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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 376 Continued high Internet and telecoms growth in West Africa, says new reportThis week sees the publication of the first report in Balancing Act’s new series African Telecoms and Internet Markets. Part 1 covers 16 countries in West Africa and shows that the sub-region has experienced strong growth in both the mobile and Internet sectors since 2003. The sixteen countries covered by the report are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo. For mobile subscribers, the top 5 markets in West Africa by number of subscribers are (figures rounded up): Nigeria (21.5 million), Ghana (5.2 million), Cote d’Ivoire (4 million), Senegal (3 million) and Mali (1.4 million). And although Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal are not among the top 5 mobile growth countries, they will both to continue to experience healthy increases in subscribers. Both markets are set to see the entrance of another mobile competitor in 2008. The top 5 countries that have shown the most growth over four years are (in descending order): Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, Liberia, Niger, and Ghana. Given the population size of Nigeria, it has been the largest market in terms of growth in overall subscriber numbers. However, the stratospheric increase in numbers is beginning to slow down a little. Although the data is less precise than for mobiles, in terms of Internet subscribers, there are four countries that stand out as significantly larger than other countries in the region (in descending order) in terms of Internet connections: Nigeria (71,000), Ghana (45,000), Cote d’Ivoire (35,000) and Senegal (30,000). Every country has shown significant growth in Internet subscribers. However, the top 5 countries in terms of percentage growth over four years have been (in descending order): Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. The growth in Guinea Bissau and Liberia has come from a period of stability and looks set to continue to increase if both countries remain stable. But Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana have all shown significant growth in subscriber numbers that can in part be attributed to the introduction of broadband services. Other findings from the report include: • There are considerable variances in retail broadband prices. The difference between wholesale bandwidth prices on the SAT3 fibre and satellite account for some of the variance in these retail prices. But it is hard to see why a Nigerian wireless provider is charging US$192.02 for a 256 kbps download speed service. It must be that all markets bear the prices they have until someone comes along and does it cheaper. • The two largest users of international Internet bandwidth are Senegal (1.24 gbps) and Nigeria (4gbps). Although not in a competitive market, Sonatel has long been a “low-price progressive” and a regional hub for Mauritania and Mali. With Nitel now in private hands, there is perhaps some hope that it will follow a similar pricing strategy that will see this even this large volume of international bandwidth grow. In mid 2007, the new owners were having problems getting additional SAT3 bandwidth because of unpaid bills but these have been resolved. • There are three new international fibre projects connecting West Africa and once only one of them is completed, all 16 countries focused on in the report will be connected to fibre. • Although there are only public “hot-spots” in Accra and, these are now becoming a much more regular feature in terms of services provided in hotels. For example, range of hotels in Cape Verde, Gambia, Liberia and Nigeria all offer hot-spots. Free Wi-Fi hot-spot access for hotel customers is beginning to be the current wave of service provision rather than the traditional over-priced access at a business centre in the hotel. • The majority of other fixed line operators in the region have come down to between US25-50 cents a minute to main international destinations and where prices have been at the lower end of that range, it has encouraged mobile operators to follow suit. • Five countries (Benin, Ghana, Liberia, Mali again, and Sierra Leone) have announced that they will privatise their incumbent in the next 12-18 months. Benin’s Council of Ministers has set June 2008 as the date for the sale of both Benin Telecom and its mobile subsidiary, Libercom. Perhaps Mali will make it this time This 272 page report is the first part of that series – African Telecoms and Internet Markets – covering West Africa and is the most detailed summary of its kind covering the region’s 16 countries. It contains: 16 country profiles each with a full page map showing network roll-out and coverage; two detailed spreadsheets, one providing an overview of regional comparative data and the other 155 mobile calling plans from the region; charts and graphs showing both growth patterns and market share; and 50 charts, maps and tables. There is no other report that offers both this range and depth of coverage. To order a copy and have it sent to you immediately electronically, go to: http://www.balancingact-africa.com/publications.html
MobiNil awarded 3G concession in EgyptEgypt’s National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) has awarded MobiNil a licence to offer 3G mobile services. The 15-year license identifies MobiNil as the third provider of 3G services in Egypt after Etisalat Misr and Vodafone Egypt with a total fee of LE 3.34 billion and 2.4% of its total annual 3G revenues. The LE 3.34-billion fee will go the public treasury. The license allows MobiNil to use UMTS, EDGE, HSUPA and HSDPA technologies and to provide services that include visual communications, video-messaging, high-speed data transfer and internet, MBMS services, Mobile TV, Push-to-View and GPRS, provided that the company has to get permissions for some of the services from the concerned authorities. MobiNil is to acquire a 10 MHz frequency spectrum for broadcasting its 3G services. Dr. Kamel said that with the new license acquisition fee, the communication sector's total contribution to the Public Treasury has amounted to LE 28,5 billion derived of