement evaluation criteria that allocates up to 25% weightage for local supplier participation, while conducting rigorous assessments to ensure local partners aren’t merely “trading entities” for foreign suppliers.
The connection between supply chain excellence and business results is evident in MTN Nigeria’s expanding customer base, with the recent landmark three-year national roaming agreement with 9Mobile, approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission in July 2025. This groundbreaking partnership, which enables 9Mobile subscribers to access MTN’s network infrastructure nationwide, exemplifies Oduntan’s strategic approach to infrastructure optimisation and collaborative partnerships that enhance service availability while maximising asset utilisation across the telecommunications sector.
“APSCHA has become far more than ceremony, it is now a strategic platform that amplifies the critical contribution of procurement and supply chain professionals not just within the organisation, but across the broader African development agenda,” said Akin Naphtal, Group CEO of InstinctWave.
Oduntan’s individual triumph formed part of MTN Nigeria’s performance at the awards, where the company secured five awards including Digital Supply Chain Innovation of the Year, Excellence in Strategic Sourcing, Sustainability and Local Content Champion of the Year, and Procurement & Supply Chain Team of the Year. This success reinforces the telecommunications company’s position as a leader in supply chain transformation across Africa’s business landscape.
The recognition comes at a time when supply chain leadership plays an increasingly strategic role in driving operational excellence and competitiveness across Africa’s telecommunications sector.
- Telecom3 days ago
MTN Nigeria Rewards 1,500+ Winners with ₦290m in Mega Billion Promo
- E-Financial3 days ago
Naira Slides Again, Hits ₦1,532.34/$ Despite CBN’s Dollar Push
- E-Business3 days ago
Microsoft Server Hack Likely Solo Actor, Thousands at Risk
- E-Business3 days ago
Flaw in Microsoft SharePoint Sparks Global Cybersecurity Concern
- Telecom3 days ago
MTN, MTV Base Launch “Room of Safety” Series to Promote Online Child Safety
- E-Financial3 days ago
Fidelity Bank to Empower 100 SMEs Across Nigeria with Digital Tools
- Telecom3 days ago
MENXTT Tech NG Debuts USA-Spec Devices and Redefines IT Retail in Nigeria
- E-Financial2 days ago
Kuda Unveils New Wallet for Multiple Currencies