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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 420 Double play in Nigeria: ipNX will use WiMAX to carve itself a niche offering voice and broadbandISPs across the continent are being squeezed by the entry of the mobile companies into the Internet sector. There is double whammy hitting them: some mobile companies are buying their own ISPs, whilst others are simply offering mobile broadband through EVDO and 3G. Nigeria’s ipNX’s has a strategy which mirrors the success of the CDMA 2000 fixed wireless product but it will use WiMAX to offer both “plug and play” voice and broadband. Russell Southwood spoke this week to ipNX’s Group Managing Director Ejovi Aror in Lagos. Nigeria’s Internet market is not for the faint-hearted. The country is massive and both road and fibre infrastructure have made it hard for any single player to genuinely claim a national footprint. Small one city ISPs (for example in Ibadan and Abuja) have abounded alongside a slew of VSAT operators (often estimated in the hundreds) who chase various parts of the corporate market. It has been the graveyard of at least two high profile companies: Accelon (which was sold to IS) and Mweb (which achieved a pitifully small subscriber base). The key retail players are Swift, DirectOn PC, Netcom, Starcomms, MTN, Reltel and Multicomms. Wi-MAX providers in the market include: DirectOn PC, Metro NG and Switched Broadband. MTN bought local company VGC which has its own DSL offer. Globacom has plans to bring a broadband offer to the market shortly. At the heart of the market is the car-crash that is Nitel which seems to be visibly imploding. Usually an incumbent of this kind would have a substantial DSL subscriber base in an economy of this size. But its management and finance difficulties have left it without strategy or market share in this market. The great mystery is actually how many Internet subscribers in the market. The sceptics think there may be as few as 40-50,000 subscribers but Starcomms claimed in its public prospectus at the end of last year that it had 38,000 subscribers for its CDMA 2000/EVDO offers. This might mean a total of 100,000 subscribers but the number is tiny in an economy of this scale and is still largely focused on corporate subscribers. Not particularly optimistic projections would put the potential Internet subscriber market at somewhere between 0.5-1 million. Various players have mooted the possibility of triple play including Globacom and Daar. Globacom is perhaps one of the few players that has the spread of infrastructure to support a retail offer and with a hybrid IP-satellite bundle it could become a player. Daar would need to form an alliance with an existing player. Given the rights issues, the market locally thinks it’s more likely that those entering the market will simply sell DStv as part of a bundle. The market is seriously constrained in a number of key ways. Nitel’s operation of the SAT3 cable mean high levels of down-time. And as one player told us, the seven day strike by discontented Nitel workers was a “nightmare”. As a result, the transition from satellite to be fibre has been still-born as everyone hangs on to satellite as redundancy or simply uses it because they can’t get their hands on Nitel’s SAT3 bandwidth. And when it is available, sales move pitifully slowly in memory of the organisation’s public sector origins. Bandwidth prices are still high (US$2,500-3,000). Everyone is waiting for promised cheaper bandwidth from either Globacom’s Glo One cable due next year or Mainstreet’s Main One cable the year after. But although there are five potential national fibre backbone providers (Globacom, Nitel, MTN, Phase3 and Suburban) all seem intent on pursuing a “high price, low volume” strategy. Capacity between Lagos and Abuja costs US$4,300 a month, more than sending the same amount of traffic all the way to Europe. And local E1s in Lagos and elsewhere are even more expensive! Quality on these routes is not good with regular down-time and although everyone except Nitel offers SLAs (some even with penalties for down-time), one connectivity provider ruefully told us: “There may be SLAs but no-one’s succeeded in making them stick.” To be fair, there are enormous problems with power supply and occasional vandalism but these somehow do not seem to account for the frequent outages. As one ISP told us:”Frankly the service is crap. It’s not reliable and there’s too much downtime.” Recently, the Nigerian government through its telecommunications regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), launched a broadband penetration campaign called SABI (State Accelerated Broadband Initiative), which is designed to aggressively expand broadband access to all major commercial cities in Nigeria. Three companies have got letters of intent from NCC: ipNX, MTN (which will deploy a WiMAX network) and a wi-fi alliance of several ISPs The net result of all these fairly fundamental problems is that one of Africa’s biggest markets still has some of the most costly Internet across the continent. Stepping into this maelstrom of troubles is ipNX which has invested US$50 million in buying 802.16e WiMAX equipment from Soma Networks and intends to get 250,000 customers for both carrier-grade voice and broadband. It intends to take its initial VoIP footprint nationwide as it expands and sees its growth coming from retail rather than corporate customers. Its initial roll-out includes Lagos (11 base stations), Port Harcourt (4 base stations installed but not implemented) and Abuja (six base stations not yet installed). The base stations have a range of 3-5 kilometres depending on terrain. Each base station has the potential to support 1,000 subscribers and ipNX currently has 5,000 subscribers. According to Arror, although it has mobility:”It is positioned as a replacement for DSL and is a fixed wireless solution”. Although it’s difficult to estimate numbers, Arror reckons that the company’s base stations provide potential coverage to 5 million people. The areas covered in Lagos include Victoria Island, Ekoyi, Lekki, Zaba, Surulere, Apapa, Festac,Ikeja and Ojodu. But what makes ipNX different from any old WiMAX player (of which there are several) is the customer CPE. It is (as one person confirmed to us) genuinely “plug and play” and does not require technicians to come and connect it. Furthermore it has three ports, one for broadband and two for voice. The voice ports take standard phones again on a plug it in and it works basis. Its voice service will launch shortly. Unlike in Kenya, ipNX has been able to get interconnection agreements with all carriers and will offer prices that match these carriers. None of them put obstacles in the path of ipNX making a nonsense of the kinds of arguments the Kenyan carriers used as obstacles to new entrants. As Arror says:” The regulator NCC has made it clear that it doesn’t care about technology. If you have a licence, you have the right to access other carriers”. And the price of this service? The household packages for 1 meg vary between N6,000(US$51.74) and N15,000 (US$129.35). The corporate package for 1 meg varies between N20,000 (US$172.47) and N45,000 (US$388.06). Achievable speeds are around 400 kbps. Arror believes that if retail prices go down to between US$50-100 then a mass market will emerge. But how easy will it be to become a national player? Arror does not underestimate the problems:”The support infrastructure for doing this is not well developed. For example, there are issues of cell sites, power and double generators. In addition, the national backbone will not yet support this kind of development.” Although we discuss the future of WiMAX versus other technologies (uncertain but who knows?) Arror is clear that the customer does not care what the technology is: ”They care about service and whether it works. It needs to do what it says it does. And with this simple mantra and a simple “plug and play” box, he may just have found a way of carving himself a significant niche in Nigeria’s future retail market.
