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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 241 Mobile data special - Africa's mobile users soon to go text-madAfrica's mobile operators have been so busy making money from rolling out voice services that anything else must have seemed like a distraction. Some like Celtel have dabbled with the idea of running their own ISPs but without much success. Many have even been indifferent to SMS revenues which have grown rapidly elsewhere. But in the next three years most companies will be reaching the edge of viable voice markets and will start to look for new ways to add revenues to a static or slow-growing subscriber base. Several things are beginning to make an impact on this "steady-state, just keep taking the money" mentality. The wealthier parts of the continent - North and South Africa and its outlying islands like Mauritius - are introducing 3G. "First movers" like Safaricom are introducing GPRS as what has been described as 2.5G. Those behind CDMA are promoting it as a cost-effective, "plug-in" to GSM networks than can deliver data. UTL in Uganda has bought into this argument and there are sufficient trials under way in other countries to make it almost certain that others will follow. There are technical issues but these are likely to be ironed out fairly quickly as operators get the hang of integrating it. Like everything to do with mobiles, data prices are charged at premium rates. But today's premium service is tomorrow's mainstream service. If prices come down as they almost certainly will in the long-term, will mobile companies begin to dominate Africa's data markets? And this possibility raises a wider strategic question: are mobile networks designed to carry a low-bandwidth service like GSM going to be effective for higher volumes of data? In this three part special, Russell Southwood interviews Michael Joseph, CEO of Kenya's Safaricom who has introduced GPRS and to Anthony Mwaniki of One World International (also in Kenya) who has launched several new SMS services, offering information on jobs, health and community news. Mapara Syed talks to South Africa's largest largest mobile, value-added service provider, iTouch. KENYA'S SAFARICOM - ONE OF AFRICA'S "FIRST-MOVERS" ON GPRSWhat's the extent of your mobile data services? It depends what you include in that term. Through our partnership with Wananchi (a Kenyan ISP), there are around 30,000 people using our e-mail service. That's not a lot when you consider that we have 2.1 million subscribers. But SMS is hugely popular. We have the highest penetration in the Vodafone Group. 75% of all of our customers use SMS and send 4 million SMS messages a day. Isn't that very high for Africa? SMS is a great medium for communications for Africa. It's relatively simple to use and it's inexpensive. I made SMS free for those customers wanting to query their pre-pay balance and to top-up that balance but we made the equivalent service by voice available on a pay-for basis. It meant that subscribers had to learn how to use SMS. What SMS services are available? There's lots of SMS services available on our 411 service. There's between 200-400,000 messages a day both on a "push and a pull" basis. (Messages sent unrequested and requested). All our new phone SIM cards are 64K and when you install them a services menu comes up which the user can choose from. How is the GPRS roll-out going? Although we're meeting our targets, it's not going as quickly as I would like. There's a problem of education as most people have not seen the need for the service. It works well throughout almost all of Kenya and is therefore an ideal medium for the country. It will take time to get that message across. It took something like 6-12 months to get the message across about and given the investment we've made in GPRS, it's important we succeed. In technical terms, what is GPRS? A software layer? It's an overlay on top of the network, using some dedicated role channels to carry data. It means you can upload at 26K and download at 46K which is significantly faster than GSM data speeds. What's the price tag on your GPRS investment? Around 1 million euros. How many subscribers are there at this early stage? There's around 1,500 users and these are mainly corporate, early adopters who have laptops and PDAs. I'm ambitious that we have a huge uptake of GPRS this year. On the marketing front, I have to find another media other than print. When I show people personally, I sign them up so I know the proposition's right. What are the costs? If you don't have a 64K SIM card it will cost you KS15,000 and after that you'll pay KS0.4 per kilobyte and only pay for what you use. I believe that every school, health clinic or office needs GPRS because in most cases they've got nothing else. For example, every hotel up-country is using expensive satellite bandwidth when they could be using GPRS. It would cost KS500 for a school to get an hour's access this way. I know that if I did free trials, I would get an enormous amount of interest, probably more trial users than I could handle. So I remain confident that in due course we'll earn 10-15% of our revenues from data. ONE WORLD INTERNATIONAL ROLLS OUT JOBS AND HEALTH SMS INFORMATION SERVICESIn mid-November last year One World International (OWI) in Kenya soft-launched three innovative SMS services: a new jobs information service, a health service (that covers topics like breast cancer and HIV/AIDS) and a community news service. The first two services are pay-for with the latter on a free-use basis. When we spoke to One World International's CEO in mid-December, we asked what kind of usage levels were being achieved. Up to that point, there had been 68,000 "hits" (people requesting information), split more or less equally between the two pay-for services. One of the challenges has been to create a steady, reliable flow of information. Because OWI has social objectives, it has sought to provide information on blue-collar jobs that will be of most relevance to those at the bottom of the economic stack, coming from places like Nairobi's large informal settlement Kibera. In the three weeks since the soft-launch it has put up 70 new jobs, with a lot of these coming from outside Nairobi. Mwaniki thinks they may have to adjust the media they are using to address employers but there has been considerable interest. With the soft-launch, there were over 600 SMS enquiries about how the service works. In future, Mwaniki believes that there will need to be a great deal more face-to-face contact with employers. Government has expressed interest and it will be following up on these leads in the near future. It would like to offer co-branded services with Safaricom in order to get a greater level of credibility. Revenue from the service is split 50% to the mobile operator Safaricom, 25% to the aggregator Mobile Planet and 25% to OWI as the content provider. The challenge for future development of the service is one of consumer education. As Mwaniki sees it:"A lot of people are still not sure how to use the service. It's almost too simple to use. Perhaps we need to use the puppeteering team we used in the pilot phase. On the health service, it's still a challenge and we need to look for "below-the-line" advertising. Where's the best place to catch people?" There are 1000 users of the free community news service which it is hoped will be subsidised by the pay-for services:"We did an evaluation of it and found that the users are very happy with the service. Initially the service is free but Safaricom will eventually want some revenues from it. Our current thinking is that it could be used as an advertising channel with a slightly higher level of take-up". One World has financed a text to speech service and the prototype is currently undergoing trials:"We are thinking how we can integrate this innovation into our service package, particularly in rural areas. It uses a "natural" voice rather than one of those artificial electronic ones. For the swahili version we used the voice of a local newscaster. There's a few things still to be done but it's very audible". On the health side, it has been harder to build up a pattern of information based on Frequently Asked Questions. It now has 70 questions for HIV/AIDS and 30 for breast cancer. iTOUCH BUILDS ITSELF A MOBILE DATA BUSINESS IN SA AND ROLLS OUT IN MOROCCOThe iTouch Plc group is a media company that provides a wide range of information, entertainment and messaging services to mobile users encompassing regular news updates, weather alerts, downloading ring tones and wall papers to personalise the phone, voting mechanisms on behalf of media partners, etc. Recognising the affluent market in South Africa, iTouch launched the direct channel model (35050) there