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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 470 4th September 2009 The world of virtual networks: Effortel seeks to enter African market with an MVNO offerAfrica is in two minds about MVNOs: on the one hand, they seem to have taken root in South Africa but elsewhere they provoke nervous reactions from other market players. Mobile Virtual Network Operators (to give them their full name) are the natural next step, particularly in those markets that are highly competitive. MVNOs suit mobile operators who are struggling to gain market share: the MVNO helps build growth and increases the financial contribution to paying off CAPEX. For the investor, an MVNO in the African context probably suits someone who already has a niche customer base, whether a financial institution or a retailer to a diaspora community. Russell Southwood spoke to Effortel’s CEO Arkadi Panitch about why he’s looking at Africa for new MVNO growth. Effortel’s CEO Arkadi Panitch worked at Orange in marketing before he launched his own company. One of his tasks at Orange was to look into what strategy the company might put together to engage with the idea of MVNOs for the low cost end of the market. He suggested forming a partnership with various retail chains including the French-owned Carrefour. The idea proved to be too “off-the-map” for Orange thinking at the time so Panitch took the idea and formed his own company to do it. The idea took time to take off but one day he got a call from Carrefour from someone who said:”Let’s talk about it.” Carrefour had reached a point where the sales of food and non-food goods in its outlets was levelling off. So it was looking for services which it sell through its retail outlets. The obvious initial service for all supermarkets was finance, to help customers buy more. But selling pre-paid mobile services also fitted in nicely. It had obvious revenue benefits and less tangible benefits like building brand loyalty. The essence of the deal was that Effortel provided the telecoms experience and Carrefour did the retail part. According to Panitch:”We brought them the product and made sure that the interface with the mobile operator worked, managing customer care, sales care, back office and part of front office.” The service is branded and Effortel delivered it for Carrefour Belgium with the Dutch group KPN which has a mobile operation in that country. From the mobile operator’s point of view, it’s about having somebody working with you on developing revenues who knows what they’re doing. Most African mobile operators offer a bewildering array of pre-paid offers but not all have the resources to chase niche markets successfully. As Panitch observes:”It may not fit into their existing processes. They are geared to do mass markets and are focused on managing this. It’s a bit like asking VW to start building customised cars.” So from the African mobile operator’s point of view it’s about the ability to add business at minimum cost:”They don’t get the retail revenues but they do get wholesale revenues help to cover CAPEX. It’s a pure financial contribution.” Effortel has five MVNOs in four countries – Belgium, Poland, Italy (targeted at a diaspora community) and Taiwan – and has had over 600,000 activations. ”A lot of the customers came from the number one operator and lot from the south of Belgium where KPN was weak. The combination of these two things have made it a good fit for KPN.” It will best suit an operator who is trying to develop market share who understands the need to outsource business:”It could be the number 3 or 4 operator in a market and they need to fill their network with business and are starving for traffic. Incumbents tend to react defensively and fear cannibalisation. Or they say, we can do it ourselves. Vodafone in Italy decided they wanted to be the best in the business so decided to outsource. But they are the exception rather than the rule.” The breakeven point for an MVNO operation is quite low in the right circumstances: “Depending on ARPUs and airtime margins, it can be anywhere between 60,000-100,000 subscribers. ARPUs in Taiwan are US$6-7 and those in Belgium are slightly higher than that”. At a global level, MVNO subscribers represent 5% of the market and in some markets take as much as a 15% share. So what’s the attraction of Africa?:”It’s a huge continent with a lot of possibilities for MVNO business. In Europe, it’s more difficult because operators want to do everything themselves. There are more possibilities in Africa where it will cost less money to start up.” The best investor candidates will be those who are already running a service business in a niche segment:”For example, it might involve Lebanese or Indian communities where the investor already has clients and it becomes an incremental investment.” The investment needed is in the order of US$0.5 million and in the operations so far launched Panitch says that the payback has come in under a year. In June last year there was a new story announcing that Kirene, a mineral water brand in Senegal was launching an MVNO with Orange Senegal. This was followed by very rapidly by a communiqué from the regulator ARTP saying that the Kirene offer was not an MVNO (simply co-branding) and that the country’s regulatory framework could not accommodate MVNOs. Two things are happening that favour MVNOs: firstly, there is intense competition in more liberalised markets and those making less speedy progress need all the help they can get; and secondly, within three years, growth slow down in some markets and operators will need to come up bright new ways of pulling customers away from competitors. 