the fees of the licenses granted to the three mobile operators and the shares of Telecom Egypt. CCK Grants Safaricom 3G Licence in KenyaThe Communications Commission of Kenya has granted Safaricom the first third generation (3G) licence for $25 million (Sh1.6 billion). Information and Communication minister Mr Mutahi Kagwe said proceeds from the license fee would be used to develop information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure in the country. The money will foot part of bill for the laying of The East Africa Marine System (Teams) undersea fibre optic cable and the Fibre Optic National Network (Fonn). The licence will allow Safaricom to rollout 3G services that include high-speed data communications such us mobile Internet access, mobile videoconferencing and videophone. (Source: East African Standard) Infrastructure sharing dispute in Nigeria gets politicalThe Senate has been petitioned over the lingering telecoms infrastructure sharing dispute that has pitted long distance operator, Traffic Network Services Limited (TNSL) against fixed wireless operator, Multi-Links-Telkom. In what has shaped out to be one of the longest standing infrastructure sharing dispute in the telecoms sector, TNSL wants the upper law-making body to invoke its powers of "legislative superintendence" to order an investigation into the dispute that it says has defied regulatory intervention through its standing or ad-hoc committee on Communications. South Africa's fixed line operator, Telkom SA this year acquired 75 per cent stake in Nigeria's pioneer private phone operator, Multi-Links, in a $280 million deal that resulted in the identity change to Multilinks-Telkom and appointment of an executive in Telkom Broadband division, Justin Ramayia, as Chief Operating Officer in April, this year. CEO of TNSL, Olusegun Fatoye, in a letter dated October 2, 2007 to Senate President David Mark, seen by Technology Times alleged that Multilink-Telkom's refusal to allow his company access to spare capacity on its duct along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway to lay its cable, "has created a barrier to market entry for a young indigenous company like ours." Both companies have been at loggerheads over plans by TNSL to share telecoms infrastructure and collocation facility with Multi-Links-Telkom, a development that has seen the telecoms sector regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), wading into the matter in a dispute resolution hearing held in September, last year. Meanwhile, TNSL says very little has changed since then as the regulatory ruling delivered by NCC that both parties should comply with its earlier decision of November last year to commence negotiations on collocation/infrastructure sharing was allegedly yet to be heeded by Multilinks-Telkom. According to the TNSL petition, it is seeking the Senate's review of the following: - The landmark ruling in the matter of co-location and infrastructure sharing between TNSL and Multilinks-Telkom. - The final regulatory ruling and subsequent directive remains pending and un-enforced since delivery on February 28, 2007 The entire industry and indeed international investors are awaiting the enforcement of this ruling as a clear regulatory guide and precedent for negotiating and concluding transactions on co-location and infrastructure sharing. (Source: This Day) Telkom Lodges SMS Petition Against Safaricom in KenyaIn the fight for control of Kenya's lucrative telecoms industry, competition is becoming a useful weapon in the hands of rival firms -especially those that need to play the catch-up game to remain in the race. This market share war has become so intense that players are breaking all boundaries in the corporate rulebook. Five months ago, mobile phone service provider Celtel took its bigger and only rival Safaricom before the market regulator, accusing it of playing unfairly in the market to the disadvantage of the consumer. Now it is the national operator Telkom's turn to lodge a landmark complaint against its subsidiary -Safaricom. In its letter to Mr John Waweru, the Communications Commission of Kenya director general, Telkom Kenya is accusing Safaricom of practising anti-competitive behaviour in the market -especially in the Short Messages Services (SMS) segment of the business. Telkom says Safaricom has been blocking the exchange of SMSs between the two networks, thereby denying its customers access to key services that the national operator is offering such as the one that enables them to check their voter registration details with the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK). "Telkom Kenya is concerned that Safaricom is engaging in anti-competitive behaviour and in essence abusing its dominant market position by introducing barriers to new entrants targeting SMS market segment," Telkom says. Public attention was first drawn to the matter after some Safaricom subscribers complained that Safaricom was charging them for undelivered SMSs to Telkom Kenya's Wireless network. SMSs to Telkom network got an automatic reply indicating that delivery had failed yet the consumers were being billed. Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph acknowledged that some of its subscribers had sent messages to Telkom Kenya during the test period and may have been charged erroneously. He said that although the company was not billing SMSs to Telkom Wireless network between August 13 and August 27, some of its customers may have been billed. Safaricom later agreed to refund the affected subscribers. Telkom says that on August 16, the two interconnectivity negotiating parties met and agreed on interconnection rate and a technical testing schedule. During this period the parties also exchanged SMS test templates to be adopted in the tests. Safaricom has however not cooperated in facilitating the process, making it unable to commercialise the service. The matter seems to have reached fever pitch after Safaricom introduced a voter registry query service similar to the one Telkom Kenya had rolled out after it won an ECK tender. Telkom Kenya is complaining that failure by Safaricom to activate the SMS service is affecting its ability to use an innovative platform that delivers voter registry query services by utilizing the 460 numeric to access the ECK database. Telkom Kenya says Safaricom acted maliciously in delaying to activate the SMS service only to launch a similar service. "We are perturbed that Safaricom, having not been involved in the initial tender process is currently able to provide a similar services using the 460 prefix. This is a totally unacceptable anti-competitive behaviour," Telkom says. Mr Joseph declined to comment on the matter saying it was already before an arbiter. Telkom Kenya is the majority shareholder at Safaricom with a 60 per cent stake. It co-owns the company with the United Kingdom's Vodafone Plc which has a 40 per cent stake in the firm. (Source: Business Daily)