at the end of 2003, which enabled them to sell and deliver services and applications directly to customers through Premium SMS shortcodes. With operations in 25 countries at present, iTouch has become South Africa’s leading mobile VAS provider of wireless data services and products for both consumer and business markets, according to Wayne Levine, Commercial Director at iTouch SA. “Vodacom statistics have shown that iTouch receives the highest volume of requests,” he said. Of these requests, consumer demands feature predominately and are why their services are orientated around the consumer market. “We provide two types of consumer services – alerts,” which are a suite of information and personalised reminders to the cellphone as a short text message at a time specified by the user, “and MO services, which stands for Mobile Originate and is where the user can pull content and products at any time.” Current developments have demonstrated that these application-to-person (A2P) services, in which subscribers can receive information and products by sending a text message, are most appealing to mobile users explained Levine. “Of all our users about 5% favour alerts whereas 95% prefer data when they want it.” The popularity of the 35050 services, which offers ringtone and logo downloading amongst the many pickings, much like 8181 in the UK and 7777 in Spain, is evident of this trend as it “is our biggest product,” he said. Marketed for iTouch’s target group of 16-24 year olds, Levine definitely accredits the success of 35050 to the youth generation who “are the most aggressive in terms of data services for cellphones.” However, that is not to say that the services iTouch SA provide only appeal to youngsters, he added. “Our consumers range from 8 or 9 years old up to 60 or 70,” with the older users just as interested in downloading ringtones and personalising their phones as younger users are just as keen on receiving news alerts and keeping up to date with current affairs. Another successful product of iTouch SA is in fact INFOtext, which is the biggest real-time SMS information service in South Africa where users can request once-off information, from Lotto results to horoscopes, to their mobile by sending a keyword to 33030. An interesting trend that Levine touched upon when asked about the background of users was that many black South Africans were attracted to their iTouch services and that iTouch SA actually “underestimated the popularity of our services within the ethnic community and that they may even be more popular than in the white community.” He put this down to the fact that while many white South Africans had access to other means of communication like the television or internet, many members of the black community “have limits to communication devices so use their cellphones more to retrieve information.” With no subscription to these services the only limits to users are confined to which mobile operator they are connected to. To enjoy the benefits of INFOtext users must have Vodacom or MTN lines while the service to receive alerts is only available to contract subscribers with Vodacom. 35050 services on the other hand are accessible to MTN and Vodacom subscribers via SMS and MTN, Vodacom and Cell C through IVR (Voice Information Service). Revenue is divided between the mobile operators, content providers and iTouch SA who takes 50%, anything between 10% and 30% and between remaining 20% and 40% of what the consumer pays respectively. With 19 million mobile users in South Africa to date and millions of transactions a week, as indicated by Levine, iTouch SA has been able to build a very profitable business. The accelerating growth in the sale and distribution of multi-media handsets and an ever increasing market focused on device personalisation, SMS shortcodes and premium SMS billing provides highly favourable conditions within Africa for iTouch on the whole. Levine concluded that there is “definitely demand for content services throughout Africa” but iTouch are taking a cautious approach in regards to expanding across the continent as “the ways in which African businesses are run are still quite foreign to us.” Last year the company launched it’s direct channel model in Morocco under the brand name ‘SOGO’ in which they offered premium SMS services enabling users to download ringtones, logos, picture messages and images via the shortcode 888. It is operated through iTouch’s mobile entertainment platform in London and in collaboration with the second largest mobile operator in Morocco, Meditel, which is controlled by Telefonica of Spain and Portugal Telecom. Revenue is divided more or less on a similar basis to how it is in South Africa. Based on a transaction whereby the consumer pays the equivalent of 150p the mobile operator Meditel takes 50p, which is 33%, while iTouch recognise 100p. Of that 100p, 12% to 15% goes to the content provider as a royalty payment, while another 3% to 5% cover traffic charges and aggregator costs. iTouch Plc have said that it is too early to comment on trends within their Moroccan market but with access to 8 million mobile users, results to date have exceeded management’s expectations. Commercial services that offer the purchase of ringtones and logos are far from the minds of rural communities in West Africa. The needs of mobile users there are much different and concern their family and livelihoods. Manobi, a mobile data services operator, addressed these needs and was the first SMS service provider in Senegal informing and linking together farmers dispersed in the bush as a way to secure sales of their produce on the markets. By providing added value corporate services to their clients Manobi help them to generate more revenue, save costs and improve their business performance. In the middle of their field and totally isolated from developed areas these farmers use their mobile phones to find out the current price of their produce on the principal Dakar markets. The idea behind this tool is to enable its users to sell their produce at more realistic prices by making it impossible for wholesalers to inflate prices and by shortening negotiation time, decreasing the waste of perishable goods, etc. Tested and launched in 2000 by businessman and Manobi’s CEO, Daniel Annerose, it is now backed by Sonatel, the principal national telephone operator. In 2003, the initiative was extended to include providing fisherman, via SMS technology primarily, with up-to-date weather reports and market price information. In addition the fishermen are able to use the interactiveness of the technology to input fish stock information for marketing purposes, and to log their departures and estimated times of return, so that local fishing unions can be alerted if fishing boats fail to return on time. In total Manobi have about 8000 subscribers to their services, which is still relatively low but at 3000 XOF (the equivalent of 5E) this is understandable. However, Annerose explained how his company are “trying to provide a free system to be launched soon,” which will help increase the subscriber base. Also, of the 8000 users, 70% are farmers and at the moment the information Manobi provides is only in relation to vegetable and fruit prices whereas many Senegalese farmers deal with solely crops, if not in addition to. “In regards to the number of farmers who just sell fruits and vegetables, the number of users we have is a good number for the farmers concerned,” said Annerose. “We are currently looking into collecting more information on crop prices which should increase the number of users we have even more,” he added. The type of SMS service that Manobi offers is an alert system where “information is pushed to the user once a day at the same time,” described Annerose. In addition, Manobi will be providing more advanced services for those users who want it and are willing to pay for it, he went on to say. He also said that the results have been “very positive and that all users are benefiting from the service.” Although it is early days to quote figures on the impact of the service on artisan fisherman in the region, it is believed that farmers have increased their revenue by 15% to 25% due to the information supplied by Manobi. This success for Manobi has translated into being named Top ICT Company and Most-Innovative Company of the Year at the African ICT Awards at the end of last year. Manobi is now extending its know-how and resources to South Africa where it is in partnership with Vodacom and Alcatel to launch a new project for rural communities involved with agribusiness in Limpopo. Like Manobi’s operations in Senegal, the goal of this project is to provide to these communities GSM added value services to help them to sell their produce more effectively into national markets.
