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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday.
ISSUE NO 170 MALI SPECIAL - COMPETITION BEGINS TO HAVE AN IMPACT ON SOTELMAEven small African markets like Mali are beginning to experience the impact of competition. It’s slow and uneven but it’s beginning to happen. State incumbent Sotelma bowed to the inevitable recently and dropped its international rates by 50%. The Government has announced that it will be privatised by the end of 2004 but it was supposed to happen at the end of this year. Local industry gossip is that Sonatel may then buy it, making France Telecom significant owners of both major players in the market. Russell Southwood reports after a recent visit. The Malian incumbent Sotelma was created in 1990 from what was a department of Government. Its subsidiary Malitel handles its mobile phone operation. It claims that the country had a phone density of 1% in 2002 up from a low baseline of 0.4% in 1999. Mali, with a population of just over 11 million citizens, has approximately 80,000 fixed and 180,000 mobile phone lines today. Sotelma has 70,000 GSM subscribers and 60,000 of these are pre-paid. Its overall number of employees has increased from 1352 in 1999 to 1533 in 2002. It has a wireless local loop covering Bamako and the vicinity with 356 lines. It also has two data transmission networks: x 25 (MALIPAC) with 22 customers and LX25/111 with 192 circuits. It has recently signed a deal with Chinese-American-owned UTStarcom to buy its IP-based PAS (Personal Access System) solution. (see Telecom News - Issue 169) Over the course of several quarters, Sotelma intends to deploy approximately 50,000 lines of UTStarcom’s iPAS system in the capital city of Bamako, with an option to expand into several other cities in the future for a total of 100,000 lines. Earlier in the year Sotelma bowed to the inevitable and dropped its international rates: from CFAF700 to CFAF 300 per minute to ECOWAS countries (-57%); from CFAF1385 to CFAF 600 to France (-56%); and from CFAF3000 to CFAF 1195 to the USA (-60%). There used to be a call-back market but these price decreases have made the two quite close in price. The price of local calls has been rebalanced and although Sotelma has been claiming reductions, the reverse has actually happened. The "unite de base" has been adjusted from from five to three minutes. The Malian government has announced that it will privatise Sotelma but it has been say it will do so "by the end of the year" for several years. The latest date is by the end of 2004. The issue is politically sensitive because a large number of its employees will probably be made redundant if the company is to operate effectively. The delays in privatising have meant that the company has not been able to invest and it is therefore vulnerable to the newcomer in the market, Ikatel. The UTStarcom deal allows them a technology solution that may allow them to up capacity at a lower cost. Ikatel is partly owned by France Telecom and with 102,000 mobile subscribers easily outpaces Malitel. Local sources report that it has better service but that its coverage only currently extends to two cities outside Bamako. By contrast, Malitel’s investment uncertainty means that it is running its 70,000 subscribers on far too little capacity with an inevitable impact on service. Ikatel has a full service licence but has not yet rolled out fixed line service. Once it starts competing across a wider range of services and with the access to the fibre link (see next section), Sotelma will be quite vulnerable. (During the inevitable interconnection row between Sotelma and Ikatel, local street entrepreneurs were selling phones equipped with two SIM cards as a "workaround".) There is considerable discussion locally in industry circles as to whether Senegal’s Sonatel will bid for Sotelma when it’s finally privatised. It can argued that Sonatel is only 46% owned by France Telecom and therefore is still a Senegalese company. But if this actually happened, France Telecom would be the majority in both of the main companies in the market, a position that would not be much altered by the mooted licensing of a third mobile operator. FIRST TO THE MARKET ISPS SUFFERING FROM MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS As in several African countries, USAID’s Leland Initiative played a key role in setting up the first national gateway for ISPs. It has also helped create a network for the University of Bamako which has no central campus. It is probably one of the first wireless networks in the country. (The University has 240 computers and each department has a separate facility for students and teachers.) Therefore its 9000 students have access to e-mail and internet. USAID’s