🗼Telkom SA divests mast & tower division to UK’s Actis | 📺 Elon Musk’s X debuts TV App

Today’s Menu ☕️

📺 Elon Musk’s X introduces dedicated TV App for video viewing
🤖 OpenAI Surpasses 1 Million Paid Users and Prepares for New Advanced Models
 🛒 SPAR invests R2.7 billion to withdraw from European operations
📱Sudan receives $3 million investment for networking upgrade and subsea fibre enhancement
🆔 DR Congo scraps $1.2 billion biometric ID plan over financial misconduct claims
🗼Telkom South Africa divests mast and tower division to UK’s Actis for Over $350 million

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🛒 RETAIL

SPAR invests R2.7 billion to withdraw from European operations

SPAR South Africa has announced the sale of its Polish operations for 40 million Polish zloty (approximately R185 million) as a strategic move within its broader turnaround plan. However, the divestiture comes with the condition that SPAR will inject R2.7 billion into the business to recapitalize it.

The buyer is Specjal, a Polish retail company, which will take over the underperforming segment, thereby allowing SPAR to eliminate the loss-making unit from its financial statements. This transaction is aimed at enabling SPAR to reallocate its resources more effectively towards its primary market in South Africa and to explore new avenues for growth.

SPAR Group CEO Angelo Swartz commented on the deal, emphasizing its significance for the company and its Polish workforce. He expressed optimism that under Specjal’s ownership, which has the necessary resources and scale, the business will thrive and reach new heights..…....continue reading

📺 MEDIA

Elon Musk’s X introduces dedicated TV App for video viewing

Elon Musk’s X has entered the streaming wars and is determined to position X as a formidable rival to YouTube. In a direct move to bolster this ambition, Musk himself reached out to MrBeast, the most popular content creator on YouTube, urging him to begin sharing complete videos on the platform previously recognized as Twitter.

This initiative underscores Musk’s commitment to transforming X into a hub for video content. Earlier in the year, X’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, announced the platform’s strategic shift towards prioritizing video, declaring X as evolving into a “video-first” platform.

Advancing further in its commitment to video content, X is now launching a specialized smart TV application designed exclusively for the consumption of videos uploaded to the platform. This development marks a significant step in X’s transition towards becoming a central destination for video viewing, reflecting its efforts to expand its video content ecosystem and enhance user engagement through larger screen formats..…....continue reading

🆔 IDENTITY MANAGEMENT

DR Congo scraps $1.2 billion biometric ID plan over financial misconduct claims

The Democratic Republic of Congo has terminated a substantial $1.2 billion initiative aimed at establishing a nationwide biometric identification system. This decision comes in the wake of serious allegations concerning financial misconduct associated with the project.

Richard Ilunga, who heads the Congo’s National Office for Population Identification (ONIP), announced the cancellation of the agreement with Idemia, a French company specializing in biometrics. Idemia was contracted to develop a civil registry and produce identification cards, working alongside the intermediary company Afritech. The termination of the contract was officially declared on August 12, 2024.

While Ilunga did not explicitly cite the reasons for discontinuing the contract, he did reference that the decision to abandon the project was made subsequent to consultations with various governmental bodies and delegates from the Idemia-Afritech consortium.…....continue reading

🤖 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

OpenAI Surpasses 1 Million Paid Users and Prepares for New Advanced Models

OpenAI recently announced that it now has over 1 million paying users across its business offerings, which include ChatGPT Enterprise, Teams, and Edu. This growth is a substantial leap from the 600,000 users recorded in April, reflecting CEO Sam Altman’s concerted efforts to drive enterprise adoption of ChatGPT for professional use.

In line with this expansion, The Information reported that there are ongoing discussions within OpenAI regarding the introduction of higher-tier subscriptions for future large language models (LLMs). These models include “Strawberry,” a reasoning-focused model, and “Orion,” the next flagship AI. According to reports, potential subscription fees for these new models could soar up to $2,000 per month, contrasting sharply with the current $20 per month for ChatGPT Plus. This move is part of OpenAI’s broader strategy to enhance its AI models, like Strawberry, which incorporates a technique known as “post-training” to improve performance on specialized tasks after the models have been trained on general data...…....continue reading

📱TELECOMS

Sudan receives $3 million investment for networking upgrade and subsea fibre enhancement

The telecommunications landscape in Sudan is set to experience a significant transformation thanks to a $3 million investment in advanced networking equipment and the recent activation of a new subcontinental undersea fibre optic cable. This development is particularly impactful for Sudan, a nation that has seen its telecommunications infrastructure severely damaged by the ravages of civil war.

The undersea fibre cable initiative, which has just been brought online, is an innovative venture led by the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA). This project falls under the strategic Port Sudan to Douala (Cameroon) Corridor and is designed to connect landlocked nations in Central and West Africa to the global undersea cable network.

The Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), an international consortium of organizations dedicated to providing shared communications services during humanitarian crises, has made a substantial investment in the necessary networking equipment to support this project.……continue reading

OTHER STORIES

• Telkom South Africa divests mast and tower division to UK’s Actis for Over $350 million…….read more

• Flutterwave appoints former Citi executive Mitesh Popat as Chief Financial Officer…..read more

• MTN commits to continuing operations in Cameroon amid legal challenges from businessman’s campaign against South African firms….read more

• ChitChat from Zambia collaborates with Mastercard to introduce virtual cards for international transactions…..read more

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