BLOGGING AND PODCASTING START TO TAKE OFF IN AFRICA: FIRST MOBILE PHONE PODCAST FROM ACCRA? Telecoms news Internet news Computing news Digital toolbox On the money Web news People, events, jobs...

COMING SOON: Highway Africa special and an interview with Kai Wulff of KDN

The first part of African Internet Country Market Profiles is out now... and web ordering now in place.. The long awaited first part of Balancing Act's African Internet Country Market Profiles is now out and covers 22 countries in West Africa. It also contains a summary overview of the internet in these countries and a look at the coming legalisation of VoIP in West Africa: who will be the winners and losers? To see the contents: http://www.balancingact-africa.com/profile1.html To order: http://www.balancingact-africa.com/publications.html You can now order by credit card direct from this web site.

WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday.

For country-by-country information on internet, telecoms and computing in English go to: http://www.afridigital.net

L’edition mensuelle en francais: L’edition mensuelle en francais de Balancing Act’s News Update donne des informations sur les derniers developpements en matiere de Telecoms, Internet et Informatique en Afrique. Si vous voulez vous abonner a News Update, envoyez simplement un message en francais "Je veux m’abonner à l’édition en français de Balancing Act’s News Update" a info@balancingact-africa.com. Si vous voulez annuler votre abonnement, il suffit d’envoyer un message en francais "Je veux annuler mon abonenment à l’édition en français de Balancing Act’s News Update" a la meme adresse email.

2005 RATE CARD AVAILABLE
To see a copy of our rate card for 2005, e-mail a request to: (info@balancingact-africa.com) Don't get left behind. Be seen and known through advertising in our e-letter and on our web-site.

ISSUE NO 267

Above is an extract from the weblog of Andy Carvin (www.AndyCarvin.com), Director of the Digital Divide Network (www.DigitalDivide.net). This blog was posted after Carvin hosted a master class and practical, action workshop designed to demonstrate new internetworking technologies including blogging, podcasting, and bandwidth and technology allowing, mobcasting and videoblogging in Ghana last week. Carvin made (with a local blogger) what may turn out to be the first podcast using a mobile phone with a video camera (see: http://www.andycarvin.com/archives/2005/07/smartphonebluet_1.html )

Having written about the difficulties of getting bandwidth, Carvin met a local blogger at BusyInternet named Mustapha introduced himself. As Carvin tells it:"As we chatted, he saw my Treo 600 phone and he said that he just got a Treo 650, which has both video and bluetooth. I told him about my blog, so we decided to see how hard it would be to use the treo for video blogging here in Ghana. He shot 30 seconds of me talking about video blogging, and he beamed it to my laptop via Bluetooth. I then compressed it as two Quicktime files, one 500k and the other 1.5 megs, then uploaded it via the wi-fi hotspot at the BusyInternet restaurant".

The blogging and podcasting workshop was organised by the Technology Assessment Project, University of Ghana and the Technical University of Denmark, in association with African Security Dialogue and Research and www.AfricaTalks.org, and was held at the main offices of African Security Dialogue and Research in Accra last Thursday.

This workshop reflects the growing popularity across Ghana and the African continent of blogging and its associated formats, which has become a worldwide phenomenon. “Blogging is not as big in Africa as it is in other parts of the world but is has been coming up fairly new over the past couple of years, specifically in the last year,” said Ethan Zuckerman, one of the founders of the Blog Africa project. Set up in the summer of 2004, www.blogafrica.com features a comprehensive list of blogs from and about Africa, and collects content from these various blogs.

A weblog, usually shortened to blog, is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles, normally in reverse chronological order explained Zuckerman. “Blogging is a new word for the old phenomenon of personal publishing. What makes blogging distinct is that it is created for personal use rather than for an institution,” he said. “Many of the African related weblogs we have encountered have been set up by expatriat Africans talking about their experiences living elsewhere in the world, as well as Africans based on the continent,” he added.

Blogs can range from individual diaries to arms of political campaigns, media programs, and corporations and they can vary in scale from the writings of one occasional author, to the collaboration of a large community of writers. “Blogging is growing across the continent particularly in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Ghana but there is already a large established local blogging community in South Africa and Kenya and much of the content in these blogs are either political, satirical or technological,” he added.

While some weblogs can be non-interactive, many allow visitors to leave public comments, which can lead to a community of readers centered around the blog. “Recently, through the commentary, we have noticed in Africa some very interesting dialogue between African bloggers. For example, there have been stimulating conversations between bloggers criticising the recent Live 8 events, which has been interesting,” said Zuckerman. “Through this kind of dialogue we literally have Nigerians and Kenyans going at each other, which can be exciting,” he exclaimed.

Since the introduction of blogging, a number of software packages have appeared to allow people to create their own personal weblog, while enhancements to weblog technology continue to be developed. Blog hosting sites and Web services to provide editing via the Web have proliferated such as Pitas, Blogger and LiveJournal. “To set up an account on these sites is usually free or sometimes may require a small fee. Setting up a weblog is easy; it is harder to promote a weblog and attract visitors,” said Zuckerman.

Some weblogs specialize in particular forms of presentation or on a particular theme, and acronyms have been developed for some of these, such as vlog for videoblog, which is primarily a medium for distributing video content, and moblogs for mobileblog, which consists of content posted to the Internet from a mobile or portable device, such as a cellular phone or PDA. One of the types of blog that has undergone rapid expansion since the year 2000 is the MP3 blog, which make audio files available to the user. MP3 blogs are normally targeted at highly specialized musical genres, however, personal audioblogs have been rising rapidly.

Termed as “Podcasting”, this is a method of publishing via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed of new files, usually MP3s. It became popular in late 2004, largely to automate downloading of audio onto portable players or personal computers.

Podcasting is distinct from other types of online media delivery because of its subscription model, which uses the RSS 2.0 XML (or RDF XML) format to deliver an enclosed file. Podcasting enables independent producers to create self-published, syndicated "radio shows," and gives broadcast radio programs a new distribution method. Listeners may subscribe to feeds using "podcatching" software (a type of aggregator), which periodically checks for and downloads new content automatically.

Some podcatching software is also able to synchronise (copy) podcasts to portable music players. “There is a lot of hype surrounding this new phenomenon of podcatsing at the moment. Specifically, it has been hailed as the alternative to commercial radio,” said Zuckerman. “However, it has not caught on in Africa as quickly as it has elsewhere,” he added. According to Zuckerman, this is primarily due to technical limitations as the upload bandwidth in Africa is not sufficient enough for uploading MP3 files and the fact that a server is needed to host audio blogging, which is also lacking in Africa. The bandwidth issue also hinders the development of videoblogging and mobile blogging in Africa as well as the cost of video camera phones, which also presents a challenge.

Despite certain technological drawbacks, Zuckerman believes that Africa is just as ahead of the curve in some aspects of blogging as it is behind. “Something that is not unique to Africa but has become very predominant there is linking. When you can find one blogger, you normally can find the rest of the community,” he explained.

“Also, another exciting development there is that many weblogs have emerged in local languages like Swahili for example. Often, these blogs offer translations of other blogs, which opens up a whole new audience and community,” added Zuckerman.

Some very popular African blogs include: www.kenyanpundit.com by Ory Okolloh; http://thinkersroom.blogspot.com/ which posts blogs anonymously; www.meskelsquare.com by Andrew Heavens, a journalist in Ethiopia; http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/ by a Nigerian Human Rights activist based in Spain; and http://jikomboe.blogspot.com/ the leading Swahili blog by Tanzanian Ndsanjo Macha.

For more information about the recent workshop In Accra and its significance visit www.andycarvin.com.

INVESTORS SET TO INJECT USD200M INTO EASSY FIBRE PROJECT

Over USD200m in investment interest has been made by African telecom operators to develop the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) after an initial data gathering meeting in Cape Town, South Africa.

The EASSy project is a 9,900km undersea fibre optic cable aimed at linking eastern Africa to the world.

The meeting was held to formally announce the project to a commercial, telecommunications and banking audience to attract equity investment and capacity commitment for the scheme.

"This meeting was designed as an initial drive to raise interest in the EASSy project. We are delighted with the unprecedented level of investment interest. There are strong indications that almost exclusively, investors from the eastern and southern region will fund the project," Sammy Kirui, the chairman of the EASSy management committee, said in a statement recently.