new programme (USD5 million) will run through to 2007 and it will focus on the creation of 13 community learning information centres. Mali has 15 ISPS, a large number for a market of this size. These include: Afribone, CIFAB, Datatech, Spider, Malinet, Burotic (the local IBM representative) and Arc. The total number of subscribers is somewhere between 4-6000 and has not grown much in the last year. There is a "numero nationale" but there is not much business outside of Bamako. Afribone with 1600 dial-up and 54 wireless customers is seen by everyone as the biggest player in the market. The other two larger ISPs are CIFAB and Datatech. Afribone charges CFAF20,000 a month and is the most expensive ISP in the market but can justify the premium charged because of its bandwidth and service. Both Malinet and Spider are suffering from management problems and seem to be losing clients. It appears to be the classic problem of "techies" without the necessary management or marketing skills: one customer recounted how he found it difficult to get a bill out of one of them. Spider has recently been bought by a Canadian company called Experco. There is an ISP association which has been in existence for over a year but it is not very effective as a lobbying body. There are no current discussions about setting up a local IXP. The supply and cost of bandwidth is a big issue for all Malian ISPs. The incumbent Sotelma has a monopoly on the sale of international bandwidth so all ISPs are compelled to buy bandwidth from it. However this is not the whole story: all ISPs buy VSAT capacity which is formally illegal. For a number of reasons, the regulator turns a blind eye to this practice. Also banks and international NGOs openly use VSATs. (As with VSAT, VOIP falls into a similar grey area. It is illegal but not mentioned in the country’s constitution and Sotelma is not actively seeking to police ISPs and cyber-cafes.) As a landlocked country, Mali suffers from only having access to satellite bandwidth. A comparison given by one local ISP illustrates the scale of the difficulty. Senegal’s Sonatel, which has access to the SAT3 submarine fibre cable, offers 1 mbps at CFAF 1.3 million whereas Mali’s Sotelma offers only 64 kbps for CFAF 1 million. As reported in issue 168, SONATEL is developing an international gateway that will provide a fibre link to Gambia, Mauritania and Mali. The Mali section was laid along the power lines to the dam at Manantali and this connects to Dakar via the Region Fleuve. Traffic is expected to flow shortly once the rates have been agreed between SONATEL and the two Malian operators. There is also a planned fibre link from Cote D’Ivoire to Sikassou but the current political situation is not entirely favourable. CYBER-CAFES - LARGE NUMBER IN BAMAKO BUT VERY HIGH TURNOVER There are a considerable number of cyber-cafes in Bamako but they come and go with considerable frequency. Most are small but there are 3-5 larger cafes (for example I & D, Technolab). Datatech operates three cyber-cafes: one in a Mobil service station. Most small and medium-sized towns outside Bamako have at least one café and sometimes more. They suffer many connection problems and are expensive. But as Ousmane Berthe of Datatech observed:"The internet depends on electricity, telecoms and a computer. Outside of Bamako, these constitute the main blockages." In Bamako it costs CFAF500-1000 per hour. Outside Bamako, in a town with several cafes it usually costs around CFAF 2000 per hour. In small communities with only one cyber-café it is not unusual to pay CFAF 3000 per hour because there is no competition. Most cyber-café users are young professionals and they use it mainly for e-mail. Students use it for research purposes. Prices are high because Sotelma charges CFAF 1200 an hour and until that comes down it is hard to see how prices will change much. Sotelma has two companies it buys international bandwidth from: Lyman Brothers, a gateway in Utah (one of the providers under the Leland Initiative) and the Canadian Teleglobe. It has 6 mbps in and 4 mbps out. Because the market is so small there are few companies that specialise in web site design alone. One of the few of them ­ COCAN ­ designed the African football championship web site. The .ml domain is run by Sotelma and by all accounts is rather time-consuming to deal: many ISPs report offering frustrated clients .org or .com as speedier alternatives. Wireless networks look set to take off if the licensing problems can be resolved. Sine Traore who runs ImpactDev has connected five wireless sites:"It costs about CFAF 1 million per site. We use Alvarion technology." There are still discussions over licensing for them as the regulator wants to charge a high fee to cover them.