IN BRIEF:- The Uganda Communications Commission's (UCC) has announced that over 1,529 payphones will be provided in 154 rural under-served sub-counties before the end of the year. - In Guinea, the fixed line operator, Sotelgui, has introduced pre-paid cards in a shift to move its fixed line customers from a post-paid toa pre-paid billing model. The company hopes to reduce fraud and costs associated to recover unpaid bills. - After Huawei and ZTE, LG has entered in partnership with Telkom Kenya to supply CDMA handsets. The Telkom partnership was the second in the region after Sudan. In the latter country, LG has supplied 640,000 CDMA handsets to Sudatel. TELECOMS, RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGE- Zimbabwe’s telecommunications group NetOne has started erecting new base stations in resort centres to improve communications and help ease congestion ahead of the Fifa World Cup scheduled for South Africa in 2010. Work has already begun with the commissioning of the second mobile switching centre in the country's second largest city Bulawayo. - Nigeria’s mobile operator, Globacom announced a subscriber base of 15 million with over 12 million active subscriber-base as it gets set to formally launch its third numbering platform, 0705. - Virgin Mobile has become the first network in SA to offer its customers protection from cellphone viruses. The company is working with Dubai-based company Lighthouse to offer Norton software that blocks bugs transmitted via e-mail, multimedia messages, downloads from memory cards or by Bluetooth or infrared connections. - Celtel Malawi has announced that its GPRS mobile packet data service is now ready for a commercial launch following a successful two month, 1,000 user test phase. The billing model will be based on customer usage and not connection time.
Suburban Partners with Benin Telecom on SAT3 LinkSuburban, a private Nigerian ICT company recently partnered with Benin Telecom, the National Operator of the Republic of Benin to serve as an alternative for the supply of the undersea SAT-3 fibre transmission capacity into Nigeria and other West African markets. According to Suburban's CEO, Mr. Bruce Ayonote, "The motivation of this project is simply demand and supply. On the demand side, the Nigerian market still exhibits a pent up demand for ICT services, ranging from more cost effective voice services like VoIP to advanced data services. As the economy continues to expand and grow, this demand will only increase sharply." On the supply side, Benin Telecom is a gateway to the rest of West Africa and the world because of its proximity and its SAT-3 assets. Our partnership with Benin Telecom has positioned us to be a major supplier to the Nigerian market that has a high demand for telecommunications services." Mr. Ayonote further stated "Both Suburban and Benin Telecom can leverage on their assets to create economic value in the region. Suburban as a major player in the fastest growing telecommunications market brings its assets, expertise and a ready customer base, while Benin Telecom brings its assets and proximity. This alliance presents a case study for regional cooperation as a driver for economic development in West Africa." Under the exclusive agreement signed in September 2007, Suburban will extend its domestic fibre network from Lagos into Port Novo and Seme Podji where it will be connected to Benin Telecom's submarine optic fibre SAT-3 centre in Cotonou for international communications. In due course, the backbone will be extended into other West African countries, depending on the bandwidth requirements into and out of these countries. (Source: This Day) No Going Back On Nigcomsat Sale says Nigeria’s Federal GovernmentThere is no going back on the sale of the country's only communication satellite Nigcomsat, the Minister of State for Information and Communication, Alhaji Dasuki Nakande has said. The minister who was reacting to calls for a rethink of the decision of the federal government to privatise the facility over the weekend said though the present government is a listening one, it has not seen any reason to revert its earlier position on the privatisation of the communication satellite. While acknowledging receiving contrary opinions on privatising the utility, the minister stressed that government has taken a decision to privatise Nigcomsat and that as far as he is concerned, that position has not changed. "Government has taken a position that it will privatise Nigcomsat and I think that position has not changed, but as you know, we have a president who listens, so if there is a new information we would let you know. "I have read the editorial calling for a rethink, we are open to suggestions and we would look at it and see how best to do it," he stated. According to him, the privatisation is an entrenched policy of the reform programme of the present administration, stressing that the government believes that it should continue to divest from owning and running public utilities in the country so that the private sector could drive the economy of the country. "We believe that government should continue to divest from public owned companies so that the private sector can take the initiative and the drive to push them forward," he said. (Source: Daily Trust) MTN in High-Speed Internet Rollout in RwandaRwandans will enjoy faster, efficient and cheaper internet services as MTN, a leading telecom company in the country has announced plans to expand high-speed internet services. At least 12 