Safaricom is set to launch a new tokenised Wi-Fi service offering hourly, daily, and weekly internet packages, marking a significant shift in fixed broadband sales in Kenya and Ethiopia. This initiative aims to make internet access more flexible and affordable, catering to users who require heavy internet for short periods or have irregular income.

• The service will allow customers to purchase internet access on a pay-as-you-go model, similar to mobile data, avoiding monthly contracts.
• Safaricom has appointed Sylvia Anampiu as the new Director of Fixed Business to lead this initiative.
• The company aims to tap into an estimated market potential of about four million connections, compared to its current 400,000 fixed broadband customers.

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis confirmed that Google has "no plans" to introduce advertisements in its Gemini AI assistant, contrasting OpenAI's recent decision to test ads in ChatGPT.

• Google generated roughly $74 billion in advertising revenue in a single quarter, allowing it to forgo immediate monetization of Gemini.
• OpenAI reportedly earned around $5 billion in total revenue in Q4 but continues to incur operating losses, thus necessitating new revenue streams like advertising.
• Hassabis emphasized that an ad-free Gemini prioritizes “the core experience and the core technology of being a better assistant,” while avoiding potential conflicts between advertising and a "true universal assistant’s" trustworthiness.

NETSCOUT is empowering MNOs to leverage 5G Standalone (SA) networks for revenue growth through enhanced network slicing capabilities. The company’s advanced observability solutions provide end-to-end visibility, enabling telecommunication companies to offer reliable and high-performance, differentiated services.

• NETSCOUT's platform offers continuous visibility across every slice, tenant, and service layer, addressing the need for operators to guarantee latency, uptime, throughput, and reliability for premium services.
• The global network slicing market is projected for rapid growth in the next five years, driven by enterprise demand and the shift to 5G Standalone networks.
• NETSCOUT's 5G observability stack includes end-to-end visibility, closed-loop automation, digital twins, AIOps-driven forecasting, and NWDAF-powered analytics to optimize network performance.