MINISTER HIGHLIGHTS FURTHER LIBERALISATION IN VISIT TO CI TELECOMIvorian Minister of Information and Technology Hamed Bakayoko paid an official visit to Cote D’Ivoire Telecom. He was enthused by the new connection to the SAT3 cable and announced that there would be further liberalisation of the fixed telephony market in February 2004. Responsibility for what he described as the second phase of reforming the sector will be given to a steering committee which will look at "big ideas" that will help the sector grow. He was also shown the SAT3 submarine fibre connection which according to his hosts at Cote D’Ivoire Telecom allowed a million telephone conversations between the 36 operators of the cable. The new connection gives the company eleven direct international links. The Minister was also shown the new billing centre which the company said was capable of producing 300 bills a day. (source: Le Patriote) UGANDA’S GULU DISTRICT GETS DIGITAL LANDLINE FROM RCP PROGRAMMEWithin two weeks Gulu will be the first district in Uganda to benefit from the Rural Communication Improvement Programme. The USD3.7m project to connect the northern region to the telephone network is complete. According to Mr Aldrine Nsubuga, the Uganda Telecom spokesman, the first phase of the three-year project is to be commissioned in two weeks time. He said the new digital landline switch is already tested and connected to the microwave system, which will enable users to access faster Internet services, and clear voice and fax. "Calling on both landline and mobile will be easier. The people will get quicker access to faxing and Internet facilities," he said. Nsubuga said the project, which is to benefit the people of Gulu and the rest of the northern region covered under the project, is aimed at removing the communication gap between the north and the rest of the country. He added that users would be billed according to the exact usage time. The Rural Communication Improvement Programme is under the Northern Uganda Reconstruction Programme (NURP), which was put in place for the development of the region. The Aswa county Member of Parliament, Reagan Okumu, praised UTL and the Belgian government who funded the project. "Communication is the source to development. We have been lagging behind in communication but we should utilise this opportunity well," Okumu said. (source: The Monitor) GATEWAY AND SIERRE LEONE’S DATATEL LINK TWO GSM OPERATORS TO INDEPENDENT NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NETWORKIn a visible demonstration of their investment in Sierra Leone pan-African operator Gateway Communications, and independent Freetown based Datatel Connections announced last week the successful launch of new network infrastructure in Sierra Leone linking up GSM providers Millicom and Celtel. Business life and retail confidence continues to increase in Sierra Leone and along with it a growing need for cost-effective and reliable communications. This need was predicted some time ago by Gateway and Datatel when two years back they began a series of investments that have provided communication services never before available in Sierra Leone. First to benefit were Internet users with the partners’ deployment of a wireless local loop network in and around Freetown. The new network and overlay ISP service delivered world class Internet access to the non-governmental agencies, multinationals, internet cafés and dial-up customers who rapidly signed-up to the service. Next the partners commenced deployment of a VoIP and international VSAT service from Sierra Leone again providing the kind of quality and pricing not available in this part of west Africa. Cellular communications across Africa have seen significant growth as mobile technology achieves the kind of roll-out speed that traditional networks cannot match. The same is true in Sierra Leone. Now the national GSM operators Millicom and Celtel benefit from increased in-bound traffic volumes and additional settlement revenue by working with Gateway and Datatel to provide international connectivity and promote their dialling codes through the international telephony markets. "By working with Gateway Communications, we have successfully developed local infrastructure and services in Freetown," said Christian Ogoo MD of Datatel. "We now provide local services over a Wireless Local Loop network we built, on which we offer ISP, VPN and international calling facilities to calling shops, non governmental bodies and multi-national corporations". Further information at http://gatewaycomms.com/ KENYA’S THIRD MOBILE LICENCE TO BE AUCTIONEDThe price of the third mobile telephone licence will be determined by auction. And the figure could be higher or lower than what was paid by the two existing operators, said regulator Communications Commission of Kenya.KenCell Communications and Safaricom Ltd both paid USD55 million (Sh4.1 