E-Business
Mondia Expands Entertainment Platform Monsooq to Nigeria
Mondia, a mobile technology company specializing in the marketing and distribution of digital content, today announced its second African launch of the ground-breaking time-based entertainment platform Monsooq, in Nigeria. This follows on the heels of the initial launch in South Africa.
Monsooq is the first-of-its kind model which utilises time as the currency. Users pay only for the time they spend consuming content and are not required to take out any contracts or subscriptions.
Monsooq’s unique time-based model allows consumers to buy entertainment time just as they would mobile airtime and use that time to consume any content they choose, including movies, sports, educational content, books, series, games and music – all on a single, convenient, end-to-end entertainment platform. New users will receive 60 minutes complimentary access and a 50% discount on content during the launch, after which pricing is NGN20 per hour.
Whether a consumer wishes to play a game for 30 minutes while commuting, or binge a new series for six hours, they are able to load that amount of time to their profile securely using a debit or credit card. And when their time ends, they simply top up with more.
Dr Amadeo Rahmann, Mondia Group CEO, said: “Africa is the next frontier in regard to digitalisation. Our extensive footprint, increasing customer base and significant experience in the region make Africa a natural choice of focus for us.
“African markets, especially Nigeria with its large population and growth of digital streaming services, are primed for the democratisation of content. Mondia is firmly focused on changing the way people consume entertainment. We have incredible reach and deep understanding of the geographies in which we operate, with over 1.4 billion potential users in these countries.”
Mondia believes that Nigeria is a great local content hub for Africa with its media and entertainment industry, Nollywood, providing world-class content.
Nigeria is also currently the second-largest film producer in the world in terms of number of movies. The local industry employs about one million people and generates over US$7 billion for the economy3, and Mondia is excited to help provide another platform for this content.
The “new normal” brings new opportunities
“COVID-19 has had such a dramatic impact on economies globally, deeply affecting consumers’ disposable income. We believe that the Monsooq model is reflective of the changed financial situation of consumers while bringing much needed entertainment during these difficult times,” concludes Dr Rahmann.
Mondia sees exceptional potential in the continent. According to research conducted by PwC South Africa in 2019[1], entertainment and media (E&M) spend in Nigeria saw a 25.5% rise in E&M revenue in 2017 to US$3.8bn.
In December 2019 more Africans (526 million) accessed the internet than North Americans. And there is still massive potential for growth: Africa has a total internet penetration level of just under 40%, as compared to penetration in the rest of the world of 63.2%.
While streaming services have proliferated across Africa, there is an increasing need to deliver enhanced value, choice, and innovation in terms of pricing and content.
Monsooq also represents a new frontier of content monetisation for entertainment providers, giving them direct access to customers who are not interested in a traditional subscription model.
Content is king
Monsooq features a world-class recommendation engine to ensure consumers find the content they love. Content will be localised and customised, with a mix of local, regional and international content. Mondia aims to build the content economy and bring value across Africa as Monsooq expands.
The platform has partnered with leading regional content providers such as Viva Nation and Wi-flix, as well as well-known international TV channels, sports and games providers, and offers over 20 000 hours of entertainment including, Esport and EPIC ON. In addition, Mondia will also feature their own entertainment services which boast leading games and music titles.
Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has approved N242.8m for the procurement of a Microsoft 365 licence for its Internal Revenue Service (FCT-IRS) as part of efforts to digitise the service’s operations.
Mr Michael Ango, acting executive chairman of FCT-IRS, disclosed this after the FCT Executive Committee meeting chaired by Mr Nyesom Wike, the minister of FCTA, in Abuja on Wednesday.
Ango said that the FCTA was making significant investments in technology to enhance revenue generation and collection.
“So, this is also one of those investments in technology that the FCT is undertaking.
“The licence, if procured, will enhance our ability to move most of our manual processes into automated processes.
“It will enhance our ability to communicate within our offices,” he said.
The executive chairman added that the move would also reduce the use of paper and ensure better record-keeping through the storage of information and documents in the cloud.
According to him, “The licence will essentially enhance our operations and assist us in generating revenue for the development of the FCT under Wike’s leadership.”
Rack Centre, West Africa’s Tier III Carrier and Cloud neutral data centre, has welcomed Olla Cloud Service, a new private cloud service by Olla Systems Limited, a leading provider of innovative technology solutions, to its facility.
