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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 256 Mobile fraud in Africa: the scams that are pulled by wily dodgersInternet fraud in Africa (see this week's Internet News) tends to grab the headlines. But there is a far more pervasive form of local fraud in the fast-growing mobile sector. Later this month will see South Africa host the first conference to tackle the specific challenges of telecoms fraud in the African region organised by the IIR. Mapara Syed interviews one of the conference's key speakers, Abdul Mia, who is Fraud Manager for South African mobile operator Cell C and the Chair of the GSM Africa fraud Forum. The scale of theft can be judged by second story in this fraud special that highlights the recovery of 7,228 stolen handsets by MTN Rwanda. Firstly, could you describe the three main categories of fraud that occur within South Africa and around the continent? The first type of fraud is subscription fraud. This mainly occurs in the more developed countries like South Africa where they are more likely to have credit rating systems. What happens is that somebody will try and obtain a contract or subscription from an operator using fraudulent ID with the intent of never paying for it. The second type of fraud is related to pre-pay services. With this, the main fraud may occur in the reproduction of prepaid airtime vouchers. In many countries around Africa where the infrastructure is poor the security around the pin numbers of these vouchers is not so tight. For example, the operator may email or ship a CD of the unencrypted pin numbers to the manufacturers in which they can be easily intercepted. There is also the issue of the security of the physical stock of the vouchers. These are usually kept in the manufacturer’s or operator’s warehouses where again they can easily intercepted. The third major type of fraud that occurs within South Africa but to a lesser extent than the rest of the region is handset theft. In many countries handsets are not subsidised when a product is purchased so there is a great demand for phones. Therefore, people will go to great lengths to obtain a handset either through fraud or theft mainly. These are the three principle categories of fraud that occur. Are there any other types of fraud that an operator may encounter? Roaming fraud is another type of fraud that can be coupled with subscription fraud. A fraudster will obtain a subscription using fraudulent ID and then exploit the opportunity to use the phone abroad where the operator will have a bilateral agreement with an overseas operator. This will go unnoticed until the foreign operator alerts the incumbent operator that there are a substantial number of calls being made on their network. This does not happen so much with Cell C as roaming capabilities have to be requested to be switched on but can be a frequent occurrence for operators that allow roaming as a standard feature. What about a type of fraud that may be specific to South Africa? Syndicate fraud attacks on network operators are ever increasing in South Africa. These attacks include the use of fraudulent identity documents, bank statements, utility bills, and even pay-slips. Individual applications using the same details such as employer, bank account etc are used to apply for lines and these are then used for call selling operations. All the fraudulent documents are created by the syndicate members who have people based at banks etc so that verification becomes much easier. Community services phones often also fall prey to fraudsters and are used in areas other then those they have been assigned to. This type of fraud is managed and combated by the use of a fraud management system. What would you say is the average revenue loss for the industry as a result of fraud? It would be difficult to say as I don’t have any figures. However post-paid fraud amounts differ significantly to that of prepaid fraud amounts. Post-paid amounts vary depending on the usage and spent on each line and also the duration of the fraud. If the fraud is detected soon the losses are minimised but should it not be detected soon the losses can be substantial. This does not include the loss of the handset and this can range from R300 for the cheaper handsets to as much as R6000 for the more expensive handsets. Proper analysis could also not be done as different operators classify fraud differently. With regards to pre-pay fraud we are looking at small denomination vouchers of say R20, R30, R50 and operators can minimise their losses to this. How do you combat these types of fraud? A lot of liaison takes place between the different operators and the many various role-players, such as the retailers, banks, etc. The trends show that many fraudsters move around networks so we work together as a group to combat these syndicates. At Cell C we have a computerised Fraud Management system in place where the call usage on our network is monitored and we are alerted if there are any irregular patterns. This is a system that is most effective in combating subscription fraud. From a pre-pay perspective education and training to staff and other operators is the best approach. So we educate them on how to implement better security systems so pin numbers cannot be intercepted whether it be from the warehouse or via email. Using best practice methods on security features on the physical vouchers (the type of paper, type of scratch foil, etc) is also communicated to operators to reduce and minimise their losses and risk. Here we work closely with the voucher manufacturers. Many of the approaches are adopted during the GSM Association and other similar forums where the numerous operators get together to discuss best practice. Last month Cell C and the two other operators in South Africa, along with the SA Police Services signed a memorandum of understanding to blacklist all stolen, lost and damaged handset on their networks. This means that if a handset is reported stolen then its unique number (IMEI number) will be listed on the Equipment Identity Register (EIR). If the stolen phone is picked up as being used on any of the networks, the network operator will not allow the call to be connected and thus the handset becomes inoperable. This will deter handset theft as it will ensure that if a phone is stolen it will not work on any network within the country. Do you have a way in working with the police to try and punish fraudsters rather than just stop it? If there is a case where a syndicate has struck more than once and across different networks then the affected operators will combine their evidence to provide in court when the culprits are being prosecuted. So rather than having ten small cases to handle concerning smaller amounts of money it then becomes one large case dealing with a much more substantial amount of money. Therefore, the fraudsters will receive a much more severe sentencing. Is it just fraud that occurs in South Africa or do you encounter mobile scams as well? Mobile scams rarely happen here like they would in Europe or the US as they are usually associated with premium rate numbers. Because of the largely pre-pay market in SA and the rest of the continent, the risk of mobile scams is less as pre-pay customers are less likely to respond to premium rate calls or texts. If they do all that will happen is that their credit will run out rather than receiving a disproportionate telephone bill at the end of the month. In addition to the IIR conference from 23rd to 27th May in Cape Town (see advertisement at the bottom of the Events column below) First Tuesday are also running a Business PowerLab Series aiming to find and showcase breakthrough technologies in advanced fraud management systems. For the first event in the Business PowerLab Series on 24th May at The Forum, First Tuesday will highlight the Dimension Data Guardian solution. This telephony solution is a software application that provides cost containment for large companies by detecting and preventing telephone abuse and fraud. MTN RECOVERS 7,228 CELL PHONES Earlier this week, Rwanda's only mobile phone operator, MTN RwandaCell, divulged that they have so far managed to recover 7,228 stolen cell phones through a joint tracking system with the National Police. Most of the phones that number 6,215 were recovered between January and September last year, while 1,013 mobile phones were recovered between February and April this year. According to the security manager of MTN RwandaCell, Petero Kigame, the system of tracking down stolen handsets started operating early last year as a service to satisfy clients."We agreed with the National Police to handle stolen phone cases countrywide, and this decentralization process is to help people report such cases to the nearest police stations," he said. "There is always someone in charge of dealing with details of stolen phones; the person brings forms to MTN offices where the owner gets back the phone when it is recovered," he added. The official said the victim only needs to provide the phone serial and telephone numbers with the date on which the phone was stolen." It is said phone theft is most common in crowded places like churches and taxis around Kigali city, and 90% of stolen cell phones belong to women. The Nokia phone type is most common among the recovered ones, according to statistics. The MTN official advised people not to buy phones from unauthorized dealers in order to avoid acquiring stolen phones.
