| ||||||||||
 |
|
STUDY ABROAD OPTIONS
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 437 16th January 2009 Ethiopia’s ETC: The elephant in the room slows down ICT developmentThe Ethiopian Government was one of the first to embrace the use of ICT as a way to change Government and improve the efficiency of the economy. The country has a burgeoning ICT sector but it is being held back by the impact of Government policy. However laudable the Government’s intentions, there is an overwhelming mismatch between its rhetoric and the results. Our correspondent takes a look at the elephant in the room that isn’t being dealt with. There is an apocryphal anecdote about an Ethiopian policy-maker who was asked when his country was going to liberalise. He replied:”We’re waiting to see what happens first before we decide whether to go ahead.” Ethiopia is very different from the rest of Africa. Like the Soviet Union, Ethiopia went from feudal monarchy to Marxist revolution without going through capitalism. This history casts a long shadow even today, particularly in terms of how the Government sees issues. The Government’s bureaucratic processes are painfully slow. Nevertheless, the country runs one of the most successful airlines on the continent and has a cadre of extremely bright and well-educated people. So it is not altogether surprising that the green shoots of the free market are beginning to show through in the ICT sector. There are a clutch of small-scale entrepreneurs doing software and networks and a couple of outsourcing companies that you would not believe could have started here. These companies are run by a number of home-grown entrepreneurs and some diaspora Ethiopians. One of Apposit’s partners – Adam Abate – is one of those diaspora Ethiopians who has returned. His company has developed online financial software and his client list includes Addis Ababa University’s Data Centre, the Ministry of Finance, Ethiopian Airlines and several banks. As he sees it: ”There are lots of business opportunities here. The IT sector is under-served and serviced very poorly. There is not enough scale to get the breadth of experience required. (Nevertheless) the Government is very supportive of ICT and wants to move 100% towards it.” He notes that IT salaries have increased in the last two years. Geomark is an Ethiopian-run company that takes information off satellite maps and turns them into usable information for digital maps and GIS applications for a European company: we will return to look at it in more detail in a later issue. It started with a small project which it did to demonstrate it could be done and is now a significant supplier. With all the disadvantages Ethiopia has, it still reckons that it is 2-4 times cheaper than equivalent suppliers in China and India. There is also another company called Eventive doing outsourcing work. Solomon Tesfaye’s e-Systems Africa provides portals, web-based applications and training and next month will become an emc2 partner. Its clients are mainly Government, the Ethiopian ICT Agency and NGOs (Care Ethiopa). The Ethiopian ICT Agency was set up to encourage the process of ICT implementation and is focused on getting Government ministries to do it. It has been instructed by Government to prioritise the Education, Health and Agriculture Ministries. It is also rolling out telecentres to rural areas and is building an ICT park in the capital. Located at one end of the international airport’s runway, it has been allocated B20 million this year for the project and has started putting in the roads, sewers and service buildings. It has been struggling to get the project done but reckons it will be complete in about a year and half. Companies locating there will be promised dedicated bandwidth. All of the above can be counted as success….However, you know there’s a but coming in the sentence. All of this seeming success is being held back by the poor services and high prices of the monopoly telecoms provider ETC. As one person told us about the quality:”It’s horrible…The prices charged are extortionate. The internal routing within ETC is horrible which is the reason why the Internet is so slow.” Another told us:”The connection speed is not good. Web designs need to be light weight to work.” Because of speed problems, Geomark is unable to get small-scale, fast turnaround work because all their existing larger-scale work is sent to them by DHL. Clearly the ICT Park with its promised dedicated connection is an attempt to deal with the barriers that ETC has created. The Government’s much trumpeted Woredanet – a Government network run by the Ethiopian ICT Agency using fibre and satellite which connect 600 Woredas (provinces) – suffers a number of problems when used for anything but video-conferencing. Someone close to it told us:”It’s got bandwidth problems when running.” As a result, the Government is expanding capacity and increasing the number of nodes by 100. It may also start supplying IP telephony. Private sector companies only wish they had some of this kind of national networking. Private banks have expanded a great deal and started putting in ATMs in the capital and branches outside of the capital Addis Ababa. The bandwidth they have is expensively priced and service is awful. When a connection to a branch outside the capital goes down it can take a long time to fix and meanwhile transactions have all to be laboriously verified by phone. As one banking person told us:”As a result of the bandwidth problems, there’s no hosted applications.” At an international level, although ETC has a fibre connection via Sudan that was opened in 2007, the country seems to have extremely slow Internet connections. As an admission that this is an issue, 20 exceptional licences for VSAT connections have been issued, one of which was secured by Ethiopian Airlines which argued that it was essential for the success of its business. ETC has 1,700 corporate customers. The poor old Ethiopian consumer is also not doing much better. ETC’s DSL customers (1341) and CDMA 2000 data users suffer daily outages and customers often keep a dial-up line as a back-up. Some even say that the dial-up service is better than any of the newer services. A 128K DSL line costs an eye-watering US$360 per month. ETC charges B11 a minute to Washington DC whereas similar calls in grey market outlets cost B2-4 a minute. Periodically the Government raids premises, seizes equipment and closes places down but the grey market does not go away. A study commissioned by ETC in 2002 recommended that international rates come down to B5.5 a minute. Mobile customers (1,984,000 in June 2008) are faring little better. Because of investment constraints and poor equipment and billing decisions, capacity has not kept pace with basic voice demand. According to one insider:”When it started, ETC did not do any serious frequency planning. It put up base stations on a one-by-one basis. There are still coverage black holes in Addis Ababa.” Nevertheless ETC is now the proud owner of a 3G network in the capital but announcing cutting edge technologies whilst not actually dealing effectively with current demand is a repeating pattern. So how did this all happen? ETC was one of first adopters of fibre networks and its implementation became a Cisco case study. It has a fibre network of 4,000 kms and plans to