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ISSUE NO 318

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SA GOVT DECIDES TO KEEP ESKOM'S NETWORK ASSETS TO PROVIDE COMPETITION TO TELKOM

On the face of it, the plan by Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin to keep Eskom's telecommunications infrastructure within state hands and lease it to the second national phone operator has a certain logic to it.

The new phone operator has been delayed so many times, the chances of it having any tangible impact on the South African market are slim. Each delay has allowed Telkom to entrench its dominance further by offering big corporate customers long-term contracts, expanding its network and refining its product and service offerings.

Ironically, the four-year delay in launching the new operator has probably benefited customers far more than its actual launch will, simply because the prospect of competition has forced Telkom to raise its game. Should the new operator ever get off the ground, studies show it will be lucky to capture 2,5% of market share in its first year. And it needs about 15%-20% to start making money on its upfront investment. Deep pockets and an innovative business strategy will be needed if it is to survive at all.

But government is desperate to bring down SA's telecommunications costs, which are among the highest in the world. So rather than adding to the operator's debt burden with the R2bn-odd acquisition of Eskom's telecoms infrastructure, the new idea is for the state to take ownership of this network and lease it back to the second operator at cost plus 4%.

As it stands, the plan is fraught with problems. Let's not forget that the state holds a big stake in Telkom, so there is a clear conflict of interest in it being able to influence the price of a big portion of the new operator's infrastructure. Its intentions are good now, but times change.

The state could argue that the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) will set and implement the leasing tariffs. But Icasa is deeply troubled at the moment amid allegations that it lacks leadership and is facing institutional collapse. And the communications ministry has tried repeatedly to reduce its independence.

Nevertheless, it is in the interests of this country that a viable, sustainable competitor to Telkom be introduced as soon as possible. There is now limited public confidence that this will ever happen. So if there's a new initiative by government to achieve it, let's hear it. Any move to break Telkom's de facto monopoly has to be welcomed, as long as rules and regulations are in place to avoid longer-term problems. And that calls for an empowered Icasa. (SOURCE: Business Day)

GHANA TELECOM TO BE RE-PRIVATISED

If you don't succeed first time, try, try again. The Ghanaian Cabinet has given the approval for the re-privatisation of Ghana Telecom. A transaction adviser is to be appointed to set the process in motion. Communications Minister Professor Mike Oquaye disclosed this to journalists during a working and familiarisation visit to the Ghana Telecom headquarters in Accra.

He explained that as part of the process, shares of GT will be floated on the stock exchange to raise capital to expand its operations.

The government owns 100 per cent shares in Ghanacent shares from the Telecom Malaysian in 2005. However, it is managed by Telenor under a three years contract which ends this year.

At the 'meet the press' series last January, the then sector minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah, said with the settlement of shares owned by the Malaysians, government would offer 51 per cent of its shares to a strategic investor. Professor Oquaye said that the government is also looking forward to the injection of capital into GT by both foreign and local investors.

'As soon as a transactional advisor is appointed, the terms, evaluation of capital needed and investment information will be made known for interested people to take advantage of it,' he said.

Last month, the government signed a 30 million dollar agreement with the Chinese government for the establishment of a Ghana backbone to broaden the capacity of infrastructure to provide high speed information technology services, he said.

The World Bank has also provided 40 million dollars towards a government e-governance programme. Parliament approved the two loan agreements from the Chinese government and the World Bank before going on recess, he added. (SOURCE: The Times)

MTC GROUP CELEBRATES 2 MILLION CUSTOMERS IN SUDAN

Less than six months after acquiring the Mobitel network in Sudan, Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) said it had passed the two million mark for subscribers, with latest figures showing the total had reached 2.2 million.

MTC said the figures showed the investments and expansion plans undertaken since it acquired full control of Mobitel in February 2006 had started to yield results. The network expansion, which included increasing the number of customer service locations, has helped the company grow in many parts of the country. Apart from establishing new customer service points, many existing outlets have been refurbished and modernized.

Khaled Muhtadi, General Manager of Mobitel, said, 'The parent company has promoted network upgrading and undertaken significant expansion operations by extending its geographic coverage to western and southern areas in Sudan.'

'The new investments pumped by MTC Group included developing and upgrading customer call centers in various areas,' added Muhtadi.

The group signed a 78 million euro deal with Ericsson to upgrade and develop its Sudanese networks, the full results of which would be felt by the customers 'in a very short time'..

'The investments will not only improve the operation and quality of the network, they will also add capacity for an additional 1.5 million subscribers by 2007,' Muhtadi said. (SOURCE: Al Bawaba)

COMIUM WINS A GSM LICENSE IN GAMBIA

Comium Mobile says that it has been awarded a GSM license in Gambia. With two existing mobile operators, Comium believes that the market is still underserved and that it can bring new and tangible value to the citizens of Gambia, through the provision of cost effective and advanced mobile services. Comium is expecting to go commercial live in the first quarter of next year.

"On our second anniversary of established presence in West Africa, I am very pleased and excited for the prospect that Gambia brings to the Comium family and subscribers alike. The proven track record we pride ourselves with in Liberia and Sierra Leone, inspired us to celebrate with Gambia's citizens by bringing new means for their communication needs, encompassing a host of affordable, diversified and advanced mobile services" said Dr. Nizar Dalloul, Chairman and CEO of the Comium Group.

"Gambians deserve better access to new and innovative mobile services, and Comium is in tune with the needs of the regional market. Our promise is to deliver high quality coverage, advanced value added services coupled with world-class customer care. Comium plans to maximize employment from Gambia, resulting in new job creation opportunities and possibilities for Gambians" added Dr. Dalloul.

Comium Mobile has existing GSM licenses in Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone. (SOURCE: Cellular News)

ZAMTEL TO LAY FIBRE LINK TO CONNECT TO EASSY

In preparation for connecting to the proposed EASSy cable, Zamtel has completed feasibility studies into the laying of a fibre link to connect to it, said Zamtel's public relations manager.

Charles Kachikoti said that the project would open a second international gateway and that a tendering process had already begun. He said that once the project was complete, the Mwembeshi earth station for its satellite link would only be used as a backup. (SOURCE: Business in Africa)

IN BRIEF:

- Kenyan regulator CCK announced that the pre-qualification bids for a Second National fixed line telephone operator in Kenya are completed. 13 companies had participated out of which five had been disqualified. The remaining eight will be invited to buy tender documents and the winner will be known in December. The earliest Kenyans should expect the SNO services would be in May next year, when the second operator is expected to roll out its network.

- The Communications Authority of Zambia has released the draft policy on quality of service standards for telecommunications services in Zambia aimed at addressing the challenges faced in the industry. The draft observes that consumers have not been particularly satisfied with the service they have been getting due to challenges faced by the service providers which include bad network signals, congestion and high levels of dropped calls.