districts in the country will be covered by the end of this year. The target of the telecom company is to have high-speed internet service available to nearly most homes and businesses in rural areas. The move to hurry installing affordable high-speed internet access comes at the time the telecom company has embarked on optic fibre rollout. With fibre, telecom operators say it makes mobile phone communication and internet services cheaper. Amin Gafaranga, the MTN Business Development Manager said they are to use the Wimax powered by 3G technology. "The technology is ten-times faster, " Gafaranga said. A survey on rates charged by MTN, Randatel and ISPA shows MTN is so far 'the cheapest internet service provider in the country'. Whereas MTN charges Frw95,000 for 128 kbps for their broadband wireless internet connection-competitors-Rwandatel charges Frw100,000 while ISPA charges Frw150,000. The survey also shows wide disparity in installation fees, among the three internet service providers. MTN charges Frw100,000-Rwamdatel Frw210,000 while ISPA demands Frw280,000 before they connect a client to their internet services. (Source: New Times) IN BRIEF:- The city of Johannesburg has shortlisted 11 companies as potential partners in its broadband network project. They are Goal Technology Solutions, Altech, Neology, Transtel, MTN, Dimension Data, Vodacom, Ericsson, Telkom, MWEB/Tellumat and Sentech. - Nigeria’s Federal Government will save about N302.4 billion annually through provision of free Internet services once Galaxy Backbone Plc begins operation. The company has concluded plans to install 5000 VSAT network with nodes distributed in all the local government areas of the federation and to offer VoIP services and chat rooms for government offices. - Air Mauritius has updated its website to improve customers online booking experience. With more than 4,000 daily visitors to the website, the airline sees an opportunity to increase sales with the shift to online booking by travellers. - Côte d’Ivoire, Cocody university has made mandatory online pre-registration for new students. So far, the organisation has recorded 3,200 online registrations and as a result there were less queues at the registration office, reduced delays in the registration process and more secured personal data processing. - iBurst South Africa says it has installed the 200th base station on its national wireless broadband network. The milestone has been reached just weeks after the operator signed up its 50,000th customer. iBurst has coverage in most major metropolitan areas, including Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Pietermaritzburg and Bloemfontein.
Nigeria and Uganda to join Linux professional InstituteTwo more African countries join the Linux Professional Institute (LPI), the worldwide promoters of skills on Linux and Open Source technologies, based in Toronto, Canada. Announcing this, LPI Area Operations Manager for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) Mr. John Meaney, said the development has shown the importance of Linux and Open Source Software in those countries. "These two new affiliates are indicative of the growing importance of Linux and Open Source Software both in the field of education and Information Technology (IT) capacity development in Africa," said Meaney. He also said that there was significant interest in the region in Linux professionalism, which has resulted in ongoing discussions with other potential affiliates in the Middle East and Africa. As said by him, LPI will be represented in Nigeria by Lifeforte, a member of the Association of International Schools in Africa based in Ibadan, Oyo State in western Nigeria. While the East African Centre for Open Source Software (EACOSS) will be located in Uganda to cater for Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and the Great Lakes region. The chairperson of Lifeforte International Schools, Mr. Johnson Olubi, said the LPI?s vendor neutral Linux training and certification was a solid foundation for competence and relevance in both general computer literacy and the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) profession. He also said that by introducing the LPI programme into the high schoosl and university curricula will boost, educate and empower the whole younger generation about Open Source Software and accelerate the shift from compulsory, expensive, proprietary software to having the choice of Open Source. Meanwhile, the managing director of EACOSS, Mr. George W. Lule, pointed out that the adoption of Linux in East Africa as well as migration from proprietary platforms to Open Source Software (OSS) platforms has always been hampered by the absence of skilled and qualified personnel within the region. "EACOSS trusts that in promoting the internationally-recognized vendor neutral LPI certification we will see a substantial increase in qualified IT personnel and assure employers, clients and other stakeholders that they are entrusting their OSS based IT infrastructure to professionals who meet an international skills standard," Mr. Lule said Since the program's inception, LPI has delivered over 155,000 exams and over 47 000 graduates. (Source: Highway Africa News Agency) Ethiopian Company Introduces Multimedia Teaching and Training KitsClassic Education and Training Network, a local company engaged in producing educational software, introduced "the first of its type" interactive multimedia teaching and training support service for high school students from grade seven to ten, Company General Manager Engineer Wondimu Gezahegn told The Reporter. The teaching and training kit, which is produced and printed in CDs, is prepared in text, sound, picture, graphics and motion picture forms. The teaching aid contains lectures, model exams, tutorial service and textbooks on five subjects: English, physics, chemistry, maths and biology. The lectures are prepared both in Amharic and English languages while all the teaching supporting materials are based on the curriculum of the Ministry of Education, according to Engineer Wondimu. The manager said that the company had developed software that protects unlawful distribution of the CDs that contain the teaching material it produces. The developed