Nigeria: Fresh 2.3GHz Auction - Ministry Wants NCC to be More TransparentNigerians will, in few weeks, witness a fresh bidding exercise on the nation's 2.3GHz spectrum licence, following the acceptance of the regulator NCC to conduct another auction exercise as directed by the Federal Government. The Ministry of Information and Communications has, however, advised the NCC to be more transparent and avoid being hasty while carrying out the fresh bidding process. A senior staff of the Ministry, who preferred anonymity, said there were lessons learnt from the initial auction exercise that was cancelled by the Federal Government, and called on NCC to follow due process and be more open in conducting the next round of auction. The NCC through its spokesman, Reuben Muoka, had last week, expressed the NCC's readiness to conduct a fresh bidding exercise on the 2.3 GHz spectrum licence. According to Muoka, "the Commission pledges its absolute commitment to due process, respect for law, and unequivocal commitment to openness and transparency, and has always been guided by these principles in all its licensing processes." Following the President's directive, the Board of NCC, chaired by Ahmed Joda, met last week in Abuja to review the issues concerning the new 2.3GHz frequency spectrum licensing process. Relaying the outcome of the meeting in a statement, Muoka said the programme for the fresh bidding round for licences in the 2.3GHz band, and other frequency bands had been initiated by the Board of the Commission, and that full details would be announced in due course. NCC advised all stakeholders to look out for public announcements in regard to a fresh bidding exercise. (source: Daily Independent) Ghana: Q1 report from regulator NCA shows new entrant Zain’s ARPUs at only US$3According to Ghana News Agency, the First Quarter Report of 2009 from the country’s regulator NCA shows that MTN’s ARPU $8.00 per month, Tigo’s $5.30, Kasapa’s $4.70 and Zain’s only $3.00. The figure for Vodafone was not available. Vodafone and Tigo have stopped charging post-paid subscribers line rental fees. New entrants always take a financial hit as they enter the market. Orange Kenya announced a US$2.67 ARPU at the end of last year which it says is now improving. Zain must be hoping that its ARPU will go up in the coming months. However, Globacom’s Glo has also just entered the market so a pick-up in ARPUs may take longer. The only light at the end of the tunnel from the operators’ point of view is that the regulator has announced that it will not allow any more new entrants into the market. MTN is the market leader with 6.8 million subscribers has 54 per cent of the 12.64 million mobile phone users in the country. Tigo with 2.9 million subscribers has a 23 percent market share. Subscriber figures from other operators are as follows: Vodafone (1.65 million), Zain (890,000) and Kasapa (400,000). (Source: GNA) South Africa: 25c interconnect rate fair, says expertThe South African interconnect rates battle continues to rumble on. It was given new life this week when telecoms regulatory expert Alison Gillwald said that rates sould fall by 80% to get in line with international standards. The high interconnect rates in South Africa have been under fire for some time with consumers, telecoms companies and politicians calling for a reduction in interconnect prices. The new Minister of Communications even attempted to intervene if market speculation is to be believed, but so far the main players – MTN, Vodacom and Telkom – have given no indication that a price reduction is on the cards. The difficulty for the operators is that they make too much revenue from this level of interconnect rates to give it up without a fight. ICASA councilor Fungai Sibanda last week gave South Africans some hope by saying that interconnect rates will come down sooner than operators expect, and that telecoms players may be well advised to drop their rates in anticipation of regulatory interventions. Whilst it is heartening to hear the Regulator issue such a strong warning to industry players many may view it as an empty threat as ICASA has developed a reputation for backing down when companies threaten legal action against them. Sibanda further indicated that a comprehensive process is needed to put regulations in place to deal with interconnect prices, a process likely to take a long time if ICASA’s past record is anything to go by. Sibanda said that ICASA expects to issue a revised discussion document on the subject of interconnect rates, which will include the Regulators’ ‘research and market studies’, before the end of 2009. While ICASA is still uncertain about what an appropriate interconnect rate should be, Research ICT Africa Director Alison Gillwald suggested an interconnect rate of R0.25 instead of the current peak-time cellular interconnect rate of R1.25 per minute. Gillwald added that R0.25 per minute can be seen as a conservative figure which leaves a fair margin for profit to operators. (source: Mybroadband.co.za) Orascom will rebrand its African ops Leo shortlyOrascom Telecom will rebrand its four African mobile networks in the coming months as it looks to build a pan-African mobile presence years after having sold most of its businesses on the continent. Cairo-based Orascom was an early entrant into the African mobile market, but sold off much of its operation there when the company faced debt and liquidity challenges in 2003-2004. It has cautiously re-entered the market in the past year through a new subsidiary, Telecel Globe, which now runs four mobile networks. All four, trading under separate names and logos, will soon