TECH ROUNDUP: MTN Nigeria secures NCC’s consent to rent two spectrums from NTEL

• MTN Nigeria has secured NCC’s consent to rent two spectrums from NTEL

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• Sam Bankman-Fried has issued a legal defence to dismiss several charges

• LinkedIn is cutting 716 jobs

• Africa contributed about two-thirds of the global mobile money transactions

MTN Nigeria has secured the Nigerian Communication Commission’s consent to rent two spectrums from NTEL a deal worth N4.25 billion that covers taxes, regulatory fees, and auxiliary charges and is valid for two years. MTN has also renewed its 3G license in the country for another 15 years.

Airtel Nigeria has paid N58.7 billion to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to renew its 2×10 MHz 2100 MHz spectrum license for 15 years.

Also Read: TECH ROUNDUP: Lazerpay struggling to be self-sufficient

Africa contributed about two-thirds of the global mobile money transactions. According to the State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2023, the value of mobile transactions in 2022 is $1.26trn and transactions in Africa alone was valued at $836.5b.

POLITICS

Zimbabwe officially launched its digital currency. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) said the gold-backed tokens will be backed entirely by the bank’s physical gold reserves.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Spotify has removed tens of thousands of songs made with the generative artificial intelligence service Boomy, following complaints of fraud on its streaming platform. Boomy users can create music in seconds using descriptors or styles such as “rap beats” or “rainy nights.”

Meta has issued a statement over recent scams that were perpetuated by verified accounts. It said that it has removed all of the identified imposter accounts, while it’s also confirmed that all of these Pages were verified under its old system, not as part of the new Meta Verified program. “While many of the improvements we’ve made are difficult to see – because they minimize people from having issues in the first place – scammers are always trying to get around our security measures,” Meta said.

WORLD NEWS

LinkedIn is cutting 716 jobs and will begin phasing out its local jobs app in China. CEO Ryan Roslansky said the decision to shutter the standalone China app, called InCareer, was because of “fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate.”

FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Fried has issued a legal defence seeking to dismiss several of the charges and claiming that the law firm representing FTX, Sullivan & Cromwell in its bankruptcy has become de facto agents of federal prosecutors building the criminal case against him and might be withholding crucial evidence. “FTX’s legal advisors went to the government to accuse Bankman-Fried behind his back without knowing the full facts, and ultimately forced him to step down as C.E.O.,” the lawyers wrote.

Paxful has resumed operations after being shut down for over a month, the company said in a blog post. “After a month away, we’re happy to announce that the Paxful marketplace is back online. In early April, we faced a difficult decision to temporarily suspend the marketplace to protect all of our customers and Paxful’s future,” the post reads.

ENIGERIA NEWSPAPER