Kirui said due to the success of the data gathering meeting, the project's management committee would proceed rapidly with the next phase of the project.

"A detailed tender will be issued to suppliers with a view of beginning construction early in 2006," he said.

The EASSy cable system, which is the final link in the telecommunications network, is supposed to be operational by the middle of 2007, bringing with it unprecedented opportunities for economic and social growth throughout the continent.

The project has support from the African telecommunications industry like uganda telecom and MTN Uganda, governments and development agencies like the World Bank, Development Group of South Africa, African Development Bank and the New Partnership for African Development.

(SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200507190106.html)

MOBITEL INJECTS TS35BN INTO SERVICES, INFRASTRUCTURE

MIC Tanzania Limited (Mobitel) has announced a major reinvestment of some TS35bn geared at improving its services in the coming 12 month-span. Company Director of Sales and Marketing Roney Mtawali revealed this at a recent dinner organised for Members of Parliament in Dodoma.

Mtawali said the sum was meant for the improvement of the whole infrastructure, such as base stations and telephone towers , which would ensure a better network, coverage, customer services and services distribution countrywide.

He said that Mobitel embarked on the massive investment to ensure the company's services were available in 'every town today' and 'every locality tomorrow'. 'We have been working around the clock to realise this ambition since last year,' said Mtawali, adding that through this spirit, Mobitel had already constructed 155 base stations and telephone towers. He said from the decisions and efforts taken so far, the number of the base stations and telephone towers would go to up to 300 by March 2006. 'The aim is to have our services available in every locality within a 12 month span from today,' he said.

(SOURCE: http://www.ippmedia.com/ipp/guardian/2005/07/21/44977.html)

KENYAN GOVT FAILS TO FIND ENOUGH FROM SAFARICOM SALE TO FUND TELKOM KENYA REDUNANDCY PROGRAMME

Kenya Telkom's plans to make 12,000 of its employees redundant may have suffered a setback because the Kenya Government has failed to find the amount of money it was looking for from its sale of its 11% stake in Safaricom. Vodafone's bid of USD100 for the stake appears to have been turned down last week. The decision on the bid gas been delayed for well over six months, presumably to allow time for the redundancy package to be costed. The Government will need somewhere between USD146.8-304m to fund the whole package including pension costs.

Managing Director Sammy Kirui last week described the retrenchment programme as sensitive, saying the Board of Directors had resolved put the plans on hold. Kirui, who was addressing Telkom staff in Mombasa, said the programme must get Cabinet approval before implementation.

Kirui said the company had not decided on the number of workers to be retrenched because there were contentious issues between the consultant and the management. He, however, said retrenchment was necessary to return the firm to return to profitability.

Meanwhile, Kirui said Telkom was in a major financial crisis. He said the staff pension scheme was under-funded to the tune of Sh8 billion because of low sale of new telephone lines, old equipment, lack of morale among workers and theft."Telkom still enjoys monopoly and has the potential to make profits. All we need is to upgrade our network and have a motivated workforce," Kirui said. He urged workers to ensure telephone lines are in working condition and customers are not charged inflated bills. This, he said, would enable the firm regain its market share that is being eaten into by alternative service providers.

Whether or not the Government will sell the stake is completely unclear. Information and Communications Minister Raphael Tuju told Parliament: "The offer from Vodafone is (for an) 11 per cent shareholding in

Safaricom, which would have given Vodafone a 51 per cent shareholding

which effectively gives them the majority shareholding. The answer is we are not selling the shares."

Meanwhile Permanent Secretary for Information and Communications James Rege told a cocktail party hosted by Safaricom:""The Government is indeed considering the viability of this

Transaction." If the Government fails to sell the Safaricom stake, it will have no strategy whatsoever for funding the redundancy package and Telkom Kenya will have taken one step closer to bankruptcy.

(SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200507200901.html)

SOUTH AFRICA'S ICASA MULLS MOVES TO CUT MOBILE PRICES

South Africa's telecoms regulator is considering imposing new rules on the country's mobile operators, the watchdog said, after competition between the three firms has failed to bring down prices.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) said in a document released late on Monday it would investigate whether high prices are justified and whether there is sufficient competition in the market or more regulation is needed.

Vodacom, South Africa's biggest mobile phone company, and third-ranked Cell C had no immediate comment but said they would make statements shortly. No one at MTN was immediately available for comment.

High telecoms costs in Africa's biggest economy have been blamed for deterring foreign investors and impeding a boom in the call centre industry, which experts say has huge potential given that South Africa shares a time zone with western Europe.

ICASA last week unveiled stricter pricing rules for state-controlled Telkom, which has a virtual monopoly on South Africa's fixed-line network and has been accused by businesses and consumers of unfairly inflating prices.

The probe on mobile pricing came after a consumer group, the Communication Users Association of South Africa (CUASA), asked ICASA to investigate what it called the "obscene" cost of cell phone calls, arguing companies were ripping off customers.

ICASA said it had received several complaints about the cost of mobile calls and that the arrival of Cell C as a third mobile operator in November 2001 had failed to bring down prices.

"A regulator has a clear role to play as a proxy for competition where the presence of competitors alone is not sufficient to bring down costs of communication services and protect consumer interests," it said.

If the investigation shows that companies are profiteering, the regulator may force them to cut prices, but it will probably face a battle with cell phone companies, who will argue ICASA has no right to cap prices in a competitive environment, experts say.

ICASA is already probing the practice by operators of luring customers into lengthy contracts with the offer of a free handset and charging them huge fees if they cancel the subscription.

The regulator will also look into why text messaging is so much more expensive in South Africa than in other countries and why making calls from abroad is so pricy.

Vodacom is majority owned by fixed-line company Telkom and 35 percent held by Britain's Vodafone. Cell C is unlisted.

A mobile-to-mobile call costs roughly $0.54 per minute in South Africa compared with $0.39 in Hungary, $0.014 in the Czech Republic and $0.15 in Spain, all of which have at least three operators, according to ICASA.

(SOURCE: http://za.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type
=businessNews&storyID=2005-07-19T143221Z_01_BAN952332
_RTRIDST_0_OZABS-TELECOMS-SAFRICA-MOBILE-20050719.XML)

GSM TARIFFS TOO HIGH IN NIGERIA, SAYS SUBSCRIBER SURVEY

Mobile subscribers in Nigeria are still convinced that the current charges for both voice and data by GSM operators are too high. In a country where the majority of citizens earn well below N5,000 per month, it does not seem reasonable to expect individuals to expend a minimum of N3,000 monthly on servicing their phones.

GSM voice tariffs on prepaid hover around 80kobo per second (N48 per minute), and with operator-imposed validity periods, subscribers are compelled to spend more money to enjoy basic communications. But it does not end with voice services only.

In a recent survey by GoSmartMobile.com http://www.gosmartmobile.com/ , 90% of respondents on GSM networks also say that GSM data services are over-priced and that they would be willing to cross over to a CDMA network offering better data tariffs. While CDMA subscribers were firm in their conviction that they preferred their network's data charges to those of GSM networks, they also indicated that they were still not very comfortable with the tariffs.

Telecoms analysts are generally of the opinion that CDMA networks' prevailing tariffs give them an excellent opportunity to turn their lots around by attracting the mass market when the proposed Unified licencing Scheme takes off.

(SOURCE: Cyberschuulnews)

SACKED SENEGALESE REGULATOR QUESTIONED BY DIC OVER EMBEZZLEMENT CHARGES

Sacked Senegalese regulator Malick Gueye underwent ten hours interrogation at the Department of Criminal Investigations in connection with allegations of embezzlement. This investigation was initiated after the discovery of a FCFA550 million hole in the accounts of regulator ART.

The hole seems to have arisen out of a number of things relating to the period 2002-2005 including: high salaries paid to staff, establishment costs and redundancy package of the former Secretary-General. It is alleged that Gueye took the sum of FCFA108 million as a redundancy package without getting this agreement signed off by ART's management.

Malick Gueye denies all the charges.

(sources: various including Le Soleil)

MAURITANIAN OPERATOR MATTEL UPGRADES PREPAY PLATFORM

Mattel (la Mauritano-Tunisienne de Telecommunications) in Mauritania has awarded a Prepaid System upgrade and expansion contract to Tecnomen. This delivery consists of additional prepaid value added services such as Discount Based on Usage, Bonus Based on Recharge, Mobile Originated SMS Recharge and Balance Query.

