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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 410 Mauritius call-centre and BPO sector needs lower international bandwidth prices to stay competitiveBandwidth is the petrol of the new global economy and as the price of actual petrol continues to go through the roof, it is an essential component of being able to sell “smart exports” based on “think-work” rather than simply minerals, produce or tourism. Mauritius has had some considerable success in attracting Business Process Outsourcing and Call Centre work but the high price of international bandwidth remains a key concern. With the new cables arriving on the East coast of Africa delivering lower cost international fibre, Mauritius has got to figure out how best to stay competitive. Russell Southwood looks at the dilemmas faced by this Indian Ocean island. Mauritius not only identified ICT as a fifth pillar of its economy alongside sugar, textiles, tourism and financial services, it actually went out and turned this ambition into a reality. Cheaper bandwidth was a key element of delivering the vision and the island was connected to the SAFE part of the SAT3/SAFE cable in 2000. The vision had a number of strands: firstly, Mauritius wanted to attract call centres, business process outsourcing (BPO) and computer software programming; secondly, it wanted to take advantage of the bilingual capability of its citizens who speak both French and English; and thirdly, it wanted to attract computer assembly work. A key element was its Cybercity project, a 12-storey double tower that looked initially like a “white elephant” but is now largely full. A number of financial incentives were put in place to attract investors. In 2003 the call centre/BPO sector on the most optimistic estimates employed around 2,000 people. The more honest at that point would admit that the island was struggling to find a foothold in this brave new world and was scrabbling around for low-value telemarketing work. In 2008, the more pessimistic estimates indicate that this figure has at least doubled from five years ago. It is now attracting a much broader range of work including being the Help Desk function for Orange serving France and several other countries. But despite this success, the industry has two problems: the continuing relatively high price of international bandwidth and a shortage of high-quality staff. Both are acting as a dampener on further ambitious expansion. However, the latter is a sign of success and is something that can be addressed through education and training strategies. The high cost of bandwidth was something the Government who own 60% of incumbent telco Mauritius Telecom (with the other 40% owned by France Telecom) was keen to address. Initially Mauritius Telecom as the monopoly operator was selling international bandwidth for US$6,300 per mbps per month. After a price determination by the regulator ICTA this went down to US$3,450 with a further 25% discount for volume. Since that point, Mauritius Telecom has reduced prices further in November 2007 by 20% and has plans for further reductions. All of this has been positive but there remain two stumbling blocks to further growth. The first of these is that the island is only connected by a single fibre and when that goes down (as it has done) then everybody has to rely on satellite. The Mauritius Investment Board wants to attract data centres to the island but investors want fibre redundancy. The second stumbling block will emerge in Q2, 2009 when the SEACOM and TEAMS fibre projects go live: wholesale prices for international bandwidth will go down to the US$500-1,000 range, making one element of the BPO and Call Centre cost base uncompetitive. Worse still, it will deal the South African call centre sector right back into centre stage as it will have overcome its own high calling cost issues. Finding a solution to these stumbling blocks has posed a number of strategic dilemmas. Ideally, a competitor international cable would be built and/or operated by someone who was not the incumbent in order to provide a measure of genuine competition. Having addressed high fibre prices, the Government seems to feel the issue is not now a problem and has not really courted partnership with private fibre builders or sought to create a public-private partnership like the Kenyan Government. The project that the Government is focused on is known as Lion and this 1,800-km cable will connect Madagascar with the region’s existing Sat3-Wasc-Safe cable. Lion will link Madagascar with the rest of the world via the islands of Reunion and Mauritius, the two connection points of the Sat3-Wasc-Safe cable, which also link Europe to Asia via South Africa. The investment will be made by a consortium, including Orange Madagascar, Mauritius Telecom, and France Telecom, who will operate the cable jointly. In other words, the cable will be entirely controlled by the France Telecom-owned incumbents of these three islands. To be fair, France Telecom has been a “price progressive” (offering some of the lowest prices) in the context of SAT3 but it would again be another monopoly on top of the one that already exists. There appears to have been no discussion about co-location or access. Worse still, a well-informed source told us that the project is having difficulty finding the required capital to build. In these circumstances, it would make better sense to either have a neutral private operator finance and build the cable on which the subsidiaries of France Telecom and others can buy can buy capacity or for the Government to act as the facilitator for a consortium of investors to finance it as the Kenyan Government has done with TEAMS. In both cases it would provide competitive, cheaper bandwidth which will help Mauritius and others to stay competitive in the new global economy.