be known as Leo, said Kai Uebach, the chief executive of Telecel. Leo means “now” in Swahili and “lion” in Spanish and Latin. “We are going for a consistent regional brand and the intention is having something that is fresh, like Africa, a living brand,” he said. “It will be a brand that is modern, part of a state of the art, lifestyle-focused network.” As part of the rebranding, Orascom will also move toward offering common services to customers using each network. While regional operators like South Africa’s MTN and Zain have built large operations targeting Africa’s major markets, Telecel is focusing on small countries with low levels of telecommunications investment. It owns networks in Zimbabwe, Namibia, Burundi and the Central African Republic. While Uebach declined to comment on Orascom’s involvement in the Zain sale process, he said his company “will definitely be on the acquiring side” of the consolidation expected in the African market in the coming years. (source: The National) In brief:- MTN South Africa and Clicks terminated an agreement for the sale of 17 Musica stores to the cellular operator, citing certain legal conditions that could not be met, the groups said last week. Clicks said the deal had been terminated by mutual agreement after less than half of the landlords, on whose consent the transaction hinged, approved leases being assigned to MTN. MTN in March announced it would buy 17 Musica stores and lease space in six other Musica outlets from listed health and beauty group Clicks for about R15 million. MTN planned to turn the stores into cellphone retailers, to expand its footprint. - The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has published its 'Telecommunications Statistics from 2000 to June 2009' report, showing the country was home to a total of 14.723 million subscribers by the end of June 2009. The incumbent cellcos collectively added a net 840,000 subscribers in the three months to 30 June, with market leader Vodacom attracting 251,143 new users for a mid-year total of 5.921 million. Second place went to Zain which signed up a net 330,583 new users for a total of 4.435 million, however it faces an uphill task if it is to reach its stated goal of six million customers by the end of this year. Third place operator Tigo boosted its base by 314,565 to 3.264 million, although Zantel Mobile – once the nation’s fastest growing cellco – shipped 43,820 customers during the period for a total of 986,670. Meanwhile, the mobile arm of fixed line operator TTCL lost a net 9,000 subscribers in the second quarter for a total of 111,713 and three-year-old Benson Informatics Limited (BOL) had 3,500 subscribers, up 500 since the start of the year. - Senegal was home to a total of 6,283 million mobile users by 30 June 2009, a cellular penetration of 51.63%, according to data published by the national regulator the Agence de Regulation des Telecoms et Postes (ARTP). However, net growth slowed in the second quarter of the year to 5.01% year-on-year – the lowest seen in a year – and below the quarterly growth of 11.03% in Q109 and 7.57% in Q408. As at 30 June 2009 Orange Senegal had a total of 4.04 million customers, ahead of MIC’s local subsidiary Tigo (Sentel) with 2.11 million and Sudatel affiliate Expresso with 133,194. Of total mobile base, 6.24 million were on pre-paid plans (99.33%) and 42,313 (0.67%) were on monthly contracts.
South Africa: Operators give users more bandwidth but no price reductionsThe battle of the bandwidth suppliers has begun, with MTN and MWeb not dropping their fees but instead increasing bandwidth to end users. This is a sort of price war in reverse: the prices stay the same but the volume is increased. MWeb is targeting its 300,000 residential customers by increasing the size of its data bundles. Subscribers with a 1GB data cap will now get 2GB for an unchanged R145 per month. Users with a 2GB cap will get 3GB for R219, and 3GB packages rise to 5GB for R299. Telkom began the trend last month by giving its customers larger packages for the same price. Other operators and internet service providers (ISPs) will be under pressure to react if their fees look over-inflated in comparison. MTN Business is only targeting corporate clients, but since some ISPs buy its bandwidth the benefits may filter down to consumers too. The capacity increase was made possible by combining MTN's data networks with those of Verizon's African operations, which it acquired this year. "We put the two networks together, and one and one really do equal three," said MTN Business executive Angela Gahagan. All its corporate customers would be entitled to 50% more bandwidth at no extra cost, she said. "People have only been buying what they can afford, not what they need. We are helping businesses by giving them extra capacity, and we are looking forward to seeing new customers come on board because we are doing that." Gahagan said MTN was not just dropping its fees, as it had to pay its overheads and invest in its quality of service. It was more important to offer a wider variety of business services, she said. World Wide Worx research found SA's largest corporations would use more bandwidth if it was cheaper. MD Arthur Goldstuck said a 10% price cut would persuade 4% of firms to buy more capacity, a 20% cut would see 29% of corporate clients pump up the volume, a 30% cut would see 54% up bandwidth and with 40% almost two-thirds would dramatically increase bandwidth bought. "Whoever is responsible for bringing costs down significantly is going to be able to gobble up a chunk of the market," he said. However, price was only one factor influencing choice of