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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 452 1st May 2009 Africa’s rapid mobile Internet growth will drive network expansion and media spendThe number of people in Africa using their mobile to access the Internet has rocketed over the last year. In many instances the number of mobile Internet subscribers far outstrips their fixed line equivalent. Sinking voice ARPUs may finally come off their downward curve on the rise of data revenues. Cheaper bandwidth and new developments look set to encourage this growth. The mobile is also a media as increasing numbers of people use it to access stuff and as it establishes itself as a media, advertisers will not be far behind. Russell Southwood looks at what’s happening just below the radar. By the end of 2008, South Africa had 1.35 million Internet subscribers, of which, according to World Wide Worx, 794,000 were wireless Internet subscribers and 588,000 were ADSL subscribers. Even discounting fixed wireless subscribers, there are more mobile Internet subscribers than fixed. I hear you saying that this is South Africa and the rest of Africa is different. So I present you with two more pieces of evidence. UCC’s year end figures for Uganda show 214,293 active mobile Internet accounts up from 166,621 at the end of Q3, 2008. Compared to? 22,000 fixed line subscribers. In late 2008 in Tanzania there were 600,000 EDGE/GPRS subscribers and 15,000 HSDPA subscribers compared to just over 70,000 fixed line Internet subscribers. Several things are striking about these figures. Although there is undoubtedly duplication between fixed and mobile Internet subscribers, the number of mobile Internet subscribers is in the hundreds of thousands whilst its fixed equivalent is in the tens of thousands. It also implies that there is a far larger group of people willing to buy Internet services if only it worked and was priced right. These kinds of user numbers allow for a “critical mass” that will encourage further use. So far there is much less data on revenues but if data (including SMS) is around 12% of overall mobile revenues in South Africa, it’s hard to see why these kinds of figures won’t turn in significantly higher revenues elsewhere. There is also a take-off point waiting to happen at the user end. What’s the difference between e-mail and SMS? A different interface and one has a far more limited length of message. Several million Africans in any country you care to name use SMS (Ugandans sent US$39.4 million worth of them last year) so why can’t they use their mobile to send e-mails instead? The answer must in large part lie in the simplicity of the SMS interface. Enter a number of companies who have produced e-mail workarounds that give you different levels of Internet functionality on some or all phones. Synchronica boasts that its apps will deliver “a Blackberry for the rest of us” in Africa. It has had a range of deals with operators including Zain and MTN It is aimed at consumers and business users who may not have high-end phones. The software allows the user to receive e-mails and for them to be sent back as e-mails. In addition any any SyncML-enabled device will allow the user to synchronise Google contacts and calendars. It believes its software is one weapon in the armoury of operators to reduce churn. ForgetMeNot’s Message Optimiser product means that users can initiate e-mails and add e-mail addresses to their phone: for the latter, users are sent a number to use. This product claims to be able to work across nearly all handsets, including many of the cheapest. It will launch its first service with an operator in South Africa at the end of the month. It concatenates messages so it can “add” three SMS messages together, for example, to give 480 characters. It will also allow a local provider to let its users send an e-mail/SMS locally and then deliver that e-mail internationally: in other words, Kofi in Accra can send a message to his son in London for the price of an SMS. South Africa’s MXit (now owned by Naspers) allows users to send Instant Messages to MSN Messenger, ICQ and Google Talk (among others) a great deal more cheaply than sending SMSes because the messages go via the Internet. It claims to have 11 million users in Africa (of which 5.4 million are in South Africa) and that its use will grow by 414% in Africa and the Middle East. Discount that number by however much you like and you still end up with a big number. If these developments are from the bottom up, then intuitive, smart, touch screen phones are coming from the top down. In August last year one carrier in Nigeria reported that after only a few months, it had sold 20,000 Blackberry phones: not touch-screen phones but an indicator nonetheless. There are no stats yet but the number of iPhones seems to be growing and they are not just in the hands of uber-technology adopters. The icon-based apps on the iPhone provide a perfect template for certain kinds of services, done in such a way that you don’t even have to be familiar with the Internet to use them. You just keep tapping away and it explains itself. All of this Mobile Internet usage makes mobile phones a media like radio or television. Africans wanting to know the match score or the headlines increasingly turn to their mobile. When the official media isn’t telling the full story, SMS goes into overdrive providing some hard fact and a lot of rumour. Favourite TV shows ask you to vote for participants and performers. Below-the-line spending on competitions allows you to win prizes that boost brand awareness. Millions of people in Africa are doing these things every day. Where advertising spend is tracked by media in Africa, Internet spend is 1% in both Kenya and South Africa. As usage increases, this is likely to go up to 3-5% in larger markets. The use of SMS and mobile Internet as an advertising medium is usually below the line “spend” on promotions and therefore goes unrecorded. But there is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that this might also constitute around 1% of advertising spend. As advertising spend grows, content will become more sophisticated and varied in order to attract people’s attention. Who stands more chance of delivering this kind of content? Africa’s existing mobile operators whose knowledge and understanding of content is limited in a carefully walled garden? Independent local providers who share the revenues more equitably than at present in an open community, leaving the mobile operators to take the revenues for making it work? I leave you to be the judge of that one. Africa’s mobile operators cannot believe their luck with the mobile Internet. There are those who would like to portray it as a deeply strategic move but in reality most involved have simply been playing leapfrog with their competitors: it was always really “suck it and see” encouraged by good vendor deals. (We were early sceptics so no-one gets everything right). But now 3G is leaking out of the capital into a range of other towns and cities (see Vodacom in Tanzania) and before long it will follow some of the pattern of GSM voice diffusion. 3G implementation also provides a range of network efficiencies that will provide incentives for this type of roll-out. All of this means that most mobile operators will have to do one of two things: either upgrade their backhaul networks to allow for data usage more widely across the network or separate data out using WiMAX as many operators are already doing. For although it’s good news having all these customers, they will expect the service to work and will not be impressed if the network goes down because there are already a couple of users on the base station. That said, the mobile Internet is on its way to becoming a reality across the continent.