"Mattel functions in a very competitive environment, and we need to offer high quality services in order to maintain and possibly increase our top position. We chose to expand and upgrade Tecnomen's existing reliable, flexible and feature rich Prepaid System in order to cater to growing subscriber demand in Mauritania. Tecnomen's Prepaid System is a crucial component of Mattel's GSM network, as 98% of our subscribers are Prepaid-customers. We are very happy with the professional after sales support that is provided by Tecnomen to an emerging operator such as ours", remarks Mr Mohamed Hadj Khalifa, General Manager, Mattel.

IN BRIEF

- Nigeria’s four biggest mobile operators – MTN, Vee Networks, Nitel GSM and Globacom – have teamed up to lobby the government for an extension to their tax exemption status. United as the GSM Consultative Forum, the cellcos are asking the state to relieve them of the mandatory tax on their profits for another five years to help them sustain the rapid development of the mobile sector. The tax exemption status granted to all four operators expires next year.

- Egypt’s grand mufti, Ali Gomaa, has deemed the use of verses from the Holy Quran as ringing tones on mobile phones as insulting to Islam, Egyptian newspapers reported last week. “Such a use is unacceptable because it trivialises the Holy Book,” the cleric, the highest Egyptian authority on Islamic law, told students in Alexandria. “Therefore it is haram (prohibited) by Islam," he added. Egyptian newspapers carry scores of advertisements offering downloadable ringing tones ranging from Quranic verses to jokes and the latest Arab pop songs.

- The expansion of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe’s network has almost been completed, with the only outstanding work being the completion of the long distance microwave system linking Bulawayo to Harare. The expansion plan has cost over USD35 million, and the cellco hopes to have capacity for 500,000 customers by the end of 2005.

TELECOMS, RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGE

* Cell C is confident that it will meet its licence obligation to roll out 52 000 community service telephones (CST) to under-serviced areas nation-wide by 2008. To date, Cell C has rolled-out over 20 000 lines, which are owned by more than 4 000 entrepreneurs and are recording 45m calls a month. This in itself is claimed to be ahead of initial targets, considering that Cell C's CSTs were only launched in mid-2003.

* Nigerian Minister for Communications, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, said last week, that the National Rural Telephony Project would take off by December, with 210 out of the 774 local governments of the federation. Adebayo said the base stations in some of these local government areas would be switched on very soon. According to him, "by the end of this year, the National Rural Telephony Project would take off in earnest, and any moment from now, we shall be switching on some of the base stations. The intention is to ignite the entire local government of the federation through this project, starting with 210 of them."

* Orange Madagascar is going to lower its tariffs in 11 districts of Grande île following an agreement signed with GulfSat that operates "tele-cabines" in the district. Districts include: Ankazobe, Ambilobe, Bealanana, Belo/Tsiribihina, Fandriana, Mananara Avaratra, Mandritsara, Maroantsetra, Sakaraha, Tsaratanàna et Vangaindrano

* Kenya's GSM network operator, Safaricom, has opened its ninth fully-fledged customer care center at the Moi International Airport, Mombasa.

3G INTERNET BOOM ON ITS WAY IN SOUTH AFRICA, SAYS BMI

South Africa is set to achieve nearly 870 000 broadband access subscribers by 2009, says BMI-TechKnowledge's latest report.

This figure represents access to the Internet using PCs. An additional 4.4 million subscribers will use 3G services on cellular phones by then, says the report.

"The good news is that rapidly falling broadband service prices will have a significant impact on the rate of penetration of broadband in the market, but the flip side is that the overall market will remain relatively backward compared to developed countries in the short- to medium-term," says Tertia Smit, a BMI-T analyst and co-author of the report.

The report, based on a combination of research and analysis processes, investigates the deployment of wireless networking and broadband access in SA. It updates BMI-T's 2004 research on broadband and wireless in SA.

The report also focuses on the emergence of wireless loops, which will in future be used to provide both voice and Internet services, and the growth of broadband access through various types of fixed-line and wireless connectivity, Smit says.

According to the report, the aggressive push into broadband wireless data by Vodacom and MTN will affect fixed mobile convergence. This will in turn affect the creation of new market growth opportunities, especially for business users.

"The dominant impact will be to create new market growth opportunities centred around mobility, especially for business users, rather than to be a straight substitute for a fixed-line – or even fixed wireless – access connection,” Smit says.

This will result in the average business user having multiple connections, driving new growth in overall subscriber numbers.

The role of wireless technologies like TD-CDMA, CDMA2000 and WiMAX connectivity will also be expanded.

A shift is already being observed as traditional fixed-line service providers move to incorporate more fixed wireless access in response to newly licensed wireless access providers and mobile cellular operator offerings, the report says.

A number of WiMAX trials, conducted by fixed-line and mobile cellular operators, Internet service providers and some metro councils, are also in progress.

The report also forecasts that WiMAX-enabled notebooks will likely enter the South African market from 2006, and that by 2009, the majority of notebooks sold will likely have the Intel Centrino and Rosedale chips embedded. However, the impact of WiMAX in terms of actual network roll-out and user adoption remains a wildcard at this stage of market development.

Broadband growth

According to the report, the growth of Internet access revenues will more than double, growing from R2.5 billion in 2004 to about R5.8 billion in 2009. ADSL will account for the largest share of revenue, with business revenue contributing about two-thirds.

This reflects the relatively low level of residential penetration as compared with most developed countries, where home users typically account for the majority of connections and 50% of revenues.

However, SA will follow a worldwide trend, in that ADSL will continue to account for the majority of all broadband connections over the forecast period.

"However, despite the price/performance improvements and accelerated growth over the next five years, unless service offerings reach even higher levels than the report's forecasts suggest, SA will remain in the doldrums relative to developed world standards," concludes Smit.

(SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2005/0507181036.asp?A=WAG&O=W)

NETCOM'S 3G MOBILE BROADBAND SOLUTION LAUNCHED IN NIGERIA

Axcera, a leading manufacturer and integrator of best-of-breed technology for the broadband wireless access industry, and Netcom Africa Limited, a leading IP infrastructure provider of satellite and wireless broadband solutions in Africa, have announced that Netcom's 3G mobile broadband wireless service offering, using the IPWireless-based Axity3G non-line-of-site (NLOS) broadband wireless access solution, will become commercially available in July 2005.

Initial coverage of the urban centers within Lagos, Nigeria's most populated state, beginning in mid-July, will be soon followed by roll-outs in other key markets, including Port Harcourt, Kano and Abuja, the nation's capital. The system will cover a total population of over 15 million, making it one of the largest broadband wireless deployments of its kind in Africa.

The service offering, branded MyNetcom, will be available to the end user both directly through Netcom and through the company's exclusive network of resellers, with a limited number of modems being made available in mid July for those wishing to be among the first to subscribe to the service.

The timeliness of this initial deployment was made possible by the commitment and dedication of Netcom, Axcera and IPWireless to meet the aggressive deadlines set forth to bring the system on line. According to Brian J. Kim, manager of sales and marketing for Netcom, "We are very excited about our imminent release of MyNetcom 3G Mobile Broadband to the Nigerian market. Collaborating with world-class partners like Axcera and IPWireless has facilitated a seamless execution of Netcom's go-to-market strategy for this integral component of our best-in-class product suite."

Axcera's IPWireless-based "Axity3G" solution will allow Netcom to offer services never before available in Nigeria. Kim added, "MyNetcom operates according to the 3GPP UMTS UTRA TD-CDMA standard, offering non-line-of-sight service that allows mobile wireless broadband data access anywhere within the Netcom network. The plug and play MyNetcom modem will fit in your pocket and subscribers will have a choice of affordable, unlimited access monthly service plans. Simply put, MyNetcom will change the way Nigerians use the Internet."

Pursuant to its goal of bringing broadband access to the African population, upon completion of the nationwide Nigeria build-out Netcom plans to broaden its reach with expansion into various other African countries. According to David Neff, president and chief executive officer of Axcera, "The launch of this initial service offering is the first step in bringing affordable, reliable broadband wireless access to Nigeria. Axcera is excited to continue its relationship with Netcom to complete the nationwide Nigerian build-out on schedule and to continue implementing systems throughout Africa."

