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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 219 WEST AFRICA'S FIRST VOIP LICENCE - NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON'TIt looked like last week's prediction of the first VoIP licence being granted in West Africa had already come true. Guinea Bissau's Eguitel has had a licence for nine months but was about to step things up a notch by carrying international traffic for the new second mobile operator Spacetel. Last week it received a letter from the Guinea Bissau regulator saying that it was revoking the licence. However Eguitel's CEO Abdulai Sila has vowed to continue operating, saying that the recall of the licence is not legal. Russell Southwood investigates. Guinea Bissau's main claim to fame had been its long-running dispute with Portugal Telecom over the ownership of Guinea Telecom. This was finally settled last month, putting Portugal Telecom back in the driving seat and is clearly anxious to protect any losses to its former monopoly. Eguitel is one of the new breed of "independents" that have grown up during the period that Africa has slowly opened up to competition. It has five ten-year operating licences covering: VoIP, VSAT, wireless network, ISP and telecoms operator. Its founder launched the first cyber-cafý and web server in the country back in 1997. Eguitel was launched in 2001 and has developed a wireless network covering the capital city Bissau and surrounding areas. The second mobile operator Spacetel (owned by Canadian Investcom) has had a licence since 1996 but for reasons of civil war and interconnection has only just set up for business. Previously the incumbent Guinea Telecom (which has hastily launched its own mobile operation) had refused to interconnect with Spacetel leaving it in the cold. However when this dispute was finally settled, Spacetel decided to use Eguitel for international calling. It struck a deal with Eguitel to use both its wireless networks and VSAT and VoiP connections to offer an alternative service to Spacetel. Working through its US partners Global Sat, it set up the necessary connections to create the new service for its partner. It illustrates how easy it would be for operators to compete for compact urban markets using wireless and VoiP if there was something like a level playing field in regulatory terms. Spacetel's launch has been a roaring success. It was offering Sim cards at between FCFA5-10,000, compared to its rival's FCFA 75,000 offering. It sold out of its 9,000 SIM card allocation in two days. By contrast, Guinea Telecom has 20,000 subscribers but estimates put the total addressable market at 100,000. And a little competition goes a long way. The price per minute has fallen from FCFA30 to FCFA 100. But the deal with Spacetel seems to have upset somebody, probably in Guinea Telecom. Only last week the regulator ICGB wrote a letter to Eguitel revoking its VoIP licence saying that it had not paid some part of the licence fee. Eguitel's owner Abdulai Sila is hopping mad and defiant:"The money thing is not true. This is ridiculous. We're not going to stop operating. It's not legal. You can't give a licence and then take it away like this. There's a lot of corruption here among civil servants." So what will happen? The new breed of independent African telecoms entrepreneurs are not willing to play by the same old bent rules of the Government bureaucracy. So watch this space....