BENIN GETS SAT3 LANDING STATION AS NITEL BUILDS IN REDUNDANCYTo ensure uninterrupted service to its customers in Nigeria, NITEL is making huge investments in another connection to SAT-3 at Cotonou, the Republic of Benin. NITEL's acting Managing Diretor, Albert Mashi gave this indication last week at the launch of NITEL's IP Wholesale service in Lagos. He explained that because of the priority the National Carrier attached to uninterrupted service to its customers in delivering its IP service, the company had to make such huge investment on an alternative route for service delivery in case of failure on the primary route. This landing station will be connected using separate terrestrial fibre routes. Right now on the SAT-3 sea-cable, there is a relatively small piece of fiber, the leg coming from the main sea cable to the landing station in Lagos, that is not protected against fiber cuts. This has in the past been severed by a passing ship leading to a service cut that lasted several weeks. During a fiber cut 100% of the normal capacity is re-routed using a satellite backup solution. The Cotonou investment is to guard against such occurrences in the future as the SAT-3 develops to full maturity. Also from the Beninois perspective, it gives that country a fibre outlet on to SAT3. In time, Nigeria may well become a sub-regional hub for fibre traffic similar to Senegal. (source: Vanguard) KENYA DATA NETWORK BEGINS WORK ON USD50M FIBRE-OPTIC CABLEKenya Data Network (KDN), a local public data carrier company, in conjunction with Siemens Communications, one of the largest players in the global telecommunications industry, is currently laying fibre optic cables around the country. The current digging up of Nairobi's central business district is the first phase of a USD50 million national fibre optic backbone, which started three weeks ago and will run from Mombasa to Busia on the Kenya/Uganda boarder. KDN was established in 2003 by the Sameer Group in the wake of the liberalisation of the telecommunications market in the country. Sameer invested about USD10 million in sophisticated data communications infrastructure in July 2003 and launched commercial leased line, frame relay, and Internet protocol data services aimed at businesses and large institutions in Nairobi and around the country. The Sameer IT portfolio includes Swift Global Kenya and ICL. The Nairobi project - also called the Metropolitan Fibre Network - will cover Upper Hill, Westlands and the central business district. The fibre ring will run from the First American Bank on Nyerere Road through Serena Hotel and will later cover the NSSF building, the Fairview Hotel, George Williamson House, Rahimtullah Towers, the British High Commission and the NHIF building. Fibre optic is substantially cheaper than satellite communication and can carry more information. It is expected to fully integrate the country into the global broadband telenetwork. "KDN's corporate customers are not the only ones who will benefit from the new technology. In the next stage, we intend to implement a nationwide backbone and become a carriers' carrier, providing wireless operators with the capacity for data transport," said Kai Wulff, KDN's managing director. The network will be 35km long, running through Nairobi's business quarter, and will use Siemens Carrier Ethernet technology for access. The data transport via ethernet will allow bandwidths of up to 16x1gigabit. "We want to give IT professionals the tools to concentrate on developing and maintaining the crucial business processes that run their networks, while we focus on maintaining the 99.9 per cent network availability that we guarantee to our customers," said Evelyn Rono, KDN's external affairs manager. Fibre is a very pure strand of glass through which light can pass over great distances. Fibre optic cables have a fibre core made of such glass, which is used for the actual signal transmission. What surrounds the glass, to protect and buffer it, varies. The two most common ways of protecting the fragile fibre are to enclose the fibre in a loose-fitting tube or to coat it with a tight-fitting buffer coating. Like copper wire, fibre optic cable is available in many physical variations. The application determines the type used. Both loose tube and tight-buffer constructed cables are available in single mode and multimode versions. Single mode and multimode refer to the diameter of actual glass fibre located within the "core" of the cable. More specifically, these terms refer to the number of light paths that may pass through the actual fibre. Fibre is light and easy to handle. Fibre-optic cable therefore offers the installer a great deal of freedom and flexibility during the actual installation process. Fibre is available in a wide range of constructions, each designed to withstand certain types of environmental conditions and application challenges. In general, all fibres use less duct space and, in fact, may often be laid without ducts - simply passing between walls and flooring wherever convenient. They can also accommodate structural curves and turns, but tight bends must have a turning radius of at least one inch. Because it is so resilient to environmental concerns, fibre is ideal for connecting systems between buildings, when a cable must be laid outside underground. In fact, if the proper type of fibre cable is used, it can be laid directly in the ground, with no concern for exposure to moisture or humidity. And, if a cable is accidentally severed, there is no risk of a spark causing fire or danger to personnel coming in contact with the severed fibre. (SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200505040143.html) VANDALISM COSTS TANZANIA'S TTCL USD150,000 IN THREE MONTHSVandalism in Dar es Salaam has caused the Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd (TTCL) losses of Tsh160 million (USD152,380) in the first three months of this year. "This loss is specifically attributed to the districts of Kinondoni and Temeke in Dar es Salaam. In the month of March, acts of vandalism on TTCL infrastructure resulted in the company losing Tsh50.3 million (USD47,904) in Kinondoni district alone, said a statement from TTCL. "In the district of Kinondoni alone, more than 120 covers of TTCL interconnecting cables were stolen up to April this year. The cost for this alone is Tsh42 million (USD40,000), the statement said. To deal with the problem,TTCL is enhancing security measures aimed at protecting infrastructure in different parts of the country, especially those areas hardest hit by vandals. However, TTCL infrastructure is spread throughout the country and it is very difficult to protect everything considering the fact that most of these acts take place at night, the statement said. The statement added that the loss declared also takes into account the cost of replacing the cables, "but this doesn't include the loss of revenue due to non-availability of services in the affected areas affected by vandalism or theft of TTCL furniture. TTCL's statement comes barely two months after President Benjamin Mkapa decried vandalism of parastatal infrastructure, which he said was on the increase in the country. Speaking during his monthly address to the nation, the president called on Tanzanians to guard public property. To minimise vandalism in his district, the District Commissioner for Temeke, Baraka Konisaga, held meetings with district chairmen and ward executive officers where it was resolved that the leaders would guard against acts of vandalism in their respective areas. "The meeting decided that all infrastructure belonging to TTCL, Tanzania-Zambia Mafuta (Tazama), Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara), Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) and City Water, be protected at all costs because any damage on them directly impacted on the respective communities in any given area, said Mr Konisaga. However, the district commissioners needed the co-operation of the firms and companies in question. "We have requested the companies affected to make sure that their technicians or personnel doing routine maintenance or repairs in the field have proper identification to deter and catch impostors," said Mr Konisaga. (SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200505040193.html) FRENCH COMPANY CONTRACTED AS OUTSOURCED REGULATOR IN LIBERIA PULLS OUTATDI, the French company that was contracted to act as an outsourced independent regulator has pulled out of Liberia. The Transitional Government of Liberia appointed the company on 26 February 2005 to take over the operation of the Liberian Telecommunication Regulatory Agency. In April this year, Post and Telecommunications Minister Eugene Nagbe and Vice Chairman Wesley Johnson signed a USD2.2 million deal with ATDI but Chair Gyude Bryant cancelled the deal and ordered that the agreement be reviewed. There then followed a number of sharp disagreements between Government officials at Cabinet level. For its part, ATDI said that it was not able to take on the contract because GSM frequencies had been issued without the usual legal and service obligations. Its announcement said: "The transitional government of Liberia has provided an exclusive, abusive and long term radio frequencies allocation to the GSM operators in Liberia without requiring any of the legal obligations such as frequencies allocations and service obligations. The release indicates the ATDI has been receiving various financial request from the highest authorities of the transitional government that were considered "unfounded", discriminatory and non transparent for the undertaking of its mission. (SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200505040325.html) UGANDA'S UTL SUES GOVT ON SHS16B PHONE BILLUgandan incumbent UTL has taken the unusual step of has suing the government for failure to pay Shs 16.1 billion in Telephone bills. The telephone company through Kiwanuka, Karugire & Co. Advocates filed the case against the Attorney General at the High Court's Commercial Division on February 2, 2005. Utl is seeking court orders to recover the money with interest at court rate from the date of account verification till full payment, general damages and