- Areeba, the biggest cellular service provider in Ghana, has attracted a ¢2.8 billion penalty from the National Communications Authority (NCA) for poor service. The NCA slapped the fine and gave Scancom Limited, now a subsidiary of MTN, a 30-day ultimatum to settle the amount, in a new drive by the authority to protect consumers from what it described as 'demonstrable abuses from operators'. According to its data for the first six months of the year, the NCA for the first time ranked Kasapa Telecom, operators of Kasapa, as the best service provider while Millicom Ghana Limited, operators of tiGo, came second, with GT Onetouch coming third and Scancom Areeba last.

- As the countdown to the final take over of NITEL by Transcorp continues, more than 7,020 of the 10,391 staff of NITEL have been shortlisted to be sacked by Transcorp, the new management of the company. Transcorp had decided to retain only 3,329 of the workers, mainly technical personnel. He further said that it was also agreed that no staff should be served with sack letter if there was no money to effect immediate payment of his or her entitlements.

TELECOMS, RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGE

- The Nigerian Communications Commission has announced plans to harmonize all the emergency telephone numbers by different network operators. Nigerian would soon have one emergency, call free number, that would cut across all the existing telecommunications network.

- Kenya mobile phone service provider Safaricom will roll out Edge technology countrywide in the next two weeks. The new technology will enable the firm's subscribers to access the Internet at higher speeds.

- Rainbownet Limited, a private telecommunications firm covering the South East of Nigeria has reduced its airtime and subscription rate in what is seen as part of the measures to attract more subscribers. They can now pay N6 per minute on calls on intra-network and N15 for international calls instead of N8 per minute and N18 for international calls.

- The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) is to build a 10-storey twin tower complex, which will house its strategic business units. ETC has 11 departments all together employing 8,122 people, 10 of them described as strategic services.

- Prestel cable and TV Systems Limited has secured a new national numbering plan from the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) for N70million. The allocation is sequel to Prestels' recent acquisition of a unified License from the NCC. With the allocation of the number, Prestel, which is presently in Edo, Delta and other states in the South-South region, is now free to expand its services to other parts of the country without being hindered.

AFRICA ONLINE INTRODUCES INFINET WIRELESS BROADBAND SERVICE IN GHANA

Africa Online in Ghana has publicly rolled out its wireless broadband service in Ghana. Infinet will afford its subscribers access to Internet services without having to own a fixed telephone line through the use of iBurst technology that the company has already rolled out in Kenya.

Ato Sarpong, General Manager said the lack of infrastructure in other parts of the country had also affected deployment of Internet services. He said currently the 18 major ISPs operating in the country were all located in Accra because the bandwidth for deployment was landed in Accra and cost a lot of money to be extended to other parts of the country.

Mr Sarpong said the Infinet broadband service being introduced would overcome this problem since customers would not need to be hooked to fixed lines to use the internet. Africa Online, he said, has invested 15.2 billion cedis into the development of the service.

Currently, the service is available at the Accra Business Area within seven- kilometre radius with uninterrupted access to the internet. Sarpong said the roll out for phase two would commence on August 21 to build base stations to cover the whole of Accra. Phase three of the project would see the deployment of the wireless service in Takoradi and Kumasi. He said by June 2007 the service would reach seven regional capitals, adding that the Africa Online Board had already approved five million dollars for the deployment of the service. (SOURCE: GNA)

NTRA CUTS ADSL PRICES IN EGYPT

The Egyptian regulator NTRA has cut ADSL prices in a bid to meet its ambitious target of getting more than 500,000 users on high-speed access by 2007.

The goal is to push that figure to 7 million by 2007, while simultaneously growing the number of subscribers to high-speed ADSL up to 500,000, from the current 130,000. That may seem ambitious, but internet service providers (ISPs) chalk up their optimism to economies of scale: The more users there are, the cheaper the service gets, which in turn brings in even more users.

To encourage competition with dial-up and move toward its target of half-a-million ADSL users, the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) slashed ADSL prices in all speed categories by about 40% as of the beginning of July. For example, a 256 kilobytes-per-second (kbps) ADSL connection dropped to LE 95 per month from LE 150.

'It wasn't an NTRA directive sent to all ISPs telling them to reduce their prices,' Karim Bichara, CEO of LINKdotNET, says of the ADSL price cut. '[The ISPs] got together and discussed the issue and reached a final figure. Certainly, it was not to everyone's liking, but Telecom Egypt has agreed to give certain discounts on other services it provides to ISPs, such as local loops, in return for more affordable prices for the public.'

Analysts expect the ISPs will begin to profit when the fee cut attracts waves of new users, just as happened when MobiNil and Vodafone Egypt slashed mobile telephone call rates starting in late 2004. The network operators soon experienced an explosion in both revenues and new subscribers.

'When mobile phones were first introduced in 1997, there were about 80,000 users. The market boomed in 1999 then went through a quiet spell in 2001 and was revived again in 2002,' says Raya Telecom CEO Amr Abdallah, referring to earlier price adjustments. 'Mobile subscribers in Egypt today number more than 12 million. A similar surge is bound to happen in the internet users market.'

Abdallah believes that as younger consumers exposed to IT in school enter the market, they will fuel greater demand for PCs, laptops and internet connection services. The economies of scale will lead to further drops in prices and consequent hikes in the number of users.

LINKdotNET played on this strategy with its 'two-for-one' ADSL subscription. The ISP invited consumers to sign up for broadband with a friend, effectively making the cost of the service LE 75 per person rather than LE 150. The aim, according to Bichara, was to give people a taste of broadband, knowing that once they try it, a considerable percentage of them would never go back to dial-up.

The limited-time promotion brought in substantial numbers of subscribers, he says, as has the NTRA's 40% price cut, but the jury is still out on how lasting the price cut's impact will be. (SOURCE: Business Today Egypt)

NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES US$100M EQUAL ACCESS BACKBONE NETWORK

Nigerian Minister of Communications, Chief Cornelius Adebayo launched a $100m fibre backbone rollout project aimed at providing equal access to all providers with Chinese support.

It is the first of its kind in the country, and the first acquittal of the efforts of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to empower independent companies to provide superstructures dedicated to communications traffic haulage alone.

A BNC effort, the objective is to provide a neutral, wholesale telecommunications facility that will enable other operators to provide high quality, secure, high bandwidth connectivity: for their own internal networks, interconnection with other operator networks and broadband access to their end users. The backbone will provide other operators, including cellular providers, private telecommunications operators, internet service providers and cable and other video service providers, with broadband access, backbone and other connectivity services.

Speaking at the launch of the project, the Minister, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications, Alhaji.Umar Aji, pointed out that "the noticeable gap in the area of ICT infrastructure development, especially the inadequacy of supporting physical high capacity transmission backbone has necessitated the encouragement of Nigerian and foreign investors in the area of building a National backbone."

He also remarked on the role and neutrality of the backbone provider which is licensed to deploy and operate a National long Distance and metropolitan fibre Networks for backhaul and other high capacity telecommunications services.

The project launched last week marked the first phase of the project called the QuikLite, a high capacity network, and is also referred to as the testbbed for the technology, operations, administration and maintenance as well as business operation processes.