MALAYSIANS PULL OUT OF GUINEA'S SOTELGUIThe long, slow retreat of Telekom Malaysia from Africa reached a new stage with its announcement at the end of January that it would be pulling out of SOTELGUI, the Guinean incumbent. This pull-out could have been foreseen from the point of the SIM card fiasco of last November which managed to drain revenues from its 50,000 or so mobile subscribers. Officially SIM cards were meant to sell for FG74,000 but such was the shortage of SIM cards that prices went as high as FG300,000-400,000. Employees of SOTELGUI were clearly implicated in this black-market traffic. After an intervention by the Government, sales were stopped. But as Guinea News noted, during this period SIM cards were "sold in the streets like peanuts." Telekom Malaysia bought a 60% share of Sotelgui in 1996. The Guinean government is seeking a buyer to replace the Malaysians. A report is going to Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo, who led the commission that privatised the company. (source: Guinéenews) LIRE EN FRANCAIS: NETWORK OF THE WORLD LAUNCHES MOBILE OPIN SOUTHERN SUDAN'S RUMBEKThe town of Rumbek in southern Sudan is getting used to a sound never heard before -- the ringing of a mobile phone. "This only happens once in a lifetime -- the chance to build something from scratch," said a foreign entrepreneur in Rumbek. Fighting had left southern Sudan a black spot for telecommunications until last August when the region's first mobile phone operator -- Network of the World (NOW) -- was set up with a multimillion dollar investment. Satellite dishes, generators, computers, a telecoms mast and a wooden shed for an Internet cafe were transported piecemeal to the bush, by convoy and chartered plane. Despite a chronic lack of trained technicians and engineers in southern Sudan, a network was up and running within four months. The new mast stands at a site dominated by an enormous dilapidated satellite dish, intended for a fixed line phone system. Government troops bombed the dish in the 1980s before it had a chance to get started. There are now about 1,000 subscribers to NOW in two towns -- Rumbek and Yei, and Richard Herbert, NOW's operations director, is confident that number will increase five-fold by the end of the year. "Our long-term goal is to get as many mobile phones into people's hands as possible so that relatives abroad can get in touch," he told Reuters in an interview. "For most people, receiving phone calls is more important than making them because they don't have the buying power yet." (SOURCE: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?e260866614&e=6460) SA'S VODACOM ANNOUNCES AGGRESSIVE 3G TARIFFS FOR 1 FEBRUARY STARTIn line with the changes to come in the telecoms industry on 1 February, mobile operator Vodacom has announced aggressive new tariffs for its third-generation (3G) service. According to Vodacom MD Pieter Uys, the company will introduce a range of new 3G bundles next month, and will also substantially reduce the price of out-of-bundle top-ups. “Our initial package offered subscribers a 1GB per month 3G contract, with a free Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS data card, for R599 per month, with a top-up cost of R10 per additional Megabyte,” he says. “As of 1 February, we will reduce the out-of-bundle tariff to R2 per additional Megabyte and we will also introduce a range of smaller bundles to appeal to a wide range of consumers.” Uys says the organisation will offer the following monthly packages: R35 for 20Mb, R110 for 75Mb, R149 for 150Mb and R200 for R250Mb; all of which can be purchased on an ad hoc basis, with users able to change their package from month to month, as it suits their needs. “Another option that will be made available for those who require extensive bandwidth will be the ability to purchase additional Gigabytes at R599 per Gigabyte,” states Uys. “The beauty of 3G lies in the volumes, as it is a move that is taking place across the world, meaning that prices are continuously coming down, while the fact that it is a global standard means seamless international roaming for users.” He says Vodacom has not gone into the 3G game in isolation, as it has taken a long-term view of the global industry. “Remember, the European players have spent billions of euros on their 3G licences, so it is absolutely imperative they make it all work, and we are now able to be a part of this development. “Unlike the European operators, which have reduced the cost of voice calls, but charge a lot more for video calls, we have decided to keep our call tariffs the same, but have made the rates for video calls the same as those for a normal voice call.” (SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/telecoms/ HUAWEI THROWS NIGERIA'S NITEL A LIFELINE WITH USD3M DWDM PROJECTEmbattled National carrier, NITEL, last week got a lifeline from Huawei Technologies to boost its transmission capacity and offer better services to Nigerians through a Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) project to be completed in one month. This comes a few months after China and Nigeria signed a memorandum of understanding on the development of telecom infrastructure. The project worth about USD3 million is a donation to the incumbent telco by Huawei, and it is expected to ease traffic congestion on the NITEL network. Managing Director of Huawei, John Wang, said that the project would run from Lagos through Benin and Enugu to Port Harcourt. Once completed, the project is expected to relieve the shortage of transmission resources between Lagos and Port Harcourt and also provide more bandwitdh and offer more services to Nigerians. Once equipped with the DWDM optical transmission systems, NITEL would be able to begin wholesale bundling of bandwidth to ISPs and other customers, as well as provide other broadband services. (SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200501190745.html) NIGERIAN SATELLITE AIDS TSUNAMI RELIEF WITH DATANigerian satellite, Nig-sat 1, has been actively involved in the mitigation of recent Asian Tsunami disaster, by supplying satellite images of the affected areas to aid agencies managing the disaster. Minister for Science and Technology, Professor Turner Isoun, said this at a briefing in Abuja last week, and commended the quick response by Nig sat 1 to the disaster, saying "the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) responded quickly to the Asian disaster by acquiring satellite images of the affected areas, and has been supplying two sets of data daily to RESPOND- a European Space Agency (ESA) project charged with the responsibility of producing and delivering maps of the region to aid agencies managing the disaster." The satellite was able to acquire over 20 images of the affected areas, which it downloaded to the central archives of the DMC, for onward transmission to RESPOND. The DMC consists of four spacecrafts and Nig sat 1 is one of them; they work in constellation to provide medium resolution data. (SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200501200228.html) CELTEL IN SIERRE LEONE GETS INTO A SPECTRUM SPATCeltel (SL) is currently arguing with the Government about whether it can now use the contested frequencies 899.2 MHz-949.2 MHz (uplink) and 944.2 MHz-949.2 MHz (downlink). Governments seeking to expand mobile competition often attempt to re-allocate spectrum and this is what may be happening in this instance. However a Standard Times editorial takes a firm line against the company but note the use of the phrase "now contested":"Whatever fight the embattled mobile phone company, Celtel (SL) Limited may put up, it must be made to comply with the government regulation to stop using frequency bands not allocated to it, especially the now contested frequencies of 899.2 MHz-949.2 MHz (uplink) and 944.2 MHz-949.2 MHz (downlink)". "This is necessary in order that sanity may prevail in the telecommunications industry, for if Celtel is allowed to get away with exploiting the people with impunity, then the government would lose its authoritative power to maintain control and sanity in the affairs of the state". "It is true that the government wants to liberalize the market like in the developed countries of the Western world, but here in this part of the world, we are still developing, infact creeping, and we need all the controls available to insulate our people against the onslaught of the market economy". (SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200501190284.html) IN BRIEF - OpenVoice, which designs, delivers and implements telecoms solutions by way of open source platforms, was launched officially in Johannesburg last night. The company's focus is open source application Asterisk, a converged telecommunications platform that allows different types of Internet Protocol (IP) telephony hardware, middleware and software to interface with each other consistently. The use of an open platform gives companies a flexible, low-cost alternative that can easily be upgraded. Asterisk supports both VOIP and legacy public switch