build a total fibre network of 6-10,000 kms in two years time. The fibre radiates out in four directions from the capital. It has a fibre ring in Addis Ababa and in some provincial cities and has started the transition to soft switches. It was ahead of the pack in East Africa when it opened an international fibre link via Sudatel in neighbouring Sudan in March 2007. However it offers some of worst quality and highest priced bandwidth in Africa and believe me there are many awful places it had to be worse than to get into that league. Also the cost of mobile calling is at the high end of the range. Whilst sources in ETC claim that the link via Sudan has considerable capacity, those who should know say that it is a maximum of 2 mbps and the only alternative is a 33 mbps microwave link via Djibouti. But another well-informed person told us:”Most of the voice and data goes out via satellite. Either capacity on the Sudan link is low or its unreliable.” The link to Djibouti was supposed to have been in place 12 months ago. However, ETC proposed to that other great regional monopoly Djibouti Telecom that it would co-locate at the landing station. French advisors to Djibouti Telecom thought this was a bad idea and it became a Government-to-Government political issue that has not yet been resolved. SEACOM suggested a link via Somaliland but that has proved politically difficult to achieve. However, both ETC and Telkom Kenya are near the border which would allow access to TEAMS and SEACOM but again there does not seem to have been sufficient focus on solving this problem. But there is more fundamental problem needing to be addressed. ETC is a state-run telco that whilst the Government says that it is profitable, it does not render accounts that include details like capital depreciation. So leaving aside management and staffing issues, ETC has been starved of capital, forcing it to rely on an often incompatible mix of vendor-financed equipment. If the sector was liberalised (as it has been in neighbouring Kenya and Sudan), it would have attracted something like US$1-2 billion in investment with all the nice things that occur when you spend this kind of money in a country. In the meantime it has the worst of both worlds in terms of tariffs. For as one insider who knows ETC processes well told us:”It doesn’t put a lower price on broadband because it would drive up demand too fast.” In other words, it is rationing shortages by price whilst all the while Government is talking about a policy of implementing ICT at all levels. On the other side, employees of ETC still get free services from their employer. But as one private sector person wryly observed:”They should (pay and) share the pain of their customers.” Even Woredanet does not pay for its bandwidth: it simply tells ETC of its requirements. The Government’s answer to this (for it is more or less indistinguishable from ETC at the level of strategic decisions) has been to take US$1.5 billion loan from Chinese vendor ZTE to use for network expansion over four years. There are two possibilities that will result from this decision. Either ETC will have to behave in a far more commercial fashion if it is to meet this level of repayments or it will default and the loan will be rolled over. So last but not least this brings us to the thorny topic of whether ETC will be privatised. World Bank pressure and funding in the broadcasting area seems to have persuaded the Government to allow some modest opening of FM stations and local community radio stations. But with ETC you get the sense that they don’t want to let go if only they could find a way of avoiding the inevitable. ETC is now working with private companies selling airtime but it put the idea of independent ISPs on the table (licences were even issued) but withdrew the idea. Periodically someone tells us that they will be opening a mobile operation in Ethiopia but nothing ever happens. Whilst in other countries of a similar size there are many different sized companies spreading skills and ideas, in Ethiopia there is only one company managed by the Government. Apparently the Government’s formal position is that it will be privatised after the rural areas are fully connected. Whilst this may sound like a “this year, next year, sometime, never” answer, sources say that rural connectivity could be completed within a year. Others talk of a timetable of 1-2 years but the problem in Ethiopia is that you have to remain optimistic. This is not a decision that is publicly debated but one that will be taken by one man: the Prime Minister. The next election is just under two years away and therefore the decision probably won’t be made until after that date. For as one private sector person told us:”People in Government know the telecoms monopoly is blocking the development of the ICT sector and whole economy. The market may persuade them to change.” Note: At the time of writing, 1 Ethiopian Birr = US9.8 cents. Kenya’s Steadman Group to research who will be watching the 2010 World CupMobile operators who are amongst the largest advertising spenders in Africa have joined others in Project Eyeball, a massive research project to be carried out by The Steadman Group of Kenya to see how many of Africa’s 840 million people will actually watch the 2010 World Cup. Project Eyeball came out of discussions Steadman Group had with clients who were big media spenders who wanted to be able to get a grip on what level of interest there would be in the 2010 World Cup. As George Waititu, Managing Director of The Steadman Group told us:”One of their concerns was the lack of good data to guide media investors. In Europe, it’s always pretty clear what numbers advertisers will be buying. But in Africa, we know not all 840 million people will watch and listen so we need to work out who will.” Project Eyeball will use face-to-face interviews across 40 countries. Most will have a sampling size of 2,000 people per country but larger countries like Nigeria will have a 4,000 sample. After the initial interviews, researchers will follow up to validate the results. At present it costs US$5,000 per country to become a syndicate member and get the results but it’s hoping to halve that cost if it gets more syndicate members. Currently, the syndicate includes telcoms companies, larger broadcasters, financial institutions and beverage companies. For any ICT company contemplating media spend in 2010 that is World Cup related, this will be a vital tool for media planning purposes. To get more details, contact George Waititu on: george@steadman-group.com
