MainOne has announced a metro fiber infrastructure project in two states of Nigeria, with support from Facebook. The infrastructure collaboration is part of Facebook’s efforts to connect more people to Broadband Internet.

As part of this project, MainOne is building and operating approximately 750 km terrestrial fiber infrastructure in Edo and Ogun States, two of Nigeria’s fastest growing states.
These open-access transport networks will provide metro fiber connectivity to reach more than 1,000,000 people in Benin City, Abeokuta, Sagamu and 10 other towns by connecting mobile operators’ base stations, Internet Service providers, Points of presence (POPs), and public locations including schools and hospitals.

This partnership will leverage MainOne’s strength as a wholesale Telecoms Infrastructure service provider with investment from Facebook and support from local regulatory and state authorities to further deepen broadband penetration in Nigeria.
Speaking on the partnership, Ibrahima Ba, Network Investments Lead for Emerging Markets at Facebook, said: “We are working closely with MainOne and other partners to accelerate broadband deployment. In Nigeria, we are bringing together Facebook’s learnings from scaling our global infrastructure with MainOne’s knowledge of the local environment to develop and test new working models for multiple operators to access common infrastructure.”
Funke Opeke, MainOne’s Chief Executive Officer, lauded the collaboration and the commitment of Facebook and authorities in Nigeria to improving broadband penetration across the country. Commenting on the partnership, she added:

“MainOne has always been committed to broadband innovation, job creation, as well as growing the digital economy of West Africa. We believe that this partnership and the open-access network we have developed will be beneficial to improving the quality of access and accelerating the digital transformation in Ogun and Edo States.”

Kaspersky Lab continued to deliver stable growth in 2018 and increased its global unaudited IFRS revenue to a total of $726 million^*, representing a 4% YOY revenue increase.

During a year of evolving market conditions and continuous geopolitical pressure, the company achieved success as a result of the trust customers and partners place in the company and its leading cyber-security solutions and services.
Among the strategic business areas that drove Kaspersky Lab’s growth in 2018 were Digital and Enterprise. The company saw an increase in digital sales (+4%^**) and strong growth of 16%^**in the enterprise segment, with 55%^**growth in non-endpoint products and services in particular.

Overall, the company secured healthy results in these business areas by delivering some of the best products and services in the industry, as well as new solutions and technologies that prevent, detect and respond to the most sophisticated cyber threats.
Commenting on the year’s results, Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky Lab, said: “2018 was a crucial year for us. After all the challenges and unsubstantiated allegations we faced in 2017, we had a responsibility to show that the company and our people deserve the trust of our partners and customers, and in turn, to continue to clearly demonstrate and prove our leadership. Our continued positive financial results are proof of this, demonstrating that users prefer the best products and services on the market and support our principle of protecting against any cyber threats regardless of their origin.”
Globally, the company’s performance was driven by robust results, especially in META (+27%^**), as well as in other regions, such as Russia, Central Asia and CIS^***(+6%^**), APAC (+6%^**) and Europe (+6%^**), while there was a slowdown in Latin America (-11%^**) mainly caused by currency devaluation in the region.
The challenging geopolitical situation resulted in an overall slowdown in the North American market, where sales decreased by 25%^**. Despite these challenges, Kaspersky Lab maintained and developed its presence in the market, with an 8% increase in new licenses sales in digital.
In 2018, Kaspersky Lab advanced the progress of its Global Transparency Initiative by undertaking a number of significant actions. Notably, the company began the relocation of its IT infrastructure to Switzerland and opened the first Transparency Center in Zurich.

Kaspersky Lab also implemented an audit by one of the Big Four professional services firms of the company’s engineering practices around the creation and distribution of threat detection rule databases.

Today’s ultra-connected global landscape requires increased transparency from organisations, and this unique initiative demonstrates Kaspersky Lab’s clear commitment to assuring the integrity and trustworthiness of its solutions in the service of the customers.

By Akua Gyekye
Public Policy Manager, Africa Elections
Facebook

With a number of upcoming elections across Africa, we want to share an update on our work to reduce the spread of misinformation, protect election integrity and support civic engagement across the continent. We’ve dedicated unprecedented resources to these efforts globally — and our work across Africa is focused in eight key areas.

Fighting False News
We want to stop the spread of false news on our platforms. That’s why we’ve teamed up with local third-party fact-checkers across South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon and Senegal — including Africa Check (Africa’s first independent fact-checking organisation), AFP (Agence France-Presse – an international news agency), Pesa Check (a local Kenyan fact-checking organization) and Dubawa (a local Nigerian fact-checking organization). These independent groups help us assess the accuracy of news shared on Facebook, and when they determine content is false, we reduce its distribution in News Feed so fewer people see it. We also show related articles from fact-checkers for more context and notify users if a story they have shared is rated as false. Additionally, in Nigeria, WhatsApp has worked with Africa Check and CrossCheck Nigeria to let users send questions about potential rumors they have received through the platform. These fact-checking expansions are part of a broader strategy to fight fake news that includes extensive work to remove fake accounts; cut off incentives to the financially-motivated actors that spread misinformation; promote news literacy; and give more context so people can decide for themselves what to read, trust, and share.

Boosting Digital Literacy and Helping People Spot False News
We want to make sure people can spot false news and know how to flag it. That’s why we’ve rolled out educational tips on national and regional radio and in print media across Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Kenya and Zimbabwe. In Nigeria, WhatsApp has launched its “Share Facts, Not Rumours” campaign to help increase awareness about hoaxes. Additionally, at the end of last year Facebook began a new Online Safety Programme for students in Nigerian secondary schools. The 12-week workshop is designed to help teenagers understand the fundamentals of online safety and digital literacy, covering topics such as managing an online presence; social media and sharing; public Wi-Fi safety; building healthy relationships online; understanding password security and privacy settings; and identifying misinformation online.

Promoting Civic Engagement
Helping to build informed and civically engaged communities is central to our work around elections. In Nigeria, we’ve rolled out new options in English & Hausa so people can report posts that contain incorrect election information, encourage violence or otherwise violate our Community Standards. On Election Day, we’ll show a voting day reminder in English and Hausa at the top of Facebook’s News Feed.

Making Political Ads More Transparent
Earlier this month we began temporarily expanding enforcement and not accepting foreign election ads on Facebook in Nigeria to help prevent foreign interference. Already today you can see any ad that a Page is running on Facebook regardless if it’s shown to you.

Journalist Trainings
We continue to educate media groups and journalists across the country on best practices for sharing content on our platforms and online safety. We also provide trainings on our Community Standards  which govern what is and is not allowed on our platform.

Proactive Removal of Impersonation Accounts
We’ve always had policies against impersonation. Thanks to recent advancements in our detection technology, we’ve become much more effective at identifying these accounts.

Partnerships with NGOs and Civil Society
In order to better understand local issues and how we can tackle them more effectively, we work with a number of NGO and civil society partners across many African countries. These local partners have been instrumental in giving us feedback that we’ve incorporated into our policies and programs, including the aforementioned trainings with teens and journalists.

Connecting with Political Parties About Security
We’ve trained parties, campaigns and candidates on security best practices, including how to turn on two-factor authentication and how to avoid common threats online. For the Nigerian elections, we’ve trained vice presidential candidates, senatorial candidates and top advisors from over 35 major political parties — and the information included in these trainings is all available for anyone to access at politics.FB.com.
We want Facebook and WhatsApp to be places where people feel safe, can access accurate information and make their voices heard. We are making significant investments, both in products and in people, and continue to improve in each of these areas.