Guaging the importance of the infrastructure to the country's telecom sector, NCC boss, Engr Ernest Ndukwe appealed to the operators to make the services available to other operators on equal basis. Obviously relieved that an operator in that sector of the industry is flagging off service, Ndukwe opined that only equal access to the network backbone can solve some of the demands of the industry in that regard.

Speaking at the occasion, Chief Executive of the company, Backbone Connectivity Network, BCN, Dr. Kwame Boakye explained that a broadband infrastructure is a sine qua non to any telecom development, especially for Nigeria which has suffered so much telephony development.

The government, according to him, has sought through a number of initiatives such as the National Rural Telephony Project, the State Accelerated Broadband Initiative, SABI, the Galaxy Backbone Project, Wire Nigeria, WIN, and Universal Access, to promote the attainment of such goal, adding that BCN was ready to support the government in its quest provide modern communications facilities for the country.

"Our Mission is to provide high quality broadband access and connectivity to all. We seek to support backbone connectivity and services, broadband access networking and services, and eventually international gateway services. These services will be targeted first at Nigeria, and then extended to the ECOWAS region and subsequently to other African Countries," Boakye informed.

BCN has pitched its tents with the underserved parts of the country with a view to providing them with state-of-the-art services. The company plans to rollout a country-wide fibre networks starting from the Central and Northern parts of the country that has, to this point, been relatively underserved by telecommunications facilities.

Giving a roadmap of the project, Boakye said the rollout will be in phases. According to him: "The initial phase, refers to as the Seed Network will have a span of approximately 800km and provide long distance backbone network services interconnecting Abuja, Kaduna, Zaria, Kano and Funtua as well as high capacity metropolitan network services within the cities. The next phase will interconnect most of the towns in Nigeria. The subsequent phases will also deploy metropolitan networks in Gusau, Sokoto, Birnin Kebbi, Minna Dutse, Maiduguri, Yola, Gombe, Bauchi, Jos, Lafia, Lokoja, Makurdi, Ilorin, Ogbomosho, Ado Ekiti, Akure, Ibadan, Lagos, Enugu-Nsukka, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Uyo, Asaba, Owerri, Onitsha and Aba."

From all indications, the thrust at the moment is on the north and then the service will spread to the other parts of the country.

The initial network rollout will consist of fibre optic rings for both the Metropolitan and Long Distance Networks providing a capacity of 2.4Gigabits per second, Gb/s, or what is referred to as STM-16 of the Synchronous Digital Hierarchy, SDH. The reliability of the network is expected to be 99.999%, Boakye explained.

Although the company has continued to source for rollout funds, it is already getting massive support from Wuhan Research Institute of Post and Telecommunications, China, whose Vice President, Prof Lv Weiping, promised to show more presence in Nigeria. Apart from material supplies, Wuhan is also taking equity in the $100m investment.

Company chairman, Mallam Mohammed Hayatu-deen vowed that the entry of Backbone Connectivity Network into Nigerian ICT space is a new development that will bring about affordable and faster, broadband technology with ready access and reliability for voice, data, video, and Internet and multimedia services. It is a good development for a nation in a hurry to catch up with the World IT revolution, he said.

The commissioning was witnessed by operators and other service providers, bankers and a host of government officials.

Foremost PTO and winner of Universal License, Multilinks is in the process of laying a fibre optics ring around some major parts of the country. This is even as the organization last week, introduced what it called Zero Access Plan called Talkathon which gives subscribers very friendly rates without any access charges.

Speaking to a select group of Communications reporters last week, new image maker for the company, Tayo Ekundayo explained that the Unified License empowers Multilinks to deploy services across the country, adding that the organization has started a process that will take the company's service out of Lagos.

And by way of executing its new dream, the company has also recently acquired the services of Mr. Aminu Tijani as General Manager, Projects. A former Deputy General Manager with Nitel, Ekundayo said that with the appointment of Tijani, Multilinks can fast-track its network growth in the months ahead.

"What we have done is to lay high capacity optic fibre optics cable in Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ilorin and will soon cover the West, the Middle Belt and Abuja. We expect that we will be live in Abuja by the end of the month," Ekundayo explained.

Denying that Multilinks ever had any impression of concentrating its services in Lagos, Ekundayo remarked that the beautiful thing in what the organization was doing is that "as we go along, we shall link the various communities to the network."

As the country's telecom operators gradually grow strong on ground what may distinguish operators are the quality of service and the strength of the network to render a bouquet of services.

According to Ekundayo: "We are trying to lay cables to ensure that we deliver a bouquet of quality services at the cheapest cost possible. What we plan will make us a dominant network and we therefore have to expand our management."

The Zero Access Plan announcement was made by Chief Ezekiel Fatoye, Executive Director of Multilinks in an interactive session with dealers and some of the company employees.

An excited Ms. Ngozi from Multilinks, Falomo Contact Point said: "I have partnered with Multilinks in the steady march forward for many years. I have always known that the company has the potential to grow exponentially beyond anyone's dreams. This step taken by the company is sure to go a long way in achieving its objective."

One Samuel, another dealer with Multilinks remarked that the step is very positive. "It will offer the customer a choice to buy Zero Access plan if he wants to and still be able to make calls at a cheaper rate than any available in the market place. No other company, GSM or PTO offers services close to what Multilinks offers and at such affordable pricing levels," he enthused.

Giving details of the new packages, Fatoye also explained that potential and existing customers will have a choice of three cost effective tariff structures. The first package called Super Talk Plan would enable users to call GSM phones at a cost of N20 per minute and local calls at N6.5 in addition to free weekend calls to Muiltilink customers.

Value Talk is a limited subscription tariff plan that will allow customers to make GSM calls at N25 per minute and local calls at N5 per minute. This plan will attract a normal monthly subscription charge of N500 for Fixed Wireless Subscribers and N750 for Mobile subscribers.

But the Talkathon or the Zero Access Plan was seen as a major product for subscribers who may want to talk without access fee payment and be able to stay on the phone for as long as possible.

Fatoye explained that the various price levels were designed for customers who have stayed on the Multilinks network over the years and others who may want to climb onto the platform of superior phone services. (SOURCE: Vanguard)

MYADSL SURVEYS BROADBAND OFFERINGS IN SOUTH AFRICAN MARKET

The number of ADSL subscribers in South Africa is growing at a steady rate, and so is the number of ADSL ISP offerings. But which ADSL offerings are best suited your fit your pocket and your needs?

There are many different and innovative ADSL ISP offerings out there, and the best deal depends on what you are looking for.

Currently, one of the cheapest ADSL offerings is Cybersmart's 3 GB service for R125-00. This package is however only available to Telkom DSL 384 customers. Their cost of R 185-00 for 3 GB to DSL 512 customers and R 211-00 for 3 GB to DSL 1024 customers is also of the best rates on the market today.

When it comes to per-Gig rates very few ISP's can compete with X-DSL's R 63-00 per GB. They also offer local-only SAIX bandwidth at R 28-00 per GB.

Another ISP to always consider when comparing prices is Axxess. Their prices are generally below the market average and they have a wide range of packages available.

