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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 258 MVNOs to come to Africa with Virgin Mobile setting its sights on Nigeria and SAThis week it emerged that a battle may ensue in Nigeria over the acquisition of Vee Networks, which trades under the V-Mobile brand name. Over the past few days, South Africa’s mobile telecom giant, Vodacom, has placed an offer to acquire a majority stake in the cellco but is up against stiff competition from the world’s largest Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), Virgin Mobile. Although, Virgin Mobile never talks about a deal until it's done, there are two things that lend weight to the speculation. Sir Richard Branson has personally expressed a desire to enter the African market and he was in Nigeria last week, reportedly to lend his support to the bid. Mapara Syed seeks to get to grips with how the virtual voice business can deliver can deliver very real money. An MVNO is a mobile operator that does not own its own spectrum and usually does not have its own network infrastructure. Instead, MVNOs have business arrangements with traditional mobile operators to buy minutes of use (MOU) for sale to their own customers. Effectively, this means that any newcomer can enter the cellular market by simply forming a partnership with an existing carrier, piggyback on their network and resell their service under their own brand. MVNOs are typically, well known, well positioned companies, with a good deal of marketing clout. Retailers are often best placed to transform themselves into MVNOs since they have strong brands and a network of stores through which to distribute handsets and sell airtime. In the UK, which has pioneered the MVNO business model, Tesco Mobile is one example of a retailer-come-mobile-service-provider where Tesco, the supermarket chain, partnered with the mobile company O2. Only last month, a report was published by Pyramid Research examining the potential of prospective MVNOs in emerging markets. After analysing the current boom of the MVNOs in developed markets, the report concluded that Nigeria, with a little creativity and planning, represents one of several emerging market states ideal for the MVNO business model. Report author, Guy Zibi, said that “a MVNO business model established in an emerging market will rely on the same basic principles that apply to a developed market MVNO. However, emerging Market MVNOs must be more cost-efficient than their developed market counterparts; they must also be more cost-efficient than emerging market mobile operators, most of whom are already fairly creative in keeping costs down.” He also said that the main challenge prospective emerging market MVNOs face is not necessarily low Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), but network capacity and the extension of the addressable market. Already various forms of MVNOs have been implemented in Nigeria, mostly in the form of airtime resellers, which indicates that Virgin Mobile has the correct business approach to succeed in the country. Virgin Mobile has also been rumoured to have its eye on the South African mobile market, the most robust one across Africa. Initial speculation claimed that Virgin would be South Africa’s first MVNO but these have since been dispelled. However, local operator, Cell C, has gone on record to say that a partnership between Virgin Mobile and itself may evolve in the future. Virgin Mobile, which has operations in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia, currently has just over 5 million subscribers in the UK and around 9 million worldwide. It launched its operations as a MVNO in November 1999 and provides a range of mobile communication services to their customers over T-Mobile’s network under their non-exclusive, minimum ten year term, telecommunications supply agreement with the carrier signed in January 2004. Offering services and products marketed under the Virgin Mobile brand, the MVNO benefits from the strength of the Virgin brand as a whole. “Virgin is notorious for entering unknown markets and shaking them up by offering consumers something different,” said Virgin Mobile’s Corporate Affairs Director, Steven Day. “The concept of an MVNO originated with Virgin Mobile when Richard Branson came up with the idea that you don’t necessarily have to own your network to sell a mobile service. We were already doing something similar with Virgin Records from the 1970s onwards whereby Virgin Records acts as a virtual record producer using EMI’s distribution network. On the basis of this analogy we entered into discussions with potential operators to partner with in 1998-1999. The result was an agreement with T-Mobile where we would buy access to their network to operate a service across it.” Since then a conceptual debate has risen over the different types of MVNOs that have materialised over the years. “There are various models that can be referred to like the most basic service provider model, for instance, where the carriers tariffs remain the same and the MVNO just re-brands the package, or at the other end of the spectrum, what would be known as a true virtual operator, where the control is greater,” explained Day. “We are not concerned with how we are labelled and how we may differ as an MVNO. What differentiates us from the rest of the market and what our customers notice is our service and the quality of that service. It is our memorable brand or service experience that leads to our success.” In the UK, Virgin Mobile has one tariff that underscores all their products. Calls cost 15p for each of the first five minutes of talktime and 5p per minute after that. On-net texts, which are text messages to other Virgin Mobile subscribers, cost 3p each and 10p for off-net texts. Pre-pay customers can add bundles to service to enable cheaper calls and texts. Earlier this month, Virgin Mobile launched its new post-paid service for contracted customers, a first in the UK. The MVNO phenomenon has largely taken off of late as network operators have finally overcome their ambivalence towards the idea of MVNOs. “One would ask why an operator like T-Mobile would partner with a potential rival and run the risk of being cannibalised,” said Day. “Well T-Mobile currently has 10 million customers but through their partnership with us they have around 16 million users of their infrastructure. They have realised that by partnering they in fact achieve the best return on their investment. They have also realised that it is always better to wholesale spare network capacity than to leave it unused.” Better still, mobile operators recognise that MVNOs can help them capture customers in segments where their existing brands do not reach. Virgin Mobile has always been typically associated with the youth market. Recently, MVNOs have become more appealing because operators that have built expensive 3G networks want to fill them with traffic as quickly as possible to recover their costs. As many high speed data services such as video have not proved as popular as expected, a surplus of 3G capacity has allowed MVNOs to come in and resell the airtime on these empty networks. This may well be a situation that develops in Africa for 3G operators in North Africa, Mauritius and South Africa. “The business model works in a way where Virgin Mobile will lease capacity from T-Mobile’s network. We will charge the consumer to use the service we provide and pay our partner to use their network and then we keep the difference,” explained Day. When asked about the revenue sharing model Steven Day declined to disclose that information but according to Guy Zibi, the MVNO must retain at least a 30% operating margin. “Based on our market place observations, a MVNO will keep roughly 60% of a per minute charge while the remaining 40% will go to the network operator,” he said. “On a cost based model, the price that is charged to the MVNO depends on how much of the network operator’s cost they support.”