costs of the suit. The company claims that the government of Uganda through its ministries and departments rented several telephone lines from its management running from 2003 up to June 2004. Utl says the government undertook to pay the bills. According to the court records Shs16,093,008,688 accumulated from 40 various government ministries and departments. The departments named include Uganda Peoples Defence Forces with the highest bill of Shs5,532,869,163, State House/President's Office with Shs2, 768,440,324, External Security Organisation Shs1,150,526,646, Uganda Police Shs1,041,601,826, Uganda Prisons, the Movement Secretariat and Internal Security Organisation. The debtors include all government owned universities, courts of Judicature, Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Judicial Service Commission, Auditor General's office and the Inspectorate General of Government. Some of the ministries named are the Ministry of Finance, Foreign Affairs, Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Education, Energy and Mineral development, Health, Gender, Trade and Tourism Industry. Others are; Ministries of Internal Affairs, Public Service, Local Government and Agriculture. According to Utl their lawyers met with government representatives to verify the said accounts of the various parties concerned. "The accounts were verified by officers of both the plaintiff and the defendant and the amount owing determined. Copies of the reconciliation sheets were also signed" read part of the plaint. According to Utl, the Attorney General through Ministry of Finance admitted the debt and undertook to pay arrears. The Utl says that the government has failed to pay the money claimed to date despite several reminders) (source: The Monitor) NAMIBIA TELECOM GETS GREEN LIGHT ON ANGOLAN FIXED LINE LICENCETelecom Namibia's licence to operate in Angolan fixed line telephone network has been approved, the director of the Angolan Private Investment Agency (ANIP), Carlos Fernandes, announced last week. The MD of Telecom, Frans Ndoroma, confirmed to the Economist last Friday. "Yes it has been approved", he said. Mundo Startel, the company in which Telecom Namibia is a controlling shareholder, is the first and the only private operator in Angola's fixed telecommunication lines. Fernandes said the Angolan Cabinet had given the green light for Mundo Startel to start with operations. "[The company] will provide residential and corporate fixed line service, public telephones and direct Internet access", says Fernandes. In February last year, Telecom signed a shareholder's agreement with Mundo Startel for 44% of the shares in the company. The rest of the shares are owned by the Commercial Bank of Angola (Banco Commercial Angolano), Mundo Telecommunications, Jemba Technical Assistance Lda, and two individual private investors. Currently, says Ndoroma, "we are finalising the purchasing agreements with suppliers" to buy the needed equipment. The delivery of the equipment is expected by the beginning of the second quarter of this year. The following stage would be the "very lengthy process", said Ndoroma, of the construction and the setting up of the infrastructure. "But we hope that by beginning of next year [2006] we will be able to render a service, at least in Luanda", he said. Mundo Startel's rest of the shares are owned by Mundo Telecommunications, Commercial Bank of Angola (Banco Commercial Angolano), Jemba Technical Assistance Lda, and two private investors. According to the shareholders agreement, Telecom will have to invest US$14 million (about N$84 million) in the next three years following the green light to operate. Mundo Startel will also be the first Angolan company to be run by Namibians. As part of the deal, Telecom now has to provide three top executives to run the affairs of Mundo Startel for a period of five years. The executives will be the MD, the financial manager and the technical manager. Mundo Startel said it will roll out the fixed line service first in Luanda and Benguela, from where it will move to Huambo, Namibe, Huila, Kwanza Sul and Cabinda. The total investment by Mundo Startel is valued at US$53 million (about N$318 million), and will create about 276 new jobs for the Angolan people, says ANIP. (source: Namibia Economist) US GOVT INTERVENES TO TRY AND GET COTE D'IVOIRE'S CORA DE COMSTAR RELAUNCHEDMost people had imagined that the long saga of Ivorian mobile operator Cora was over, mired in a series of unresolved legal disputes. (for the background: http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/back/balancing-act_187.html) However the new American Under Secretary of State for African Affairs Constance Newman had a meeting with President Laurent Gbagbo at which she raised the issue. The Americans made clear that the dossier on this matter very much remains "open" and they wish to protect the interests of the American shareholders in the company. No progress appears to have been made in trying to relaunch this once fourth mobile operator in Cote d'Ivoire. (source: Altervision) IN BRIEF- With the addition of a new event in and for the European region, the portfolio of ITU TELECOM events is to be expanded to span four different regions of the world in 2007 and 2008. The schedule of forthcoming events will include ITU TELECOM AFRICA in 2007, ASIA and AMERICAS in 2008. The following year will focus on ITU's flagship event - ITU TELECOM WORLD 2009. The EUROPE event will provide a focus on European, CEE and CIS markets - a varied region encompassing some of the world's most sophisticated ICT (Information and Communications technology) markets to newer emerging economies, which offer considerable potential. TELECOM RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGE- MTN held its global brand media launch in Kampala on Thursday adopting a single, global brand for all its markets, the global brand replaces the similar but separate faces of the MTN brand across Africa under the payoff line Everywhere You go‚ writes Esther Nakkazi. Each of MTN‚s Africa operations had disparate pay-off lines prior to Everywhere you go‚ with separate faces including The Better Connection‚ in Cameroon, Your best Connection‚ in Nigeria, Tubitaycho‚ in Rwanda, Hello the future‚ in South Africa, The Swazi connection‚ in Swaziland and Live it. Love it‚ in Uganda. "We want the brand to speak with one voice so that MTN is available everywhere the customers go, not only geographically but we want to walk with our customers everywhere," said the MTN chief operations manager, Serame Taukobong. Customers on MTN will enjoy preferential tariffs in the countries were MTN is operates in Africa and beyond, said Taukobong. MTN has six operations of South Africa, Cameroon, Uganda, Nigeria, Swaziland and Rwanda thus the need for one global brand. MTN officials said Everywhere You Go‚ means customers say Nigerian customers traveling to Uganda can enjoy the same levels of customer services and seamless communication that they have in Abuja or Lagos. - Uganda Telecom (UTL) has reached an agreement with Kenya’s Safaricom and Tanzania’s Vodacom to provide roaming services at discounted rates. The scheme includes calls to UTL’s mobile network, which operates under the Mango brand, as well as calls to UTL fixed lines. - Mobile operator Safaricom has announced plans to invest up to KES520 million to set up 26 base transceivers in Coast Province. The investment is part of Safaricom’s ongoing plan to expand its network and increase its presence in the country, which will cost a total of around KES14 billion. In a separate story local public data carrier company Kenya Data Network (KDN) has started work on a USD50 million fibre-optic cable. The company has contracted Siemens to help with the rollout of the cable, which will run from Mombasa to Busia on the Ugandan border. - Mobile phone operator Celtel Kenya on Tuesday launched new rates. The new tariffs include a major thrust into per second billing, and per minute billing and have off-peak and peak tariffs for pre-paid subscribers. The per-second Celtel 35s customers pay Sh32 in peak and Sh11 in off-peak hours within the network. Another tariff is that which customers are charged a flat Sh15.37 a minute within Celtel and Sh25.61 to Safaricom. Chief marketing manager Gilles Atayi of the second largest mobile phone services provider, said: "We are now allowing more flexibility to our clients." Customers have been given eight weeks to change, free of charge. After that they will be considered to have opted for the existing tariffs. The service was from Tuesday morning. - Per Erikson, the CEO of MTN Rwandacell said that MTN had embarked on USD10 to USD20 million to improve on many services offered and customer centricity. Currently MTN has 147,000 subscribers with a greater community being served through public phones popularly known as Tuvugane. - About 20,000 telephone lines will be made available to interested subscribers by NITEL in Niger State soon. The Territorial Manager Engineer Jubril Audu who made this known in an interview with journalist in Minna, the state capital said already arrangements have been concluded to increase lines in the state within the next two years. He said the increase which is aimed at meeting up the numerous demands of returnee businessmen from their private networks is invariable expected to increase the capacity of Minna area from 5,000 to 10,000 lines. Engineer Audu expressed concern on the analogue facilities still present in the state which is affecting the effectiveness of the enormous services of the territory in the face of stiff competition, pointing out that, analogue zones like New-Bussa, Mokwa, Paikoro, Rejanand Nasko will be digitalised during the period under review. "As a stop gap measure we do hope to install the Coded Division Multiple Acc (CDMA) system in New-Bussa so that the pairs of our clients especially the Federal parastatals would be eased by the digital installations" he said. He disclosed that the plan of the tariff if office is to build a digital exchange that would boast of at least 1000 lines in Borgu area which has been cut off for a very long time due to incapability of spare parts of the analogue facilities.