billion) each for their licences. CCK Director-General Sammy Kirui assured service providers that the Government would ensure there was a level playing-ground. Last week, KenCell managing director Phillipe Vandebrouck said there was need for new players to come in on equal terms as existing operators.Last week, the regulator said similar technical and quality requirements would be demanded of the third operator. Final bidding takes place on August 22, and a licence should be issued by December.Already, five firms have been pre-qualified. Among them is MSI, reportedly eyeing for the 60 per cent stake in KenCell held by French conglomerate Vivendi Telecoms International. Asked about a possible conflict of interest in MSI’s action, Mr Kirui said it was so far not clear that MSI was angling for the equity. He, however, said the law would take care of the matter if it emerged that MSI was going for both. In the meantime, he announced that the two licensed operators had more or less met their roll-out requirements. The plans are revised from time to time at the request of the service providers. The regulator said it was in constant discussion with Telkom Kenya to ensure it complied with its end of the bargain. Last year, the State firm - whose land-line monopoly ends next June - was fined for non-compliance. Mr Kirui was answering questions from the media after signing a Sh11,718,000 (USD155,000) grant agreement with International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The money - some Sh16,632,000 ($220,000) - will support research into a universal access plan for the country. The IDRC, through the Acacia Initiative, will provide Sh11,718,000 ($155,000) while the rest will be paid by CCK. "We believe the results of this collaboration will provide the commission with reliable data to enable us to develop appropriate policy that would herald requisite interventions in the provision of communication services to all parts of the country," said Mr Kirui. CCK said the licensing of regional telecoms operators was still on course. Some players have expressed willingness to pay for the permits - the deadline is this month. (source: The Nation) ALCATEL SIGNS USD80M NETWORK DEAL WITH GHANA TELECOMAlcatel announced last week that it has signed a USD 80m contract with Ghana Telecom (GT) to upgrade and expand its telecom network across the nation. The contract was won through Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel’s flagship Chinese company and the leading Chinese telecom technology vendor. Under the contract, Alcatel will provide and install 250,000 switching lines in Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi, the "gold triangle" area of Ghana. Alcatel will also help to expand mobile network capacity to 630,000 subscribers, with its advanced GSM solution. In addition, GT’s transmission network will be optimized with Alcatel’s Metro Solution and fiber optical ring in Accra.Albert Kan-Dinah, Minister of Communications of Ghana said, "I extend my sincere congratulations to Alcatel as the winning partner of GT, after a vigorous selection process involving six bidders. This signing is a milestone. It is not only a success for Alcatel, but has symbolic importance for the overall economic cooperation between China and Ghana." The contract is part of a larger, three-year exclusive agreement between Alcatel and Ghana Telecom spanning further fixed and mobile infrastructure expansion. IN BRIEF- Nigeria’s President Obasanjo has signed into law the new Telecommunications Bill which restructures the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to give it full autonomy and establishes a Frequency Management Board. In addition, the new law includes provisions which allow for the faster deployment of telecoms services around Nigeria and sets up a Universal Access Fund which aims to ensure all Nigerians have access to telecom services. - Eng. Akeil Besheer, chairman of Telecom Egypt, said that the company would take its final decision concerning the establishment of a third mobile network by early September. Besheer added that, Telecom Egypt is currently conducting a feasibility study to determine the best options in order to participate in the mobile market. The available choices entail launching a third network, or acquiring a stake in one of the existing two mobile services companies. The outcome of this study would be submitted to the Cabinet by next September. - In ten months time Ghana Telecom will have a new regional office complex at Koforidua including an ultra-modern Customer Service Point, a conference room, and fibre point. - SA’s MTN has launched a prepaid top-up service through MTNICE that allows MTN prepaid users to top up their airtime and that of their friends and family from a cellphone. MTN’s consumer portal manager Gary Trehair says the system is linked to the user’s credit card and debits it at their request.
