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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 424 O3B Networks promises low latency satellite bandwidth at US$500 a meg or less by 2010O3B Networks has been quietly preparing itself over the last 12 months for the moment last week when it announced that it was going to be offering cheap, low latency satellite bandwidth that can cover any part of Africa by 2010. It has put in place early finance with Google, Liberty Global and HSBC. Russell Southwood talked to the entrepreneur behind the project Greg Wyler. Q: What’s the overall technical configuration of what you’re going to do? It’s a number of satellites flying over the equatorial area (of the earth). Because they’re approximately 5 times closer to the earth than geo-satellites, the latency is reduced by approximately five times. It’s a constellation of satellites? Q: Why do you think you’ll succeed where others have failed with this approach? There are two major things that are different (to previous projects). These other projects were designed to reach the developed world. It required many satellites because that had to be inclined to reach these areas. It would take 840 satellites to cover the whole of the earth in this way. We only need a minimum of five and therefore the cost is much lower. The second thing is that this is a fully desisned system with a fixed contract for 2010. As a single system designed just for trunking for telcos and ISPs, we know the costs, the delivery date and the performance. It’s a well thought out and structured process. Q: What sort of coverage will the constellation of satellites offer Africa? It will be the whole of the continent eventually. In the first launch, there are only 8 eight satellites which will give us 30 spots. Each spot is 500 kilometres in diameter. Each terminal can receive and transmit 1.25 gbps. The spots can be placed virtually anywhere on the continent. A spot on fibre is one physical landing station that then has to be connected to a whole city. Our spots can cover a whole city immediately or for instance, cover the whole of Nigeria. We’re not planning to cover every square meter but we have the ability to cover any square metre you might want to specify. The unique beauty of the system is that it has the speed, latency and cost of fibre but we can take it immediately to where the customer wants it. Landlocked countries can get access to cheap international connectivity (without tackling existing transit issues). Q: What price is the bandwidth going to sell at? It will be in the range of US$500 per meg or below. It will be competitive with fibre but it’s not our intention to compete with fibre. Carrier class telecoms going out over the new fibre routes will require redundancy and we can complement any fibre network. Bit for bit the system is the equal of fibre: it’s better in some areas and not in others. For example, we can reach directly to the cell tower where build is needed for things like WiMax and EVDO because the spot beam of 500 kilometres can reach anything from 3 to 100 cell towers. Q: What do you think the impact will be on the existing satellite business in Africa? Existing satellite operators are currently very capacity constrained. In discussions we them, we see them flipping over their transmission (customers) to us to free up the geo-satellites to do WANS (multiple remote stations) and video distribution which is what they do best: one way applications like video distribution. Q: What’s the latency going to be like on the system? The path is five times less than for geo-satellites. It 123 milliseconds between the African port and some port in Europe connected to the global Internet. It’s comparable to fibre and in some cases will be quicker. And it’s certainly not the 600 milliseconds of geo-satellites. Q: What markets are you aiming at? Telcos for transmission backhaul will be the core of our market. FI2 will be our backhaul product and when the telco orders it, we will drop in a landing station at the telcos location. If they want a gigabit, we give them a gigabit. There is no CAPEX involved for the telco. This allows them to focus on their own network. The ISP products are similar except the decision to put down a dish depends on whether the traffic is less than an STM1 or not. If not, we give a VSAT terminal for direct connectivity. For more than an STM1 we will give a 3.5 metre dish and a carrier class landing station. The highest level product is FI2 Cell which illuminate over the whole 500 kilometres of the spot with 250-300 mbps capacity to and from cell towers. These will connect with a US$2,000 terminal at the base of a cell tower or a WiMAX base station. We will share this pool of bandwidth dynamically. This will allow the telco or WiMAX operator to place their towers without regard to line of sight. It might save the operator as much as US$1,000-1,500 a month. Q: What’s your deal with Google? What’s their stake? They are equity partners but they haven’t released exact figures because there are three very large global companies working together as a team: Google, Liberty Global and HSBC. Q: How’s the overall fundraising going? The first eight satellites will cost slightly less than US$450 million. We have about 12% of that in equity so far and we’ll be raising another 20% or more. The debt will cover the rest. Q: What was the market reaction when you announced? Our web site got over 380,000 hits and there were 400 newspaper articles. The company name O3B stands for the Other 3 Billion, the people who are not yet connected. Our task is to support ISPs and telcos reach directly to these people.