Globacom Wins Sixth Licence in GhanaTo no-one’s surprise Nigeria’s Globacom scooped the sixth licence in Ghana, giving it two mobile operations in West Africa outside of its home territory. A letter to the management of Globacom dated June 12, 2008 by Ghana's regulator, the NCA, said its Board of Directors declared Glo Mobile winner of the international contest for the Mobile Cellular License in Ghana. According to the NCA, Glo Mobile won the tender on the basis of the superiority of its technical presentation, pedigree and extensive roll out plan for Ghana. Last week the company launched its mobile operation in Benin Republic at a ceremony in Cotonou. The company reported that about 600,000 SIMs were sold in the first 10 days while over 200,000 lines had already been activated. Whilst Globacom seems to have the money to fund new mobile operations, its much touted international fibre cable Glo One seems to be making much slower progress. The section between the UK, Spain and Dakar in Senegal has been completed and is not yet operational and the final section to Lagos remains unbuilt. (Source: Daily Trust) Sierratel gets US$16.6 million Chinese loan to roll-out a mobile operationActing Director of Commercial Service of Sierra Leone’s telco incumbent Sierratel Julius has confirmed that the government-owned institution took delivery of US$16.6 million worth of equipment to be paid for by a Chinese Government loan. The Sierratel Wireless Project will use equipment supplied by Huawei Technologies. Like Telecom Namibia and Telkom Kenya, it seems to be seeking to slip by a new mobile operation on the basis of offering a CDMA fixed wireless service. According to Kamara:"For the first time, (Sierra Leonean’s) own telecom company will give them the mobility -to go to places- with their phones and at the same time enjoy high speed broad band internet facility." He said the initial capacity would cope with 100,000 subscribers but it could go up to one million subscribers later. "The Sierratel Wireless Project would kick start targeting 100,000 subscribers but there is the possibility of expanding it to cover about a million users later," he said. "We can't sit down and allow our network to be congested." According to Kamara, the eight containers that were cleared at the Queen Elizabeth II Quay contained wireless switch, microwave backbone, base stations and supporting equipment for nationwide operation. He said the project is aimed at complement existing fixed line telephones particularly in areas where Sierratel has no fixed network coverage such as district headquarters and mining areas like Kono, Pepel, Massama, Rutile etc. "It would be their first choice. We are going to give our customers the opportunity to move about to do their daily activities with our wireless handsets." He also allayed fears that the cost of acquiring and maintaining this service would be expensive by saying that it would be slashed for users. "All will be at land line prices. We'll ensure that our prices are lower than other available networks in the country. Though we appreciate that other networks are here and have been doing well, we have to work on that so as to beat them in pricing," he said. The project is slated to be fully operational by September but Kamara stated that it could be ready at the end of July. (Source: Concord Times) 10% excise duty to be imposed on CDMA networks in KenyaCalling charges on Telkom Wireless, Popote and Flashcom could go up following the introduction of 10 per cent excise duty on CDMA networks in the Kenyan Budget last week. This effectively scraps what other industry players had been calling a price subsidy that was only benefiting these operators. Finance minister Amos Kimunya imposed the excise tax on CDMA operators, after their rivals who operate GSM-based mobile phone networks such as Safaricom and Celtel complained on the grounds that they were paying excise tax and their competitors were not. Both Flashcom and Popote Wireless hinted they might be forced to increase tariffs if Parliament endorses the proposal. "We will be forced to increase tariffs on the local Popote-to-Popote Wireless calls because of the new tax. We have not yet decided exactly by how much. But it will be around 10 per cent as the level of excise tax," said Edwin Muthi, marketing manager of Popote Wireless - a local loop operator (LLO). Mr Joe Kariuki, the CEO of Flashcom, another LLO, said that the Telkom Kenya fixed-line product should also have been subjected to the tax because it is the main competitor to CDMA lines. Only Telkom's fixed wireless product will be affected by the tax. "We will be asking that the tax be removed or if it has to be maintained it should be imposed on all Telkom phone products since we are in competition," said Mr Kariuki. He said Flashcom may be forced to increase tariffs but was looking at various options including absorbing some of the tax. The other option, he said, was to lobby Parliament not to effect the tax on LLOs. Unless the firms decide to absorb the costs, the lowest tariff on the Telkom Wireless is Sh5.50 charged for call within its own network calls will go up by at least 55 cents or 10 per cent per minute such that the call will now be Sh6.05 per minute. The highest tariffs for calls outside its network currently at Sh14 are likely to go up by at least Sh1.40, making the price per minute Sh15.40. The wireless services based CDMA platforms were slowly gaining some following because they are cheaper compared to the GSM-based services. (Source: Business Daily) N72bn Investment in Rural Telephony At Risk in NigeriaSenator Sylvester Anyanwu, chairman of the Senate Committee on Communications has expressed concern over the fate of the estimated N72 billion invested by the country in the national rural telephony programme. Reviewing the activities of his Committee in the last session of the Senate, Senator Anyanwu expressed concern that the authorities were yet to give the results of the bids for the rural telephony contracts almost one year after the bids were submitted to the Government. While expressing support for the rural telephony programme, Senator Anyanwu nevertheless called for a closer Government supervision of the project towards realising the initial goals of the programme. The national rural telephony project was conceived by the immediate past administration to link telephone exchanges in the various Local Government areas of the country as a way of increasing the nation's teledensity through making telephones available to rural dwellers. (Source; Vanguard) In brief:- The government of Mozambique has announced it is ready to license new operators in the country’s fixed line market, following the ending of TDM’s monopoly late last year. Reuters quotes Transport and Communications Minister Paulo Zucula as saying: ‘We want to encourage local and foreign companies to invest in the fixed phone network. If you come up with a proposal today, I will approve it, and this is immediate.’ - The Nigeria Communications Commission plans to auction spectrum in the 2.5GHz band as it seeks to boost broadband services in the country, according to IDG News Service quoting comments from Ernest Ndukwe, the watchdog's CEO. 'It is our intention to issue spectrum licences in that band because that is the band that is earmarked for broadband infrastructure,' said Ndukwe in Abuja. - The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) is launching a funding appeal for its Commonwealth African Rural Connectivity Initiative (COMARCI) which was first launched in Kampala, Uganda, in November 2007 with the aim of facilitating access to ICT to promote knowledge, commerce and socio-economic development. So far, this £1.1 million COMARCI project has only be given seed funding of £50,000 by the Government of Malta. - Mobile operator, Safaricom will retain Kenya as its focus market, at least over the next 24 months. The company’s CEO, however, revealed that it may return to the market to source funding for its expansion. - Namibia’s Keetmanshoop Town Council has decided to reintroduce cellphone allowances for councillors at its Thursday meeting. The allowance that will be retroactive from November 2006, when it was suspended, will cost the council around N$100 000 in back pay. The allowance for ordinary councillors is set at N$300 and for the Mayor at N$400. - Vandals have stolen cables providing telecommunications service to the presidential villa, the headquarters of defence services and the state security services in Nigeria. - In Kenya, Safaricom's money transfer service, M-Pesa, is now back to normal operations after undergoing a system upgrade. - Telecommunication subscribers across Nigeria have listed tariff reduction as top on the list of their expectations from network operators, a telecoms survey found out. - Algeria’s Communication Ministry launched a new website to help Internet users to get information about all the activities and the news in this sector. The www.ministerecommunication.gov.dz, includes many electronic links of the institutions coming under Communication Ministry, such as the Algerian radio, television and the Algerian News Agency (APS) along with some titles of the national media. Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage (briefs)- Sierra Leone’s mobile operator Africell has launched three new products, 'Intelligent Clip', 'SMS2Email' and 'Call Me for free' as part of his 'Thank You campaign.' The launching ceremony took place at Mamba Point, Wilberforce in Freetown. - Nigeria's GSM subscriber base has increased to 47,205,063 million at the end of April, an increase of over two million from the 45,899,711 recorded active subscriber base for the month of March. Out of this total, GSM recorded 43, 786,542 active lines, mobile CDMA, 567,185 and fixed wired/wireless 1,545,984. Total installed capacity also increased to 88,471,789 from 84,698,559 with mobile GSM also the highest with 79,625,308, mobile CDMA 3, 170,000. - More than 7 million Tunisians out of a population of about 10 million, have a cell phone. - Angola’s mobile operator, Unitel has expanded its network coverage to Caimbambo in the South East of the Benguela province. An additional 85,000 people will be covered by its mobile signal.
More operators to get WiMax Spectrum in South AfricaThe Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has published its final decision on the awarding of radio frequency spectrum. In November 2006, ICASA published a notice in the Government Gazette calling for interested parties to submit written comments with regards to the procedures and criteria for awarding radio frequency spectrum in instances where there are competing applications or where the demand exceeds the availability. Following these comments, ICASA conducted public hearings in March 2007 focussing particularly on access to the 2.6 and 3.5 GHz frequency spectrum bands, commonly known as WiMax. ICASA has decided that a two-step process will be adopted with regards to the method or criteria of awarding radio frequency spectrum. There will be a pre-qualification phase (a beauty contest) which may be followed by an auction. ICASA has decided to allocate 20 MHz of spectrum per operator, something the regulator said is in line with international trends. Six additional operators will be allocated WiMax spectrum. ICASA has further said that it has decided to only allow national operators to operate in the 2.6 GHz band. In the 3.5 GHz band ICASA said that the remaining spectrum will be considered for 2x15 MHz per municipal geographic area. Here between 9 and 20 smaller operators will be accommodated within local municipal areas. (Source: MyBroadband) Kenya’s IPO revealed Internet Security flawInvestors using the online application process for the Safaricom IPO were probably not aware that a security flaw meant that their confidential details and amount invested could be read through a comparatively simple hack. At the centre of the security flaw was kenyaipos, the website that was built to facilitate online share applications for Safaricom's initial public offering. It was a first for Kenya and the region. Initially, many investors found it gratifying that they could escape the pain of queuing for hours at the brokers' offices to apply for shares. For these Internet savvy investors who went online to apply for their shares, all they needed to do was to enter their CDS account and national identity card numbers to access the website. However, the site had a security problem. By simply manipulating the CDS numbers one could view crucial details about fellow investors making privacy a major drawback for the system. Curious Internet users had access to the number of shares applied for, physical addresses as well as contacts of applicants they did not know. The danger of such a flaw is that it erodes confidence in the information and ultimately