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MTN, Africa's largest wireless operator, is opening a research institute with Huawei in Johannesburg, potentially deepening its relationship with the Chinese company and accelerating the rollout of new technologies on the continent.
Mazen Mrou, MTN's chief technology and innovation officer, said in an interview that the facility's 10 employees will focus on artificial intelligence, data analytics, cloud computing, fintech and other technology applications.
“Before we start implementing a new technology in any of our markets, we can test its efficiency and value in our laboratories,” Murrow said. “Normally testing is done in the vendor's lab and we have to follow the results, but with our latest initiative we can now test all technologies in-house, whether from European or non-European vendors. .”
Africa has a rapidly growing young, tech-savvy population that relies on mobile phones to access everything from banking to healthcare. The rollout of some emerging technologies, such as 5G capabilities and artificial intelligence applications, has also been delayed. This is because these networks are expensive to build and there is a lack of software developers working on the continent.
South Africa, where MTN is based, said it would not bow to international pressure to stop using Howay's equipment in its technology. The country's ambassador to the five-nation BRICS bloc said in August that the country was under “tremendous pressure” from the United States to stop using Huawei's network and would resist this.
Anil Sukrull said at the time that the equipment supplier had provided thousands of training and technology transfer opportunities to South Africans. China is African countries' largest trading partner.
Huawei, which is at the center of the United States' ongoing trade war with China, is banned from providing networking equipment in the United States, particularly more advanced 5G equipment, while some European countries Measures are being taken to deprive people of their technology. . Germany is considering further measures to remove Chinese equipment from its networks, and Spain has taken steps to ban the company from receiving state aid.
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