Orascom Telecom buys Namibia's Cell One in US$59 million cash dealEgyptian telecom giant Orascom Telecom’s new subsidiary Telecel Globe has bought Namibian mobile operator Cell One in a $59 million cash deal last Wednesday. Telecel Globe has bought Cell One as part of its strategy of targeting licences and mobile operators in small and medium-sized developing countries with high growth potential. "Cell One is well positioned in the Namibian market to become the key provider of competitive mobile voice and data services. Telecel Globe expects the investment in Cell One to have a positive effect on the brand, the customers and Namibia as a whole," Telecel Globe Chief Executive Kai Uebach said. Telecel Globe has already paid $32 million for Cell One, with the balance due in January 2010. Orascom said Cell One operated a GSM network with 198,000 active subscribers and had a market share of over 20 percent. It added that Namibia had mobile penetration of close to 50 percent at the end of 2008. (Source: Reuters) World Bank's IFC to participate in Burkina Faso’s telecom IPOWorld Bank private sector lender IFC will support an ongoing initial public offering by Burkina Faso's telecom operator Onatel by purchasing up to a 5 percent stake, the IFC said. The International Finance Corporation said in a statement it would buy any shares not subscribed to, up to a 5 percent stake, in the Onatel IPO launched on December 22 and open to January 31. It was the first such offering made by a company in the developing West African state. Onatel's privatisation began in 2006, when Burkina Faso's government sold a 51 percent stake to Morocco's Itissalat Al-Maghrib S.A. (Maroc Telecom). The government is selling a further 20 percent of Onatel's capital in the public offering. IFC said its participation in the IPO was designed to not displace any private investors. It added that if all shares were sold, the government planned to sell IFC an additional 3 percent stake in Onatel at the offering price. The IFC has already announced it is providing a 7.5 million euro loan to support the upgrade of Onatel's fixed and mobile networks. (Source: Reuters) Rwandatel attracts many customers with new GSM networkOn the first day there was a stampede. On the second day the stampede intensified. Rwandatel had launched its new cell-phone service network and everyone wanted in. The reaction when Rwandatel launched its GSM service was electric. Within 2 days flat Rwandatel had sold out its initial stock of SIM cards and had 50,000 subscribers. They were giving MTN Rwandacell a real run for its money. This reporter passed by the UTC building on the first day of Rwandatel's launch. The Rwandatel shop was jam-packed with customers and others were spilling out all the way to the sidewalk. The MTN shop had only a handful of customers. This was the case at all other retail outlets. It must have panicked MTN management in Nyarutarama. MTN will have to do something pretty fast to counter this onslaught now that it no longer enjoys monopoly of the market. "This is very good news to us," said David Munyaneza, a new Rwandatel subscriber. "Now we have the first really low rates since we were introduced to the mobile technology." The new subscribers of Rwandatel were excited over the new state of the art handsets, cheap airtime rates (a unit equivalent to a full minute costs Frw 80), a SIM card which automatically gives the new subscriber access to Frw 1000 worth of air time as well as acting as an entry ticket to the launching music festivities at the Amahoro stadium. Having managed to bag 50,000 subscribers within the first two days Rwandatel now targets 600,000 subscribers by September 2009. (Source: Focus Media) MTN and Neotel partner to boost network capacity in South AfricaMobile giant MTN and SA's second national operator Neotel this morning signed a partnership agreement to co-operatively build a national long-distance fibre-optic network that could cost between R1.7 billion and R2 billion. The telecoms companies have agreed to share the costs of trenching and project-managing the 5 000km network; however, they will each provide their own fibre and transmission equipment. Almost all of the country's major telecoms companies have, individually, been frantically laying fibre cable in the metropolitan areas. This national network co-operation will be the first time the network operators work together to lay fibre. “We think it was a mistake for both operators [rivals MTN and Vodacom] to put up mobile network masts separately; we should have done it together. This deal will reduce the inconvenience to traffic, many of whom are our customers and it will be more cost-effective for us,” explained MTN MD Tim Lowry, speaking at the official signing in Sandton last week. Neotel's business support services will project-manage the project and Transtel will provide support. At last week's signing, the telcos revealed they expect the entire 5 000km network to be completed over the next two years, which Lowry admits is an ambitious target. “However, several phases will be built together and we will have two or three vendors working on the project. I also like to give my engineers ambitious targets so they can say they earned their bonuses,” he added. The first phase of the project, which MTN and Neotel plan to begin in March, will be the national route from Johannesburg to Durban (including Pietermaritzburg), a total of 592km. This portion of the network will then be linked to Richards Bay, the landing point of many of the undersea cables. This segment is expected to take around seven months and will cost around R200 million. This will give MTN access to Neotel's landing point for Seacom, expected to land in SA by June, and later to Eassy – expected by 2010. While the companies have not stipulated the timelines for the rest of the phases, it hopes to begin a Johannesburg-Cape Town leg after that, which would reach 1,676km. MTN also gets to fulfil its long-term strategy of self-provision, which Lowry explains is the primary reason for the network. “We are paying almost R1 billion per year to Telkom for our transmission. We will reduce that bill by R200 million by 2010 and up to R300 million by 2012.” He added that had the company been able to self-provide, the transmission expenses paid to Telkom would have become prohibitively high. The project will give Neotel a redundancy network that will act alongside its Infraco national network. Neotel CEO and MD Ajay Pandey noted: “We will still continue to have the relationship we do with Infraco; however, we will review it as we go along.” He said the country will need a large amount of local capacity that would warrant holding onto Infraco, as well as laying its own fibre alongside MTN. Engineers from both companies explained that the national network will hold unlimited capacity, curbed only by the end point equipment that each company will provide for themselves. However, they do expect the local capacity to reach into the Terabyte range to begin with. Lowry explained that the network's capacity can increase by 30% to 40% without feeling any impact. MTN will use company cash on hand to fund its side of the venture, while Neotel recently received R7.5 billion in financing from several investment banks to complete projects, part of which will be used for this network. The companies said the funding is expected to peak towards the middle of next year. Vodacom was earlier this year rumoured to have been part of the discussions to build this network; however, it was not part of this morning's proceedings. (Source: ITWeb) In brief:- The Ministry of Information and Communications and its new Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili try has taken a populist stance on the issue of tariff reduction, saying the Nigerian subscribers are heavily cheated by the telecom operators in an environment that has given them (the operators) quantum mileage in business. She insisted that no matter how the operators may react, her ministry was ready to fight and ensure the reduction of telephone tariffs in the country. - According to Mozambique’s daily