NIGERIA'S NCC TO ALLOW FIXED WIRELESS OPERATORS TO GIVE MOBILE COS SOME COMPETITIONThe Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is preparing to face the wrath of the country’s four GSM operators by pushing ahead with a controversial unified licence scheme that will allow fixed wireless access (FWA) providers to compete head-to-head with mobile operators nationwide. Under the new proposals from February 2006 FWA providers will no longer be limited to coverage of specific geographic areas and instead be free to offer roaming services across the country. This means they will be operating in direct competition to the GSM cellcos, whose call charges are on average six-times higher. The GSM operators claim that the new legislation will discourage investment in the already under funded sector and further weaken an industry blighted by outdated facilities and high taxes. The NCC says that the move will increase take-up of services and has justified its plan by pointing to the 20-fold increase in GSM subscribers witnessed since competition was first introduced to the mobile market five years ago. SENEGAL GOES LOOKING FOR AN SNO AND A THIRD MOBILE OPERATOR MID JUNEA second national operator and a third mobile operator will be chosen once the tender goes out in June 2005, according to Minister of Post, Telecommunications and ICT, Joseph Ndong. " At present we're in the phase of drawing up the specifications which will allow is to issue the tender in the middle of June," explained Ndong who was speaking at an event to celebrate World Telecommunication. The Minister emphasised the importance of the role of the private sector in delivering access to telephones and computers. He also emphasised that he wanted to see prices come down in order to see "les petites bourses" able to use ICT. (source: Le Soleil) CELTEL SET TO ROLL OUT GPRS IN TANZANIASwedish telecommunications company Telefon AB L.M Ericsson on Wednesday said it has signed an agreement with Celtel International BV to further enhance coverage and capacity in Tanzania. The value of the deal wasn't disclosed. The company said the contract includes General Package Radio Service, or GPRS, and is part of the Celtel's program to roll out the most advanced Global System for Mobile Communications, or GSM, technology. Under the agreement, Celtel, with operations in 13 countries, will install Ericsson's Mobile Soft-Switch solution, capable of carrying large and growing volumes of voice and data traffic in a cost optimized network architecture, Ericsson said. KENYAN GOVERNMENT TO SPLIT TELKOM INTO THREE UNITS FOR PRIVATISATIONThe Government might divide Telkom Kenya into three entities and outsource some of its services, Information and Communication minister Raphael Tuju said yesterday. Minister for information and Communications Raphael Tuju talks to his Permanent Secretary James Rege during the World Telecommunication Day celebrations that were held in Nairobi last week.Tuju announced the impending separation of the parastatal during a ceremony to mark the World Communication Day held at a Nairobi hotel. The Kenya Telecommunication Training College (KTTC) and Gilgil Telecommunication Industry, two of Telkom's key departments, are likely to be affected.GTI assembles telecommunication equipment. Tuju said they are still awaiting a report from consultants hired to advise the Government before make a decision."The consultants' role is to recommend to us what they feel is the way forward for Telkom Kenya," said Tuju. The minister said the Government would not be bound by the recommendations since there could be other options of restructuring Telkom."In the report, I expect them to have the recommendations as well as options so that in case we decide not to go ahead with their advice, we settle for other options," said Tuju.He said Telkom needs the right staff size to free financial resources that would be used for network modernisation and expansion. Last month, the Government announced it would sack 12,000 Telkom staff to free up to Sh400 million in salaries annually. Kirui has announced plans to evaluate the parastatal with a view to changing its business model to make it more competitive ahead of privatisation. A privatised Telkom, said Tuju, would speed up Kenya's uptake of information and knowledge-based economy. Tuju said the Government would continue encouraging competition in the fixed line services segment to encourage more ICT-based services, most of which are concentrated in Nairobi. "Fifty-six per cent of the fixed telecommunications network is concentrated in Nairobi with the remaining 44 distributed across other regions," said Tuju. Coast and Rift Valley provinces have 12 per cent and 11 per cent of the remaining 44 per cent. The rest of the regions share 21 per cent. Tuju said 90 administrative divisions in Kenya lack telecommunication services and estimated that people walk up to 141km to reach access points. He said for Kenya to bridge the digital divide, the Government must develop a universal access strategy to expand the reach of communication. This, he said, could be achieved by setting up to 49 Internet points at district levels and 90 ICT access points at division level. (source: The East African Standard) ECOWAS SEEKS TO BREATHE LIFE INTELECOM II TO SECURE INTER-COUNTRY LINKSAlthough the INTELECOM II project has been in existence since 1997, ECOWAS is seeking to breathe life into it again with a view to establishing 32 inter-country fibre links in the West African region. This is to ensure that the region has an integrated backbone that can serve the bandwidth requirements of member states of ECOWAS as well as create a good market base for bandwidth in the region. Already some of the links have been effected on bilateral basis. Where will the money from? The project is expected to be a private sector enterprise with participation of national telcos, ECOWAS, Community citizens and enterprises, and non-regional investors, according to Dr. Remi Aribisala, Deputy Executive Secretary of ECOWAS. However at present there is marked reluctance from investors and mobile operators to address inter-country links as these seem to have remained the domain of national incumbents, few of whom are flush with cash. Other projects that are already in the