Nigerian telecommunications consumers may need to tighten their belts in the days ahead, as the Federal Government has concluded  plans  to impose a 5% excise duty on all telecommunications services ranging from calls, and SMS to data services. 
The Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, ALTON, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, and National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, NATCOMS, have kicked against the move, describing it as anti-people, provocative, strange, insensitive and irresponsible.

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A technology company, Soft Alliance, has expressed its commitment to providing tech solutions and enhancing the growth of the Information and Technology sector in Nigeria.
It says this informed its decision to partner with Huawei and enhance the growth of the sector.
The Managing Director, Soft Alliance, Dr Bisi Aina, says its Human Capital Management Solutions, SoftSUITE and SoftPAY, were designed to handle human resources administration and bulk payments by the management.

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The Nigerian Communications Commission has committed over N500 million to the Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions across the country to facilitate research and innovations.
Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof Umar Danbatta says the funds have been committed to research grants to universities and tertiary institutions, including professorial chairs in the universities in salient areas to drive development in the Nigerian telecommunications industry.

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MTN Nigeria and Airtel in their half financial reports for 2022 disclosed that Nigerians are set to enjoy fast Internet as two telecommunication firms invest N443.30bn in 4G and 5G infrastructure across the nation.
MTN says it has invested N311.6bn and Airtel disclosed it has invested N131.70bn within the first six months in infrastructure.
MTN says capital expenditure in the period was N311.6bn, up by 67.1 per cent, due to accelerated coverage expansion, focusing on the 4G and 5G networks as well as their rural telephony programme.

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Executives at Netflix have announced that its imminent ad-supported plan will not allow users to access all the movies currently on its catalog.
This comes after the streaming service company partnered with Microsoft to market an ad-supported tier in its subscription options.
Netflix’s co-CEO, Ted Sarandos, maintained that though the ad-supported tier will contain most of the movies on Netflix’s catalogue, some movies will remain exclusive to higher paying users of the platform.
Netflix initiated the ad-supported plan in response to declining subscriptions on its platform, which has reportedly lost about 970,000 subscribers in H1 of 2022 alone.
However, the idea of attracting new subscribers who will not have access to some of Netflix’s catalogs raises concerns about the decision hurting Netflix’s business.

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Google has relaunched Street View, the Google Maps feature that allows users to explore an area through 360-degree panoramic street-level images, in India more than a decade after it first rolled out the service in the South Asian market and roughly six years after the feature was banned by the country over security concerns.
The company says it has partnered with local giants Genesys and Tech Mahindra to relaunch the service, which is now live in 10 Indian cities.
The company expects to roll out the service to 50 Indian cities by the end of the year.

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A new report detailing the cost of mobile data in different markets across the world bears evidence of why internet users in most of Africa remain low despite the growing broadband internet coverage.
The Worldwide Mobile Pricing 2022 report, which surveyed 233 countries, shows that five of the 10 most expensive countries to buy mobile data in the world are in sub-Saharan Africa.
Internet is cheapest in Ghana at $0.61, followed by Somalia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Sudan, Eswatini, Kenya, and Mauritius.

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Meta announced that it’s raising the price of its Quest 2 virtual reality headsets due to increased production costs.
Starting on August 1st, the Meta Quest 2 will cost $399.99 USD for the 128GB version, which is a $100 increase from the current $299.99 price tag. The 256GB version will cost $499.99, up from the current $399.99 cost.
The company has also warned that it’s increasing the price for Meta Quest 2 accessories and refurbished units.
The company says the costs to make and ship our products have been on the rise adding that by adjusting the price of Quest 2, they can continue to grow their investment in groundbreaking research and new product development that pushes the VR industry to new heights.

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Popular messaging app JusTalk left a huge database of unencrypted private messages publicly exposed to the internet without a password for months.
The messaging app has around 20 million international users, while Google Play lists JusTalk Kids, billed as a child-friendly version of its messaging app, and has racked up over 1 million Android downloads.
JusTalk says both its messaging apps are end-to-end encrypted and boasts on its website that only you and the person you communicate with can see, read or listen to them
Security researcher Anurag Sen found the exposed database reports and said a logging database used by the company for keeping track of bugs and errors with the apps was left on the internet without a password.

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Vantage Data Centers has announced the completion of a hyperscale data centre which is located within its 80MW campus in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The project, which was launched in 2021, was delivered in 10 months, 10 days ahead of schedule, with zero lost-time incidents over 1.5 million working hours.
Justin Jenkins, chief operating officer of EMEA at Vantage Data Centres, mentioned that the project’s rapid completion allows the company to more quickly meet the demand for hyperscale data centres in the region.

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