With Axity3G, coverage is achieved through an air interface, significantly minimizing deployment time and installation cost when compared to copper or fiber based systems, while at the same time offering true mobility. The plug-and-play capability of the pocket- sized modem allows simple user installation, minimizing or eliminating the need for costly and time consuming truck rolls. The mobile broadband solution is based on UMTS TDD, the part of the 3GPP family of standards that is optimized for high-speed data transmission.

TELKOM-CONTROLLED ADSL PRICE WAR LOOMS

Following Telkom's June announcement that it will drop its ADSL pricing by 18% and 31% depending on the ADSL product, smaller Internet service providers (ISPs) say they will also bring ADSL prices down.

The latest to do so is Adept Internet, which has announced ADSL price cutbacks with immediate effect, offering capped 3GB for R179 and 30GB for R358. Other ISPs like Imaginet have also said they will drop their prices.

"The prices can be dropped because the South African Internet eXchange (SAIX) has dropped its prices for ISPs," says Jacques Pieterse, MD of Adept Internet.

SAIX is a Telkom subsidiary that is the wholesale provider of raw connectivity to the Internet for southern African ISPs.

However, even with the price reductions, Imaginet CEO Darren Miller says Telkom is still controlling the floor prices so ISPs can "only go so low with prices and still remain profitable".

An ADSL connection consists of three components: a monthly line rental, a price for ADSL access service and an ISP charge for Internet access via the ADSL service.

"The first two are controlled by Telkom and nobody else can legally provide an alternative," says telecoms analyst Ant Brooks.

Therefore Telkom dictates these portions of the ADSL cost, while ISPs have some control over the third cost component - an ISP charge for Internet access via the ADSL service - says Brooks.

While ISPs have some control over the third cost component, they must either pay Telkom for the ability to connect their networks to Telkom's ADSL infrastructure or buy access accounts from SAIX on a wholesale basis and resell them to their customers, he adds.

"So Telkom controls the underlying costs to the ISPs and at present Telkom's pricing for both scenarios is very high and ISPs are essentially forced to keep their profit margins on ADSL services close to negligible in order to be able to compete with Telkom's own ADSL offering."

At present there are no checks and balances in place to ensure the ADSL retail offerings from Telkom Internet have the same input costs as other ISPs, he says.

So while ISPs using IPConnect to connect to Telkom's ADSL infrastructure must pay tens of thousands of rands per month, Telkom does not connect to the ADSL infrastructure via IPConnect, instead using largely the same infrastructure as Telkom uses for the underlying networks, says Brooks.

"So essentially Telkom Internet can reduce the ISP charge portion of its ADSL offerings below the cost of providing that part of the service, since Telkom still profits from the first two components."

Given this, there is really no way for ISPs to fairly compete with Telkom Internet for the provision of ADSL services, Brooks adds.

The ISPs are still not satisfied that Telkom's price reductions are enough.

"Yes, they have lowered the prices but not by as much as we would have liked, but at least it is a step in the right direction," says Imaginet's Darren Miller.

"And the pricing is still not internationally competitive."

"I do not believe that we will see significant competition as far as quality of service goes until ISPs have direct access to the loop," says Brooks.

It is hard to see how there could be a true 'price war' for ADSL services in SA, given that Telkom ultimately controls all of the costs of providing the service, and the retail arm of Telkom Internet does not have any of the same input costs as its competitors, he adds.

"All that competitors can do in response to a reduction in the Internet access portion of the charge from Telkom Internet is to reduce their margins even closer to zero and hope that the market gets some true competition before Telkom forces them out of the marketplace altogether."

The growth and importance of high-speed access was highlighted in a 2005 small and medium enterprise (SME) survey conducted by MWEB Business. The survey, the results of which were published in June, indicated that SMEs are slowly moving away from dialup connections to high-speed options such as ADSL. The number of companies using ADSL increased from 2% to 25% from 2003 to 2005.

"The growth potential for broadband in SA is enormous as it exposes SMEs to a range of opportunities that were previously unattainable. ADSL will transform the way in which SMEs conduct business, aid their competitiveness and ensure sustained growth," says Andre Joubert, MWEB Business GM.

"We believe that in future, broadband connectivity will be the preferred Internet access method for SMEs. The current high cost of broadband in SA is, however, an inhibitor for broader adoption and effecting change in this regard should be a strong priority for all industry players," Joubert adds.

(SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2005/0507181039.asp?A=WAG&O=W)

MTN, UGANDAN GOVT TO CONNECT NINE SCHOOLS ON INTERNET

MTN Uganda and the ministry of Education have agreed to jointly provide Internet services to nine schools through the schools connectivity programme.

The programme being managed by Uconnect, a project at the education ministry, will intended to create equal opportunities for students in Uganda to compete with the rest of the world.

"This is a timely action because of the changes in the education system with more students turning to the Internet for learning resources," Mr Philip Besimire, the MTN Uganda spokesperson, said.

Besimire said through the programme the schools will acquire Information and Communication Technology training and computers from Uconnect project while MTN will facilitate the connection.

The schools will contribute towards the cost of connectivity and the beneficiaries will be chosen on the basis of the available infrastructure on the ground like laboratories.

He said nine schools will benefit in the first year and then another group of nine will be taken on board the following year an initiative to be applied to all African countries where MTN operates.

Ms Geraldine Namirembe Bitamazire, the Minister of Education, said after signing the partnership with MTN at her offices in Kampala July 19, that connectivity will eliminate the imbalance in urban and rural schools.

She urged the schools, which are going to benefit from this project to make the services available to the surrounding communities.

Besimire said schools, which will benefit are those within the reach of their up-country fiber optic connection and those which are very far like Moroto, if selected, will connect by satellite. "Our fiber optic connectivity in the west has reached Mbarara, and in Jinja. Soon we will be in Malaba," Besimire said.

Uconnect has been operating in Uganda for the last three years and more than 20 schools have benefited from the project.

(SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200507210802.html)

SA'S MTN BRINGS BROADBAND TO SOHOS

MTN Network Solutions (MTN NS) this week unveiled four packages that will give users high-speed access to virtual private networks (VPNs) and the Internet.

The asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) packages are: ADSL VPN access, ADSL uncapped Internet access, and leased-line backup, while the fourth package is a combination of the first and second options.

The ADSL VPN access service and Internet access are available now, and the other two products, ADSL VPN backup with Internet access and concurrent ADSL VPN access with uncapped Internet, are under development and will be released shortly.

The products offer a static Internet Protocol address, which enables hosting of a Web or mail server.

“MTN NS now offers VPN clients a new access medium that provides a broadband connection to their data networks,” says Mike Brierley, MTN NS CEO. “This is a low-cost, ‘always-on' connection for last mile access, ideally suited to small branch or regional home office users that require this type of access.”

He adds that the ADSL VPN solution caters for both the small and medium enterprise (SME) and corporate markets.

For the VPN access service, Internet access is allocated from the customer's VPN Internet pool. The uncapped Internet access via ADSL product is a separately managed Internet service.

All products include a Cisco router with integrated firewall at the customer's premises, which is managed by MTN NS.

For the ADSL VPN backup product, the client can choose either an Internet service from Telkom, or take the MTN NS uncapped service.

The company says this allows the client to keep mission-critical traffic on the traditional VPN and off-load Internet browsing traffic. If the leased-line fails, the VPN traffic can be rerouted over the ADSL link.

“It should be noted that MTN NS is not encouraging its clients to move from traditional leased VPN links to ADSL links, where reliability and quality are a requirement, as each product has its place,” says Brierley.

“The ADSL service is a best effort service which carries no service level agreements. It is specifically targeted at bringing small branches and SMEs into the benefits of the VPN offering.”

MTN NS senior network research engineer Kris Vandenbroucke says smaller offices will find these options cheaper, with the added advantage that the technology works on traditional telecommunications infrastructure.

He says MTN NS has a dedicated link to Telkom, which will help it avoid some of the bandwidth problems encountered by companies offering similar services via broadband wireless.

(SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2005/0507221040.asp?A=WAG&O=W)

IN BRIEF

- Namibia's telephone directory will soon be accessible on the Internet. Ferdinand Tjombe, public relations manager at Telecom Namibia, says some sections of the directory are already accessible on the Internet. "The plan to put the directory on the website started way back in April of 2005. One of the sections (medical section) is already on the Telecom Namibia Website," he said. Efforts were underway for other sections of the directory to be incorporated on the Telecom website. Tjombe said the company was pushing for the project to be finalised before the end of this financial year. Though Telecom has not revealed the total cost of the project, it is believed to be costing the parastatal millions of dollars.

- Zambian ISPs look set to create the necessary legal structure to set up an IXP.

- A South African ISP has been sent a cease and desist notice by a US company monitoring P2P networks.

- An Open source equivalent to Skype?: http://www.gizmoproject.com/

- Much complaining on South African mail lists about iBurst's broadband service. Apparently it goes down frequently in some areas. A solution? Rather incredibly an antenna designed by a Russian called the Sergei antenna. You couldn't make it up. More details may follow...

COMPUTER AID STARTS REFURBING IN NAIROBI

Computers donated from the developed world are both fuelling and feeding an appetite for computers in Africa where a new machine could cost more than a year's wages.

The Masai Mara seems like the middle of nowhere; great expanses of land spread out in all directions.

The Masai are famous the world over for their exuberant dancing, but now you are just as likely to find them sat in front of a PC monitor.

Five months ago Kilgoris Secondary School was one of the first within 100km to get computers.

For the Masai schoolchildren that was the first time they ever used a PC.

This equipment is simply too expensive for most school budgets, and while a Kenyan minister officially opened this computer lab, his government did not provide the computers.

The story of how thousands of Africans are learning technology skills starts at a lock-up warehouse in North London.

It is the home of Computer Aid International, which gives old PCs a new life in developing nations.

The man behind the project receives more than 2,000 computers a month, many of which might otherwise have been thrown away.

We've reached the point where we've got more computers than we have organizations to distribute them to.

Tony Roberts, head of Computer Aid International "We get donations of literally hundreds of computers at a time from universities, large corporations, right the way through to individual donations of a single machine that someone's brought from their home," said Tony Roberts, head of Computer Aid International.

"All of those computers are extensively tested, cleaned and professionally refurbished here in the workshop.

"We select only the highest specification machines that we know are going to be working for another three or four years, and those are the machines that we provide to organizations overseas.

"We've reached the point where we've got more computers than we have organizations to distribute them to, so our priority is to identify new organizations in developing countries that can receive and distribute high volumes of computers. Most donated computers are given to educational establishments "But importantly, alongside that they need to be providing training and technical support, to make sure every computer that we send is made productive use of."

At any one time up to 1,000 computers in the Computer Aid warehouse have been refurbished and are ready to go.

Many go to Latin America and Eastern Europe, but the vast majority - eight out of 10 - are sent to Africa.

Since Computer Aid started, more than 40,000 second-hand computers have been sent to African nations.

One of Africa's two main distribution centers is in Nairobi. Here, they are checked over again and operating systems are installed.

African charities then take on a supervisory role, promising to maintain the PCs and teach others how to use them.

Many end up in outlying areas like Kilgoris in Kenya, thanks to a special school charity.

(SOURCE: http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=7/19/2005&Cat=7&Num=3)

FUJITSU SIEMENS COMPUTERS BROADENS SERVICE REACH IN AFRICA

Fujitsu Siemens Computers followed up its recent announcement that it has increased the number of service partners in SA with an announcement that it has also trained several service partners from English-speaking Africa. This is in line with the company's strategy of expanding its distribution into these markets.

"We need to ensure our customers are supported wherever our products are available," says Alan Milne, Service Manager at Fujitsu Siemens Computers. "And with our push into Africa, we need to have service partners in place when new markets open to us."

Fujitsu Siemens Computers has already invited service partners from SA, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, Seychelles and Mauritius on the training provided thus far in 2005. Service partners from SA, Namibia and Botswana have sent staff on these certification courses. These and all countries mentioned above have been invited to the next round of training being conducted in August 2005.

Milne has facilitated several Fujitsu Siemens Computers Certification Training Courses in a bid to boost the service skills available to Fujitsu Siemens Computers customers.

"These intensive courses give the trainees hands-on experience in disassembling and reassembling notebooks, PCs and servers. The practical focus ensures candidates leave the course ready to meet any field challenges that they could face on a daily basis."

(SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/channel/2005/0507190850.asp?A=WAG&O=W)

AMAZON.COM LAUNCHES SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT CENTRE IN SOUTH AFRICA

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has announced that it is launching a software development centre in Cape Town, South Africa. The centre will focus on developing new and innovative web services to help software developers build innovative applications using Amazon technology.

The new centre is looking for exceptional computer scientists and software engineers with entrepreneurial spirit to join the start-up team. Specific roles that are available include software development engineers as well as specialists in the areas of open source operating systems, networks and security.

"We want to build a team of the most talented individuals that South Africa has to offer," said Chris Pinkham, managing director of the new centre. "Candidates should have experience designing and building complex yet maintainable systems, and should be able to do so in about one third the time most competent people think possible."

There will be an emphasis on recruiting outstanding professionals with a track record of over-achievement throughout their work experience. Expertise in multiple programming languages, including C++ and Java, distributed systems architecture, systems software, network engineering and information security will be of benefit.

While management is concentrating on establishing a strong core of senior engineering talent, it is also setting up an internship programme and will be looking to engage recent and soon-to-be South African graduates with strong computer science skills.

Successful candidates will receive meaningful equity compensation. "All employees in South Africa will be employee-owners of Amazon.com. Amazon.com prefers the ownership model of employment rather than the rental model - owners tend to look after their stuff better than renters," said Pinkham.

The South African team will work independently and have complete control of the development process for the products they build.

"Amazon.com strongly believes in the idea of creating independent teams to work on separable services with minimal requirement for coordination," said Pinkham. "The South African team will deal with idea generation, and technical design through to development and deployment across a variety of architectures and technologies."

Amazon.com is not disclosing what products the South African software development centre will be working on, except that the centre will be expanding Amazon.com's global web services offering.

"We will continue the effort Amazon.com started in 2002 to expose different components of our platform so that software developers around the world can develop and launch their own services built around our infrastructure and product data," he commented.

The launch of the centre, according to Pinkham, is testament to the calibre of the highly-skilled talent pool in South Africa. He expects the centre's cutting-edge research and design-based work to contribute towards the retention of high quality graduates in South Africa by providing them with rewarding career opportunities.

"Amazon.com's technology teams have already built a world-class e-commerce platform for the Amazon.com family of global web sites," said Pinkham. "This new centre will offer software developers in South Africa the opportunity to advance the evolution of e-commerce by building new innovative technology that will be used by millions of people around the world."

ALGERIA TO INVEST USD5 BILLION IN PROJECT TO PROVIDE COMPUTERS FOR FAMILIES

Algerian minister of post, information and telecommunication technologies, Mr. Boudjemâa Haichour, declared that the investment needed for providing 6 million computers for Algerian families is estimated at $5 billion, it was reported on Tuesday. Contracts regarding this project were signed earlier this week in the ministry.

The project will be launched next September, and expected to last five years. The families will also be connected to the internet network as part of this project.

The computers are expected to be sold to the families through convenient bank loans, thus one who has a bank account could pay AD1350 per month during a three year period for the purchase of a computer.

KENYAN UNIVERSITY TO OFFER LINUX TRAINING  

  Kenyan company Circuits & Packets Communications (C&P) last week signed a deal with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) to offer advanced GNU-Linux training at the university. The training will begin in August 2005.

Courses to be offered range from a fundamentals course to Linux system administration.

JKUAT will make training facilities available at its main campus as well as at affiliated campuses across the country. C&P will provide training course content and provide relevant trainers and facilitators.

Professor Henry Thairu, JKUAT Enterprises managing director, welcomed the initiative as a long overdue one that will help "bridge the training and certification gap that has hindered the adoption of open source software solutions". JKUAT is a subsidiary company wholly owned by the university.

C&P chairman Peterson Maina said many enterprises both public and private lacked a platform for recruiting qualified GNU-Linux administrators to maintain their systems and this had been a significant inhibitor to increased uptake of Linux in many sector.

Louis Domnique Ouedraogo of the United Nations Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) said that for the UN the need for standardised GNU-Linux training is "paramount as a pre-requisite for the adoption of open source within the United Nations".