telephone network connectivity. Director Justin Colyn says OpenVoice is finalising a black economic empowerment deal, and “we are very excited about the partner we have on board”. - The Botswana Telecommunications Corporation's (BTC) ambition to achieve one of the most sought after certifications in the telecom industry, the ISO 9001 Standard has finally paid off. - Nokia and Ericsson are reported to have been awarded GSM contracts to expand Ethiopia's only mobile network, ETC. Ericsson is understood to have won a contract worth USD49 million, while Nokia's portion of the contract has been valued at USD31 million. - One of the co-operation agreements that Zimbabwe's Transport and Communications Minister Cde Chris Mushohwe and the Iranian Minister of Co-operatives Mr Ali Soufi settled last week was on telecommunications and postal services. This was signed before officials from TelOne and their Iranian counterparts who also signed a co-operation agreement. TELECOM RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGECeltel International has announced that it has five million customers across 13 countries. Celtel’s customer numbers are based on the total number of active customers on all networks managed by the group; an active customer is defined as one which has made a revenue generating call in the preceeding three month period. Celtel has interests in Chad, DRC, Gabon, Kenya and Sierra Leone, amongst others. Elephant Telecom, a newcomer backed by the Evolution Group, the holding company for call centre operator Dialogue Group, has launched a virtual network operator service in South Africa with the promise of offering huge cost savings to businesses in the country. Elephant Telecom plans to market and sell international voice, data and IP telephony services purchased from infrastructure service providers and hopes to steal a march on its rivals by providing business customers savings of up to 40% on fixed line calls and 32% on cellular calls. The company also plans to introduce VoIP services, with calls being routed via data lines at 60% less than the current rate. At launch, the start-up is targeting high usage accounts with a current monthly bill in excess of ZAR5,000. It is trumpeting the purchasing power afforded by Dialogue’s close ties with network operators in the region, and claims that this has already enabled it to secure a number of commercial clients prior to today’s official launch. Elephant Telecom’s entry into the sector is timed to coincide with the imminent deregulation of the market and the end of Telkom’s monopoly next month. TELECEL Zambia will this year install new infrastructure in Kitwe and Chirundu to increase voice clarity for its customers as well as offer services to tourists in lower Zambezi. READER'S RESPONSESISSUE 240: ZIMBABWE PHONE BOOM HAS HEALED ECONET vs CELSYS RIFT I would like to point out that your report entitled: ZIMBABWE PHONE BOOM HAS HEALED ECONET vs CELSYS RIFT is in fact inaccurate with respect to Celsys being ‘forced to resolve its long standing dispute with Econet’. The facts are that the dispute between Econet and Celsys went to arbitration last year and was recently resolved amicably, and that both parties are currently exploring other new business possibilities together. No one was forced into any arrangement. Celsys has enjoyed and continues to enjoy a good relationship with all three networks in Zimbabwe. Lesley-Anne Freeman
MAURITIUS: FRANCE TÉLÉCOM DECIDES TO PULL OUT OF TELECOM PLUSMauritian ISP Telecom Plus was a joint venture started in 1996 between incumbent Mauritius Telecom and France Télécom, with most of the technology and services provided by the latter's ISP Wanadoo. Now both parties have decided that an amicable divorce is in order. The Mauritians would like to see the matter settled at the next meeting of the Council of Administration but the French do not see resolving this issue as a high priority. "We are currently trying to see how we can buy back the 30% share France Telecom has in Telecom Plus,"said Prem Nababsing, President of Mauritius Telecom. However as France Telecom owns 40% of Mauritius Telecom, its actual overall shareholding is 58%. In a situation that is very similar to that found in Senegal, Telecom Plus has an 86% share of the market with 60,000 subscribers. This de-facto monopoly would undoubtedly be challenged in any country that had strong competition law. With the opening of the internet market, its growth rate dropped to 20% from the 32% growth it had experienced over the last five years. (source: L'Express) LIRE EN FRANCAIS: MY ADSL STUDY IDENTIFIES BEST IN SA, BUT SERVICES FAR BEHIND GLOBALLYFollowing an investigation into SA's various broadband offerings, conducted by MyADSL in the last quarter of 2004, Telkom's HomeDSL 384 has emerged as the winner. However, the study also compared local offerings to the packages available internationally, and in this respect, South African services fall short of the average. The MyADSL study was initially begun in order to clear up the confusion in the marketplace and to help buyers choose between the various broadband offerings available today. The percentages to decide the rankings of the various offerings were calculated using an algorithm – designed by Conrad Beyers from the University of Pretoria and Rudolph Muller from MyADSL – to quantify all the results and produce an accurate final mark for each service. Some 6 000 performance tests, in-depth surveys and user feedback on the services were involved in calculating the final results, which saw Telkom's HomeDSL 384 take top spot with 78%, thanks to its comparatively low cost, performance and reliability. The monopoly's HomeDSL 512 service was second (75%), followed by WBS's iBurst (70%), Sentech's MyWireless 256 (67%), Telkom's DSL 512 Unshaped (66%) and Sentech's MyWireless 128 (63%). However, when the same algorithm was used to compare local offerings to international broadband services, the picture was nowhere near as pretty. There wasn't a single South African service that scored more than 30%, compared to Japan's Yahoo 45Mb broadband offering, which topped the poll with 96%. Price and performance were noted as the major factors that pushed the local services down. Communications regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), is calling for comments on Telkom's ADSL services from interested parties, in an attempt to breach the gap and bring South African broadband services closer to world standards. (SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/ M-WEB GETS NOD FOR TISCALI DEALThe Competition Tribunal has granted conditional approval for the merger between Internet service providers M-Web and Tiscali SA. Among the conditions placed on the merger, the tribunal has stipulated that no employees may be retrenched in the next six months. It has also ruled that no more than 160 staff members may be retrenched in the year after the initial six-month period. It says that over the next 18 months, the Competition Commission must be briefed every six months on the number of any intended retrenchments, the reason for the retrenchments, the status of further retrenchments and the process applied to the retrenchments. Other conditions include a stipulation that for the next three years the merged parties may not enter into any exclusive arrangement with a dealer for the sale of its products. M-Web's R320 million acquisition of Tiscali's South African operations was announced in August, after Tiscali's parent decided to disinvest from non-core regions. The deal did not include the cellular business, which was sold to Vodacom in a separate deal.M-Web has said the merger would allow M-Web to save costs by sharing infrastructure across a larger subscriber base. The deal added another 100,000 subscribers to M-Web's 250,000 subscribers. (SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/financial/2005/0501180959.asp?O=TE) IN BRIEF- The Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) is adamant the regulator needs to provide clarity on the scope of value-added network services (VANS) and make changes to the black economic empowerment (BEE) shareholding requirements, before any licensing issues can be properly resolved. This was the thrust of ISPA's presentation during the first day of the Independent Communications Authority of SA's (ICASA's) public hearings into the proposed VANS regulatory framework. According to Ant Brooks, chairman of ISPA's regulatory committee, the lack of clarity on what exactly constitutes a VANS provider means no one seems to know who the proposed regulations apply to."Many questions remain unanswered, such as does a virtual ISP require a licence? Does a Web site operator need one if it has an authenticated login section? Or even would a school require one if it provides e-mail access to students?"We would also like to know what the justification is for a five-fold increase in the cost of a licence, since ICASA has always claimed the fee is based on the cost to the regulator for processing a licence application," he says.