copyright protection software could as well be applicable for the film and music industry, according to Engineer Wondimu. "We have tested the software on a film and a music video clip produced recently and found out that it was successful," he said. The company will initially provide the teaching and training support service printed on CDs at 100 selected centers (presently serving as internet cafes or computer training centers) in Addis Ababa, or in each kebeles found in the ten sub-cities, where each center will be employing at least five computers. Up to six students can simultaneously follow the lectures (or other programs) using a single computer and the company envisaged to outreach its service for about 35,000 students using these centers. The company aims to provide the service for all high school students in Addis Ababa and the whole country eventually. The manager said that internet cafes and IT training centers operational outside Addis Ababa can also buy the company's product and provide the service for students in the regions outside the capital. "The service could be made available for all high school students if we can employ IT facilities in each high school," Engineer Wondimu said. "To this end, we are currently trying to approach and introduce the service to the respective personnel and representatives of the schools. But in the mean-time, we will be availing the service employing internet cafes and computer training centers in the city." The manager said: "Our service will create a win-win situation both for us, the internet cafes or other outlets willing to offer the service we provide for students and the students themselves because the service will be made available for an attractive price for students while it provides a niche market for the service providing outlets." According to the manager, the teaching and training kit the company developed will support the existing high school education. "Compared to the educational support provided via plasma screens in high schools, the multimedia teaching material we produced will have advantages in avoiding the rent being paid for satellite services which the plasma screen transmission employs, in repeating programs and providing text books, among others." The company spent 1.5 million birr worth of investment in cash and in kind, according to the manager. (Source: The Reporter) MySQL bets on Obsidian in South AfricaObsidian has been appointed the official training partner for the MySQL database product in South Africa. Obsidian managing director, Muggie van Staden, says the company will be running the first classes for MySQL certification in November 2007. "MySQL is one of the most widely used database solutions in the world today," he says. "We are seeing an increased demand for MySQL training in South Africa as more customers realise the benefits of using the platform which is highly flexible, powerful, secure and reliable." Van Staden says that enterprise customers demand open source solutions that are vendor-backed, but also that have certified local skills available and that offer access to skills transfer for in-house staff. "These three tiers of support are vital to open source solutions being effective for enterprise customers especially," he says. "Now customers can rest assured that South Africa has top skills available for the MySQL server with Obsidian offering official training." Obsidian offers two courses in MySQL: one aimed at database administrators and another at developers. Mark Morrissey, global training partner manager for MySQL, says: "From both customer service and company growth perspectives it is imperative to partner with local training organisations. By providing authorised training to our customers around the world, partners are a major part of the global infrastructure that allows more organisations to adopt MySQL as their database of choice." "South Africa is viewed as a great growth market for MySQL," says Morrissey. "We are receiving close to 400 new leads from the area each month. The addition of Obsidian should only act to enhance MySQL's reputation and penetration in the region." (Source: Tectonic) IN BRIEF:- The prospects of associating Microsoft Corporation with the implementation of technology transfer programmes and innovation centres in Algeria were discussed between Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer and Post and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Minister Boudjemaâ Haïchour. Both sides have also touched on Microsoft's involvement in the Sidi Abdellah cyber park's activities, the reinforcement of its role in the "Ousratic" (1 PC per household) operation, and its expertise in the postal mass payment system. - The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has announced a N250 000 prize for any youth who publishes the best Information and Communication Technology (ICT) graphic book for primary schools in Nigeria. - The fifth annual exhibition of MED-IT will start in Tunis on October 24th at the El Ghazala technology park. IT companies from Tunisia and abroad will have an opportunity to meet with a further view to create partnership for the provision of ICT services. - Indian technology company Satyam is strengthening is training support to South Africa. 60 places for software development training were contested by more than 700 young graduates. They will join almost 30 students already being trained in India, with Satyam promising full-time jobs for them all. The South Africa’s government has agreed to support all 60 recruits by paying their living allowance, subsidising the R340000 it costs to train each student. - American software company Redberry has open an office in Kenya to support the sale of its software suite targeted at the freight service industry. The company also reckons that there is a business opportunity with the IATA plans to implement an e-freight programme that will mirror its more well-known e-ticketing initiative currently underway and seeks to eradicate the paper air ticket by May 2008. - Morocco will host the third African conference on open source software in November. Workshops will be held on Linux network administration, network and systems security, professional Php, and migration.
