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Facebook plans to lay almost 500 miles of fiber cable in Africa for better wireless internet
Facebook has a new plan to get more of Africa online: Fiber optic cables. The social giant on Monday announced plans to lay nearly 500 miles of fiber cable in Uganda by the end of the year, infrastructure that Facebook believes will provide internet access for more than three million people.
- Categories
- Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Microloan approvals done in 7 minutes, not 7 days in India
Bharat Financial Inclusion, India's second-largest microfinance company, has linked its credit systems to the national database to speed up cheaper financing to those at the margins.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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PesaLink is no threat to M-Pesa, says Safaricom
The planned launch of interbank mobile money transfer system next month by commercial banks will not slow down revenues from Safaricom's M-Pesa, chief executive Bob Collymore has said. He says a significant number of close to 25 million customers on its money-minting machine, M-Pesa, will not be swayed by PesaLink because they do not hold conventional bank accounts.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Calls from rivals for higher charges by Safaricom rejected
Proposals by Airtel and Telkom Kenya that could have seen Safaricom forced to charge its customers higher rates than its rival telecommunications providers have been rejected by consultants hired to assess competition in the sector.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Woman-Led Tala Raises $30 Million Series B For Micro-Loans Via Smartphone
Tala, a startup that makes micro-loans to entrepreneurs in the developing world via smartphone app, has raised a $30 million Series B round as it expands into new geographical markets.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
- Tags
- fintech, venture capital
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Kenya: Safaricom Faces M-Pesa Break Up in Market Dominance War
Telecoms operator Safaricom could be forced to hive off its popular mobile money service M-Pesa if sector regulator, the CA, moves to implement recommendations of a market dominance report.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Why Omidyar Network is Excited About Technology Stacks for Financial Inclusion
There are a lot of buzzwords out there when it comes to technology, so we try not to get caught up with each new fad. But everywhere we look, we see a concept that promises to be a powerful driver of not only innovation, but also economic progress: technology stacks.
- Categories
- Technology
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National Payments Corporation of India begins pilot project to digitize transactions in microfinance sector
Under the project, RBL Bank will disburse loans and HDFC Bank will receive loan repayments for the transactions of Svatantra Microfinance using Aadhaar and USSD based facilities.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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