offing to achieve this vision is the launching of a study on the establishment of a GSM roaming facility in ECOWAS member states. The project is expected to facilitate better communication amongst member States of the regional group to establish better business relationship amongst them. Currently, ECOWAS argues that it costs more to make calls to member states of ECOWAS by ECOWAS citizens than it cost to make calls to Europe and the United States. In most cases to make a call within the region, the call is first passed on to Europe for processing before it is sent to the subscriber in West Africa. This is undoubtedly true but blame for this falls squarely in the lap of the incumbent telcos, regulators and governments who have not opened inter-country links to any level of competition. (source: The Vanguard) INDIA OFFERS TO BUILD ANOTHER SATELLITE NETWORK FOR AFRICAAfrica could soon have a KSh3.8 billion satellite network built by the Government of India.In a proposal to the African Union (AU), an Indian technical team says the project aims at facilitating communications among African leaders. It will also help the continent address education and health challenges. The proposal identifies increased frequency of communicating between African leaders and the AU Commission as one of the benefits. It will also offer telemedicine and facilitate distance education in the 53 countries that are members of the AU. The proposal competes directly with the RASCOM project which is currently seeking market funding. (SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200505170427.html) SA MOBILE CALL COSTS STILL EXCESSIVE - CUASAThe Communications Users Association of SA (Cuasa) has lodged a formal complaint with Icasa regarding all aspects of mobile cell call charges in this country, according to Cuasa spokesman, Ray Webber. "Earlier this year we promised to investigate the high cost of SMS messages and cellular calls in this country. We feel that various aspects surrounding cellular call charges warrant closer inspection by Icasa," says Webber. Cuasa's view is that the cost of calls to and from mobile phones is, in general, far too high. In addition, it is not clear why the introduction of Cell C a few years ago does not appear to have reduced call costs. "How can it be less expensive to call a landline in a number of overseas countries - including Australia, Canada, France, Greece, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the USA - from a Telkom line, than it is to call a local mobile number from the same telephone? If that is not bad enough, consider that it is less expensive to call mobile numbers in Canada, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, San Marino and the USA, than it is to call a local mobile number from a Telkom line," says Webber. "SMS messages cost cellular operators virtually nothing to carry, therefore operators are charging excessive mark-ups and enjoying obscene profit margins for the service, at the expense of their users. Consider that it costs less to make a one-minute call from a Telkom line to a number of international destinations, than it does to send a 1 to 160 character SMS to a cellphone in these countries. One can say a lot more in one minute than one can communicate in a single SMS, while bandwidth used for the SMS is a mere fraction of that used for voice communications," Webber adds. According to Webber, Cuasa is also urging Icasa to investigate interconnect tariffs in the industry. "We understand that the interconnect tariffs between various operators in SA are considerably higher when calling from a Telkom line to a cellphone, than when calling in the opposite direction. We understand that these are R1,24 versus R0,24. If this is true, why is it the case?" questions Webber. (SOURCE: http://www.ictworld.co.za/EditorialEdit.asp? IN BRIEF- SA's Telkom is one of eight telecommunications operators who are joining the Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance (FMCA), which claims to have 240m customers who will benefit from the development of convergence services worldwide. The FMCA has played a role in shaping the convergence agenda around the world since its formation in July last year. Part of this includes establishing support among handset vendors for emerging convergence technologies, as well as encouraging consistency across product and equipment standards. Thami Msimango, Telkom’s managing executive for network infrastructure provisioning, says the company’s membership was significant, as it believed that the delivery of last-mile seamless fixed and mobile converged access would continue to be one of the biggest technical challenges facing the ICT industry. TELECOM RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGE- Harris Corporation a leading global supplier of wireless equipment and services, has announced a new contract valued at USD4.4 million to supply TRuepoint™ microwave digital radios to Vmobile Nigeria, one of the country’s leading wireless network operators. The contract represents an expansion of an existing long-term relationship between the two companies. Harris currently provides a "super-highway" microwave radio backbone for Vmobile, covering more than 1500 kilometers from southwest of Ibadan to southeast of Calabar. Scheduled for deployment within the next three months, the TRuepoint™ links allow Vmobile to significantly increase its market penetration by expanding into new territories, and will offer capacity for 500,000 new subscribers. Currently, Vmobile is approaching three million active subscribers, covering over 60 cities and 2,500 communities across the six geo-political regions of Nigeria. - Telecel Zambia Limited has extended its services to Nchelenge district in Luapula Province at a cost of US$500,000. The company has embarked on a vigorous roll-out, with the recent connections being Petauke and Mpulungu. Telecel marketing manager Margaret Schiott said the company was targeting a minimum of 2,000 subscribers in Nchelenge, the traditional fishing town. Schiott said they targeted Nchelenge because of its economic activity and that the mobile phone services would stir the business opportunities the town has. She said the initial response has been overwhelming and expected the target of 2,000 to be surpassed.