South Africa’s Minister Fights Telecoms 'Free-for-All'Hopes that greater competition and lower prices would finally stir up the long-stifled telecommunications sector have been quashed unexpectedly by Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri. (And the Minister is not one of those who offered to tender her resignation after last week’s dramatic events.) The minister has chosen to challenge a judgment giving hundreds of companies the right to build their own networks instead of having to rent from Telkom, Neotel or a cellular operator. That ruling, on an application by Altech, had been hailed as a massive but belated leap towards liberalisation. The verdict vindicated Altech's claim that efforts by Matsepe-Casaburri and the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) to implement a new licence regime had dissolved into a fiasco. The court upheld Altech's arguments that existing value added network service (Vans) licensees had a right to self-provide; that the minister had overstepped her powers; and that the entire process was flawed. On Friday, Altech CEO Craig Venter said the decision to appeal was " crazy". "I thought the judge's ruling was so emphatic that an appeal would be quite difficult. Everybody has indicated how important liberalisation is. An appeal delays it further. The delay now is coming from the government side, which is a real pity," he said. The Communication Users Association of SA (Cuasa) is also dismayed, describing the minister's decision as a hellishly frustrating blow to progress. "This really just restricts liberalisation," said Cuasa's Ray Webber. The Pretoria High Court ruled that any company holding an old Vans licence had the right to built its own network. Those companies -- including most internet service providers -- should automatically be granted a new electronic communications network service (ECNS) licence, the judge found. On Friday, Matsepe-Casaburri said she had decided to appeal after due consideration. She would also order Icasa to invite companies to apply for "a number" of the new licences. The fact that the highly coveted licences were going to be issued to only a handful of selected players was the main gripe prompting Altech to take the minister to court in the first place. She said she would amend legislation "to remove any ambiguity". Vans operators were not automatically entitled to ECNS licences. If every operator got a licence automatically, her policy of managed liberalisation would "be seriously undermined to the detriment of the information and communications technologies industry", she said. However, that view has long been out of synch with public consensus, and Altech's victory was hailed as crucial for modernising the sector. The Internet Service Providers' Association welcomed the verdict. Almost 200 companies congratulated Venter for opposing an outdated telecoms regime. Although the judgment lets about 300 operators build their own networks instead of paying high fees to lease their lines from Telkom, only about a dozen can actually afford to do so, ruling out an unwieldy boom-and-bust spree. (Source: Business Day) MTN is setting its eyes on Congo DRC but is it true?Mobile company MTN, which in July walked away from a potential $70bn merger with India's Reliance Communications, could extend its reach to the Democratic Republic of Congo, that country's regulator said on Friday. "We are sure MTN is interested in the Congolese market," said Christian Katende, vice-president of the Post and Telecommunications Regulation Authority of Congo. MTN declined to comment. Katende said MTN may begin operations in Congo by acquiring Supercell , a closely held company with a national cellphone licence that operates a network in the eastern North Kivu province. "It's not clear whether they'll take Supercell, or come on their own," he said. Alexis Makabuza, a shareholder of Goma-based Supercell, said the company had held talks with an unidentified investor. "There has been an approach," he said, without providing further details. (Source: Business Day) African Telecos Team Up to Reverse CostsGlobal telecommunication companies led by Kenya's Safaricom have unveiled an environmentally friendly initiative that will encourage them to exploit energy-cost saving sources, towards lower communication tariffs for consumers. United under the Global Systems for Mobile communications Association (GSMA), 25 leading telecoms including MTN Uganda and Zain, on Thursday started the Green Power for Mobile programme at a meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. The programme is meant to help the mobile industry use renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, or sustainable biofuels, to power 118,000 new and existing off-grid base stations in developing countries by 2012. Base stations are a combination of power generators and telecommunication masts used to relay wireless communications to people. By achieving powering that number of base stations on renewable energy, it would save up to 2.5 billion litres of diesel per annum and cut annual global carbon emissions by up to 6.3 million tonnes, according to the GSMA. The GSMA, the global trade body for the mobile industry forecasts that by 2012 up to 50 percent of new off-grid base stations in the developing world could be powered by renewable energy. The Green Power for Mobile programme will provide expertise to support mobile phone companies to deploy base stations that use renewable energy. Up to now, off-grid base stations are primarily powered by generators running on diesel fuel, which is increasingly expensive, generates carbon dioxide emissions, and can be difficult to transport to remote locations. One of these generators can use as much as 1,500 liters of diesel per month meaning that a company can spend up to about Shs3.8 million, at Shs2,530 per liter, to run one. Adopting renewable energy sources like solar could save telecom companies such recurrent costs since they are capital intensive but cheaper to maintain hence reducing the cost of providing the communication services. "As they strive to bring the benefits of mobile coverage to as many people as possible, operators need to find reliable, sustainable and economic sources of power far beyond the reach of national electricity grids," said Rob Conway, Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of the GSMA. "Through our Development Fund, the GSMA has built deep expertise in solar, wind and other renewable energy sources that mobile operators can tap to help them connect the unconnected reduce operating costs and minimise environmental damage," Conway added. According to the GSMA, to date only 1,500 base stations worldwide are powered by at least one form of renewable energy. Kenya's Safaricom is a leader in the use of renewable energy for networks with 30 base stations powered by solar and wind energy. Telecoms have been reluctant to adopt renewable sources of energy because of fear of little commercial viability, lack of equipment expertise, but the GSMA now suggests operators investing in green power sources for base stations could recoup the capital costs in as little as 24 months. The GSMA Development Fund is already working with several mobile operators to develop renewable power solutions for a variety of base stations located in diverse geographies. The Development Fund has supported Caribbean-based