Nigeria’s Dangote risks loss of USD150m amid NCC probe of dormant 3G licenceThe Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has commenced a regulatory probe into a 3G services licence granted to Alheri Engineering, a subsidiary of the Dangote Group, owned by billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote. Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Ernest Ndukwe, in an interview with the Technology Times confirmed the regulatory probe underway by the telecoms regulator into the continued dormancy of the 3G licence more than a year after it was issued Dangote-owned Alheri. According to Ndukwe, NCC has written to the company to seek explanations for the continued dormancy of the US$150 million licence issued March 19, 2007, “and the public will be kept abreast of the development.” Last year, the big three mobile phone companies, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, Celtel Nigeria Limited (now rebranded Zain Nigeria) and Globacom Limited alongside little-known Alheri Engineering were each issued 3G licences at $150m per spectrum raking some $600m into government coffers. However, the Dangote Group did not comment on the issue when Technology Times called to confirm the company’s response to the development. According to Ndukwe, “usually, when we conduct auctions, you know that auctions make it possible for people to buy spectrum based on a very competitive level, and we really don’t sanction as such for people who don’t meet whatever target, because they are the ones losing more than anybody. We have initiated moves to contact the operator that has been licensed and if we don’t get any satisfactory action or responses, we might consider re-offering the spectrum to the market, because it is a very valuable spectrum and cannot be left unutilised over too long a time.” In 2006, NCC had announced its intention to license four available spectrum lots in the 2 GHz bands to facilitate the development of the communications industry. Following the Commission’s advert for Expressions of Interest in February 2007, 17 companies responded. An auction was not conducted as the four companies that expressed interest were awarded the four licences. According to NCC, “the four applicants’ submissions were evaluated with respect to the compliance details outlined in the Information Memorandum. Each applicant was found to have been fully compliant. In these circumstances, where the number of applicants matches the number of lots, no further allocation process is required.” (Source: Technology Times) Interconnection charges row heats up in NamibiaTelecom Namibia and Cell One have ganged up against MTC over what they regard as exorbitant interconnection fees charged by MTC. They have appealed to the Namibia Communications Commission (NCC) to intervene. Last month Cell One brought the matter to the attention of the Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Joel Kaapanda, saying the interconnect costs are prohibitive for new entrants. Last week Telecom Namibia joined Cell One in its call for fair pricing, saying its "business is being disadvantaged by the unfair tactics of MTC which charges exorbitant interconnection fees from their network to fixed lines". MTC's General Manager of Corporate Affairs, Albertus Aochamub, rubbished the claims, saying the rates were offered to MTC by Telecom Namibia and Cell One, "contrary to claims by both parties when they have finally woken up to realise that their businesses are bleeding from mistakes they have made in the past. MTC never imposed the regime (interconnection rates) but accepted what was proposed by both Cell One and Telecom Namibia". It would appear that MTC is using its dominance in the cellular market that was strengthened through years of monopoly. The cellular market was opened to a second operator, Cell One, last year. According to Telecom Namibia, MTC charges its subscribers up to N$3,35 per minute to call a land line, while Cell One charges N$1,79 per minute. Cell One pays MTC N$1,06 per minute and charges its customers N$1,79, retaining 73c per minute while MTC gets N$1,06. For calls to South Africa, MTC charges its subscribers N$5 per minute to fixed and N$5,81 to cellular phones, while the Telecom rate is N$1,99 to fixed and N$1,99 to mobile during the day and N$1,19 and N$1,99 at night. MTC charges for calls to Angola and Europe are even more outrageous at N$12 per minute - more than double the Telecom charge of N$5. "The huge gap in interconnecting charges not only discourages customers from calling the Telecom Namibia network, but also make service unaffordable for many Namibians, inasmuch as the interconnection rates are arbitrarily set and thus not cost based," Telecom's Oiva Angula said in a hard-hitting statement issued last week. Angula proposed that interconnection charges be cost based. He called on the NCC to provide guidelines to establish rates through negotiations among the operators. "Cost-based interconnection charges should incorporate a normal commercial return, and there should not be any discrimination among different operators, unless a cost difference justifies dissimilar treatment," Angula argued. Aochamub claimed that MTC's services and costs were "competitive and affordable". He also took a swipe at Telecom saying it enjoyed "unhindered statutory monopoly" and was taking a large percentage for every international call originating from Telecom Namibia because of its monopoly of this service. The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology recently said that all issues governing telecommunication will be addressed by the long-awaited Communications