Grüß,
Victoria from Techpoint here,
Here’s what I’ve got for you today:
- MTN Zambia tests Starlink satellite-to-phone connection
- Inspired by Iron Man, now building real AI
- Nomba wants global payments to feel local
MTN Zambia tests Starlink satellite-to-phone connection
What if your phone could connect to space when there’s no network tower around? That’s the future MTN Zambia is testing after completing what it says is Africa’s first field trial of satellite-to-phone connectivity using Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell technology.
The telecom operator confirmed that the trial successfully transmitted both a data session and a mobile money transaction using satellites instead of a traditional ground tower. The test used MTN’s spectrum together with Starlink’s satellite constellation, allowing an ordinary LTE smartphone to connect directly to satellites in orbit. According to the company, this marked the first time a fintech transaction has been carried through the system in Africa.
What this means is that mobile connectivity could soon reach places where telecom towers simply can’t go. Starlink’s direct-to-cell satellites essentially act like cell towers in space, linking directly with phones and routing signals through its global satellite network before connecting to telecom operators’ infrastructure.
Large parts of Africa still struggle with network coverage, especially in rural areas, national parks, and communities separated by rivers or difficult terrain. Building towers in such places is often expensive or impractical. Satellite-to-phone connectivity could help bridge those gaps, making it possible to send messages, access apps like WhatsApp, or even complete mobile money transactions without traditional network infrastructure.
The technology isn’t live yet, though. MTN says commercial rollout will depend on regulatory approval from the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority. If approved, the trial could signal the beginning of a new connectivity model across Africa, one where your phone connects to the sky when the nearest cell tower is miles away.
Inspired by Iron Man, now building real AI
Long before he began building AI tools for hospitals, Goshit Rotkhinen Gideon was just a curious kid clicking around his family’s desktop computer in Jos. What started as time spent playing games quickly turned into endless exploration, opening Microsoft Word, experimenting with Paint, and trying to figure out what the machine could actually do.
Victoria Fakiya – Senior Writer
Techpoint Digest
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That early curiosity followed him through school. In secondary school, he got his first real taste of programming through Visual Basic, but the moment that truly sparked his ambition came from watching Iron Man 3. Tony Stark’s AI assistant, Jarvis, fascinated him. The idea that a computer could talk back, help manage tasks, and assist humans planted a seed. Even though AI wasn’t mainstream at the time, Gideon knew he wanted to build intelligent systems. When it came time to go to university, he chose to study Computer Science at the University of Jos.
His path into programming wasn’t exactly smooth. At one point, his home computer stopped working, but that didn’t stop him from learning. Armed with a Java programming book his father bought him, Gideon practised coding the only way he could by writing programmes on paper. He couldn’t run the code, but he learned the logic behind it. By the time he got to university, he gravitated toward Python and eventually dived into data analysis and machine learning through free online courses and YouTube tutorials.
His interest in AI soon turned practical. For his undergraduate project, he built a sequence prediction model that could generate sheet music by predicting the next note in a sequence. But his biggest shift came after graduation when his supervisor invited him to assist with research applying AI to healthcare problems, from predicting Lassa fever outbreaks using environmental data to improving hospital blood-supply management and studying malaria trends.
Today, Gideon works on AI systems designed to help healthcare providers manage patient care more effectively, automating follow-ups, tracking health progress, and helping hospitals communicate with patients outside the clinic. It’s a long way from experimenting with Paint as a child, but in many ways, it still connects to the same dream: building intelligent systems that assist humans. For more on his journey from paper-coded programs to healthcare AI, check out Delight’s latest edition of After Hours.
Nomba wants global payments to feel local
Nigerian fintech Nomba is doubling down on its ambition to build financial infrastructure for African businesses, expanding beyond Nigeria while also investing in cross-border payment rails that make it easier for merchants to get paid internationally. The company, which started in 2016 as a chatbot called Kudi, has evolved into a full-scale payments and business operations platform serving hundreds of thousands of merchants.
That shift reflects a major pivot the founders made early on. Instead of focusing solely on consumer payments through messaging apps, Nomba realised the bigger opportunity was in serving businesses directly. Today, the platform offers POS terminals, payment gateways, business accounts, payroll tools, treasury management, and operational software that help merchants accept payments and manage their finances across both digital and physical channels.
What this means is that Nomba is positioning itself as more than just a payment processor. Through Nigeria’s agency banking model, the company first gained traction by helping agents deliver financial services like cash withdrawals and transfers through POS terminals. But it has since expanded its focus to merchants themselves, aiming to become a one-stop platform for businesses looking to run their financial operations in one place.
Why this matters is that African businesses still face major hurdles when collecting payments from overseas customers. To tackle this, Nomba recently acquired a licensed Canadian payment service provider and partnered with UK-based financial services company Volume to enable account-to-account payments through open banking rails. The move could significantly cut the 6–7% card processing fees that many merchants currently pay when accepting international payments.
The strategy also taps into a growing economic corridor between Nigeria and the United Kingdom, home to a large Nigerian diaspora and rising digital commerce. While established players still dominate cross-border payments, Nomba is betting that increasing global trade by African SMEs will create demand for infrastructure that makes international transactions feel as seamless as local ones.
In case you missed it
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Have a productive week!
Victoria Fakiya for Techpoint Africa