Ghana’s Government investigates Vodafone agreementThe new National Democratic Congress (NDC) government has set up a committee to review the Vodafone/Ghana Telecom sale agreement that was concluded under the government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in August 2008. Despite accepting the sale of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone, the new Government has set up a Committee to investigate the sale as a piece of political “window-dressing”: it is unlikely that much will come of it. According to a Joy Business News bulletin monitored by ghanabusinessnews.com, the Minister for Communications, Haruna Iddrisu made the announcement in London in a meeting with Vodafone Plc officials. Iddrisu was in London to attend an ITU meeting. According to the report, the Ghana CEO of Vodafone, David Venn was present at the meeting. The Vodafone Review Committee is expected to review the 70% sale of Ghana Telecom (GT) to Vodafone and make recommendations to government to be submitted to Parliament. The Minister was quoted as saying that the review was to ensure that there were no underhand dealings in the deal - and this is being done in fulfillment of the NDC’s promise to the electorate, he said. During the election campaign in 2008, the NDC promised to revoke the sale of Ghana Telecom, if it was elected into power. But soon after the party won the 2008 elections, the government, aware of the investor communities’ sensitivity to government interference in such matters, said it would not revoke the sale. The Minister said the committee would determine whether there was any justification for an indemnity clause in the agreement, and find out if there were better offers than the Vodafone offer that were ignored by the government. The committee would also investigate the reason for the inclusion of the national fibre optic backbone into the agreement, because in the view of the government that should remain a national asset. It would also investigate the disbursement of a $228 million escrow accounts and take a look at the decoupling of the Ghana Telecom University from Vodafone Ghana. In addition to establishing the true ownership of the 70% share, the Vodafone Review Committee would seek to establish why some of the huge liabilities of Ghana Telecom were not disclosed before the sale. The committee would investigate the rationalization programme under which the company is offering packages for workers of Vodafone Ghana, to resign voluntarily. According to the report, other issues unrelated to the sale of Ghana Telecom that would be investigated include why transaction advisors to the Ghana Telecom sale, Ecobank Development Corporation (EDC) was suspended. The committee would also be expected to determine whether monies due to EDC were paid as well as the tenure of Telenor of Norway as managers of Ghana Telecom. When Ghana Telecom was put up for sale, other political parties including the NDC, then in opposition, opposed it. Other groups like the Committee for Joint Action (CJA), a political pressure group also vehemently opposed it but the then government with a majority in parliament approved the sales agreement. Meanwhile, on Wednesday night April 15, 2009 at a ceremony in Accra at the Accra International Conference Centre, Ghana Telecom and Onetouch, the mobile telephony offshoot of the company became were branded Vodafone with all the colours now changed to red - the colour of Vodafone’s corporate branding. (Source: Ghana Business News) Callers lash out at mobile operators in South Africa over quality of serviceA flood of concerned mobile phone users has led the South African regulator ICASA to check up on the quality of service provided by the mobile networks. Following an interview with ICASA chairman Paris Mashile on Radio 702 this week, hundreds of users forwarded information to the station about troubles they had experienced with their network service providers. The complaints spanned al three mobile operators - MTN, Vodacom and Cell C - dealing with dropped calls, lost SMSes and network access troubles. Consumers are also up in arms about paying for services they believe they are not receiving. Of the three, MTN is the only provider who says it has found a problem on its network. According to a company statement, MTN had a surge in call, data and SMS traffic after it launched its 20% free airtime promotion last week. “As a result of this promotion, the MTN network handled a huge increase in voice calls and data traffic from Friday and into the weekend, similar to the levels experienced during the high-season Christmas period,” explains the company. MTN says the surge in Gauteng traffic also caused a loop in its national network which could well be the cause of MTN subscribers' troubles. It says, along with its technology provider, Ericsson, MTN is conducting an audit to determine how it can fix the problem. “The company would like to reassure its customers that it is working around the clock to maintain a quality and reliable service on its network. MTN apologises to its customers for the inconvenience caused during the weekend.” Vodacom says it has not found anything out of the ordinary with its network. “Vodacom can confirm there are no extraordinary technical issues affecting our network,” says chief communications officer Dot Field. However, it has invited customers who have experienced trouble to contact its customer care centre on 111, from a Vodacom cellphone, or 082 111 from any other. Customers can also send an e-mail to customercare@vodacom.co.za. Cell C did not respond to ITWeb's questions by the time of publication. The issue has not escaped the authorities. ICASA spokesman Sekgoela Sekgoela yesterday confirmed it is keeping tabs on the operators. “We are consistently in contact with them, to make sure they are adhering to regulations.” While he says the monitoring is not a formal investigation into the service providers, the authority has given them guidelines for minimum service levels. These are prescribed by the End-User and Subscriber Service Charter, which is in the process of being finalised. The regulations require that operators' networks show an uptime of over 95%. Operators are also expected to have a 48-hour turnaround on consumer problems. The mobile operators are required to submit a report to the authority every three months that indicates problems and resolutions. According to ICASA, the next reports are expected soon and the authority will check what resolutions the operators have come up with. The authority suspects the trouble may also stem from network upgrades that the operators are all implementing. Complaints of a similar nature in the past have