newspaper, Noticias, the incumbent telco, TDM. has lost 1.7 million meticais through the theft of copper cables and damage to the fibre optic system. - Africell Lintel Sierra Leone limited has been awarded by the All Works of Life (AWOL) as the best telecommunications company in the country for 2008. - InfoDev has released Universal Access and Service Module completing the ICT Regulation Toolkit The ICT Regulation Toolkit is a joint knowledge product of infoDev and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The Toolkit is intended to assist regulators with the design of effective and enabling regulatory frameworks to harness the latest technological and market advances. To learn more about the toolkit or to access the modules, visit www.ictregulationtoolkit.org - Sudanese telecoms operator Sudatel has launched Senegal’s third mobile network under the banner Expresso. The newcomer is using CDMA technology and plans to connect three million subscribers to its mobile network and 150,000 subscribers to its fixed wireless system. Its licence will also allow it to provide fixed line and Internet services. Police in Tanzania have handed out 350 free mobile phones to the albino population to help them call for help if attacked. There has been a spate of killings of albinos over the past year following a fashion for using the body-parts in local witchcraft. There has also been long running discrimination as some people consider albinos to be cursed. - The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has published a notice on the completion of the licence conversion process. A complete list of all converted licences will also be available on the ICASA website and from the ICASA library. - The National Communications Authority (NCA) of Ghana has allocated the network code ‘054’ to domestic mobile operator MTN Ghana, effective 15 January 2009. MTN Ghana’s chief executive officer Brett Goschen added that the operator would soon launch a 3.5G network to provide high data speed and internet access in addition to other advanced mobile products and services.
Dangote and Phase Three to Build Fibre Optic Backbone in NigeriaAlheri Engineering, owned by business magnate Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Phase 3 Telecom and PHCN have concluded plans on a fibre optic network that will cover the Eastern region of the Country. Both companies tied up the agreement in Benin, the Edo State capital. Specifically, Alheri and Phase 3 are jointly create a "One Network" of over 14,000km of aerially deployed Fibre Optics Cables in Nigeria using PHCN Power lines. Work on the first 472km from Benin to Port Harcourt has commenced and the project will be completed and available for commercial use in 90 days, President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote told an excited gathering. Stanley Jegede, CEO, Phase 3, called the project a convergence in building the most reliable backbone that will create high capacity to end users, pledging that the parties will not fail to deliver. (Source: Daily Independent) AccessKenya plans fibre optic projectIn a bid to increase its operational capacity ahead of the arrival of international fibre optic links, AccessKenya has started development of a metro fibre network that will create enhanced connectivity for its clients. Sources within the company said the Internet solutions provider is shopping for partners to help it implement the Sh781 million project, slated for completion by year’s end. “This will give us much more capacity on our local loop —in other words on our infrastructure from us to our clients. This sets us up for the future to ensure that we can deliver significantly more bandwidth overall as well as significantly more bandwidth to individual clients,” said Jonathan Somen, managing director of AccessKenya Group. AccessKenya said it had short-listed three suppliers for the equipment supply, with bids already in from Dimension Data and Cisco who have placed a joint bid, Alcatel-Lucent and ECI topping the list. The total cost of the 150 kilometre project is estimated to be approximately Sh624 million ($8 million) to Sh781 million ($10 million). This cost represents the first phase of a multi-faceted infrastructure development by the company that will increase its capacity in key regions around the country. The development comes against the backdrop of the arrival later this year of up to three international fibre optic links, which are set to decrease the cost of communicating via Internet and phone by up to five times. AccessKenya’s latest move highlights an on-going trend in the industry which has seen larger players invest heavily in proprietary infrastructure. Internet solution providers such as Kenya Data Networks, Swift Global, Jamii Telecom and UUNET among others are anticipating a corresponding rise in demand for their services once the cables arrive, and several firms are upgrading their existing infrastructure in order to be in a pole position once the international links arrive. Jamii Telecom initiated a similar Sh300 million fibre optic project in Nairobi two years ago, while more established players such as Telkom Kenya and Kenya Data Networks have quietly being strengthening their metro fibre offerings. These privately operated cables will supplement the government-driven Sh3 billion National Fibre Optic Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI) project that will see over 5,000km of fibre optic cable laid down all over the country. (Source: Business Daily) DRC’s largest ISP signs a multi-year contract with O3b NetworksO3b Networks, the developer of a new fibre quality, global Internet backbone, announced that Microcom DRC has signed a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract for O3b Networks’s Quick Start service. O3b’s Quick Start carrier managed service provides high-bandwidth, low-latency Internet access directly to Microcom. Once connected, Microcom will offer more affordable, high speed Internet access to its customers. O3b Networks, funded by Google Inc., Liberty Global, Inc. and HSBC Principal Investments, is building the world’s first ultra-low-latency, fibre-speed satellite network. The network is designed to improve Internet access for the millions of consumers and businesses in emerging and developing markets. Activation is scheduled for late 2010. “As the largest wireless ISP in the DRC, we have successfully addressed customer access to our network; for us, the challenge is to provide a low-latency connection back to the global Internet,” said Leon Ntale, CEO Microcom. “With O3b’s Quick Start service, we have access to a fibre quality service without the overhead of a fibre network. With the O3b backbone, we look forward to providing high speed Internet access to the 60 million people of the DRC.” In brief:- Mauritius has reportedly cut its international bandwidth tariffs from 36% to 22%, depending on the bandwidth used and the proposed destination, IDG News Service reports. The country’s telecoms regulator, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA), approved the move at the end of 2008 and Mauritius Telecom applied the new rates from 1 January 2009. It is understood the reductions bring down the monthly cost of a 2Mbps international private leased circuit (IPLC) from Mauritius to Paris from USD6,300 to USD4,900, significantly cheaper than the USD12,600 fee levied in 2003. - The Zambia Telecommunications Limited (Zamtel), the country’s incumbent telecoms provider, has completed the installation of 1,500km of fibre-optic cable, according to the Lusaka Times. The installation is part of a larger project that will see the telco install approximately 4,000km of fibre-optic cable across the country. - In its effort to commence full remote trading, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) said it hope to complete its system upgrade by first quarter 2009 which will aid Internet trading. - The Rwanda National Examinations Council (RNEC) has finalised plans to have examination results displayed online for easy access by both students and administrators.The examinations body has also reached a deal with MTN Rwanda, a mobile telecom company to avail examination results to students and school heads by SMS. - Duxbury Networking has been appointed as the master distributor of Alvarion products in Southern Africa.