TUNISIAN ISPS ASK GOVT TO LOWER INCUMBENT’S CHARGES BY 10-30%ISPs in Tunisia are lobbying the state telecom company and communications carrier Tunisie Telecom to reduce the fees it charges them for access. Tunisian ISPs are suffering from an anaemic market that is partly the result of excessive regulation. The proposed amount of reduction would vary between 30% for ISPs with the highest numbers of subscribers and 10% for the smallest ones. ISPs are also complaining of high charges for their specialized lines that offer high-speed Internet access. Sources say the ISPs request is currently being considered by the Ministry of Transport and Communications Technologies, and decisions are expected to be announced soon to help the Internet industry cope with the current state of sluggishness. (source: LiquidAfrica) SA'S HP AND SA OUTSOURCING LAUNCH WI-FI SOLUTION TO CREATE HOTSPOTSDespite the relative illegality of Wi-Fi in SA at present, HP SA and SA Outsourcing last week announced an agreement that will see them provide a solution that aims to enable companies to deploy Wi-Fi rapidly. According to the press release issued by the two companies: "The HP ISM (Integrated Service Management) for Hotspots solution integrates all the key software and hardware elements needed for high-speed data services in WiFi hotspots, wireless LANs (local area networks) and fixed wireless environments." "Many companies want to generate new revenue with hotspot services - but have been held back because of the barriers to entry, namely cost, risk and the lack of expertise. Together, HP and SA Outsourcing have an answer that eliminates those barriers," says Pedro Viudez, CEO of SA Outsourcing. "With this agreement, we are the first to market with a comprehensive solution that enable businesses to deploy hotspot services quickly - and manage them cost-effectively," he adds.SA Outsourcing will re-sell the HP solution to both businesses and service providers, and will work closely with HP to provide professional services and support, the release states. In addition to selling the entire solution, SA Outsourcing will also offer HP ISM for Hotspots as a managed service. SA Outsourcing itself is deploying the master platform and integrating it into its existing WAN for SA. Thus, with customers deploying only the local platform, SA Outsourcing can operate the hotspot as a managed service, further reducing the cost, risk and time to deployment for the hotspot venue owner, the release notes. Whilst the use of Wi-Fi equipment is not illegal in SA, per se, the provision of wireless Internet access is. Wi-Fi may only be used within the confines of private property - using it in a WAN environment, for example, is not permitted. Icasa has issued a discussion document on Wi-Fi, in which it states that it is aiming to facilitate the provision of telecommunication services using Wi-Fi, it also clearly states that it is only looking at doing so on a customer’s premises, single piece of land, or contiguous pieces of land owned by the same person. Legalities aside, the solution proposed, while offering some security, does not seem to offer secure wireless connections to the access point at this moment. Nick Parkyn, chief ISM architect for HP’s E-Solutions division, says that users will need to bear in mind that this is a public service, and that logistically it would be extremely difficult to issue users with separate encryption keys. So, ultimately, users will have to make use of some sort of personal firewall in order to ensure that their notebooks and PDAs are safe from hackers connected to the same wireless LAN. (source: ICT News) IN BRIEF- Sonatel has launched Ticket Surf, an online payment system that allows users to pay for a number of services including SMS text messaging. It uses a throwaway card with an 11 character code with an initial credit of CFAF 2500. You enter the code on those sites that are partners and are then able to make online payment. - Beleaguered South African banks are again reeling from internet problems - two have now been attacked by an international super virus. Nedbank and First National Bank (FNB) have said their "internal" systems have been affected by a new super virus, but that customer services have not suffered. They said damage was not extensive and that the situation "was under control". The new virus, known as "Blaster", "LovSan" and "MSBlast", targets Microsoft’s Windows operating systems and has also been slowing down internet traffic. Thousands of home and office computers worldwide have been infected. - SA’s Tiscali’s is offering existing ADSL subscribers add-on bandwidth in increments of 3GB for a fee of R250 per month per additional 3GB. "Our aim is to assist users who need the extra capacity to carry them through the month should they reach the initial 3GB cap imposed by Telkom," says Michelle Branco, business-to-consumer manager at Tiscali. - M-Web Studios GM Russel Yeo says the record of unique visitors jumped from the previous monthly best of 750,000 in 2002, to 814,834 for the month of July. The record number of page views in a single day was also broken, jumping to 630,729, from an average of about 520,000.