Digicel Vanuatu's deployment of wind and solar energy to power 17 new base stations on the Pacific island of Vanuatu. After a successful pilot in conjunction with the GSMA Development Fund and Ericsson, India-based telecom Idea Cellular now uses waste cooking oil to help power more than 350 base stations in India, where power supply can be erratic. The base stations run on a blend made up of 80 percent diesel fuel and 20 percent waste cooking oil. Other mobile operators participating in the programme include: MTN Group, MTN Nigeria, Vodacom Tanzania, Orange, Orascom Telecom Holding, Roshan, , Smart, Telefonica, Telenor Pakistan, Vimpelcom, , Vodafone Egypt, Zain Group, Zantel AXIS, Bharti, Dialog, Digicel, Idea Cellular, Indosat, Econet, Grameenphone, Mobinil, MTC Namibia, and MTN Cameroon. (Source: The Monitor) NCC Seeks Police Support Over Telecom Vandalism in NigeriaNigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has described the incessant destruction of Fibre Network Infrastructures (cables) by vandals as capable of drawing the country back by years. It therefore plans to see the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Sir Mike Okiro on formation of a special unit to guard the manholes and cable ducts across the country. Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Engr. Ernest Ndukwe stated this over the weekend at the stakeholders' forum on vandalism of telecommunications infrastructure in Abuja. "I would seek audience with the IGP to see if a special unit can be put in place at strategic parts of the country, we can assist in their training so that they would be able to quickly move in and dealt with the vandals," Ndukwe said. He said that the commission would set up regulations to curb the menace due to several complaints that have been received from various operators on the issue. He said, "It is belief that if the acts of vandalism are left unabated, there could be a total collapse of telecommunications infrastructure and quality of service, setting Nigeria back by several years and undermining the gains and successes of telecommunication in Nigeria." He urged the public to cooperate with various security agencies by volunteering useful information that would lead to the apprehension person or persons responsible for the crime. (Source: Daily Trust) In brief:- Moroccan incumbent Maroc Telecom has been shortlisted to buy 51% of Mali’s state-owned Telecommunication Company, Sotelma, PANA reported last week; no details of the other shortlisted companies were revealed. Previous reports had indicated 18 companies had been approved to bid for the Malian national operator, with interested operators rumoured to include MTN, Vodafone, Zain and Saudi Telecom. - Portugal Telecom (PT) is reportedly considering entering the mobile market in Mozambique if the government decides to offer a third licence. A report from the African Press Agency says the telco is in ‘advanced talks with the Mozambican authorities to expand its investment in the country’. PT already owns 50% of the country’s main ISP, Teledata, and has a stake in directories publisher LTM. ‘We are negotiating with the government our plans to expand investments in Mozambique, and one of the areas is mobile phone business,’ PT’s chief executive Zeinal Bava is quoted as saying. - The National Communications Commission (NCC), has lifted the ban on promotion earlier imposed on MTN and Zain, with effect from September 15, 2008. According to the commission, the lifting of the ban is on the condition that MTN and Zain continue to "exercise self control and not engage in any promotion that would lead to congestion of network or deterioration of quality of service in general. - Italian press reports are suggesting that Telecom Italia could make a surprise bid for the pan-African cellular operator MTN. The Corriere della Sera reports that the Italian telco is considering making an offer for the Johannesburg-based cellco, which is the second largest mobile operator in South Africa and claimed 74.1 million subscribers in 21 markets at the end of June. - The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) has warned Zain Malawi to put less emphasis on attracting new customers and instead concentrate on easing the congestion concerns of its existing subscribers, reports local news agency Nation Online. - In Botswana, the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology has awarded Mascom Wireless a P86 million contract to supply, install, operate and maintain telecommunications networks in 41 villages as part of Nteletsa II Project. Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage (briefs)- Sierra-Leone’s mobile operator, Africell has extended its coverage to Tikonko chiefdom, Bo district. Africell has so far covered have covered over 70% of the country and plans to add 20 more cell sites across the country before the end of the year. - Nigeria's national carrier, Globacom, has introduced a special package for small-scale business community. Advantage consists of five SIMs with mobile numbers in serial order, so that workers do not have to strain to remember the numbers of other staff. Calls made to anyone in the company - known as close user group, will also only attract half of the normal cost. - MTN Rwandacell has launched mobile charge (M-Charge), a service that requires vendors to acquire a special SIM card to enable them purchase and vend airtime. With the SIM cards, distributors, dealers and vendors can sell airtime to customers through mobile phone handsets. - As part of efforts to increase the number of public phones in the Keren town of Eritrea , additional public phones have been put in place in different streets of the town by Eritel, the national incumbent. - The number of customers who have signed on to Uganda MTN's innovative tariff structure, MTN Zone, has now hit two million, one of the broadest product uptakes in the ICT industry, according to the company. - In South Africa, mobile operator MTN is slashing its number of cellphone contract variations from a mind-boggling 64 to less confusing 22. It is also capitalising on a legal lull to ensure that its new contracts carry a 24-month lock-in period. This contract shake-up may be one of the last opportunities that an operator had to attract a flurry of customers in a market that was nearing saturation. At the last count, Vodacom had 25-million users in South Africa compared with MTN's 15-million, with Cell C serving 5-million and Virgin Mobile half a million. - The Nigerian Senate has initiated moves to force the reduction of tariff by 10 peer cent by all Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM) operators in the country before the end of the year. - Cellular services provider Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) increased its subscriber base by 34% last year and now has one million subscribers, Zeinal Bava, CEO of Portugal Telecom, said in Windhoek last week. - Ericsson announced it will establish an Innovation Center in sub-Saharan Africa to develop mobile applications that will benefit society as a whole, but with a special focus on meeting the needs of poor and rural populations. The initiative will focus on solutions in health, education, agriculture and small business development, and is another important step in Ericsson's ongoing commitment to support the achievement of the UN's Millennium Development Goals.