(SOURCE: http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=525&s=news)

STANDARD BANK SIGNS MULTI-MILLION MS DEAL

Standard Bank on Wednesday announced that it has signed an enterprise licensing agreement with Microsoft SA for the upgrade of its 42 000 desktop PC platforms over the next three and a half years.

Dimension Data has been appointed as the large account reseller (LAR) to assist with the licensing and administration of Microsoft products at the bank.

The multi-million rand agreement allows for possible future conversion of the bank’s 16 000 branch platforms - which still utilise the legacy platform OS/2 - to Microsoft XP, should this be necessary, the bank says.

  As a result of the nature and scale of the agreement, valued at over R100m, Standard Bank has been given Strategic Account Status (the only one in SA) which allows Microsoft to appoint a dedicated account team to look after the bank. The signing of the agreement comes after a comprehensive internal 12-month investigation into an optimum technology platform.

  “We evaluated five different platforms, including Linux and various open source alternatives, for their compatibility with our strategic IT roadmap, functionality, security, staffing requirements, support implications, and ultimately their total cost of ownership,” says Dr Alewyn Burger, Director: IT and Business Operations at Standard Bank.

  In addition, Standard Bank has commissioned Gartner Group to provide a global benchmark for the total cost of ownership between Microsoft and Linux.

  “Our evaluations came at an opportune time, because 95% of our software licences and support contracts were up for renewal within an 18-month period and this step was part of our strategic roadmap. Hence our decision to investigate the various options and partners available to us,” he adds.

  “Our investigations found that our total cost of ownership would be optimised using the Microsoft environment,” Burger states.

  Microsoft products covered by the agreement include Microsoft Office 2003, Windows XP and well as its back-end products - SQL, Web servers, security applications... Future product releases within the three and a half year period are included in the agreement.

(SOURCE: http://www.ictworld.co.za/EditorialEdit.asp?EditorialID=23632)

IN BRIEF

- The Sebeta School of the Blind in Ethiopia has reportedly introduced computerized braille technology. Computer Section Coordinator with the school, Abeya Bidika said that the new software called "Emboser" would enable to convert or print computer script into braille. He said the new technology would help facilitate the special education given to the blind by saving texts into computers and converting them into braille. Computers and printers along with scanners, tapes, chairs, tables and braille papers worth 81,000 USD were reportedly obtained in donation from the Japanese government. The coordinator also called on concerned governmental and non-governmental organizations to assist the school in the provision of additional computers.

READERS' RESPONSES AND CORRECTIONS

ISSUE 266 - Ghanaian powerline test

One reader who prefers to remain anonymous wrote:" This Cactel thing is hilarious. Electricity Corpotration of Ghana's problem is not just electricity dropping out from various large areas, it's also line faults, which will take down the Cactel signal. Then there is the additional question as to whether the Cactel network and subscriber equipment will survive the ECG surges - I get voltages at my house between 160 and 380 volts. And the marketing concept - if they had to find something that inspires less consumer confidence than Ghana Telecom, it's gotta be Electricity Corporation of Ghana".

Another reader reports getting powerline delivered bandwidth in a hotel in Maputo.

The third paragraph of the article should have read: Deployment is carried out by installing a capacitive coupling unit to the medium voltage transformer feeder serving a particular low voltage transformer. A high speed master modem is then connected safely to the electrical grid via the capacitive coupler. Another coupling device is connected to the low voltage transformer which serves all the buildings connected to it. The coupling device allows the master modem to safely transmit its bandwidth signal through the same cable as the electrical signal. A medium-voltage sub-station typically has a 3-kilometre range but this can be extended by deploying what is called a Home Gateway which includes a modem and repeater to boost the signal strength.

The 200 mbps chip is currently available for commercial deployment.

MOROCCO TO SELL ITS SHARE IN MAROC TELECOM BEFORE 2007

Morocco intends to sell the rest of its share in Maroc Telecom Company, which amounts to 34%, towards the end of this year, reported Reuters, based on a document released by the Ministry of Finance and Privatisation.

The document, issued on July 11, stated that the bargain comes within the framework of reviving the privatization process of 2005-2006, without going into details.

The information was confirmed by reliable sources in the Ministry. They added that “selling the rest of Morocco's share of Maroc Telecom, of which Vivendi Universal hold 51%, is a fact.” According to the same sources there is a “governmental programme of privatization,” which includes Maroc Telecom. And this “decision does not pose any legal problem.”

A senior official told Reuters that “the process of selling is underway, but the bargain will not be concluded before 2007.”

According to an economic analyst, the proclamation of the step so early is due to the government's intention to speed up privatization so as to provide financial resources that can finance the pressing economic reform, especially after the announcement of HM Mohammed VI's Human Development Initiative.

What backs up this trend, according to observers, is that the government intends to sell the rest of its shares in other institutions, such as the tobacco company, 80% of which was ceded to Altadis France, for MAD 4.08 million. The programme includes completely selling the Moroccan Company of Tea and Sugar. Vivendi Universal has already paid $2.2 Billion, in 2002, buying a share that amounts to 35% of the company. Last November it paid $1.45 billion for another 16%, thereby gaining control of the company.

(SOURCE: http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=5&id=8217)

CELTEL PAYS LE27 BILLION TAX TO GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA LEONE

Celtel's Financial Manager and Acting Managing Director, Andy Jones has disclosed that by virtue of the position of Celtel as a corporate citizen doing business in Sierra Leone, it now pays Le 27 billion which is equivalent to USD9 million to the government as this year's tax fee, making it the largest tax payer in the country.

He said since the inception of Celtel's operations in 1998 when it was highly risky to undertake any business venture and when other corporate international investments were pulling out, Celtel was able to endure and provided job opportunities for over 5000 Sierra Leoneans.

Jones said 200 of these are permanently and directly employed and over 500 others as either security guards or shopkeepers while over 3000 have been able to raise money to upkeep their families through the sales of top up cards and most recently, Celtel has decided to introduce the 'Payphone' project which will help generate funds for all operators of that system.

"This year we have already allocated Le 3 billion to undertake social projects, to construct and reconstruct public infrastructures throughout the country, erect schools and community centers and provide seedlings for farmers," he said adding that Celtel intends to be a good corporate citizen in its operations in the country.

(SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200507200562.html)

ZIMBABWE'S TEL*ONE LOOKS SHORT OF CASH AS IT PAYS ONLY USD1 MILLION ON USD168 MILLION CONTRACT WITH HUAWEI

Zimbabwe's sole landline provider Tel*One has paid Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei Technologies close to US$1 million for the supply of equipment to roll out an ambitious five-year development plan. It was heard last week that the equipment would be delivered on pro-rata basis.

However the money is far short of what the landline provider had wanted to meet the requirements signed with Huawei last year. Tel*One entered into a US$68 million telecommunications agreement with Huawei Technologies last year whereby the Chinese firm would supply telecommunications equipment. The deal was envisaged to result in the provision of 1,4 million new lines.

The first phase, valued at US$28,9 million was scheduled to be completed by the end of March. The first phase will open up 80 000 lines and the installation of 50 base stations countrywide. The second phase will result in 230,000 lines and 102 base stations being set up.

Tel*One MD Wellington Makamure told said that the target they had set out had now shifted as the landline provider had failed to raise adequate foreign currency. Makamure said: "To be honest with you our targets have shifted because of foreign currency shortages."

The Tel*One boss said the equipment ordered will be delivered "by the end of August or early September". Makamure said the landline provider had made $8 billion worth of investments into cotton to augment the foreign currency Tel*One gets from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

Under the arrangement Tel*One investments in cotton are guaranteed by commercial banks and ratified by the central bank. The venture is funded in local currency and proceeds will be used to finance the roll out of the project. Makamure said Tel*One was also exploring ways of investing in horticulture and tobacco.

Tel*One is currently undergoing restructuring and commercialisation ahead of privatisation which was shelved some years ago. Established in 1988, Huawei is one of the fastest growing telecommunications equipment manufacturers in China. The company has also signed an agreement for the supply of equipment to Net*One as part of the government's "Look East" policy.

(SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200507180494.html)

IN BRIEF

- The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) has revealed plans to invest ETB5.4 billion (USD644 billion) in the expansion of its telecoms infrastructure in the Ethiopian fiscal year, which began on 8 July. As part of the expansion plan, the telco will roll out 250,000 new fixed lines, and 1.5 million mobile lines.