CITI PARTNERS WITH EUROPE’S BIGGEST ICT INCUBATORIn a further effort to lower barriers to entry into the UK for South African start-ups, the Cape Information Technology Initiative (CITI) said last week it had formed a partnership with GorillaPark, Europe’s largest privately held incubator and business accelerator. GorillaPark is a shareholder and part owner of Tornado Insider, a media company aimed at helping entrepreneurs, investors and service providers succeed in Europe’s high-tech economy. CITI, the not-for-profit promotion agency for the ICT industry in the Western Cape, said the partnership was strategically fitting as the GorillaPark incubator model was developed around the same principles and objectives as that of CITI, this being to foster the development of ICT start ups and grow entrepreneurship. Based in the heart of London’s financial district, GorillaPark operates as a full service incubator, offering extensive reach into both Europe and the US. Established in 2000, it has not only weathered the ICT industry downturn following the dot com crash but has proven its long-term sustainability, with incubators also in Amsterdam, Munich, and Gent. CITI Marketing Manager, Judith Middleton said: "In partnering with GorillaPark, CITI is able to offer its tenants and members the opportune platform for expansion into the UK and European market as well as support UK companies looking to do business in South Africa." She said CITI is now able to facilitate a cost-effective means for local start-ups to both explore new markets, and showcase their successes abroad. "In promoting the skills and rapid development of the South African ICT sector, CITI also hopes to attract further investment from UK venture capitalists and funders into local companies looking to expand abroad," Middleton said. GorillaPark Alliance Manager, Anthony Carnell, said: "The alliance with CITI is a keenly sought first move for GorillaPark in the Southern Hemisphere. Through this alliance we are able to access a booming IT market in South Africa, a ‘hotspot’ according to the DTI in London." IN BRIEF- South Africa’s Metal Industries Benefit Fund Administrators (Mibfa), which administers the Metal and Engineering Industries Retirement Funds, has awarded Dimension Data (DiData) a R62m outsourcing contract to replace the current customer database. - Sappi has recently signed a services outsource contract with Comparex Africa, with a total value of R60m over five years, as part of a sourcing deal for Sappi’s regional infrastructure and systems.
BOTSWANA: CITIZENS INVESTMENTS AWAIT OUTCOME OF MASCOM BIDCitizens Investments, a local company, will know this Monday whether it has acquired 50.01 per cent in Mascom Wireless. The company has met all the requirements and was one of five firms, including South Africa’s Vodacom, that in February bid for the acquisition of the Mascom-shares owned by Portugal Telecom. Although Citizens Investments and Portugal Telecom announced recently that they have reached an agreement whereby the former will acquire the latter’s entire stake in Mascom, the transfer is subject to certain conditions. In addition to regulatory approval from Botswana Telecommunications Authority (BTA), the minority shareholders, DECI holding 30 per cent and TS Masiyiwa Holdings with 19.99 per cent, have 30 days to exercise their rights of first refusal. That period commenced on July 17 and ends on August 18. The two companies will have to have raised a total of P328 million, being P250 million for the Portugal Telecom stake and P71 million for liabilities. Meanwhile, Thato Mokobi of Optimum McCann-Erikson, advertising agents for Citizens Investments, has disclosed that TS Masiyiwa Holdings did not bid for the Portugal Telecom shares, contrary to an article published in the Botswana Daily News of August 8 quoting the Zimbabwe Daily News. He suspects the article, published on the Internet under the headline, "Portugal Telecom accepts TS Masiyiwa’s buyout bid", was deliberately planted to enhance the company’s performance on the stock exchange. "Econet’s share price on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange has climbed 500 per cent in the three weeks since the proposed acquisition was officially announced," says the article. TS Masiyiwa Holdings is a major investor in Econet of Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean daily has since published a rebuttal confirming the bid for the 50 per cent shareholding in Mascom was not made by TS Masiyiwa Holdings but by Citizens Investments. "If the move was, indeed, deliberate, in Botswana they would not have gotten away with it," Mokobi said. Citizens Investments, wholly citizen-owned by Gaborone businessman Kagiso Mmusi and private attorney Rizwan Desai, is confident of raising the required P328 million as it has the backing of Barclays PLC in London, UK. (source: LiquidAfrica) ICASA REPORT CASTS