Wrap-Up: Our pick of main stories, Wednesday April 15th, 2015

On today’s wrap-up, after 8 years of having M-PESA servers hosted in Germany, Safaricom has decided to bring ‘M-PESA back home’ by hosting servers M-PESA locally. On the other hand, it’s a loss to Nyanza as CA executed warrants to search and subsequently impounded equipment used to transmit unauthorized radio broadcast frequencies in the region lack of licences. Did we mention that there is a lot happening in Kiambu County?This and much more…

MPESA set for fullscale system upgrade

The launch of the second generation of Safaricom’s M-PESA platform has started as it prepares to perform a full scale system upgrade aimed at improving efficiencies and speed over the next week. This follows an earlier announcement made by Safaricom that most of its M-Pesa services would be affected for some time including M-Shwari services .The ongoing installation of M-Pesa servers locally is expected to end nearly eight years of foreign hosting, which has at times been cited for delayed response to service interruptions. The upgrade and relocation of the platform also comes at a time when M-Pesa is eyeing government payments such as pensions and salaries paid to beneficiaries in remote locations.

CA shuts down six FM stations in Nyanza

The Communications Authority of Kenya, working together with law enforcement agencies, has executed warrants to search and subsequently impounded equipment used to transmit unauthorized radio broadcast frequencies. This operation is part of investigations with the respect to the illegal operation of six stations namely, Ugwe FM in Rongo Town (97.1Mhz), Radio Faith FM in Oyugis Town (94.1Mhz), Radio Pacho in Siaya Town (88.1Mhz), Sunset Radio in Homa Bay Town (94.9 Mhz), Milambo FM in Migori Town (95.9 Mhz) and Ekialo Kiona in Mfangano Island (99.3Mhz).

Safaricom, Kenya Power’s ‘Okoa Stima’ to keep clients from darkness

Safaricom and Kenya Power have entered into a partnership where they will now allow their customers get electricity when they need it then pay later. The service, dubbed ‘Okoa Stima’ will enable Safaricom customers to borrow any amount based on their pre-determined credit limit. This limit is based on their historical relationship with Kenya Power. The loan comes at a facility fee of 10 per cent and is payable in 7 days.

Kiambu County Card to aid revenue collection, management within county

KCB Group has unveiled the Kiambu County Card, which is part of the Kiambu County Digitika Programme to aid revenue collection and management as well as to facilitate the collection of taxes in the county. The revenue collection solution is part of the Bank’s wider initiative to enhance service delivery to citizens in the ongoing devolution process.The Bank has rolled out the solution in Kiambu County, which is the first of the 15 counties which will have the solution live in the next twelve months. The solution, which is hinged on digital payments systems, is expected to help counties boost their revenue collection while stemming revenue losses.

Cisco releases new malware detection solutions in Kenya

Cisco has unveiled a host of new capabilities and services that give security professionals extensive intelligence and analysis on potential compromises and solutions to protect against, respond to and recover from attacks. Cisco announces the addition of AMP Threat Grid to the Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) portfolio, which integrates innovation acquired through last year’s acquisition of ThreatGRID. This integration provides the latest malware threat intelligence and dynamic malware analysis capabilities, both on-premise and in the cloud, that strengthens Cisco AMP’s continuous analysis and zero-day detection capabilities. In addition, Cisco is introducing Incident Response Services that equip Kenyan organizations with teams of information security experts that leverage threat intelligence and best practices for readiness and response from network to endpoint to cloud.

Jumia to donate all proceeds from ‘JUMIA IS KENYA’ initiative to Garissa attack victims

To help with the funeral expenses and support the families of the victims of the Garissa university attack, Jumia will donate 100 per cent of proceeds made from the ‘JUMIA IS KENYA’ shop through the Kenya Red Cross. “We decided to act and devote all proceeds from the shop to the families of the victims. Kenya is our home and these are our neighbors, friends and families who have been affected by the attack, “Said Parinaz Firozi MD Jumia Kenya. “We share in their loss and grief.”

StarTimes secures 2-year deal with motorsport

StarTimes has moved to woo more sports fans in Kenya by wrestling some key sports properties from fiercest rivals DSTV. The company has secured exclusive deals to broadcast the International World Rally Championships, the World Boxing Titles and Germany football league, the Bundesliga. The motorsport deal will see StarTimes broadcast the international World Rally Championships Exclusively for the next two years. Kenyan subscribers can look forward to the upcoming Rally Argentina, Portugal, Italia, Poland, Finland, Rallye Deutschland, Australia, Rallye de France, Rally Espana and Wales Rally GB running between 24th April and 15th November 2015. This will include world’s greatest off-road events and at least 20 hours of archive shows, featuring highlights from over the years including things like “Best Crashes”.