Mweb Africa Aquires iWay AfricaMWEB Africa, a subsidiary of Naspers Limited, has acquired leading African satellite ISP, AFSAT Communications Limited which operates under the brand name iWay Africa. The acquisition takes MWEB Africa's representation in Africa from 16 to 26 countries. MWEB Africa has subsidiaries in Namibia, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. MWEB Africa is a division of Multichoice Africa Limited and was established in 1999 to service the markets in the Rest of Africa. AFSAT is Africa's biggest satellite based ISP and is active in over 26 countries in East, West and Southern Africa. It has operating subsidiaries in Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. AFSAT provides Internet connectivity to both business and residential customers. In addition, it provides corporate and governmental customers with highly reliable and secure corporate data network solutions. AFSAT was set up in 1994 and has been backed by a group of shareholders which included the company's senior management, Wilken Africa Limited and Modern Africa LLC, an investment fund managed by London-based Helios Invest-ment Partners, a leading private equity firm focused on sub-Saharan Africa. Commenting on the transaction Harry Aucamp CEO of MWEB Africa said: "MWEB Africa's strategy is to expand its presence and Internet services throughout Africa. The acquisition of AFSAT will considerably strengthen our representation and underlines our commitment to be a leading player in this dynamic market. The AFSAT iWay service is a perfect fit with our current MWEB VSAT service." The acquisition significantly strengthens MWEB's African presence, making it one of the biggest providers of Internet connectivity services, with more representation and clients than any other service provider on the continent. Of additional benefit to MWEB customers will be the various cross-border connectivity and facilities linking to both the USA and Europe. "The AFSAT platform is the leading satellite data service in Africa and will enable us to offer our customers in these markets a high quality, reliable and flexible service," said Aucamp. "In many African countries, companies, governments and home users cannot rely on fixed line broadband services, so satellite-based Internet access becomes a vital link to the rest of Africa and the world. We believe the potential for growth is excellent and adding AFSAT to our offering puts MWEB Africa in an excellent position to take advantage of this potential." Salim Suleman, founder and CEO of AFSAT and who will remain with the company as Group Managing Director, commented: "We look forward to becoming part of the MWEB Africa Group. We have a common vision for the business, and the resources that MWEB bring will enable the business to expand to a new level." (Source: This Day) Libyan Firm buys Rwandatel for $100 MillionLap Green Networks, a Libyan company is to pay $100 million (about Frw54.5 billion) for the shares in Rwandatel. This is more than the $25 million the defunct Terracom, an American firm was to pay government for the same company. The company also promises to invest $317 million (about Frw 172 billion) to revamp the telecom sector in the country. The investment to stretch over a period of over 15-years will see the company inject $87 million in the economy during its first year of running Rwandatel. Government wanted a local company to have a stake in Rwandatel to represent interest of Rwandans, Eng. Albert Butare, the Communication and Engery state minister said in an interview at his office. The Social Security Fund of Rwanda has 20 per cent stake in Rwandatel. Cabinet awarded Lap Green the 80 per cent shares in Rwandatel after beating other bidders who included telecom giants Vodacom Group of South Africa and Celtel - Africa's third-largest cell phone company by subscriber numbers. Others are V-Tel Holdings of Jordan, Bit Map Ltd of Singapore and Rwanda's R-Com. During the opening of the tendering process in Kigali, representatives of Lap Green promised to operate a borderless network between Uganda's UTL and Rwandatel. The company has a 69 per cent stake in UTL. Lap Green also promised to make calls affordable to every Rwandan. "We are not after profits. Ours is a pan-African spirit," the Lap Green