Africa’s Soils to Be Digitally MappedA digital map of the state of Africa's soils is to be put together in an initiative launched this week. The African Soil Information Service, launched in Nairobi, Kenya, will produce a digital map of 42 African countries revealing soil type and its component nutrients. This information will guide farmers and policymakers on efforts to improve the fertility of Africa's soils, some of which are the most depleted in the world. The project will be coordinated by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture. The coverage and detail of existing soil maps are poor, particularly in large, scarcely populated countries in Africa, says Alfred Hartemink, soil scientist at ISRIC - World Soil Information, part of Wageningen University in the Netherlands. "The maps that do exist are 10-30 years old. That poses a problem, because the soil properties of interest - like pH, carbon or phosphorus content - change over time." The project, funded with a US$18 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, will gather existing local soil maps and combine them with new measurements to produce the digital map, which will be freely accessible on the web in a user-friendly format. The new measurements will include those derived from remote sensing, which involves analysing the features of satellite images - such as colour and radiation - to infer the characteristics of the soil. These calculations are then calibrated against actual soil samples from the particular region. The African map is the first stage of an initiative, GlobalSoilMap.net, to map all the globe's soils to help informed decisions not only about agriculture, but also to monitor the effects of climate change, environmental pollution and deforestation. Hartemink says the plan is to have 70 per cent of the world mapped within five years, with a full map completed within 10-15 years. "The first step, the collection of existing soil and map data and the calibration of our satellite images, will be hard. After that, updating the maps will be easy," he says. The project will be coordinated by Hartemink and his colleagues from ISRIC - World Soil Information in the Netherlands, who will ensure the same techniques and standards are used by the coordinating centre in each continent. Over 50 soil scientists will be involved in the mapping effort. (Source: SciDev.Net) Softline Accpac partners with SA Outsourcing to expand business in AfricaSoftline Accpac has partnered with SA Outsourcing (the South African operations of Enterprise Outsourcing) to expand mid-market and enterprise offering, Sage ERP X3, as well as its award-winning Accpac CRM, in the African market. Keith Fenner, Vice-President: Strategic Sales, Softline Accpac, says SA Outsourcing has core technologies and competencies which will help Accpac drive growth and deliver these world-class solutions to the mid-market across Africa. Going through the right channels. Softline Accpac has taken hands with SA Outsourcing to broaden its reach into the African market. Vice President: Strategic Sales, Softline Accpac, Keith Fenner, believes it's a win-win alliance. Fenner explains that Sage ERP X3 was launched on the African continent early last year and has already had considerable success, with over 145 sites spanning South Africa and French-speaking African countries. Sage ERP X3, by Softline Accpac, is a fully Web-based, full-service enterprise management software system aimed at catering for the demands of international business with an all-in-one solution that is easy to use and quick to deploy. Sage ERP X3 offers an efficient, multi-company solution that easily extends across national and international borders and offers first-class collaboration through its superior Web architecture. Accpac CRM is an award-winning wireless and Internet-based system that uses industry-leading technology to foster better business practices and effortless information exchange throughout an enterprise. With Accpac CRM, businesses can quickly analyse, manage and synchronise sales, marketing and customer care activities across all points of contact. (Source: ITWeb) South Africa open source development company Shorewall wins logo competitionA logo design by South African Gareth Davies has won the Shorewall logo design competition. Davies works at SA open source development company Thusa. Thusa makes extensive use of the open source firewall tool, Shorewall, in its Vulani server product which is due to be launched in South Africa in February 2009. Thusa MD Warwick Chapman says that “in addition to contracting the services of Shorewall developers from time to time, Thusa felt it should allocate some time to designer Gareth Davies to have a crack at the Shorewall logo design competition.” Davies submitted four designs, eventually winning the competition with his third design. Thusa will be launching Vulani in South Africa next month following three years of active development and five years of research and development. (Source: Tectonic) In Brief:- The government of Rwanda has plans to import up to 100,000 computers this year to boost the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) programme that was launched by President Paul Kagame in 2008 . - According to the online business news website, African Manager, the Tunisian National Computer Security Agency (ANSI) has recently signed an assistance contract with its South African counterpart, COMSEC, to help set up a treatment centre of computer vulnerability and incidents, in view of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. - The Board of Directors World Information Technology & Services Alliance (WITSA) after its recent meeting in Hyderabad, India have officially admitted Information Technology Association of Nigeria, ITAN, into its fold to represent the Nigerian IT Industry. - The 2009 Siemens Africa Profile Awards competition has opened for entries, seeking to honour African journalists excelling in science and technology journalism. African journalists are invited to submit entries before 31 January 2009 for any work published in print, online or broadcast media. - The 2nd edition of "Wireless Networking in the Developing World" is now available. The book can be downloaded from http://wndw.net/download.html#french Other language versions are also available. This work has been supported by IDRC.
