| ||||||||||
 |
|
STUDY ABROAD OPTIONS
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday.
ISSUE NO 145 DESPERATE GHANA TELECOM SHUTS OFF OUTGOING ISP LINES, BLAMES VOIP BUT...Ten days ago Ghana Telecom put all the country’s ISPs on one-way circuits so that they could only receive incoming calls. In a move uncannily reminiscent of Kenya Telkom’s ISP shutdown before Christmas, Ghana Telecom is seeking to blame the loss of its international call revenue on ISPs doing VOIP. Eric Osiakwan and Russell Southwood seek to untangle the truth in this second high-profile, African clash over VOIP. One of the first signs that something was wrong came from a participant in a local mail-list who wrote:"Is Ghana Telecom cutting off ISPs??????????? Dial up to your ISP and u get beep beep beep. If it was one ISP it could be the usual lack of QOS (Quality of Service). But if it’s all of them. IS GHANA TELECOM CUTTING OFF THE ISPs?." Before that Ghana Telecom had leaked to the Ghanaian press, the scale of its losses on international revenue. As we reported in last week’s issue, the company has gone from earning US$42 million a year on its international telephone traffic to losing US$14 million over the last four years. In 1998, the International Telephone Traffic Revenue yielded US$42 million. The following year, it dropped by $8.14 million to $33.98 million followed by a further drop in 2000 of $7.63 million to $26.4 million in 2001. This further reduced by $7.06 million to $14.14 million last year. In a move that looked as if it had been planned with Ghana Telecom, Ghana’s independent regulator, the National Communication Authority (NCA) announced that it was commissioning a technical team to among other things investigate how some ISPs caused the loss of more than US$30 million to Ghana Telecom. The acting Director General of the NCA, Major (rtd) J.R.K. Tandoh says there is evidence to show an increasing decline in revenue from international calls. The Chair of the Ghanaian ISP Association (GISPA), IDN’s Francis Quartey (jailed previously for allegedly operating VOIP calls) issued a statement refuting the charge that GT’s losses were the responsbility of GISPA’s members. The statement opens by saying that since the operations of IDN and others were closed for 9 months and GT’s revenues did not increase in the period, it can hardly be held responsible. It then makes the point that:"GT has not established clearly how this revenue is being lost. GT should establish the means by which it is losing (revenue)". It then goes on to list the reasons for the likely decline in its revenues: - consumers choosing e-mail over phone; - competition from Westel, the second national operator, whose international revenues have gone up. - the massive increase in non GT mobile subscribers whose operators have the capability to switch or terminate traffic directly into their own network. - The number of phone lines being used by ISP’s cumulatively (IDN has 200) is not in excess of 2000 lines. At the same time active ISP subscribers number somewhere between 15,000-20,000. So even if the ISPs were using the lines to terminate traffic, the impact would not be as purported by Ghana Telecom. (Our guesstimate would be that the grey market locally accounts for between 10-15% of traffic.) - A number of foreign satellite providers such Thuraya and others are in operation. Their activities cannot be discounted as contributor to GT’s revenue decline. - The overall drop in the cost of international traffic. GT’s accounting rate at the beginning of the period cited was approximately US$1 and is now currently 9 cents; a 90% drop in the value of traffic to GT. - And finally, its most serious allegation:"Ghana telecom has provided huge number of phone lines to companies whose businesses are no way related to telecom or dependent on telecom services. Indeed, some of these company’s posses more phone lines than the providers ( us ). Management of GT has conveniently turned blind eye to the activities of aforementioned businesses". Indeed when the issue of losses was covered in the local press a year ago there were allegations that GT staff members were colluding with outsiders to take revenues of this kind. In its recommendations to Government, GISPA makes the point that losses at GT mean lower contributions to the Universal Access Fund. However if Government were to legalise VOIP, the it could tax the operators and get back this revenue and provide an opportunity for Ghana to be the telecom gateway in the sub-region. On Wednesday last week GISPA met with the new ICT advisor to the Minister Adu Gyan in the absence of the Minister himself. Sources close to those who attended the meeting say that the adviser agreed with the GISPA representatives that GT should restore all lines to the ISPs. It was also clear that GT’s move was a breach of Ghana’s anti-competition laws. It was also agreed that GISPA would work with the regulator and government to facilitate the development of a framework for legalising VOIP operations. The Government agreed that it would shortly make a formal response to the situation. In Kenya the showdown over VOIP happened to coincide with a major change in the political administration. This opened the way for a consortium of ISPs to request a licence to handle their own international connectivity which is being sympathetically considered by the country’s independent regulator. In Ghana, the situation is different. The Kufor Government was elected as a "reform" government but in the area of ICT has yet to make much of an impact. When we asked Francis Quartey about when VOIP would be legalised in an interview in the last issue he said:"The Director General of the NCA which is the regulating body of communications in the country as well as the Minister of Communication have both publicly stated their readiness to license VOIP operators. In any case, I do not believe VOIP is illegal in Ghana- at least not in the eyes of the rule of law of the land. When will VOIP be legalised in Ghana? I suppose when we gather the political will". Will Ghana’s Minister demonstrate that he has the will to make this change?
