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HP LAUNCHES e-INCLUSION WITH AFRICA IN MIND In an effort to narrow the
"digital divide," Hewlett-Packard has announced a new
initiative helping to provide technology and working to build
markets in developing countries. The venture, which is called
e-Inclusion, will seek to place some of HP's business focus on
developing markets in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe
and Latin America. In 2001, the Palo Alto, California-based company
plans to target $1 billion of its products, along with partner
products and services, to be sold, leased or donated through
special programs in developing nations. In addition, e-Inclusion
hopes to assist 1,000 rural communities and provide "measurable
social and economic benefits" globally. The initiative will
focus on health, education, information-based jobs, access to
markets and financial services. Efforts could include promoting
existing remote telecenters, equipped with solar-powered computers
and high-speed Internet connections that can be used by local
residents and businesses. The Internet and other information
technologies hold the keys to sustainable economic growth, said
Carly Fiorina, HP's chairwoman, president and chief executive
officer. SA WOOLWORTH AND WOOLTRU "IN THE BAG" TOGETHER Woolworths and Wooltru plan
to launch Inthebag.co.za this week. The site promises to kick
dust into the eyes of its business-to-consumer (B2C) competition,
which has a considerable lead start. SOUTH AFRICAN ICT SUPPLIERS' OFFER NEW SERVICES SAP Africa has appointed debis
IT services, Siemens Business Services and iServe as application
service providers (ASPs) to supply enterprise business software
and services. UUNet SA, an Internet-based
network services provider, says it is diversifying its product
offering to include a suite of e-commerce network options. CHINA SEEKING TELECOM OPPORTUNITIES IN AFRICA China's telecommunication equipment
providers are keeping an eye on the emerging African market and
hope to further promote relationships with their African partners
in the China-African Co-operation Forum. BRITISH COMPANY OFFERS E-COMMERCE IN MALAWI International Computers Limited,
the British multinational computer company with interests in
eight African countries, has embarked on an ambitious project
to bring electronic commerce (e-commerce) to Malawi. George Mnesa,
Malawi the company's general manager, said the company would
work with two of Malawi's three Internet Service Providers -
Malawi Net Limited and Web and Internet Services Solutions to
bring e-commerce to the country. "We want Malawi to be part
of the information revolution," he added. Mnesa said that
although Malawi was currently facing economic hardships, the
company found it necessary to introduce this system of trade.
This comes fast in the wake of the British government's signing
of an agreement to support Malawi's Internet development. British
minister for Africa in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Peter
Hain, said during a recent visit that London has decided to include
internet support in the development support for its former colony.
"We know Malawi is facing a number of economic problems
but we believe that nowadays no economy can develop without developing
its IT sector," he said. In the arrangement, British universities
would link up with Malawian universities to development an IT
collaboration programme. He also said British IT companies would
set up partnerships with their Malawian counterparts. The system
Britain was planning to bring to Malawi has already proved successful
in other developing countries, notably India. Mnesa also said
the company would utilise the services of Malawi's two mobile
phone networks for the e- commerce. Malawi's cellular phone networks
- Malawi Telkom Limited and Celtel Malawi - have about 30,000
subscribers between them while about 3,500 people are connected
to MalawiNet while about 1,500 subscribers use Sustainable Development
Network Programme, a United Nations Development Programme-sponsored
second Internet Service Provider. Web and Internet Services Solutions,
Malawi's third provider launched in June, has at least 200 subscribers.