SENEGALESE MINISTER ANNOUNCES A LIMIT ON THE NUMBER OF OPERATORSMinister of Post and Telecommunications Joseph Ndong said during a tour of Sonatel that: "the decision toliberalise the telecommunications sector was taken by the Governhment with the objective of giving each operator the opportunity to deliver the best in terms of in policy terms" and that "an arsenal was being put in place so that the different competitors can get the possible results." He said that he was keen to avoid anarchy in the sector and that it was better to have a limited number of operators in the sector in order to have sane competition that was profitable for everyone. LIRE EN FRANCAIS: CHINA GRANTS NIGERIA USD200M LOAN FOR GOVERNMENT RURAL TELEPHONY PACKAGEIn the bid to provide cheap telephone services to rural communities, the Federal Government of Nigeria last week launched a rural telephony programme for the country for which it plans to spend USD200 million (about N26.6 billion) in the next few years. The money is a loan package granted by the Chinese Government while the Federal Government will provide a counterpart funding of N2.8 billion. The rural telephony programme will be delivered in three projects spread across 343 local government areas of the country. The three projects include Rural Radio Systems (RRS), which will be provided in 125 local government areas, Alcatel Shangai Bell (ASB) covering 108 local governments, and ZTE provided services in 110 local government areas. Major features of the ASB project include transmission link, switching and access network, power supply, and construction of equipment room. It would have capacity for about 512 lines covering a distance of about 3km in both fixed lines and wireless technology options. The loan is part of the Chinese Government's aggressive support for its telecoms equipment manufacturers who have chalked an impressive run of supply contracts. (SOURCE: This Day) ZIMBABWE'S ECONET RESUMES INTERNATIONAL ROAMING WITH RBZ APPROVALZimbabwe's largest cellular phone operator, Econet Wireless, has hailed the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's decision to change the rules on roaming and says it will resume full international service for all its customers with immediate effect. Econet, like all operators in Zimbabwe, had been forced to suspend international roaming services because of a critical shortage of foreign currency to settle bills incurred by its customers on foreign networks. Zimbabwe has been grappling with the shortage of foreign currency for the past four years and has faced severe problems meeting payments to external creditors. The new RBZ rules, unveiled in the second-quarter monetary policy review presented by central bank governor Gideon Gono last week, require the operators to charge for roaming services in foreign exchange. Econet Wireless chief executive officer Douglas Mboweni said when people travelled abroad and used their Zimbabwe cellphone, they would actually be using other networks. "All we do is arrange a temporary connection of a customer to that other network. They are charged for their calls while in that country in foreign exchange, then the network sends us the bill. "We have no foreign currency to enable us to settle the bills incurred by our customers . . . that is why we had to stop the service," Mboweni said. "When people travel to another country they have to pay for hotel bills, transport, food and telephone bills in foreign currency. Although roaming is very convenient because people can be contacted on their normal number, it is still a cost being incurred in a foreign country," he added. Mboweni said Econet customers who wished to use their cellphones overseas had to pay a deposit to the network before they were connected to roam. He said Econet was not prepared to allow customers to roam without paying a deposit because of the foreign currency exposure could destroy the company. "Foreign currency exposure created by roaming can destroy us as a company because we have to pay those other operators on demand," he said. Econet expects thousands of its customers to take up the roaming service now that it is back. The company has roaming connections to more than 130 networks worldwide. (SOURCE: The Financial Gazette) NIGERIAN GSM KILLER CALLS RUMBLE ON: YORUBA FILM FINDS RUMOUR SOURCETwo members of a family were said to have been killed by the "phone call of death". A group of concerned artists are taking steps to combat the "Killer GSM numbers" rumour, which has nowbeen running for several weeks. According to a recent press release issued by the Total Films Public Affairs Manager, a new Nigerian movie titled Abuja Lowo Wa is currently being shot to unravel the genesis of the rumour. The rumour currently circulating among the credulous Nigerian populace has it that a number of people have died after receiving calls