Cape Town to Expand Fibre-Optic NetworkCape Town's economic development directorate wants the council to allocate additional funds to accelerate the expansion of its fibre-optic network to Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain, saying if it did not do so it would affect the growth of business in these areas. Phase 1 of the project entails the laying of 202km of cable and connection to about 50 key municipal buildings, mostly in existing business districts of the city. Phase 2 has not yet been approved but the plans are for the network to be expanded to parts of the city not served by modern telecommunications infrastructure. The city plans to spend R400-million over the next five years on the first phase of the project. But the city's economic and social development department said in a report to the mayoral committee that the city had planned the first phase to concentrate on saving the council on telecommunications costs while its potential wide economic development impacts had not been fully taken into account. "As a result the network is concentrated around existing business districts and only passes through well-developed suburbs," said the report. The network infrastructure would not immediately pass through Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain nor extend towards Atlantis and Brackenfell, which were under-served by telecommunications infrastructure. This had a number of consequences, including that businesses in these areas do not have access to broadband telecommunications, limiting their efficiency and reducing the incentive for new investment into these areas. This also resulted in fewer jobs being created and people having to seek jobs in suburbs that are far away from where they live. "Economic development is thus prejudiced in these areas, limiting their economic growth potential," said the report. The city's economic development department believes that the impact of the city's broadband project can be greatly enhanced by extending the current project to include additional phases that will lay fibre optic through these less developed areas. However, the report, which would have been discussed by the mayoral committee on Wednesday, was referred back to the directorate as it did not contain the actual economic implications of expanding the network to Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain. (Source: Cape Argus) ISOC Calls for Policy Directions in GhanaThe General Secretary of the Internet Society (ISOC), Eric Akomea, has called on policy makers in the ICT sector, to institute a framework that would encourage the use of the Internet in the country. Akomea said internet usage in the country, still remained at 2.7% (600k), as compared to the continent's average of 5.3% (51m). He noted that initially, the global average usage was 21.9% in June 2008, but now the internet global usage stood at almost 1.5 billion. He said that as a country that first adopted internet usage in West Africa, Ghana's statistics show a rather gloomy picture, which needs policy directions to rectify. He pointed out that in order to achieve the objective of increasing internet usage in the coming decade, it was incumbent on the government, civil society, the private sector and individuals, to ensure that the country's human capacities are enhanced by the upsurge of internet usage. He indicated further, that the remarkable growth of the internet, and its application, follows directly from the open model of internet connectivity, and standards development. He stressed that policies must encourage open technical standards, and protocols that would develop through open transparent and accessible processes. Mr. Akomea said that it was important for government to recognise that the multi-stakeholder model of decision-making had proven to be the most effective when it comes to internet policy development. The idea behind One Web Day was to focus attention on a key internet values. The theme "Online Participation in Democracy," was also to focus attention on local internet concerns, such as connectivity, censorship, individual skills and creating a global constituency that cared about protecting and defending the Internet. (Source: Ghanaian Chronicle) Telkom South Africa’s mobile broadband plansDetails about Telkom’s entrance into the mobile space have started to emerge, indicating that the incumbent fixed line provider will offer both wireless telephony and mobile broadband services. According to an article published on FMTech Telkom ‘is building a 3G cellular network that will initially be available to consumers in Gauteng and Cape Town.’ FMTech said that while details about the pricing and packages are not available, it can reveal the following details about Telkom’s planned mobile service: * Fixed voice services: a landline voice service provided over 3G cellular technology (wideband CDMA) which will offer subscribers a fixed geographic number. The technology will be offered as an alternative in areas where cable theft is rife, as well as in underserviced areas. * Broadband: consumers will be able to buy 3G data packages of up to 10GB/month and get high-speed Internet access wherever there is 3G coverage. This “fixed-mobile” service will use the same 3G high-speed downlink and uplink packet access (HSxPA) technology that has been deployed by MTN and Vodacom. It is not yet clear what access speeds Telkom will offer — both MTN and Vodacom offer theoretical download speeds of between 1,8Mbit/s and 7,2Mbit/s in their 3G coverage areas. * Nomadic voice services: consumers will be offered a nongeographic number — much like the numbers offered by the mobile operators — and this service will be available using any handsets able to communicate with 3G/WCDMA networks. This means MTN and Vodacom subscribers will be able to use their 3G phones on Telkom’s wireless network. Telkom confirmed that it plans to launch its mobile services over the next few weeks, but did not provide any details about these services by the time of publication. The full article and more details about Telkom’s mobile plans are available on FMTech: http://www.fmtech.co.za/?p=10527 (Source: MyBroadband) In brief:- Despite the public launch of Election 2009 in South Africa, the Independent Electoral Commission’s website still locks out users of open source software and mobile phones. - Gateway Communications announced that it is leasing capacity on Africasat-1. Under the agreement, Gateway will lease multiple C-band transponders on AFRICASAT-1, commencing October 2008. The capacity will further develop Gateway’s market leading position in the provision of high quality, secure and reliable voice, data and Internet access to its 1,200 corporate customers across 40 countries on the African continent.
Laptop Ownership Programme Moves to Teachers and Students in UgandaThe Ministry of Information and Communications Technology's (ICTs) laptop ownership programme that initially targeted the civil service has moved onto school teachers and their students. The Civil and Corporate Employees Computer Ownership Programme (CICOCO) is intended as a head start in the country's e-government program. So far, the program has seen 4,000 government workers purchase the laptops. State Minister for ICT, Alintuma Nsambu, said the initial phase of the five-year project will see one million laptops imported into the country to meet the needs of both the civil and student/teacher programs. "Uganda is becoming one of the richest countries in the areas of ICT," Nsambu said while handing over laptops at Statistics House Kampala on September 19. "We have been sleeping in the areas of ICT and it's now time for us to wake up. Many of us have been taking ICT for granted, but we have attempted many options to ensure that a big percentage of Ugandans have access to ICT" he added. Tropix Technology, a US based company, has committed $150 million in capital to the project, which was launched early in the year, and the company remains committed to Uganda, said Tropix president Dauglus Tausik. "The World is getting increasingly integrated. You can't manage investment without computer knowledge and I want to say that doing business with Uganda makes business sense," he added. Tropix will also donate desktop Personal Computers (PCs) to select schools for setting up school computer laboratories. To ease the acquisition of the laptops, beneficiaries will lift the burden of paying large sums of money upfront and instead pay for the laptops