ZIMBABWE TO HOST INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FAIRZimbabwe will host an information technology (IT) fair to showcase equipment and services early next month with more than 20 local, regional and international companies in attendance, the local newspaper The Herald reported on Thursday. The one-day exhibition, slated for February 3, is being organized by the United States Embassy in Harare. The fair is intended to unveil the latest high technology equipment and promote US exports to Zimbabwe. The fair has drawn exhibitors from more than 20 local and regional companies and a few from the United Sates The United States Embassy was quoted as saying that although political relations between the two countries were not at their best at present, good trade relations between the two countries were critical and should therefore not be underestimated. It is against this background that the US Embassy in Harare has organized an IT fair, which was last held more than five years ago. The US Embassy said trade in the IT products and related services was growing fast in the United States, and Zimbabwe had the potential to trade significantly with the Americans in this sector. Last year, the United States is believed to have exported over 50 million US dollar worth of goods to Zimbabwe and IT represented a growing portion of these exports. (SOURCE: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/20/content_2485926.htm) Q3 BMI-T FIGURES SHOW TALLYCOM STILL LEADING SA LINE PRINTER MARKETThe TallyGenicom brand has reaffirmed its leadership in the South African line printer market with the recent results of BMI-T’s third quarter printer report reflecting a steady 61% market share of the line printer market for the first three quarters of 2004. The BMI-T results also show a 23% increase in the overall sales of line printers in the local market during the first three quarters of 2004, when compared to the same time period in 2003, something that clearly spells good things for both the local line printer market and TallyCom, the local TallyGenicom representative. Says David Terry, GM of TallyCom, “We are very satisfied with the growth in the local line printer space so far and are excited about the market’s overall 94% growth rate in the third quarter of 2004 compared to the same time period in 2003.” The third quarter sales of line printers in South Africa totaled 122 line printers, compared to 2003’s third quarter sales of 63 line printers. “We also believe TallyCom is going to shatter last year’s record of 198 line printers by a substantial margin, with our year to date sales figures already showing 185 units. Should this growth trend hold into the fourth quarter, TallyCom could well exceed the 240 line printer mark come the end of 2004, representing a growth of 20% or more, over our total sales in 2003,” Terry continues. Terry says the market factors influencing the growth of line printers included the natural replacement of older, legacy line printers that were bought prior to the year 2000. Customers have also started consolidating their print loads previously handled by numerous dot-matrix printers onto less costly, more volume-capable line printers. They have also realised that non-impact technologies like laser, while cost-effective for many applications, are still too costly for the types of high-volume printing more suited to line printers. “The most obvious factor influencing higher sales would be that the Rand has strengthened against the US Dollar. This has meant that the prices on line printers has dropped substantially, allowing customers to buy a line printer for what used to be the price of an upper end dot matrix printer.” “Let us also not forget that the South African economy is growing at a healthy rate and many customers are seeing increases in their printing volumes due to a general increase in business. This most often necessitates an upgrade from dot-matrix technology to line printer technology. Quite simply, if a user is printing in excess of 1000 pages per day on a regular basis, they should be looking at line printer technology,” Terry explains. “Our success stems from numerous factors, the first of which being that we offer our reseller channel national sales coverage and the choice of dealing through multiple distributors including Tarsus Technologies, Big 5 Distribution, Printegration and Lazer Tech.” “Our Authorised Service Partners Printegration, Big 5 Distribution and Geneva Printotek also offer the channel and its customers after sales service and support with TallyGenicom factory-trained technical skills on a national basis, a factor that has been integral in TallyCom and its channel’s success,” Terry concludes. MICROSOFT, UGANDAN GOVERNMENT BRING TECH TO EDUCATIONAs part of its continued drive to bring the benefits of technology to the education sector across Africa Microsoft has inked a four-year Partners in Learning (PiL) memorandum of understanding with the government of Uganda. The agreement - which came into effect in late December and extends until mid-2009 - was signed by Francis Xavier Lubanga, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Education (MoE) and Sports in Uganda, and Louis Otieno, the regional manager for East Africa at Microsoft. "PiL is a valuable programme for us across the entire region and especially here in Uganda. It offers government's support in education through the integration of information and communications technology (ICT) in learning and teaching," said Otieno at the launch. "It allows us to work closely with the Ugandan government to bring ICT directly into the classroom in ways that are locally relevant. It also provides a platform for the digital, intellectual and socio-economic growth of the country." The implementation framework of PiL is structured such that once the MOU is signed, Microsoft can begin the training and skills development of teachers and educators. Once these people have the requisite IT skills, they can lead training courses and enhance the experiences had by their students. To date Microsoft has already trained five local curricula developers and worked with the MoE's National Curricula Development Centre (NCDC) to localise the PiL curricula for Uganda and Anglophone Africa. Early next year the company is set to partner with Schoolnet Uganda to train teachers and lecturers from the local Teacher Training Institutions (TTIs) selected by the MoE. The number of people trained will be extended over the years of the MOU, the ideal situation being that all TTIs can offer ICT skills to all the teachers across Uganda by 2009. "We are working with the Ministry of Education to achieve targets," explained Otieno. "We aim to train 150 'master teachers' by the middle of next year. They will in turn train at least five of their peers. Over the course of the MOU, around 1 000 master teachers will be trained in Uganda - this will impact an additional 5 000 teachers and approximately 350 000 students. This cascading model stands to deliver real benefit to the education sector in the country." Other planned activities over the period of the project include: Advanced training of 50 curricula developers in the NCDC in partnership with learnthings.co.za. The training would cover authoring and creation of educational digital content and curricula for TTI's and classrooms in East African region; Training of an additional 300 advanced teachers in Uganda, the intention being for them to be seen as role models for other educators and people who can drive the adoption of ICT in education; and Creation of at least 100 'young developers' who will be trained in the technical skills required by a developing market, such as .Net, networking and help-desk support. As part of the announcement, Microsoft is reiterating that schools can apply for free licences for Windows 98/2000 for all computers that have been donated to them (Pentium II processor and below). This flies under the banner of the 'Fresh Start for Donated Computers' initiative. The company is also looking to sign a National School Agreement. This would enable all computers in primary and secondary schools in Uganda to receive free upgrades to Window XP Pro and to purchase Microsoft Office XP Pro at a significant discount. "Today's news is not about the sporadic donation of technology or the one-off signing of a document of intent," Otieno reaffirmed. "We are here to create sustainable long-term models for the transformation of technology's role in the education sector by bringing our resources, practices and programmes together in partnership with the efforts of the Ugandan government." (SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2005/0501200730. IN BRIEF- Egypt's Social Fund for Development will implement several Oracle solutions as part of an EC-funded initiative to develop a new management information system. The aim is to help the SFD monitor and evaluate its projects better, as well as achieve a greater level of transparency across funding allocations. - Uganda has earned USD43m (sh78b) from information and communication technology (ICT) exports in the last two years, an official from Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) has said. “Since we started compiling data on ICT in the second quarter of the 2001/03 financial year, Uganda has been exporting services to more than 23 countries including those in Europe and America,” John Musajjakawa, the authority’s officer in charge of ICT, said. Musajjakawa said in 2001/02, USD9.69m was earned, while in 2002/03, USD14.42m was earned. Quoting Bank of Uganda’s Balance of Payments Research Department, he said, “In the 2003/04 financial year, the country got USD19.2m from computer and information services. Uganda’s ict exports will increase. There is a company exporting software developed from here to 23 countries. The firm has just opened a branch in Costa Rica,” Musajjakawa said. He said more than 250 firms have registered with the Private Sector ICT Association of Uganda.