For high usage accounts the best deal comes from the 'soon-to-launch' Goal Technology Solutions. Their 20 GB ADSL service is priced at R 648-00 and their 10 GB service costs R 399-00.

For uncapped offerings Internet Solutions, DataPro, OpenWeb and others are your best options, where an uncapped 512 Kbps ADSL offering goes for R 1250-00 per month and an uncapped 1 Mbps service costs R 2500-00.

For SAIX accounts between 5 GB and 20 GB it may also be of value to look at ISP's like Axxess and AllYouCanEat.

WebAfrica, which has become known for their excellent customer service, was first to offer bandwidth rollover. Here users' purchase a certain amount of bandwidth, but are not forced to use this bandwidth within a calendar month.

At R 75-00 per GB for prepaid, rollover bandwidth; WebAfrica's offer becomes an attractive alternative for many ADSL subscribers. At R 199-00 for a standard 3 GB account they are also competitively priced in the standard ADSL space.

Cybersmart has also brought out a rollover option, and for R20-00 extra your unused ADSL bandwidth will automatically roll over to the next month.

While TelkomInternet is not the cheapest or the most innovative regarding ADSL packages, they are the only well known ISP which offers a soft cap. Here a monthly threshold value is used to determine the cap, which means that users can often exceed their allotted 3 GB by a fair margin.

For local only accounts Openweb's 30 GB local bandwidth for R 139-00 is hard to beat. They also have a very affordable month-end top-up offer for R 99-00 which includes 1 GB of international bandwidth and 10 GB local bandwidth which is very useful if you hit your cap a bit earlier than expected.

Apart from Openweb there are many other Internet Solutions ADSL offerings available, and all of these offerings come with 30 GB's of local bandwidth.

These are only a few of the more affordable and innovative ADSL offerings available in the broadband marketplace today, and new or even existing ADSL subscribers are strongly advised to shop around before subscribing to a certain service.

The best advice when subscribing is, NEVER sign a 24 month contract. The local broadband arena is evolving all the time, and with the SNO releasing wholesale services soon, the ADSL ISP arena may just see another flood of cheaper and more innovative offerings. (SOURCE: MyADSL)

IN BRIEF:

- The Federal Government announced the setting up of a specialized firm to manage and explore the commercial viability of a Nigerian Communications Satellite. The new company, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT LTD), would acquire the assets and liabilities of the Nigerian Communications Satellite project.

- In a procedure that violates press freedom and the right to exchange information, "Al-Ahram" newspaper, the largest press company in the Middle East and North Africa, installed a filter to block websites that the newspaper finds unfit for journalists to browse while on the "Al-Ahram" internal network, which serves nearly 15,000 staff members, including around 2000 journalists.

BRANDED PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE HOLDS MARKET SHARE IN SA PUBLIC SECTOR MARKETS

Free software isn't making much headway in public-sector circles. Government hasn't lived up to its promise to use free open-source software in preference to paying for it from companies like Microsoft. Open-source software is making progress with some state institutions but is far from replacing proprietary software in government as a whole.

Proprietary software developer Microsoft has maintained its foothold in a market said to be worth R11bn/year. Microsoft public affairs director Ashley de Klerk says the group increased sales to the public sector by a whopping 30% on a year-on-year basis in the 2006 financial year. Microsoft is managing to hold its own despite government's strong leaning towards open-source.

The State Information Technology Agency (Sita), which is responsible for co-ordinating the state's information technology resources, decided to put the squeeze on proprietary software developers three years ago, when it began encouraging government departments to use free rival software.

The decision came after Sita received a R485m bill for 100000 three-year licences from Microsoft in 2002. A year after the change in policy, billionaire Mark Shuttleworth started a campaign to promote open-source software in SA. Within days, Microsoft launched a counter campaign, arguing that its products were superior to open-source software.

De Klerk says the reason Microsoft has been able to hold its own is no great secret. The group has been quietly making the point to public-sector customers that free software isn't exactly free as customers still have to pay for maintenance and other costs related to its implementation. He says Microsoft's success with government institutions comes from matching their requirements with the best solution to meet their needs.

Microsoft's achievement in the public sector does not mean open-source has failed to take hold, says Nhlanhla Mabaso, manager of the Open Source Centre at the state-funded Meraka Institute. He says the SA Revenue Service, Sita and the department of science & technology are all using some kind of open-source software.

Mabaso says a growing technology market, 'established buying patterns' in some government departments, and long-standing buying agreements are supporting Microsoft's sales in the public sector.

But Mabaso is not too concerned about the slow uptake of open-source software in the public sector because, he says, it takes time to migrate to a new software format. 'There are many organisations, cities and states that have decided to go open source and it has taken them years to do so,' he says.

He says lack of branding is one of the biggest problems when it comes to awareness of open-source software. He cites as an example Microsoft's launch last month of software in local languages, which received wide media coverage. An open-source campaign that has been doing similar work for the past few years has not received as much media support.

Mabaso doesn't believe government is being cynical in looking to open-source software as a way to put pressure on prices from companies like Microsoft. He believes government is serious about open-source but concedes that state institutions that indicate they are looking at open-source tend to get better discounts on proprietary software.

He says government's policy is not meant to put proprietary software developers at a disadvantage. He points out that even they are allowed to provide open-source solutions.

Even Microsoft is getting on the open-source bandwagon. It announced last month it was going into partnership with open-source software developer XenSource.

The use of open-source software is set to increase, particularly in the public sector, says Andrea Di Maio of technology analyst firm Gartner. He says 20% of all software worldwide will be based on open-source and that the percentage in government will be higher because there is a growing trend to use more specialised software.

Di Maio says this can already be seen in local government, where a trend is developing for municipalities to share software specifically for their needs under a new concept called 'community source', which restricts software-sharing to government communities.

'This is what makes government so special. The public sector is the only space where this can happen,' Di Maio says.

(SOURCE: Financial Mail)

ELECTRONIC COMMODITY EXCHANGE TO BE TESTED IN UGANDA

The Uganda Commodities Exchange (UCE) is considering using the electronic Warehouse Receipt System to open up opportunities for domestic, regional and global trade for Ugandan farmers, writes Balancing Act's Uganda correspondent Esther Nakkazi.

But the electronic system has to be endorsed by all stakeholders in the commodity exchange market, to confirm their ease of using it, UCE officials told The EastAfrican. Stakeholders include banks, insurance companies, farmers and traders.

'We are still in the process of individual stakeholder consultations. If they are comfortable with the electronic system then we shall go ahead and use it but it will be used along with the physical or paper receipt system,' said Alex Rwego, the UCE manager.

The Warehouse receipt system allows farmers to obtain receipts that can be used as collateral in accessing credit for commodities deposited in warehouses and still remain owners of the commodity until they decide to whom and when the market conditions are condusive for them to sell.

Under the electronic warehouse receipt system, however the receipt is a computer record that is equivalent to a paper warehouse receipt. It contains all the data which would be shown on a paper warehouse receipt but is stored in a computer.

