Telecom
IDC Forecasts 8.1 Million Growth for AR & VR by 2018

International Data Corporation (IDC) report has shown that Worldwide shipments of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) headsets were down 30.5% year over year, totaling 1.2 million units in the first quarter of 2018 (1Q18).
Much of the decline occurred due to the unbundling of screenless VR headsets during the quarter.
For much of 2017, vendors bundled these headsets free with the purchase of a high-end smartphone, but that practice largely came to an end by the start of 2018.
Despite a poor start to 2018, IDC anticipates the overall market will return to growth over the remainder of the year as more vendors target the commercial AR and VR markets and low-cost standalone VR headsets such as the Oculus Go make their way into stores.
IDC forecasts the overall AR and VR headset market to grow to 8.9 million units in 2018, up 6% from the prior year.
That growth will continue throughout the forecast period, reaching 65.9 million units by 2022.
Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for IDC Mobile Device Trackers, said “On the VR front, devices such as the Oculus Go seem promising not because Facebook has solved all the issues surrounding VR, but rather because they are helping to set customer expectations for VR headsets in the future.
“Looking ahead, consumers can expect easier-to-use devices at lower price points.
“Combine that with a growing lineup of content from game makers, Hollywood studios, and even vocational training institutions, and we see a brighter future for the adoption of virtual reality.”
When it comes to augmented reality headsets, many consumers have already had a taste of the technology through screenless viewers such as the Star Wars: Jedi Challenges product from Lenovo.
IDC anticipates these types of headsets will lead the market in shipment volumes in the near term.
However, non-smartphone-based AR headsets should begin to see greater market availability by 2019 as commercial uptake continues to rise and existing brands launch next-generation products.
IDC predicts triple-digit growth in this space between 2019 and 2021.
Tom Mainelli, program vice president, Devices and Augmented and Virtual Reality at IDC, said “Momentum around augmented reality continues to grow as more companies enter the space and begin the work necessary to create the software and services that will drive AR hardware.
“Industry watchers are eager to see new headsets ship from the likes of Magic Leap, Microsoft, and others.
“But for those devices to fulfill their promise we need developers creating the next-generation of applications that will drive new experiences on both the consumer and commercial sides of the market.”
Category Highlights shows that many consumers’ first experience with an Augmented Reality headset will be in the form of a screenless viewer.
While large movie properties such as Star Wars helped move significant volumes of these headsets the past holiday season, uptake for the remainder of the year is likely to slow as the headsets have limited functionality beyond their core applications.
In the latter years of the forecast, IDC expects such products to decline in relevance, although they are likely to remain in the market, often sold as toys.
Meanwhile, standalone AR head-mounted displays (HMDs) should grow to reach 194,000 units in 2018 and will experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 190.9% over the five year forecast.
More advanced headsets such as Microsoft’s Hololens and Magic Leap’s One will help drive adoption in the commercial and consumer markets.
Finally, tethered headsets will grow with a five-year CAGR of 241.8%. This last category will be the eventual home of products with lower-cost headsets based on Apple’s ARKit and Google’s ARCore that tether to smartphones or tablets.
IDC forecasts Virtual Reality headsets to grow from 8.1 million in 2018 to 39.2 million by the end of 2022, representing a five-year CAGR of 48.1%. While many think of VR as a consumer technology, IDC believes the commercial market to be equally important and predicts it will grow from 24% of VR headset shipments in 2018 to 44.6% by 2022.
From a platform perspective, the market has been dominated by Oculus largely due to the initial volumes around Samsung’s Gear VR.
This will likely continue in the near term as the Go brings VR to more consumers.
However, the Oculus platform is likely to face pressure from both HTC’s VIve platform and Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality platform.
The latter should see strong opportunities in the commercial market as brands such as HP, Dell, and Lenovo bring their years of experience catering to enterprise buyers to the market.
Telecom
MTN Says New N6.98 USSD Charge Won’t Affect Airtime Recharge

Lynda Saint-Nwafor, chief Enterprise business officer, MTN Nigeria, has assured the network subscribers that the new end-user billing system for the use of USSD services will jot affect them.
USSD, otherwise Unstructured Supplementary Service Data codes are commonly used for banking transactions, airtime recharges, and other mobile services.
The telco said that there is no significant impact or change other than the fact that they will now pay the same N6.98 per session (120 seconds) with their airtime instead of direct bank debit.
Saint-Nwafor, said this during a chat with MTN MIP fellows, explaining that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have ordered telecom operators to ensure that the new billing model resolves trust issues and ensures transparency in the billing process.
“Our regulator insisted that at the end of every month, we are going to be providing history and statistics on the performance of the service across the board”, she explained.
Saint-Nwafor added that the new billing model has standardized messaging across all operators and ensures consistent communication with customers.
“We will take all the error codes and map them into messages that are standardised across the board. So, if you initiate a transaction, you will know if it is failing. And, when the transaction fails, you will know if it is from your bank or the telco,” she explained.
Telecom
Crypto Scam Unmasked: U.S. Recovers Record $225m in Global Fraud Bust

The U.S. government has recovered $225 million in what is now the largest seizure of funds linked to a cryptocurrency investment scam.
In a statement released Wednesday, June 18, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the recovery followed an extensive investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, using blockchain analysis and other forensic tools. The statement did not confirm whether any arrests had been made.
According to the authorities, the stolen funds originated from fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes that tricked victims into believing they were making legitimate investments. More than 400 individuals around the world, including dozens in the United States, were reportedly affected.
The operation involved a sophisticated money laundering network that carried out hundreds of thousands of blockchain transactions to obscure the source and ownership of the stolen assets.
“These scams prey on trust, often resulting in extreme financial hardship for the victims,” said Shawn Bradstreet, Special Agent in Charge at the U.S. Secret Service office in San Francisco.
Bradstreet added that U.S. officials hope the recovered funds can eventually be returned to the rightful victims.
Cryptocurrency investment fraud accounted for over $5.8 billion in reported losses in 2024 alone, according to the statement.
Telecom
Nnaemeka Ani Calls on African Techies to Rewrite the Narrative

In a rousing declaration that is electrifying minds across the continent, Hon. Nnaemeka Ani, Special Adviser on ICT to Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, has called for a homegrown digital revolution under the banner “Africa Will Rise: By Code, By Courage, By Us.”

Hon. Nnaemeka Ani
The message, part challenge, part philosophical—seeks to galvanize African innovators to move beyond buzzwords and build technology with impact and legacy in mind.
“Let’s stop building for hype. Let’s start building for legacy,” Ani urged while speaking to ICT journalists over the weekend. “Let’s stop waiting for someone else. Let’s start creating the future—on our own terms.”
At the heart of Ani’s vision is a shift from tech consumerism to tech authorship. With innovation hubs sprouting across cities like Enugu, Lagos, Kigali, Jo’Burg, and Nairobi, and a growing community of developers, engineers, and entrepreneurs determined to solve Africa’s unique challenges, the movement is already taking shape.
Ani emphasized that Africa’s future lies not in flashy apps or international admiration but in persistent, intentional solutions that uplift communities—solutions that digitize public services, bridge rural-urban divides, empower women and youth, and build resilience in food and climate systems.
“We have the talent,” he said. “Now it’s time to harness it—to stop building for likes and start building for lasting impact.”
With support from leaders like Ani and rising momentum in Africa’s tech corridors, it seems that a new chapter is being written—one line of code at a time.
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