IT News Africa: Top Stories of the Week

2015 has kicked off with bang so far; however the last week of 2014 also saw some great ventures in the tech industry. Earleir this week, seven start-ups emerged from the Ampion Venture Bus in Tunisia. To add to this, we saw the departure of Luca Rossi, Acer’s former EMEA operations president.

Moving over to Kenya, the Communications Authority revealed the launch of a consumer awareness campaign ahead of the switch-off of analogue broadcasting in the Nairobi area 31 December. The regulator has urged citizens to obtain digital set-top boxes to avoid a last-minute rush after the switch-off.

The team at IT News Africa hopes you had a wonderful 2014, and we hope you have a fantastic 2015.

Top Stories of the Week

7 start-ups built on Ampion Venture Bus in Tunisia
After the Grand Final at Tunisia’s university ESPRIT, a jury of high-level investors, bankers and decision makers from the Maghreb region crowned the eventual winners TrashCash, ExTails and Citizen+. Read More.

Kenya begins analogue switch-off
CA Director General Francis Wangusi stated that there would be no extension of analogue broadcasting, as there is limited time left to the June 2015 deadline set by the ITU. Read More.

Firefox OS expands to 28 countries
Mozilla announced that its Firefox OS is now available on 14 smartphones offered by 14 operators in 28 countries. The phones will soon expand to Africa, taking the OS to a total five continents. Read More.

MTN Launches video on demand services
MTN has launched a subscription-based digital entertainment service called MTN FrontRow Services that gives its customers access to thousands of movies and their favourite television series on their devices for a launch price of R179 a month. Read More.

Luca Rossi resigns from Acer
Acer has announced the resignation of EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, Africa) operations president Luca Rossi. According to Acer, Emmanuel Fromont, currently Pan-America Operations president, has been appointed to succeed Rossi. Read More.

PlayStation Plus Free Game Lineup January 2015
Along with the PlayStation Plus Free Game Lineup for January 2015, Sony will be giving PlayStation Plus Subscribers an additional 5 days extra on their subscription’s. Read More.

Darryl Linington