acts as a deterrent to potential users. Besides, there is the danger of such critical information landing in the wrong hands and causing real financial loss to investors. "The developers should have considered additional information such as date of birth, three names as opposed to the two required numbers to gain access to the site," said Muchuki Mwangi, an education manager at Internet Society. Mwangi believes that this breach of privacy could be the subject of a law suit. (Source: Business Daily) Firefox 3 speaks AfrikaansThe long-awaited Firefox 3 browser has been released and is already receiving rave reviews from users around the globe. In South Africa, Firefox 3 is significant in that for the first time ever in a major release of the browser, an Afrikaans version is available for download from day one. The work of translating Firefox 3 into Afrikaans was driven by local organisation Translate.org.za. Organisation founder, Dwayne Bailey, says that releasing an Afrikaans version of the browser on the same day as the primary release is "the first time for a major official release. Translate.org.za and various volunteers have worked hard to make this happen." Bailey says that over the life of Firefox 3 the organisation hopes to "make most of the South African languages official releases." Translate.org.za has previously translated a range of open source software into local languages including translating the OpenOffice.org suite into all official South African languages. Firefox 3 is receiving positive reviews for a number of its capabilities, most notably its significantly improved speed. Firefox 3 is built on the new Gecko 1.9 engine which uses less memory than previous releases and renders pages significantly faster. Firefox 3 also has a number of improved security features including better malware protection. Firefox 3's one-click site ID information makes it easy for users to verify that a site is what it claims to be. The user interface for Firefox 3 has been overhauled with a location bar that "learns" as users surf the Internet, making it easier to find sites previously visited. Managing bookmarks and browsing history is also easier to manage than previous versions. Mozilla Firefox 3 can be run on Windows, Linux, and the Mac OS X operating systems. (Source: MyBroadband) In brief:- Mobile operator Vodafone Egypt is moving into the fixed-line market with the launch of ADSL services. The company said it will offer high-speed services for both residential and business customers. The service comes with a locally developed router and free installation. Vodafone Egypt is a joint venture of Vodafone Group and Telecom Egypt, the country's incumbent fixed-line operator which already serves over 260,000 ADSL subscribers. - Kenya’s Treasury PS Joseph Kinyua has said that the process of choosing the select group of private sector players to invest with the Government in the ownership of the multi-million dollar TEAMS project will be handled by the Privatisation Commission under the chairmanship of academic, Professor Peter Kimuyu. - According to an unconfirmed report on the website of Tanzanian newspaper Daily News, the government is to spend TZS204 billion (USD170 million) to build a national ICT infrastructure backbone designed to link all regional and district headquarters by 2010. It will be funded by a soft loan from China. - Two of Vodacom’s fibre rings in Johannesburg and Pretoria have gone live. Over the next 12 months Vodacom will be rolling out transmission networks in most big cities across South Africa including Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein. - Internet retailer Amazon has decided to stop using the South African Post Office to deliver its goods in South Africa because of rampant theft. South Africans will now have to pay a premium for deliveries.
Technology Center Opens in East Province in CameroonResidents of Abong-Mbang in the Upper Nyong Division in the East Province of Cameroon are now connected through the opening of a new technology centre. The Chantal Biya Centre for Information and Communication Technologies which was inaugurated on 14 June, also hosted the award of certificates to the first batch of women trained at the centre dubbed "promotion Jean-Baptiste Mabaya". The 150 women, who received attestations, were trained by personnel from the African Institute of Computer Sciences (IAI) within the "operation 100,000 women in ICTs by 2012". It was a colourful ceremony. It translated the efforts of the First Lady, Mrs Chantal Biya, in improving the conditions of women in the East Province by improving their access to ICTs. It also indicated the willingness of the women of Abong-Mbang to embrace the ICT as a gateway to employment particularly self-employment. The resident representative of the African Institute of Computer Sciences, Armand Claude Abanda, noted that Mrs Chantal Biya's concrete action in the "operation 100,000 women in ICTs by 2012" could be seen in her sending a representative during the ceremony, as well as accepting that IAI office in Abong-Mbang carries her name "Chantal Biya". " The Chantal Biya Centre for Information and Communication Technologies is a structure located close to the Central Prison of Abong-Mbang and the Nyong River. Driving towards the building might be difficult on a rainy day, but it is worthwhile given that it is a building that connects the population of Abong-Mbang to the world and exposes them to facilities of modernity. The building has: three offices, an Internet hall with ten computers, a VIP lounge which contains ten computers, a hall for the CAMTEL server which provides internet to the building, as well as two other halls with 15 computers each. Besides the "operation 100,000 women by 2012", training at the centre takes place according to the needs of the individual. (Source: Cameroon Tribune) Nicholas Negroponte’s accidental revolutionDigital pioneer Nicholas Negroponte, the man behind the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project to put cheap computers in the hands of children in poor countries, has inadvertently kickstarted a huge new market — one for cheap, ultraportable laptops. Negroponte wanted to transform education in the developing world, uplifting the poorest of the world’s poor by bringing them into the information age. He believed that giving computers to the world’s poorest children would help lift them out of the cycle of poverty and give