GFH to Invest Three Billion Dollars in 'Tunis Telecom City' Mega-ProjectPresident Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was briefed last Thursday about a project by the international financial company, Gulf Finance House (GFH) to set up a 3 billion dollar mega- project in Tunis dubbed "Tunis Telecom City". The project is expected to generate 26,000 employments. Issam Youssef Janahi, the executive manager of GFH presented to the Tunisian President the main components of the project which will include an international communication university, a centre for the development of new technologies, a business free exchange zone as well as a technological pole in multi media and content development. The project, which is set to become one of the most important “technopoles” (ICT business parks) in North Africa, will also include residential and leisure facilities. Following his meeting with President Ben Ali, Mr Jenahi stressed that the choice of Tunisia to house this project was made on the basis of the country's investment incentives. Evoking Tunisia's ranking by the 2007 Davos Report on ICT readiness, among the first countries in the world, he also noted the important investments made by the country in the sector of ICT promotion. In addition to the 8000 qualified personnel in the sector, these are the reasons that prompted GFH to invest in Tunisia, he said. (Source: Tunisia Online) Workers Seek Review of Nitel/Mtel Privatisation in NigeriaTelecommunication workers under the aegis of National Association of Telecommunications Employees (NATE) and the Senior Staff Association of Communications, Transport and Corporations (SSACTAC) have called on the Minister of Information and Communication, Professor Dora Akunyili, to conduct fresh investigation into the process leading to the privatisation of the Nigerian Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) and its sister company, Nigeria Mobile Telecommunication (Mtel). The employees in separate letters to the minister requested for an urgent and lasting solution to the lingering crisis in both companies. Particularly, the Unions urged the new minister to use her good office to revisit records of the privatisation exercise of the companies between 2001 before the privatisation exercise to date to determine if it was properly executed. According to the Union, the companies were first handed over to Pentascope between 2003 and 2005 and then the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) took over between 2005 and 2006 before it was acquired by Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) from 2006 to date. The aggrieved workers also called for investigation of the details of the liquidation of non-core assets of both companies by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) through Messrs. Adekanola & Co.'s letter dated 22nd December 2008 and titled "Welcome to the beat" signed by NATE National President, Charles Amankwe,and NATE Assistant National Secretary, Yisa Jacob, noted that Prof. Akunyili's posting to the information sector brought about a renewed hope that the lingering problem in the sector might be solved after all. (Source: This Day) South Africa’s WebAfrica sells stake to fund own networkThe Competition Commission has approved the sale of a 30% stake in internet service provider (ISP) Web Africa to Vodacom reseller the Smartcom consortium. According to Matthew Tagg, MD of Web Africa, the agreement offers the ISP the opportunity to launch its own network, enabling a higher level of service. Web Africa has some 30,000 subscribers and is the second largest web hosting company in South Africa, and is estimated to account for about 6% of Telkom’s ADSL business. ‘This is a good move for Web Africa and our subscribers who can look forward to a greater range of products and a higher level of service,’ said Tagg. (source: Telegeography) Kenya’s BPO sector faces bleak future as foreign deals dipHopes that the Government bandwidth subsidy to call centres would spur growth and increase employment in the sector could be dampened by the global financial crisis. At least two business process outsourcing firms with the largest capacity in the country and also among those listed to benefit from the subsidy say that some of their US-based clients have either cancelled their contracts or scaled down their operations. Kencall employs more than 650 people while Call Centre Africa has 400 workers. Although last October some BPO and call centre operators said that the country could take advantage of the global crunch to develop the sector, it is now turning out to be in the contrary. With most people not buying in the US, companies are getting smaller thus do not need to outsource their services. Of key importance to Obama administration is to bring back some of those jobs to the US as the unemployment rates soar with the closure of companies. Nick Nesbitt, the chief executive of Kencall, says the firm has lost two clients, who at one point last year contributed to 60 per cent of the firm’s total revenue, while Wallace Gichoho of Call Centre Africa says one company has cancelled its contract and another one has reduced its operations to 20 per cent. The two firms are now re-positioning their marketing strategies in order to woo new clients as the global crunch takes toll on their businesses. (Source: Business Daily) In brief:- A Senate Extra-ordinary Session approved the Regional Communication Infrastructure Programme Rwanda project (RCIPRW) worth $24million. The project to be funded by the World Bank through the International Development Association (IDA), the concessional lending arm of the World Bank, is designed to improve the regional communications infrastructure and boost e-government in the country. Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage (briefs)- MTN Rwanda has announced an imminent 'Number Plan Change', from the current 8 digit number to a new 10 digit number as required by national and international telecommunication regulators. As of 1st February, this year a new number - 78 - will be added after the first usual zero, to all numbers on MTN Rwanda's network. - Over the last few months MTN South Africa has added numerous high speed HSDPA sites, many of which are 7.2 Mbps enabled. According to MTN CTO Sameer Dave MTN currently has 361 ‘upgraded’ HSDPA sites of which over a hundred are 7.2 Mbps enabled. The higher speeds are available to all MTN data subscribers without any additional cost, if they use a 3.6 Mbps or 7.2 Mbps enabled device.
