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ISSUE NO 173

We’re also working with Mindset (www.mindset.co.za) which is an NGO backed by Nelson Mandela and several corporates who want to deliver multimedia format content to schools: television supported by the internet and print.

Their first channel is called Activate (www.activateonline.co.za) The channel is aimed at the three top grades in school and covers maths, science and english. It wants to get ‘best of breed’ teachers into our classrooms and content of this kind is useful given the teacher skills shortages in these areas. It goes out via DSTV and schools can get a monthly subscription for nothing. They just have to pay for the equipment.

DireqLearn is the sole end user logistics provider. We provide both the equipment and the training to use it. We’re seeing a deployment of this into a large number of schools in South Africa and we’re taking it out into the rest of the continent and looking at other channels. It’s not just intended for use in a passive way: we don’t want them to simply leave the kids watching it. So we need to work with teachers and supply media training.

How was your Nigeria work funded?

The main funding came from the Education Tax Fund. Nigeria taxes a percentage of company profits and these go into the Fund. It’s focused on providing education infrastructure: school buildings, ICT infrastructure, etc

So what are you doing in South Africa?

Well, initially we focused on Nigeria but now we’re developing South Africa as its own business. It will become profitable by next month.

We’ve been selling DireqLearn Open Labs on a school by school basis into Mauritius, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The latters’s Schoolnet has taken the stance of supporting linux-based thin client solutions and we’re doing upgrades on 100 sites. This is very significant as firstly it’s a whole country going wholesale down this road and secondly, they had played with linux thin client but they needed a package that could deliver it.

Which countries are the most far forward with their use of ICT in schools?

There’s a grouping of countries that have rolled-out in a significant number of schools including: Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Namibia.

There’s then a second tier. Places where WorldLinks is working like Uganda, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Mozambique and Botswana.

Then there are what we might call the ‘start-ups’: places like Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Mali and Cote D’Ivoire.

NEPAD is working closely with Schoolnet to deliver its schools and ICT objectives and there is an initiative to get 1 million refurbished computers into African schools spearhed by Joris Komen of Schoolnet Namibia and Simbo Ntiro from Tanzania.

SUDATEL SIGNS USD7.6 MILLION LEASE AGREEMENT WITH OPEC FUND

A private sector lease agreement for USD7.6 million was signed last week between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund for International Development and the Sudan Telecommunications Company (Sudatel), one of the leading private sector companies in the country.

Sudatel provides fixed-line services throughout the Sudan and has recently launched a major capital expansion program involving the installation of some 5,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable, the transition from analogue to digital services, and the introduction of digital satellite networks. Proceeds from the lease will assist Sudatel with the procurement of digital telecommunications equipment in order to support their capital expansion program. Ensuring access to national and international communications networks is expected to contribute significantly to overall economic growth.

(SOURCE: MenaReport)

SA’S NEW RURAL OPERATORS WILL GET R15 MILLION IN SUBSIDIES

Black consortiums setting up as telecommunications operators in rural areas will receive subsidies of up to R15m from the Universal Service Agency. Ten licences will soon be awarded to black groups willing to supply voice and data services in areas where Telkom has yet to reach. Now they have been promised a payment of R5m as soon as they receive a licence, with up to R10m more over three years if they meet their roll out targets.

The financial support offered by the agency has risen substantially from an initial position that operators be given a loan of R5m, but would have to repay half . Now the money will have no strings attached, as long as it is used to build infrastructure. Black consortiums have been invited to apply for an initial batch of 10 licences in areas in Limpopo, Eastern Cape, North West, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal.

Additional licences will be issued later, with a total of 27 rural areas earmarked for their services. However, each rural network could cost anything from R350m to R500m, so the operators will have to present strong business plans to win the necessary financial backing from shareholders and institutions.

Although empowerment groups and small black technology firms welcome the chance to launch new networks in the rural areas, almost two years has passed since the idea was first mooted. Many of the consortiums are struggling to survive, as the date for issuing the licences has been delayed repeatedly. Applicants for the first licences have until this Friday to submit a bid. 13 consortiums are expected to lodge applications with the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa).