INTERNET SOLUTIONS BECOMES 3RD PAN-CONTINENTAL PLAYER - OPENS MPLS NODES IN NAMIBIA AND MAURITIUSDimension Data-owned Internet Solutions is about to become the third pan-continental ISP on the continent, joining Africa Online and Mweb. It is looking to find 40% of its revenue from business outside South Africa over a four year period, writes Mapara Syed. It has opened MPLS nodes in Mauritius and Namibia and is clearly looking to capture international VoIP traffic. "We already have satellite services across the continent and provide services in every commercially viable country in Africa. Outside of South Africa we have an MPLS node in place in Namibia and we have just installed an MPLS node in Mauritius, which went live on Wednesday," said Jacques Rautenbach, the company's General Manager of their Africa Division. Internet Solutions is currently working with local telecoms companies in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to launch services there within three months under a "Broadband Africa" banner. "We are targeting terrestrial services in Kenya first, where we will install an MPLS node in Nairobi and then the long-term plan is to extend into Kampala and Dar Es Salaam," said, Rautenbach. According to him, in targeting East Africa Internet Solutions is looking to acquire a 20% stake in the market there. The company are also in discussions with several license providers in Zimbabwe and Botswana, disclosed Rautenbach.Internet Solutions will spend up to R20m this year to expand its footprint in Africa and more to set up offices further north in a bid to win local businesses and international firms with African branches. SA'S TELKOM SET TO OFFER TRIPLE-PLAY: VOICE, INTERNET AND BROADCASTTelkom hopes to begin trials within three months on a new broadband service called triple play, which includes Internet, music and video-on-demand. According to Steven White, Telkom executive for product development, the company is constantly looking at new ways to expand its services and triple play is an obvious step when one looks at the way things are developing in Europe and the US. “We are in the process of signing on around 400 selected customers to participate in the trial phase, which we hope to begin in August,” says White: "We have deals with M-Net and MultiChoice in terms of content provision and aim to offer DVD-quality broadcasts and video and music-on-demand, downloaded from a content server.” He says a big challenge remains as far as the billing system goes, but Telkom will work on this as the trial – which will be free for participants – progresses. “We had hoped to begin the trials earlier, but obviously we are dealing with a lot of content and a large delivery system, so there have been the occasional teething problems, but the trials will certainly begin soon,” he says. “There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered, such as when and what customers want in terms of content, and how often they want it, as all of these factors impact on the service and its delivery.” White claims that triple play will be an add-on service, so the standard bandwidth cap for downloading will not apply to something like video-on-demand. He points out that in Europe, the average family downloads one-and-a-half films per month, meaning the business case will not work as a standalone one. “There are also a number of copyright issues that go along with a service like this that we are in the process of sorting out with the relevant content owners, as well as the matter of content branding,” says White. “We don't want people to think Telkom is moving into the business of content provision – we most certainly are not.” Senegal's Sonatel is already running a "triple-play" service. (SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/ NETCOM AFRICA BRINGS 3G MOBILE BROADBAND TO NIGERIANigerians will be able to enjoy high speed broadband access while on the move and at a very affordable cost as Netcom Africa has introduced a new product called MyNetcom, to Nigeria. MyNetcom is claimed to be a first to the market, true non-line of sight (NLOS) wireless broadband solution, is based on the 3GG UMTS TD-CDMA (3G) standard. The Marketing Executive Officer, Mr. Chris Okelu, said in a statement that MyNetcom will be targeted at the individual PC users and it would greatly benefit the end users of the Internet. Okelu noted that the product is the best choice for provisioning ubiquitous broadband services for end users in Nigeria because of its unmatched performance and economics of the solution. Okelu said it has standards-based nature, and it is the growing market leader of the technology in commercial deployments."It affords consumers the freedom of portability and ease of plug-and-play, with no external mounted antenna required, supports peak download speeds of up to 3MBPS and can connect to any computer, laptop or mobile PC equipped with an Ethernet LAN network port." According to Okelu, end-users will have a choice of multiple service plans tailored to their utilization and budgets ranging from the basic, the off-peak hour plan, Home and professional plans. Okelu says Netcom has been licensed by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission and the Nigerian Communications Commission. (SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200505170706.html) NEO-NAZI SPAM INVADES AFRICAN HYPER-SPACEAfrican inboxes were flooded with massive amounts of German e-mail over the past week, believed to be the result of a Sober variant outbreak. The variant is unlikely to cause any harm to a user's PC, but is causing headaches by consuming high levels of bandwidth, says Symantec Africa regional manager Patrick Evans. “We have seen over the past 36 hours that network performance and bandwidth availability have been severely compromised in SA due to the traffic caused by the mass mailing of this worm.”Many local organisations are experiencing maximum bandwidth utilisation, compared to levels of 5% capacity seen on an average Sunday, says Evans. “This means that most corporate servers will experience difficulty in managing regular volumes of e-mail in addition to increased spam levels on Monday, 16 May.” Local spam levels have been up to six times higher than usual at times, adds Evans. Spam levels were predicted to drop