- Kuwaiti telecoms group Wataniya has reported second quarter results for its wireless subsidiaries in Iraq and Algeria. The group posted profits of USD685,000 in Iraq, on revenues of USD45.5 million. Meanwhile, Wataniya Telecom Algeria (Nedjma) had 694,000 subscribers at the end of the period, up from 474,000 three months earlier, and recorded a group net loss of USD9.25 million on a turnover of USD36.3 million. Nedjma launched GSM services in August 2004 and is 71% owned by Wataniya.

- Moroccan cellco Médi Télécom (Méditel), which won the country’s second national fixed line licence on 11 July, was awarded its new concession on Monday along with an extension of its mobile licence until 2024. Méditel, backed by Portugal Telecom and Spain’s Telefónica, plans to invest over MAD5 billion (USD550 million) in three years to broaden its portfolio, including the launch of a new project to offer internet access via WiMax technology.

- The pan-African mobile group MTN has concluded its acquisition of Zambian wireless operator Telecel. MTN’s expansion into Zambia means it now has a footprint in nine countries, including South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria and Cameroon. Telecel Zambia currently has more than 150,000 subscribers, giving it a 21% share of the local market where it has a presence in seven of the country’s nine provinces. MTN says it plans to replace the Telecel brand with its own within three months and that it expects its new subsidiary to be the largest cellco in Zambia by the end of 2006. The market is currently dominated by Celtel.

MOBILE PHONES BOOST KENYA'S SMALL BUSINESSES

The mobile phone has become the most essential work item for small businessman who, like so many others in the East African nation, makes a living from various different jobs at the same time.

Thanks to an explosion of growth in the mobile phone industry in Kenya over the past five years, handyman Alex Theuri says his plumbing-electrical business has grown by about 50 percent.

He also operates a community payphone via the mobile network and further cashes in on the boom by charging batteries for a fee. "Mobile phones have helped me very much," Theuri said.

"Sometimes I receive as many as five calls a day for different jobs. Were it not for mobile phones, jobs would have been very minimal. With the phone, I am well known."

Theuri is among thousands of Kenyans, many of them poor, who have taken advantage of the phenomenal mobile expansion to ease the way small businesses operate.

Painters and masons now advertise their numbers on trees by the roadsides in Nairobi. In the past, they would have sat outside hardware shops looking for work from people who have just bought nails, cement and other building supplies.

Vegetable vendors now make orders for supplies without leaving their stalls. They also avoid being swindled because they can use text messaging to check around for the best prices.

Back in June 1999, Kenya had only 15,000 mobile phone subscribers. But by the end of 2004, the country had 3.4 million subscribers, according to Kenya's telecommunications regulator, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK). That number is expected to grow to 4 million by mid-2005.

The boom has underpinned activity in the small business sector, which employs most workers in the nation of 32 million people which is east Africa's largest economy.

Last year, the sector created about 437,900 new jobs, according to the government's 2005 Economic Survey. Five other people that Theuri employs also benefit from his increased work.

Outside his small, wooden shop at the entrance of a Nairobi market, Theuri uses the phone to take work orders and call around shopping for goods instead of wasting time moving across the city as he used to do.

The community payphone -- known in local Swahili as "simu ya jamii" -- has helped bring telecommunications to those who cannot afford to own a handset. Businessmen also use it whenever they have to make calls and are tight on mobile phone credit.

"It is easier for them to use than their mobile phones. For example, someone might want to call for 20 shillings (about 15 pence), but nobody sells credit for 20 shillings," Theuri said.

There are still, however, many Kenyans who cannot afford to make calls via the mobile network.

Hopes the government may scrap a 10 percent tax on mobile phone airtime were dashed in Kenya's last budget.

"The (finance) minister's decision to uphold excise duty on airtime, although disappointing, is also a relief when compared to the increase in excise duties for cigarettes and beer," said Michael Joseph, chief executive of Safaricom.

Increased competition in the sector has been hampered by a delay of the emergence of a third mobile operator in the country, which would have helped push call rates lower.

Econet Wireless Kenya, a unit of South Africa-based Econet Wireless International, has been delayed from rolling out in the country by legal wrangling over its licence.

But Zachary Wazara, Econet's chief executive in charge of the Kenyan project, is counting on the project going ahead. "We are proceeding with building the network itself. I think some of the equipment has already landed in the country," he said.

The company says it has an operating licence. But a pending court case has kept CCK from issuing a numbering plan to Econet Wireless, as well as frequencies that would link its base stations.

More competition would be welcomed on the streets of Kenya. "The best technology that we have seen in Kenya recently is the mobile phone," Theuri said.

(SOURCE: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type
=reutersEdge&storyID=2005-07-18T102209Z_01_NOA837140
_RTRUKOC_0_FEATURE-MOBILES-KENYA.xml)

SMS MESSENGER SIMPLIFIES THE SENDING OF SMS IN KENYA

Until now, sending bulk SMS messages has been clumsy and a big hassle to the extent it is almost impractical. That is not so anymore, thanks to SMS Messenger, a new desktop SMS sending software released by Bernsoft Interactive Ltd. The software is one of several SMS solutions supplied by Bernsoft — the leading local developer and provider of SMS solutions.

SMS Messenger is a product that sends text messages to large lists at the click of the button. It can deliver to virtually all GSM networks globally, allowing the bulk SMS user to send messages for a cost as little as 2 Kenya shillings per message.

“It is an exciting product all round. First it is a product that incorporates full convergence of ICTs. Second, it removes all the handicaps that have slowed the use of SMS as a serious, modern business tool. Third, and a bottom line issue for all businesses it saves both time and money,” explained Bernsoft CEO Bernard Kioko. Its impact on the marketing, operations, procurement, and other departments will be revolutionary. SMS Messenger has great potential for customer care delivery among other service delivery opportunities, giving relevance to Bernsoft's “we help power your business” motto.

The fact that SMS Messenger provides reliable coverage to destinations allows users to communicate with their database through a painless exercise of typing a message, selecting the recipients and clicking on the send button. “It really is as simple as that,” adds Bernard Kioko, “and it is very user friendly indeed”.

SMS Messenger is not subject to the standard license cost, and is available as a FREE download at http://www.bernsoft.com/messenger . The product business model is based on availing message credits, not on creating an expensive and time consuming licensing model. By reducing this aspect of the cost of ownership, Bernsoft is helping keep the cost of communication low and also simplify the distribution model.

Bernsoft has adopted the widely accepted 'recharge' approach to activate credits and manage message usage. With no contracts, no licence costs and no obligation to buy, SMS Messenger allows users to easily monitor their SMS messaging costs.

SMS Messenger offers a number of compelling features for users of existing text messaging services. "We have gone beyond the concept of just being able to send a block of 160 characters,” said Bernard Kioko, “SMS Messenger also incorporates a powerful mail-merge facility allowing customers to send personalised messages to lists of numbers.”

Mr. Kioko stated that customer uptake has been beyond expectations. “It's the mail-merge facility (which makes messages really personal) that is really getting many of our clients excited. They see value-add in their communications to their customers. A number of businesses have started using SMS Messenger as a reminder and promotional tool. Whether they are doctors, transport operators, sales managers, educational institutions, restaurants, real estate agents, farmers and others, they will continually discover that sending a low cost SMS message is more cost effective and more direct than a standard phone call."

With message traffic in Kenya now exceeding 10 million transmissions a week, SMS usage in Kenya is rapidly becoming an accepted norm in personal and business circles. The GSM Wireless Association reports that over 360 billion SMS messages were sent worldwide last year.

'NATION' TO OFFER NEWS THROUGH MOBILE PHONE

Nation Media Group has launched a service to deliver news alerts to subscribers' mobile phones.

The new service, to be known as nationMOBILE, will allow cellphone subscribers in Kenya and the UK to stay abreast of breaking news by receiving text message alerts through their phones.

Nation will offer the service in partnership with Cellulant, one of the leading providers of mobile content services in Africa.

In Kenya, the nationMOBILE service will be available to both Celtel and Safaricom subscribers.

To get the alerts through Celtel, users will be required to send a short message (SMS) with the word BREAK to the number 4444 while on Safaricom, users will dial the number 0900 445 0 445.