Hosting at Rack Centre, Olla Cloud Service runs on a state-of-the-art, cloud-enabled infrastructure for enterprise applications across diverse platforms, including mission critical application, web applications as well as containerised applications using Kubernetes.
Lars Johannisson, CEO, Rack Centre, welcoming Olla Systems, noted that the partnership with Olla Systems Limited would reflect the company’s commitment to providing African businesses with high- quality cloud computing services.
He noted that Olla Systems would enjoy Rack Centre’s 13.5MW data centre campus facility, designed to meet the highest international standards and offering scalable solutions to Hyperscalers, Enterprises, and Cloud service providers.
As part of its commitment to sustainability, the facility is equipped with energy-efficient systems, advanced cooling technologies to mitigate environmental impact and an optimally-designed feature to handle high-density workloads with precision.
According to Johannisson, “With Olla Cloud Service hosting at Rack Centre, clients will experience fast performance and low latency, enabling businesses in Africa to access world-class cloud computing services within a secure and compliant local infrastructure.”
Also speaking, Olusola Adenuga, chief executive officer, Olla Systems Limited, expressed enthusiasm about hosting at Rack Centre, noting that Olla Cloud remains a groundbreaking private cloud solution for businesses.
While highlighting the benefits of the partnership between Rack Centre and Olla Systems, Adenuga disclosed that “subscribing to Olla Cloud Service is cost-effective to customers because of its local currency payment advantage.”
She also noted that the partnership between the duo, provides businesses the opportunity to meet regulatory requirements of data residency, while enjoying world-class infrastructure as a service (IaaS) locally.
“Other benefits of hosting with Olla Cloud include: 24/7 support, unparalleled performance, scalability and agility.” she added.
A user’s messaging app account might be of interest not only to jealous spouses and nosy coworkers, but also to cybercriminals.
Stolen WhatsApp accounts are used for various types of criminal activity, ranging from spam distribution to sophisticated scam schemes.
Cybercriminals constantly look for WhatsApp accounts and use various methods to gain access to them.
There are two ways cybercriminals can gain control of a WhatsApp account: they can add another device to an existing account using the “Linked devices” feature, or they can re-register the account on their own device as if the user had bought a new phone.
“In the first case, the user continues to use WhatsApp as usual, but the criminals also have access to all recent conversations. In the second case, the user loses access to their personal account.
“When trying to log in, WhatsApp notifies him that the account is already in use on another device, and the attackers can then control the account but not the past conversations.
“Messengers are a private space, as they often contain personal information about our lives and relationships with family and friends. They can also contain information about work and, in some cases, confidential information.
“If you notice any unusual activity, such as receiving replies to messages that you didn’t send, or if your friends complain about strange messages coming from your account, it’s important to take steps to protect your privacy immediately,” comments Seifallah Jedidi, Head of Consumer Channel, META, at Kaspersky.
While you can check instruction on what to do in case a WhatsApp account was already compromised, here are the key steps on how to avoid a WhatsApp account to be hacked:
- Enable two-step verification in WhatsApp and memorise your PIN — it’s not a one-time code. To do this, go to Settings → Account → Two-step verification.
- Never, ever share your PIN or one-time registration codes with anyone. Only scammers ask for these details.
- WhatsApp recently introduced support for passkeys. If you enable this option (Settings → Account → Passkeys), logging in to your account will require biometric authentication, and instead of PIN codes, your smartphone will store a long cryptographic key. This is a very secure option, but it may not be convenient if you frequently change devices and switch between Android and iOS.
- Set up a backup email address for account recovery: Settings → Account → Email address.
- If you’ve already added an email address, log in to your email account and change your password to a strong, unique one. To store it securely, use a password manager, such as Kaspersky Password Manager.
- Enable two-factor authentication for your email account.
- Make sure you haven’t fallen victim to a SIM swap scam. Contact your mobile carrier — preferably in person — and verify that no duplicate SIM cards have recently been issued for your number. Also, make sure there’s no unauthorised call-forwarding set up on your number. Cancel any suspicious changes and ask the staff about additional security measures for your SIM card. These may include prohibiting SIM-related actions without your being present, an extra password required for authentication, or other protections. Available security measures vary significantly by country and mobile carrier.
Any security measures in WhatsApp will be of little use if your smartphone or computer is infected with malware. Therefore, be sure to install comprehensive protection like Kaspersky Premium on all your devices.
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