from their mobile phones. As ridiculous this may sound, the rumour has spread even within the circles of otherwise reasonable people. The movie industry, according to the release, remains one of the major effective media through which the public can be reassured that mobile phones are safe for use. The film, currently being shot on locations in Abuja and Lagos, attempts to unravel the mystery of the "Killer GSM numbers". According to Tunde Olaosebikan, an author of several children books as well as a known script-writer with NTA, FRCN and the Voice of Nigeria, the film will shock Nigerians when they realise that the rumour started from a mere failed business call received by an Abuja-based business man. (SOURCE: This Day) MTC NAMIBIA CHOOSES LIFETREE'S BILLING PLATFORMLifetree Convergence last week announced that MTC Namibia has selected Lifetree's customer care and billing solution @Billity 3.0 for its GSM and GPRS services. The Lifetree solution will include @Billity Lifetree's convergent billing solution, ZipBill, the enhanced bill generation and EBPP solution and ZipCare, the web enabled self-care solution. @Billity 3.0 will replace the current BSCS 6.0 system at MTC and Lifetree will carry out a migration of customers to the new system. The Lifetree solution, which will be scaled to support 50,000 post paid subscribers initially, will also include mediation and provisioning solution for GSM and GPRS services. IN BRIEF- According to a presentation made by the Prime Minister, the telecommunications sector in Senegal represents 6% of Senegal's GDP. - Comverse, a unit of Comverse Technology, Inc. last week announced that Vodacom had selected Comverse InSight to enable next-generation voicemail services. Vodacom also has chosen Comverse ISMSC (Intelligent Short Message Service Center) to handle SMS voicemail notifications. - British-based Sendo, the world's third largest mobile phone handsets maker, has defied the gloomy look of an almost saturated market to launch its range of products in Kenya. The Sendo S330 features a Swahili menu, colour screen and both GSM and GPRS data features alongside the normal voice functions. - Symmetricom and Grintek Telecom have announced that South Africa's MTN Group will implement a synchronization upgrade to its MSC, BSC and ATM network using Symmetricom's SSU 2000 Synchronization Supply Units and TimePictra network management software. The upgrade is to be rolled out in 21 locations throughout South Africa. The value of the deal including extended warranty and support is in excess of USD1.3 million. - The Director-General of Nigeria's National Space Research and Development Agency, Prof. Robert Ajayi Boroffice, said last Monday the country would launch into the orbit a communication satellite in 2006. - Senegal's Sonatel has signed a USD13 million contract with SRI Telecom to deliver rural telephony using wireless networks. It will then be able to offer voice, fax and internet to 650 villages. - South Africa's MTN Group passed the 10 million subscriber mark in the quarter to end-June.The 10.09 million subscribers on its local and international networks represent a 5.7% increase since the financial year-end on 31 March.
TELECOM RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGE- Cameroon's Camtel has invested FCFA5.1 billion to create an additional 7,100 new lines in Garoua and Guider. These new lines will all be digital and operate using Siemens equipment. It has also installed an internet POP in Garoua. To encourage fixed line usage, Camtel has dropped the monthly subscription price from FCFA100,000 to FCFA40,000. - Côte d'Ivoire's Orange last week launched its new "value-added" 711 services. There are three themed information areas: Vie privée (7113), Détente (7112) and Sport (7113). Each call will cost FCFA100. - After the completion of an appeal to the Mauritian regulator, Outremar Telecom will announce its new international rates on 28 August 2004. - Telecel Zambia spent USD$68,000 on its free short messaging service (SMS) it offered its subscribers from April to May. And Telecel Zambia head of marketing business unit Lho-Zindaaba Sakala has disclosed that the company would conclude SMS interconnectivity tests with Cell Z this month.