been attributed to network changes and upgrades. All the mobile operators have ploughed significant amounts of money into network upgrades and improvements over the last year. MTN alone put aside R7 billion for network upgrades and new backhaul infrastructure. The company will begin the construction of a national fibre-backbone this year, which it expects to be completed by 2010. Late last year, Vodacom announced it was in the process of rolling out its own fibre infrastructure and had completed 11 metro rings by the beginning of December. It also plans to roll out a national network. Cell C has been steadily building up its own network coverage through the implementation of new base stations across SA. (Source: ITWeb) Ugandans spent US$39.4 million on SMS messages last yearMobile phone users in Uganda have in the past two years sent close to 700 million short messages (SMSs) worth an estimated sh86b (US$39.4 million), statistics from the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) indicate. Considering that there are nine million mobile phone subscribers in Uganda, this means that every subscriber sent about 40 messages per year. Compared to other countries, this may be a small figure. But by Ugandan standards, it means this new form of communication is a fast growing and lucrative business. UCC confirms that Ugandans increasingly use short messages as an alternative to making phone calls. Ugandans sent a total of 345 million messages in 2007 and 354 million in 2008. While the number of messages to the same network went down, there was a sharp rise in messages to other networks. This is partly due to the entry of new operators on the market with more competitive rates for SMS. It is also the result of widespread promotions by the mobile phone companies who offered calls to the same network at very low rates, almost free of charge in some instances, thus discouraging the use of SMS. The promotions included MTN Zone, Zain's unlimited calls upon loading sh2,000 worth of airtime, Warid's Bang KB for free, which offered free calls on the same network the day after loading any amount of air time, and utl's family and friends as well as Jazz to Jazz discounts. The statistics, however, show a significant drop in international messages in the last two years, from 24 million in 2007 to 14 million in 2008. This is being attributed to the introduction of cheaper international calling rates and merged regional networks such as One Network. In neighbouring Kenya, texting has also increasingly become a popular way of communication. A total of 2.5 million subscribers sent out 152 million messages in 2004. This figure rose to 11.4 million subscribers sending 450 million messages three years later. The other factor driving the SMS use in Uganda is the relatively low price across all networks. The statistics indicate an average of sh113 for messages sent within the same network, sh125 for messages sent to other networks within the country, and sh202 for messages sent to international destinations. There has also been an increase in email-to-phone messages, some of which enable sending of bulk SMS. Some others are enabled to send SMS's for free depending on the configurations of targeted networks. Local telecoms have also ushered in several additional services, including real-time mobile banking similar to the M-Pesa that is offered by Safaricom in Kenya. With the big numbers now realised in text messaging and almost one third of Uganda's population having a mobile phone, keen communicators are bound to start targeting the new channel. Major media houses in the country have learnt the use of SMS and leading government organisations are beginning to see its opportunities. An attempt was made in 2006 to inform voters by SMS during the Presidential elections. This way of communication will surely have gained momentum by the next elections in 2011. Some NGOs use it to spread health (Source: New Vision) MTN Signals it is Keen to Get Into ZimbabweMTN has confirmed that it is eager to enter Zimbabwe, and may make its move by taking control of the existing mobile operator, Telecel. It took the unusual step of declaring its interest ahead of firming up any precise moves by exhibiting at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo this week. Spokeswoman Nozipho January-Bardill said last week plans were still at a preliminary stage, but operating in Zimbabwe was definitely high on the agenda. "We have always said we are looking for value-enhancing opportunities, and Zimbabwe presents us with one," she said. "Zimbabwe is our neighbour sitting there waiting. The government is embarking on a reinvention of itself and has opened up to South African companies to go in and operate there." Asked if MTN was most likely to enter through an acquisition or if a new licence might be issued, January-Bardill said: "It's not an answer I can give right now. We will see what is available. Some governments are very slow at opening up completely, and don't always tell you exactly what they are doing, so we will see once things are clearer." The country is already served by three mobile networks: Econet and Telecel and government-owned NetOne. Hurst believes MTN's most obvious route is to buy the 60% of Telecel owned by the Egyptian operator Orascom. The other 40% is owned by the Empowerment Corporation of Zimbabwe. Orascom has taken a decision to re-enter the Sub-Saharan market and may not now be willing to sell its Zimbabwe subsidiary. However, Bardill said: "Orascom has hinted that it would like to get out because it wants to concentrate on north Africa and the Middle East. With three mobile operators already in place, I think it's going to go in through an acquisition rather than a new licence." (Source: Business Day) In brief:- Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) has said it would soon license separate private companies to install telecom infrastructure for co-location. This, it said, was to create some sanity in the mounting of telecom masts across the country and also free the hands of the operators to concentrate on providing quality service. By the end of the first quarter of this year, there were about 3,000 telecom masts across the country, comprising 1,652 for MTN, 699 for TIGO, 378 for Vodafone, 250 for Zain and 112 for Kasapa. - Trade unions of Senegalese telecoms incumbent Sonatel warned the local authorities that they will launch a strike to protest against France Telecom raising its stake in the company to 52.2%. France Telecom reached an agreement with the Senegalese government on 8 April to buy further 9.87% stake in Sonatel from the state. The government would still own 17.28% in Sonatel after the deal.