Minafet Launches New E-Government Web Portal in RwandaThe ministry of foreign affairs last week presented its new web portal, in line with the e-Government program. Rosemary Museminali, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, said that the portal, which was elaborated in conjunction with Rwanda Development Board/Rwanda Information Technology Agency, is in line with the government's Vision 2020 that intends to turn Rwanda into a knowledge- based economy. "We feel that we at the ministry of foreign affairs and cooperation have born the first fruit of this technology," the Minister said, adding that the portal will enable the ministry to become more efficient, be much more connected to the world and advance the country's main pillars and policies which are mainly to promote peace and security in the world. She added that the technology would help the ministry achieve its goals, mission and promote its vision to the rest of the world. Romain Murenzi Minister in the president's office in charge of science, technology, scientific research and ICT, said that the portal is a good example of the kind of ICT solutions the government wants to promote. "What is being done with MINAFFET should be applied to all ministries. The idea should be the same and link all ministries and different institutions to the different sectors and people that they serve," the Minister remarked. According to Romain Murenzi, the usefulness of such portals will further be realized once the fiber optic infrastructure is completed in December 2009. This, he said, will ensure Internet access throughout the country, which will be especially benefit students whose research will be facilitated. The deputy CEO of RDB/RITA, Nkubito Bakuramutsi, described the portal as a means though which the ministry of foreign Affairs and cooperation will provide significant information about the Rwanda to the rest of the world, which is significant in the realization of the country's Vision 2020. The portal, set up by the local Rwandan ICT company Perspective Multimedia Solutions, will enable MINAFFET and Rwanda's diplomatic missions abroad to disseminate information under one portal to people from all walks of life seeking information about the country. It will link 19 diplomatic missions and all the ministries in the country to the ministry of foreign affairs and also to the rest of the world. The portal was made possible in part due to a grant from the World Bank for the implementation of the e-Government strategy. It was provided under the e-Rwanda project which became effective in June 2007 and is being implemented by RITA. It is intended to have a big impact on good governance and improved conditions for the country's citizens who live in the rural areas, including women, farmers and traders. In light of this, the e-Rwanda project had committed funds to assist the MINAFET in developing and upgrading the Ministry's websites for all the embassies of the government of Rwanda. (Source: Focus Media) BIAO of Cote d'Ivoire Set to Deploy e-Tranzact SolutionsOfficials of Bank BIAO of Cote D' Ivoire last week visited e-Tranzact, an online switching payment company in Lagos to understudy the company's e-payment banking software solutions, with the intention to partner e-Tranzact and deploy its solutions. Nigeria had in the last few years, developed local software solutions that are meeting the needs of Nigerian banks and beyond, a situation that had attracted many local and foreign banks to peep into several of such banking applications with a view to acquire them for online banking transactions. One of such attractions, no doubt, forced the Ivorian team to visit e-Transact to understudy what they described as its fantastic banking software applications that would boost banking transactions. Speaking with journalists at a dinner in Lagos to mark the end of their three-day visit to Nigeria, Mrs. Dogo Rachel, a member of the Ivorian team, who is in charge of Retail Banking for BIAO, said the team came from Cote D' Ivoire to Nigeria on a three-day working visit to understudy the e-Transact banking solutions and for a possible partnership with e-Transact to deploy the technology into their banking system in Cote D'Ivore. "We are from the banking sector in Cote D'Ivoire, precisely from Bank BIAO, the third largest bank in Cote D'Ivoire with 30 branches across Cote D'Ivoire and we have come to see how the e-Tranzact banking solutions work in Nigeria and to see how we can tap into the technology by partnering with e-Transact," Rachel said. According to Rachel, the team has gone round different banks in Lagos that are currently deploying e-Tranzact banking solutions and had discussion with them. We are satisfied with what we saw. We are even amazed and excited at the several functions of the solutions, she added. Rachel explained that most of their banking operations in BIAO are purely the traditional banking transactions, with a little of the ATM cards technology that is used purely for money withdrawals. She, however, said with the new banking dispensation worldwide, BIAO is interested in operating online banking to make banking transactions a lot easier for its customers, hence the need to partner e-Tranzact to help them in deploying its kind of banking solutions. Another member of the team, Assit Patrick, in charge of Marketing said BIAO sees Nigeria as a big market with a lot of useful banking software solutions. He disclosed that their greatest challenge is that there are more money in circulation in Cote D' Ivoire than in the banks. Most business operators, he said, do not keep money in banks but prefer to have them in their homes. Patrick is optimistic that by the time they deploy the e-Tranzact banking solution, many people in Cote D' Ivoire would embrace the online banking that comes with the solution and they would be willing to bank their money. CEO of e-Tranzact, Valentine Obi, who was pleased with the visit, said the Ivorian bank is interested in all their banking solutions and the bank is happy with the way each of the solutions works. Asked the core area of interest, Obi said the Ivorian bank is interested in e-Tranzact Point of Sale, Mobile, ATM and other solutions. The e-Tranzact solution platform is such that if you acquire one of the solutions, you acquire all others, Obi said. On why Bank BIAO is interested in e-Tranact solutions, Obi said the proposition of its banking solution is very compelling, challenging, cost