Bill, which is yet to be tabled in Parliament. (Source: The Namibian) Mascom launches 3G Offering in BotswanaThe battle for the small but lucrative mobile business market is set to intensify after Mascom boasted it now had the capacity for "the fastest mobile broadband in Botswana" - the 3G and 3.5G technology, which it launched last week. But the same designation was claimed by Mascom's rival, Orange, when it launched its Livebox recently. It claims its service has speeds of up to 1.8 megabits per second for mobile Internet and data connection. The company's Chief Operations Officer, Richard Luz, said at a press briefing that Mascom had invested P50 million to bring the technology to Botswana and that it will initially cover Greater Gaborone. For now, the rest of the country will use the existing GPRS/EDGE technology. "We will expand to Francistown in the next few months and later stretch to other urban areas," Luz said. With this technology, Botswana becomes one of growing number of countries in Africa with high speed HSDPA network infrastructure."This new technology will enable our customers to surf the worldwide web in a smooth and user-friendly way through broadband high speed connectivity," Luz said. While he was reluctant to specify the consumer price, Luz said Mascom had developed a price portfolio that will decisively contribute to the democratisation of Broadband Internet access in Botswana. (Source: Mmegi/The Reporter) MTL rolls out CDMA in Malawi in face of US$3 million annual vandalism billMTL re-iterated its intention to keep rolling CDMA 2000 fixed wireless units to customers to overcome down-time issues caused by a vandalism bill of US$3 million annually. MTL says it would continue to roll out a wireless transmission system to overcome communication breakdowns. The company says the move would improve communication and reduce problems encountered due to cable vandalism. MTL Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Ken Mthuzi said Monday that:”For the foreseeable future we shall continue rolling out the wireless with greater momentum but cables will also be used as appropriate.” said He added that the company is incurring huge losses due to cable vandalism to the effect that as of July this year MTL had lost US$3 million for cable repairs only. The revenue losses and other incidentals are not easy to estimate but we are working on a method to ease the estimation of revenue losses too”. On vandalism, Mthuzi admitted that one former employee was arrested in connection with cable vandalism but pointed out the company does not have any concrete evidence of more involvement by former workers. “The vandalism problem is not just MTL’s, it is a national problem, because of vandalism many services are disrupted, the general public is inconvenienced and losses incurred too. MTL spends huge amounts of hard earned forex importing cables for repairs. Such forex could have been better used to import other things. “Foreign investment is not easy to attract if you have unreliable telecommunications services. So the country as a whole is the real loser when vandals chop MTL cables,” said Mthuzi. (Source: The Daily Times) In brief:- Nigeria's National Telecommunications operator, Globacom, is collaborating with Benue, Rivers and Bayelsa state governments to provide easy and cheap telephone services in rural areas. - A new satellite system working in conjunction with helicopters and aircraft is to be used to beef up security on South Africa's notoriously porous borders, Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said. - Reuters is reporting that the government of the West African state of Guinea will seek a new partner for telecoms company Societe des Telecommunications de Guinee (Sotelgui), after Telekom Malaysia International (TMI) returns its 60% stake on 1 September 2008. ‘The government's option is to open up Sotelgui's capital, and seek a partner with sufficient financial and technical capacity that will allow the company to face an increasingly competitive environment,’ Minister for Communications and New Information Technology Tibou Kamara told Reuters in an interview. - MTN and Zain Zambia have refused pressure from the Communications Authority of Zambia (CAZ) to share network infrastructure, with both operators claiming it would be difficult to maintain quality assurance. The CAZ has been urging the companies to share infrastructure in order to boost the expansion of services in rural regions but MTN and Zain have both stated that they will proceed with individual expansion plans and are not prepared to consider a shared solution. - Sierra Leone’s state-owned operator Sierratel has begun testing its new CDMA 2000 -based fixed wireless network. The infrastructure is said to complement the company's existing landline service and will have a capacity of 100,000 subscribers. Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage (briefs)- One of Nigeria’s GSM operator, MTN, has launched its community telephoning with 650 telephone boxes spread across five states. Launching MTN Community Phone in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, the company's Brand Manager, Mrs Saidat Lawal-Mohammed, said the project was designed for the low income class that cannot afford to buy and maintain handsets. - The Kenya Power and Lighting Company will introduce an SMS service to inform customers of impending planned electricity supply interruptions. - MTN Group (MTN) reported that group subscribers grew 53% to 74.1 million in the six months ended June compared with 48.2 million subscribers at June 2007. This was a 21% increase from 61.4 million at end December 2007.