PARADYNE TO OFFER ADSL2+ SERVICE TO TELCOS IN EGYPTUS broadband equipment-maker Paradyne is to provide its ADSL2+ technology to telecoms operators in Egypt under the government's information society initiative. The three-year initiative - announced in May by the then communications minister Ahmed Nazief, now prime minster - will see ADSL services installed in an initial 50,000 homes in the first 12 months. ADSL2+ allows data rates of 24 Mbps over existing telephone lines, ample bandwidth to support digital television in addition to multiple voice lines and high-speed networking. ALGERIE TELECOM CUTS RATES FOR INTERNET ACCESS AND LEASED LINESMore reasonable access prices are about to become a reality in Algeria as Algeria Telecom has just put in place a new lower price tariff structure. It is now delivering access from the 48 POPs operated by Djaweb. The new tariff structure is based on distance. So for example if you are 5kms from the POP then it will cost you 27,000 DA a month. And if you less than 20 kms then it will cost a total of 39,300 DA and less than 50 kms a total of 108, 770 DA. It has also dropped prices for international half-circuits by 25% in order to encourage call-centre business to come to the country. (SOURCE: La Tribune) LIRE EN FRANCAIS: GARTNER CLAIMS VIDEO VOIP WILL OUTPACE VOIPVoice over IP (VOIP) will not necessarily bring the cost reductions companies expect and video deployment will more than likely outpace voice over networks, says Gartner analyst Neil Rickard. Speaking at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo Africa in Cape Town last week Rickard said the motivation will be that while VOIP involves a lot of risk for companies with minimal reward, video will bring greater benefits for the same kind of risk. "While the focus is often on voice in the converged network, we forecast that through 2006, 70% of Global 2000 enterprises will deploy video over IP before deploying VOIP," he said in his presentation on network convergence.Rickard said video, like voice, is a family of applications that includes e-learning, conferencing and security surveillance. But the integration of more and more devices and applications onto an organisation's network also means that the networks will have to be re-engineered in order to meet bandwidth requirements. VOIP involves a lot of risk with minimal reward, says Gartner analyst Neil Rickard. Rickard said that through 2006, reactive network planning will result in networks that need to be re-engineered at least two years earlier than well-architected networks based on best practices. He also warned that companies considering putting in VOIP applications over their networks could run into bandwidth constraints even though they presently feel they have the capacity. "There is no such thing as free bandwidth. One simply has unused capacity. The problem is that if VOIP is deployed into that extra bandwidth space and then another application is also deployed, the bandwidth costs increase incrementally and the original reason for cost savings disappears." According to Rickard, the security issue with regard to VOIP and video has been overplayed. "Most VOIP applications are internal to the company and sit behind the corporate firewall. Also, intercepting VOIP messages and listening to the conversations is a lot less efficient that intercepting e-mails where a search can be done," he said. Rickard's recommendations include that organisations proactively plan for convergence and that VOIP be a part of that convergence. He said convergence will require significant re-engineering of the underlying networks and companies will have to focus on the business value convergence will bring. (SOURCE: All Africa) TELKOM KENYA PUSHES INTERNET SERVICE CHARGES HIGHERKenyan's are about to start paying more for electronic mail access following a decision by JamboNet, the sole Internet backbone provider, to raise its tariffs by up to 40 per cent. Currently, most cyber cafes charge Sh1 for every minute spent surfing the Internet. The new tariffs are expected to increase access costs by 50 cents. The increase came via an e-mail communication from Mr J. Rukaria, the manager for Internet Protocol Network to Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The new structure takes effect on September 1, 2004, and dictates that ISPs pay JamboNet more for speeds above 512 kilobytes (Kbps). Consequently, the lowest increment is Sh469,014 up from Sh372,294 for the 512Kbts while those at 2 Mbps will pay Sh1.1 million up from Sh744,588. The ISP's are expected to pass the cost to their customers, since according to Tespok, the industry's main pressure group, their monthly payment to Telkom Kenya will shoot up to between Sh4.5 million and Sh6 million from Sh3 million for 8 megabytes provided. Rukaria explains that the new charges are meant to partly finance Telkom's Internet service expansion and to improve quality of JamboNet's service. "As you are aware, more and more real time applications are being implemented on the internet with higher quality of service demands,? said Rukaria. Indeed, an increasingly complicated Kenyan society is warming up to video and audio streaming, which enable chat room systems, music download and voice over Internet traffic. These applications, especially the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are said to use up to 30 per cent of Telkom's bandwidth capacity. But in an interview with the Financial Standard, Tespok CEO Sunny Mangat dispels the service