Pierre Dandjinou, ICANN VP of GSE in Africa, stresses a point during the media roundtable.

By Our Reporter

A media roundtable brought together leaders of regional and global Internet organizations to share perspectives on African representation in the Internet ecosystem, and participation in shaping the Internet’s future.

Led by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and attended by the Internet Society’s Uganda Chapter, and AfRegistrar, the media roundtable took place during the Africa Internet Summit (AIS) at the Kampala Sheraton Hotel.

ICANN has been actively seeking to help raise awareness and build capacities around the domain name system, and the Internet in general across Africa. As part of this, it has been supporting and holding several workshops in the region.

“Africa’s digital potential is rising, which makes it imperative for the continent to claim its voice in the global Internet governance and protect its interests” stressed Pierre Dandjinou, ICANN VP of GSE in Africa. “With this in mind, ICANN is committed to providing equal opportunities to inform the region’s different communities about the domain name industry, and working with them on how best to not only strengthen Africa’s online presence, but also improve their participation within ICANN. Uganda is no exception.”

ICANN helps people connect to each other online. This happens through its coordination of parts of the Domain Name System (DNS), which is at the very root of the Internet functions. It translates computer host names into IP addresses, as well as the Internet Protocol addressing system used to route Internet traffic. Thus, ICANN plays a specific, technical role, acting in the global public interest as the trusted steward of these unique identifier systems of the Internet. With every email, video chat, or online purchase, ICANN is touched in one way or another. Also, ICANN helps protect the resiliency and security of the DNS and of Internet at large.

“We need to have this dialogue about the Internet now, and not later; as Africa is not outside the realms of the Internet. Every policy made about the future of the Internet concerns us, too. So, we need to join the decision-makers, and not stay as bystanders” said Lillian Nalwoga, the President of ISOC Uganda Chapter.

The Internet penetration in Africa is around 37%, still lagging behind with respect to the global penetration rate which is at 57%.  Internet access is among the many other obstacles Africa has to overcome with respect to its integration into the global digital economy, including the domain name business.

“AfRegistrar will work closely with African Regulators, African Union and Private Sector to enable the emergency of a vibrant Internet Environment for the African Economy, with a good and active Internet Governance, in an active and harmonized Broadband Policy and Regulation for African countries” reiterated Mouhamet Diop, Chair of AfRegistrar.

Humphrey Nabimanya, the Founder and Team Leader at Reach A Hand Uganda at the SautiPlus launch.

By Our Reporter

Reach A Hand, Uganda (RAHU) has launched a mobile application which is specially designed to allow easy and convenient access to information about sexual and reproductive health & rights.

Dubbed “SAUTI plus”, the app which is available for download on the Google Play store seeks to help young people understand and safely exercise their Reproductive Health Rights. It provides a safe space where young people can ask and have questions about their sexual reproductive health answered.

Speaking at the launch of the app, Humphrey Nabimanya the RAHU Founder and Team Leader, said the application is an innovative milestone in the organization’s continuous effort to find effective ways of communicating with young people.

“We are always innovating and finding new ways to reach young people. The SAUTIplus application will go a long way in helping us achieve this. It is an innovative one stop mobile app for young people to receive information on Sexual Reproductive Health, livelihood, entrepreneurship and other opportunities in a language that they understand.” said Mr Nabimanya.

“The information on it is in various forms such as 60 second educative videos, street casts, blogs and podcasts. There is also a tab for a counsellor to offer solutions to the challenges of the young people.” He further explained.

The application also provides referrals to youth friendly health service centres reducing the stigma associated with young people and sexual reproductive focused health visits. 

At the same event, RAHU also launched the new season of MTV Shuga Down South which is a series that uses sexual-health messaging with gripping storylines exploring the issues of sexual relationships between young people against a backdrop of continuing HIV infections.

The youth-focused series fosters discussions around the issues of unplanned pregnancy and HIV/AIDS on the continent and other youth centered issues such as abusive relationships, sexual assault and so much more.

Upgraded TECNO SPARK 3 Series with AI Bright Camera launched.

By Staff Writer

It’s that time of the year when phone manufacturing companies come up with different handset models. TECNO Uganda has today officially launched its newest Series smartphones, the TECNO Spark and the Spark 3 Pro at Sheraton Hotel.

According to Tecno, the two new handset Models are said to be the latest of the Spark Series with improved Camera features among other awesome things. The Camera comes with Artificial intelligence technology (AI Tech) as opposed to their predecessors that is the Spark 2 and 2 Pro.

Both phones run a 9.0 pie Android operating system with a 6.2-inch display LCD capacitive touchscreen with a Trendy and classy appearance. The phones come with improved storage capacity and run 4G LTE.

Definitely the new Series tick the boxes its predecessors failed to.

Some of the Specifications of the spark 3 include:

• 6.2-inch capacitive display touch screen with an aspect ratio of 19:9
• Runs Android 9.0 pie operating system (pre-installed on the phone)
• 4G LTE
• Face ID
• 32GB internal storage
• Quad-core 2.5GHz Media Tek Helio A22 with up to 2GB RAM minimises lagging of applications and renders multi-tasking possible respectively.
• Finger print Sensor
• 3,500 mAh Li-ion battery
• 8MP selfie camera and 13MP + 2MP rear cameras with a LED flash for Bright and better Crisp pictures in poorly lit areas.

Other specifications include Bluetooth V5.0, 3.5mm earphone jack, Wi-Fi, sensors i.e. fingerprint sensor, proximity sensor, G-sensor and Ambient Light sensor, powerVR GE8320 GPU stationed on the phone chip provides quality graphics.

“The success of these latest series Spark 3 and 3 Pro respectively is deemed to surpass its predecessors” narrated the Tecno mobile Uganda Marketing Manager, Gladys Liu speaking at the launch at Sheraton Hotel.

These comments come in review with a positive shift in the sales performance of the Spark 2 and 2pro

The Tecno Spark 3 Series are available in 4 colors; Midnight Black, Bordeaux Red, Aqua blue and champagne Gold.

The smartphones are now up for sale in various smartphone online stores and shops with price tag of UGX429,000 and UGX 489,000 respectively effective of today Monday 6^th 2019.