Angola to launch 'Angosat' satelliteThe Angolan government has given the go-ahead to a project to produce, launch and operate an Angolan satellite dubbed "Angosat", Angola's official news agency ANGOP reported on Sunday. The project also includes the creation of human resources and relevant infrastructures, said the report. The Angolan government has approved the contracts for the building, placing in orbit and operation of the "Angosat" satellite signed between Angola's Ministry of Postal and Telecommunication and the Russian consortium "Rosoboronexport". The project is estimated to cost US$327.6 million. (Source: Xinhua) Wananchi in aggressive expansion plan in AfricaWananchi Online (now Wananchi Group), one of the pioneer ISPs in Kenya, has been shopping for funds to invest in its local operations. The firm is looking to broaden its horizons to eight other countries in the region. The company’s new chief operating officer, Suhayl Esmailjee, spoke to Kui Kinyanjui about their plans and ambitions. Q: Where (in terms of the company's history) is Wananchi coming from? Wananchi has undergone more or less a complete transformation when it was acquired by the ATMT (Africa Telecom, Media and Technology) Fund. The attraction was the strong brand and the fact that Wananchi brought to the market affordable Internet solutions. Prior to the acquisition the company was perceived to have dropped the ball technology-wise and it was unclear as to what the strategy was. There was an ambitious plan by the Fund to also add to its treasure chest Africa Online, however this was not to be as Telkom SA bought AfOL. The Fund then went ahead and acquired 2 other companies: Mitsumi Cable - a Cable TV operator and SimbaNet (KE & TZ) - a corporate internet/data connectivity operator. Q: Please give us some detail and the rationale behind the company's recent acquisitions? The rationale is simple - to become the first affordable, reliable and profitable triple play service operator in the region. Many people talk about triple play - we want to make this a reality and the acquisitions of Wananchi, Mitsumi & SimbaNet is a strong step into making this a reality. We now have instantly a platform to provide video, broadband and very soon voice service based on the technology and expertise acquired from the acquisitions. Wananchi as mentioned was largely for the brand and existing customer base whilst Mitsumi for a ready client base of about 11,000 over an existing broadcast cable platform + SimbaNet for its investments in VSAT hub in Kenya and strong technical acumen in Kenya and Tanzania. Q: What are your expectations from the board meeting taking place? We expect to get budget approval for the next 2 years in terms of the funding required to build out a cable plant covering at least 300,000 homes as well as rollout of a WiMax network for broadband. The board meeting ratified the management team's plans on the business that included the infrastructure development and tactical plans on how we take the services to market including marketing strategy etc. Q: In a nutshell, what is your future strategy for the company? As mentioned the strongest proposition is the triple play agenda. We want to deliver over a single platform Voice, Video (TV) and Data (Broadband Internet) services in a manner synonymous to what is happening in the developed countries. We plan to provide a bundled service with a single invoice for all the services. The investments to make this happen are close to $50M over the next 2 years including the rebuild of the current cable network to allow triple-play including the investments in the systems required to support an aggressive growth of subscribers. Since the cable build will take long, our plan is to address the broadband agenda by rolling out a WiMax network with about 130 base stations largely focused in the 1st year. Q: The home market is said to be the next frontier for ISPs. How will Wananchi differentiate its offering on that front from other providers? Again the answer is to enhance value offering and this is through the triple play service proposition. We already have 11,000 customers on the cable TV platform and about 10,000 on Wananchi on different services that we intend to migrate on the WiMax platform and eventually cable as it spreads in the region. Q: How much are you planning to raise from local investors? We have already raised $10M from local investors - largely the Wananchi shareholders and the rest from venture capital plus debt from OPIC. This is at the fund level where the fund targets $100M 50-50 on equity and debt. $50M has already been raised and disbursed – the board was to approve the plans for the next 2 years. Q: Which technologies will Wananchi be rolling out? As mentioned initially the WiMax platform for broadband in the first year and HFC cable network to high to medium density locations and FTTH in remoter areas like Karen etc. Both networks are planned for Nairobi and Mombasa. Once the cable reach is significant we plant to relocate the WiMax base stations to other urban cities and towns of Kenya. We also plan to rollout out our own metro fibre backbone covering the whole of Nairobi and Mombasa. This will be used to provide corporate services – particularly IP bandwidth to corporate as well as backhaul traffic from our base stations. Q: How do you perceive the entry of foreign owned companies in the ISP arena such as Africa Online and IS Solutions? Do they pose a threat to your business - why? At present the competition is expected to get to hyper levels particularly in the broadband space. With players like Safaricom, Celtel, AfOL, KDN, Access Kenya, Telkom Kenya gearing up for the market – we envisage the space to be very very competitive. However, with a strong value proposition of high-speed broadband Internet, entertainment on more than 100 TV channels, reliable voice all offered as a single service at an affordable price compared to buying all 3 independently, we believe this will be the strongest propositions compared to the individual competition. Also the fact that we