MADAGASCAR’S TELMA LAUNCHES GSM SERVICEDespite the approaching privatisation, TELMA is continuing to give priority to putting in place new technologies, according to a report in midi-Madigaskari. It has launched ADSL and is now rolling out its new GSM service. The latter had attracted 4,000 subscribers by the end of May 2003. Larger towns and regions such as Farafangana, Mananjary, Sainte-Marie ,Nosy Be, Vohémar, Antsohihy , Ambatondrazaka will be among the beneficiaries of the new service. More than 50 "GSM publiphones" will be installed. Maintirano will be connected by 22 February and Toamasina and d’Antsirabe by the end of the month. The CEO of TELMA Mamiharilala Rasolojaona reiterated the strategic need for the company to privatise in order to operate in the mobile field. (source: http://www.midi-madagasikara.mg/) MTN GETS 1M NIGERIAN SUBSCRIBERS, MOVES TO INVEST US$60MMTN last week announced that it had crossed the one million subscribers mark to make history as the first telecom operator in the country to achieve that feat. The MTN board also last week, approved a $60 million facility for the company to immediately embark on an expansion network which is expected to soak up rising demand for its GSM lines. But such breakthrough did not come on a platter of gold. Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Adrian Wood, who made the announcement yesterday, attributed it to "good judgement and a triumph of hard work, innovation and good planning." (source: The Vanguard via AllAfrica.com) TELEKOM MALAYSIA GOES TO ARBITRATION OVER STAKE IN GHANA TELECOMIn protecting its investment in Ghana, Telekom Malaysia ™ has sent a Notice of Arbitration to the Government of Ghana (GoG) for the commencement of arbitration proceedings under the UNICITRAL Arbitration Rules. "It is expected that the arbitration proceeding would conclude within a period of 18 to 24 months from the date of filing of the notice," it said. From Jan 22 to 23, 2003, TM’s negotiating team met the GOG’s negotiating team to discuss outstanding issues relating to the sale of G-Com’s 30 percent stake in Ghana Telecommunications Co Ltd (GT) and other related matters. "However, the parties failed to reach an amicable settlement of the issues," TM said in updating the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange on its investment in GT, today. Other related matters between the GOG, GT and TM were a deposit refund of US$50 million pursuant to the heads of agreement dated Aug 10, 2000; and the outstanding consultancy fees of US$7.3 million due and payable to TM International Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TM by GT. (source: Ghanaian Chronicle) IN BRIEF- MTN has turned down the offer of a licence to operate in Tanzania and would not attempt any more foreign expansion until it has completely conquered its Nigerian operations, the company said last week. - Telkom Kenya last week set the stage for a bitter legal duel with AOL Time Warner, vowing not to pay a Sh12.9 million debt it allegedly owes the latter in advertisement costs. The state-owned company denied ever entering into an advertising agreement with AOL in 1999. - The Kenyan Government has no immediate plans to privatise Telkom Kenya said Planning and National Development minister Anyang Nyong’o. Instead it would be revamped to prepare it for privatisation. - During the first year of the Commission for Communication of Kenya’s existence, the communications sector contributed over US$ 77 million to the exchequer through licensing.
