Tech

Technology, AI, startups, telecoms and mobile money innovation.

Thursday, 5 November

Tech 5 November, 14:25

Safaricom’s M-Pesa half-year revenue tops KSh100 billion for the first time

Safaricom's half-year results show M-Pesa revenue above KSh100 billion for the first time, Business Today Kenya reported on Thursday. Group service revenue rose 13.1% to KSh226.10 billion.

Safaricom's mobile money platform M-Pesa has earned more than KSh100 billion in a single half-year for the first time, Business Today Kenya reported. The figure comes from the telco's Half-Year 2027 results, released on Thursday. Crossing the KSh100 billion mark is a milestone for M-Pesa. It shows how much of Safaricom's business now runs through mobile money rather than calls and data alone. According to Business Today Kenya, profit attributable to shareholders rose 35.9% to KSh58.20 billion. That beat the analysts' forecast…

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Tech 5 November, 01:04

CA asks IEBC to list polling stations without 3G or 4G coverage

The Communications Authority wants polling stations outside 3G and 4G coverage connected before the 2027 General Election. Deputy Director Paul Kiage told senators in Naivasha that all mobile operators have been directed to upgrade their networks.

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has asked the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to identify polling stations outside 3G and 4G coverage, The Star reported. The goal is to connect them before the 2027 General Election. CA says reliable internet will help the IEBC transmit results and help officials find polling centres. CA Deputy Director Paul Kiage spoke before the Senate Committee on National Cohesion, Equal Opportunity and Regional Integration in Naivasha. He said CA is rolling out services in unserved and underserved areas through the Universal Service Fund. CA expects the programme to improve connectivity during the election. Kiage said all mobile network operators have been directed to upgrade their networks. The election will need stable connectivity for results transmission and for communication by officials and voters, he said. "The 2027 General Election will require mobile network operators to provide high-quality communication services to support a credible election and electioneering-related activities," he said. According to Kiage, CA technical staff will monitor Quality of Service in sub-locations that host polling stations. They will fix network problems quickly and identify areas that need alternatives such as satellite…

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Wednesday, 4 November

21:52

Alphabet loses $500 billion in market value as AI spending hits profit

Shares in Google's parent fell by double digits on October 28-29 after quarterly net profit slid 25% to $26.2 billion, The Guardian reported. Spending on datacentres and AI chips more than doubled to $51.4 billion.

13:49

Canva shake-up hits 1,271 staff with job cuts and relocations

Australian design start-up Canva says 22% of its workers, or 1,271 people, will lose their jobs, relocate or change roles. CEO Melanie Perkins said growth has slowed for the first time in a decade.

12:49

Hinton: AI could trigger a power or banking shutdown by next year

Nobel winner Geoffrey Hinton told the Guardian that AI could cause a major incident later this year or next, such as a power blackout or a week-long financial system failure. He said humans might have been better off never building the technology.

00:54

EU court adviser: Google’s Gemini may breach publishers’ copyright

An adviser to the EU's top court said on Tuesday that Google's Gemini may infringe press publishers' rights when it reuses their articles to answer queries. Hungarian publisher Like Company brought the case, and a ruling is due in the coming months.

Tuesday, 3 November

19:33

Safaricom extends Family Share plan to Home Fibre customers in Kisumu

Safaricom has brought its Family Share plan to Home Fibre customers in Lolwe Estate, Kisumu County, days after launching it in Nairobi. The plan lets customers connect up to five family members.

18:24

Safaricom pushes M-Pesa into savings, investments and insurance

Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa told CNN that M-Pesa will let users pay, save, invest and insure in one place. Safaricom's financial services business earned KSh 182.7 billion in the year to March 2026, up 13.4%, TechMoran reported.

14:24

UK cyber agency expects AI malware to hit critical infrastructure by 2028

Britain's National Cyber Security Centre says it is "highly likely" that AI-powered ransomware will be used against power stations, airports or hospitals by 2028. It also warns that Russia and China will start using AI "routinely" in cyber-attacks.