are focusing on cable as the eventual platform for all services, positions us strongly since wireless technologies will never be able to compete in terms of bandwidth especially when the IP bandwidth becomes insignificant after the submarine fibre lands. Q: How easy is it to get funding for ICT ventures in East Africa compared with other parts of the world? Provided there is a business case, the funding is available. We are backed by media moguls like the Schneider Group who have built successful media operations in various parts of the world together with various investors locally plus a US government state agency (OPIC) who have also backed the venture. Q: Who is your biggest competitor? Nobody on the triple play arena but several on the broadband front, and DSTV and GTV on the TV side. Q: Has your stake in TEAMs been confirmed? Yes – 10% i.e. 100 STM-1 capacity = 100Gbps (Source: Business Daily Vodacom WiMAX to go commercial in October, but no mobility yetVodacom and iBurst are planning to launch their WiMax services in the beginning of October. These services will be mainly aimed at business customers in the Western Cape, Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng. The WiMAX Broadband service is targeted at the Small and Medium Enterprise businesses, whilst the WiMAX Assured Rate service, which is a leased line substitute service, is targeted at larger businesses and corporate companies. Vodacom initially planned an August commercial launch, but the company said that despite the fact that Vodacom WiMax has been commercially available nationwide from 15 August 2008, it has pushed back the commercial launch due to a worldwide shortage of CPEs (customer premise equipment). “Many operators are launching their services within the same time frames, putting strain on the manufacturer’s ability to produce quantities to satisfy demand. This is largely due to wave 2 compliance to the IEEE802.16e standard, which was finalised by the IEEE last October,” Vodacom said. Vodacom started rolling out the WiMax network – which is officially owned and controlled by WBS - a few months ago using Huawei and Alcatel as vendors. Vodacom has been contracted by WBS to build, implement and maintain the WiMax network, and has built 120 WiMax base stations nationally. One of the main obstacles in cost-effectively building the WiMax network and providing affordable broadband services to customers is the lack of spectrum. WBS has been granted 15 MHz of spectrum by ICASA which is planning to upgrade current licenses to 20 Mhz. According to Vodacom a date has not yet been communicated for this upgrade. Wally Beelders, Executive Director at Vodacom Business, points out that 30Mhz of WiMax spectrum is needed before economies of scale emanating from such an allocation could be passed onto the customer. Industry has been lobbying for WiMax spectrum allocation of at least 30 MHz per operator, but ICASA seems to stand firm in its decision to hand out 20 MHz each in the 2.5 GHz band to six additional players. Vodacom has rolled out a mobile WiMax network based on the IEEE 802.16e standard. Questions have however been raised about this decision, citing the fact that fixed WiMax (802.16d standard) is far more cost effective to roll out and questioning the future of the 802.,16e standard. Vodacom said that the IEEE 802.16e standard was chosen because it is a progressive standard and the next evolution in WiMax. “The service is being deployed as static at the moment, due to the limited capacity the current spectrum allocation imposes on each cell. Mobility will be considered once capacity is increased either by an increased spectrum and or enhanced spectral efficiency offered by planned revisions of the IEEE 802.16e standard,” said Beelders. “To make mobility economically viable given the current constraints would result in unacceptably high tariffs and low subscriber adoption. This is the first network on this standard to be launched in Africa,” Beelders concluded. (Source: Mybroadband) In brief:- A new Arab Advisors Group major survey of Internet users in Tunisia revealed that 36.4% of Internet users in Tunisia use e-commerce. Based on the survey results, the Arab Advisors Group estimates that Tunisia's Internet users spent US$ 132.7 million during the past 12 months in e-commerce transactions. - South Africa’s air carrier Kulula.com will next week unveil its revamped Web site, which will offer clients the opportunity to access specific portals to make use of the company's newly-branded products.
School Books to Go Digital in KenyaTextbooks may soon be available online if a pilot project yields results. The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has entered into an agreement with the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) meant to provide learning materials to schools in soft copies as well as online. According to the deal, CCK will fund digitalisation of 11 Form One subjects at an initial cost of Sh15.2 million. The funds will be used to procure the equipment and relevant software for the development of the materials. KIE will provide skilled manpower in the form of teachers, information and technology specialists and curriculum developers to develop the digital content. CCK will test the digital content developed by KIE in the 16 school-based ICT centres that are spread across the country's eight provinces. The centres are sponsored by CCK. "This partnership with KIE will go a long way in promoting the development of educational content in order to enhance the uptake of information communication and technology services among the youth," said the CCK director-general Charles Njoroge. (Source: The Nation) South Africa’s election body rejects Linux usersThe South African Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), which runs democratic elections in the country has a web site that does not allow widely used linux browsers like Firefox to access its site, according to Tectonic. Visiting the IEC website with anything other than Windows and Internet Explorer rewards users with the following