The electronic receipts reduce the amount of paper work handled, it is faster as information is transferred quickly and efficiently, and an audit trail of receipt activity is always kept. The electronic receipt system usually serves to back-up receipt data for the warehouse.

Rwego said the software for trading electronically is available in the market but for a country like Uganda where levels of access to Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) is limited the physical or receipt system needs to be used with it.

If the stakeholders agree on using the electronic system we should also think of the fact that not everybody has the capacity to use it. But technology is good and we think this could be the best option, said Rwego.

Electronic Warehouse receipt system is being used in South Africa and if it is endorsed by Uganda's stakeholders, Uganda intends to use the same method. It is similar to electronic trading used at the Securities Exchanges to trade bonds, equities and related instruments.

Uganda embraced the Warehouse receipt system this year when the necessary legislation was put in place. Five months down the road farmers using the system can access credit of 70 to 80 percent worth of their receipts and traders get quality produce.

Serapio Rukundo, the state minister for Tourism told parliament last week that the system has been successful as farmers have received higher prices for their commodities because they are of better quality. He said the system will be replicated in other areas of the country because of its success.

Rukundo said the Warehouse Receipt system in Uganda will improve on farmers' earnings and liquidity in commodity trade basically through reductions of transaction costs and increasing market efficiency and transparency.

The system will also reduce seasonal price viability especially for food crops-the availability of storage, financing, effective and a reliable market information system will enable producers to sell when they still would benefit most in terms of prices.

The UCE intends to start using the system trading in commodities like grains but will start with maize. Other commodities like coffee are being sold through other initiatives like cooperatives

Rwego says by July next year the system which stakeholders would have endorsed would have begun, traders will put in their bids to buy and farmers there bids to sell.

The UCE initiative was started in 2003 to offer farmers better prices for their produce based on market information leaving out middlemen. Intermediaries give low farm prices to farmers, feeding them on inaccurate market information thereby increasing transaction costs and lengthening the marketing channel. UCE has been trading in maize, chillies, vanilla, soybeans, peas, sorghum, honey, vegetables, okra, coffee and cotton.

IT WILL NOT MEET CURRENCY DEADLINE SWITCH IN ZIMBABWE

Computer systems will not to meet the deadline for changeover to the new currency, an information technology (IT) expert has warned. Zimbabwe dropped three zeros from the currency last Monday, weeks after over 70 bank IT experts had recommended the measure to central bank, citing the failure of computer systems to read the inflated figures of the old value.

However, IT experts say the 21-day changeover period may be shorter than required for IT systems and businesses to fully convert to the new denomination.

There will be need for engagement with IT vendors, and with source codes - the original programme instructions that would be needed to make adjustments - having to be sourced abroad, there will be "foreign currency implications" to consider, said Edmore Verenga of the Computer Society of Zimbabwe.

"The 21 days may simply not be enough. There is need for further engagement with authorities, not to ask for more time, but to explain the position factually," Verenga said.

Verenga also said dropping the zeros had been recommended only as a short term measure, saying the currency reforms would only help for a short while unless inflation was slowed down from its current rate.

Businesses are concerned over the effect the abrupt changeover will have on their accounting. According to Verenga, conversion will be smoother for businesses with simpler systems, but bigger businesses that lean heavily on IT will find it harder.

Experts say businesses now need to urgently reform their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) -- a business management system that integrates all facets of the business, including planning, manufacturing and sales designed to help managers implement ERP in business activities such as inventory control, order tracking, customer service, finance and human resources, will need time to conform to the new system. (SOURCE: Financial Gazette)

NIGERIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PLANS CRASH-PROGRAMME ON ICT

Worried by the low level skill acquisition in information and communication technology in the country's educational system and its resultant negative impact on job creation efforts, Federal Government has unveiled plans to establish ICT skills Enhancement programme (ISEP) in three cities, Lagos Abuja and Port Hacourt.

The programme which is commencing as a pilot scheme is being driving by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) with the aim of developing Nigeria's technical brain power in ICT that would bridge the knowledge-gap between the existing universities, polytechnics and the global IT industry.

THISDAY gathered that the special training programme which is a follow-up to the government's Computer for All Nigerians Initiative (CANI) flagged-off by President Olusegun Obasanjo a few weeks ago, is targeted mostly at school-leavers, especially those from the universities and polytechnics graduates.

Director-General of NITDA, Prof. Cleopas O. Angaye, said while unveiling that, Nigeria's software workers, perform mainly low-level programming tasks, adding that "lack of higher skills in software means that Nigeria is lagging behind other Western Countries".

According to him, ISEP is to be a new entity in the education sector which is aimed at bridging the gap between the existing Universities, Polytechnics and the global IT industry with the initial take-off in the three major cities.

NITDA said government intends to spread out the ICT empowerment training programme to all the six geo-political zones of the country.

"The ISEP is to be located in each of the six geo-political zones in the long term but as a startup, the pilot program will begin in three states namely Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt. The ISEP will target tertiary undergraduate (to provide grounding in core software programming and development) and post tertiary education students (continuing education).

The pilot phase will target recent graduates and youth coppers", he said.

He added that: "The aim of this was to observe the dynamics and infrastructure of existing programs with the objective of adapting and implementing it to the Nigerian market.

"The ICT Skills Enhancement Program (ISEP) is part of an ambitious effort by the NITDA to develop Nigeria's technical brain power. Nigeria is a country known more for its technicians than technology innovators and as such building a new type of IT Educational system, especially one thatcombines the technology with creativity and the practical skills would bring about the much needed impact", he said.

Before arriving at the proposal for ISEP, NITDA, had in partnership with firms from the Organized Private Sector, embarked upon a needs assessment study to a number of international institutions of high repute.

Details of the training programme shows that there will be an Open Day, whereby students can apply (and be screened) for the training program, after which the program will commence. It will last for six weeks and courses to be taught will range from database fundamentals, multimedia and computer graphics to business intelligence and human computer interaction.

The D-G said the obective is to "nurture the Nigerian talent to challenge places such as the USA's Silicon Valley, as a high-tech leader for the next generation".

He said the primary goal and objective of the program is to produce world class IT professionals for local and international markets and create the enabling environment to attract foreign IT firms and outsourcing opportunities. (SOURCE: This Day)

IN BRIEF:

-The Ghanaian Ministry of Public Sector Reform handed over 450 pieces of computers and accessories with printers to selected public sector agencies to boost their service delivery. The equipments were purchased with the assistance of grant from the British Government through the Department for International Development (DFID).

-The Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology at the Makerere University in Uganda won a five-year lucrative bid to host the East and Central African centre for ICT.

KENYA TELKOM REFORMS TO SAVE FIRM SH4 BILLION IN COST

Telkom Kenya's restructuring programme will save the company Sh4 billion operations costs, managing director Sammy Kirui has said. Kirui said the savings will be realised from a lean and efficient workforce and sell of Telkom Kenya's Safaricom shares. Early this year, the company started a programme to lay off an estimated 12,000 non-core workers in an exercise that will cost the company Sh12 billion.