TANZANIA’S RECENTLY OPENED DATA HUB SAVES DAR A ‘DOUBLE HOP’Communication data from Tanzania will no longer have to be routed through a another country following the establishment of a satellite hub by SatCom Africa Networks, a local data communications company. Prior to the launch of the hub last week, data communication from Tanzania passed through South Africa and Germany among other countries. Leena Kapadia of Soft-Tech Consultants Ltd said: "All traffic was routed through hubs outside the country, thus necessitating a double hop." SatCom Africa Networks is a partnership between a local private entrepreneur and Intelsat of the UK. Tanzania has eight data communication service providers, two fixed line operators, four cellular operators and 17 Internet service providers. (source: East African) SA INTERNET USERS PREFER TO RECEIVE THEIR BILLS ONLINE SAYS SURVEYNine out of 10 internet users who took part in a survey on electronic billing would prefer to receive their bills online rather than via traditional snail mail. Of the companies and individuals quizzed in the poll, 76% would prefer to receive their bills via e-mail, while 17% would prefer to access their bills on a website. This is in direct contrast to US behaviour, where most internet users prefer to access bills on the websites of their billers or to receive a consolidated set of bills on the banking websites. The survey results were hardly surprising, since the people polled were already experienced internet users accustomed to doing business online. The participants included 586 individuals and 200 companies with access to the internet, and covered issues affecting the fledgling electronic bill payment and presentment industry. Arthur Goldstuck, MD of the research house World Wide Worx, said it was interesting to see how local conditions affected technology take-up. "Because of slow access speeds in this country, South Africans are looking for solutions that don’t keep them waiting for web pages to download. Rather than wait unproductively for the details of every account to arrive on their screens, they would prefer to see bills arrive in their e-mail, where they can peruse them in their own time." More than half the companies surveyed had no plans for introducing ebilling systems, but a third had already installed the technology or were in the process of doing so. A quarter had no idea how their efforts stacked up against the competition, while 6% felt they were way ahead and 15% slightly ahead. About 11% admitted they were lagging way behind in switching to electronic billing. The main reason prompting companies to bypass the postal service was the sheer speed of e-billing, which brought in their payments faster. Improved customer service and the lower costs of electronic billing were other motivating factors. Those implications could be bad news for the SA Post Office, unless it became an e-billing provider itself, said Goldstuck. Only 7% of respondents preferred traditional post for receiving their bills. The survey showed a slight variation in the types of bills that users would want to receive online. Customers of retail chains saw e-mail as the ideal delivery method for their bills, but when it came to the more traditional areas of banking and insurance, there was still quite a high demand for traditional mail, said Goldstuck. (source: Business Day) IN BRIEF- A project for the launch of Electronic Governance (E-Gov) in Angola is being prepared at the National Commission for Information Technologies. E-Gov will be a generalised use of information technologies by the public administration in the relations between the Government and Citizen as well as between Government and enterprises.
SOUTH AFRICA: REPORT SAYS CITI SUCCESS SETS EXAMPLE FOR ICT CLUSTERThe success of the Cape Information Technology Initiative’s (CITI) efforts to foster cluster development in the Western Cape is setting a precedent for ICT development in South Africa, an Infonomics South Africa report illustrated today. Infonomics Director, Glen Thompson said the report, titled "Lessons in Cluster Development" had used CITI as its case study, tracing the not-for-profit organisation’s history through its formative phases to present day. CITI was started in 1998, with the intention to facilitate the growth of a world-class ICT industry in the Western Cape. The economic benefit of clustering is that it provides a co-operative way for the sharing of ideas, specialised infrastructure, human capital and services by a community in a geographic location. The success factors for cluster development include: a strong core industry, local support in the form of businesses, which act as suppliers and markets, appropriate soft infrastructure and good physical infrastucture.* Thompson said CITI’s UUNET Bandwidth Barn project provided a classic example of the cluster concept put to practice. "Its success to date is measured by the survival of almost all the Barn’s tenants since inception, as well as the high demand for larger premises, prompting the Barn’s move to 128 Strand Street, in March this year." CITI has also more recently forged close ties with similar national initiatives such as The Innovation Hub in Gauteng. The report found key successes of CITI to include: the energy used by founders - and all participants - to drive projects; strong internal and external communication, the creation of interpersonal linkages and supportive networks, and the success of the Bandwidth Barn - which has served as the physical centre of CITI’s networks and a home for all its people. The Barn has also been important in helping to sustain the enthusiasm and energy of the original concept. RWANDA LAUNCHES SECONDARY SCHOOLS COMPUTERISATION PROGRAMME LAUNCHEDRwanda has launched a national programme to provide computer laboratories, Internet access and computer training for teachers in secondary schools. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the government said the programme, called Schoolnet, had the support of the World Bank and USAID. It is being implemented by World Links, an international NGO specialising in providing computers and training in secondary schools in developing countries. President Paul Kagame launched the initial phase of Schoolnet on Tuesday last week at the Groupe Scolaire de Notre Dame du Bon Conseil in Byumba Province. During the launch, Kagame urged all Rwandans to take time to learn how to use computers and the Internet. He said there was a vast wealth of information available to the business community, farmers and other professions on the Internet which could enable them increase productivity. (Source: IRIN) IN BRIEF- Datacentrix has almost completed the implementation of its Microsoft Great Plains business solution at SA National Parks. The project is scheduled to go live on 1st April 2003.