them a better education. Turns out that the project is inadvertently making a much bigger impact on the developed world. OLPC, which is a nonprofit organisation, is premised on the idea of “constructionism” in education, which says that children learn through making things. The idea is that children can teach themselves, share knowledge and resources and learn by using computers to build things. OLPC has created the XO-1, a laptop that costs a fraction of more powerful, commercial systems. Originally slated to cost US$100, the XO-1 costs $188. That may be nearly twice the price originally envisaged, but it’s still a third of the cost of traditional entry-level laptops. Negroponte, who is chairman emeritus of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says he still wants to drive the machine’s cost down — to as low as $75 by 2010, when the second-generation device, the XOXO, debuts. But the project has run into controversy. The computers were meant to run off the free Linux operating system, but Negroponte came under pressure from Microsoft and its chairman, Bill Gates, to ship the machines with Windows. Negroponte relented, despite strenuous objections from members of the OLPC project team. Windows XP is now available on the XO-1 as an option, at $3/licence. Several senior project managers, including Walter Bender, president of software and content, quit OLPC after disagreements with Negroponte, who also fell out with Intel. The giant chip maker left the project to build a rival computer, the ClassMate PC. OLPC’s sales have fallen far short of expectations. Negroponte had wanted to sell between 50m and 150m XO-1 s in 2008, yet fewer than 1m have been ordered since the project’s inception. But the OLPC project has inadvertently helped spawn a new market for ultralow-cost laptops. By saying he would develop a $100 laptop, Negroponte forced the computer industry, worried about the potential impact of a cheap laptop, to build cheaper devices that appeal to a much wider market. It has led to a new class of computer. There is now a whole host of cheap laptops on the market, from companies such as Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Pioneer and Asus. The machine that has really grabbed people’s imaginations, more so than the XO-1, is Asus’s Eee PC. This tiny, lightweight, Linux-based machine has caused a sensation worldwide with its starting price of $299 for a model with a small but very usable seven-inch screen. The machine is not particularly powerful but it is ultraportable, making it ideal as a cheap companion for travel. Toby Shapshak, editor of gadget magazine Stuff, says the Eee PC is perfect for the so-called Web 2.0 era, where Web-based e-mail and other online software services negate the need for powerful client computers. “It’s so light, compact and portable that at R3 000, it’s an impulse buy.” (Source: Financial Mail) ICT training for female journalists kicks off in BotswanaEducating female journalists in online reporting will not only bridge the training gap between men and women on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) but enhance their work too. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology said this during the officially opening of Botswana Media Women Association (BOMWA) course at UB. Festina Bakwena said training women on ICT is important as women are compassionate and sensitive as compared to men. She said enhancing women skills will definitely protect readers from the stereotypes who criticise and insults women. She urged the female reporters to familiarize themselves with the Cyber-crime bill. Bakwena said the bill is essential for media operators, especially women and those dealing with gender and human rights. Bakwena said technology is a necessity and saves time. Bakwena said her ministry is also mobilising a larger project for-e-government that intends to make all critical government services available online for the public. She said ministries will ensure the use of ICT in government to deliver quicker services to the public at convenient locations and times. This will require the consolidation and repackaging of information in an appropriate format for easier and faster consumption by the public. She said her ministry continues to work with other arms of government in order to bring ICT services to as many locals as possible, both in the urban and rural areas. She said they have introduced computer studies in secondary schools adding that they are also working on extending it to primary schools. Bakwena said journalists have to sensitise children on the kind of information to access, by empowering them to be selective to avoid receiving information they are not prepared for. (Source: BOPA) In brief:- In Nigeria, a voluntary body known as the Chibuzor J. Okpata Free Computer Education in Nigerian Prison Services, has given over 4,600 prison inmates the opportunity of acquiring computer skills in the past 10 years in five prisons in Lagos. - The OpenSuse development team will today release version 11.0 of its open source operating system. The community-developed OpenSuse project is one of the primary desktop Linux versions and with this release could well establish itself as the biggest threat to Ubuntu Linux domination.
Hits Plans US$500 Million Investment in Tanzania’s Mobile MarketNew mobile phone operator Hits Tanzania Ltd plans to invest US$500 million in its countrywide coverage within 13 months. The firm's CEO Gerhard May, said Hits is targeting a network capacity for initial two million customers in the same period. The firm has already signed a $180 million deal with its strategic partner Huawei Technologies of China to set up its network in the country. According to May, the two partners have started work on the network infrastructure as well as on construction works for the mobile switching centre and the firm's headquarters in Dar es Salaam. He added that the firm chose to invest in Tanzania because of the potential market, given the low penetration of mobile phones. Hits becomes the sixth mobile phone operator to enter Tanzania after Celtel Tanzania, Vodacom Tanzania, Tigo Tanzania, Zantel Tanzania and the Tanzania Telecommunications Company. Hits Tanzania is financially backed by Hits Africa - an arm of Hits Telecoms Holding based in Kuwait - and local investor Jitco. Hits Africa is rolling out a series of telecommunications operations in Africa and has obtained GSM licences