through monthly deductions over a period of five years. Stanbic Bank Uganda has been joined by five other banks to aid in financing the machines, which are made by a consortium of companies and investors from the U.S., China and Australia. "Uganda is going the American model of acquiring electronics. If you have $10 you can still own a laptop, desktop and have a luxury life without necessarily waiting until you get the full amount," Nsambu said. "Paying slowly using banks is the only way countries can change their lives. As a ministry we want to assure people that you can own a computer like a boda boda," the Minister added. The teachers' laptops, like the civil servants, will sell for US$600. The student version of the laptop will go for $450. It has been custom-made specifically for students' needs with special software. In the open market, computers range from Shs1.5 million to Shs3 million. Already, some 3,000 students, mainly from the universities, have signed up to purchase the laptops, and hundreds of schools are expected to purchase them for their teachers. Each laptop includes a 120G-byte SATA hard disk, a 1G-byte memory chip of RAM, a 14-inch WXGA LCD (liquid crystal diode) screen and a 1.6GHz Pentium dual-core T2330 processor. It also come with a DVD writer, USB (Universal Serial Bus) port, integrated graphics, wireless Internet card, independent web camera, TV card and a home edition of Windows XP operating system. The ICT ministry is monitoring the project. With emerging information age, almost every job will have a significant information technology component. "The civil service scheme has been successful, but we have received overwhelming demand from the education sector, and we are talking about teachers and students on their own demanding for the laptops," Nsambu further said. (Source: The Monitor) Rwandan IT Firm Wins Award for developing mobile applet to purchase electricity tokenShort Messaging Service (SMS) Media, a Rwandan Information Technology (IT) Company, which has developed a solution that allows you to purchase prepaid electricity (cash power) using your mobile phone has won an award for excellence at the East African Power Industry Convention (EAPIC), the leading power event in East Africa. According to Jeff Gasana the General Manager of SMS Media, the award ceremony took place on September 17 at the Grand Regency Hotel in Nairobi, during the 10th anniversary of the East African Power Industry convention. According to a statement from the convention, Gasana said, "We are also working on web interface and Point of Sales (POS) distribution of Cash Power which will make it cheaper and more convenient to purchase electricity. We hope to have these available very soon." "We are also looking at the possibility of exporting the solution to neighboring countries as a source of foreign exchange for the country," he told The New Times. Electrogaz, Rwanda's Utility Company also won recognition as the first utility company to use Mobile phone technology to distribute electricity. The solution, known as the "SMS Utility Payment Solution", is already operational in Rwanda and the company is already looking at ways to improve the service. According to Gasana, this marks the third time SMS Media has received an award for its solutions: In 2007 it was awarded a trophy by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the Canadian e-Policy Resource Center (CePRC), at a ceremony in Addis (Ethiopia) in the presence of over 300 delegates from all over Africa, for the effective use of ICTs for public services delivery to citizens contributing to the development of the Information Society on the continent. In the same year, it also received another award for the 'Most Innovative ICT Company in Africa' in Johannesburg from the Ministry of Communications of the Republic of South Africa. The Director General of Rwanda Information Technology Authority (RITA), Nkubito Bakuramatsa, stated, "The ICT awards are an acknowledgement of the efforts in the Private sector to be innovative and participate in the realization of Vision 2020." "The Government," he added, "is looking at ways of supporting IT companies to access finance, expertise and markets." The success of SMS Media shows that the Government of Rwanda's IT drive aimed at turning the country into a regional ICT hub is beginning to take hold. (Source: The New Times) Electronic Crimes May Attract 14-Year Jail Term in NigeriaJail terms ranging from five to 14 years await any person found guilty of committing financial crimes through the use of mobile phones, internet and Automatic Teller Machines (ATM). This is one of the highpoints of a Bill to prohibit fraud in all electronic transactions in the country, sponsored by Senator Ayo Arise (Ekiti North). The Bill, which has gone through the first reading in the Senate, is entitled: "A Bill for an Act to Provide for the Prohibition of Electronic Fraud in all Electronic Transactions in Nigeria and for other Related Matters." The Bill prescribes a seven-year jail term for, and in the case of second conviction, a 14-year jail term for the offence of intercepting electronic messages, e-mails and electronic money transfers. According to the Bill, "Any person, who unlawfully destroys or aborts any electronic mails or processes through which money and or valuable information is being conveyed, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years and upon second conviction shall be liable to fourteen years imprisonment." It also outlaws the unlawful possession of or forging of credit card, debit card, smart card, ATM card or any other related electronic payment system devices whether or not such devices are fully or partially loaded with funds. Any person found liable would have to cool off in jail for a period of seven years. The Bill also states that: "Any person, who being employed by or under the authority of any Bank or other financial institutions (who) either directly or indirectly unlawfully diverts electronic mails, with the intent to commit or omit any act or order to benefit directly or indirectly, is liable to imprisonment for seven years or a fine of five million naira or both." The practice of sending viruses or computer worms or computer programme with the intention to damage or manipulate a computer record or obtain other records or date belonging to the Government, Educational, Research or any Financial Institution is a crime and would attract a 7-year jail term or a N5 million fine, according to the Bill. However, any person who deliberately spreads false information that could threaten the security of the country or that is capable of inciting the general public against the government through electronic messages would be liable on conviction to a 7-year imprisonment or N5 million fine or both. Those whose pastime is to send pornographic messages through the internet to other computers may also be heading for a tough time as the Bill has prescribed a jail term of 1 year or a fine of N250,000. The Bill specifically states: "Any person who, knowingly, sends pornographic images to another computer, by way of unsolicited distribution, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; and, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to 1 year imprisonment or a fine of 250,000.00 Naira or both." (Source: This Day) In brief:- The Mozambican and South Korean governments have open an Information Access Centre in Maputo, which will give citizens access to basic computer services. The centre contains a training laboratory, a conference hall, and a room equipped with 65 computers providing Internet access. The South Korean government provided 500,000 US dollars to equip this centre, and to rehabilitate the building used. - The Lagos state government has introduced a new electronic payment system (E-Pay). The new device will effectively bring government closer to the taxpayers. All the services can be done at the e-service point without going to Alausa. The card looks much like the bank's card and at each point, the system and application has a connection to the bank. - A new e-learning curriculum aimed at African IT businesses includes thorough coverage of open source software such as Ubuntu Linux, IT security and e-business applications. The online training course, called Open source & more IT for African Business, was created by Information Technology in African Business and backed by the funds from the German federal ministry for economic co-operation and development.