network supplier. Service quality and network maintenance were just as important. (source: Business Day) Botswana: Consortium Brings Cheaper Internet ConnectivityThe much-anticipated undersea fibre optic cable linking Africa to Europe is expected to bring cheaper internet connectivity to Botswana before the end of the year after a local consortium clinched a $38 million deal with wholesale bandwidth provider Seacom. Abari Communications, a majority citizen-owned consortium said its bandwidth deal is five times bigger than the current capacity in the country. The company said the increased capacity will result in high speed Internet and a drastic reduction in costs. "The prices will gradually go down because we use an open system model, whereby we offer the same price to all internet service operators," Abari Communications managing director, Neo Nwako said after the launch of the deal on Tuesday. The Seacom 17,000 kilometre cable will link Gaborone through Mtunzini town in South Africa via Johannesburg. In other parts of the region Seacom had to develop its own backhaul to link the marine cabling but in Botswana it will use existing fibre optic networks. Botswana currently has 500 mbps of internet capacity. The country has been relying on the more expensive satellites connectivity which charges as high as $6,000 dollars per megabyte. The Seacom international fibre bandwidth offering will result in Botswana accessing about 2,300 megawatts of high speed Internet capacity. This allows information to be sent at speeds of about 1.28 terabytes per second, fast enough to stream high-definition video. Seacom Africa Project Manager, John Mathwasa said at the launch that internet prices fell by as much as 30 percent in countries where they launched the high capacity bandwidth. Seacom offers uniform pricing for its bandwidth across the region. The company publishes the prices to ensure transparency. African Business Process Outsourcing firms (call centres) are expected to be among the big winners in the new development. The call centres will be able to compete on a level platform with their counterparts in the Asian economies. Besides Botswana, the $600 million Seacom cable project links Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique to India and Europe. Botswana is also party to other marine cable service providers competing with Seacom to serve the African region. These include the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), the East African Marine System (TEAMs) and West African Cable System (WACS). The Minister of Communications, Science and Technology, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi said they are currently in negotiations with all the sea cable providers to make Botswana an ICT hub in the region. "I don't see a reason why not all the providers cannot come to Botswana even if we are a landlocked country," she said. The Minister said Cape Town has served the region well as a switch point and it is time for a landlocked country like Botswana to enter the fray in case of disasters at sea. "I want to see Botswana as a future data bank and I don't see a reason why not," she said. (source: Mmegi/The Reporter) Kenya: Tata Banks On Fibre Optic Cable to Grow RevenueTata Communications in Kenya hopes to cash in on the expected surge in Internet traffic as a result of the new undersea fibre cables to grow its revenues. The Indian firm anticipates that with the completion of laying of fibre-optic cables throughout the country and the supporting infrastructure, applications such as movie, video downloads and online gaming will be possible and it is betting on this premise to grow its income. Relying on past experience from emerging markets where such applications have been the key revenue drivers in the telecommunication industry, the firm is expanding its operations in Kenya. The firm has been in the country for 10 years through its subsidiary Novatel. But the growth depends on the ability of its customers, such as ISPs, to offer quality service at an affordable price to end users. "Supported by high-performance voice and data services we believe our customers will be able to build on their businesses," said Claude Sassoulas, Europe and Africa managing director during a media briefing in Nairobi last week. Tata Communications, which is one of the largest telecommunication companies in the world and handles 17 per cent of the world's ISP traffic, says that soon it will be able to reduce latency time from 500 to 170 milliseconds. But there were no promises of cost reductions for end-users because Tata Communications does not deal with them directly as telecommunication operators and Internet service providers are the ones who will determine the prices. "There is still infrastructure to be built, but we expect competitive pricing by ISPs and this could lower costs to end users," Sassoulas said. (source: Business Daily) In brief:- A new satellite hub has been launched by a Canadian company Juch Tech Incorporation to deliver Internet services to Africa. The new Internet service, via the Trans-Africa satellite, is now operational. A Nigerian company named Interweb Satcom based in Abuja will be the reseller for the service. - South Africa’s state-owned infrastructure provider has caused controversy by applying for two licences, one covering wholesale and the other retail sales to end-users. It is difficult for state-owned entities like this one to gain trust in the market if they compete with their customers. Understandably, ISPA, the ISP association in South Africa has registered its objections to the regulator ICASA over the retail licence application.