improvement claim made by Rukaria. Mangat guarantees that without a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to benchmark the quality of service Telkom will provide its customers, it is rather obvious they "just want more money." "The issue is that I am not getting more services and I am not getting a better service either, but I am just expected to pay 50 per cent more for the same service," Mangat says. "Telkom Kenya to my knowledge has not even given us a Service Level Agreement (SLA) meaning if I have to pay more to Telkom Kenya and one day Telkom Kenya?s services are not satisfactory to me, Telkom Kenya will not refund me for that yet I am still answerable to my clients," he says. Indeed, an industry source familiar with the matter told the Financial Standard that JamboNet is paying up to Sh725,400 per megabit, or three times higher than the global price of Sh280,800. (SOURCE: Financial Standard) IN BRIEF- New South African, low-cost Internet service provider (ISP) Rumba's customers have lost their Internet connection for the second time in six weeks, due to an alleged attempt by the company to poach customers from ISP Internet Solutions (IS). It is not yet clear who is responsible for the disconnection, with both IS and its client XSInet, which provides Rumba with Internet access, denying any involvement. Rumba marketing director Moira Tolkin says the company's connectivity was suspended last Friday due to an e-mail allegedly sent to IS clients, offering them Internet access and e-mail for R49 per month. Rumba denies any knowledge of a mail sent from agentsales@rumba.co.za, which is an e-mail address assigned to one of the Rumba dealers. - ICANN has extended its deadline for submissions to 25 August. http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-02aug04.htm - ICASA's draft regulations for the accreditation of Authentication Service Providers (as per Chapter 8 of the ECT Act) were published in the Government Gazette on Friday.A PDF version of these regulations is available on the IOZ web site: http://www.internet.org.za/AccreditationRegulations.pdf - A new Internet prepaid card has been launched by Fruit of the Spirit co. Ltd. in collaboration with Africanus net in Accra. - For a full list of IANA IPv4 allocations please see: http://www.iana.org/assignments/ipv4-address-space
UGANDA'S STANBIC BANK COMPLETES SHS41 BILLION NETWORK LINKStanbic Bank has completed a Shs41 billion network upgrading that has seen the bank interlink its entire branch network. This is the highest amount ever spent by a single bank on operations upgrade in Uganda.The work involved computerisation, conversion of former UCB branches to Stanbic, renovation of 66 branches and staff training. Mr Kitili Mbathi, the bank's Managing Director said, "We now have the biggest network of not only ATMs but branches with excellent customer care. Our entire 66 branches are online 24 hours in real time. Wherever you are, you can access your money, making every branch virtually your branch." He was briefing the press at the bank's head office at Crested Towers in Kampala yesterday. "The ability of the bank to attract and maintain customers depends on its branch network and quality of services and how easy it is to access these services. We feel this is worthwhile," he said. He said Uganda is under-banked thereby creating room for expansion for all banks. The latest estimates indicate that there are about 1.2 million people with bank accounts out of a population of 24 million."This is too small. There are people who are in the economic system that are yet to be captured by the banking systems. Those are our targets," he said. He said that there was a lot of potential especially in retail banking. (SOURCE: The Monitor) SOUTH AFRICAN COMPANY INVENTS 4-IN-ONE PC FOR EDUCATION USEA South African-based company has invented a low-cost, four-in-one personal computer (PC) that could lower the cost of offering information communications technology in learning institutions. Officials of OnPoint Solutions say their purpose-built PCs offer internet, e-mail, phone, word processing and network facilities exclusively for educational purposes. "OnPoint's all-in-one PC is an affordable computer specifically designed to enable the majority of the African population to communicate and perform basic computing functions," said Rahim Karsan, marketing director of OnPoint Solutions. "Whether you need to communicate by phone or e-mail, OnPoint's all-in-one PC is capable," Karsan told the East African Standard in Abuja during a regional inter-ministerial conference on intergration of ICTs in education. He said the system is very cheap because the Microsoft International has given it concessions. Education officials from more than 20 countries who attended the conference took turns to visit the company's exhibition room which had several computers