effective, convenient to use and covers all aspects of security. e-Tranzact banking solution, Obi added, is in a class of its own and its solutions are second to none. "We have a very good solution that can meet the needs of clients within and outside Nigeria. Our solutions stand themselves out and the BIAO bank must have seen this and are ready to deploy our solutions into their banking system," he said. According to him, e-Tranzact has learnt from the mistakes of others and has come up with strong banking solutions that have given boost to banking business everywhere in the world. In October 2008, e-Tranzact launched its latest cards solution application called the e-Tranzact Strong Authentication (ESA) card and the ATM CardlexCash and since then almost all the banks on its network had shown interest and are implementing them. The ATM CardlexCash is designed to ease customers of the need of carrying too many ATM cards and in situation where a customer forgets his ATM card at home and he is in dire need to cash money from the ATM machine around him or his office, the CardlexCash addresses the situation. The ESA card addresses the problem of online fraud, which Obi described as the biggest challenge in the banking industry. The ESA ATM card generates a dynamic PIN for an amount per transaction and would not allow anybody to defraud a card carrier, even when the person was opportune to have the customer card and PIN. For Internet transaction, the ESA card gives One Time Pass Code (OTPC), which is a second factor authentication code that ensures that the rightful owner of the card is the one using it. (Source: Daily Independent)
People* Technology security company Symantec has confirmed that its regional director for Africa, Patrick Evans will leave the company. His post will be filled by Symantec's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Kevin Isaac. Events* REVENUE ASSURANCE FOR HIGH GROWTH MARKETS 18th-21st January Mövenpick Hotel, Dubai Revenue Assurance for High Growth Markets is the ideal place to meet the leaders who are developing and implementing solutions to the revenue management, assurance and billing challenges posed by the expansion of new services and proliferation of competition.For further information please visit http://www.iir-events.com/IIR-Conf/page.aspx?id=16215 * TELECOM FINANCE 2009 27th – 29th January 2009, Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel, London, UK Now in its fourth year, the TelecomFinance 2009 Conference and Awards Dinner will gather an exclusive group of the global telecom industry’s leading decision makers and visionaries to debate the challenges and opportunities we face in 2009. Featuring a who’s who of top-ranking investment bankers, corporate lawyers, C-level executives, consultants and private equity professionals, TelecomFinance 2009 is the year’s must-attend event.The conference will deliver insight from industry leaders, present challenging panels addressing the sector’s most significant questions and offer an opportunity to meet colleagues and competitors from across the globe.For further information please visit: www.telecomfinance.com/2009 * TELECOMS FRAUD AND RISK 23rd-26th March 2009 Hilton London Tower Bridge, London, UK Telecoms Fraud & Risk is the perfect place to learn about the developments in fraud prevention from the leading operators and solutions suppliers across Europe and beyond. Gain a greater understanding about how to manage the risks that the migration to NGNs is having, thereby securing your network and minimising fraud. Examine the enclosed brochure to see how attending Telecoms Fraud & Risk will enable you to cost-effectively enhance your fraud management strategy and make a measurable impact on your networks and service revenues. For further info http://www.iir-events.com/IIR-Conf/page.aspx?id=17135 * 3RD ANNUAL AFRICAN E-GOV FORUM 24-26 March 2009, Kigali, Rwanda The CTO is honoured that this year the Ministry of Science and Technology, Rwanda will be hosting the 3rd Annual African e-Gov Forum. Join key ICT stakeholders in the region, including Ministers of technology, heads of e-Gov projects, civil society leaders and representatives from IT organisations; mobile operators; infrastructure providers; foundations; development and donor agencies to discuss current issues and witness success stories on e-Gov in Africa. For further information visit www.cto.int *THE WORLD WIDE WEB CONSORTIUM 1-2 April 2009, Maputo, Mozambique Africa Perspective on the Role of Mobile Technologies in Fostering Social DevelopmentHosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Government of Mozambique. For further information please visit: http://www.w3.org/2008/10/MW4D_WS/ Jobs and Opportunities* Experienced Software developer – Ghana BusyLab is looking for an experienced software developer interested in trying something different and sharing knowledge in Africa. You should be able to teach the processes and best practises of software development with our bright young team and contribute to a world-class innovative web and mobile application product. You should know: - html, javascript, ajax - php or java (J2SE/J2ME) - sql databases (postgres or other) - software development process - software testing and quality assurance practices The position would be for a minimum of six months. If you’re interested, then please contact Sarah Bartlett at jobs2009@busylab.com and she will be happy to give you more information about the team, the project and the logistics. Contracts* MobiNil and Net Cracker Technology - Egypt Egyptian mobile operator MobiNil has signed a deal with USA-based vendor NetCracker Technology which will see the latter manage the operator’s 3G network. Under the deal NetCracker will provide its Resource Inventory, Discovery & Reconciliation, and Design & Planning modules to provide an integrated view into their network operations. * Zain and Ericsson - Madagascar Swedish hardware vendor has finalised an agreement with the Zain Group to expand the core network and GSM radio access network (RAN) for the mobile group’s subsidiary in Madagascar.
If our correspondent is "off the mark" or you have
factual amendments, mail them to us and we will include them
in subsequent News Updates. If you'd like to contribute, write
and let us know. |
|
   
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
This page last updated on January 26 2009.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