"The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank's private sector lending firm - is currently evaluating the value of Safaricom shares," Kirui said. He said the first phase of the retrenchment programme affecting 2,600 ex-workers had ended, and will enable the company achieve savings of Sh90 million per month. Kirui said the State utility company is now sourcing for more money from local banks to facilitate the second phase of the programme.

He, however, declined to state the amount, but hinted that the programme will start mid next month. Telkom Kenya is one of the state corporations in Kenya that the Government has lined up for sale by April next year.

The restructuring, he said, is meant to make the company viable ahead of the intended sale next year. President Kibaki announced that the sale will be conducted at the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), where 34 per cent of the shares will be offloaded through an Initial Public Offer, while 26 per cent would be sold to a strategic investor.

IFC's valuation of Safaricom is crucial because part of the funding to support Telkom Kenya's restructuring project is expected to come from the sale of mobile firm shares. Under the arrangement, nine per cent of the Safaricom shareholding will be sold to finance the sale of Telkom Kenya. Telkom Kenya owns 60 per cent of Safaricom, while Britain's Vodafone owns 40 per cent. Vodafone's bid $100 million (Sh7.3 billion) for the Safaricom stake. (SOURCE: The East African Standard)

TELKOM'S BCX BUY DELAYED

Fixed-line operator Telkom has had to put the brakes on its buyout of information technology services (IT) company Business Connexion (BCX), as it has not met all the conditions for the deal to go through. Telkom had expected the competition authorities to decide on whether to give the deal the go-ahead or not by Thursday, August 10.

Also, the registrar of companies (in terms of the companies act) has not yet registered a certified copy of the order of court sanctioning the BCX scheme.

As such, Telkom cannot provide the market with the salient dates for the scheme, such as the last day to trade in BCX shares, when BCX's listing will be suspended and the record date to determine participation in the scheme.

Telkom is offering BCX shareholders R9 a share and a 25c dividend. It says it has secured support from over 50% of BCX's shareholders.

Three-quarters of the shareholder base must approve for the deal to go through. In a joint stock exchange announcement issued in May, the companies had set August 29 as a date for BCX's delisting from the JSE.

The deal falls through unless Telkom meets all conditions by December 15, or a date that BCX and Telkom agree to in writing.

Telkom will make a further announcement about the scheme dates 'should the conditions precedent be fulfilled'. BCX shares closed 0,6% higher at R8,35 apiece. (SOURCE: Moneyweb)

ZIMBABWE TELONE REAPS US$10 MILLION FROM AGRICULTURE

Fixed phone monopoly, Tel One has earned US$10 million (Z$2.5 billion at the official exchange rate) from its involvement in agriculture. Tel One is desperate for cash to replace its ageing equipment, over half of which is well past its use-by date, and is saddled with foreign debt of US$18 million, said Hamton Mhlanga, Tel One technical director.

"Financing of inputs into tobacco and horticulture will continue as a means of earning foreign currency. We expect to earn US$10 million from tobacco, which we will use to implement capital projects," said Mhlanga.

According to Mhlanga, over half of Tel One's equipment is obsolete and should have been replaced years ago. This means Zimbabwe cannot use any of the new technology in telephony that most telecoms companies worldwide are using to ramp up earnings.

"Most of the equipment we are using has outlived its useful life. We are having to go with non-repairable equipment. Value added services can't be provided using such equipment, which is more than 50 percent of what we have," Mhlanga said.

Tel One has followed power utility ZESA's lead into agriculture, giving further evidence that state-owned enterprises -- cramped by government controls on their pricing -- are not able to turn in profits from their operations despite their monopolies. Government has been reluctant to privatise companies such as Tel One, and attempts at attracting foreign investment has been foiled by investor fright at legislation that places a cap on tariff charges.

Total parastatal debt stood at $76.43 trillion in June, Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa said last Wednesday.

Tel One holds 32 percent of the overall telecommunications market, lagging behind mobile phone company Econet, which has a 38 percent share of the market. (SOURCE: Financial Gazette)

CELTEL'S KENYA HALF-YEAR PROFITS FALL TO SH64M

Mobile phone operator, Celtel Kenya Limited's half-year after tax profits dropped to Sh64 million in the first six months to June from Sh626 million registered in the same period last year.

Chief Executive Officer Gerhard May attributed the drop to the depreciation of the Kenya shilling against major currencies. The firm made Sh64 million down from Sh626 million last year.

He said the company had invested heavily in upgrading its equipment and network in the period, which coincided with the depreciation of the local currency. "This affected our profits because most of the equipment used was imported." he said. There was a marginal decline in operating profits which stood at Sh822 million compared to Sh826 million registered in the same period last year.

The financial costs grew massively to Sh 900 million in the period under review compared to a low of Sh97 million registered in the same period last year. May said that the company's subscriber base had reached 2.1 million, adding that the company will spend Sh7 million on its network this year to cater for growth of customers to an estimated 3.2 million.

"The customer growth is expected to strengthen in the second half of the year, during which strategic initiatives like reduction in international calling rates, a new sim-based payphone and other services are expected to hit the market." he said.

Post-paid customers are growing more rapidly than the pre-paid subscribers, said the CEO, adding that the company will focus on growing its revenues and market share by rolling out more products. Celtel had already made it easier for users to communicate across the East African region, he noted.

"Our eyes are in the future and we plan to cover 76 per cent of the population by the end of this year, and 95 per cent by end of 200."

At the same time, Mr May opposed the Government's intention to introduce a Common Service Fund (CSF) to finance network coverage of rural areas, saying that Uganda, which has a similar fund, has a lower telephone penetration than Kenya.

(SOURCE: The Nation)

IN BRIEF:

- Zimbabwean telecommunications Company, Econet Wireless, said that it had secured a US$20 million loan from the Africa Export-Import Bank (Affreximbank) to expand its cellular phone network in the country. An official, Dakarai Matanga, said the funds would enable the company to add up to 300,000 new subscribers, especially in the rural areas, which are least covered by the country's three mobile phone networks.

- Celtel Tchad has signed a financial agreement with Afriland First Bank . The bank will loan 6 billions CFA francs to the mobile operator to enable it to invest in new telecommunication equipment and to expand network coverage.

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ONLINE MEDIA SHOWS SOLID SIGNS OF GROWTH IN SOUTH AFRICA

Online media usage continued to show solid growth, according to the latest web traffic figures of South African sites, reported by members of the Online Publishers Association (OPA). Business in Africa online is a member of OPA.

The total number of visitors reported across all OPA member sites in the second quarter was 6.7 million according to research by Nielsen//NetRatings, compared with 4.5 million in the same quarter 2005, representing an increase in web traffic to South African sites of 48 percent in the last year.

A significant proportion of visitors to OPA member sites were from overseas (on average 63 percent of visitors), however the local audience for OPA sites has also expanded by 42.5 percent to 2.48 million in the last year. These figures show a clear pattern of expansion of online media usage amongst South Africans.

The growth of the online industry is welcomed by the OPA, but Internet penetration in South Africa has still to catch-up with other overseas markets. Lower income groups still remain a largely untapped market because of the cost barriers to both hardware and Internet access.