ACTIS AND THE AIG AFRICAN INFRASTRUCTURE FUND INVEST US$43.2 MILLION TO ACQUIRE MAJOR STAKE IN STARCOMMSActis and the AIG African Infrastructure Fund (AAIF) managed by Emerging Markets Partnership (EMP) have invested USD43.2 million to acquire a major stake in Starcomms, Nigeria’s leading fixed wireless telecom operator. Actis and EMP are two of the leading private equity fund investors in emerging markets. The new investment will be used to accelerate the roll out of Starcomms’ services across Nigeria. The company currently operates in Lagos, Kano and Borno States. Starcomms provides pre-paid voice and data services to over 145,000 subscribers including retail users, corporates and community centres. The company uses CDMA technology which provides high quality voice and 3G-type telecoms services to its customers. As such it is first business of its type to attract international private equity in Africa. The Nigerian communications market has undergone explosive growth in the last three years. The new investment in Starcomms represents a substantial commitment to the management team and the company’s potential to become a major telecoms player in the region. In addition, Actis introduced Paul Edwards (former CEO of Johnnic Holdings Limited and MTN Group Limited, and current executive chairman of Chartwell Capital and Chartwell Telecommunications) to Starcomms, where he will join the board as non-executive chairman. Paul was responsible for the launch of MTN Nigeria and has an intimate knowledge of the Nigerian telecom market. Commenting on the investment, Murray Grant, a partner of Actis, said: “Telecoms is an area in which we have a keen interest. Starcomms represents an opportunity to invest in a rapidly expanding market and its range of products and services will only accelerate the market growth. We estimate that Starcomms could have over one million subscribers by 2008 and this would create a business with a substantial share of the Nigerian market.” Actis currently has USD1.1 billion under management in Africa and is a significant investor in leading African telecoms operators, Celtel and Orascom. The Starcomms investment represents a further step in the strategy of building a sizeable presence in the African telecom sector. Grant added: “We will also be able to apply the sector expertise we have developed, through our investments in telecoms companies in both Africa and China, to help the Starcomms management team achieve its growth targets. Africa continues to be an exciting investment opportunity for Actis. Our on-the-ground presence ensures that we have a real understanding of the market and are able to add real value to the companies we invest in.” Paul Edwards, Executive Chairman of Chartwell Capital and Chartwell Telecommunications said: “Fixed wireless will play a significant role in broadening access to telecommunications in Africa and I am very excited about Starcomms’ prospects. In many African countries the fixed line infrastructure is underdeveloped and is inhibiting economic growth. In comparison, fixed wireless offers a complete package of telecommunication services for both business and individual users. This includes internet access, high speed data, fax and voice, without the need to lay wires, making it both cost-effective and providing for rapid roll-out. It also affords for a high degree of mobility, providing a truly convergent telecom platform. The CDMA technology, which forms the basis of Starcomms network, is also the foundation of third generation (3G) telecom services, which allows Nigeria to offer 3G services concurrently with the roll out in developed countries.” Thomas Gibian, COO of EMP’s Africa Fund said: “Starcomms delivers to its customers the highest quality voice and data services at tariffs that are attractive to both business and individuals. As such, we expect Starcomms’ strong value proposition, its experienced management team and the new investor support to translate into a significant customer base that will broaden the Nigeria telecoms market.” Chief Maan Lababidi, representing the incumbent shareholders of Starcomms commented: “We are delighted to see both Actis and EMP join us as shareholder partners in Starcomms. Their investment will enable us to provide our services to a much wider customer audience across Nigeria. This transaction also represents one of the most significant foreign direct investment deals in Nigeria and clearly demonstrates the amount of progress made in Nigeria since democratic rule was re-established. I am very excited about the future growth that we can achieve for the business.” NETWORK FRAUD STILL COSTS SA'S TELKOM MILLIONSThe impact of fraud and related issues like vandalism impact on Telkom South Africa's financial performance emerged last week. “Telkom loses approximately R95.4 million annually on all network fraud, including direct costs to repair cable theft and sabotage,” says Telkom's media specialist, Roshelle Pillay. “Telkom has suffered many incidents whereby fraudsters make illegal free calls, use the clip-on fraud method and physically vandalise phone booths, resulting in the company losing millions of rands annually.” Pillay confirms that Telkom has recently been informed that in some areas in Soweto, people are fraudulently making calls from phone card public phones, using a 0800 20 30 40 number. “At this stage we cannot confirm the extent of the misuse of the 0800 20 30 40 number or attach a monetary value to it, until a thorough investigation is completed,” says Pillay. However, she says Telkom's security and investigation team immediately verified the misuse of the line and has suspended that number. ”Clip-on fraud is still a popular method used by fraudsters who tap into private and public lines and sell calls, some to international destinations, at a cheaper price.” This type of fraud inconveniences Telkom customers, notes Pillay, as well as phone service customers around the world, often landing them with sudden high telephone bills. (SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/telecoms/2005/0501171201.asp?O=TE) IN BRIEF- Between Q4 2003 and Q4 2004 Huawei increased its revenues from sales of mobile equipment to Africa from USD 65 million to USD 250 million. In Q4 2004 it signed an USD 80 million contract with GSM operator V-Mobile in Nigeria and is supplying GSM equipment to companies across the continent. Huawei has also increased its sales of CDMA equipment to fixed-line and WLL operators in Africa. - According to EMC data there were 8.83 million mobile subscriptions in Nigeria at the end of December 2004, with MTN leading the market after passing the three-million customer mark in November 2004. Tough competition has pushed the operators to drastically lower entry costs for new subscribers by offering SIM cards for NGN 1 (less than USD 0.10). EMC predicts Nigeria will easily exceed the 10 million subscription mark before the end of 2005. With population coverage currently only at about 56%, networks are still expanding massively (for example Globacom has increased its switching capacity from one million to eight million between Q2 2004 and January 2005 and plans to raise it to 10 million by the end of 2005).