(SOURCE: Business Day)

KENYAN COURTS CLEAR THE WAY FOR IMS TO OFFER POST AND PRE-PAID SERVICES

The High Court has allowed Interactive Media Service (IMS) to operate both post and pre-paid services until January next year. Telkom Kenya had on August 4,2003 disconnected IMS’s post-paid network and connected them to the pre-paid network service alone. High Court Judge, Prof Onesmus Mutungi has made a temporary ruling allowed IMS to operate both services. The judge directed the parties to negotiate a new contract between themselves.

He made the orders after IMS lawyer, Mr Paul Mwangi proposed interim measures pending the hearing and determination of a dispute between them. Telkom Kenya, through lawyer Kiragu Kimani consented to interim orders.

IMS had on August 14 moved to the High Court for mandatory orders compelling Telkom Kenya to reinstate connectivity to post-paid customers.They also sought for orders compelling Telkom Kenya to provide them with premium rate services on a post-paid basis until the final determination of their suit.

Judge Mutungi had on the same date granted them temporary orders on both prayers. The orders were valid until August 19 when an application in the suit was scheduled to be heard.According to the suit papers Telkom Kenya and IMS had entered into an agreement in which the latter was allowed to provide premium rate services to customers in Kenya.

In the agreement, Telkom Kenya agreed to allow the use of its telecommunication network by persons in Kenya to access the premium rate service to be provided by IMS. Telkom Kenya was to collect charges on behalf of the plaintiffs from customers using the network to access their services. IMS would in turn pay Telkom Kenya a premium rate for the use of the facilities.

Telkom Kenya wrote to IMS on May 20 suggesting an amendment of the contract to reduce the services to only the pre paid one. IMS declined the suggestion prompting Telkom Kenya to disconnect paid service network. Following this action by Telkom Kenya, IMS claims its business fell dramatically from a call rate of 5,277 to 31 calls a day.

IMS, through their lawyer, also sought to have its plaint amended to include a prayer that orders to be granted be valid until the hearing and determination of arbitration proceedings to be preferred in the dispute. The application was vehemently opposed by Telkom Kenya through lawyer Kiragu Kimani. A ruling is yet to be made.

(SOURCE: East African Standard)

UK CALL CENTRE FIRM EXPANDS CAPE OPERATIONS

UK-owned call centre company Dialogue Group expects to triple its staff complement over the next year as it starts supplying services to the pharmaceutical industry from the Western Cape. Dialogue’s pharmaceutical arm, Branded Dialogue HealthCare Services, has a start-up team of 50 and the company expects to grow the number of staff to 150 by the middle of 2004. Dialogue holds the contract for running the Western Cape provincial government’s Cape Gateway call centre.

(SOURCE: IT Web)

IN BRIEF

- Cameroon’s Camtel is to be privatised in December 2003.

- Chinese telecom equipment vendor ZTE has won a sales contract in Algeria to set up a nationwide CDMA network in the country. The CDMA network will become the largest CDMA WLL wireless access network in Africa once construction is finished. The Algerian Ministry of Telecom has already approved the contract. Under the contract, the future CDMA network, to cover Algeria’s 43 provinces, will adopt ZTE’s 1.9 GHz CDMA WLL technology. In the first phase of this project, ZTE will provide CDMA 1X network equipment with a network capacity of 120,000 lines. The first phase of this project is expected to be operational by the end of this year.

- More than a thousand workers have been declared redundant at SA’s Telkom. The impending job losses are a result of Telkom’s drive to reduce staff costs, which are currently about 22,6% of total revenue. This figure is higher than that of other telecoms groups in Malaysia, the Czech Republic and Greece, where staff costs are estimated at 18%.

- Vodacom, is to launch operations in Mozambique and has put aside USD260 million for the investment. The conclusion of an interconnection agreement with TDM would allow Vodacom to capture a 40 percent market share after two years. Vodacom said it expected users of its network in Mozambique to grow to 2 million over the next decade, mostly driven by prepaid customers.

- Kenya’s regulator CCK is pushing for the preparation of a well integrated Universal Access (UA) policy and enactment of a law that allows establishment of a Universal Access Fund (UAF) to promote communication services throughout the country. Currently, the country does not have a UA strategy and an operating UAF to provide special finance for the rollout of communication services to the rural areas. However, the CCK Director-General Sammy Kirui, said following a recent signing of a funding deal between the commission and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Government had shown signs that a law will be put in place soon to allow for the creation of the UAF.

