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In today’s edition
Nigeria’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, in Q1 2023, contributed ₦3.1 trillion ($6.7billion) to the country’s GDP, accounting for 17.47% of the country’s total GDP.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in the Q1 GDP statistics of 2023.Per the NBS, this is a substantial rise from the 16.2% ($6.2 billion) recorded in Q1 of 2022.
The NBS defines the ICT sector as encompassing four activities: telecommunications and information services; publishing; motion picture; sound recording; music production; and broadcasting.
Telecom leads: Compared to Q1 of the previous year, the telecommunications sub-sector demonstrated growth of 10.32%, contributing 14.13% to the GDP in real terms. Broadcasting emerged as the ICT sector’s closest sub-sector in terms of contribution, adding 1.98% to the overall sector’s performance.
A remarkable growth in nominal terms: Between January and March 2023, the ICT sector made significant strides in its contribution to the total nominal GDP, reaching 13.23%.
This surpassed the rates of 10.55% recorded in the same quarter of 2022 and 10.42% in the preceding quarter, indicating a positive growth trend for the sector. Moreover, the sector displayed impressive growth in nominal terms, reaching 41.84% in the quarter under review. This represents a remarkable increase of 21.30% points compared to the rate of 20.54% in the same quarter of 2022. Additionally, it outperformed the growth rate of the preceding quarter by 20.43% points, signifying a significant acceleration in the sector’s overall performance.
Looks like tech is indeed the new oil.
Moniepoint is Africa’s second-fastest growing company, as shown in FTs latest report. We also processed 1 billion transactions worth $43 billion in Q1 alone. Read all about it here.
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BasiGo Company and Kenya Power have launched Kenya’s first public electric bus charging station.
Located in Nairobi’s Buruburu area, the charging station currently has the capacity to charge six buses simultaneously. There are, however, plans to upgrade the station by the end of the year, allowing it to accommodate up to 25 vehicles at once.
Electrifying mobility: With the introduction of this new station, BasiGo expands its charging infrastructure and now operates three stations. These stations have the capability to charge over 20 electric buses, replacing the consumption of 20,000 litres per year of imported diesel with 50 MWh of clean, renewable electricity generated locally in Kenya, supporting the growth of the electric vehicle (EV) industry while promoting sustainable transportation.
The facility is the first one linked to the nation’s e-mobility tariff approved by the Energy & Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) in 2023. The e-mobility tariff provides low-cost power for electric vehicle charging during nighttime hours when Kenya has a surplus of renewable energy supply.
Future plans: By the end of 2023, BasiGo aims to open its charging stations for public use, allowing electric cars and trucks to be charged conveniently. Additionally, BasiGo plans to expand its charging infrastructure across Nairobi and eventually throughout the entire country, establishing a network of accessible charging stations. These initiatives are part of BasiGo’s broader objective to facilitate the deployment of 1,000 electric buses to bus operators in Nairobi within the next three years.
Amidst intense controversy, Nigeria’s NITDA bill is pushing itself towards the presidency.
Kenya’s high-tax regime could make a $40 smartphone an impossibility.
According to the financial results of eMedia, the company has secured a five-year extension with MultiChoice to carry eNCA on DStv.
The deal means that eMedia—owner of tv channel eTV—will block its own platforms like Openview from broadcasting the 24-hour news channel. eMedia also disclosed that MultiChoice is now paying a lower licence fee for the channel.
A bargain for DSTv: Bizarrely, despite now offering the channel exclusively to DSTv, eMedia will be making less from the new deal via a licence fee (figure not reported). This is contrary to most television licensing deals where exclusivity means more cost of licensing to the licensee.
The other reason the deal is a steal for MultiChoice-owned DSTv is that eNCA is one of the most-watched news channels in South Africa with an audience of over 1.5 million.
Zoom out: Still in the financial results, eMedia said it maintained its prime-time audience market share of 34.5% across eTV, Openview, and eNCA, up slightly from 34.1% in March 2022.
This week, South African digital banking platform, Tymebank, raised $77.8 million in a pre-series C funding round. The round was led by Norrsken22 and Blue Earth Capital, with participation from Tencent.
Here are the other deals this week:
That’s it for this week!
Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more funding announcements. You can also visit DealFlow, our real-time funding tracker.
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Bitcoin
$26,451
+ 0.26%
Ether
$1,806
+ 0.26%
BNB
$304
– 0.39%
Cardano
$0.35
– 1.83%
Name of the coin
Price of the coin
24-hour percentage change
* Data as of 23:30 PM WAT, May 25, 2023.
Crypto firms operating in South Africa, in five days, will have to apply for a licence or risk heavy fines. In November 2020, South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) proposed crypto should be treated like financial products, and that firms offering crypto-related services must apply for a licence. The proposal was turned into legislation in October 2022, and the window for application is set to open on June 1.
Brazil is drawing closer to launching its CBDC. CoinDesk reports that the country, yesterday, announced that it had selected 14 institutions, including Microsoft and Visa, to participate in the pilot of the digital real, the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Join us this evening at 6 PM (WAT) as we discuss with key stakeholders the roadmap for the growth of Nigeria’s Tech ecosystem! We’d be exploring what’s expected of the incoming government and how they can facilitate a thriving tech industry.
Our Speakers include:
To join in, set a reminder here
Written by – Mariam Muhammad & Ephraim Modise
Edited by – Timi Odueso & Kelechi Njoku
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