in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Equatorial Guinea and is a shareholder in Atlantic Telecom of Liberia. Hits Africa will be the second national telecoms operator in Equatorial Guinea, after being picked by the government to establish a converged fixed, mobile and data network throughout the country by 2009. It will roll out 2.5G and 3G mobile networks in the country by the end of 2008. (Source: The East African) Sibling Rivalry May Scupper MTN Deal in South AfricaSibling rivalry between the chairman of Reliance Communications, Anil Ambani, and his even richer and more powerful brother, Mukesh, may scupper a potential merger with MTN. The unseemly squabble is seeing Mukesh try to end a deal for Reliance Communications and MTN to engage in a share swap that would create a top-10 telecoms player. Mukesh heads Reliance Industries, and claims his group has the first right of refusal on any shares that Reliance Communications sells. Mukesh has notified the two operators of its challenge to their merger. Reliance Communications dismissed the industrial group's claim as "legally and factually untenable, baseless and misconceived ". But market analysts are not convinced -- particularly those in Asia already familiar with the bitter rivalry between two of the world's wealthiest men. "I think this could derail the deal," one South African analyst said last week. Feedback from Asian clients showed the markets there were taking the legal threat more seriously than South Africans. The analyst questioned why MTN's advisers had not picked up on the issue of pre-emptive rights earlier -- unless they had seen the risk and did not believe it was a deal breaker. "Some institutions have told me there are definitely some pre-emptive rights," he said. "There is a feeling that (Mukesh) would rather sink the deal than get involved. If you are fourth or fifth in the world in terms of wealth, and you are upstaging your bigger brother, it's not going to go down well." MTN initially played down the feud at the weekend, with spokeswoman Nozipho January-Bardill telling Reuters: "As far as we are concerned nothing has changed." Last week she declined to comment on the brotherly battle -- which may imply that the status has changed after MTN took more time to assess the threat. The brothers fell out when their father died intestate, leaving them to fight over his Reliance empire. The clash was resolved only when their mother stepped in to mediate. Anil took over telecoms, energy and financial services assets. Mukesh took the oil and petrochemical business to form Reliance Industries. Mukesh is now India's richest man and fifth on the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people, with $43bn. Anil ranks sixth with $42bn. The brothers rarely speak, and their feud has escalated into a court case over the price Anil's group must pay for gas in fields controlled by Mukesh. (Source: Business Day) No End in Sight to Refunds Blame Game in KenyaThe blame game on who and what is causing the delay in issuing refund cheques for the Safaricom IPO is in full swing. So far, the need to authenticate the identity of claimants for the refund cheques is being cited as the cause. Authorised selling agents are saying that the process is tedious, as concrete proof has to be shown. "We have to ascertain that the cheque goes to the rightful owner and not to proxies or frauds. It is a long process but we have to do it to be sure," said Peterson Mwangi, chief executive of Afrika Investment Bank. Mwangi also pointed out that the queues were inevitable due to the large numbers of investors seeking the cheques. The share offer attracted over 800,000 investors with a majority falling under the local retail investors. "The problem is that all these people want their refund cheques issued on the same day to them. This results to the queues that are being witnessed," noted Mr Mwangi. The agents who have the duty of issuing the cheques are denying allegations by the Central Bank that they are sitting on the cheques. On Tuesday, the bank raised an alarm over the sluggish progress by the stockbrokers in releasing the cheques. "We have noted the growing public concern on delays in getting back Safaricom IPO refunds," said CBK governor Njuguna Ndungu. According to the governor, all refund cheques were delivered to the Authorised Selling Agents offices by 8.00 am on Monday June 9. However Mwangi noted that the money was not in the custody of the agents but with Citi Bank thereby rendering the CBK claim as baseless. "Our role is only to issue the cheques sent to us by Citi which was the receiving bank, we do not have the money in our possession as is being claimed," said Mr Mwangi. Another official from Faida Securities who declined to be named said that Citi's issuing of individual cheques to investors has complicated the process. "We paid for the allocation in one installment, we were given over 50,000 cheques to issue and this cannot all be released at once," noted the official who preferred anonymity. A notice issued by the Capital Markets Authority two weeks ago, indicated that refund cheques for the offer were supposed to be released beginning June 9. However, only a few outlets had by close of business on the said date started this process. "I came here on Monday and after spending hours on the queue I was issued with a cheque number and told to come back today. Here I am and it is not certain that the cheque will be issued to me," an investor told the Nation at CFC Financial situated at the International Life House. (Source: The Nation) Fujitsu Siemens Takes On Black Partners in South AfricaFudjitsu Siemens Computers is selling a quarter of its local subsidiary to black investors, becoming the first major global computer maker to sell equity in an empowerment deal. The value of the move has not been disclosed, but it sees Thuthukani Information Technology Services, a black-owned supplier of technology infrastructure, and Amava Holdings pay a discounted rate for 25% plus one share. Amava is an investment group focusing on the hi-tech sector and promising to add technical and operational input as well as a black shareholder profile. The consortium also includes a broad-based black empowerment trust. While Fujitsu Siemens is the first global computer maker to sell shares to black investors, it is not the first multinational hi-tech player to do so, since Cisco Systems, EDS and T-Systems have already