off but showed no little sign of abating by 4pm GMT.An interesting aspect of the outbreak is the fact that many of the top addresses sending out the spam are local, says Evans. “Looking at the top 50, 36 are local addresses, and it is a similar story around the globe. For example, in Australia you will find that many of the top addresses are Australian. This is something we have never seen before.” Symantec partner AntiSpam Africa attributes this to a large number of South African PCs, infected with Trojan Horses and potentially part of a nationwide bot network, sending spam via local enterprise and corporate domain servers. Traditionally, SA receives spam from various international sources making this a unique threat, as local domains are the source. The fact that most of the spam arrives with German or German-related subject lines does not mean Germany is becoming a key player in sending spam, says BitDefender Romania technical support engineer Robert Panduru. He believes a German office or partner was recently infected with a mass mailer, which started to send out e-mails to all the people whose e-mail addresses were stored on the infected computers. (SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/ LIBYAN CYBER-DISSIDENT HELD WITHOUT CHARGES - NO NEWS AFTER 5 MONTHSThere is still no news of Libyan cyber-dissident Abdel Razak Al Mansouri five months after his arrest. He was detained in January for writing an article for an overseas web site that satirised a speech by Libya's President Kadhafi. The dissident site http://www.akhbar-libya.com is based in London and published Al Mansouri's article on 11 January. Ironically bookseller Mansouri was commenting on a speech by Kadhafi in which he affirmed the importance of "accepting different opinions." Two internet users who presented themselves as the sisters of Mansouri - Noria and Faiza - have wriiten messages of support on the Akhbar site and called on other Libyan internet users to sign a petition of support with their true names rather than pseudonyms. Mansouri is believed to be being held in a jail in Tripoli. (source: Reporters sans Frontières) IN BRIEF- Malawi's Dr Paulos Nyrenda is ahead of the curve in running an IPv6 test site on Malawi SDNP at http://www.ipv6.mw Go and find out whether you are running IPV6.
AFRICA A SOFTWARE PIRACY HUBAn International Data Corporation (IDC) report on global software piracy has found that 80% of all software sold in Africa is pirated. The global average piracy rate is 35% and SA's rate is slightly higher at 37%. According to the Global IDC Software Piracy Study released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in Johannesburg yesterday, Algeria, Kenya, Nigeria and Tunisia all rank in the mid- to high-80s, while Zimbabwe posts the highest software piracy figure of 90%. The IDC says Africa's economy is suffering to the tune of over USD1 billion as a result. The report, which covers 87 countries, says the piracy rate in the EMEA region has dropped slightly since last year, and now stands at 39% on average. However, illegal software still costs software companies and countries' economies more than USD15.5 billion in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and almost USD33 billion worldwide. Neil Dundas, a legal advisor to the BSA and a director at Bowman Gilfillan attorneys, notes that the statistics must be seen in context. He points out that the global piracy average dropped by 1% despite a massive increase in the number of PC users, an influx of new users from high-piracy market sectors such as consumers and small businesses, and the increasing availability of unlicensed software at online peer-to-peer file-sharing sites. "Unfortunately, the value of pirated software increased. Last year, the world spent over USD59 billion on PC software but installed more than USD90 billion. For every USD2 worth of software purchased legitimately, one was obtained illegally," Dundas says. "Piracy is seen as a quick fix, an easy way to benefit from technology without investing too much. People rarely think of the ethical or economic consequences of pirating software," says Stephan le Roux, chairman of the BSA. RWANDANS LOOKING TO SET UP E-PARLIAMENT TO GIVE CITIZENS ACCESSRwanda is searching for solutions to come up with an e-parliament, which will enable legislators to communicate not only among themselves, but also with their constituencies electronically, said the minister for energy and telecommunications, Albert Butare. At a national level the country is striving to create an e-government where ICT is central, writes Esther Nakkazi. "We are looking at making use of IT in our everyday activities now considering e-government where government communication will be electronically as much as possible," said Butare. The government has already implemented e-cabinet meetings, where meetings are electronically conducted, each minister seated on their computer and thereafter all information generated is sent online. Rwandan officials said all ministries are connected to the fibre optic cable except three and Teracom is in the final stages of connecting them. By this month all ministries would be connected to the fiber optic they said and the government would have structures in every ministry with an ICT department headed by a director. "We shall move to interministerial communication. No more use of bulk paper moving from ministry to ministry, or province to province. This is going to be entirely electronic communication," said Butare. The Rwandan government has a National Information Technological Infrastructure (NITI) plan addressing ICT related activities within the country in all government sectors. It is now five years old and addressing roll out of infrastructure. The programme ending this year is entering into NITI part 2 with a target to have all ministries make a quarterly report to the cabinet. Butare said the reports have to have all IT related activities within the ministries and would go down to provinces and districts or wherever IT activities take place. "These quarterly reports will be discussed by parliament and the deliberations will go into an annual meeting chaired by the president". AFRICAN COUNTRIES SLOW TO DRAW UP ICT POLICY STRATEGIESThere are only 28 countries in Africa