- Lack of a payment culture: NITEL is owed N1.6 billion by subscribers in Kano State, the most owed by any of the states. Kano State Government itself owes N12 million of this total. And it is owed N225 million by customers in Bauchi State.

- South Africa regulator ICASA will not recommend either bid for a second fixed-line telecoms licence, scrapping the process for a second time and leaving Telkom with its monopoly.

- SA Telkom’s stranglehold over internet access has been threatened by the launch of a satellite internet service by Sentech, the state-owned signal broadcaster. Sentech said yesterday that under its multimedia licence it had launched VSTAR, a bi-directional broadband service, that always includes internet, via satellite.

- Angola’s UNITEL has opened its mobile network operations in Ondjiva in Cunene province in the extreme south of the country.

COTE D’IVOIRE: MASSIVE RATE RISE CAUSES CRISIS FOR SMALL CYBER-CAFES

- Cote D’Ivoire Telecom is putting up its rates again, writes Kokou Adediha. Although international rates have come down because of reductions through IP calling, local rates are being rebalanced upwards. It is the third time in two years that it has put its prices up. The new tariff takes effect on September 2003 sees local tariffs go from 14.5 CFAFs a minute without tax to 45 CFAFs a minute without tax.

These rate rises are affecting cyber-cafes who use ‘Réseau Téléphonique Commuté’ or dial-up. In January 2002 many cyber-cafes with less than four machines were hot by a rise in local tariffs. They were hot again on 1 April this year another rise to 32.5 CFAFs per minute before the forthcoming September increase. So their cost for connecting to an ISP’s server has gone from 1044 francs TTC to 3240 francs TTC. The result is likely to see the closure of many of CI’s smallest cyber-cafes in a situation in which the big fish seem to be gobbling up the smaller ones down the food chain. With bandwidth supplied at 3240 francs an hour and sold at a maximum of 1000 francs an hour, the smaller cafes are caught in the vice of these new commercial realities. Key players in the internet sector have denounced these price increases by monopoly supplier Cote D’Ivoire Telecom in the local press. But CI Telecom’s critics can wait patiently: firstly, the company, owned by France Telecom, will lose its monopoly in February next year and secondly political situation in the country is such that it is not the right moment to be having increases of this kind that public are not informed about until two weeks before the application.

NEW SKIES LAUNCHES NEW INTERNET TRANSMISSION PLATFORM FOR WEST AFRICA

Last week in Abuja global satellite operator New Skies announced that it had established an additional IP transmission platform dedicated to ISPs, telcom carriers, government agencies and businesses throughout West Africa. The expansion is in response to strong demand in the region for the company’s Ipsys branded internet backbone connectivity services and its Ku-band capacity on the NSS-7 satellite.

Ipsys directly connects customers’ remote POPs to the global Internet backbone via a single satellite hop. Ipsys connections thus bypass all shared ground networks and associated congestion points, as well as any terrestial connectivity gaps, to seamlessly deliver internet content to even the remotest locations at high speeds.

Ku-band transmissions enable Ipsys customers to use lower-cost receive equipment and very small antennas. The NSS-7 satellite offers powerful Ku-band coverage that enables New Skies to offer cost-effective bandwidth prices.

SA’S M-WEB GAMBLES WITH LOSS-MAKING HOTSPOTS

ISP MWeb has acknowledged that setting up wireless hotspots in Mugg & Bean cafés nationwide is a loss-making venture that may never be self-financing. It believes the move is worth the gamble to encourage more widespread use of the internet and to serve the well-heeled clients who already pay a higher-than-average fee to subscribe to M-Web services, says Russell Dreisenstock, its GM of wireless.

M-Web has now launched its fourth Mugg & Bean hotspot in the Coachman’s Crossing in Randburg, saying this is not about making money. "Making hotspots work means going out with a price that encourages usage," Dreisenstock says. "This is not a fully economic price, it is subsidised to accelerate its usage to see if the public will develop a requirement for it."

Every month about 10000 new laptops are sold in SA, most with built-in wireless capabilities. "That means 10000 people a month suddenly have the ability to connect to the internet, and we see an obligation to make that possible by charging the right price," says Dreisenstock

M-Web is charging casual users R30 for 30 minutes of internet access, while its subscribers will receive 20 hours for free, then pay R1 a minute.

