Telecom
Olatomiwa Williams, Microsoft Country Manager, to Deliver Keynote Speech @ #AfriTECH2021

Olatomiwa Williams, Country Manager for Microsoft Nigeria, has been announced as Keynote Speaker for Africa Tech Alliance Forum 2021 (#AfriTECH2021).

Olatomiwa Williams, Country Manager for Microsoft Nigeria
She was appointed by Microsoft recently to lead the company’s efforts to accelerate Nigeria’s Digital transformation and cloud adoption across all Microsoft customer segments.
The hybride event (both online and physical) will take place on Wednesday, October 13, 2021at Oriental Hote, Lekki Lagos by 10:00am with the audience cutting across C-Suite Executives, Founders, Presidents of Companies/Organisations, Presidents of Industry Associations, Startups/Entrepreneurs and Government officials, etc.
In a statement issued signed by Peter Oluka, editor of TechEconomy.ng; the organisers of #AfriTECH2021, said: Ola, as she is fondly called is a business leader with 21+ years’ experience in Information Technology Industry helping organization leverage the power of technology to achieve their business objectives with experience spanning consulting, support, channel and people management.
“We are excited about the fact Ola accepted to deliver the keynote at #AfriTECH2021 under the theme: Embracing Change and Digital Transformation in the ‘New Normal’ which was carefully selected to enrich inter-sectorial cross-fertilization of ideas on economic impacts of COVID-19 on businesses and way forward”.
Already, other confirmed special guests/speakers include; Prof. Umar GarbaDanbatta, executive vice chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Mr.KashifuInuwaAbdullahi, director general, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); Prof. MuhammedAbubakar, managing director/CEO, Galaxy Backbone Limited; Dr.Ayotunde (Tunde) Coker, managing director/CEO, Rack Centre; OluseyiAkindeinde, chief technical officer, Digital Encode Limited and host of others.
Participation
Participation at the Forum is FREE, but participants are expected to pre-register via the link: https://africatechallianceforum.africa/ to have opportunity to witness the keynote address, goodwill messages, product launches, brand promotion, panel sessions and the inaugural AfriTECH Awards/recognition.
The Forum which has received supports from NCC, NITDA, Rack Centre, Digital Encode, VaultBridge Global Limited, Galaxy Backbone Limited, also enjoys media coverage by TechNext.ng, ITPulse.com.ng; ITNewsNigeria.ng; NigeriaCommunicationsWeek.com.ng; TechTv.net.ng; Rave TV; GrassRoots.ng; ITRealms.com.ng and Digivation Network.
The keynote Speaker – Olatomiwa Williams:
Ola is known for building strong teams, helping customers adopt new technologies for transformation business outcome and for supporting channel strategic growth across emerging markets.
Ola has consistently demonstrated a great sense of passion, commitment to excellence and inspiring her team to deliver result. Ola is a two-time Platinum Award winner and have other awards to her credit. Platinum Club award is one of the most Prestigious awards in Microsoft and the first Nigeria employee to achieve such feat.
Ola has been in Microsoft for 10 years plus. Her most recent role was Digital Transformation and Cloud Solution Director for the Microsoft Middle East and Africa (MEA) Multi Country Cluster (MCC) spanning over sixty-seven countries in Africa and part of Middle East.
She leads a team of talented Solution Specialists to empower enterprise customers achieve Digital Transformation of their organizations leveraging Microsoft Cloud Solutions.
Ola started her career at Microsoft in the then West, East and Central Africa (WECA) subsidiary as Enterprise Voice Technology Specialist where she pioneered enterprise voices solutions sales within our enterprise space and held other roles including Account Technology Strategy as Dynamics Partners Sales Executive.
She latter transitioned to Specialist Solution Sales Lead for Nigeria and led a strong team of Solution Sellers to accelerate Nigeria Cloud growth revenue.
Ola moved to the Partner technology Manager role for the Microsoft Middle East and Africa (MEA) Multi Country Cluster (MCC) subsidiary where she pioneered and landed a strong Partner Specialist Team, driving incremental cloud revenue through partner solution sales motions and Partner Skilling initiative.
Prior to joining Microsoft, she was a Lead Consultant with Dimension Data, Nigeria and have worked on large complex projects across Nigeria and South America.
She is committed to the cause of seeing more women succeed in Information Technology field, she leads female focused initiatives to support and encourage women and girls in her region to develop interest in Information Technology and Engineering. She is a mentor to a couple of aspiring female leaders.
She speaks at different Microsoft and industry events, presenting across Microsoft and industry Solution portfolio.
Ola is a graduate of Computer Science from the Federal Polytechnic Offa and holds MBA from University of Liverpool.
Telecom
Telcos Resume SIM Card Sales after 2-Week Halt

Telecommunications operators have resumed full SIM swap and related services following a four-week nationwide outage linked to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC)’s migration to a new verification platform.
The outage rendered millions of subscribers unable to perform SIM-related tasks such as swaps, replacements, and activations.
Operators in the industry say the disruption began on June 26, 2025 when telcos temporarily halted SIM registrations and swaps due to unforeseen technical challenges during the transition to NIMC’s upgraded identity verification system.
The migration was mandated to enhance the integrity and efficiency of national identity management but caused major service interruptions across all Nigerian networks.
However, July 21, both MTN and Airtel confirmed via their social media handles that SIM swap services have now fully resumed.
MTN announced: “SIM swaps have now resumed. We can confirm that NIMC services are fully operational and appreciate their support in the migration to a new platform for NIN verification services for the telecommunications industry.
In a public update issued via its MTN Nigeria Support handle on X (formerly Twitter), MTN confirmed that SIM swaps have now resumed.
Telecom operators complained that the portal was unreliable or inaccessible, which resulted in the suspension of SIM swaps, number porting, and new SIM registrations, even though NIMC maintained that the platform was operating as intended.
Unexpected technical difficulties arose during the switch to the new platform, according to the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria.
Real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and network migration was impacted by these issues.
“Unexpected technical difficulties have surfaced, impacting real-time NIN verification for SIM registration, replacement, and porting, following a recent directive from the National Identity Management Commission mandating Mobile Network Operators to transit to a new identity verification platform,” ALTON stated in a previous joint statement signed by Gbenga Adebayo, chairman, and Damian Udeh, publicity secretary.
Telecom
Nigeria, Others Achieve 84% Adult Mobile Phones Penetration