representative who asked to remain anonymous said. Lap Green is owned by Libya Africa Investments Portfolio for Africa, a consortium set up to reorganise the interests of the Libyan government on the continent. The company, which has invested $4 billion in cash and owns $3 billion in assets, also owns Mali's premier telecom company, Sahelcom. (Source: New Times) South Africa’s Government Backs Telkom Asset Sale to MTNThe communications department said it backed discussions between Telkom and MTN over plans by the fixed-line operator to sell some of its infrastructure to MTN. A brief statement by the department removes one of the main hurdles that any deal would face, since the government holds 38,9% of Telkom.. "As government, we are in principle supportive of the current discussions. We will await additional information in this regard prior to commenting further." The government is presumably now more au fait with both parts of Telkom's plan, since the department is working "in an interdepartmental task team to ensure that the interest of the country, all the workers and those of shareholders is protected". Analysts think MTN may combine its business in SA with Telkom's fixed-line unit and spin that off in a publicly traded company. The new company would be worth R55bn, and MTN might give its investors shares in the new company, said Scott Ryall, an analyst for Macquarie Bank. "Although we don't believe there would be significant synergy from combining the two South African businesses, this transaction could still be a positive for MTN," Ryall said. An outright purchase by MTN of Telkom's fixed-line business would be the "worst outcome for MTN and the best for Telkom" as it would dilute MTN's growth and its attraction as an emerging markets company and transfer the risk of owning a fixed-line network, Ryall said. However, Telkom investors would benefit from a share price upside of up to 15%, he estimated. A second option was for Telkom itself to buy MTN's local operations after Telkom sold its shares in Vodacom, Ryall said. MTN's growth in SA had slowed as the market became saturated. Selling its local arm to Telkom may make MTN's operations in 20 other countries look more "appealing to growth investors ," Ryall said. (Source: Business Day) South Korea Grants Credit for Telecommunications Projects in AngolaA 35 million-dollar credit to fund the "Governmental Telecommunications Network" project was granted by South Korea to reduce the existing digital difficulties among Angola and other countries. Angola's vice-minister of Foreign Affairs for Cooperation, Irene Neto, said that the Angolan government is engaged on the country's modernisation, through loans and direct investments, adding that both countries have a General Accord of Economic, Technical and Scientific Cooperation, signed in 1993. The two governments are currently negotiating a project of the Agreement of Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments, added the official. On his turn, the Korean ambassador expressed satisfaction over the implementation of the accord aimed at optimising the functioning of the Angolan government. Kim Kyun Seop stressed that his government will continue to support projects aimed at developing Angola. In Angola, South Korea is being represented by Daewoo, Samsung and Hyundai companies. The cooperation, between both States, is also noticeable in the fields of constructing FPSO platforms, tankers and fishing boats. (Source: Angola Press Agency) IN BRIEF:- The Kenyan Government has allowed ZTE and Huawei which were awarded contracts to build its terrestrial fibre optic network to borrow money they need for the job. The third company, Sagem, also from China, is however expected to sign a different agreement with the Government. - Investors hoping to buy a stake in Kenya's company Safaricom may have to wait until the first quarter of 2008. The Safaricom CEO maintained that while it may be possible to start the process before the country gets into intense electioneering, it would not be possible to close the offering within the stipulated regulatory time frame. - Afnet, one of the major ISP in Côte d’Ivoire has bought Comete, the ISP arm of the SIFCA/SIFCOM group. This sale will enable the group to refocus on its core activity in the food industry.