SENEGAL'S SONATEL CUTS ADSL PRICES AND WILL DO SO AGAINSonatel has followed Telkom South Africa in cutting its ADSL subscription prices. The reductions vary between 19-70% with the highest savings being available on a 1024/128 service. The cost of installation (which now includes a free USB modem) has dropped 30%. An ethernet modem will cost customers FCFA56,000 and is required for the 1024/128 service. The rates in detail are shown below.
What is hard to understand is why telcos make these reductions so quickly after launching the service thus taking a significant premium from early adopters. NIGERIAN SCAMMERS TRY A NEW TWIST: AN IT EQUIPMENT ORDERNigerian scammers targeting Australian email inboxes have added a new IT industry-related twist to their advance fee fraud attempts. Several emails received by iTnews in the last month have tried to trick recipients into divulging their bank account or credit card details or sending money to the scammers by faking orders for IT equipment such as printers, copiers and fax machines. One that iTnews received on 20 April the scam takes a relatively new form.The email purported to be from a Mr Kayode Benson, the owner of a company called Benson Limited based in Nigeria's capital city, Lagos. "Hello, sales," it said. "I will liike to confirm if you can supply us some PRINTERS, COPIERS AND FAX MACHINE and also if you can ship to us via Fedex/ups courier to our location and also we will be paying with our credit for all order." The email requests payment by Visa or MasterCard "at youir earliest convinnience" but contains no links or URLs suggesting it is one of the more common "phishing" scams, where email recipients are tricked into clicking on a link and entering their credit card or bank account details. "Mr Kayode Benson" at bensonltd@plasa.com then provides a list of contact details for the user, including postal address, phone and fax numbers. Another example was an email on 2 May purporting to be from one "Micheal Ajayi" at tanwa@teenmail.co.za – in South Africa – addressed to itness@austexhibit.com.au and titled "urgent order". "Ajayi" claimed to represent a company called "Procurment LTD" that was interested in buying IT products. "We will like to know the shipping charge to lagos nigeria, via UPs or Ems service," it said. "Ajayi" claimed he wanted to buy products by credit card. "We shall be highly oblige if you reply to this urgent enquiry with your contact phone number and possible your website, so we can forward our items quote. thanks," he said. According to the 419 Coalition watchdog website, advance fee fraud business letter scams are the third to fifth largest industry in Nigeria. Despite the common misspellings and bad grammar in such letters, many recipients around the world have over the past 10 years been tricked out of many thousands of dollars. The many common variations include an over-invoiced or double-invoiced purchase order for goods and services, typically commodities such as crude oil or chemicals. "At some point, the victim is asked to pay up front an advance fee of some sort, be it an "advance fee", "transfer tax", "performance bond", or to extend credit, grant cash-on-delivery privileges, send back "change" on a cashier's check or money order, whatever," the website said. "If the victim pays the fee, there are often many "complications" which require still more advance payments until the victim either quits, runs out of money, or both." (SOURCE: http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=18709&CIPseq=0)
SENEGAL SWOOP ON E-MAIL SCAMMERSEight people have been arrested in Dakar after an e-mail scam involving hundreds of thousands of US dollars. The money was allegedly extorted from at least one US citizen and a Norwegian national.They thought they were going to get their share in a million dollar inheritance from a son of the late Congolese President Laurent Kabila. Senegalese police believe the list of victims is much longer, and investigations are still going on. The police say the victims were lured by an offer made through the internet by a Dakar-based cyber-gang pretending to be in possession of USD12m. The suspects - six Nigerian men and two Senegalese women - allegedly told their victims they needed cash upfront in order to make these funds available. The US citizen is presented by the local media as a top academic who had invested USD350,000 in the operation. However, the press services of the US embassy would not confirm his identity. According to the police, the mastermind of the operation is a Nigerian national posing as the son of the late President Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo. One of the two women in the gang is the leader's wife. The bank accounts of the Senegalese nationals were used to transfer thousands of dollars from the victims. Police say these accounts, which contain millions of CFA francs, have now been frozen. During the operation, started at the end of last year and concluded only last week, the police seized millions of CFA francs in cash, a luxury car, several computers and other electronic equipment. The police say they believe many others might already have fallen into the gang's trap and hope these silent victims will now show their faces. (SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4509837.stm) MYADSL BROADBAND STUDY SHOWS SA'S LACK OF COMPETITIVENESSMyADSL launched an investigation into local broadband services and compared them with international offerings. This investigation focused on all aspects of broadband services, including price, speed and reliability, and SA emerged as the country with the most expensive services. A particularly interesting finding in this study was that broadband connections in SA are unaffordable for the average South African, because the average person has to spend between 43% and 105% of their monthly salary for a basic broadband connection. A standard ADSL broadband connection in countries like the USA, UK and Japan costs around 1% of average monthly income. The study concludes: "We feel strongly that it is government's responsibility to ensure that broadband Internet will be a commodity that is affordable to most sectors of our society. It is common knowledge that it will fuel the economy, create jobs and assist in making SA a global playerin the IT arena. Without government intervention, the already substantialdigital divide will simply widen, making it impossible for South Africans tocompete favourably in the global IT marketplace." (SOURCE: http://www.ictworld.co.za/EditorialEdit.asp?EditorialID=22503) IN BRIEF- The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation officially launched the country's broadband service last Thursday. - The Mozambican Internet Exchange MozIX, now includes 10 peers: TDM (the incumbant teleco), TVcabo, Tropical Net, CIUEM (of the national university, which is operating the IXP), Intra, DataServ, GS Telecom, SATCom, Soluções Lda., VirConn. Furthermore, they are increasing their traffic volume. The current 100 Mbps switch is to be upgraded to 1 Gbps and there are plans to offer webmail services with 1 Terabit server. The country will also shortly launch an ISP Association. - Police in Lusaka last week arrested a 32-year-old man for internet fraud. Chambala Chanda, of Zambian and British citizenship, was arrested for engaging in unscrupulous activities both in Zambia and internationally through the internet. Police spokesperson Brenda Muntemba said Chanda, of no fixed abode, had been arrested for claiming that he owned a company known as the Anglo World Trucking Company based in the United Kingdom, which he had used to defraud people. "He purported that the named company supplied trucks after payment was made to an account in the United States. Once deposited the money was withdrawn on the other end, after which the account was closed and nobody heard of Chanda again," Muntemba said. She said Chanda had initially studied Information Technology in the United Kingdom, after which he had started engaging in internet fraud. Muntemba said Chanda would appear in court soon. - In line with the other mobile operators, Cell C has reduced its GPRS tariffs by up to 92%, making data services more affordable to its customers. The price reductions, effective from the beginning of May, affect the company's Smartdata package and are aimed at driving up data traffic and increasing average revenue per user. The new pricing structure will see the Smartdata Standard offering reduced from R25 to R2 per Megabyte (92% reduction), Smartdata Personal reduced from R17 to R1.75 per MB (90% reduction) and Smartdata Professional reduced from R12.50 to R1.55 per MB, or a reduction of 88%. “The reduced rates are consistent with our company's brand values of simplicity, value and choice,” says Cell C's director of marketing, Simon Camerer. “Not only are we making data services more affordable, but we have also simplified the billing process by charging customers for GPRS usage per 1Kb.” Camerer says this is another in a line of innovative products – such as per second billing and country's cheapest prepaid voucher, Half Tiger – which Cell C has introduced to the market in the past three years.