The World Bank has affirmed that 84 per cent of adults in low-and middle-income economies, including Nigeria, own personal mobile phones.
The bank in its Global Findex 2025 report said mobile phone ownership was widespread and nearly everywhere. It said data from the Global Findex 2025 Digital Connectivity Tracker, revealed that “86 per cent of adults worldwide, and 84 per cent of adults in low- and middle-income economies, own personal mobile phones.”
The report pointed out that mobile phones and the internet had become widespread and essential to daily life in every economy around the world.
A earlier overview had indicated that Nigeria had a high mobile phone penetration rate, with estimates around 85 per cent to 87 per cent in 2024.
This translates to over 200 million mobile connections, making Nigeria a leading market in Africa for mobile phone ownership and usage. While the overall penetration is high, there’s a growing trend towards smartphone adoption, with forecasts predicting over 140 million smartphone users by 2025.
According to DataReporter, a total of 150 million cellular mobile connections were active in Nigeria in early 2025, with this figure equivalent to 64.0 per cent of the total population.
However, note that some of these connections may only include services such as voice and SMS, and some may not include access to the internet.
There were 107 million individuals using the internet in Nigeria at the start of 2025, when online penetration stood at 45.4 percent. Nigeria was home to 38.7 million social media user identities in January 2025, equating to 16.4 percent of the total population.
These headline stats offer a great overview of the “state of digital” in Nigeria at the start of 2025, but in order to make sense of how digital trends and behaviours have been evolving over time, we need to dig deeper into the data.
According to the World Bank, “as of 2024, individual ownership of mobile phones reached 86 per cent of adults worldwide.
“For many people, barely an hour goes by without their using a mobile device to make a call, ext a friend, read the news, access business information, post a meme on social media, pay for something, play a game, engage with a colleague or a customer, or search for information.
“As access to and use of digitally connected technologies increase, people, businesses, and governments place an increasingly high priority on online interactions. “Digitally connected technologies have clear, well-documented benefits.”
It further highlighted that access to mobile phones and the internet was associated with reduced poverty, increased consumption, and more employment for individuals in lowand middle-income economies.
“Women also experience these benefits, as internet access enables access to flexible jobs3 and has been shown to increase female labor force participation. “Mobile phones also facilitate information sharing.
For instance, in agricultural contexts, farmers’ access to real-time prices and buyer demand data can inform their decisions on where to sell, enhancing market efficiency and reducing the distances they would otherwise travel to get the best return for their product and time.
“Internet access also helps create jobs and aids individuals and countries in exporting goods and services,” it added. The World Bank further noted that owning a mobile phone furthermore enabled financial access through mobile money and other mobile financial services.
It added that these financial accounts and services, typically offered by mobile network operators or fintech firms and accessed via networks of local agents, were associated with lower rates of poverty, increased consumption and savings,and greater resilience to economic shocks.
Telecom
Sophos Secures Leadership Spot in 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection

Sophos, a global leader of innovative security solutions for defeating cyberattacks, today announced that it has been named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP), marking the 16th consecutive time the company has received this recognition.
Sophos has been recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) since the inaugural publication for this category in 2007.
Sophos’ market-leading endpoint security solutions include Sophos Endpoint powered by Intercept X, Sophos Extended Detection and Response (EDR/XDR), and Sophos Managed Detection and Response (MDR).
Over 300,000 organizations trust Sophos endpoint security solutions to defend against cyberthreats, including advanced remote ransomware attacks and active adversaries.
Unique to Sophos, the solution includes adaptive defenses that automatically disrupt attackers by dynamically adjusting protection levels based on threat context.
“Sophos’ strength lies in its prevention-first strategy, designed to stop breaches before they start, adapt defenses in real time, and strengthen detection and response when it matters most,” said Kyle Falkenhagen, SVP, Product Management, Sophos. “We believe that receiving this recognition in the highly competitive endpoint security market for 16 consecutive reports reflects our relentless focus on developing innovative solutions that stay ahead of the global threat landscape and the adversaries we face every day.”
Sophos and Secureworks: The future of protection, detection, and response
Following Sophos’ acquisition of Secureworks in February 2025, combining two leading and complementary portfolios to offer a comprehensive suite of solutions for small, midmarket and enterprise organizations.
Secureworks Taegis XDR customers can use Sophos Endpoint to elevate their cyber defenses, at no additional charge, delivering both improved protection and return on investment.
The integration of Secureworks also adds a new Counter Threat Unit (CTU) to the Sophos X-Ops advanced threat response joint task force, further expanding the rich threat intelligence that informs all customers’ defenses.
Backed by Sophos’ advanced security technologies and a broad network of intelligence contacts and partners, the CTU plays a critical role in identifying and tracking threat actors and analyzing anomalous activity, uncovering new attack techniques, threats, and major shifts in the threat landscape.
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