MTN Uganda has for all years since its launch in the country proved to be the biggest telco with a pile of subscribers to its Everywhere you Go network. Its to this point that the Yello camp always prefers to spoil subscribers with amazing deals and discounts off its data and voice offers not leaving out a series of give back promotions.

One of the most popular Mobile Money rewarding promotions the camp has ever compiled is the Momo Nyabo campaign that is running for its second round since 2018. The Mobile Money promotion was ushered in as a driver to the slashes OnNet sending fees and now a series of Winners have crusied away with brand new cars and motorbikes include the following awarded last week.

• Akello Anna — Motorbike Winner
• Golooba Moses _ Car Winner
• Godfrey Otukene — Car Winner
• Florence Nakanwagi — Car Winner

Huawei says Donald Trump’s promise wont have any heavy impacts

Before Huawei unveiled its inhouse custom Operating System branded as HongMeng, Google and More US tech companies had chose to break ties with the company over sanctions issued to the Chinese brand.
While Presdient Donald Trump recently inked a move to reinitieate Huawei back to the US, the Chinese company has called the promise as a no big change factor in their devlopment.

Huawei’s side was inked by its Chairman Liang Hua, who said that the lifting of Huawei’s ban from the US would help the company but would not have such a big impact given the fact that the country is already progressing to its next higher highs.

So far we haven’t seen any tangible change

Liang

“We’re not saying that just because things have relaxed a little, we’re fine with being on the blacklist,” he said. “Actually, we believe our listing on the blacklist should be lifted completely.”

NITA Uganda unveils Uganda’s 1st Live Tier III Data Center

After a long hold from Raxio’s announcmene to build the 1st Tier III data center in Uganda, NITA Uganda over the weekend awakened from its nAtional backbone extensions to an official unveiling of its live data center located in Jinja.

The Data center was launched by HE the Presdient of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni with full reducanct links availaing hosted Government services to the public. During the luanch, the Presidnet inked the new data center as a center of excellence for Ugandan Innovators and IT based services.

Infinix Mobile launches its Note 6 Smartphone in Uganda

Think of the Note 6 as a brillinat Systlus pen powered Smartphone borrowing the propularity streak of the Infinix Note 5 and Note 4 pro in an Android 9 populated year. Infinix Mobile unveiled the Smartphone on Monday and a brand new unit costs betweet UGX 749,000 and UGX 750,000 at all authorised outlets.

Facebook fined with $5bn over data privacy

Remember the Cambridge Analytica data scandal? Facebook was reportedly granting 3rd party providers access to user data and the US court has issued a $5bn penalty to the social media giant over the found guilty scandal.

However, does this put an end to low data privacy on all Facebook owned platforms? Its a goal that will be soon decided to since the blue coated company now aims at strengthening all user data and privacy after the levied fine is cleared to the authorities.

With the Africa BlockChain conference kicking off yet another blockchain dominance year and telecom companies cracking down to new offers in Uganda, here is a shot of the bog 5 stories you might have missed in the 1st week of July.

Huawei reimagines Hongmeng a Notch higher

The USA Trump administration earlier this year decided to blacklist Huawei from the 1st class country with clear sanction to all its relations to local tech companies. later last month, President Donald Trump inked a move to re-initiate the Chinese company back to USA and recover all its broken ties with companies like Google.

Well, Huawei inked a very smart reveal after its Android blacklist by Google from supporting all its future devices and this was its custom designed operating system Hongmeng.

At the current timeframe, HongMeng has re-imagined its position a notch higher by opening its App ecosystem to developers with rumors that the system is going to be faster than Mac Os and Android as the company founder commented on plans to ditch Android off future releases due to the US sanctions.

Airtel slashes its calling rates for other networks

The Uganda communications commission (UCC) earlier this month announced a slash in cross-network rates for all local telcos with an effective date of 1st July 2019. In a flip of days, Airtel Uganda has tuned out to brace the new rates with a slash of its off-net tariff prices to 3/= per second and 180/= per minute.

Econet plans on shutting down Kwese Play due to Administration

Econet__A Pan African solution company housing the Kwese brand name has been put under temporary administration. As a result of the new Administration policies, Kwese Play is apparently shutting down just like its parent company.

However, given the fact that Kwese play has a vast line of supportive brands like Kwese iFlix and Kwese Free sports___one of the free to air channels in Uganda. Room for survival in the media space lies in the resurrection of its parent company EcoNet and a redefinition of its packages across the continent.

2019 Africa block chain conference ends in high gear

The Africa block chain conference is an annual Technology digest that covers the evolution and trend of block chain adoption in Africa. Last year’s conference was held at the Kampala Serena Hotel which is the same venue that was shared for this year’s version that took place between 4tth-5th July with emulative displays at the 2day shakedown.

Among the exclusive highlights from the Africa Block chain conference included a package of funding to progressive blockchain-powered solutions like the Jaguza livestock app that bagged $2000, Pesabase with $3000 also rounded up the pitch competition with $5000 during the conference.