with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy strategy papers, Timothy Kasolo. Economic Commission for Africa's (ECA) Atsuko Okuda says ICT policy status indicates that as from February 2005 15 countries in Africa are in the process of developing ICT policy documents, 28 countries already have the ICT policy documents and a total of 10 countries do not have any ICT policy development process. "The number of countries with ICT policies increased gradually in the past years with the following statistics 13 in 2000, 16 in 2002 and 28 in 2005," Okuda explained. She said the number of countries have completed the National Information and Communications Infrastructure (NICI) policies and plans. Okuda explained that there have been efforts scaled up to the harmonization of national ICT policies and plans at the sub regional levels. She observed that the NICI methodology is a more powerful tool in combination with SCAN-ICT initiatives. "SCAN-ICT is an initiative to monitor progress and achievements made in the information society," Okuda explained. She added that there are some countries that have used the NICI methodology such as Cameroon with in the final stage of ICT policy implementation, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through NICI methodology the government‚s intranet being set up and telecommunication reforms is underway. Other countries that have used the NICI methodology include Rwanda with the first plan that ends in 2005 and the evaluation underway for the NICI 2010 plan, Mali with ICT policy adopted and being implemented, Nigeria is expecting the draft implementation plan expected in September this year. Okuda was presenting a paper on the status and impacts of development of national and regional ICT policies, plans and strategies at the CODI IV meeting she works in the Development Information Services Division (DISD) of the ECA. TUNISIANS KEEN TO ACQUIRE BRAZILIAN OPEN SOURCE KNOW-HOWTunisia is interested in the Brazilian project for the diffusion of the use of open source and freeware, computer programs distributed freely and that are already being used at the main Brazilian public organizations so as to promote digital inclusion. "We believe that Brazil has had great progress in the sectors of computer technology and telecommunications. The country is currently developing a strategy that is very important for Tunisia and also for the other African and Arab countries, the freeware program. "We are very interested in this project and we want Brazil to help us in this matter," stated the Tunisian minister of Foreign Relation, Abdelbaki Hermassi. In November, Tunisia is going to host the second part of the World Summit on the Information Society, an event promoted by the United Nations (UN). The first edition took place in December 2003, in Geneva, Switzerland. One of the main objectives of the meeting will be the creation of mechanisms for digital inclusion and, according to Hermassi, the question of open source software should be one of the central points of discussion. "This is a way of reducing the distance there is between the countries that have access to technologies and the countries that do not. Open source will be an important ingredient in the Tunis summit and it will include Brazilian participation and (decisions from) this summit (between Arab and South American countries)," added the minister. The final declaration of the summit between Arab and South American countries, which took place this week, in Brazilian capital Brasília, "restates the importance of the second part of the World Summit on the Information Society" and suggests mass "high level" participation by the countries interested. The text recognizes the "positive impact" that communication and information technologies may have on the promotion of cooperation between countries and on the reduction of digital inequality between them. (SOURCE: http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/2421/49/) GX TECHNOLOGY TO OPEN NIGERIAN IMAGING CENTERGX Technology Corp. announced last week it is opening an advanced imaging center in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.The Port Harcourt center is the second of three advanced imaging centers scheduled to be opened this year by GX Technology. The first one opened last month in Caracas, Venezuela.GX Technology is a provider of image-driven seismic solutions and a subsidiary of Houston-based Input/Output Inc. Mick Lambert, president of GX Technology, says the Nigerian facility will provide oil and gas customers with resources, technology and customer service required to solve imaging problems in both marine and land environments. He added that oil company interest in West Africa continues to increase, and this center reinforces the company's commitment to closely align its resources with the needs of its customers. The Port Harcourt center will provide advanced seismic imaging services, including pre-stack time migration, pre-stack migration, advanced velocity model building and a full suite of time processing services. GX Technology's imaging solutions are designed to help oil and gas companies better visualize and evaluate their subsurface data to identify potential reservoirs and well locations, both onshore and offshore.The Port Harcourt center opening is part of a joint venture agreement between GX Technologies and Bulwark Services Unlimited. (SOURCE: http://www.bizjournals.com/ SA'S CSIR LAUNCHES AFRICAN ICT INSTITUTEAn African institute for information and communications technology was launched on Tuesday at the CSIR, in Pretoria, to coincide with world Telecommunications day. The Meraka Institute will focus on developing human resources and on the development and application of knowledge in information and communications technology (ICT). The institute, which is expected to play a role in equipping South Africans with world-class ICT skills, will focus on need-based research programmes, in cooperation with higher-education institutions. Similar programmes have already been under way for some two years, under the auspices of the CSIR's Open Source Centre, but have now been Consolidated into the Meraka Institute. The institute already has a Number of existing activities, as well as recognised partnerships, locally and internationally, with peer organisations. These include initiatives which focus on closing the `digital divide' in developing countries, human-language technologies, empowering disabled people and promoting large-scale computer literacy. In her speech at the launch ceremony, Communications Minister Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said that the institute represented an important step by the government to address key social and economic imperatives. "In today's economy, we know that knowledge is wealth," she added. Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom, also Present, said that he was confident that the body would lead the way in achieving an improved quality of life for South Africans through the innovative application of ICT. (SOURCE: http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/?show=67493) IN BRIEF- CFC Bank has picked Temenos Inc. to supply it with banking software. The bank's Managing Director Robert Barry said the software would enable the bank to change from I-Flex Solutions' micro-banker software. "Innovation in IT will give us competitive advantage in a changing banking market," Barry said. He said consistent provision of quality customer care to attract and retain a clientele had enabled the bank to play in the top league of the banking industry. The Temenos T24 banking software will enable the bank to undertake continuous processing despite the change of dates. The upgrade enhances CFC Bank's other innovative products, which include the 'anywhere banking' concept that allows customers to transact at any branch without incurring inter-branch charges. - Spanish technology firm, Amadeus, has launched a campaign to increase its share of the African market. Jean-Louis Richard, a director of the company in charge of Europe Middle East and Africa, said Amadeus was keen on growing its 40 per cent market share.
AIG AFRICAN INFRASTRUCTURE FUND RECEIVED USD214M FROM CELTEL SALEAIG African Infrastructure Fund received US$214 million in the recent sale of Celtel International to the Kuwait mobile operator, Mobile Telecommunications Company. EMP Global LLC said last week the sale was more than four times the US$50 million investment it made in Celtel. This demonstrates EMP's strength in delivering superior returns to its fund investors. Tom Gibian, Managing Director of EMP and Chief Operating Officer of the Africa Fund, expressed delight with the group's investment in Celtel, its first and largest investment in Africa. He said Africa Fund could now add to its legacy the achievement of a "truly superb exit" for its investors in a manner that provides an excellent return on the capital invested. "Over the past five years, Celtel has earned a reputation for its sound corporate governance, solid operating performance and robust financial results. As such, it has attracted a respected telecommunications (MTC) of Kuwait to Africa" Gibian said in a statement. The Celtel transaction, which exchanged hands at US$3.36 billion, marked a historic milestone for EMP in Africa. As of March, the Africa Fund had committed US$351 million to 15 firms across Africa engaged in various sectors, including telecoms, agri-business, transport, energy, oil, gas and media. Gibian said EMP Africa would continue to work on achieving successful returns for its investment, and it expects significant realisations would be achieved in 2005. "EMP Africa's objective is to remain a leading player in private equity in Africa," he said. Celtel operates cellular networks and one fixed line network in Sub Saharan Africa. Gibian said since the Africa Fund's initial investment in the company in April 2000, Celtel had grown its subscriber base from 44,000 to over 6 million and was currently operating in 13 countries. In 2004, Celtel recorded revenues of US$714 million and net profits of US$147 million. This amounts to an increase of 58 per cent and 101 per cent respectively over the previous year. (source: The East African Standard)
APCON WEBSITE SET TO TAKE OFFThe Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) is now set to open its own website. Hitherto, information on APCON had been available on the net only via the Federal Government's Ministry of Information website. The APCON Regis-trar/Chief Executive, Dr. Josef Bel-Molokwu, said in a press statement that the opening of APCON's own dedicated site would greatly enhance its operations and most importantly answer to the needs of followers of Nigerian advertising the world over. He gave the address as: www.apcon.gov.ng and gave the assurance that it operation would provide ready access to information on APCON and its operations, as well as provide advisory services like those enabling global advertisers to identify bona fide practitioners or agencies with good records of complying with advertising ethics and regulations. Available information would also include a synopsis of the Code of Advertising Practice, full text of the Register of Advertising Practitioners, as well as modalities for registration, vetting, disciplinary procedures, diploma in Advertising examinations, training programmes, publications, prices of all APCON products/services and research reports. Dr. Bel-Molokwu regretted that APCON had not opened a website before now, but emphasised that it was imperative to first develop capacity in terms of finances and site management before dabbling into domain ownership. "APCON is poised for an active website, which would be perennially updated, rather than one with stale or obsolete information," he said. (SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200505170650.html) NEW RWANDAN WEBSITE FOR THE BLINDA new website is to be launched this month for blind people, according to Gastone Rusiha, the city vice mayor in charge of social welfares. The website is to create awareness among the blind on the problems faced by handicapped people in Rwanda, he said during a two-day seminar held at the Presbyterian Church of Rwanda in Kiyovu. Rusiha did not explain how blind people would access the website. The vice mayor was accompanied by Dr. James Ndahiro, the head of the umbrella association for the disabled, who said, "This website will provide news on the conditions of people with disabilities". Part of the plan for the website is to dispel myths on handicapped people, and create a public