Seacom and Interoute team up to link East Africa to EuropeSeacom and Interoute are going ahead with their deal to create a digital super-highway between East Africa and Europe. The agreement will see the East African undersea cable being connected to Interoute's pan-European fibre-optic network. The value of the deal has not been disclosed. An Interoute statement says it will also give East Africa access to the European network operator's range of wholesale and enterprise services. Opportunities will be opened up for telcos, and the deal will also support the growing demand for broadband Internet in the region, it adds. "This project provides the vital last link for Seacom in connecting East Africa to Europe and onto the rest of the world," says Interoute CEO Gareth Williams. Interoute marketing director Jonathan Brown the company's fibre optic network has a number of benefits for Seacom, including its reach into more than 22 countries on the European continent. “Also, because we're not an incumbent network provider, we can provide more competitive pricing to Seacom,” adds Brown. Seacom's undersea cable, which will have a capacity of 1.28Tbps, will run along the east coast of Africa and connect SA, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya with Europe and the rest of the world. The cable will also extend to Marseilles, France, where it will connect to Interoute's fibre-optic network which has a capacity of one petabyte. Williams notes the connection between Seacom and the European fibre-optic network will go a long way towards supporting the growing demand for content. Demand is expected to rise once Seacom lands in June. (Source: ITWeb) AccessKenya close to completing metro fibre optic networkAccessKenya has announced that it is close to completing the construction of its Sh781 million metro fibre - a network of fibre optic cables for Nairobi. Access said it was integrating two existing wireless networks to its metro fibre, resulting in a more seamless connection for existing clients. “This will allow us to backhaul our wireless traffic across the fibre where possible and will also allow us to provide our clients with seamless connections to multiple sites across our entire infrastructure. “This new network will give us enormous capacity to provide bandwidth to clients as well as an easy upgrade path to allow,” said Jonathan Somen, the managing director. Civil works on the company’s 150 km fibre optic network around Nairobi started in January this year with the firm expecting to complete the project by June, when the first of several international fibre optic cables lands, connecting Kenya to a global network. The new international link is expected to lower the cost of communication by up to ten times, and Internet firms like Access Kenya have spent the last two years preparing for the cable’s arrival by rolling out their own infrastructure that will extend the international cable’s reach inland. Access Kenya joins other infrastructure firms such as Kenya Data Networks, Telkom Kenya, Jamii telecom and Wananchi, who have all spent billions putting up fibre optic rings around urban centres such as Nairobi and Mombasa. Of this group of companies, only Wananchi and Access Kenya have yet to fully complete construction of their metro rings. In January, Jamii Telecom announced that it had completed construction of its metro fibre in Nairobi, connecting buildings within a 200km radius of the city centre. The company, which has already signed up customers for its Nairobi project, indicated that it planned to invest in an additional fibre network in Mombasa to tap into future opportunities for growth in that area. KDN, Telkom Kenya and the government through its National Optic Fibre Backbone Initiative (NOFBI) initiative have laid extensive networks throughout the country in readiness for the international links expected by June. Access recently signed $1.9 million contract with Israeli infrastructure firm ECI Telecom to be Access Kenya’s fibre equipment vendor for the metro project. The first phase of the fibre network rollout will connect about 250 buildings around Nairobi on a fibre network of 150 kilometres. On completion, the network will cover approximately 130 kilometres including 250 buildings across Nairobi including the major commercial areas of the Central Business District, Upper Hill and Westlands as well as connecting Mombasa Road to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, to Dagoretti Corner, Lavington and Gigiri. (Source: Business Daily) Congo DRC ISP signs multi-million dollar contract with O3b NetworksO3b Networks Limited (O3b announced last week that Global Broadband Solution (GBS) has signed a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract for O3b Networks’ Quick Start service. O3b says that its Quick Start carrier managed service will provide high-bandwidth, low-latency Internet access directly to GBS. Once connected, GBS will offer more affordable, high speed Internet access to its customers over their infrastructure, which includes a WiMax network. 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. Satellite delivery is scheduled for late 2010. “O3B’s internet backhaul service is a key element in our on-going project to build the first nationwide 4G mobile Internet wireless network in DRC,” said Daniel Vanderstraete, President of GBS. “By combining the affordable low latency bandwidth of O3B and the new 4G mobile WiMAX technology, we are bringing an unprecedented combination of speed and mobility to DRC”. In brief:- Dancom Technologies, a subsidiary of the Dangote Group has partnered with Huawei Technologies to construct a fibre optic network that will cover the eastern part of Nigeria. The project is expected to cater for Nigeria's capacity needs and improve the country's telecommunications environment in general. According to the two companies, the deal indicates the start of a long-term cooperation between Dancom and Huawei in providing telecommunications infrastructure and services. - South African website publishing company Lutho.com has started accepting online payments via the Google Checkout method, pressportal.co.za reports. Lutho.com has thus added Google Checkout on its checkout page, where international customers can also select PayPal as their online payment option. The Google Checkout service allows users to make purchases from online stores using payment and shipping information they keep on file with Google. Users store their credit or debit card and shipping information in their Google accounts. - Nigeria’s National Assembly has pledged its commitment to assist the Nigerian Communication Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) to appropriate adequate funds for NigComSat 2 and 3.
