NEWS
Paratus Namibia connects rural school with
Internet access
grade one to seven learners from the San and surrounding farming
community. Paratus Namibia Managing Director Andrew Hall says
the school has no Internet connectivity and it is further complicated
by the location of the school.
“As Namibians, we at Paratus are very passionate about our country
and its people and believe that the education of our children is vital
to empowering the upcoming younger generations,” he said.
Paratus offers sophisticated VSAT solutions for all regions in
Namibia as well as a pan-African satellite footprint. It can connect
any business (lodge, guest farm, mine) to the Internet using VSAT
technology, which is affordable, has reliable quality bandwidth and is
the perfect solution for remote areas seeking Internet.
A s part of its commitment to empower future generations,
Paratus Namibia has provided the Kwakwas Primary school with
Internet access through its range of VSAT products. The school also
received a sponsorship of 20 Lenovo tablets from Tacoma Sunrise
Rotary Club in the US. The VSAT service is provided, operated and managed through
Paratus Namibia’s own in-country VSAT hub. This means that the
traffic stays within Namibia and is not landed at an international hub
and routed back to Namibia, thus shortening the round-trip time for
data access.
Kwakwas Primary School is a rural school situated around 27km
north-west of Rehoboth. It has four staff members that teach 69 “The school is therefore now able to make optimal use of the tablets
that were received,” added Hall.
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Report identifies inflection point for payment
acceptance in Africa
N
etwork International, a leading enabler
of digital commerce across the Middle
East and Africa, has published research
highlighting the key trends putting Payment
Acceptance at an inflection point of growth
in Africa. The report further builds on its
findings by outlining strategic opportunities
for banks in the region.
The White Paper – Payment Acceptance
in Africa – has been produced as part of
Network International’s work in supporting
financial inclusion. The pace of growth in
the adoption of digital payments and bank
accounts provides financial services providers
with brand new opportunities to roll out new
fintech solutions, credit facilities for SMEs
and retail banking services to the world’s
fast-growing ‘banked’ population.
The report details the broad pillars of
growth across bank accounts (now held by
41% of adults), Point of Sale devices (up
26% pa) and transactions per card (up
61% pa) according to Network’s research
of nine African markets. The report also
highlights the untapped opportunity, with
transactions currently concentrated on the
travel and entertainment sector and within
major cities.
Andrew Key, Managing Director – Africa,
Network International, said: “Our research
also shows a growing untapped opportunity
through the rapidly increasing bankability
of Africa’s population stemming partly from
the region’s digitally engaged customer base
and fintech-hungry businesses, in addition to
falling hardware costs, sophisticated pricing
and more flexible technologies.”
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