message: “Our server detected that you are using a Browser or Operating System (e.g. Netscape, Mozilla Firefox, etc) which is currently incompatible with our site. This web site is designed for Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 4 and above on Microsoft Windows. The IEC is currently in the process of enhancing the web site so that it will also cater for other browsers. We apologize for the inconvenience caused.” The fact that the IEC website doesn’t work on anything but IE and Windows is an anomaly according to Tectonic which also tried Opera and IE on Linux using Wine. The South African government has an approved open source strategy and has published Minimum Interoperability Standards for Information Systems in government which commits government and its agents to open standards. The good news is that there are people of influence within government that are aware of this. Department of Science and Technology CIO, Aslam Raffee, was the person who first pointed out the IEC website to Tectonic. Lets hope that the IEC can fix this problem before the next national elections when it will become important for All South Africans to be able to access the website. (Source: Tectonic) Software Stakeholders Form Association in UgandaICT Cluster, an association of software stakeholders, is to help members regulate and develop the industry. Charles Basajja, the executive facilitator of ICT Cluster, said the group unites people from the Government, academia and private sector. "It is a think-tank that spurs collaboration while stimulating competition among players," he said during the launch at Kati Kati Restaurant in Kampala. Basajja said a successful cluster network would transfer software as a primary controller of the economy to a catalyst of growth. "It brings together stakeholders to share resources, come up with capacity building programmes and share contracts in order to bring changes in the market. This will in turn create customer satisfaction, lead to innovation and growth," he added. John Musajjakawa a senior investment executive with the Uganda Investment Authority said the Government was committed to supporting initiatives that bring togetherness and create independence. He said companies have failed because they lack togetherness. (Source: New Vision) In brief:- Over $30 billion has been earmarked for the development of Information Communication Technology (ICT), in the Commonwealth countries. This was disclosed at a press briefing in Abuja as Nigeria prepares to host the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) Conference from 6th to 8th October 6- 8, 2008. Nigeria and other African countries got $12 billion, of the said amount, though the sharing formula has not being worked out. - South Africa’s Stellenbosch University now has a high-performance Sun Fire cluster running OpenSuse Linux, courtesy of Breakpoint Solutions. The high performance cluster is built using Sun Fire X4150 servers, with each having two Intel Quad Core CPUs and 16 gigabytes of memory.
Kenya’s Safaricom Buys stake in local ISP companySafaricom has acquired a controlling stake in a Kenyan ISP as it prepares for a serious assault on the data market. Already a leader in voice, where it has a 84 per cent market control in mobile service, the country's leading mobile phone service firm said it would use its first post-IPO acquisition to roll out high speed Internet to companies. In an agreement signed yesterday, listed Safaricom agreed to buy a 51 per cent stake in One Communications for $2.6 million (about Sh174 million). "This acquisition will help us broaden our product offering from just GSM services to Internet services," Safaricom chief executive Michael Joseph said. The move presents a strategic entry into data communication as competition in the telecommunication industry hots up with entry of two new players. Telkom Kenya, which is 51 per cent owned by France Telecom, has indicated that its relaunch in the market will target both data and voice, while Econet Wireless is expected to go for low end users, threatening Safaricom's dominance. Both companies are expected to launch their new services before December this year. Incorporated in 2005, One Communications, has five base stations in Nairobi offering Internet services to corporate clients. "This has been a long journey for us and a dream come true," the ISP's director John Gatharia said of his company's acquisition by Safaricom. "We expect that on the strength of our investment, One Communications will be in a strong position to access the necessary funding to expand its network and services countrywide," Mr Joseph noted. (Source: The Nation) NSSF to Acquire Shares in MTN UgandaThe National Social Security Fund, NSSF is in negotiations to purchase shares in MTN Uganda, a leading telecommunications firm, Business Power has learnt. Information exclusively available to Business Power indicates that the Fund has already started preliminary negotiations with South Africa's MTN Group, the majority shareholder in MTN Uganda. The talks are pretty much at a very primary stage, according to sources, but early indicators of a possible outcome appear positive. MTN Uganda Chief Commercial Officer Eric Van Veen couldn't confirm or deny the impending acquisition of shares by NSSF when asked to comment on the secretive negotiations. David Chandi Jamwa, the managing director of NSSF agreed in an interview with Business Power that they were in talks to get shares in MTN Uganda. "We are still carrying out a due diligence on the company and shall let you know what follows," Mr Jamwa said recently. He refused to shed more light on several other aspects of the deal on which details are scanty. It's not clear how much equity NSSF wants to acquire in MTN but it's highly unlikely that it will be a controlling stake as the Fund might not afford to throw so much money at a single investment. Much of the Fund's investment portfolio has traditionally been biased toward real estate and other fixed income assets. (Source: The Monitor) Nigeria’s Federal Government Picks BNP