If M-Web’s hotspots prove sufficiently popular, between 10 and 12 will become operational. The company is not saying how many people have used the service so far, nor how much it is investing in the infrastructure and in subsidising each online session. The investment varies with each café andthe technologies being used.

Some will transmit their signals via Sentech’s satellites, while others will link into high-speed Telkom lines. "We are experimenting with a variety of different models and we will assess what works best," says Dreisenstock.

M-Web expects the users to be business people who do not want to face rush-hour traffic but still need to work, and will use the nearest Mugg & Bean as a temporary base for e-mailing, logging on to the corporate network or conducting internet research. That sounds unlikely, however, as workers are more likely to stay at home with a desktop computer than go to a café and boot up a laptop.

Technology teething troubles could also prove frustrating, so M-Web has given some basic training to the manager of each hotspot but the main information they will impart may be the phone number for M-Web’s help desk.

Telkom has also jumped into the hotspot limelight with plans to create 100 centres. It already has eight hotspots in Southern Sun Hotels and will create others in conference venues, shopping centres and coffee shops.

Like M-Web, Telkom is investing with no instant reward, as the links will initially be free to its premium customers who already pay for high-speed internet bandwidth to their homes. While Telkom describes this as a trial to test feasibility, other players see it as an anti-competitive move involving the cross-subsidising of its services.

(SOURCE:ItWeb)

IN BRIEF

- South African based Software Subscription enabling company, WebTec, has announced the launch of a complete desktop security suite, Personal Secure Internet Desktop (PSID). The product is designed for consumers to provide a powerful defence against viruses and hackers.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION OF KENYA(ECK) LAUNCHES COMPUTERISED ELECTORAL MAPS

The Electoral Commission of Kenya last week launched a Sh40 million computerised mapping system to help in the planning and conduct of elections. The Geographical Information System (GIS) will enable the Commission to produce - at the touch of a computer button - electoral maps of constituencies and civic wards for boundary review and analysis of population distribution.

The system, which is a combination of several computer software packages, replaces the outdated and time-consuming practice of manually redrawing such maps whenever there is a change of boundary. Commission chairman Samuel Kivuitu termed the installation of the equipment an indication of the ECK’s "steady progress in the area of e-governance".

"In the digital age we live in today, this is the only way forward in enhancing efficiency in delivery of services," Mr Kivuitu said during the launch at the commission’s Nairobi headquarters. "For ECK this is a major boost in the delivery of transparent, free and fair elections."

He said the commission started the project last year to enable it to collect data, design and produce maps for its own use, for other Government departments and organisations.

"The demand for these maps has always been high, particularly during the periods of review of electoral boundaries and General Election. It has not been easy to cope with such demand using the conventional methods of map production by pens and ink," Mr Kivuitu said.

On the proposals to increase the number of constituencies, Mr Kivuitu said the commission planned to carry out a review in September next year. He said the country needed between 40 and 45 new constituencies as a way of decongesting some of the existing ones.Mr Kivuitu hoped constitutional review delegates would debate the issue and make a decision.

SYNAPSYS OFFERS LIQUID-COOLED PCs FOR AFRICA

Mainstream thermal management technology will soon reach its limits, says Arthur Williamson, MD of Synapsys, a South African-based distributor of advanced cooling systems. In Africa, air-cooling systems are under abnormal strain with the higher-than-usual ambient temperatures, and alternatives must be sought, he adds.

Williamson secured exclusive sub-Saharan distribution rights for liquid and vapour-based cooling systems from Koolance and Asetek earlier this year, after studying the need for "advanced" cooling beyond the realm of enthusiast computing, mainframes and mini-computers.

"As processor performance, for instance, increases, power output increases exponentially," says Williamson. At this stage, where clock speeds are in the region of 1GHz in the Itanium II, heat output is at 130 watts, reveals a chart from Koolance.

According to the US Department of Defence, says Williamson, 60% of hardware failure is heat-related. He adds that software glitches often occur as hardware works at the edge of what it was built for. Although the central processing unit (CPU or processor) presents the main problem with heat, Williamson says air-cooling systems, power supplies, high-performance SCSI hard drives and graphics processors, video cards and chipsets put out heat that could some day rival that of CPUs. Additionally, as CPU circuitry becomes smaller and performance goes up, more heat must be dissipated from a physically smaller dieplate. Aside from CPU and device cooling systems, cooling blocks for system components are also sold by Koolance.