ICT Sector Grows At Snail Pace in BotswanaDriven mainly by a conducive environment and infrastructure set up by government, Botswana's Information, Technology and Communications (ICT) sector continues to develop although at a slower pace than expected, an economist said last week. Dr Phumzile Thobokwe of the Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC) told an ICT seminar in Gaborone that the private sector is not doing enough to help the country to develop into a knowledge-based society with an industry that thrives on ICT advancement. Presenting a paper on the Global Information Technology (GIT) report, Thobokwe said that this year, Botswana has moved one place up to position 77 out of 134 countries on Networked Readiness Index. She said that although Botswana had a slight improvement, there is still a long way to go to fully use ICT as a catalyst to organisational transformation and change. She said that government has provided an enabling environment for the growth of the ICT sector through various investments in infrastructure as well as legislative and regulatory frameworks. Recently, government has invested a lot of funds into fibre networks and high capacity telecommunications systems. The fibre optic network is now complete and operational. The government has invested in international connectivity through shareholdings in undersea cables, which should increase competition and reduce telecommunications costs. The GIT report says that Botswana fared badly in components like business readiness in which it is ranked 96 out of 134 and government readines where it is ranked 70th. Under the ICT usage component, Botswana business usage is 93rd while in individual usage it is ranked 89th. (Source: Mmegi) South Africa’s firms missing opportunities in global software testing marketSouth Africa needs to move faster to seize opportunities in the rapidly expanding global computer software and systems testing market, currently worth about $56bn annually. Says Liza van Wyk, CEO of management and skills-training organisations AstroTech and BizTech: “India which has been the preferred market is battling to cope while South Africa with its reputation for innovation and high standards in information technology is lagging in seizing opportunities in an area of the global economy that is not faltering, but is growing,” Software testing is the process of executing software in a controlled environment to establish it is functioning as expected and dealing with potential risks before going live or on site. (Source: IT News Africa) African researchers rank Asus Eee over OLPC's XOThough the XO laptop from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project is aimed directly at children in developing nations, research by African universities and Computer Aid International ranks the Asus Eee PC netbook as a better choice for emerging economies -- at least, on the African continent. Research teams in Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe studied five PCs and analyzed which one was best-equipped for use in developing countries. They were ranked, in order: the Asus Eee; the Intel Classmate; OLPC's XO laptop; the Inveneo Computing Station; and Ncomputing's X300. Asus has the best solution for an average individual owner and user in rural Africa who needs a low-power PC, while Ncomputing proved to be the more viable choice for many people in the educational field, said the research team from Kenyatta University in Nairobi. The study found that though the XO is better overall in terms of power consumption, the Asus Eee netbook is, overall, better suited for Africa, a continent still grappling with issues of erratic power supply, dusty conditions, heat, low income and illiteracy, among other challenges. "Many communities in Africa have no reliable access to mains electricity and are forced to rely on expensive alternatives like solar panels or diesel generators," said Tony Roberts, founder, Computer Aid International. "The teams set out to find a low-power, low-cost solution that will facilitate the availability and use of information technology in the region." OLPC has met with some success recently. India, for example, has ordered 250,000 XO laptops, while the Human Rights Respect Awareness Raising Campaigners, a human rights organization, will supply 5,000 OLPC machines to Sierra Leone. However, though the OLPC XO has been touted by some as the solution to Africa's technology problems, and the quantitative and qualitative tests ranked it best in terms of power consumption, it was the slowest of all the systems in the performance tests. Computer Aid collaborated with teams at Kenyatta University; Jos University, Nigeria; and the National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe. The research started by considering several low-power PCs and laptops. Eight were assessed under lab conditions by ZDNet in London. The top five were shortlisted and shipped for testing at the three universities. The Asus Eee PC was the solution preferred unanimously by all the testing teams, offering the ideal compromise between power consumption, performance and portability. The Ncomputing X300 was also highlighted for its suitability for computer labs. The Intel Classmate performed very well, but was not the most preferred solution due to its higher power consumption and low battery life, while the cost of the Inveneo Computing Station was deemed restrictive for use in the developing world. OLPC is a project aimed at providing children in developing countries with laptops at a cost of $200 or less. The XO laptop tested by the researchers -- incorporating the Sugar interface running on Linux -- did not include a spreadsheet, and none of the universities could complete the spreadsheet test on the OLPC. The famed American software programmer and entrepreneur Dan Bricklin has come out with a version of the open-source SocialCalc for the XO. But the inability of the researchers to run their spreadsheet test highlighted one weakness of the XO that technologists have been pointing out -- namely, that the XO is mainly for children and not for teachers interested in computerizing all aspects of a school's operations. (Source: Computerworld Kenya) In Brief:- An ICT task force, chaired by the vice president and co-chaired by the minister of information and communications, has planned a two-day stakeholders' conference slated for April 30 and May 1, 2009 to formulate a national ICT policy for Sierra Leone. - Kastina State Government in Nigeria is to supply computers to all its primary schools by 2010, Executive Chairman of the State's Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alhaji Sule Kuki has said. - Microsoft and the Ministry of Communication of Ghana have agreed to partner a project that will deliver high-quality ICT policy training to public sector workers. The project will see the establishment of a Microsoft eGovernment Centre designed to facilitate professional and organisational capacity building within the government. - In line with its resolve to reduce unemployment in the state, the Lagos State Government has registered 175,000 unemployed graduates across the 20 local government areas and 37 Local Council Development Area (LCDA) under a new databank, created to facilitate job creation.