Interestingly, Sophia_a humanoid robot delivered her speech to the conference audience via teleconferencing from her citizenship country in Saudi Arabia teaming up the BlockChain conference a step higher than expected. The Sierra Leone president Julius Maasa Bio presided as the Chief Guest as HE president was represented by the Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda.

MTN introduces 100% bonus on Voice call packages

After the dawn of Gaga Wednesday bundles that had a hefty pack of data offers in a mid-week sleaze, MTN promised better offers to replace the My MTN App limited offer. In less than 1 quarter, the company has already revolutionalised its Momo Nyabo rewarding campaign, brought to life a new data offer and now a 100% bonus on Monthly Voice call packages.

The new voice calls bonus works on both Weekly and monthly tier packages where a subscriber gets over 2000 minutes for the price of 1000minutes on the Yello network. Much more like a repetition, more packages could soon dive in given the fact that the company still has more urge to prove its top slot position.

Equity Bank unveils a Supreme branch

Equity bank is one of the biggest banking sector heads in Uganda and its position is notable for by the milestones it has tackled in a period of less than 10 years. Well, On Thursday Equity bank rolled out its latest product dubbed as “Supreme Banking” with a first-ever branch of the kind in Bugolobi off Luthuli Avenue.

The New supreme banking branch is strictly designed for the corporate niche where customers will have the ability to swiftly hold meetings, teleconference as well as have a sip of free Internet access at the branch.

According to Equity officials, more supreme branches will be unveiled by the bank as time goes on with the first of its kind situated in the heart of Bugolobi in Kampala after a cop up from the Kenya wing norm.

Huawei Delays its foldable Mate X Launch

Huawei unveiled its foldable Mate X smartphone earlier this year in February, but its official launch date to the market is now procrastinated amidst the fact that Google put a stop to future devices support as the U.S has no signs of lifting the ban yet.

Well, the Mate X procrastination is not affiliated to the fact that U.S sanctions are sinking in the Huawei veins, but instead allied to the ever-rising issues about Samsung’s Galaxy Fold Smartphones. So, Huawei decided to delay its Mate X official release until the device is fully ready to cope with user behavior and flagship standards later this year.

MTN brings a new Data offer to life

MTN Gaga Wednesday ignited a data bundle marathon in Uganda that is progressively attracting new entrants with Airtel ruling Fridays and Africell battling up for a two days position on both Wednesday and Airtel’s favorite. As the shocking MTN reveal came to pass a few weeks ago, the Yello camp promise of having a revamp of the offer cruised in a new data offer earlier this week.

The New MTN Data offer is a multiplier that will have all subscribers enjoy double packages each time a monthly bindle tastes their Yello SIMcard. Unlike the Gaga With MTN offer that had a 3-day lifespan, the new double data offer is valid for 3 months from the time of subscription on an MTN line.

Google’s Pixel 4 smartphone leaks with elegancy to its design

Google’s Pixel 3 is one of the elegant smartphones you can easily call a top tier beast. Amidst the fact that Apple and Samsung still boast with great device cameras, Google’s Pixel series boast with more picture quality as braced by the phone users. Luckily, the upcoming Google Pixel 4 pictures have been leaked and here a sip of what it will look like.

NITA-U increments its NIB Phase IV project

The National Infomation technology Authority (NITA-U) is an IT regulation body that is incrementing Uganda with full internet access through its National backbone infrastructure (NBI) project. Yet again, NITA-U has incremented its Phase IV project with a full Internet access revamp for Schools in Katakwi district.

Through the Phase IV project which covers the WestNile region and a sip of the Karamoja region that as well covers Katakwi in its coverage map. NITA-U installs computers for Secondary Schools and further avails Internet access to all Gov’t offices in the phase region.

From the Transport sector, SafeBoda crossed lines to meet it 10,000 mark and it’s not game over for Huawei that is still facing sanctions day by week. Just like any other industry, the mobile manufacturers’ sleaze also had some stiff outcomes and here are the top highlights from last week.

MTN’s Formerly Deported CEO Mr Wim Valenhepputte steps back to office

Earlier this year, MTN Uganda suffered the biggest thorn to its heart when top officials viewed the Uganda exit route without any advance notifications. First to say goodbye was the telco CMO and Mobile Money head before the CEO was also treated to the same path.

Well, by the time June paved way for a revelation of 2019’s first half. MTN Uganda’s hopes of excelling in all projects grew higher with the return of their Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Wim Vanhelleputte who was helped by his acting counterpart Mr. Godian Kyomukama during his un-notified deportation. So, even with Gaga Wednesday scrapped off the 2019 ladder, its a win-win situation for the Yello Camp against its former state worries.

Olx switches sides with Jiji

Olx is a startup that has been run by Naspers since its birth in 2006 and it is now a rebranded wing of Nigeria’s mighty online marketplace Jiji. All Olx wings mostly in Africa will now operate as Jiji with their respective country level domains. During the takeover, Jiji announced no alteration in user profiles and browsing experience, but instead a full revamp of the online shopping experience.