South African web users were predominantly from higher income groups based in the key urban areas of the country: Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. They were typically well-educated (82 percent have completed further education) and work in the office, where most Internet usage (66 percent of access) takes place. Gender split was almost completely equal with 51 percent of site visits being from males and 49 percent being female.

The growing adoption by this higher income group has led to a boom in online advertising which was expected to exceed R183mn (about $27mn) by the end of 2006. However there was still much work to be done in making the online environment accessible to all South Africans.

"The latest web usage figures show online media as a mature and increasingly important media platform in South Africa. This is reflected not only in increasing consumption of online media, but also in the value advertisers are placing on online campaigns. However, the challenge the industry must now overcome is removing the digital divide that exists in South Africa. This can only be removed by further driving down the costs and increasing the accessibility of online media," said Russell Hanly, chairman of the OPA.

The OPA that represents the key players in South African online publishing, has recently expanded its membership to include DStv, Junkmail, New Media Publishing, Webmail and Autotrader. (SOURCE: Business in Africa)

DEVELOPMENT GATEWAY REPAIRS RWANDA'S AGRICULTURE MINISTRY WEBSITE

The Ministry of Agriculture's website is being revamped by Rwanda Development Gateway (RDG) to provide better and clear information about the day today Ministry activities.

This follows the Ministry website being static for a while and lacking updated information for public consumption. Emmanuel Habumuremyi, an official from RDG told The Business Times that the website will be timely, updated and accessed by subscribers.

"The website can now be accessed by logging onto www.Rwandagetway/MINAGRI.co.rw , but it is still available for comments from the public in order to be in line with the public expectations." Habumuremyi said He added that after public comments, the Ministry can now have an independent website without going through RDG.

The Director of Economic Planning in the Ministry of agriculture Ernest Ruzindaza said the revamping of the website is meant to help the ministry highlight its activities to partners and other members of the public.

"The website will help provide the public with a clear insight in the activities of the ministry, which is important in economic development", he said.

Ruzindaza said the updating of the website needed the consultation and harmonisation of the ministry standards with Rwanda Information and Technology Agency (RITA).

The Business Times has established that the ministry website was one of the key issues discussed in the meeting convened yesterday Monday August 7 at the ministry premises in Kacyiru.

It has also been established that the revamping of the website will be applied by all ministries in the effort to provide for the easy flow of information from ministries to the public. (SOURCE: The New Times)

IN BRIEF:

- The National Virtual Library is now live and available for the use of Nigerian universities. The (purpose-built) facility in its take-off form, has over 1.3 million international collections with rich archival resources and valuable documents, as well as 1, 200 locally published journals with 10, 500 high quality journal artless published by Nigerian scholars and which should be of great interest to all users.

CTL COMMENDS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ON BREAK IN CABLE TV MONOPOLY IN NIGERIA

The management of Communication Trends Ltd, operators of CTL cable TV and Trendtv DTH has commended the Federal Minister of information and National Orientation, Mr Frank Nweke Jnr and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for the bold step it took to reverse the monopoly in the cable TV business in Nigeria,thereby creating a level playing ground for all operators in the industry.

In a press release signed by the Media and Public Relations consultant of CTL. Chris Kehinde Nwandu, it stated that the action of the NBC will promote the growth of the industry and bring down the price of service in Nigeria as seen in the other sectors of the Nigerian economy.

According to Nwandu, CTL commends the NBC for this progressive step taken to evolve a level playing ground for licensees and to liberate the Nigeria broadcast industry from the apron strings of monopoly which has held down the industry and stunted its growth over the years in the African continent. Assure the commission and Nigerians in general that TREND will continue to contribute its quota towards the development of the pay TV industry in Nigeria and indeed through out the African continent and will soon come up with a definite time table for the re launch of its DTH service in no distant time.

We thank the Nigerian people for the support they have given TREND and CTL over the years, particularly during the dark days of monopoly and assure them that we will work to ensure that their confidence is not misplaced. And to fulfill the promise we made to change for good, the way pay Tv is currently perceived in Africa.

The monolopolistic and the exclusivity nature of the business in Nigeria has brought so much hardship to the other operators in the business who have to grabble with little contents due to the over bearing nature of the major foriegn operator, a system which is not obtainable in other countries of the world. This has seen to the extinction of many cable operators in Nigeria. (SOURCE: This Day)

NEW TV CHANNEL FOR AFRICA

Africa is mulling setting up a 24-hour television news channel that would portray the continent in positive perspective on the global platform and promote a development agenda, officials said on Wednesday.

They said the channel, which will resemble pan-Arabic television Al-Jazeera, could be in place by next year. "We want to cover Africa as it is in a more balanced, honest way and focus on development of the continent. Africa is not about just aid, but it's also about creating opportunities," Salim Amin, the head of the Camerapix, the Kenyan-based company overseeing the exercise, told a pan-African media conference in Nairobi.

The pan-African and multilingual news and information channel, which plans to begin broadcasting late next year, will cost approximately 75 million dollars, said Amin.

Amin said the Doha-based Al-Jazeera had achieved more in broadcasting the views of the Arab world than a western TV channel could do, thus the need for Africans to raise their voices. Media experts attending the conference lamented that Africa had suffered poor coverage over the decades, being portrayed as a continent of disaster while there were numerous positive events thriving in its regions. (SOURCE: AFP)

PEOPLE

* The CEO of Algérie Télécom, Ibrahim Ouaret, has been remanded in custody by the Algiers Court of Appeal, following allegations that the company had engaged in illegal tendering procedures. Ouaret, who is strongly supported by Algérie Télécom's workforce, is one of eleven being held. Altogether around twenty individuals, including senior management and two financial backers face charges relating to the affair.

EVENTS

- THIRD ANNUAL AFRICAN VOIP FORUM 21-23 August 2006, Muson Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria The event offers a high-powered educational opportunity for Africa's ISPs, telecom operators and corporate VoIP users. The following is a sampleof the rich content: The impact of VoIP on African voice markets; Maximising international connectivity via a virtual service provider; TDMoIP vsVoIP: Which technology is better for your network? Successful revenue generating VoIP deployments in high-growth markets - Lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan For further details, contact Sean Moroney Tel: +44(0)1480-880774 seanm@aitecafrica.com or visit www.aitecafrica.com

- 10TH ANNUAL CONTACT CENTRES WORLD AFRICA 28th - 31st August 2006, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa Effective strategies for excellence in call centres For further information visit www.terrapinn.com

- THE 4TH ANNUAL CTO FORUM 2006 4th - 6th September 2006, London This year's key focus areas are on realising the socio-economic benefits of mobile communications, policy making to encourage competition, regulating for mobile success, incorporating new technology to aid mobile development and generating the highest possible ARPU. For further information visit the CTO's website www.cto.int

- IWEEK 2006 4 - 7 September 2006, Castle, Kyalami in Midrand, Gauteng The event is organised by ISPA and UniForum SA (the .co.za registrars) The programme brings an extensive range of industry experts from across virtually every continent, making this an exciting and extremely worthwhile event to attend. For further information visit www.ispa.org.za