DOUBT ON BOTH OF SA’S SNO BIDS - MONEY THE ISSUEA report released on Tuesday last week by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) raised grave doubts about the viability of either of the shortlisted bids for the second telecommunications network operator. The authors of the report, Next Generation Consultants (NGC), found both Two Consortium and Communitel’s bids were "highly contingent on a number of issues, which therefore makes them non-binding offers". In addition, the report accused the two bidders of ignoring draft license provisions and found both bids financially deficient. In January this year, Icasa recommended that two previous final bids by Goldleaf Trading and Optis Telecommunications be rejected for similar reasons. The process was then re-opened for bids, with much fanfare, in late March. Two Consortium and Communitel are competing for a 51 percent controlling stake in the entity that will finally be awarded a licence. The report was released by Icasa chairman Mandla Langa at a short media briefing at the regulator’s Johannesburg offices on Tuesday. The report also foresaw trouble between the winning bidder and the minority stakeholders that would require mediation and resolution before the granting of any license. Eskom Telecommunications, Eskom Enterprises, and Transtel hold a guaranteed 30 percent stake in the SNO and black economic empowerment company Nexus Connexion holds the remaining 19 percent. The bidders, their partners and the public at large was given a week to comment on the report. Langa indicated Icasa would make its choice of bidder known to communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri on August 28. Neither Two Consortium and Communitel could comment on Tuesday on the report, as they had first sight of it at the same time as the media. Langa told journalists that the consultants’ mandate had been to analyse but not evaluate the applications. The applications were not scored or compared with each other nor was any recommendation made to Icasa. "The function of evaluating, scoring, weighting and making a recommendation to the minister is a function that, in line with the Telecommunications Act, will be undertaken by the three councillors of Icasa enjoined with this task," he said. The councillors are Langa, Lumko Mtimde and Julia Hope. (source: South African Press Association) IN BRIEF- SA’s MGX Holdings has sold Software Futures to an investor consortium for R20m. The deal took effect from 7 August. The transaction has been completed and depends for its finalisation only on normal suspensive conditions, such as approval from shareholders, the approval of the banking consortium and the Competition Board, and due diligence, which is expected to be completed within a week. The investor consortium is made up of Cape-based structured finance house, Brown Brother Holdings, and Kopano ke Matla Investment Company, an investment arm of Cosatu.
UGANDA’S INFOMANIA LAUNCHES BUSINESS E-DIRECTORYA Ugandan company has built what is claimed to be its first ever electronic business directory. The compact disc (CD) directory, with 30,000 listings, is a brainchild of Infomania and was launched late last month. The listings cover a cross section of business entities with their attributions of contact addresses, physical location, products and services offered. The directory comprehensively covers sectors such as the education, tourism, trade and industry, ICT and investment opportunities. Mr Laban Jjemba, a director at Infomania, said the directory would be upgraded every four months. "We are aware of the dynamic nature of the Ugandan private sector. We have to upgrade so often so as to be able to capture as much data as there is at any one time," he said. He added that the directory would be available for free for the time being but at some stage would be availed at some nominal fee. "The real issue is not to make money out of it, because it is indeed supposed to be free, but we would like to create value for it thus the nominal fee," he said. He added that companies listed on the directory could have an added advantage of having the directory directly linked to their individual websites. The Executive Directot of the Uganda Investment Authority, Ms Maggie Kigozi, said the new directory should make it easier for investors to discover the hidden treasures of Uganda. The directory was built in collaboration with the UIA and Privatisation Unit. (source: The Monitor) KENYAN JOBSEEKERS SITE AIMS TO REDUCE COST OF LOOKING FOR WORKA website which links Kenyan job-seekers to local opportunities has been launched. The site, myjobsEye.com, will list job opportunities in organisations which sign up as well as deposit the curriculum vitae of job-seekers, that employers may access and sample for consideration. Labour minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere, who launched the website in