"The environment inside the case is becoming increasingly hostile to electronics," says Williamson. He adds that the noise beside a high-performance system today often exceeds 50 decibels, which "is outside pavement level". "Half the people showing an interest in our technology complain about noise."

PC enthusiast circles, which have long over-clocked CPUs, as well as extreme mining or engineering scenarios have used liquid and vapour-phase based cooling for some time, he adds. But the mainstream vendors are also looking at alternative cooling. HP, for instance, is exploring new liquid cooling methods based on its inkjet printing technology.

Williamson however credits Koolance for popularising liquid cooling and "professionalising" it. He predicts that mainstream acceptance will happen in 12-18 months. "Anyone who runs fairly large servers and doesn’t have a dedicated server room with air-cooling will find use for this technology," he says.

Synapsys currently sells to 130 resellers, and needs more. "It is a new technology, comparatively speaking, and we’re still creating a market for it," he says, declining to give projected turnover figures.

(SOURCE: All Africa)

IN BRIEF

- Bytes Technology Networks, a division of the JSE listed Bytes Technology Group Limited has been awarded the contract to provide world class e-learning solution and services to Munich Reinsurance of South Africa.

- Rentworks, an SA ICT rental company servicing the local market, has today announced a partnership with black-owned investment company, Millennium Consolidated Investments (MCI).

Dependent on exchange control approval, MCI will purchase 50,1% of Rentworks SA, thereby positioning Rentworks as an empowerment equity leader in the local ICT market.

ONE DIAL WOULD INVEST INITIAL USD400M AS GHANA’S THIRD NATIONAL OPERATOR

One Dial Communications Limited, a network service provider, intends to invest over USD400 million in Ghana’s telecommunication industry if it is granted a license to operate in the country by the National Communications Authority (NCA), according to Bing Aidoo, CEO of One Dial. He told The Ghanaian Chronicle in an interview in Tema "a further $1 billion investment would be brought in if the initial investment yields positive result."

Mr. Aidoo said the company would create Information Technology (IT) villages at specific locations comparable to that of the Silicon Valley in California to attract companies from inside and outside the country.

The company has identified two areas where their investment would go. The IT triangle which covers the area between Cape Coast, Mankessim and Denkyira, would might form the "Silicon Valley" for the southern portion of the country. In the North it would build its services out from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The CEO said that there is a similar proposal for Takoradi and its environs.

The CEO noted that delays are making their financial backers hesitant about investing in the country and advised the NCA to implement the spirit of the National Communications Regulations, 2003, L.I. 1719 which abolished the exclusivity that Ghana Telecom and Westel had, and to regulate interconnectivity among regulators.

Mr. Aidoo said that Nigerians fought for this investment to go to Nigeria but did not materialize because most technicians involved are Ghanaians but cautioned that with these delays, the company might be forced to move to Nigeria.

Dr. Kwabena Riverson, a Sprint top telecommunication engineer in the US and George Baiden, One Dial telecommunication engineer are some of the numerous Ghanaians in the west who are involved with the project. "They are coming down to help the country grow".

He said for the NCA to perform these tasks effectively with the coming of about 40 new entrants into the industry, structures of the authority should be strengthened and capacities upgraded. "NCA should be ready", he added. He stressed that as soon as the license is given to them by NCA, "technicians would just come in to plug the network". "That is the only thing we’ve been waiting for two years," he added.

George Baiden said the network they are proposing would be very dynamic and efficient because the most flexible available technologies would be used to transmit data. "A combination of wireless, fiber optics, laser fiber, satellite transmission and others would be used and it would be mainly be based on the terrain we found ourselves", Mr. Baiden said. The telecommunication engineer said they are targeting a 99.9% quality in terms of service provision.

The principal of Marquis Financial Services and the financial adviser of One Dial, Mr. Auggie Palas said it is their aim to target the West African market, with its 250 million population. "In the spirit of NEPAD and the common market of the sub region, One Dial would expand gradually into the West African market".

(SOURCE: Ghanaian Chronicle)

ECONET NIGERIA’S CHAIR DENIES WANTING TO INCREASE HIS SHAREHOLD

The Chairman of Econet Wireless Nigeria (EWN), Mr. Oba Otudeko, has said that he harbours no ambition to increase his shareholding in the company in a letter to This Day. Otudeko’s statement came in the wake of widelky reported attempts by him along with others, to put a fresh offer on the table to secure the financially handicapped company ownership from interested external parties like Vodacom and Orascom who had been mentioned in the Econet deal.