- TELECOMS WORLD AFRICA 2006 4 - 8 September 2006, Cape Town, South Africa The event offers a uniquely African perspective and brings together leaders from multiple markets and disciplines to create the ultimate African industry networking experience. Contacts can be made, experiences shared, alliances forged and participants will profit from ideas, information and know-how. For further information visit www.terrapinn.com

- DIGITAL WORLD CONFERENCE 2006 12-13 September 2006, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in collaboration with the Growing Businesses Foundation (GBF) and the TT30 Club of Rome will hosting the Digital World Conference 2006. The theme of the forthcoming conference is "ICTs for Education and Development. For further information visit www.ncc.gov.ng

- AFRICAN BILLING & TELECOMS REVENUE ASSURANCE FORUM 11th - 15th September 2006m, Southern Sun, Cape Town, South Africa Five focused days of conference and seminar sessions addressing the specific Revenue Management challenges currently being faced by African Telecoms Operators and Service Providers. This forum presents an invaluable opportunity to hear real-world experiences in a series of cutting-edge case studies and workshops led by African, European and American Operators. For more information, please visit the website at www.iir-events.com

- REGIONAL SEMINAR ON BROADBAND WIRELESS ACCESS FOR RURAL AND REMOTE AREAS IN AFRICA 18th-21st September 2006, Yaoundé, Cameroon The seminar will examine the technological, economic and regulatory factors that influence the availability and deployment of wireless broadband services. The event will provide an opportunity for wireless broadband business, technology and regulatory experts to share their knowledge, experience and views on the future of the industry with ITU and hosting administration attendees. For further information visit http://itu.int/ITU-D/imt-2000/BDTActivities.html

- 2ND INFRASTRUCTURE PARTNERSHIPS FOR AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT (IPAD) CENTRAL AFRICA 3rd-5th October 2006, Grand Hotel, Kinshasa, Congo Democratic Republic 2nd Infrastructure Partnerships for African Development (iPAD) Central Africa will take place from the 3rd-5th October 2006 at the Grand Hotel, Kinshasa. For further information visit www.ipad-africa.com

WEST AFRICAN SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS SUMMIT 31 October - 2 November 2006, Le Meridien Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria The summit is dedicated to the deployment of satellite and satellite hybrid-based communications solutions across the region of West Africa and will provide an unparalleled networking opportunity for global and regional satellite communications providers to meet with ever-expanding communities of vertical market communications end-users. For further information visit www.gvf.org

* GSM-3G WORLD SERIES - NORTH AFRICA 8-9 November 2006, Sheraton Tunis Hotel, Tunis, Tunisia "What are the market impacts of additional competition and 3G licensing in North Africa? How can you attract new users to drive forward penetration? And more importantly what plans do your suppliers, clients and competitors have for this region? The 5th GSM>3G North Africa is the one forum in the region vital to manufacturers, application developers, operators and regulators who are active, or seeking to be active, in the North African market. For further information visit www.gsm-3gworldseries.com

- 1ST INTERNATIONAL ICT INVESTMENT CONFERENCE FOR AFRICA 14th - 15th November 2006, Tunis, Tunisia. Under the auspices of Secretary General United Nations Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD) Regarding sponsorship or delegate attendance, please contact Dan Morrissy in London on +44 207 2871326 or at dmorrissy@i-ep.com

CALL FOR TENDERS

- CALL FOR PROPOSALS (CFP) FOR CONNECTIVITY OF THE EAST AFRICAN INTERNET EXCHANGE POINTS (EAIXP) This project aims to keep the East African internet traffic local to the region through the creation a meshed network that would facilitate the exchange of regional internet traffic within the region without having to involve exchange points outside the region. By interconnecting the Internet exchange points (IXPs) in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, traffic destined to a location within East Africa will be delivered as a local traffic instead of it traveling all the way to an overseas exchange point only for it to be rerouted back to East Africa. This invitation is open to any firm interested in providing interconnection or to act as a carrier between the three IXPs. Duly completed tender documents should be mailed to or deposited in the respective regulator's tender boxes on or before 31st August 2006 at 2.30p.m. For further information contact the CCK, UCC or TCRA

JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES

SENIOR FIXED CORE NETWORK DESIGN CONSULTANT - BOTSWANA

The company is currenlty looking for a Senior Fixed Core Network Design Consultant to verify fixed core network design and provide detailed recommendations for improvement. The following will be provided: Accommodation, local transportation, 1 round trip flight (Original location to place of work), business related expenses, mobile phone for business use. Consultant to provide own Laptop. For further information contact advertising@balancingact-africa.com

ERICSSON GPRS O&M ENGINEER - TANZANIA

The company is looking to find an experienced Ericsson GPRS O&M Engineer. Must have at least 3 years experience on Ericsson equipment. The ideal candidate will have previous experience with Network implementation troubleshooting and O&M of GPRS Networks using GPRS Support Nodes (CGSN) and MPBN. You should have strong knowledge of Juniper Routers, Extreme Switches, Netscreen Firewalls, Radius(steel-belted) & DNS (bind9). For further information contact advertising@balancingact-africa.com

GSM ACADEMY - BSS O&M TRAINING FOR AFRICAN PROFESSIONALS

Starting October 2, 2006, TOP will provide a GSM curriculum for Expert Training on BSS Operation & Maintenance. The boot camp includes 3 months of lectures and hands-on labs and is completed by 6 months of apprenticeship at a European GSM network operator. This heavily sponsored program targets on African engineers / technicians to improve their job possibilities in their home countries. For further information visit /www.topbusinessag.com

CONTRACTS: WHO'S SELLING WHAT TO WHO?

MNET AND CONCILIUM - SOUTH AFRICA

Concilium Technologies has announced that M-Net and SuperSport, M-Net's eight channels dedicated to sports programming, have selected Vizrt solutions for the asset management of over 200 000 hours of existing and new content.

SPESCOM AND COMPUTER POINT - EAST AFRICA

Spescom DataFusion has concluded a partnership agreement with East Africa-based ICT provider, Computer Point. This agreement marks the conclusion of the first phase of Spescom's plans to establish a presence in the region. Computer Point has branch offices in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda, and is now empowered to offer Spescom's full range of contact centre products and services.

MTC GROUP AND SIEMENS - MEA

Siemens Communications announcedthat it has signed a global frame agreement with the regional telecom giant Mobile Telecommunication Company (MTC). The agreeement includes the unification of commercial and legal terms and conditions on a global scale between the two companies.

ECONET WIRELESS AND INNSCOR - ZIMBABWE

Econet Wireless has entered into a strategic partnership with Innscor Africa that will see the latter distributing recharge cards and other cellular products across the country. Under the deal, Innscor would leverage Econet's extensive network as a distributing chain for its airtime and other products sold through the former's distribution network.

CCK AND ASCOM - KENYA

Industry regulator Communications Commission of Kenya director-general John Waweru announced a deal with Ascom that will see the Commission buy Sh50 million monitoring equipment for the exercise.

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