GOOGLE SA ‘A GOOD SIGN' SAYS LOCAL SEARCH ENGINE ANANZIInternational search engine Google's new South African focus is a good sign for an online SA, says local search engine Ananzi.The new-look Google.co.za domain, which was launched last week, features a Google South Africa header, a choice between searching the entire Web or for South African Web content only, and four extra language options: Afrikaans, Sotho, Xhosa and Zulu. However, local industry watchers do not expect much impact from the move, since there is only one truly local search engine – Ananzi – and most South African Web users already make use of Google. Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, doesn't see Google as a threat to Ananzi. “Yahoo would be more of a threat to Ananzi. Google is plain vanilla, designed for going directly to a site, made up of automated content, whereas Ananzi and Yahoo are content-rich and multi-faceted portals.” Goldstuck notes that it is difficult and expensive to operate a uniquely South African search engine, as Core Holdings learned when it represented Yahoo locally. Core Holdings collapsed in 2002 and was delisted in 2003, he says. Ananzi MD Mark Buwalda says Google's new SA search page with local language options is nothing new. “The domain and different languages have always been there, only now they are forcing IP addresses to the Google.co.za domain,” says Buwalda. This was the logical step for Google to take and it has a “good model”, he adds. The language conversion is limited to the Google search interface, which includes the home page, certain ‘about' pages, messages and buttons. Buwalda does not expect this development to have any impact on the Ananzi search engine. “Large numbers of South African searches still come to us, whereas the international searching goes to Google and Yahoo, more so to Google,” adds Buwalda. The advertising and revenue generation models are also different, so Buwalda sees no immediate threats. Peter Stewart, MD of online marketing company Clickthinking, agrees, saying a large majority of South African searchers already used Google before it launched the co.za domain. “Google's crawling ability and engineering resulted in them building the largest index on the Web with their search results providing variety and relevancy. However, I would expect searchers to use both Google and Ananzi when searching for South African subject matter,” says Stewart. “Ananzi is the only successful South African engine,” he adds. (SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2005/0501180700.asp?O=TE) MOROCCO HAS ONE OF HIGHEST SMS RATES IN THE WORLDOnly 56% of Arab cellular operators provide the MMS service, while Morocco and Lebanon have the highest SMS rates in the Arab World. New research from the Arab Advisors Group reveals a somewhat lackluster deployment of MMS services in the region. SMS, which is widely deployed and used, is priced quite differently across the region. Sudan and Palestine have the lowest SMS rates, while Morocco and Lebanon have the highest. A new report, "SMS & MMS Rates and Services in the Arab World" was released to the Arab Advisors Group's Media Strategic Research Services subscribers on January 16, 2005. This report can be purchased from the Arab Advisors Group for only US$ 950. The 72-pages report, which has 45 detailed exhibits, provides a detailed regional comparison and analysis of the Short Messaging Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) rates and value added offerings in the Arab region. The report covers 34 cellular operators in the following 18 countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, and Yemen. The report's TOC can be received from the Arab Advisors Group upon request. The report also analyses the SMS-based value added services and service providers in the region. http://www.arabadvisors.com/Convergence/schedule.htm
IN BRIEF- The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) announced today the launch of a new service on the CCA website offering companies easy access to resources; on-the-ground technical support; and funding opportunities to initiate and strengthen private sector HIV/AIDS initiatives in Africa.The interactive HIV/AIDS web page educates users about the mission and progress of the CCA HIV/AIDS Initiative, including recent in-country program work; features CCA member companies that are actively addressing HIV/AIDS in the workplace; provides information on funding opportunities for private sector initiatives; lists upcoming events and conferences; and provides access to resource materials, guides and toolkits to assist companies in Africa in the development of HIV/AIDS workplace programs. The new web page also features the HIV/AIDS Initiative quarterly newsletter. - Thusanang is an Internet portal (http://www.thusanang.org.za) that aims to disseminate information on funding and fundraising issues, promoting good grantmaking and grantseeking practices. - Freeworldmagazine.com, has made its debut into Nigeria with the launch of its portal. Addressing newsmen in Lagos, last week, Director of Administration at Freeworldmagazine.com, Joan Emeghara, said the firm's mission is to make the Internet further available and beneficial to the Nigerian public both at home and abroad. Freeworldmagazine.com, she said, would be offering a lot of Nigerian contents to the world through the portal, which serves as a commercial website for selling of goods and services. - Uganda's Busoga Kingdom has logged onto the World Wide Web, the Kingdom's Minister For Information, Security and Protocol, Haji Abdallah Buyinza, announced in a press release last week. According to the release, the website, www.busoga.com is the first resource centre for the kingdom and it is designed to provide basic information for development and promotion of culture and tourism in Busoga. The site is also expected to give details of the investment opportunities in the kingdom. "After collecting the history and facts about Busoga, what remains is to call on investors to exploit the existing investment opportunities" the release stated in part.