In a letter to THISDAY dated August 31, 2003, Otudeko said, "Definitely I am not part of any joint bid for the company’s shares." He added that his interest as the Chairman, Director and founding shareholder of EWN is "to initiate, promote and associate with measures that would optimize its standing in the market place, assist it to offer quality services to consumers and finally grow its value optimally."

Otudeko insisted, "I am happy with my current shareholding in the company". He said that he took the modest position since the company’s inception by choice, as he was privileged as the lead promoter of EWN to acquire more shares at the time.

Otudeko said he had the opportunity to be part of a revolution, an initiative that impacts positively on the lifestyle and comfort of fellow Nigerians; and that is the kind of opportunity that he would embrace any day.

He admitted that he was well aware and happy with the fact that "the current equity raising process, when finally successful, will dilute my, along with existing shareholders’ equity, in the company."

Otudeko said further that he was concerned that the capital raising process in Econet, discussed in the press, could have a negative impact in the whole process.

He wrote, "Whilst it is true that Econet Wireless Nigeria Limited is raising additional capital to deepen its funding and competitive edge in an industry like telecommunications known to be very capital intensive; the company does not intend the issue discussed in the public domain. EWN has been in the process of capital raising since the year 2001 as the Nigerian market requirements for telephony had significant unsatisfied demand arising from historical requirements for telephone services in the nation.

"EWN’s capital raising efforts involved approaches to local and international institutions and some of them are publicly quoted companies whose share prices sometimes respond rather feverishly to news concerning their companies. EWN’s image is also understandably sensitive to published news about its activities, which is why it is helpful that the company is careful about news disseminated or published about it."

He said earlier reports on the process have had its negative ripples on the company. It is recalled that due to financial constraints hindering its operations, EWN had recently opened its doors wide for prospective investors interested in acquiring equity in the company. THISDAY had last week reported the interest of Vodacom in the second-placed Nigerian GSM operator with 34 percent of the market.

The CEO of the company, Mr. Zachary Wazara, while stating that EMN was not in any kind of financial distress, had confirmed that the company is welcoming interested parties to take up stake in the company. He had said, "I can confirm now that EWN, given the size of our market will continue to look for money in form of loans, equity, etc."

He added that the shareholders had the right to raise capital to improve on the operations of the business but where the shareholders could not exercise that right; the company would invite others to come and look. EWN, Wazara maintained, was receptive to investors who have the needed funds to invest into Econet’s operations.

Otudeko’s letter yesterday coincided with the date, Monday September 1, when Orascom of Egypt was supposed to have submitted its bid for the telecom firm.

(SOURCE: All Africa)

IN BRIEF

- SA PC group Mustek achieved an 18.6% increase in net profit for the year to 30 June despite just a 5.3% rise in revenue. The group has declared a final dividend of 25c a share.

SA FIRM EVICTS ITS ‘CYBER SQUATTER’

After months of legal wrangling, a South African property group finally managed to evict the cyber squatter who occupied their prime internet property. In May this year Broll Property Group (Pty) Ltd lodged a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organisation Arbitration and Mediation Centre against Jaewook Chang of Korea. Chang had acquired the broll.com internet domain and had attempted some months earlier to sell it to the company.

Last week the centre handed down a decision in favour of Broll stating that Chang clearly acquired and registered the broll.com internet domain in bad faith. Chang, for instance, posted a clear sign on the website stating that it was for sale.He also told representatives of Broll that they could buy the website for prices ranging from US$6 000 (about R44 000) to US$18 000 (about R132 000).

A director of Mallinicks Attorneys, Alexia Christie, explained that Broll’s victory was a significant one in law. "It will go a long way towards assisting South African businesses to protect their interests throughout the world."In light of the effect of e-commerce on the global economy, this case also clearly represents a levelling of the playing fields in asserting rights across international borders." The domain name is expected to be transferred shortly.

(SOURCE: ItWeb)

NEW WEB SITE OFFERS NEWS TO KENYAN DIASPORA

Designed as a streaming media hub for Kenyan nationals living abroad, the site provides Kenyan.TV provides video content on Kenyan news, political documentaries, historic events, business, and entertainment including local sports programming and prime time sitcoms and music shows.