Nitel/Mtel will get New Investor By Feb 2009Speaking through the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), government said that it had fixed February 6, 2009 as the handover date of NITEL/Mtel to a new private owner, having scaled down the time-frame from an initial seven-month period earlier approved for the financial advisors. According to a workplan on NITEL/Mtel approved by the NCP for the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), management presentations and finalisation of transaction documents of bidders will be concluded by December 22 this year, while preparation and submission of technical and financial bids with payment of 50 per cent of bid amount will be done by January 15 next year. Evaluation of technical proposals is slated to end by January 20 and these are to be approved by the technical committee of the NCP on 21st of January. The opening of financial bids is scheduled for January 27, 2009, while the approval of the financial offers by NCP is to be done by February 2nd. With this, the owners of NITEL/Mtel will emerge. The process will end between the 3rd and 6th of February 2009 when negotiation and signing of the Share Sales Purchase Agreement (SSPA) would be done between the new buyers and the federal government after payment of the full financial bid. It was also reported this week that Russia's Altimo has expressed interest in taking a stake in Nigerian operator, M-Tel/NITEL. Altimo's Chief Executive Officer, Mr Alexey Kousmichoff is currently on a visit to Nigeria's Vice-President. (Source: This Day) Zain Raises $4.49 Billion in Kuwait's Largest Ever Capital Raising HistoryZain Group, the leading mobile telecom operator in the Middle East and Africa, (MEA) has announced the successful completion of its capital increase raising $4.49 billion (approximately N529.82 billion) with 99 per cent of all shareholders subscribing. The number of subscribed shares exceeded 1.4 billion, bringing the total number of Zain shares to 4.28 billion with total shareholders' equity reaching $6.42 billion. The Zain Group, a leading emerging markets player in the field of telecommunications aims to become one of the top ten mobile operators in the world by 2011. The amount raised is unprecedented in Kuwaiti's history exceeding all expectations, given the gloomy trends that have recently dominated local and international markets and resulted in sharp declines in the prices of oil as well as significant collapses in the financial markets worldwide. "The successful completion of the largest capital increase in the history of Kuwait is an unanimous vote of confidence by our shareholders in Zain's management team, the performance to date and in our profitable expansion strategy aiming to be a top ten global mobile operator by 2011," said Zain's Chief Executive Officer Dr Saad Al Barrak, adding that "the proceeds of this capital increase will be used to finance future strategic expansion plans and meet financial commitments." Zain has managed to achieve unprecedented leaps in the global mobile telecommunications sector over the past 5 years to be now present in 22 countries on two continents serving over 50 million active customers. Every Zain shareholder of record on 10 March 2008, the date the company held its ordinary and extraordinary General Assembly Meeting was eligible to subscribe to a number of capital increase shares equal to 75 per cent of the total number of shares they held on this date. The capital increase subscription price was 850 fils (approximately $3.20) per share i.e. a par value of 100 fils per share plus a premium of 750 fils. The subscription period commenced August 17 and closed on September 18, 2008. "All the Group's financial indicators are now geared up to witness exponential growth on the back of Zain's huge investments in expansion projects in many of the Middle East and African markets in which we operate. We expect these investments to bring about substantial increases in the Group's future revenues and net profits," commented Dr Al Barrak. The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) through its local and international branches acted as the receiving bank for the capital increase. Commending the role the bank played in this successful capital raising, Dr Al Barrak said: "NBK has always been our partner ever since we took our first expansionary step in Jordan way back in 2003. It has successfully managed several of Zain's acquisition transactions to date and exceptionally managed this and Zain's previous capital increase back in November 2005." Zain was established in 1983 in Kuwait as the Middle East's first mobile operator. Since 2003, it has grown significantly becoming the 4th largest mobile network in the world in terms of geographic presence with a footprint in 22 countries spread across the Middle East and Africa providing mobile, voice and data services to over 50.74 million active customers (as at 30 June 2008). (Source: Vanguard) South African technology firm expands business to in the UKTechnology supplier EOH is making progress with a new venture in the UK and with new divisions to serve specific industries, although CEO Asher Bohbot says its expansion will be steady rather than swift. The UK operation was launched a couple of months ago and should be profitable by the end of the year, Bohbot said when EOH issued its results for the year to July yesterday. The division is initially focusing on software implementation, and will gradually offer all the business services that EOH supplies, including customer relationship management, business intelligence and e-commerce software, consultancy skills and technology outsourcing. The UK branch was formed by recruiting local people EOH had worked with in the past, and they had created a base that would tackle the European markets too, Bohbot said. One cost benefit is that much of the software can be tested, monitored and supported from SA. "We are not banking on it to make huge bundles of money. What we are planning to do can be done everywhere in Europe, but we are not going to run at the speed of light." The results showed revenue of R951m for the year , up 35% from R703m. Headline earnings per share of 96c were up 23% from 78,8c, allowing a dividend of 25c. Analyst Warwick Lucas of Imara SP Reid jokingly described the figures as "another boringly familiar display of excellence" and rated EOH a long-term buy. To improve the group's ability to run its clients' technology infrastructure by outsourcing, EOH has been providing more hosted technology services. It has also invested in new divisions to focus on selling its services to the mining, financial services, telecommunications, manufacturing and public sectors. Bohbot said those new divisions were already profitable. Its public sector division needed strengthening, however, as EOH won only a small percentage of the available contracts. A big push would be made this year to win more public sector business. "Our market share is tiny, so we see it as an opportunity," he said. The company had the skills to supply technologies that met the government's requirements, but it lacked the sales and marketing teams to do that effectively. Another area of expansion was call centres, where it recently bought a company with 300 call centre agents. Again, that division could use local skills and cost structures to work for foreign clients, Bohbot said. The call centre niche also offered a large