Meanwhile, Netcom - a South African e-commerce consultancy firm
- and Electronic Commerce of Botswana will provide short-term
consultancy to Malawi's fledgling e-commerce start up. ZIMBABWE'S ECONET COMPLETE $400m MICROWAVE LINK ECONET Wireless has completed
a $400 million project to build a digital microwave link between
Harare and Messina on the South African border, in what is the
company's most ambitious capital development project since it
started operations two years ago. The link, which has taken nearly
a year to build, will enable Econet Wireless to not only provide
cellular coverage throughout Masvingo province and the lowveld,
but also save Zimbabwe millions of dollars in foreign exchange,
carrying international traffic to and from South Africa. Econet
Wireless spokesman, Sure Chimbga said the company decided to
embark on the project after it failed to secure capacity on the
aging microwave system operated by the Zimbabwe Post and Telecommunications
Corporation (ZPTC). "The completion of the system means
that Econet Wireless now has backbone microwave infrastructure
along all the country's major highways, having completed another
digital microwave link between Harare and Bulawayo in our first
year of operation. Another link to Kariba was completed last
year," he said. He said the completion of the microwave
system between Harare and Messina was a major milestone in the
development of Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe's largest mobile operator
based on subscriber numbers. "Until now, we have really
battled to provide service to areas in Masvingo province particularly
areas like the lowveld and Beit Bridge, Now we can offer service
to most of those areas," said Chimbga. COMPUTER AID OFFERS FREE COMPUTERS Computer Aid International is a UK-based registered charity which recycles and repairs donated computers for re-use in schools and community organisations in developing countries. In the 3 years since it launched Computer Aid has sent 5,500 fully tested Windows capable computers to 33 different developing countries.Computer Aid usually supplies computers in co-operation with other Northern NGOs for their overseas partners and their existing projects. This has included collaboration with UNAIS, VSO, Skillshare Africa, ICD, SOS Children's Villages and Coda International amongst others. Computers have been supplied in quantities from 1 (packed to take on a plane as personal luggage) up to a full container of 210 computers securely packed and ready for shipping. A small charge (£19) is made for adninistration and packaging and shipping is extra. By way of illustration of the typical overall costs involved - UK-based NGO Coda International recently sent 210 fully tested and refurbished Computer Aid machines to community organisations in Nicaragua. To get these computers into productive use in schools and community organisations across Nicaragua cost Coda an average of £25 sterling per PC including all shipping, transport, admin and packing costs. For more information please email Angela Anyiam at angela@computeraid.org see its new web site at www.computeraid.org or call her on +44 (0)20 7281 0091. FREE SOFTWARE FOR USE IN SA EDUCATION Free office productivity software
is set to assist computer literacy in South African schools.
The first project uses Sun Microsystems StarOffice in the Dominican
Convent School and is currently being rolled out. "Schools
are the starting place for teaching and if children are taught
correctly how to make full use of a software package then they
enjoy the long term benefits of computer literacy," explains
Adrian Grewar, owner of the Komena Development Group, the driver
behind the project to introduce this software to as many schools
as possible. USAID CONDUCTS SUPPLIER SURVEY USAID will soon undertake an Africa-wide survey of the market for ICT-related commodities and services, everything from computer systems to satellite systems, and Web site designers to business process reengineers. The type of procurement that might eventually be developed could be what it calls an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, tendered under "commercial item" principles. An IDIQ contract is where firms and organizations are preselected in open competition and placed on a roster. Once a firm is approved and listed on the roster, then for the duration of the contract (perhaps 5 years) USAID could quickly and easily request any commodities and services from that firm that the firm agreed to make available when it bid on the contract. The "commercial item" principles simply state that USAID would follow the procedures for issuing a contract that are prevalent in the industry, rather than making firms and organizations adhere to special USAID procedures for bidding on a contract. The idea here is to assure that firms and organizations do not have to employ contracts specialists in order to compete for USAID business. USAID will in effect try and make the bidding process as easy as possible for participants. However, at this stage, no specific procurement action has been decided. USAID may choose not to issue any procurement action at all, and it may decide not to use the type of contracting procedures listed above. I am providing you the above information to encourage your interest in the market survey, especially if you have not previously considered doing business with USAID. We are simply initiating a market survey to see what commodities and services are available, at what level of quality, and at what prices. For the survey, it is looking for organizations and companies (for profit, not for profit) with broad market experience interested in talking about the market in general and not just about their particular firm. Of course USAID will be quite interested to know as well about the capabilities of particular firms and the services and commodities those organizations and companies might like to offer, and in what countries these organizations and companies might be willing to offer their products. For further details contact Jeff Cochrane on cochrane@igc.org . NII QUAYNOR WINS AS AFRICA'S ICANN REP BUT ON A LOW POLL Congratulations to Ghanaian Nii Quaynor who has been elected as Africa's representative on ICANN's ruling committee. It is widely acknowledged that he will be a good person top play that role. The voting results (see below) bear out the widely reported complaint that it proved impossible to register as an ICANN member at large or vote through the ICANN web site because overall the traffic was simply too heavy. Only 76,000 members of ICANN at large managed to sign up worldwide and it is no longer possible to sign up as a member. ICANN must urgently address two problems: how it can involve wider numbers of people in its elections and how it will encourage a more representative "at large" membership structure. Africa, for its part must ensure that next time its internet users are better prepared. News Update is happy to act as a forum for lobbying ICANN on African issues.
(source: contributors to IOZ and http://www.election.com/us/icann/region4.html )
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This page last updated on January 28 2004.
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