The site has generated over 30,000 hits, since its launch less than a week ago. Currently, the site is broadcasting rarely seen footage, such as the May 10 wedding of the late Vice President Michael Kijana Wamalwa, and President Mwai Kibaki’s inauguration with behind the scenes footage of the transition at State House, Nairobi. In the upcoming weeks, Kenyan.TV will provide local news and television shows on a daily basis and the proceedings of the national constitutional conference currently underway at Bomas of Kenya.

Current contributors to the site include the Presidential Press Service. Kenyan.TV is also partnering with leading media houses to Web cast their locally produced programs. The site is committed to providing 100 per cent local content and hopes to promote the country’s creative arts by creating a secondary market for distributing locally produced shows.

"The site was created by Kenyans living abroad who are constantly seeking a connecting thread to what’s happening back home, especially with the dawn of a new era," said the site’s executive producer, Nick Ndiritu. "Through the site, Kenyans all over the world can tap into what is new and hot, and keep abreast with local Kenyans on politics, the economy, and lifestyle changes."

IN BRIEF

- MIT’s bold experiment of posting free course content on the Web, including video lectures, class notes, tests and course outlines, has proved asuccess. In September, MIT will officially launch OpenCourseWare, with 500 courses ranging from philosophy to electrical engineering and computer science.

- A page on the Bisharat site: http://www.bisharat.net/Trans has links to online translation programs for Xhosa (not new, but being revised) and Pulaar (and Fulfulde [Mali]) - each to & from English (except the Fulfulde version of the Pulaar translator). These are works in progress.

- Digital Opportunity Channel (www.digitalopportunity.org) has created a special coverage section at its Website dedicated to the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society. The resource will feature news and analysis about the summit from a civil society perspective - especially NGOs based in the developing world. See the special coverage at http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/archive/4732

- DFID’s CATIA has made arrangements for AfrISPA to hold an online discussion with the wider African community during which there will be discussion on issues that affect the Internet in Africa and thus provide ample information to guide them in the development of position papers, lobbying efforts etc...
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INTERVIEW WITH JEAN-SÉBASTIEN ROURE, UNCTAD

The International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO (ITC) supports developing and transition economies in their efforts to realize their full business potential. Cordelia Salter-Nour, News Update’s e-commerce correspondent interviews Jean-Sébastien Roure, Associate Expert on Legal Aspects of International Trade answers questions about the recently published ITC "E-Commerce Legal Kit"

The International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO (ITC) is the focal point in the United Nations system for technical cooperation with developing countries in trade promotion. ITC was created by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1964 and since 1968 has been operated jointly by GATT (now by the World Trade Organization, or WTO) and the UN, the latter acting through the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). As an executing agency of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), ITC is directly responsible for implementing UNDP-financed projects in developing countries and economies in transition related to trade promotion

(for more information on ITC: www.intracen.org).

Q: The "E-Commerce Legal Kit" is designed to be used as part of a seminar to train professionals in developing economies on legal aspects of ecommerce. Two two-day seminars have already been held in Mumbai and Bangalore - are there any plans for seminars in Africa?

A: ITC is definitely willing to organize similar training sessions in Africa. These seminars are organized on a request basis. India was the first country to manifest its interest. The reasons being that in this country the new technologies are well developed and generate a lot of activities; besides, India adopted its Cyber Law Act in 2000. As a result, Indian lawyers were in great demand for legal information related to e-commerce.

Q: The kit uses material based on case studies and existing legal instruments whether international, regional, or national. How much of the base material was derived from Africa?

A: Indeed, the kit presents the main international as well as regional initiatives as regards e-commerce regulation. Some of these texts have been adopted or have inspired national rule makers. Because the scope of this kit is worldwide, examples of existing national rules in each continent illustrate the kit (i.e. Tunisia, Canada, Colombia, Singapore, Australia and Europe where Member States must comply with the same provisions included in the European directives) and reflect the different approaches adopted by each country. Africa is therefore envisaged like any other continent even though many countries in Africa still do not have any regulation related to e-commerce. Because it was not possible to envisage every national legislation, training sessions also include a presentation of the existing legislation on e-commerce where the training takes place (like the Cyber Law Act in India) and permit participants to understand its practical impacts.

