APRA decries terror attack in Burkina Faso, worried about Mpox in DRC - ITREALMS

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The African Public Relations Association (APRA) has earnestly condemned the recent terror attack in the Burkinabe town of Barsalogho in the Sanmatenga Province of the Republic, reports ITREALMS.
recovery.

The attack, ITREALMS gathered left so many people dead and a score injured.

Interswitch seals deal with Multipay Congo for DRC - ITREALMS

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One of the Africa’s leading integrated payments and digital commerce companies operating in over 14 countries in the continent, the Interswitch Limited and Multipay Congo, a leading integrated payments service provider in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), have joined forces to enhance the payments ecosystem in the DRC, reports ITREALMS.

The partnership, which is a response to the rapidly evolving and expanding demands of the DRC market, will enable Multipay Congo to leverage Interswitch’s technology and expertise to deliver innovative and secure digital payment solutions to the Congolese market, supporting financial inclusion, driving digital transformation, and boosting economic growth in the country.

DRC achieves 10% COVID-19 coverage milestone - ITREALMS

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The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has crossed the 10 per cent primary series COVID-19 vaccine coverage milestone, a significant achievement in a populous country where coverage one year ago stood at below 1%, and where the health system is handling multiple priorities including Ebola, cholera and measles.

In January 2022, DRC was one of the 34 COVAX AMC-supported countries whose coverage stood below 10%. Today, with concerted support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF and WHO through the COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership, only 6 countries remain below 10% - with Cameroon, Mali and Gabon amongst the latest to cross this milestone.

DRC gets Internet Exchange in Lubumbashi - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Global non-profit organization dedicated to the open development, evolution and use of the Internet, the Internet Society, and the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (ISPA-DRC.cd) have jointly launched a new Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in Lubumbashi, reports ITREALMS.

The exchange, ITREALMS gathered, will bring about faster and more reliable Internet access in the DRC region. 

An Internet Exchange Point is an access point where multiple local and international networks, ISPs and content providers interconnect their networks instead of through third-party networks. Exchanging Internet traffic locally not only reduces bandwidth costs, but improves Internet experience for end-users by keeping traffic local.

Currently, Internet traffic in Lumbumbashi, the second largest city in DRC is exchanged outside the region and in many cases, outside the country. This results in slow Internet speeds and higher access costs. IXP’s are used to route traffic that can be kept local instead of sending that traffic to the nearest major Internet node (usually located in Europe) and back.

Technical training, support and equipment to launch this IXP in Lubumbashi (LUBIX) was provided by the Internet Society in collaboration with Facebook. The two organizations announced a partnership (http://bit.ly/34G6IkF) in September of last year to promote IXP infrastructure development throughout Africa. Since then, IXP workshops have been held in Morocco, Nigeria, Burkina Faso Zimbabwe, Togo, Lesotho, Burundi and Mauritius, Guinea, Benin and Chad resulting in over 300 people trained, and upgraded infrastructure unlocking potential growth of IXPs across the continent.

“We want to help shift Africa from being Internet consumers to Internet creators and innovators. This will be realized through deliberate actions to have 80% of the Internet traffic being consumed in Africa accessible locally and only 20% sourced from outside the continent,” explained Michuki Mwangi, Senior Development Manager for Africa, Internet Society.

There are currently 45 active IXPs located in 33 countries across Africa. Many of these were established within the last decade and have grown significantly with over 1,000 networks now connected.

“We’re excited to partner with ISOC and members of the ISP association to help launch the second Internet Exchange Point in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Kojo Boakye, Head of Public Policy for Africa, Facebook. “This new infrastructure will help improve connectivity by lowering the cost of delivering Internet services to people in the region.”

Nenye Dom/Editor

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Kabila’s mandate expiration: DRC set to block social networks

ITRealms:

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may have concluded plans to block social networking websites including Facebook and Twitter, and WhatsApp, before President Joseph Kabila's mandate expires on Sunday’s midnight, reports ITRealms.

The government order to this effect as gathered by ITRealms, was sent to at least three internet service providers (ISPs) and sighted  by correspondent Thursday, indicated that this order will probably hamper the organisation of public protests against Kabila.

According to AFP News Agency, the letter from Congo's Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ARPTC) requested the "temporary blocking of sharing of images, video and voice [data] over the network" from 11:59pm local time (2259GMT) on Sunday.”

ARPTC, however, did not give its reason for the orders, just as the list of platforms to be blocked was very lengthy, including Skype.

"In cases where partial blocking is not possible, you are required to block access to the relevant social networks entirely," the regulator said.

Text messages will continue to function as normal.

The government's plan was first raised on Tuesday at a meeting of the ARPTC.

"The ARPTC verbally instructed us during the meeting to filter connections on social networks," one internet company executive said, before adding the "trials are likely to be carried out overnight Thursday and Friday".

"We will comply with what has been demanded. It's part of our [legal] obligations," said a manager at one of the affected ISPs.

ITRealms recalls that President Kabila's second term in office would end on Monday, December 19, 2016.

Chuks Egbune/GEE with additional reports by AFP

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Orange concludes acquisition of Tigo DRC

ITRealms:

The mobile market in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) would soon witness a boom with the conclusion of acquisition of Tigo DRC by Orange Telecom, reports ITRealms.

 With this acquisition, DRC prides itself as the largest mobile market in Central and West Africa, after Nigeria, just as this came less than three months after signing an agreement with Millicom.

ITRealms reports that with a population of more than 80 million people and a relatively low mobile penetration rate of 50 per cent of the population, the country offers considerable growth potential for Orange.

The consolidation of Orange and Tigo operations in the DRC, ITRealms reports, would enable Orange to strengthen its presence in the country.

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Orange in-charge of Operations in Africa and the Middle East, Bruno Mettling, said, “We are extremely happy to announce the completion of the acquisition of Tigo by Orange DRC in a market marked by very strong growth potential. Through this strategic investment, Orange confirms its ambition to reinforce its presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and accelerate the conditions in which it can develop its services through this consolidation.”

This acquisition, according to the duo of Tom Wright and Olivier Emberger from Orange Telecom in a press statement made available to ITRealms, illustrates Orange’s development strategy in Africa where almost one in ten people are already customers. In this zone, the Group aims to reinforce its positions as a leader in the countries in which it is present.

ITRealms recalls that Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 40 billion euros in 2015 and 156,000 employees worldwide at 31 December 2015, including 97,000 employees in France.

+Remmy Nweke  

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