MANY AFRICAN AIRLINES WILL FAIL TO MEET IATA'S E-TICKETING DEADLINEFew African airlines look set to meet the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) deadline of early 2008 for 100 e-ticketing, writes Esther Nakkazi. Most African airlines will be left in the slow lane, offering paper tickets, using a parallel system. "We shall need a parallel system to operate for sometime after the deadline for our air passengers who cannot book online," said the Public Relations Manager, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Ignatius Igundura but he did not give a time frame for how long it would need to be in place. According to IATA introduction of e-tickets for air travel will result in USD3 billion savings globally each year and for airlines it is estimated that approximately USD9 per ticket in savings could be made when an e-ticket is issued instead of a paper ticket. The savings will accrue from elimination of printing, postage, shipping, storage and accounting costs on tickets while their will also be elimination of collateral materials (envelopes/ticket jackets) and reduction in counter airport counter space through increased use of self-service check-in. An e-ticket costs USD1 to process while a paper ticket costs about USD10 per ticket. IATA processes 300 million paper tickets each year and has announced that all IATA airlines will stop printing paper tickets by the end of 2007. All airlines operating in Uganda are IATA members and most of them have already embraced e-ticketing although it is currently optional for customers. Kenya Airways, East Africa's predominant carrier has already met the IATA standards for e-tickets and has upgraded their information system. However, analysts say Ugandans might not be able to fully utilize the facility with the very low levels of Internet use and penetration. Records from the market regulator, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) show that by December 2004 there were only 8,000 internet subscribers and the use of Information Communications Technologies (ICTs) is as low as 4.2 percent. "I'm sure IATA will not snap at us immediately because we do not have the infrastructure to apply ICTs countrywide. Besides the literacy level aspect has to be considered, not everybody will be able to book online", said Ignatius Igundura. Analysts say air passengers most likely to be affected would be Ugandan traders who are IT ignorant but they would gain from stress free ticketing and the careless passengers who usually lose tickets. The targets that have been set by UCC for ICT penetration might also not be very helpful. The executive director UCC, Patrick Masambu said UCC will increase penetration of the use of ICT to 20 percent from the current 4.2 percent and internet penetration of households will be 10 percent from the current 1 percent by 2010. A USD200 COMPUTER 'TO END DIGITAL DIVIDE'A pared down "computer" to replace bulky, grey desktop PCs could help close global digital inequalities. Not-for-profit developers, Ndiyo - the Swahili word for "yes" - said it could open up the potential of computing to two billion more people. The sub-£100 box, called Nivo, runs on open-source software and is known as a "thin client". Several can be linked up to a central "brain", or server. Thin clients are not new, but advances have made them more user-friendly. They have been employed in large organisations in the past, but the Ndiyo project is about "ultra-thin client" networking.It said the small, cheap boxes were targeted at smaller companies, cybercafes, or schools, which need an affordable, reliable system for providing clusters of two to 20 workstations."Your PC is a bulky, noisy, expensive mess that clutters up your life," Ndiyo's Dr Seb Wills told a Microsoft Research conference in Cambridge, UK. "Our emphasis and core motivation is the developing world for whom the current 'one user, one PC' approach will never be affordable," he told the BBC News website. "But we think our approach is also of benefit to organisations in the developed world who don't want to throw away money on buying and maintaining a full PC for each user."Desktop machines with which we are familiar, are inflexible, and power-hungry, according to Ndiyo. The raw materials used for a PC are 11 to 12 times the weight of the machine, he explained.Typical office workstation set-ups also use more power than thin clienting. A PC typically uses 100W of power, whereas Nivo uses five. In some developing countries, buying a desktop computer is the equivalent to the price of a house, explained Dr Wills, making it difficult for people to take advantage of what computing technology can offer. "Nowadays, PCs are about communication than anything else," he said. "We have the potential to rethink the way we could do this stuff," he added. The boxes would not be able to handle graphics-intensive multimedia content currently, but that will change as ethernet bitrates improve to handle more data. About 50% of the UK's workforce work in organisations with fewer than 50 employees, according to Ndiyo. Currently, each employee might have his or her own desktop machine, connected to the company network through ethernet connections, with software licences for each workstation. Licences for software are often a significant part of expenditure for smaller companies which rely on computers. But a recent UK government study, yet to be formally published, has shown that open source software can significantly reduce school budgets dedicated to computing set-ups. Many organisations replace PCs every three years and also require technical support when something goes wrong. Thin clients using open source software can mean these expenses are bypassed. Since August 2004, Ndiyo has had a group of Java developers running large applications to test out the robustness of the system. The small Nivo box, developed along with a commercial partner, Newnham Research in Cambridge, is essentially a computer - known as the "client" - which largely depends on the central server for processing activities. Applications, for instance, are kept on the main server and accessed through the Nivo box. The Nivo unit itself measures around 12 by eight by two centimetres. It has no moving parts, but it has ports for ethernet, power, keyboard, mouse and a monitor. It comes with two megabytes of RAM. The next version currently under development will have a USB port, soundcard, local storage capacity, and will be even smaller. "Essentially, it is about sending pixels over the net," explained Dr Wills. "With modern ethernet connections, you can get enough performance by sending through compressed pixels." A typical cybercafe set-up, Dr Wills explained, would involve 20 Nivo boxes, a gigabit switch, and a single 2Ghz, 2Gb RAM server. The not-for-profit origination is also working on the idea of using the Nivo box for "plug and play" clustering. Ultimately, Ndiyo hopes that the box can shrink down to a single chip and introduce wireless ethernet connections. "The vision is that the monitor will have an ethernet port which requires less electronics than the standard VGA monitor," said Dr Wills. Open source software is used in many developing country computer initiatives. There are other attempts at providing cheap alternatives to desktop PCs for developing countries, such as the Simputer. This is a cheap handheld computer designed by Indian scientists. (However sales of the Simputer have been less than impressive and its African distributor closed down last year). (SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4496901.stm) MICROSOFT ADVISES ON PRE-CONSOLIDATION IT INVESTMENT FOR BANKS IN NIGERIAThe stakes for successful consolidation in the banking sector was further increased last week when Microsoft advised that merging banks should be thinking of migrating completely from their existing software if they are to maximize the value of IT in their operations in the post consolidation era. Sadun Anik, Microsoft's Industry Manager, Financial Sector, gave the advise in Lagos last week in an interactive session with journalists at the Lagos Business School. Anik's position is at variance with the widely held belief in the banking industry in Nigeria that merging banks can integrate their various systems at a cheaper cost and still deliver services to their customers efficiently. Anik told Finance and IT corespondents that the best option for merging banks in the country, especially when they run on different banking software, would be to migrate from their various packages into one formidable solution that can support their operations more efficiently. Said he: "If a bank choose to keep four systems, they would keep maintaining four systems which would be pretty expensive. Banks can do this (only) on the short term." Illustrating, Anik said: "Take the administration of loan for instance. The application process for loans are different from one bank to another and so also are the forms to be filled. In post consolidation banks, what this means is that customers would have to fill different forms in different branches of the same bank depending on the heritage of the branch where his/her account is domiciled. He contended that such loans might be difficult to administer. Earlier, Anik had earlier told various CEOs who had gathered at the LBS for his lecture that for them to extract maximum value from their investment in ICT, the their organizations must be ready to undergo a whole culture change, not just IT change. He said that CEOs must be able to envision what their business need to run, and invest in new generation products that can help them achieve their objectives, stressing that they must not acquire IT just because they see others do so. He further contended that even though there were certain elements of IT investments that are not measurable, there were certain features of IT investment which benefits are obvious. He cited the case of cheque clearing which could be done the next day with IT whereas it use to take 14 days without IT. The breakfast meet was organised to educate CEOs on how to maximise Microsoft solutions to increase productivity in corporate organisations. Narrating his experience in the