Nairobi last week, called it a major breakthrough in reducing the cost of looking for a job. Employers may advertise job vacancies, receive applications and view other CVs in the database, and then instantly filter all to the most appropriate candidate. An employer seeking a sales and marketing agent, for example, might start the search under "sales" and, depending on the number of applicants, further filter the results by adding "marketing". The search could be refined even further by adding "graduate" in the search criteria. To access the website as a job-seeker, a credit card of Sh300 is required, which gives access to the service for 30 consecutive days. Employers will also be required to pay a "small fee" to have CVs verified. The myjobsEye.com Chief Executive Officer, Mr Moyez Alibhai ,said the card would be available at many telephone card outlets, leading supermarkets and cyber cafes. Mr Alibhai said the website was designed to be user-friendly even for non-internet users. The Kenya Commercial Bank chairperson, Ms Susan Mudhune, addressed the launch. He added: "myjobsEye.com also allows job seekers to remain anonymous if they wish by displaying data in their CVs that does not identify them but provides enough information to prospective employers. They can also decide to block certain employers from viewing their CVs". The site would hold on-line the entire Kenya Gazette and all the employment Acts of Kenya, Mr Alibhai said. To get started, one job seekers would get free time to sample myjobsEye.com and see for themselves the operations of the product before they purchase a scratch card. The results of the search for job, after depositing one’s CV is instant. The management of the site have invested more than Sh70 million in the project, the minister said. (source: The Nation) IN BRIEF- The latest issue of South Africa’s investigative magazine Noseweek has an interesting story on the great Madiba art scam: When first mooted it seemed as if Madiba art might raise hundreds of millions for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. The trustees were delighted - natch - and asked Mandela’s attorney, Ismail Ayob, to draw up a contract. What happened next will be the basis, we are sure, for much thought and speculation. More details: http://www.noseweek.co.za/
PEOPLE* Akossi Akossi is being put forward by the Ivorian government as candidate for the Secretary-Generalship of the African Telecommunications Union at its annual meeting (26-27 August) in Abidjan. If he gets the job he will inherit an organisation that is in poor shape. It has been in arrears for several years with salaries and pension contributions and less than half of the state-owned telephone companies that make up its membership base are paid-up members. It is also having difficulty coming to terms with the new competitive world of African telecoms. Uganda Telecom can be a full member but MTN Uganda (as the SNO) can only be an associate member. Why? Africa needs a strong regional institution in this area so we wish Akossi Akossi well if he gets the job in bringing about some changes. * SA’s CSIR’s icomtek business unit director, Sello Matsabu was killed in a car crash in Pretoria last week. Matsabu joined icomtek ­ the CSIR’s information, communications and space technology business unit ­ in September 2001. The company says he was instrumental in positioning the CSIR’s information and communications technology (ICT) capability and knowledge to be recognised on a national and regional level. He also played an active part in the ICT thrust in Nepad. He was appointed as one of the commissioners of the E-Africa Commission in 2001 and played an active part in the development of the national e-strategy, driven by the Department of Communications. Matsabu recently handled the Domain Name Authority Board appointment process successfully on behalf of the minister of communications. He was chairman of the panel that reviewed the nominations, interviewed candidates, and made recommendations to the minister regarding appointments to this board. * Moves: Mr Posholi (formerly of the Lesotho Pharmaceutical Corporation) has replaced T Khabele as Chief Executive of the Lesotho Telecoms Authority...Thomas Lungu of Coppernet is leaving Zambia for a job in the UK...Athol Few of Zimbabwe Online left in December and has been replaced by Ashleigh Morris...Emmanuel Olekambainei ("Ole") is leaving African Connection (one of the ATU’s specialist agencies) which is closing down: it was unable to attract external funding...David Souter is leaving the Commonwealth Telecommunications Agency...Alan Findlay has left Sangonet to go freelance...NamITech Holdings Limited has announced the appointment of Adam Jones as Managing Director for the company. Jones previously held the position of Executive Director: Finance and Corporate Services.
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