that journalists covering the event were allowed to use for free. Unlike the common computer systems which come with separate central processing units (CPUs), monitors and keyboards, OnPoint's compact systems come with just a monitor (with in-built CPU) and a keyboard to match. Each system has built-in telephone handset, 14-inch monitor, built-in speaker, keyboard and touchpad, 56k modem, 3 Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports, intel processor and Ethernet facility. Whether you need to connect two educational facilities or multiple professors to a single educational institution, OnPoint's V-SAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) system permits complete connectivity. "Distance learning is enabled by connecting geographically-dispersed sites through an independent communications network, while supporting major transmission requirements for distance learning, including date, voice, fax and multi-cast video," explained Karsan. But one question that kept recurring was that of cost. But the officials allayed such fears, saying at 298 euro per system, including delivery to any port in Africa, their computers were cost-effective. (SOURCE: All Africa) LAGOS CITY POLY TO MANUFACTURE SEMI-CONDUCTORS?IF the current plans being drawn by one of Nigeria's private polytechnics, Lagos City Polytechnics, are any thing to go by, Nigeria may be on the verge of making landmark achievement, producing semi-conductors, which are necessary for manufacturing Central Processing Units (CPUs) and other major components of the computer system . Dropping a hint at a press conference recently, the Chairman, Governing Council of the institution, Engr Babatunde Odufuwa, said that the institution had established a Department of Research and Development which pre-occupation is to move towards the manufacture of semi-conductors. Odufuwa also said that the manufacture of semi-conductors in Nigeria would set the country on the path to the exploits of the silicon valley, adding that the moment the school's plans on semi-conductors were concluded, Nigeria could count herself as ready to manufacture more home made computers. However, he noted that the project may take a long time and obviously a lot of money to accomplish, adding that the school was looking at using indigenous materials to aid the accomplishment of the project. According to Odufuwa, Nigeria was yet to attain the exploits inherent in the silicon valley, but with the semi conductor project and the IT policy in place, silicon valley in Nigeria, was almost in place. He said: "On our part in the Lagos City Polytechnics, we have established a department of Research and Development whose present pre-occupation is to move towards the manufacture of semi-conductors" he added. "Our team of researchers have zeroed on the possibility of this feat and though this would involve a lot of money and time before accomplishment, I also know that this is a feat that would set the country to the path of the exploits inherent in the silicon valley". "Besides, we are using indigenous materials and by the time we are through, Nigeria can pride herself as having all it takes to produce home grown computers. After all, there is no computer without the Central Processing Unit (CPU)" he added. (SOURCE: All Africa) SA PREFERRED DESTINATION FOR OFF-SHORE OUTSOURCING, SAYS IBMIBM says that SA is establishing itself as a preferred outsourcing destination, and is rapidly becoming a back-up site for India, the world's number one outsourcing provider, says Abdul Mohammed, IBM's business development executive in the strategic outsourcing division: "Although some Eastern European countries may be able to provide cheaper outsourcing solutions, the value of the Rand, the favourable time difference, as well as our proficiency in English, are shifting a considerable amount of work to our shores," he says. IBM claims to be positioning itself as a leader in offshore outsourcing through a 'best-shore' policy, where specific sections of accounts awarded to IBM on an international scale are outsourced to countries that fulfil the client's needs in the most cost-effective way. Currently providing outsourcing solutions to American Express, JP Morgan, Ericsson and L'Oreal, through IBM's internationally implemented standard policies and procedures, the company says it provides its clients with a consistent level of service, regardless of whether the job is done through IBM SA, England or Europe. "The implementation of service level agreements eliminates the threat of scope creep, a common concern when considering offshore outsourcing," says Mohammed, adding that the impact of culture clashes on outsourcing activities is a reality that companies have to deal with. "The English spoken in SA, for example, sometimes differs slightly in meaning from that spoken in England, which could cause