banking sector, Adefolu Majekodunmi, Enterprise Account Manager/Finance Services for Microsoft Nigeria, said that part of the concern of Nigerian banks in the pre-consolidation era is what they would do to their banking software. He however contended that beyond IT what they were really concerned about now is how to manage the culture change and human capital issues that would arise from consolidation. Microsoft's role in all these, he explained, is spending time with the banks and their consultants to provide them with ideas on what they should be doing before and after consolidation. He further explain that there were no qiuck answers to the issue of mergers and acquisition because each merger is unique on its own, stressing that the Nigerian situation is even made more complicated by the fact that banks are being forced to merge within one and half years. (SOURCE: http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/ ZNCB BUYS COMPUTER SOFTWARE WORTH USD3MTHE Zambia National Commercial Bank (ZNCB) has procured a US $3 million (about K15 billion) banking software package to enhance its operations. The package, which is anticipated to be operational by end of September, is called Flexcube and incorporates Microbanker and Finware, which the bank is currently using. And Central Province minister Webby Kamwendo last Friday described the closure of rural branches by some commercial banks as a hindrance to national development. In an interview, ZNCB managing director Likolo Ndalamei disclosed that the bank has earmarked an additional K2 billion for its nationwide expansion programme. Ndalamei said the new software would enable ZNCB to enhance the efficiency of its operations. "This will boost our drive to diversify into corporate banking. As you know, ZNCB has traditionally focused on retail banking but as the market changes, and also in response to demand, we are venturing into corporate banking," he said. Ndalamei said this was why the bank had earmarked K2 billion for a programme that would see the establishment of corporate service centres countrywide and the upgrading of some agencies into branches. He disclosed that the bank would upgrade the agency at Kazungula into a branch besides establishing a branch in Itezhi-tezhi district. Ndalamei added that to enhance customer convenience, the bank would in the next three months replace 15 of its automated teller machines (ATMs). And opening ZNCB's corporate centre in Kabwe, Kamwendo said the financial sector was so important to the national development effort that banks abandoning economically depressed and rural districts was detrimental. "The provision of financial services is cardinal to boosting investment, both local and foreign. This is why we concerned that some banks are closing branches when they are needed to help stimulate development in rural and economically depressed districts," he said. Earlier, Ndalamei pledged that ZNCB would relentlessly pursue the vision behind its establishment by spreading its presence to places where demand existed. (SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200505020883.html) CODI CONSIDERS FOSS A SERIOUS STRATEGIC OPTION FOR AFRICAFree Open Source Software (FOSS) is an emerging industry, an employment creator and the driving force of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Balancing Act's Correspondent Timothy Kasolo writes that the ICT sub committee recommended and resolved during the Committee On Development Information (CODI IV) that FOSS should be considered as a strategic option to strengthen the provision of cost-effective, easily adaptable and modifiable services to users. The members at the meeting also resolved that there was need to raise awareness and capacity building on information security issues and concerns and taking into account FOSS in the formulation and implementation of ICT industrialization initiatives.It was emphasized that FOSS training programmes should be introduced in colleges and universities. "There is also a need to encourage participation of FOSS communities in the NICI formulation and implementation process," The paper read in part. However there is need to ensure that open standards and interoperability of computer operating systems which have now been considered as part of infrastructure. FOSS industry today generates yearly revenues in excess of US dollars 300 billion.FOSS is software that has made its source code free and public and allows users to change the source code and redistribute the derivative software.While liberating the source code FOSS encourages, or even obliges, programmers to give other programmers and users the freedom and opportunities. And Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) Bilgad Kagai said increased use of FOSS is for sustainable development because FOSS is a technology that the local people in Africa can understand, maintain and adapt to other needs." FOSSFA in collaboration with the United Nations Economic for Africa (UNECA) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)will be having the second IDLELO conference on FOSS to be held in Nairobi next year in February and the information can be found on the FOSSFA website," Kagai explained. At the same meeting CODI urged all the member states to harness creative and innovative technologies and business models, such as Voice Over IP (VOIP), ICT enabled export services and mobile commerce, to enhance competitiveness of Africa's private sector and meet the needs of the public. CODI also recommended Economic Commission of Africa (ECA) to support the African Youth ICT4D Network (AYIN) in the implementation of its Africa plan towards the realization of Africa's Information Society Agenda. IN BRIEF- Software giants SAP and Microsoft have announced their first joint development project. They are collaborating on software dubbed Mendocino, which will let users access business information housed in SAP's back-end systems by using Microsoft's familiar word processing and spreadsheet software. The collaboration stems from a potential takeover of SAP by Microsoft last year, which was abandoned because of inevitable protests from the competition authorities. Mendocino should arrive by the end of the year as the one solid legacy of those talks. - For the first time in the East African region, an electronic education guide will soon be launched to capture an increasing e-audience. The interactive CD-ROM formatted guide will go hand in hand with a 600-page hard copy education guide covering private learning institutions in East Africa. The CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory)) is a compact disk that is used with a computer and can store a large amount of digital information. According to a city based educationist, this type of guide has been lacking with parents and students depending on second hand information which in most cases is not accurate. "The guide traces an institution from its roots, its development, awards it has achieved, development programmes and its insight into the future, and moulds this into a comprehensive package," says Steve Nyagaka, business development manager with Stan Images. "In distribution we plan to employ a dualistic strategy. We plan to distribute some 30,000 copies, eighty five per cent of them free of charge to embassies, non-governmental organisations, national libraries, universities throughout the regions and other education related avenues. The remaining 15 per cent will be distributed through commercial outlets including leading bookshops and supermarkets in the region.
MAROC TÉLÉCOM POSTS STRONG Q1 RESULTS ON THE BACK OF MOBILE GROWTHMaroc Télécom has posted revenues for the quarter ending 31 March 2005 of MAD4.71 billion (EUR423 million), a year-on-year rise of 15.8%. The company attributed the good results mainly to sales at its mobile division, which grew by 26%; fixed line turnover increased 7.5%. It reported an estimated 6.7 million mobile subscribers and 1.3 million fixed line customers at the end of March. Maroc Télécom (formerly Itissalat Al Maghrib) was a wholly state owned telco until December 2000, when a 35% stake was sold to the French conglomerate Vivendi Universal for MAD23 billion (EUR2.089 billion). The deal was, by a considerable margin, the highest value privatisation seen in Africa, and the process was trumpeted as a great success. It wasn't until November 2004, however, that Vivendi agreed to take majority control of the company and up its stake to 51%, the EUR1.1 billion deal becoming effective in January 2005. The agreement was followed by the launch of an IPO in December 2004, when the government offloaded a 14.9% stake in Télécom. The flotation on the Paris and Casablanca stock exchanges was reported to be as much as fifty times oversubscribed, with a high level of interest coming from the US, Europe and the Middle East. (SOURCE: http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=7046&email=html) PIC SALE BOOSTS TELKOM SHARETelkom's share gained 1.4% on Thursday after news that the state asset manager had agreed to sell a 10.1% stake in Telkom to a consortium led by former communications director-general Andile Ngcaba. The share closed at R110.05, up R1.55 on the previous day's close. The share's highest close to date was R115.50, reached in mid-March. On the same day the share reached a 12-month high of R117 in intraday trade. The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) announced that it was selling a 10.1% stake in Telkom to Ngcaba's Elephant Consortium at R92.50 a share. The PIC had been warehousing a 15.1% shareholding in Telkom on behalf of the consortium since November. The PIC, which invests funds on behalf of public sector entities, added that it would retain the remaining 5% stake. Ultimately, however, the Elephant Consortium will end up with just 6.7% of Telkom, which will be shared equally between Ngcaba's part of the consortium and the other consortium partner led by Women's Investment Portfolio Holdings (Wiphold). Part of the agreement with PIC involves the consortium agreeing to allocate 3.37% for further broad-based economic empowerment. The PIC said a committee composed of the PIC and the Elephant Consortium will be established