struck equity deals. Yet several US multinationals protested vehemently when the sector was drawing up an empowerment charter, and the US Chamber of Commerce intervened. The result was the creation of "equity equivalents" whereby multinationals can calculate the value of 25% of their local operations and invest that sum into schemes such as training and social responsibility initiatives. Computer maker Hewlett-Packard opted to invest in a training institute to educate graduates wanting to join the industry. Last week, local MD Idris Suleman said Fujitsu Siemens had sold shares "because we are European". The move also differed from previous deals because it did not involve the big names of black business. Numerous potential partners had been interviewed over two years, and most had very little to offer, Suleman said. "It was more about name dropping than anything else -- someone knew Thabo Mbeki and someone else knew Jacob Zuma. I was looking for an entrepreneurial company I could work with, but very few of them understood the IT business." The Thuthukani consortium had proposed "exciting, entrepreneurial thinking that we hadn't seen from the other partners we interviewed". Fujitsu Siemens Computers will now work on various contracts with Thuthukani, and Thuthukani MD Fannie Mahlangu and Amava Holdings CEO Puven Ramasamy will influence its strategies and grow its empowerment process. Fujitsu Siemens probably claimed 10% of the computer market in SA, said its alliances manager, Danny de Beer. That could increase dramatically once news of its black profile reached potential customers. The company had not lost any tenders because of its lack of empowerment, as it had simply not bid for deals it was unlikely to win. Now it could win more contracts from corporate buyers and the public sector, De Beer said. SA contributes about 2% of the company's overall global revenue. (Source: Business Day) In brief:- Chief Executive Officer of Vodacom, Alan Knott-Craig, has expressed regrets over pulling out of an opportunity that would have given Vodacom a piece of Nigeria, Africa's largest telecoms sector. - ADVA Optical Networking today announced the opening of an office in Centurion, South Africa, to service the growing demand for optical fibre and Ethernet networking solutions across the region. - Orascom Telecom has applied to Egypt's Case to reduce its issued capital to EGP1.028 billion.
Dial Up a Local Tune With MTN in South AfricaMTN is aiming to boost the local music scene by helping musicians prepare professional recordings for downloading to a cellphone. Unsigned artists will be given studio facilities to capture their songs and the results will be listed on MTN's website. Cellphone users will pay a small fee for each tune they download, giving the artists a source of income as well as potential fame and glory. MTN says the new Xploaded venture is largely altruistic, as it will not make much money from the musical downloads. But it hopes to recoup its investment by winning more subscribers hooked by music on the move. The operator has already become SA's largest digital distributor of local music through its website, MTNLoaded, says its senior manager for websites, Lana Strydom. "It's not a major money-spinner but the long-term benefit is to connect to our customers. " Xploaded will use digital distribution to help emerging artists break into the market and will give music lovers access to as yet unknown content. Users will be able to listen to a sample before buying, and once they have downloaded a song to their cellphone they will be able to download it to a computer too, if the artist gives permission for that to happen. The scheme is not only aimed at hip and happening youngsters, as jazz and classical music will also be made available. MTN's partners in the project are Endemol, which produces content for TV and mobile viewing, and Matchboxology, a campaign management company. "Consumers have migrated back to instant gratification, so single downloads have become core to the digital music industry," says Sivin Pillay, head of commercial business for Endemol SA."All artists will have the opportunity to be part of Xploaded. All they have to do is contact us. Consumers will decide how popular and how fast they rise." A related project will see aspiring managers offered free training to help create a cadre of music managers. Candidates will be screened to ensure they have the potential to make a career out of it, says Strydom. "A lot of talented artists don't get the opportunity to grow because of a shortage of managers. The artists are not commercially savvy and don't understand the opportunities or how to sign commercial deals." So far, data traffic accounts for 10% of MTN's revenue in SA and earned R2,8bn last year, up 42% from the previous year. Fees for Xploaded downloads have not been set yet, but may vary according to the popularity of the artist, growing more expensive as a band gains fame. Gallo Music marketing manager Tsholo Moraba says only 2% of music being bought in SA is sold digitally, with 98% still being sold in a physical format. But the high cellphone penetration rate coupled with the phasing out of old handsets in favour of music-enabled phones should trigger a major rise in digital downloads within a couple of years. Gallo does not see Xploaded as a threat to its own sales, Moraba says. "It's a positive move by MTN to unleash more content into the country." (Source: Business Day) 10% of world demand for Mobile phone cameras to be made in MoroccoAmerican Tessera Technologies will create in Morocco an industrial unite with a capacity of producing up to 100 million mobile phone cameras, that is 10% of world demand. “We are currently working on the creation of a new company in Morocco, Nemotek Technology, which will have a production capacity of 100 millions of mobile phone cameras, "said McWilliams, president and CEO of the American company Tessera Technologies. He hailed Moroccan engineers’ competences, stressing that they are better qualified. “Moroccan Engineers, hired by Tessera Technologies, Inc., prove that they are better qualified than many of those with whom we worked in Asia,” he said. He also emphasizes on the fact that Morocco has a strategic position in relation to Europe and North America, which allows its economy to grow rapidly. Established in 1990, Tessera Technologies, Inc. develops and licenses the miniaturization technologies for the electronics industry. (Source: Morocco Business News)