Egypt Mobinil Q1 net profit down, misses most forecastsEgyptian mobile firm Mobinil posted a 6 percent fall in net income for the first quarter of 2009 to 424 million Egyptian pounds ($75 million) last Wednesday, missing four out of five analyst forecasts. In a statement, the firm said "imputed interest amounts relative to 3G instalment payments charged during the first quarter amounted to 29 million Egyptian pounds and higher interest costs are the main driver for the decrease". Five analysts had forecast net profit figures of between 414 million pounds and 551 million pounds, with four of them expecting higher than 424 million pounds. Blended ARPU (average revenue per user) declined 16 percent on a year earlier to 39 pounds, also missing analyst expectations. Three analysts forecast ARPU of between 41 and 42 pounds. Net revenues rose 10 percent from a year earlier to 2.490 billion Egyptian pounds, Mobinil said. Subscriber numbers were forecast at between 19.96 million to 21.096 million by analysts, which Mobinil beat with a 31 percent rise year-on-year to 21.179 million. The firm reported EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of 1.215 billion Egyptian pounds. Mobinil has been at the centre of dispute between mobile operator Orascom Telecom and France Telecom. Egypt's market regulator says France Telecom should tender to buy all shares in Mobinil as part of a court ruling that it purchase Orascom's stake in a holding company that owns 51 percent of Mobinil. Orascom Telecom said earlier in April that France Telecom had not met a deadline set by the Egyptian firm to complete a deal to buy its shares in Mobinil. France Telecom said it submitted all the details for the deal to go through. (Source: Reuters) South Africa’s Datatec Sheds 55 Percent Stake in Empowerment GroupTechnology company Datatec has wound up a three-year-old partnership that was initially designed to boost its empowerment profile, by shedding its 55% stake in African Legend Indigo (ALI). The company said the move was made after reviewing its South African assets and deciding to focus instead on growing its internationally successful Westcon distribution business in SA. ALI was formed in 2006 when Datatec combined one of its South African divisions, which traded as RangeGate, into a new entity along with some of the technology operations owned by African Legend Computing (ALC). The deal had taken two years to negotiate, and Datatec took 55% in the new entity as its operations generated more than the business that was folded in by African Legend. At the time, Datatec CEO Jens Montanana said combining its local assets with an existing black technology player to create a larger operation with broader skills would be far more effective than simply selling some shares in the business to a black investor. Although Westcon was not included in the new entity, ALC took a 45% stake in it. That meant that both Westcon SA and ALI were 55% owned by Datatec with the rest held by ALC. The deal announced last week has seen Datatec pay R12.7m to buy 19.9% of the shares and the shareholder equity loans in Westcon SA that were held by ALC. That leaves Datatec owning 74.9% of Westcon SA, with ALC still owning 25.1%, but taking 100% control of ALI. ALI is a systems integrator and a local value-added reseller for Sun Microsystems. The company generated a revenue of $51.1m and a gross profit of $1.7m last year after losing money in 2007. Westcon SA distributes information technology equipment from vendors including Cisco. (Source: Business Day) Startel to Invests U.S.$55 Million in Telecommunication in AngolaIt has taken five years to come to fruition but Mundo Startel’s telecoms service has finally been launched. The company said it expects to invest more than US$55 million to capture 100,000 subscribers, according to the CEO Manuel João Carneira. During the launch ceremony of the company's telecommunication service, Startel's CEO said that the institution aims at expanding its activity nationwide, by paying attention to the quality and creating 276 jobs, including 243 for Angolans. Startel D-G, Ernest Nitscke, also informed that as an authorised operator, the company is ready to supply with voice, data and Internet services for Luanda's metropolitan area, as well as countrywide in medium and long terms. The company has a part shareholding from Telecom Namibia. (Source: AGOP) AMD closes South African OfficeAMD has chosen to close its South African branch less than two years after the company established a corporate presence within the region. AMD has chosen to revert to the agency model it previously operated under within South Africa and cited global economic pressure as the reason behind the closure. Country Manager Imi Mosaheb, channel sales executive Nia Zacharias and back office staff have all been retrenched. The local AMD agent that will take on the portfolio is due to be announced in the coming weeks. In keeping with the previous agency model which ran from 2005 to 2007 the local agent will report directly to the AMD Dubai Office where former head of the region Gaith Kadir will once again oversee the market. Kadir refused to be drawn on who the local representative would be, stating that the entities involved were still in the process of finalizing contracts. He did however assure that the agent would be “a very strong AMD person in terms of the technical aspects of the business. He's no stranger to the business and we're fortunate to have him in South Africa." AMD assures that it has no plans to abandon the region, explaining that it simply intends to “make AMD a more agile and streamlined company” ensuring that the move “is not expected to have an impact on availability of AMD processor-based solutions in the country, or on the level of service we bring to our regional customers” (Source: My Broadband) In brief:- Telkom South Africa has won legal permission to award a tender to Ericsson after a High Court judge threw out an application to have the deal halted by a losing bidder. But Telkom's victory is not untarnished, as the judge ruled that Ericsson should have been disqualified from the tender after providing equipment that failed some physical tests. - Zimbabwe’s Nhava Information Communication Technology will invest US$250 million in Kenya as part of its expansion drive. In an interview with the Herald Business, chairman Tinashe Shangwa said the company was working on expanding into the regional and international market in a bid to increase its revenue base. - The World Bank said it had agreed to set aside the sum of $50 million in furtherance of an initiative aimed at promoting Information Communication Technology (ICT) enabled services and the business process outsourcing industry in Nigeria. Key areas of intervention, according to the bank, include infrastructure, connectivity, capacity building and skills development. - Standard Chartered Bank has launched its Internet banking (’iBanking’) service in Ghana. This new product will provide Standard Chartered Bank’s customers in Ghana with access to banking 24 hours a day, 7 days a week anywhere in the world, at any time - from the convenience of a secure web based portal. Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage (briefs)- Rwandatel, the second national telecom operator has currently hit 280,000 subscribers, the company's Public Relations Manager, Cleophas Kabasiita has said. Rwandatel which was officially launched last December has a target of 600,000 subscribers by the end of this year. - Monopoly fixed line network operator Sierratel has launched a 3G CDMA network in the country with help from Chinese equipment vendor Huawei. The project was funded through a loan from the China Import-Export (Exim) Bank and complements the telco’s existing infrastructure with an extra 100,000 lines in Freetown and 14 other cities. - Vodafone said it would introduce its “ring back tone” service to customers in emerging markets, a service only available to the company’s customers in India until now. Ring back tones lets a caller listen to a song or other audio clip chosen by the owner of the mobile device whose number was dialed, instead of letting the caller listen to a traditional dial tone. - South Africa’s open source software company Breadbin Interactive will drive its mobile open source kiosks, branded as Freedom Toasters, to the rest of the continent. The mobile Freedom Toaster kiosks, built with a touch-screen interface, allow users to burn information, music, video, documents and software tools onto CD or flash drive, giving people access to a wealth of free information they did not have in the past.
Dashen Bank and iVeri introduce Mobile Commerce to EthiopiaiVeri Payment Technologies, a provider of multi-channel e-payment solutions, has licensed its Payment Gateway and MiCard e-payment processing solution to Dashen Bank SC, a private commercial bank in Ethiopia. iVeri's Payment Gateway will help Dashen Bank to become the first bank in Ethiopia to acquire mCommerce, eCommerce and Mobile merchant transactions. The bank has also chosen iVeri's MiCard™ software which for the first time will enable Dashen Bank account holders to interact with the bank via SMS. Dashen Bank will deploy the iVeri Payment Gateway software to all their Merchants to process Virtual and Point of Sale transactions. This project will be carried out with the assistance of SS Communications Plc, iVeri's partner in Ethiopia. Dashen Bank is one of the first banks in Ethiopia to be appointed as a principal member of Visa and MasterCard. The bank's decision to select iVeri's technology is part of the next phase of meeting the need for a scalable solution to meet aggressive transaction growth objectives, support for multiple delivery channels and devices, and the ability to offer modern and world-class card payment services to cardholders in Ethiopia. "We have a reputation for harnessing the advanced capabilities of IT to improve our service to customers and contribute to the bottom line," said Ato Lulseged Teferi, president of Dashen Bank. "Our decision to invest in iVeri technology is another example of this. iVeri is Africa's market leader in card acceptance software, and its multi-channel Payment Gateway meets our requirements to enhance our service offerings." iVeri's technology will initially support Point of Sale terminals acceptance and introduce MiCard for cardholder interaction at Dashen Bank. Once these channels are established the Internet and mobile channels will be deployed. With iVeri's MiCard, Dashen Bank will now be able to allow their cardholders and account holders to top up their airtime, get an account balance and transfer value to another card, all using their mobile phone. "iVeri's experience and tailor-made solutions can help banks deliver new and enhanced customer service while giving increased return on investment," said Barry Coetzee, Chief Executive Officer of iVeri. "With iVeri's technology in place, Dashen Bank can address a wide range of processing needs for its e-payment operation, including mobile payments and e-commerce, all on a certified PCI DSS platform (an international data protection standard mandated for Visa and MasterCard transactions) that delivers a secure, reliable and scalable transaction infrastructure." "We are delighted to take the lead in providing Ethiopian cardholders with the convenience of interacting with their accounts via SMS," added Ato Lulseged Teferi. "This marks a significant move ahead in providing useful and time saving services to our customers.” Mobile phone looks set to become the new frontier for Uganda’s farmersAn initiative in two districts of Uganda has community workers sending text messages to farmers. The information may include how to arrest diseases and where to buy uncontaminated seeds. Mobile phones are being used to diagnose and treat crop diseases that cause massive losses to farmers, presenting an opportunity to increase yields as location-specific information about disease threats is made available. An initiative in two districts of Uganda, has community knowledge workers (CKWs) sending text messages to farmers in a given locality. The information may include how to arrest the diseases, and where to buy uncontaminated seeds, as well as tips on how to improve soil quality to increase yields. Aided by these mobile phone messages, farmers in a pilot scheme in the districts of Mbale and Mbusheni, in the east and west of the country respectively, have arrested the spread of banana wilt, a fast-spreading bacterial disease, and banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) through early diagnosis and treatment. “We have trained the CKWs on how to use mobile phones to get information to the farmers. They offer agricultural tips and advice through the phones on what to do and not to do to control the diseases. Farmers even ask questions on wilt and BBTV and they receive automated answers on their phones,” Whitney Gantt of Grameen Foundation, a global anti-poverty organisation told IPS. Banana is the staple food in the east African country, and more than 10 million people depend on it for food as well as cash incomes, according to government figures. Since 2002, banana wilt, whose symptoms