PEOPLEOutgoing SABC group CEO Peter Matlare is to take up his new position as an executive director at Vodacom SA on 1 April. Vodacom Group chief communications officer Mthobi Tyamzashe confirmed this morning that Matlare would join the cellular network provider as commercial director. The SABC board announced late yesterday that it had accepted Matlare's request to leave before the expiry of his contract, although it said the date of Matlare's departure had yet to be set. This was to be done “at a date to be determined in consultation with the shareholder”. However, Tyamzashe says he will move in April. The President and Chief Executive Officer of the West African Atlantic Technology (WAT), Paul J. Costa has suggested to the Board of Directors of the Liberia Telecommunications Corporation (LTC) that the LTC bid should be transparent. He said that never has he seen or heard of a business asking private companies to suggest what is needed to save them, rather he added, that a business normally hires an individual consultant to give direction. According to the LTC Board, the bid for the LTC is exactly for the purpose of acquiring suggestions, and that the company that offers the right solution wins the bid. Costa added "we strongly believe that an independent consultant report is necessary, not suggestions of solutions from private companies to determine the output for LTC and that the report should be made available to interested parties." EVENTSNEWCOM AFRICA GENERATES HIGH LEVEL OF INDUSTRY SUPPORT NewCom Africa 2005 to serve as multi-stakeholder forum for promotion of sustainable hybrid solutions combining satellite, Wi-Fi, VoIP, mobile, and broadband technologies LONDON – Increasing demand for sustainable African telecommunications has driven private- and public-sector collaboration and innovation to unprecedented levels, a trend that will take centre stage here during NewCom Africa 2005. The high-level summit and exhibition will provide key players in the provision of African telecommunications development with an opportunity to mobilise essential systems and services throughout the Continent. NewCom Africa 2005 will focus on regulatory, technology, investment & business partnerships that have proven effective for the rapid roll-out of telecom services in Africa. The event, which will be held over 15-17 March 2005 at London’s Chelsea Village, is being held under the auspices of the Global VSAT Forum (GVF), the non-profit association of the global satellite communications sector. AITEC Africa and UK Event Management Associates are the event organisers. The event has already attracted sponsorship support from the following key telecommunications industry players:
Confirmed speakers include representatives of: AfSat, Cable & Wireless, British Telecom, Hughes Network Systems, HP, Inmarsat, Intelsat, IP Planet, NewSkies, Oracle, Telenor, Telkom, UUNet, and ViaSat. Over 16 African telecommunication operators who have confirmed their participation “Africa may be the most under-served telecommunications market in the world, but improving market-access conditions, combined with the availability of new telecommunications tools – including hybrid satellite-based GSM, WiFi/WiMax and fibre optic – have set the stage for all stakeholders to realise unprecedented gains,” said David Hartshorn, Secretary General of GVF. “The African telecommunication sector has borne witness to major successes… and failures,” said Sean Moroney, Chaiman of AITEC. “NewCom Africa 2005 will provide delegates with an opportunity to draw upon that experience, as well as obtain up-to-date market intelligence, network with suppliers, establish business partnerships, identify financial resources, and understand the latest regulatory approaches applied in the region.” Exhibition: Partnership Showcase The event will include a focused Partnership Showcase exhibition area, providing an opportunity for operators and suppliers to meet, consult and network. Exhibition rates: £180/sq metre with shell scheme. Sponsorship Opportunities: For exhibition and sponsorship enquiries, contact: Paul Stahl, pauls@aitecafrica.com To register as a delegate, log on to: www.aitecafrica.com MATSEPE-CASABURRI TO OPEN A NEPAD E-SCHOOL INITIATIVE WORKSHOP The Minister of Communications, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, will be delivering a keynote address at the second workshop on the NEPAD e-Schools Initiative, a flagship project of NEPAD, which is scheduled to take place at Pretoria’s CSIR Convention Centre, Ruby room, on the 24/01/2005 at 9:00am. At the first workshop that was held in May last year, it was agreed that a continental Coordinating Body be established. This body is made up of senior representatives of the governments of the first-phase countries. Hence, this second workshop brings together those government representatives to deliberate and take forward the Initiative to its next developmental stage, namely, the demonstration project. Matsepe – Casaburri is expected to mention a few more developmental processes during her keynote address. All media is invited to attend. For more information please contact Zodumo Mbuli, Media Liaison Officer – Office of the Minister, Ministry of Communications, 082 502 4659 or (012) 427 8006 ICT FOR GOVERNMENT 2005 JANUARY 26th – 27th, 2005,
For more information and conference programme, contact:
cell +233 24 4272355
THE FIRST CONTINENTAL EXHIBITION, CONFERENCE AND MEDIA EVENT ON INFORMATION & COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY, BROADCASTING, MEDIA & ENVIRONMENT The inaugural Pan-African Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Fair is due to be held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) Nairobi between May 17th and 21st 2005. ICTe-AFRICA will comprise of an Exhibition, Conference and a Benefit Concert. It is the brainchild of Mr. Jan Nintemann of Global Fairs TT-Messe, a German-based ICT Company incorporated in Kenya. With over 20 years of experience in the ICT sector in Europe, particularly in the field of fair-marketing Global Fairs TT-Messe (Kenya) Ltd. is best suited to organize such an important event. The Nairobi Fair is planned to be the largest ICT event ever to be held in sub-Saharan Africa. Global Fairs TT-Messe (Kenya) Ltd. is working in collaboration with the African Telecommunication Union (ATU), the Union of National Radio and Television Organisations of Africa (URTNA), the African Internet Service Providers Association (AfriSPA) and the African IT Exhibitions and Conference (AITEC) to organize the event. It has the backing of the Kenya Government through the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The European Union has also pledged to support the event. The objectives of the Fair are: - Create a continental platform of key stakeholders (Government, Inter-Governmental Organisations, regional institutions, NGOs, civil society entities, Private sector, and media) to catalyse development of ICT in Africa. - Reinforce in the short/long term the realization of WSIS objectives in Africa - Provide an effective platform for policy and regulations deliberations to facilitate an enabling environment for the ICT sector development - Provide the enabling medium to create partnerships between investors in Africa and outside Africa - Promote, through its association with main stakeholders in ICT sector, the key areas of national and regional infrastructure to deliver ICT services and facilities within Africa. - Encourage development of human resource capacity building for ICT sector The theme of the Fair is "ICTe- AFRICA: DRIVING THE ICT SECTOR FOR DEVELOPMENT" A key thrust of the Fair is to reinforce the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process in Africa as an input on the WSIS conference scheduled for Tunis in November 2005, and create a platform to catalyse faster growth of ICT by nurturing a mutually beneficial partnership between Government and private sector in Africa as well as Africa and the rest of the World. ICTe-AFRICA reinforces the philosophy and objectives of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and will be working closely together, specifically in ICT development in Africa. The Secretariat of ICTe-AFRICA is situated on the first floor of the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi. A conference operator, African IT Exhibitions and Conferences (AITEC) is expected to bring to the Fair, the largest number of local and international ICT exhibitors. Expected to hold its annual conference in Nairobi within the duration of the ICTe- AFRICA fair ATU will work towards ensuring the presence of government ICT decision-makers at a senior level. In the private sector, organisations such as AFISPA will ensure the largest possible ISP presence on the continent with a special forum organised for African ICT distributors. It is expected that URTNA members will participate in both the conference and exhibition. URTNA has undertaken to promote the event through its distribution networks and assist in organising the coverage of the event. Over 30 ICT and business magazines as well as the international mainstream media will also be covering the Fair. Coincidentally the International Press Institute (IPI) will be holding its 2005 World Congress in Nairobi back-to-back with the ICTe-AFRICA Fair. Since there are bound to be many common delegates to the two events, the organisers are working in close collaboration and this should result in considerable synergies. Among prominent personalities expected at the IPI Congress are Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Prof. Wangari Maathai, the 1986 Nobel Literature prize winner, Wole Sonyinka, and the spokesperson for the Global Movement for Children, Mrs. Graca Machel. The activities of the ICTe-AFRICA exhibition and conference are focused on assisting African business start-ups to grow and become effective market participants capable of competing on the global stage. It will directly address issues of growing capacity and affordability bottlenecks which are critical to future development and growth. For further information please contact
in Kenya:
JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES- There is just two weeks until the close of applications to win the APC Africa Hafkin Prize for 2004/5. "Connectivity is a term referring to the means by which people are connected to or are able to access communications channels such as the internet, email, computer and people networks." The theme for this year's APC Hafkin Prize recognises community initiatives that use the internet and other digital communication networks to access markets, skills and opportunities to derive real economic benefits. The prize is biennial and is open to people and groups from any sector of society. MORE ABOUT THE APC HAFKIN PRIZE:
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