12:02

Kenya’s mobile subscriber base grows nearly 10% to 78.4 million in 2025

Kenya had 78.4 million mobile subscriptions in 2025, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Kenyans also bought more than a million 5G subscriptions, up 71.7% on the year before.

10:50

Snap settles with two teens mid-trial over social media addiction claims

Snapchat owner Snap Inc reached a settlement with two teenagers during a trial in Los Angeles, their lawyers said on Monday. The teens say the app was built to be addictive and caused their depression, anxiety and eating disorders.

01:15

Airtel Kenya buys 5G spectrum for $65 million to boost network capacity

Airtel Kenya has acquired 100MHz in the 3.5GHz band for about KSh 8.4 billion after the Communications Authority approved the deal. The rights run for 25 years, Pulse Live Kenya reports.

Monday, 2 November

22:41

KRA chair defends plan to tax phones at 25% when they join a network

KRA Board Chairperson Ndiritu Muriithi has defended a 25% excise duty on phones, charged when they first connect to a Kenyan network. Parliament dropped the idea from the Finance Act 2026, so the current 10% duty still applies.

21:43

Murkomen inaugurates new board to run Kenya’s National Cybersecurity Agency

Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen inaugurated the National Cybersecurity Agency board, chaired by Martin Koyabe, at Harambee House on Monday. He told the board to build Kenyan talent and local cyber defence tools and to have top management in place before January 2027.

14:09

OpenAI and Anthropic set up election war rooms for the first time

OpenAI and Anthropic will run dedicated teams to keep their AI platforms accurate during the US midterm elections, Semafor reported on Monday. Anthropic says its war room will watch for misuse and respond quickly to incidents.

Sunday, 1 November

15:16

Neocloud stocks tumble as investors question AI data centre debt

Shares in CoreWeave and other neocloud firms that lease AI computing power have lost about a quarter of their value in a month, the BBC reports. Gartner predicts 80% of these firms will cease independent operations by 2030.

15:16

Trump: US looking closely at report Nvidia CEO was target of China spy plot

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Washington is looking "closely" at a report of a Chinese spy plot. According to France 24, the report says the plot targeted the chief executive of chipmaker Nvidia.

15:08

NCBA’s LOOP launches LOOP BIZ+ platform for SME payments, stock and loans

LOOP DFS, NCBA Group's digital financial services arm, launched LOOP BIZ+ in Nairobi on October 29. The platform combines card and mobile money payments, AI stock tools, a marketplace and credit in one service for small businesses.

14:28

Austrian firm to install 15,000 smart weather stations for Kenyan farmers

Pessl Instruments plans to install up to 100,000 weather stations across Africa, starting with 15,000 in Kenya. The UpYield4Africa programme launched in Nairobi on Friday and will give smallholder farmers field-level weather and soil data.

Saturday, 31 October

12:33

CA: Cyber attacks on Kenyan government systems surged between July and September

The Communications Authority of Kenya detected 44.95 million brute-force attacks between July and September, up 85.41 per cent. Web application attacks rose 57.62 per cent to 27.44 million, the Daily Nation reported.

Friday, 30 October

11:14

Binance says $6.3 billion affected in what could be the biggest crypto hack

Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, said on Thursday that a security breach affected $6.3 billion in digital assets. About $3 billion has been frozen, and the exchange has suspended all deposits and withdrawals.

Thursday, 29 October

17:50

African journalists adopt plan to push for responsible AI in newsrooms

Journalist leaders adopted a continental action plan on AI at a Federation of African Journalists meeting in Addis Ababa on October 24-25. The plan also covers working conditions and media freedom, and draws on a survey of 1,586 journalists in 45 countries.

17:45

Kenafric Group launches $10 million fund for African consumer businesses

Kenyan consumer goods company Kenafric Group has set up a corporate venture fund called Kenafric Ventures. The $10 million fund will invest in promising African consumer businesses, Business Today Kenya reported on Thursday.