Paribas As Advisers for Nitel PrivatisationAs the December deadline for the race to pick a new core investor for Nitel draws near, the Federal Government has picked BNP Paribas as its adviser on the deal. The Federal Government through its Minister of State for Communications, Alhaji Dasuki Nakande, announced that BNP Paribas won the bid to advise government on the plan to secure a core investor for Nitel. Nakande who made the announcement after the National Council on Privatisation meeting yesterday in Abuja stated that the BNP Paribas, would be expected to review, evaluate and market NITEL. Fifteen consortia had applied to the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) to be engaged as privatisation advisors for the sale of 51per cent equity in Nitel. The firms are: Lazard/Vetiva, Rothschild/UBA, Renaissance Capital, Millennium Finance, Awoyinfa Obafunsho & Co, CPCS Transcom, Lead Capital/Investec, FCMB/ Morgan Stanley, International/HSBC, Merrill Lynch/BGL and BNP Paribas. BNP Paribas would also be expected to review the operations of Nitel and prepare the Information Memorandum. It would also prepare valuation reports that will give an indicative base price for Nitel as well as prepare draft contract documents and all other transaction documents required for competitive and transparent bidding process. He also emphasized that the consortium would also be expected to market Nitel to prospective investors and assemble all documents that would be required in hosting data room. As advisors on the privatization process, Paribas would also evaluate the technical proposals submitted by prospective core investors and advise the NCP accordingly and prepare a comprehensive post-transaction report for the NCP." It will be recalled that BNP Paribas was the same firm that acted as consultant on the sale of Nitel to Pentascope in 2003. It also valued Nitel for sale to Transcorp. (Source: This Day) Blue Label Eyes Further Expansion in AfricaTechnology and telecoms company Blue Label is getting ever more ambitious in its global expansion plans, by exploring opportunities in Nigeria and Ghana and setting its sights on the huge Chinese market. It will open a subsidiary in Mexico next month and believes Latin America is also lucrative territory. Yet at the same time Blue Label is striving to reassure investors and analysts that its efforts to conquer India are on track, despite losing money there. It reported its maiden annual results since listing, presenting convoluted figures showing actual audited results and pro forma unaudited results to May 31. Revenue came in at R12.5bn and net profit touched R207m, creating headline earnings per share of 30.26c. But chief financial officer David Rivkind said: "I must emphasise that the true earnings of the companies making up our group for the full 12-month period are R371m," referring to pro forma figures showing total earnings for all the group's companies if they were assumed to be subsidiaries for the full year. Calculated that way, pro forma earnings per share were 48.4c. A handful of acquisitions costing R348m and management bonuses of R57.6m were paid during the year, while financial charges including listing fees whittled R106m off its income. Cash on hand stood at R1.3bn but no dividends would be declared until at least the 2010 financial year. Blue Label distributes cellular airtime and other electronic services via point-of-sales terminals, cellphones and the internet. Joint CEO Brett Levy said its ambition was to become the leading global player in value-added transactional services. That translates into selling additional services, including tickets, handling money transfers and allowing cellphones to be used as electronic wallets. Target customers are at the lower end of the economic scale, who are generally unbanked and make their purchases in cash. At the moment 95% of its revenue comes from telecoms, largely by connecting 200,000 people a month to South Africa's cellular networks. So far the company and its subsidiaries run 500,000 terminals and other points of presence around the world, and it aims to grow that by 5,000 a month in South Africa alone. Levy said it was crucial to invest in a "land grab" to establish points of presence, and once those were in place every extra service or product sold through its distribution channels was pure profit. Mark Levy, the other joint CEO, said an immediate goal was to increase the volume of products and services distributed. In other countries that would be done with local partners who understood the market. Its activities in India are conducted in a joint venture with Oxigen Services, but Blue Label lost R19.6m for the year from that operation. That was expected from a start-up, Levy said, and although it would not make a profit in the coming year that did not reflect its future potential. One potential cloud for Blue Label is a threat of legal action from a former employee who claims he has not been compensated properly for software he developed, despite being promised a 20% profit share for deals clinched by his work. Mark Levy said the company believed the claim was without merit and was waiting for legal processes to take their course. (Source: Business Day) In brief:- Starcomms has posted revenues of NGN17.5 billion (USD150 million) for the first six months of 2008, up 101% year-on-year and in line with its growth projections, reports local newspaper Nigerian Tribune. At the end of June 2008 the company had 1.55 million subscribers, up from 624,000 twelve months previously, and looks on course to break the two million barrier by the end of 2008. Starcomms is forecasting a net loss of NGN197 million this financial year, but hopes to swing into profit in 2009. - South Africa’ Allied Technologies Limited (Altech) announced that its telecommunications subsidiary, Altech Autopage Cellular, has signed a distribution agreement with Neotel. The partnership, which is effective as of the 27th of August 2008, will provide South Africaís new telecommunications network with a nationwide retail distribution point.