ECONET WIRELESS NIGERIA’s DECISION TO FIND NEW OPERATOR SPLITS BOARDCORRECTION: Due to an attack of the gremlins the above story appeared when it should not have. It is one of our company archive stories and is well over a year old. Sincere apologies to all for any confusion this may have caused. IN BRIEF- The Angolan Government has approved the new privitisation law which aims to simplify and speed up procedures for foreign investment. Good news for those who might be interested in investing in Angola Telecom. - According to LiquidAfrica, the chairman of the Egyptian Company for Media Production City (MPRC.CA) Abd El Rahman Hafez, announced that the company concluded a number of contracts worth LE65 million in a business tour within the Gulf region. - SMS software company Beget Holdings has bought the assets of Namibia’s Ianitor and the intellectual property of British Virgin Islands-registered Hopefield Enterprises Corporation for R8 million. JSE-listed Beget recently set up a joint venture in the Seychelles with Ianitor as partner. - Software developer FrontRange is continuing its long, slow climb back to profitability by reporting a welcome operating profit of R4,5m, a R155m turnaround from its damaging loss of R144m a year ago. - There were 125 trades in SONATEL on the Senegalese bourse pushing its price up to 90 CFAs...Schroder Salomon Smith Barney said it downgraded South African mobile phone group MTN to "inline" from "outperform", but kept its valuation at 13.50 rand.  CORRECTIONISSUE 132: IT’S BEHR, NOT BEER David Behr, former owner of Zimbabwe Online wrote in to correct the spelling of his name in the People column in issue 132.
AFRICA_NET: NEW FRENCH LANGUAGE DISCUSSION FORUM ON ICTAfrica_net is a unique discussion list aimed at those in francophone countries interested in ICT in Africa last week it launched a web presence. Operating since last year, it is the brainchild of an an NGO which focuses on ICT on the continent. It wants to be come a platform for exchanges between all its participants. The main discussion themes for this year are: telecentres, ICT in rural areas and its use in African economies. One of the five moderators for the list, Ken Lohento says:"Africa_Net wants to inform all those who have a stake in the development of ICT in Africa and to give birth to collaborations between its participants". It attracts a wide range of participants from NGOs based in Europe and Africa such as Yam-Pukri (Burkina Faso), Oridev, le CSDPTT (France), ISOC Cameroon, Internet-Niger, Linux-Afrique, academic institutions et researchers. (source: http://www.afrik.com) AFRICA LOXO: NEW WEB SITE FOR AFRICAN ARTISTS AND DESIGNERSAfrica Loxo wants to spread African art works across the world. It Senegalese, Beninois and Sierre Leonian are amongst those on this new site promoting their work in forms as diverse as sculpture, photography, jewellery and fashion. African Loxo sees itself as "the link between African creators and marketplaces across the world."The site has been launched by l’Espace Faguèye, named after its owner Mame Faguèye Bâ who is based in Dakar. The site shows a selection of work from its artists and for ease of navigation work is arranged under four main headings: painting gallery, photography gallery, fashion and design and jewellery and fashion. Sada Tall, Bara, Ibrahima Mangare, Assane GningŠThese names are just the beginning of a long list that includes 36 artists from across the continent. Each has his or her own photo and a biography. (source: http://www.afrik.com) IN BRIEF- The ICSU/CODATA on line discussion forum:"Science and Technology in the Information Society" hosted on ICSU website (www.icsu.org) is now open. The overall aim of the forum is to collect input from all sectors of the international science and technology community that will help form the basis for the negotiations that will take place at the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva in December this year (WSIS: www.itu.int/wsis/). - An online discussion on rural women’s access to land is now open on the new Dimitra website <http://www.fao.org/dimitra/> in preparation for for a conference on 25-27 February 2003.