to implement this agreement over the next three months. Commentators have said that this aspect of the deal indicates that the PIC did not believe the consortium was sufficiently broad based from an empowerment perspective. The PIC added that it, Absa and Nedbank have agreed to fund the consortium's 6.7% stake by committing varying amounts of funds totalling R3.6 billion. The PIC has disclosed that it realised a return of about R1.5 billion by warehousing the stake and acquiring the 5% shareholding, translating to an annualised return on investment of 78%. “This is good news for our clients, in particular the Government Employees Pension Fund,” it said. The PIC agreed in November to warehouse the stake, originally held by the Thintana Consortium, amid controversy over plans by the Elephant Consortium to buy the shares. At the time, the consortium approached the PIC and other funders for finance, and, after some negotiation, the PIC agreed to buy the stake and open talks on how the consortium would acquire the shares from the PIC. Ngcaba said at the time that his consortium had had very little time to close the deal, so it opted for short-term warehousing. An analyst says the share has reacted positively to the deal mainly because the uncertainty about what would happen to the stake has finally been cleared up. He adds that he cannot see that the deal has altered Telkom's empowerment profile to any significant degree, since the PIC itself would have counted as a broad-based shareholder. “The 3.37% share going to broad-based empowerment looks pretty good now, but otherwise it's just the same high-profile faces.” (SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/financial/2005 IN BRIEF- Kuwaiti cellco MTC-Vodafone says it has completed the purchase of a majority stake in pan-African mobile group Celtel International. MTC has paid an initial USD2.84 billion for 85% of Celtel, with the remaining 15% to be purchased within two years for a further USD520 million. An attempt by South Africa’s MTN Group to block the deal failed last month. READERS' RESPONSESCORRECT INFORMATION ON STATE-OF-PLAY OF GHANA'S MOBILE OPERATORS The info about Ghana Telecom in issue 253 is incorrect. First, Ghana Telecom does not have the widest coverage. Currently,there are only 115 running base-stations nationwide, despite the huge resouce base the company has over its competitors. In terms of subscriber, ONEtouch (GT's mobile service) stands at No. 3 (not second) and the No. 1 is Spacefon Areeba, formally Scancom (and not Millicom). GT's mobile subsriber base is around 150,000, while Mobitel's own (Buzz) is around 300,000. In fact, Spacefon Areeba has over 1 million active subscribers now, more than ALL lines form ALL other operators (including fixed lines and other GSM and non-GSM networks) put together.It will also interest you to know that apart from GSM, there are other mobile networks in Ghana. Millicom has their "Hello Home" (in addition to the Buzz GSM network), which is an analog TACS network. Another non-GSM mobile network in Ghana "Kasapa, which is an analog AMPSnetwork. And for your information, Kasapa is very far advanced in rolling out a digital CDMA2000 network. Installation of this network has already begun. Anon
CELTEL KENYA DID NOT GET THERE FIRST WITH Me2U APPLICATION The article in issue 254 is a bit misleading, CELTEL Kenya was not the first operator to launch Me2U in the region, MTN Uganda launched the service around about July 2004. The Me2U application launched by MTN Uganda was also locally developed. See: http://www.mtn.co.ug/personal/vas.htm Dick Gweno
FASHION TV TO HIT CELLPHONESMobile content supplier InnoVeda Mobile Solutions has secured the rights to supply Fashion TV content to mobile phones in SA. During the past year, the Cape Town-based firm has gathered the licensing rights for a number of international brand name content suppliers, including Hollywood movie clips. It expects to make further announcements soon. InnoVeda MD Bertus Preller says his firm's role is that of an aggregator, whereby it enters into negotiations with the branded content suppliers, obtains the local licence and is then involved in a revenue sharing agreement with the content suppliers, such as iTouch. “Sometimes the content suppliers ask us to obtain the licence for certain content, other times we obtain the licence and then help the content supplier to load it onto their portals, help fund the marketing and distribution,” he says. Preller says unlike many other electronic fads, supplying content to the mobile phone industry is not a “land grab, rather it is a slow process that includes a lot of expenditure before we see any real revenue flow”. Preller says Fashion TV's mobile content and services, combined with InnoVeda's marketing and delivery channels, including video, wallpaper and music content channels for 2.5G and 3G networks, will provide operators with innovative and value-added service opportunities. Fashion TV delivers content adapted to mobile phone use on various mobile networks and is the only TV channel specifically aimed at a fashion audience. Part of the deal struck with Fashion TV is that InnoVeda has to help organise and host its “FTV parties” in various locations around the country. These parties attract the rich and famous. “These Fashion TV parties have never been held in SA and so this will be quite an event. But it is all about expanding on the brand name and the content that is supplied to mobile phones,” Preller says. Fashion TV claims to be one of the most widely distributed satellite channels with 300 million viewers in 130 countries. MOBILE COMMERCE STILL LAGGINGSouth Africans have yet to fully embrace mobile commerce – the use of phones for transactions with financial value – although some sectors are booming. This was one of the key findings of the "Mobile Commerce in South Africa 2005" study, undertaken by World Wide Worx, with the backing of Cell C, First National Bank and the Mobile Institute. It will more than likely be another three to five years before mobile commerce becomes a mature industry locally, the survey predicts. Local consumers have yet to move beyond paying for ringtones and logos with phone airtime, and using their cellular phones to buy additional airtime. Airtime top-up is the only serious category of business usage of mobile commerce. Worth noting is the fact that those few sectors to experience growth have generally done so spectacularly, rising from R50 million in value in 2000 to more than R2 billion in 2004, although this growth must be kept in context, says World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck "This sounds impressive, but it is limited to so few categories of spending, most cellphone users are not even aware of its existence. Even where they are making a direct purchase in exchanging airtime for a logo or ringtone, they don't realise the transaction has financial value." Considering mobile phones are the fastest growing technology ever seen in SA, it is significant that mobile commerce has taken so long to grow, says Goldstuck. This is likely to change significantly over the next three years, as mobile banking becomes more widespread, and more merchants begin accepting payments via mobile devices, he says. "Market maturity is at least three years away, with full-blown mobile commerce across numerous categories, from event and travel tickets to paying for fines and parking, only likely to be fully mainstream by 2010.” As the market matures, so too will the players in the market. Several case studies contained in the report found that the market is still dominated by early players like Cointel, ExactMobile and iTouch, says Goldstuck. “However, scrutiny of the market shows that numerous other mobile commerce players are poised to make an impact on the market.” (SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/ NEW STUDY OUT ASSESSING IMPACT OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGY ON HEALTHCAREA study of a pilot project using mobile phones for healthcare in Africa has found that technology works, but implementation, management and human factors are real hurdles Bridges.org conducted an in-depth investigation of a pilot project by the Cape Town Health Directorate that tested innovative uses of mobile phone technology to improve the treatment of Tuberculosis (TB) in its clinics. The treatment of TB in Cape Town offers a good setting to explore whether and how mobile phones can be used in healthcare. Examining TB treatment is not only useful because of the impact of the disease, but also because lessons learned from successful systems for TB treatment adherence could be applied more broadly to other diseases. For example, one of the problems with HIV/AIDS treatment is that it requires lifetime adherence to drug regimes. The bridges.org report provides a practical, objective look at the technological, management, and human factors involved in implementing technology in a developing country clinic environment. The study was supported by the International Development Research Council. Patients that do not take their TB medication on time (or miss doses) hinder efforts to control the spread of the disease. The Cape Town Health Directorate is implementing a proactive strategy to control TB, including exploring new methods for enhancing treatment adherence. In this pilot, the technology solution was provided by On Cue, a small company offering a Compliance Service that sends short text messages to patients via mobile phones to remind them to take their medication at pre-determined times. Patients with mobile phones are selected to use the service if health workers consider them candidates who are likely to take their medication without direct supervision. The bridges.org study looked at the effect of the use of the Compliance Service on TB cure rates and treatment completion rates in Cape Town, and identified related social and economic impacts resulting from the use of the technology. It also assessed whether, and how, best practice principles for project management were implemented. Bridges.org found the Compliance Service to be a suitable adjunct to DOTS that will help improve TB treatment adherence