include yellow wilting and premature ripening in young plants, has been terrorising farmers and steadily spreading to other parts of the country. In March, authorities launched a national campaign to control the disease which has spread to 21 districts from only 11 last year. According to Gantt, the mobile project is expected to be replicated in other areas across the country. She was among the researchers who gathered in Nairobi to discuss technologies that can generate location-specific (geospatial) information for farmers in order to boost agricultural productivity in Africa. The spatial information experts met in Nairobi March 31 - April 4 as part of African Geospatial Week, organised by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) a global body focusing on agriculture research. Providing farmers with geospatial information about their soils, disease and pest threats, appropriate farming techniques, markets offering competitive prices, imminent weather patterns, emerged as key to ensuring high crop yields, while reducing uncertainties in production. “This information could be known only to experts. The challenge is how do we get it to the farmers out there, and spot-on so that they can benefit?” Nadia Manning- Thomas, a researcher with the International Water Management Institute asked IPS. Apart from mobile phones, Google maps technology can provide tonnes of farm-specific information to farmers. Using this technology, farmers can go online to see climate, soil and fertiliser recommendations for their farms. (Source: IPS)
People- Dora Siliya, the Communications and Transport Minister of Zambia has resigned. - iBurst Africa, the high speed wireless, broadband internet service provider (ISP), has announced the appointment of Tony Dadzie as the company’s new General Manager for Ghana. Events* Elearning AFRICA 2009 4th International Conference on ICT for Development 27-29 May 2009, Dakar, Senegal eLearning Africa 2009 will welcome nearly 300 speakers from 50 countries to Dakar, Senegal. The programme, which is now available on the eLA website, will feature state-of-the-art presentations and interactive workshops, together with practical demonstrations and cutting-edge debates on key issues in the field of eLearning for the African continent. A range of new initiatives will also be presented. For further information visit http://www.elearning-africa.com/ * Mobile Banking & Financial Services Africa 20-22 July 2009, Southern Sun Grayston Hotel, Johannesburg Building on the highly successful inaugural event last year, the conference will again deliver timely insights into the key business, technical and security considerations that all players in the mobile banking and payments industry in Africa must address. For more information and to book your place now, call +44 (0)20 7017 7483 or e-mail your registration to us at registrations@iir-telecoms.com or book online at http://www.iir-events.com/IIR-Conf/page.aspx?id=19296 * MMT 09 - Mobile Money Transfer 26-27 October2009, Dubai. MMT 09 is a 'must attend' event for anyone who is serious about remittances. Over 350 mobile network operators, microfinance institutions, money transfer networks, banks and technology providers will converge at MMT 09 to discuss the best ways to make money from mobile money transfer. Nowhere else in the world will you find so many MMT project leaders all gathered in one place. For more information visit www.mobile-money-transfer.com or email harpreet.sohanpal@clarionevents.com Jobs and OpportunitiesCALLING ALL INNOVATORS 2009 CONTEST Nokia is seeking mobile applications that improve the daily lives of millions of people living in rural and semi-urban areas worldwide. It can include applications for education, health care and more. Also seeking apps that guide individuals to make the right ethical choice and lead a sustainable lifestyle. Deadline: 30 June 2009. Enter for a chance to receive US$10-30K in cash and prizes. The Calling All Innovators contest is open to anyone with bold ideas and tremendous talent. Whether you’re new to mobile or an experienced coder, you could win up great prizes along with new opportunities to grow your business. Prizes include cash; the opportunity to demo your winning application at a Nokia specified event this Fall; and "Spotlight" placement featuring your winning application on Nokia's newly announced Ovi Store, where consumers will find the best mobile applications and content for their Nokia devices. For further information visit http://callingallinnovators.com/default.aspx CERTIFICATE IN TELECOMMS POLICY, REGULATION AND MANAGEMENT The Certificate in Telecommunications Policy, Regulation and Management is offered by the LINK Centre, School of Public and Development Management, University of the Witwatersrand - Southern Africa’s leading research and training body in the field of information and communications technology policy, regulation and management. It provides an essential background to understanding regulatory and policy issues and challenges in the rapidly changing telecommunications and broadcasting sectors. This course commences in May 2009. The course web page is available at http://link.wits.ac.za/training/tc1.html Contact Tennyson Mashiloane + 27 11 717-4595 or via email tennyson.Mashiloane@wits.ac.za for more information or to enrol. Contracts* Rwanda Development Board and Cormatic - Rwanda The Rwanda Development Board/Information and Communication Technology, Tuesday signed a deal worth US $5.2m with a Swedish ICT firm, Coromatic, to establish a National Data Centre (NDC) where all national data will be stored. * Movicel and Amdoc - Angola Angolan mobile operator Movicel has selected Amdocs’ Compact Convergence solution for real-time charging and service delivery to support its expanding CDMA2000-based operations, and to establish a foundation for offering 3G services. The solution will also enable Movicel rapidly to introduce new, value added, pre-paid and post-paid services and promotions across any network platform. * MTN and cVidya - South Africa South Africa's MTN has ordered a Revenue Assurance platform from Vidya Networks, along with a deal with HP to act as system integrator. No financial details of the contract were provided. “We are delighted to be working with MTN and look forward to enabling MTN to improve its bottom line and efficiency. cVidya’s recognized the importance of the African market and we therefore consider MTN to be a strategic project, as cVidya’s first Tier 1 project in Africa,” commented Alon Aginsky, CEO at cVidya Networks.
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