awareness on the need for special programme to improve on their living standards. "Many people believe that people with disabilities cannot contribute to development like other people, said Thomas Ongolo, an official from the secretariat of the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities. "Our culture has been hindering people with disabilities, making them live without hope. This is not right because disability is not inability," Rusiha said. The function was also attended by the State Minister for Local government, Christine Nyatanyi, who said most persons with disabilities in Rwanda require special attention because of their unique experiences during the 1994 Genocide. (SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200505170170.html) IN BRIEF- As the last event in its Internet Week, Burkina Faso held a web night on 14 May. A distinguished jury awarded prizes called "Gambrés" to six different types of web sites. The winners were: Education: Gold (CETO); Silver (Messrs); and Bronze (Bali Nebie) Companies: Gold (Sonapost); Silver (ZCP) and Bronze (CAMEG) Culture and Crafts: Gold (MCAT); Silver (ATB); and Bronze (JAZZ à Ouaga) Civil Society: Gold (FBF); Silver (NTBF) and Bronze (APSBF) Public sect: Gold (DPIC); Silver (IGB) and Bronze (MFB) Press: Gold (L'Observateur Paalga); Silver (Fasonet) and Bronze (Le Pays) 6 - Organe de presse : - Tel: +972-54-233261
PEOPLE- Mthunzi Mdwaba, executive chairman of Torque IT, has been elected as chairman of the Black Information Technology Forum (BITF) Gauteng region. Mdwaba will represent the region for the next two years. In addition, 10 new executive committee members, including Mdwaba, have been elected for the Gauteng region. One of the BITF's biggest achievements to date has been its role in the ICT empowerment charter and its contribution to drafting some of the major clauses affecting black professionals, says Mdwaba. “It was through organisations like the BITF, that called for a charter document that will define the industry and help the government in its transformation drive, that an initiative to form an ICT charter took place. Today it is coming to fruition and this will help us as the BITF to remain effective in the sector.” Mdwaba is the former secretary of the organisation and has served the BITF for the past three years. - Gateway Communications has appointed Chris Lundh as the new General Manager of its Enterprise Voice and Data division. Lundh will be based in Johannesburg, taking responsibility for the management and future expansion of Gateway's voice and data product lines to its enterprise customers in South Africa and across the continent. USA-born Lundh takes up the position of General Manager with immediate effect, although he has worked for Gateway Communications as a consultant since December 2003. Lundh brings a wealth of local and market knowledge to the position, gained in senior roles for a number of leading African telecommunications companies. In 1996 he became MD of Africa online, the largest African ISP, before moving to communications provider Telecel in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as Director General. He also established the wireless service provider Afritel, and between 2000 and 2002 he was based in Bolivia, where he founded the mobile telecoms company VIVA GSM. - Nigeria's Mobitel has denied a newspaper's report that the current President/CEO, Engr. Charles Joseph was planning to leave the company. EVENTSGSM IN EAST AND CENTRAL AFRICA 2005 2 and 3 June in Mombasa, Kenya. For further information on the GSM in East & Central Africa 2005, you may visit: http://www.gsmconferences.com/gsmceafrica/main_default.asp TELECOMS TRANSITION 2005 Managing Disruption and Innovation in the Telecoms Industry 27-29 June 2005, Lisbon For more information visit http://www.iir-conferences.com/a.cfm?id=9876 WINTER SCHOOL IN LINUX AS A TOOL FOR SCIENCE The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences is hosting a fully sponsored course (travel, board and lodging included) in the use of Free and Open Source applications and tools for scientific modelling from 11 July to 5 August. AIMS invites South African lecturers and researchers in any of the mathematical sciences to apply. The course will include running a Linux Desktop, modelling with Octave and Gnuplot, and programming for scientists with Python. Read more at www.aims.ac.za and download an application form here. JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIESWOMEN IN BUSINESS AND ICT'S ADVISOR The assignment is likely to last up to six months under the following terms: Settling in grant, personal accident insurance; economy class return ticket; a tax free monthly allowance to cover modest housing and personal costs in the country of assignment. If the contract is extended beyond six months, there is an extenders leave and ticket to your home country may be provided. The Commonwealth Service Abroad Programme (CSAP) seeks candidates from Commonwealth member countries for assignments in Kenya and Cameroon who would be required to undertake the following; - Facilitate an assessment of needs in the project countries and support establishment of data bases on existing frameworks for support for women entrepreneurs. - Facilitate stakeholder consultation and development of institutional capacity and structural support for women entrepreneurs in a designated country. - Network and create links with other organisations (in government, private sector and civil society and networks to provide national and international linkages for support to women entrepreneurs. - Provide technical support in the development of a website with information on the network, support services, contact information regarding different stakeholders, mentoring etc. - Training in ICT's would be provided with support of partner organisations to key people who would help manage the website. - Support capacity enhancement and training activities on the basis of findings of the needs assessments and institutional development. DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS:
TO APPLY:
Visit our website: http://www.thecommonwealth.org for more details on the Commonwealth Secretariats work and CSAP. CLOSING DATE: MONDAY, 30 MAY 2005.
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