in Cape Town and beyond. The technology works and it is effective. And on face value, it also provides a more cost-effective and convenient treatment adherence option, both for the health service and the patient. However, a number of obstacles limiting the effective use of the service were identified -- notably, poor administrative procedures. Although patients and healthcare workers were enthusiastic about the service and able to use it, a significant number of patients did not use it as instructed. An overall lack of ownership of the project at the clinic limited the proactive participation of staff, and there was no one on-site to take direct responsibility for implementation. This was exacerbated by the fact that clinic staff schedules are tight and many staff members feel that they are already over-worked. City and clinic bureaucracy limited the add-on functionality that would expand the usefulness of the service. And issues of privacy, data protection, and security will affect the widespread use of technology in healthcare in Africa over the long-term. The pilot demonstrated the power of mobile technology to address a critical developing world need. Yet no technology is a silver bullet to solve the problem of patient adherence: it is all down to the way in which it is implemented. Successful integration of technology in healthcare requires a clear understanding of where technology use ends and care-giving begins. This study unearthed important issues around technology use in primary health care -- shedding light on the practical realities of the developing world context -- which could inform other efforts. Over the long term, innovative technology uses like this are likely to play a critical role in the rollout of treatment for HIV/AIDS and other diseases in the developing world. But they will only make a difference when patients and healthcare workers embrace new systems and implement them effectively at ground level. The full report can be accessed at http://www.bridges.org/. IN BRIEF- Digital Solutions is a software company based in Uganda who have been driving a project to implement a fully Open Source Multimedia Messaging Gateway for operators. This project is reaching maturity rapidly and already has functionality that surpasses far more expensive proprietary MMS gateways. For more information about the project visit http://www.mbuni.org/. Digital Solutions has a diverse and active user community of over 50 in just 3 months, some of whom are major equipment/software vendors. - Absa Bank is upgrading its Web site to give customers easier access to more information. The upgraded site, which goes live at the end of the month, will enable customers to get a ‘snapshot' view of what products, services and solutions are offered. "Customers will also be able to set their own default homepage or preferred section," says Absa bank production manager Suzanne Atie. "Other improvements include better navigational tools like the keyword search or “I want to” function, which enable a customer to select key options, products and services," says Atie. “We have also consolidated the news section with new features including the latest Absa news, external market information, and the rates and fees section, enabling customers to see their account and interest rate, so they can better manage their money.” Atie says the bank has also revived its business section, creating a sub-portal that gives advice to customers interested in starting their own business. “The www.absa.co.za site change will not have an impact on Internet banking, since these are two separate sites, with the Absa site serving simply as a portal leading into Internet banking.”
NEW HANDHELD VOIP TESTER SPEEDS IP PHONE DEPLOYMENT, TROUBLESHOOTINGFluke Networks announced last week a major new inline network test tool. NetTool VOIP offers a breakthrough in VOIP (voice over IP) troubleshooting technology with an industry-first "edge testing" approach. The tool combines cable, network, IP phone and PC configuration testing into a single device. NetTool VOIP puts the power of inline testing in the hands of the front-line technicians, meaning fewer problems are escalated to higher-level engineers with more complex tools. In addition, the new features of NetTool VOIP give users the ability to monitor VOIP service at the edge, enabling technicians to see into VOIP calls by connecting between the phone and the network. "NetTool VOIP cuts down the time it takes to troubleshoot IP phone deployment and close trouble tickets," said Dan Klimke, Fluke Networks Marketing Manager for Portable Network Analysis. "Technicians now can quickly determine if the problem is the cabling, switch port, phone or configuration." As an edge tool, NetTool complements other high-speed link analysis products from Fluke Networks including OptiView Protocol Expert and Link Analyzer. Combined with NetTool, IT professionals have a powerful new set of monitoring and troubleshooting tools. With NetTool VOIP, technicians can now see the quality of calls in progress by measuring the RTP stream and displaying the number of frames, frames dropped and out of sequence frames, and jitter. Call setup, configuration and tear down signalling are all visible to the user. NetTool VOIP covers the entire spectrum of tasks required to deploy IP phones to the desktop so network managers can realise faster, less expensive and more reliable IP phone deployments. The handheld tool decodes and displays critical boot events, call control and call quality information. The Boot Log displays key boot events such as DHCP address acquisition, DNS lookup of call servers and gateways, downloading of operating files, and call server registration. NetTool VOIP supports complete troubleshooting of the IP phone boot process including physical layer tests of structured wiring, patch cables, switch port configuration, VLANs and PoE voltage. The VOIP Log displays call control events, QoS configuration, and call quality metrics. The log records call setup, configuration, and tear down of a call in progress. As the call proceeds, the RTP configuration is displayed including IP addresses and ports used, VLAN priority or Diff Serv and codec. Once the call is competed, the log displays the RTP quality metrics such as jitter and dropped packets. The VOIP Monitor feature tracks call quality in progress by measuring the RTP stream and displaying the number of frames, dropped frames, out of sequence frames and jitter. The monitor also displays RTCP endpoint information such as jitter and dropped packets. Statistics are available for both the phone side and the network side while a call is in progress. In addition to powerful VOIP testing capability, NetTool now features Key Device Watch software. Based on Ipswitch's popular WhatsUp network monitoring program, Key Device Watch enables users to discover and monitor their top 10 critical devices such as e-mail or Web servers, and receive alerts about any problems via e-mail, sound, or visual pop-up, in order to speed problem resolution. A trend analysis feature, which tracks network diagnostics over time and displays graphical reports and charts of historical data, is also part of this software package. (SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/telecoms/2005
PEOPLE- TELECEL managing director Mr Anthony Carter, who is among several directors charged with illegally dealing in foreign currency, has resigned from the mobile phone service provider. Mr Philip Van-Brouck has since been appointed the substantive managing director in place of Mr Carter who reportedly left the organisation two months ago. Although no comment could be obtained from Mr Van-Brouck, The Herald understands that he commenced work on Tuesday. Mr Rex Chibesa was until last week acting managing director since Mr Carter's resignation. "Mr Carter left some two months ago and Mr Chibesa has been acting in that capacity. A new MD has since been appointed and has started work today (Tuesday) but people might still refer issues to Mr Chibesa because they have seen the new man but not yet formally introduced to him," said an official at the company. Mr Carter was arraigned before the courts in November last year together with company board chairman Mr James Makamba and company secretary Mr Edward Mutsvairo for allegedly contravening the Exchange Control Act. They allegedly failed to remit US$1,5 million back to Zimbabwe. The three Telecel directors are on $50 million bail each on charges of externalising US$1,5 million between January 2000 and August last year. - Karim Bernoussi has decided to quit as Regional Director of Microsoft North Africa in July of this year. - ICTe Africa in Kenya has been postponed to 27-30 June as President Kibaki could not be in the country for the original opening dates. The event has had a troubled history and organiser Global Fairs Ltd has recently fired its Kenyan Managing Director who has only been in post for a few months. There has also been a high staff turnover. AITEC's management contract for the accompanying conference was cancelled three weeks ago for what Global Fairs claimed was non-performance. So why's all this happening? It appears Global Fairs has been selling for prices that are substantially higher than the local market is used to and is frustrated by the speed at which marketing decisions are taken. EVENTSCYPRUS TO HOST MAJOR CONFERENCE ON BILLING & REVENUE ASSURANCE The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation will hold a conference on Billing & Revenue Assurance. 6 - 8 June 2005, Larnaca, Cyprus. Billing and Revenue Assurance 2005 is part of the series of international events organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation for 2005. For more information, please visit www.cto.int or contact Marcel Belingue at m.belingue@cto.int or telephone: +44 20 7024 7601. MULTILINGUALISM FOR CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND PARTICIPATION OF ALL IN CYBERSPACE Organizers: UNESCO
THIRD INTERNATIONAL OPEN ACCESS CONFERENCE Organizers: SIDA, UNICTTF and ICTH
ENHANCING HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH ICT Organizers: IFIP
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