some confusion," he adds. One of the major challenges facing SA, according to IBM, lies in convincing Europe and the USA that the country can provide consistent quality, although the lack of an adequate communication infrastructure is another stumbling block on the country's path to becoming a preferred offshore provider. "Government needs to develop a communication infrastructure that is affordable and advanced enough to provide local companies with a competitive edge in the offshore outsourcing market. At this stage, our communication infrastructure is underdeveloped and comparatively expensive," says Mohammed. In April, IBM launched its Integrated Delivery Centre (IDC) in Sandton, a facility through which the company aims to offer high value outsourcing solutions to clients in Europe and USA, amongst other regions. (SOURCE: ICT World) IN BRIEF- The South African Supplier Selection Authority (SSA) is expected to complete its selection process for the government seat management tender by the end of this month.This was announced yesterday by State IT Agency (SITA) CEO Mavuso Msimang, who says the tender will involve in excess of R2 billion worth of work in the public sector. - These multimedia facilities were launched in five districts of the Eastern Cape Department including Aliwal North, Queenstown, Umtata, Port Elizabeth and Mt Ayliff to enhance customer care and efficient service delivery. - Faculty Training Institute (FTI), the professional ICT training institution in the Western Cape, has opened a Johannesburg training centre to meet growing demand from corporate organisations and individuals in Gauteng for its services. This follows a recent run of six public business analysis and project management diploma courses handled for corporate-sponsored candidates or individuals, with more than 250 people drawn from more than 20 large corporate clients graduating in these two important disciplines. - Storgate, the sole-distributor of the Seagate brand in South Africa, has confirmed that in accordance with Seagate's extension of its warranty period on all hard disks to five years (previously one to three years, depending on product), the same length warranty period will apply in the local market. - SAP has announced the appointment of EPI-USE Systems as its Special Expertise Partner (SEP) for Human Resources for sub-Saharan Africa. These specialised partnerships aim to allow SAP to communicate and co-operate closely with its partner companies. SAP defines communication channels for these partners, particularly at the operational level (sales, consulting, regional support organisations, and marketing), but also at the product management and development levels.Says EPI-USE Systems director, James Brits: "Depending on market conditions in specific countries or geographies, SAP may offer partners the opportunity to specialise in specific areas, including market segments/industries, products, or special services."
MAURITIUS TELECOM CLEANS UP ITS BALANCE SHEET AND SELLS SUBSIDIARIESMauritius Telecom will sell off four of its thirteen subsidiaries in order to focus on its core business: fixed and mobile telephony and the internet. Two of these - Southern Telecom and Teleserve - are based overseas and the other two - Consultel and Net Mauritius - are based in Mauritius. A source at Mauritius Telecom told L'Express: "These companies do not correspond with our corporate philosophy." Net Mauritius was launched in 1998 before the internet had really taken off to provide business-to-business transactions online. It put various government services online as well as Air Mauritius, theState Investment Corporation and MT itself. However the project soon began to "take on water" and MT wants to dispose of its 21.5% share. Consultel is an ICT consultancy aimed at helping Mauritian companies use the internet. According to a company source: "Consultel did not take a long view. The project's not working." Therefore MT plans to liquidate the company. Southern Telecom is another story.It was bought with the intention of giving MT experience in liberalised markets. It was a joint venture with a South African company in which MT had an 85% share. It was supposed to offer value-added services in its market but was not successful. Teleserve was a joint venture with Mozambique Telecom again focused on value added services. But the Government's intention to privatise has put an end to the venture as there would then be a conflict of interest. LIRE EN FRANCAIS: IN BRIEF- After growing over the past four years and achieving a nationwide footprint, Mthombo IT Services (M-IT) says it will embark on an aggressive African expansion programme, which will see it initially opening branches in the SADC region. M-IT outlined its expansion plans at the same time as it announced it had bought back the 35% stake held by Dimension Data for R11 million.