opportunity to create more employment, which would be good for the sector and good for EOH, he said. Within a few weeks EOH would launch a technology training initiative. It already runs training courses for its own staff, but wanted to expand that into a profitable sideline to train technicians for other companies and for the industry in general. "We can't just keep poaching from each other," Bohbot said. (Source: Business Day) The Senate Approves N27.8 Billion Budget of the Nigerian Communications CommissionThe Senate yesterday approved the 2008 budget of N27.845 billion, for the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Both revenue and expenditure projections stood at N27.845 billion. Senate Committee on Communication, in the report presented to the Senate for consideration, said the NCC had proposed to spend exactly the total revenue of N37.845 generated. Chairman of the Committee, Senator Sylvester Anyanwu, explained that "a re-calculation of the revenue line items showed that there was typographical error, with respect to the projected revenue for Licensing Fees. "Whereas, NCC projected N1, 345,981,000.00, the submission from the Presidency indicates N11, 345,981,000.00, thereby inadvertently creating a surplus of N10, 000,000,000.00." The budget, as approved, comprised N3.71 billion recurrent expenditure, N9.58 billion capital expenditure and N3.4 billion for special projects. The commission would make a total N1.1billion contribution to the National Treasury, which the Committee said was above and beyond the N4.280 billion statutory transfer on the auction of spectrum frequencies. The Commission was expected to transfer N6.1 billion to Universal Service Fund; and N1.5 billion to Investment Fund. Under the Capital Expenditure, the sum of N720.15 million would be spent on Internal Capital Projects while N4.6 million would go into the funding of the Digital Bridge Institute. While N2.500 billion would be spent on the construction of DBI Hostel in Abuja, N2.108 billion would be expended on the DBI institutes in Lagos and Kano. N1.6 billion would be spent for the establishment of some Emergency Communication Centres while N2.6 billion was earmarked for School Support Programme by the NCC. (Source: This Day) In brief:- Posta Uganda, one of the country's last remaining parastatals, is set to partner with a local telecom firm in a new mobile money transfer service along the lines of Kenya's M-Pesa. Posta Uganda will also set up tele-centres in at least 20 of its outlets courtesy of a $300,000 grant from the World Bank through the Uganda Communications Commission. - Celtel Tanzania is demanding Sh141 million from its former employee who allegedly swindled the money from the company through fraudulent airtime dealings. The employee, Ramadhani Bukini, was working as a customer care representative with Celtel Tanzania since April 2006. His duties involved crediting and debiting airtime. In a pending suit in the High Court, he is said to have illegally credited airtime worth Sh213 million before the company discovered and blocked the alleged fraudulent transactions. - Telkom South Africa’s speculative talks to sell its fixed-line assets to black-empowered investment house Mvelaphanda have been scrapped, with the two parties agreeing to postpone discussions until the financial markets are no longer in turmoil.
Sophisticated Mobile Solutions for Kenyan TelecomsTimothy Mbugua is the CEO of Symbiotic Media Consortium. He started the company to provide a “one-stop shop” for promotions and campaigns, using a full suite of media products to engage clients. This includes print campaigns, web presence and mobile applications. In addition to corporations, we’re also making products for the local mwananchi [citizen]. If there are five corporations we’re working for, we will have to wait three months down the line to get payment. But for mwananchi solutions, they pay before consuming the service, hence cash flow is improved for us and we have more to work with. One of the products is Zunguka, which is pretty much a tool for collaborating. We’ve plugged in a viral aspect to it – if you refer friends you can earn redeemable points for the cinema and things like that. Zunguka is a suite of six products: one is called TumaSMS, or “Send SMS” [short message service] in Kiswahili. There are two categories for that product: TumaSMS Mwananchi and TumaSMS Biashara. TumaSMS Mwananchi is a service to send short messages through the Internet using your own number. On TumaSMS Biashara we enable businesses to send SMSs to their client bases. At the same time, on TumaSMS Mwananchi, you can opt to send free SMS messages by joining our advertising program. If I send you a message, for example, that says “how’s life,” Coca-Cola has bought 100,000 tags through us so that every time someone sends a message including the word “life” we attach an advertisement saying “Live on the Coke side of life.” So you can choose to send your messages either cheaply or for free through value-added text. It’s becoming pretty popular with corporations here. A classic example of something we’ve done is a product called Esplanade for stock brokerage houses. As a client, you can access your stock portfolio account through the web, SMS and email. For example, I can send a quick message saying, “Sell my Safaricom shares at 50 bob [shillings].” But how do I know when to buy or sell? Well, I can set up my account to alert me anytime Safaricom, for example, gets to eight shillings. So I don’t have to keep track of it by constantly calling my broker. It’s very exciting, because what’s on the market currently is access to share prices for the cost of a premium rate SMS. If you have a portfolio of 10 stocks, [it] would cost you 100 bob [about U.S. $1.60] to check them all. But if you use Zunguka, viewing those 10 stocks would cost you about 12 shillings instead. Esplanade is pushed from the broker end. So brokers end up doing a lot of the customer education. If there’s any activity on your account, you will be alerted. This helps combat fraud on the brokerage end and increases investor confidence. There’s another product called SMSoko where we’re simply connecting buyers and sellers via SMS and web. Not all SMEs [small and medium enterprises] can afford advertising in the newspapers. So they can join Zunguka and create their SMSoko, meaning SMS Market. It can be updated via web or SMS. You list your product, a description and a price. If I [as a consumer] am looking for, say, black Timberland boots, I simply send an SMS and I get an SMS in return saying, for example, “We’ve found 100 traders, but because you entered via SMS we will send you the first two.” Some people have asked us, well, for those 100 traders, how do you make sure everyone gets noticed? Well, those two sellers are a random pick from the group, and all 100 traders will get a message that you are looking for black Timberland boots. We also have a product called Kelele Mobile, which provides mobile entertainment: ringtones, wallpapers, MP3s videos – all that. It’s already a market that’s really growing, but we’re targeting East Africa by providing local content, which is very popular. Once you join Zunguka, you can share your Kelele content with friends on the network, building a full-on community. We’re working hard at taking Zunguka international and throughout Africa. A lot of people in the Diaspora want to use our low-rate text service to contact