In the UK, users send a text message with the words LIFE BREAK to the number 80160. The service costs Sh50 in Kenya and £1.50 in the UK. Users will receive six alerts for the amount.

Under the partnership, the Nation Media Group will provide the breaking news while Cellulant will provide the technical support.

Tests for the new technology have been going on since the beginning of this month. NationMOBILE will roll out to the US markets during phase two of the service.

"The Nation group has leap-frogged over all media players in this region into this new era. SMS news alert services are becoming essential for those who are interested in staying ahead with the news, but might not have access to a newspaper, TV or Internet connection," said Mr Charles Onyango-Obbo, NMG's managing editor for convergence and new products. NMG now joins the league of major news service providers providing this service.

Mr Obbo added: "In the years to come, a lot of people will get news through hand-held devices. We have tested the technology and when it happens big time in Africa, we want to be in the leading pack."

NMG's online sales and development manager, Ms Judy Waruiru, said nationMOBILE was the first such service to operate across both Safaricom and Celtel networks with news alerts from the same content provider.

(SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200507200856.html)

IN BRIEF

- Business Council for Sustainable Development Zimbabwe has launched its new website, which contains information on the background to and overview of the BCSDZ, most notably its objectives and activities. Information regarding the mission statement, the code of conduct, the council, technical committees and branches, contact details, and upcoming activities also feature on the site.

- The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) has announced that the website for the national team, The Tigers, will be launched this weekend as the team continues the build up to the African Nations Cup holding in Algeria from the 14th of next month. "I'm quite happy and excited at the level of development in camp. We have never had it so good. And by the weekend when the Tigers website is launched everyone from across the world will be able to hook up with the events in camp," said NBBF Technical Committee Chairman, Adamu Ahmed. The site will showcase, in details, the national team's build up to the African meet as well as their run to the World Championship in Japan should they pick a ticket as highly expected of them.

- PAMBERI Trust - incorporating The Book Café and Mannenberg Jazz Club - are excited to announce the setting-up of a website for Zimbabwe's performing, literary and visual artists. The website is being set-up to offer artists of every discipline the opportunity to promote themselves and their work at no cost, make use of information technology enjoyed by artists elsewhere, and offer the world contact details and information through the world wide web. Another broader objective is to draw the somewhat fragmented corners of the arts and cultural industry of Zimbabwe together for the benefit and survival of all stakeholders. Within the three main categories of performing, literary and visual arts, there will also be sections for up and coming, not-yet-established artists, and as far as possible, information on influential artists who are no longer with us. The website will also feature a books section and gallery, arts news and links with arts events lists, and a discussion forum.

- eShopAfrica has been selected to go to Santa Clara University's Global Social Benefit Incubator Workshop. For more information about the workshop go to: http://www.scu.edu/news/releases/release.cfm?month=0705&story=entrepreneur

- The Government of Luxembourg, a founding donor of the Development Gateway Foundation, has pledged to extend and increase its financial support for the organization with a total of 1.2 million euros over the next three years. The funds will advance the Development Gateway's non-profit mission of putting the Internet to work for the benefit of developing countries.

MOBILE PAYPHONE BOOST FOR SMES

A GSM handset that street vendors can use as a public payphone could create a million jobs in Africa over a 24-month period, says its creator.

The payphone developed by Cape Town-based SharedPhone International targets informal business owners such as taxi owners and hairdressers, who can then make the service available to anyone who cannot afford a handset or airtime.

Described as a breakthrough technology in the GSM telecommunications sector, the payphone has been rolled out locally by MTN, Gemplus and Motorola, with several hundred units already in the market.

SharedPhone International MD Warren Steyn explains that SharedPhone operators can buy airtime from MTN, set minimum billing tariffs at a fraction of the standard price, cut calls when the customer's money has run out, and return change to a customer whose call ends early.

“Operators can also reconcile daily sales to vouchers used and cash received, and monitor balances and locations on multiple phones via SMS.”

Steyn says local calls can be made for as low as 35c per unit, and that a good operator who vends electricity, airtime and uses his phone can earn close to R5 000 per month.

“Considering that 50% of the SharedPhone owners have another business such as a taxi service, hair salon, or spaza shop, this earns them extra cash.”

Steyn says Nigeria, Mozambique, Lesotho, Cameroon, Tanzania and India have already rolled out the payphones. “Other countries that have shown interest include Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Brazil.

“SharedPhone is looking for like-minded GSM networks and payphone companies to roll-out the new product.”

(SOURCE: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/telecoms/
2005/0507221102.asp?A=WAG&O=W)

PEOPLE

-Arivia.kom has appointed four female executives to key positions, placing the IT company at the forefront of the industry's gender empowerment drive and cracking the "stiletto ceiling" which separates women from the top echelons of business. Nicky Mogorosi, Mickey Mashale, Johanna Tshili and Ann Ngutshane occupy the positions of chief financial officer (CFO), business development executive, infrastructure business executive and human resources executive respectively.

"Promoting diversity in its ranks has been important to arivia.kom for some time," says arivia.kom HR executive Ann Ngutshane. "No other IT company can boast that almost 50% of its executives are female. In fact, there are few major companies in South Africa that have achieved this level of representation on their executive committees. Two further noteworthy accomplishments are that four of our executives are black women and blacks occupy eight of the 11 executive positions."

Nicky Mogorosi, now chief financial officer and an executive director of arivia.kom, joined the company as financial manager responsible for budgeting and reporting. Mogorosi was subsequently appointed group financial manager of arivia.kom. As CFO she will serve on the arivia.kom board of directors, alongside CEO Zeth Malele and COO Hugo Knoetze.

Mickey Mashale, appointed in April 2005 as business development executive, has a BSc, telecommunications and marketing diplomas, and is studying towards her MBA. Previously, Mashale was at Mergent Technologies as a key accounts manager and led the South African Communication Forum (SACF) bid for a stake in the Second National Operator (SNO). She received the SACF industry award for outstanding performance, management and leadership of the team.

Ann Ngutshane's undergraduate studies in psychology and history took place overseas and she led an active political career to promote democracy in South Africa. Her career has spanned teaching, counselling, and projects coordination before moving into organisation development. She has served as HR manager for both the Nampak Group and the Land and Agriculture Bank of SA.

Johanna Tshili has over ten years risk advisory, corporate governance, financial and audit experience at corporate level. Tshili was instrumental in establishing arivia.kom's corporate risk management division and thereby gained in-depth understanding of arivia.kom business operations.

* Last week Africa Online spent a week celebrating its tenth anniversay with a customer event at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi. A number of awards were made to the founders of the company and to loyal customers. There have been points where it looked like it would not make it and CEO Lesley Davy acknowledged as much in her speech, talking of the "ups and downs". Nevertheless she was able to say with some confidence now:"Today, unlike many of its peers, Africa Online is a robust commercial entity with direct operations in eight countries and a presence in five others through joint ventures and affiliates. We are proud to be a homegrown African multinational".

"Indeed the scope of our progress and size means that today we compete head to head with well established competitors and win on a regular basis. as an example: when sita, who, I am sure you know, are the global leaders in air transport networking and have operations in 220 countries, was looking for an ISP to partner with in Africa, we tendered for the business in direct competition with a number of American multinationals and beat them by winning the contract".

EVENTS

AFRICA SOURCE II

September 2005, Uganda

For more information visit http://www.tacticaltech.org/africasource2

JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES

HEAD OF MARKETING AND CUSTOMER RELATIONS IN NIGERIAN IT COMPANY

Suitable candidates will have a Degree in Business/Marketing/Engineering/Electronics or similar and will have a minimum 5 year sales/marketing experience. Must be a motivated, talented and results-driven individual as the Consultant will be required to explore new & exciting ways to engage with telco customers.

Location: Nigeria

Duration: 1-2 years

For more information email: Gillian.Flore.302A5.01F35@mail.jobserve.com

If our correspondent is "off the mark" or you have factual amendments, mail them to us and we will include them in subsequent News Updates. If you'd like to contribute, write and let us know.
If you need information about a particular place or issue, just send your questions in. We are always happy to follow up on readers concerns.

News Update is a free e-letter produced by Balancing Act that covers African internet content and infrastructure developments, It goes out to government, the private sector, education and NGOs. To subscribe, send a message saying "I want to subscribe" to info@balancingact-africa.com