Huawei Trademarks its HongMeng Operating System

Huawei mobile released its custom operating syetm that will power up all future releases dubbed HongMeng. After Huawei’s entry on the banned companies list in the United States by the Trump administration, Google went ahead to end support for future Huawei devices leading to the surprising reveal of its mighty OS.

HongMeng has been an in-house custom designed product since 2012 and the Google ban ignited its rebirth and public reveal. So, Huawei earlier this week trademarked HongMeng with all rights reserved to the Chinese wing making it the official OS for all its future releases.

Apple unveils its new Mac pro plus A dose of MacOS Catrina

Apple is known for producing well-lit Retina display computers mostly evidenced on MacBooks. Yet again the Mac Pro is that $6000 priced beast that was unveiled earlier this week as the company’s 2019 beast riding on a couple of sweet specifications. With less talk and more attention to detail, here is a sniff of the mac pro spec sheet.

• Stainless steel frame that offers 360-degree interior access 
• Up to 28-core Intel Xeon with 300 watts of power
• Up to 1.5TB of system memory
• 8 PCIe expansion slots 
• Radeon Pro Vega II Duo or Radeon Pro 580X graphics cards
• Support for up to 2 MPX modules, which feature Thunderbolt support and 500 watts of power
• Afterburner graphics ASIC: can process 6 billion pixels per second, can playback 3 streams of 8K RAW 
• Two Thunderbolt 3 ports
• Two USB-A ports
• 3.5mm audio minijack
• PCIe, DisplayPort, and power
• Two built-in 10GB Ethernet ports

The Mac Pro is sleek in design and super efficient on production as the Company applauded its performance. The flagship is a descendant of the iMac family and its announcement shared stage with a new MAC OS. OS X 10.15 Catalina succeeds MacOS Mojave and will be available in September this year with new improvements and an extension of Apple’s dark mode back to life.

SafeBoda hits the 10,000 drivers mark in Uganda

SafeBoda is slowly becoming the Uber for 2 Wheelers, the Kampala based Startup is not only spreading its wings across Africa but also strengthening all its paths. From an Academy to train drivers to a new design for their app, SafeBoda has now added a pile of 10,000 active drivers to its service loop in Uganda. The 10,000 announcement came off Driver No1(Moses Namba Emu)‘s Twitter page applauding their achievement in the competitive ride-hailing industry.

Huawei further blocked from supporting Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp

Huawei Mobile initially won the sanctions battle by unveiling HongMeng as their custom OS for future releases and the company Founder applauded the move before a Cybersecurity task to the US.

However, after TradeMarking the new OS, Facebook announced their end of support for any future Huawei devices even with those running HongMeng. Well, its Sad news, but the Mobile industry will fall apart once Huawei jacks from the race due to overloaded sanctions by US providers to the company.

MTN Uganda ships AI to its Mobile Money service

Artificial Intelligence moves hands in sight with 5G and the Internet of Things. MTN Uganda earlier this week decided to ship AI to its Mobile money wing with efficiency and easier transaction means to its plan. The new AI functionalities will help users make payments, send money and perform several Mobile money tasks without stressing hard for identical loops.

Our Rumor drill has it that MTN is planning to extend the new AI functionality through a mobile app close to what the MY MTN App is structured like. Unlike the existing Momo Pay service that was recently linked to Shoprite for cashless payments. The new mobile money AI functionality will ease service usage for every user riding on the Yello network.

Toyota unveils the 2020 Lexus RX

Away from Tesla’s fast-rising streak rendered on Elon Musk’s undying support, Toyota is one of the innovative car manufacturers putting to book affordable yet efficient rides for the Global market. The 2020 Lexus RX unveiled by Toyota ships a triple Beam lights threat just like any other SUVs manufactured in the 5G error.

Away from what the body offers, the Interior is well furnished and pimped with both Amazon’s Alexa assistant and Apple car play for super-efficient voice and navigation functions for the car. The Lexus is an All Wheel Drive (AWD) SUV paired with 2 electric motors to its bonnet pumping a 308Horsepower to the engine. Either way, here is a taste of what the interior has to offer.

E3 2019 sets pace for the Gaming industry

E3 is an annual Gaming convetion where ddvelopers and console manufacturers showcase the latest they have to offer. This year’s convention presser was kicked off by promises for bigger developments from the PlayStation camp as Microsoft also put together new Xbox features coming to book in 2019.

E3 2019 is being hosted in Los Angeles at the LA convention center and according to CNET, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Nintendo, and Square Enix are all expected to make announcements. More so, here is the Weekend Plan of the 2019 E3 Convention.

Sunday, June 9

• Microsoft / Xbox — 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET)
• Bethesda — 5:30 p.m. PT (8:30 p.m. ET)

Monday, June 10

• PC Gaming Show — 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET)
• Ubisoft — 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET)
• Square Enix — 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET)

Tuesday, June 11

• Nintendo (livestream only) — 9 a.m. PT (noon ET)