Text Messages accepted as evidence in Tanzania’s court caseKisutu Court principal resident magistrate Addy Lyamuya ordered Zain (formerly Celtel) country director to produce before the court a printout of alleged threat messages sent to the editor of MwanaHalisi Mwanahalisi tabloid, Said Kubenea. Magistrate Lyamuya also ordered the director to appear before the court to explain how mobile phones work and how text messages are sent or received. Earlier, Kubenea had told the court that he had been receiving threat messages on his mobile phone from a Celtel number which he copied down and sent to his lawyer. He said for about six months from June 13, last year, he received the messages from phone number 0787 775692 but efforts to get a printout from Zain proved futile. However, he could not produce all threat messages he had received. At that point the prosecution side led by ASP Charles Kenyela asked the court to adjourn the case to allow Kubenea get the messages from Zain under court order. Six people are charged of assaulting the said editor of the weekly tabloid, MwanaHalisi, on January 5, at his offices situated at Kasaba Street in Kinondoni district. They are Alex Mwandembele Chusa, 28, a tax driver; Hashim Mdoe ,32; Augustino Joseph,30; a welder Hamis Almas, 25, Alfred Moshi ,64, and Ferdinand Mwenda. During the attack, the accused are alleged to have poured acid on Kubenea's face, causing him suffer serious injuries that led him to undergo medical treatment in India. They are also alleged to have slashed the editor's fellow worker, Ndimara Tegambwane, with a sword on his body. (Source: The Citizen) South Africa’s Minister to Put HIV Data OnlineHealth Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang yesterday promised to "crack the whip" and get her officials to post the latest antenatal HIV survey online. The annual survey is one of the government's most important gauges of how effective its HIV prevention strategies are, and is usually released by mid-year. SA has one of the world's worst HIV/AIDS epidemics, with 5.7-million people living with the disease, according to the United Nations (UN). The minister quoted from last year's survey during her budget speech to Parliament in June, saying the overall HIV prevalence among pregnant women using government clinics had fallen, and that it had dropped from 13.7% to 12.9% among 15- to 19-year-olds between 2006 and last year . The prevalence also fell among women aged between 25 and 29, from 38.7% to 37.9%. Since the survey has yet to be made public, observers are in the dark as to how much of it really is good news and whether its conclusions are borne out by the data. (Source: Business Day)
People* Microsoft has appointed Mteto Nyati to head up its South African subsidiary as the company steps up its plans to grow its business across all sectors of the local economy. Nyati, who will take over the Microsoft SA reins on 1 September, comes to Microsoft from a 12-year career at IBM, where he was the director of IBM Global Technology Services for South and Central Africa since June 2005. * Former Orange Botswana, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Thapelo Lippe, is said to be the favourite to head the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC). * Egypt's Naguib Sawiris is to stand down as the Chairman of local mobile operator, Mobinil from the end of this month. The company's current CEO, Alex Shalaby will take over as Chairman and his role will be taken up by Hassan Kabbani - currently CEO of Algerian operator, Djezzy. Events* ECONOMIC REGULATION, COMPETITION AND PRIVATISATION 15-19 September 2008, Yaoundé, Cameroon This course is part of the the Programme for Development and Training (PDT) run by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) is a professional training and capacity building programme aimed at helping industry stakeholders understand the latest developments in the industry and build the in-house capacity to meet the challenge of future markets. For further information contact Nomita Das at +44 20 8834 1573 or n.das@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. * THE COMMONWEALTH ICT SUMMIT 6-8 October 2008, Abuja, Nigeria If you are a telecom or satellite operator, equipment supplier, software developer, solution provider, a consultant, or any other stakeholder in the Telecommunications and ICT industry, and are seeking opportunities to expand in emerging markets, or are seeking the platform to meet policymaking and regulatory authorities, donor agencies and financiers to champion your business development goals, the Commonwealth ICT Summit is the event to attend. For further information visit http://www.events.cto.int/ictsummit08 * 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 * THE MOZAMBIQUE ICT CONVENTION 2008-08-14 15-16 November 2008, Maputo, Mozambique The Mozambique ICT Exhibition has been initiated by the Ministry of Science & Technology to provide an educational platform for all government ministries, departments and organisations, as well as all major private sector enterprises and SMEs. They will meet together over two days to share knowledge, learn form local and international experts and network with each other in both the conference and the exhibition. For further information contact AITEC Africa, +44(0)1480-880774; info@aitecafrica.com * TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES AND CONSUMERS RIGHTS IN WEST AFRICA 22-24 October 2008, Cotonou, Benin The conference aims at impulsing a new dynamics to the telecommunications sector through taking into account the concerns of consumers regarding quality and services rates at the national and regional level. The conference will also deal with all the aspects related to the regional regulation in term of telecommunication, the settlement of the West African ICT Consumer Associations Network as well as the advocacy techniques to be used during the campaign which will be conducted towards sub-regional institutions. The conference is funded and supported by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) For further information contact the League for the Consumers Defence in Benin on +229 21 35 24 58 or visit their website at www.ldcb.org * 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/ * UBUNTUNET CONNECT 2008 AND OPEN ACCESS 2008 11-14 November 2008, Lilongwe, Malawi For further information on the 1st UbuntuNet Alliance Annual Conference, visit
For further information on the 6th International Conference on Open Access, visit
* ngNOG 16 – 26 November 2008, Lagos, Nigeria For further information on the 3rd Edition of the Nigerian Network Operators Group Workshops and Meetings, visit http://www.forum.org.ng/ * AFRINIC 9 22 – 28 November 2008, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia For further information on the 9th AfriNIC Open Policy Meeting, visit http://www.afrinic.net/ Jobs and Opportunities* Telco Business Development Manager - Egypt The company is looking for a business development manager to develop and to maintains firm image and increases market shares by developing business activities, promoting goodwill, identifying customers’ needs and monitoring competition, in order to ensure proper costing and bidding for projects. Education and Experience: A bachelor’s degree in business administration or any relevant field. Minimum seven years experience, of which four years should have been in a contracting executive position in the telecommunication field. Excellent Arabic, English. For further information contact advertising@balancingact-africa.com Contracts* NOW and Eskadenia – Sudan Jordanian software firm Eskadenia has announced that it has won a contract from Sudanese wireless network operator Network of the World (NOW) for the deployment of its billing and customer relationship management system. NOW is currently in the process of rolling out a GSM network in Southern Sudan, which is due to go live in the final quarter of 2008 under the Vivacell brand. NOW expects to extend network coverage to all Southern Sudanese states.
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