friends and family. We’ve designed a few other mobile services outside of Zunguka. We designed an SMS service for retrieving national examination results for secondary students. We also designed a program which sends alerts to HIV patients in western Kenya reminding them to take their antiretroviral medications. The doctor just needs to enter the patient information in a computer, and the system sends automated reminders to that patient. The patients know where that information is coming from, and they appreciate the privacy that comes with it. Another project we’re looking to do in September is creating an electronic register for political parties to prevent… electoral fraud. Beyond that, we’re trying to work with the networks to improve what we can offer to clients. We’re really excited about location-based services. Imagine you’re walking on the street in town and you pass one of your favorite coffee joints. You then get a text on your phone telling you that you can bring in the electronic coupon for 30 percent off your cup of coffee. The possibilities are great. Another service is called Saa Zingine, or Sometimes. It’s a dating service. We’re looking at using Zain’s One Network to do location-based services based on text. So I can just ask where the person I want to date is, and if they reveal their location to me we can meet up or chat on SMS or whatever we choose. It’s a very playful part of the portal. You can put up a profile and search others. Once you add location-based services, it takes it a notch higher. So we’ll do the Kenya launch, then the Tanzania and Uganda launches. We’ve been advised that Nigeria might be an interesting market to grow in just because of sheer numbers. In Africa, there’s still a whole market to cover in terms of voice and SMS. But for me, 150,000 people with high-end phones provide sufficient reason to develop sophisticated applications. But I need to know that the network will allow me to take some of the 50 shillings that [a user] has made for the network by using my services. So more agreements need to come in, or we’ll be forced to continue basing everything on text, where the networks [take] more than 50 percent. The marketing is yours, the application development is yours, but the networks profit. (Source: allAfrica.com) More Locals to Access the Internet in NamibiaInformation and Communication Technology Minister, Joel Kaapanda, has asked for a speedy distribution of Internet to the people, saying this is important for the development of business and communities in the country. Kaapanda inaugurated M-Web Namibia's earth satellite station for Internet in Windhoek yesterday. "Internet cannot be restricted to a wealthy few, or formal offices. The goals of Vision 2030 stress that the benefits must have the widest possible reach. Since Internet is evolutionary by nature, I urge you to find ways to spread the Internet as far as possible," said Kaapanda. M-Web installed N$1,5 million worth Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) in Windhoek to provide for a cost-effective and powerful Internet access service from any location in Namibia. General Manager of M-Web Namibia, Marc Gregan, said unlike typical Internet network connections, a VSAT earth station is not limited by the reach of buried cables. "VSAT solutions are based on satellite communication channels and Teleport Services, operating on a satellite and first tier Internet access, to provide the most effective and integrated Internet access solutions," said Gregan. Usually, organisations and individuals who are out of reach of traditional telecommunications footprints make use of the VSAT technology. However, a large number of businesses have successfully adopted the M-Web VSAT technology. "M-Web Namibia, in this instance has capitalised on this business approach by investing proactively," said Gregan, adding that VSAT technology is the future of organisational Internet, designed to suit Namibia and the needs of all Namibian organisations. "My congratulations to M-Web Namibia, and its parent companies Kalahari Holdings and M-Web Africa, on fulfilling the demands of this challenge. The national information and communication technology policy formulation is at an advanced stage and I invite you to join the ministry to effectively implement this policy once it is passed by Parliament. The policy will materially influence the manner in which information technology is deployed in Namibia," said Kaapanda. (Source: New Era)
People* The South Africa’s Presidency has confirmed that 11 ministerial resignations have been accepted. Among them are public enterprises minister Alec Erwin and public service and administration (DPSA) minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, both of whom have had significant influence over the ICT sector. Mosibudi Mangena, minister of science and technology, has also vacated his post * The Ubuntu-ZA LoCoTeam has a new co-leader in Jonathan Carter who takes up the reins of the local team together with Morgan Collet. Carter, a long-time contributor to Ubuntu Linux, replaces Craig Adams who has stepped down because of time pressures. Events* 6th ANNUAL CTO FORUM 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 * MOBILEFEST FOR THE WEST AFRICAS 16-18 October 2008, Lagos Airport Hotel, Lagos, Nigeria Mobilefest Africa is the first Expo in Western Africa to offer manufacturers and resellers of mobile hardware to showcase their products and services to consumers. It is also an opportunity for other companies in the mobile ecosystem to increase their brand awareness. The Expo aims to position itself as the No 1 annual Marketplace for Mobile phone devices, trends and innovations in the booming and energized West African Market. For further information visit http://www.mobilefestafrica.com/ * 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* Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX) host for 2009 to 2012 needed The Internet Service Providers' Association of SA (ISPA) has called for proposals from companies interested in hosting the Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX) for the 2009 to 2012 period. JINX enables ISPA members to interconnect networks and exchange local traffic in order to save costs and improve speeds and quality of service. In 1996, JINX's four links boasted speeds varying from 64 kilobits per second to 256 kilobits per second. Twelve years later, speeds of more than 20 links vary from 2 megabits to 1 gigabit per second, with an upgrade to 10 gigabits per second coming soon.For further information on the call visit http://www.ispa.org.za/jinx/proposals.shtml Contracts* Netspread an Airspan - Botswana Airspan Networks has announced that Netspread, one of Botswana's internet service providers, has chosen it as its WiMAX equipment provider and has begun deployments of MicroMAX base stations and ProST customer premises equipment. Netspread has operations in eight cities throughout Botswana, and has an exclusive license in the 5.4 GHz band. * Comiun and Apliman – Liberia Comium Liberia plans to deploy a ‘voice via short message service’ on its network in partnership with Lebanese firm Apliman Technologies. The unit’s Lebanese-based parent Comium is looking to launch a similar service in Sierra Leone, reports IDG News Service. The voice via SMS service is a facility which enables subscribers to exchange short audio messages.
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