People* Geoffrey Shimanyula has resigned as the UUNET Kenya managing director, a position he held for 15 months. Events* FRAUD PREVENTION AND REVENUE ASSURANCE MEA 1-2 July 2008,Dubai UAE ViB events’ Fraud Prevention and Revenue Assurance MENA will bring together telecoms operators and industry experts to discuss the critical issues, which are faced by revenue assurance and fraud personnel today. For further information visit website
* UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGY FOR SOCIAL IMPAC August 2008, Johannesburg, South Africa he fourth annual SANGONeT “ICTs for Civil Society” conference and exhibition will be held in August 2008 in Johannesburg. This year’s event will be co-hosted with MobileActive.org and branded as “MobileActive08”. For further information visit www.sangonet.org.za * THE AFRICAN NETWORK (TAN) CONFERENCE 16th August 2008, Accra, Ghana The theme for TANCon Ghana 2008 is “Next Frontier in Business: Propelling Africa to New Heights”, to reflect the growing number of African entrepreneurs in business today, and to showcase to the world Africa's limitless intellectual and economic capital. This year’s attendees will include seasoned, as well as first-time entrepreneurs, business leaders, public policy leaders, venture capitalists and investment bankers interested in learning first-hand how to successfully invest in technology and in Africa. The topics that would be covered at this year’s conference will include Social Entrepreneurship, Women in African Business, Raising Capital, Entrepreneurship in Informal Sector, Infrastructure Development and Creative Partnership Strategies. Attendees will network with the big wigs in entrepreneurship, business, government policy makers and politicians. For further information visit http://www.theafricannetwork.org/tancon/africa/ 3rd CONNECTING RURAL COMMUNITIES AFRICA FORUM 2008 26th - 28th August 2008, Lilongwe, Malawi With strong support from the industry and public sector this ICT forum will be the continent’s most important forum devoted to last mile solutions. To participate as a delegate, sponsor or exhibit please contact j.taylor@cto.int, m.dekock@cto.int or s.naidoo@cto.int. * 7th IWEEK ANNUAL CONFERENCE 17 - 19 September 2008, Johannesburg, South Africa iWeek has become a critical calendar entry for everyone with a stake in the Internet sector and is the only conference endorsed by the Internet Society of South Africa (ISOC-ZA). Anyone with an interest is welcome to attend free of charge. You are encouraged to register at your earliest convenience at: http://www.ispa.org.za/iweek/2008/apply.shtml prior to the conference. * MOBILEACTIVE08 SUMMIT 13-15 October 2008, Johannesburg, South Africa SANGONeT and MobileActive.org are pleased to announce that they will be hosting the MobileActive08 Summit. The theme of the event is “Unlocking the Potential of Mobile Technology for Social Impact”. More information about the event is available on the MobileActive08 Summit website at http://www.mobileactive08.org * CAPACITY AFRICA 2008 14-15 Oct 2008, Cape Town, South Africa This unique event features a business-driven agenda that will address the latest market developments and opportunities and equip delegates with strategic information to enable them to grow their businesses. Dedicated networking opportunities throughout the programme will provide you with the optimum opportunity to build profitable partnerships and execute business deals. For additional information visit http://www.capacitymedia.com/conferences-events.asp * NORTH AFRICA COM 14-15 October 2008, Cairo, Egypt North AfricaCom is the largest telecommunication event specifically designed for operators and telecoms professionals. With 35 expert speakers, 700 communications professionals and a 50-stand exhibition in 2007, this event is the best opportunity for you to learn from your colleagues' experiences in other countries and find out the latest solutions that can improve your business. For further information visit http://www.comworldseries.com/newt/l/gsm/events/northafrica * TECHNOLOGY: A PLATFORM FOR DEVELOPMENT? 30 - 31 October 2008, Chatham House, London, UK Technology is now recognized as having the potential to transform the lives of millions in the developing world. This major international conference will seek to identify best practice for achieving the successful implementation of new technology. For further information visit http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/events/conferences/view/-/id/127/ Jobs and Opportunities* Content Manager Web And Wap – Eastern Africa The client is looking for a high level Content Manager for this six month (extendable) contract. You will be expected to; establish relationships between client and 3rd party content providers and content aggregators.; develop the clients Portals (WEB and WAP); manage all content that is sold and displayed on the portals; establish revenue models that will make the portals profitable; develop consumer VAS' offers on the portals and consumer self help sites for product set up and installation; develop a highly interactive Business portal for Corporations to learn about client offers and configure products/packages for their employees. Ideally someone that has been exposed to Vodafone Live! and the Vodafone Corporate sites. - The perfect candidates should have both IT and Marketing Skills. For further information advertising@balancingact-africa.com Contracts* UTL and Credit Reference Bureau - Uganda Ugandan telecom (utl) has won the multi-million shilling deal to host the databases of the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB). The central bank awarded the deal to set up the CRB to Compuscan, a South African firm. * Neotel and Telsima – South Africa South Africa's second national operator (SNO) Neotel has chosen equipment from Telsima for a WiMAX network rollout. Neotel will contract Telsima's regional partner Tellumat to supply the equipment and associated turnkey services and support for the WiMAX deployment. * Zain and Volubill – Pan-Africa VoluBill, a supplier of real-time charging, control and usage policy management solutions for data and content services, announced that it has signed a major new software licence and deployment agreements for it’s Charge it DCP (Dynamic Charging Platform) product with mobile operator Zain.
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