Q: In your opinion, how ready are the legal systems of sub-saharan African countries for the challenge of regulating ecommerce?

This question requires a country-by-country answer, which I cannot do. However, what I can say is that for those countries that have difficulties in setting up their e-commerce regulation, international tools have been developed in order to help them to face the challenge of regulating e-commerce. For instance, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) has created two major model commercial laws (Model law on e-commerce and Model law on e-signatures) that any country may adopt/amend as its internal regulations. These model laws are both accessible, predictable and acceptable worldwide (for more information: www.jurisint.org).

Q: The Kit provides the legal tools and materials for those who wish to acquire expertise in the operational legal aspects of e-commerce. Obviously, e-commerce is a very new and fluid area - how often will the material be revised and updated?

The project is in its first year. Revisions and updates will depend on the interest it raises.

Q: How much does the Kit cost and is there any funding available for people who would be interested in carrying out the seminars in Africa?

A: The kit comes together with the training sessions. Again, it is a training material, which supports and deepens the exchange of information that occurs during interactive presentations. As a result, the training session (with copies of the kit) costs USD15,000.

PEOPLE

* Chief Executive Officer of Econet Wireless Nigeria, Mr. Zachary Wazara has revealed the traumatic experience which GSM operators went through with the previous management of the National Carrier, NITEL.In an exclusive interview with Vanguard, Wazara said that since the GSM operators began operations two years ago, NITEL had refused to give them E1s as well as transmission capacity at most of the locations in the country where they required it, claiming that they were not available.

But in a dramatic turnaround last week, Wazara said that the new management of NITEL told GSM operators that both transmission capacity and E1s which the previous management of NITEL denied them, were indeed available in most locations in the country and in whatever quantity. Said Wazara: The Managing Director of NITEL said that the company was ready to supply us all the E1s which we paid for since last year. Contrary to what we were made to believe earlier, he also said that NITEL had transmission capacity in so many locations across the country including Ibadan, Benin, Aba, Nnewi, Uyo, Calabar, Onitsha, Enugu, Yola and many locations in the north where NITEL had said it does not have capacity."

Before now, Wazara said that Econet has been unable to deploy to some parts of the country because NITEL said it had no transmission capacity for it. He also revealed that the company has applied for 280 E1 from NITEL but got less than 30.But at the meeting with Mr. President, Wazara said that the Managing Director of NITEL said Econet should collect the remaining of the 89 E1s which it paid for last year.

* In an interview with Tanzania’s Business Times, Vodacom Tanzania managing director Bruce Sherwood said that rates were high compared to other regional markets because of the high cost of power and lack of roads:" You cannot compare Tanzania with other regional markets, say Kenya. How many kilometres of tarmacked roads Kenya has compared to kilometres of tarmacked roads that Tanzania has? What is the cost of power in Kenya compared to the cost of power in Tanzania? One of the biggest problems in Tanzania is the cost of power. Power is four times most expensive in Tanzania that it is in Kenya. If you are going to make comparison you need to make comparisons of the whole service, the GDP in Kenya is higher than the GDP in Tanzania. The infrastructure that is available in Kenya is better than that in Tanzania".

"Now, one of the biggest costs for us is to roll out our network and the availability of infrastructure. One of the issues that Vodacom has is the cost of rolling our coverage. Whenever we roll out coverage in a lot of areas we have to build our own roads, we have to provide our own power and that is a significant cost for us. So if you are going to compare directly you need to compare the whole cost of doing business in Tanzania. You also have to look at the economies of scale. Kenya’s market is a fair size bigger than the Tanzanian market. There is more money in the economy. So the network there can get what we call economies of scale a lot quickly and a lot easier than in Tanzania.As Vodacom is reaching economies of scale, we are adjusting our tariffs accordingly".

* Adrian Robinson has joined the Corporate Finance team of MSI to assist in fund raising and general corporate finance activities...ERP.com has appointed Tony Nutter to head-up its strategic expansion into the rest of Africa.

EVENTS

* AITEC, in association with the Kenya ICT Federation of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, will host the first Kenya Computer Education Congress, to be held at the KCCT Campus in Nairobi over 3-5 December 2003. The event will be held with the support and active participation of all stakeholders in the computer education field. To propose Congress presentations, e-mail Harry Hare, AITEC East Africa, harry@aitecafrica.com

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