SENEGAL'S WAL FADJIRI LAUNCHES ITS NEW PORTALThe new portal is not simply the result of "relifting" the Senegalse newspaper's former site according to M.Niasse but the creation of a new portal "is unique in West Africa." According to Niasse it allows the user not only to access all of the paper's content, but also provides the tools for searching for what you want. It is currently receiving between 5-15,000 visitors a day. After the relaunch, it received 23,000 visitors a day for two days. Its new statistics software allows the paper to break down its visitors by country of origin. LIRE EN FRANCAIS: IN BRIEF- EASSI's web site is offline:"When you visit our Website you may have noticed that you get an error announcement. This is due to the fact that our Internet Providers have made some changes in the codes. Everything is being done to ensure that these changes are smooth and have no negative effect on our site. In a short while the Website will be back to normal." - As part of its contribution to the promotion of the utilization of ICTs by small scale businesses, Nigeria's Just Web Services is offering five genuine business organizations in Nigeria a five-page absolutely free website hosting. Organizations wishing to take advantage of this offer should contact afam@lagosestores.com
* Dimension Data SA director Coert Vorster died at the weekend after a three-month struggle with brain cancer. Vorster, executive director of application services, joined Dimension Data in 2002. Prior to this, he was MD of T-Systems, formerly debis, where he managed the merger of Denel Informatics, Cenit and debis into one outsourcing company. He has also been head of IBM Global Services SA, MD of Spicer Professional Services and has held directorships at Infomet SA and Rubico. Outside of work, Vorster was known as a sports lover and a keen cyclist. He is survived by his wife and three children. * Khir Abdul Rahman's resignation as CEO of Telekom Malaysia Berhad has resulted in a change of alternate director at Telkom. Telekom Malaysia Berhad, part of the Thintana consortium, has a 6% shareholding in Telkom. The other partner in the consortium, US-based SBC Communications, owns 9% of Telkom. Telkom says that as a result of Rahman's resignation from Telekom Malaysia Berhad, his position as alternate director to Muhammad Radzi Mansor on Telkom's board has been terminated with immediate effect. Telkom chief strategic officer and executive director Chian Khai Tan will replace Rahman as the alternate to Mansor, the group says in a statement issued last night. Earlier this month Abdul Wahid Omar replaced Rahman as Telekom Malaysia Berhad CEO. Last month the Thintana consortium reduced its stake in Telkom from 30% to 15.1%. SBC's stake was reduced from 18% while Telekom Malaysia Berhad's shareholding was cut from 12%.
EVENTSFirst Annual SANGONeT "ICTs and Civil Society" Conference SANGONeT will be organising its first annual "ICTs and Civil Society" conference that is to take place from 2-4 March 2005 in Johannesburg. African ICT Stakeholders Forum Organizers: Government of Mauritius and e-Africa Commission Six Annual African Computing and Telecommunication Summit (ACT 2004) Organizers: AITEC (UK) Universities: Taking a Leading Role in ICT-enabled Human Development Organizers: Directorate of ICT Support, Makerere University Date: 5-7, September, 2004 First Savannah ICTs Fair/Exhibition and Conference Organizers: CITAD and TEPEX Business and Development Forum Organizers: Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO) Oracle to host first PartnerNetwork Day in Africa - senior global executives attending Oracle SA will host the Africa leg of Oracle's Europe, Middle East and Africa-wide PartnerNetwork Day roadshow at the Sandton Convention Centre on Tuesday August 31. This is the first time Oracle Corporation is holding this event in Africa, modelled on a programme that has toured through six cities in Europe and the Middle East this year, attended by more than 3,600 Oracle partners. Oracle hopes the event will support its bid to form closer ties with its partners and to recruit new resellers. "It will be the biggest single event we have ever held on African shores and we expect to attract more than 500 delegates who will hear from 15 senior Oracle executives how they can benefit by working with us," says Deon Els, country director, alliances and channels at Oracle SA. These include former Durbanite Bronwyn Hastings, vice president worldwide alliances and channels; Stein Surlien, vice president alliances and channels EMEA region; Andrew Sutherland, vice president technology, EMEA region; and Francis Veldeman vice president business development, EMEA region. "Oracle's partner base helps generate 40 percent of the corporation's licence revenue ranging from small IT shops supporting web site content through to large system implementation and integration enterprises, hardware vendors and software developers," says Els. "Anybody who is in IT will want to hear and find out what Oracle is about, how we can assist in growing their business and how they can join the Oracle partner programme." Co-sponsored by HP, Intel, Red Hat and AMD, the Oracle Partner Network Day will also see the official launch in SA of Oracle E-Business Suite Special Edition, a software package aimed at smaller companies and subsidiaries of larger enterprises, sold exclusively through partners. "With this increased focus on providing software to smaller businesses, we will be looking at recruiting new partners and informing delegates about our strategies and future direction, with tracks on sales, marketing and technical development," adds Els. Invitations have also been extended to Oracle SA's counterparts and channel partners in other African countries, including Husam Dajani, managing director, Oracle Middle East and Africa.
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