Vodacom Launches Mobile Advertising in South AfricaVodacom announced last week that it is now selling text adverts on its free callback service and banner ads on its mobile Internet portals as part of its strategy to move into the multimedia and broadcasting arena. "With the launch of mobile advertising... Vodacom is entering the media space in line with our strategy to diversify into a multimedia company. It is a huge new market and we estimate mobile media ads spend in South Africa could reach R1.5 billion by 2011," said Romeo Kumalo, Vodacom South Africa's commercial executive director. The text ads will be sold on Please Call Me, its free call-back service claimed to generate up to 20 million messages a day and reaches both the lower and higher end of the market. Banner adverts will be sold on Vodacom4me and Vodafone live! which reportedly draw a total of 1.4 million users per month. The ads will offer consumers an optional click-through to a mobile website, allowing them to decide if they want to engage further with the brand. Vodacom had run a trial mobile advertising campaign with leading brand Nike over the past three months. "It proved a very popular pull-mechanism with more than 84,000 content downloads such as wallpapers and 9,200 survey responses, far exceeding the client's expectations," Kumalo said. He continued, "Vodacom is optimising our distribution and marketing know-how to grow horizontally in a market with cellphone penetration at more than 80%. "More than 25 millions, cellphones will become a potent new advertising medium with mobile advertising, putting the power to control advertising exposure in the consumer's hands. This moves away from the traditional advertising medium that 'pushes' the message to the consumer, to a medium where the consumer 'pulls' the advertising they are interested in," Kumalo said. He added that mobile advertising had a number of major strengths. "Its reach is enormous; it offers advertisers immediacy, can be targeted to demographics, usage patterns and time of day, can generate responses and is an intelligent one-to-one, interactive marketing tool. "This development is expected to change the advertising landscape significantly. Marketing research showed that 52% of brands were expected to commit 5 - 25% of their budgets to mobile advertising within five years. "This is not surprising, as mobile advertising is an especially effective avenue to the lucrative 19 - 29 year-old young, urban and single consumers with substantial spending power. These consumers have grown up with cellphones and are at the forefront of a technology revolution that will eventually become far more standard in the way we communicate with empowered consumers," he said. He added that the feature-rich cellphone technology lent itself to many more future developments and enhancements of mobile advertising. "These will include South Africa's first high-volume, profiled, opted-in database for direct marketing on mobile with messages delivered by SMS or MMS. "A powerful mobile social network funded by mobile advertising could be established by combining the power of social networking and mobiles. We are also considering mobile TV and video insertions, a Vodacom radio station, as well as voice, text, content and mobile Internet searching funded by advertising," Kumalo said. (Source: Biz-Community) Uganda’s Investment Authority to Launch New WebsiteUganda Investment Authority (UIA), a government agency responsible for investment promotion is to launch a new website aimed at providing updated information about investment opportunities in the Ugandan economy, an official of the authority has said. "Most people outside the country are concerned about outdated content, the new website will provide updated information on the authority’s activities, incentives offered for investors like in Iinformation and Communication Technologies (ICTs)," said the authority?s director for strategic planning Kelemente Kyoratungye. "We have all that information documented here but this requires one to move from either outside the country or from within the country to the authority offices but with the new website one will be able to access the information from any part of the world," he told a press conference in Kampala. This will be part of the activities to mark the first authority's Investment Week whose objective is for the authority to interface with the public and provide information on the status of investment in the country. (Source: Highway Africa News Agency)
PEOPLE* Yves Gauthier has been appointed to head Tunisiana, Tunisia’s second mobile operator. He previously headed Orange operations in Netherlands. JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES* Core Network Design Consultant -Tanzania The company is looking for a core Network Design Consultant to carry out: Core network planning & Optimization, Capacity monitoring, Layered Architecture, and Node Dimensioning. For further information contact advertising@balancingact-africa.com EVENTS* IMPLEMENTING SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS- ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) TRAINING WORKSHOP Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, 18 - 19 October 2007 This two-day Training Workshop will be presented by Vision Software of Canada, in association with In-Sync Ltd and AITEC Africa. Jean-Paul Ouellette, President and CEO Vision/RF Corporation, Canada will lead a host of other trainers. For details contact: Eunice Wanjiru, In-Sync Ltd Tel: +254-4450115/6 Cell: +254-727 737355 Email: eunicew@in-sync.co.ke URL: www.aitecafrica.com - USING ICT FOR EFFECTIVE DISASTER MANAGEMENT - AFRICA FORUM 2007 13th - 15th November 2007, Dar es Salaam International Conference Centre, Tanzania The use of ICTs in disaster management is one of the CTO's core areas of expertise. Following successful events in Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific, we are delighted to deliver our fourth regional ICTs for Effective Disaster Management Forum in Tanzania. There is no admission fee and we hope that all disaster management stakeholders will be able to attend and contribute to this event's success. With the Ministry of Communications and the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority as hosts, as well as the potential of a half-day workshop conducted by the ITU, this event has already attracted a huge amount of interest. For further information contact Mr. Salim Binbrek at the CTO on Tel: +44 208 834 1592 or Email: s.binbrek@cto.int. For more information please see the CTO website http://www.cto.int CONTRACTS: WHO'S SELLING WHAT TO WHOM?* Econet and Subex Azure - Zimbabwe Econet Wireless, the Zimbabwe’s largest mobile operator, has awarded Indian-based Subex Azure an order to supply it with fraud busting products, reports from Mumbai say. It said Econet wanted to maximise its revenues by reducing telecoms fraud, in particular the practice of "refilling" calls where international calls are diverted before they reach Zimbabwe and are renumbered to appear as local calls.
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