PEOPLEAccording to The Monitor, President Yoweri Museveni has warned that the Internet could promote moral decadence if not properly used."Don’t sacrifice Africa to moral decadence, choose only the useful information," the president said on Monday in a speech read for him by the minister of Education Dr. Kidhu Makubuya at International Conference Center in Kampala. The minister was opening a regional workshop aimed at building consensus on starting a regional centre for graduate studies and a master’s degree programme in Computer Science.The president said Africa needs to join the information age. President Museveni is concerned that the gap between the information haves and have-nots is widening. He said the era of relying on natural resources for development has been over taken by information technology."Information is a pre-eminent resource," the president said. "look at countries like Japan they don’t have natural resource but they are now some of the most developed economies in the world, he added." * A war in Iraq would pose a "huge risk" to Telkom listing plans, public enterprises director-general Sivi Gounden says.While he was confident the listing on the Johannesburg and New York stock exchanges would take place as planned on March 4, Gounden said in an address to the Cape Town Press Club that a Middle East war did pose a risk. "We have been able to manage all the risks within our control, but ultimately the success of the Telkom listing is very much dependent on one single factor which none of us can control and that is the kind of decisions that are taken in the United Nations and by the US.We are crossing our fingers on that one. When we worked our timing out we did not pencil in the possibility of a war. It poses a huge risk in the current environment, and we are not downplaying that." * Already, municipal authorities have stopped more than 30 mobile phone operators, who were doing business in improper premises, such as verandas, or from illegally erected kiosks, according to Mayor Wilson Tuwine of Uganda’s Mbarara Municipal Council. "These people should look for proper operating premises rather than operating on verandas which brings a lot of dirt on the streets and yet they do not contribute anything in terms of revenue. My intention is not to cripple their businesses but rather to make sure they conduct their business in an organised way," Tumwine said. JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES- Bridges.org, the international NGO that helps people in developing countries to use ICT to help themselves, is expanding its offices in Cape Town. To this end, it is inviting applications for three posts: Business Manager, Technology Associate and Webmaster. The closing date for all applications is 28 February 2003. For more information about the above positions, please go to: http://www.bridges.org/getinvolved/index.html EVENTS6TH INTERNATIONAL DESIGN INDABA (26-28 FEBRUARY 2003, ARTSCAPE, CAPE TOWN) The 6th International Design Indaba is just around the corner! Next month Cape Town will be brimming with the cream of the international design world as 22 international speakers and hundreds of delegates arrive for the most prestigious design event in the southern hemisphere. Design Indaba is a three-day conference dedicated to the latest ideas and innovations from the international design community. The world’s most esteemed designers promise to inspire and intrigue with their insights into the way design is going &SHY; from web design, to fashion, to architecture, to photography, to graphic design &SHY; all the latest trends will be presented. The line-up of speakers include English design pioneer Sir Terence Conran; Irma Boom, the Amsterdam-based bookmaker; Malcolm Garrett, London’s digital-design prodigy; and Saville Row designer extraordinaire Ozwald Boateng. (For a full list of all 22 speakers go to www.designindaba.com). Please email Michelle (michelle@interactive.africa.com) or call her on +27 21 418 6673 for a Design Indaba programme or registration form. You can also register online at www.designindaba.com IN BRIEFIn apparent to Sallah celebrations, the NITDA sponsored seminar on Information Technology has been postponed from February 10 -12 to March 2003 in Abuja. NITDA has granted a 67% special discount to Nigerian youths who want to participate in the Conference. Gbenga Sesan, Nigeria’s IT youth Ambassador, who is coordinating his peers for the maiden Event will be there in order to ‘ coordinate meetings among young people on how we can visibly impact our regions, and to also produce daily newsletters and an online coverage of the event to about 300 Nigerians that receive information through our NigeriaTomorrow mailing list’. The youths’ contact email address for the event is enigeria@gbengasesan.com
If our correspondent is "off the mark" or you have
factual amendments, mail them to us and we will include them
in subsequent News Updates. If you'd like to contribute, write
and let us know. |
|
Custom Search
  
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This page last updated on January 28 2004.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
