Johannesburg, South Africa – THE MTN Group has opened a research laboratory with Huawei Technologies in Johannesburg.
The partnership marks the deepening of ties with the Chinese company and the potential acceleration of the spread of new technologies on the continent.
Details
The facility will focus on applications for artificial intelligence, data analysis, cloud computing, fintech and other technologies,
What they say
“Before we start developing new technology in one of our markets, we are able to test its effectiveness and value in our own lab”, Head of Technology and Innovation at MTN Mazen Mrouet he said in an interview.
“Usually the tests are done in a vendor’s lab and you have to monitor their outcome – but with our latest initiative, we can test all the technologies ourselves, with any supplier, European or non-European.”
Because this matters
Africa has a young, fast-growing, tech-savvy population that relies on mobile phones to access everything from banking to healthcare.
Also, some of the latest technologies have been slower to roll out, such as 5G Capabilities and Artificial Intelligence Applicationsdue to the expensive nature of building these networks and the lack of software developers working on the continent.
Between the lines
South Africa is facing “enormous pressure” from the US to stop using Huawei’s network. The country says it will not bow to international pressure to stop using Huawei equipment in its technologies.
China is the African nation’s largest trading partner.
The big picture
Huawei, which has become a central focus in the ongoing US trade war with China, has has been banned from the provision of equipment for networks, in particular more advanced 5G equipmentin the US, while some European countries they have made strides remove the technology from their networks.
Source: Bloomberg
Follow us on our WhatsApp channel, Twitterand Instagramand subscribe to our weekly newsletter to make sure you don’t miss any news.
Related