Uganda: Sh3 Billion Lost to Software PiracyMicrosoft loses Sh2.8b monthly to piracy in Busoga, Buganda and Ankole, a survey has shown. However, the firm loses over $15b (about sh31.7 trillion) annually due to software piracy, Andrew Waititu, the firm's anti-piracy manager for eastern and southern Africa, has disclosed. "In Uganda, over 86% of the firm's software loaded on computers is not paid for or counterfeit," he added. Software piracy is the unauthorised copying of software and its illegal distribution for business or personal use. A total of 143,360 pirated compact discs (CDs) and 512 computers are sold per month in Kampala central, according to a random survey carried out by the Uganda Performing Rights Society early this year. James Wasula, the general secretary, said households, telephone firms, banks and beer companies were the major users of the pirated software. These revelations were made during a journalists' training at the Kampala Serena Hotel last week. Worldwide, personal computer software piracy stands at 50%, meaning that out of two software packages sold, one is unpaid for. "Software pirates are all over the world. They are engaged in large-scale reproduction of our products, which has resulted in this massive loss to the company," Waititu said. The rate, however, is higher in other countries. Pirates replicated 70,836 copies of Vista, a Microsoft product, in the last one year alone. The product costs each $100,000 (about sh207.1m). Georgia has the highest software piracy rates at 95% followed by Bangladesh, Armenia and Zimbabwe at 92%, and Sri Lanka and Moldova 90%. Libya, Nigeria, Zambia, Cameroon, Algeria, Pakistan and China also have high software piracy rates. Waititu said China and Hong Kong had the leading software counterfeiters, who operate large factories. (source: New Vision) Nigeria: 'Citizens Spends N25 Billion On Software Imports', says NOTAPNigeria has spent over N25 billion in the past decade to acquire foreign software and other forms of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), has said. Director General, NOTAP, Engineer Umar Bindir, who made this claim this during a visit to the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in Abuja, said that the amount represents only companies that registered their technology transfer agreements with the office. "About N25 billion has been spent by different companies, especially the banking sector, to acquire foreign software and other forms of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products for their operations in the past decade and this affects only the companies in Nigeria that registered their technology transfer agreements", Bindir added. (source: Daily Trust) Expansion of ICT sector fuels Egypt’s economic growthReports last week revealed that Egypt’s overall economy expanded by 4.7 percent in the fiscal year through June, fuelled by the expansion of its information and communications technology sector which grew by 14.6 percent. In the past year, Egypt has strengthened its position as one of the world’s fastest growing outsourcing destinations through a number of international MoUs and investment in the country’s ICT infrastructure and education. Commenting on the growth of the sector, Dr. Hazem Abdelazim, CEO of the country’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency said: “We have seen huge growth in our ICT sector over the past year, despite the globally challenging financial climate. More than 10 multinational companies have expanded or outsourced their business to Egypt in the past 12 months and we are continuing to support the development of the industry through investment in infrastructure and education.” Egypt has been highly aggressive over the past decade in delivering on major infrastructure, bandwidth, educational and telecommunications projects to drive increased interest in companies looking to establish major global service delivery centers in the country. In June, Egypt's Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Dr. Tarek Kamel, joined executives from Cisco, Xceed and the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) to formally inaugurate an international contact center for Cisco customer service and support for customers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and emerging markets. Google recently signed a USD$10 million contract regarding business and workforce development in Egypt and HSBC is opening a regional contact centre there in 2010. Egypt has also been excelling in industry reports. A.T. Kearney recently positioned Egypt as sixth on its 2009 Global Services Location Index, an improvement of seven ranks from 2007. Currently, companies such as Microsoft, Vodafone, Teleperformance, Wipro, SQS, Valeo and Alcatel all have offices in Egypt’s Smart Village, a 600-acre technology business park in Cairo. Work has also begun on the first of three buildings in the ‘Maadi Contact Centre Park’ in Cairo and, when completed in 2012, will hold 45,000 BPO workers. (source: Mena Report) In Brief:- Computer manufacturer and technology importer Mustek 's profit has taken a serious dive, with a loss of R67.,8m caused by foreign exchange fluctuations bringing its figures down, the company announced last week.
Morocco: Meditel’s new owners may list stake, invite foreign partner in futureThe new owners of Morocco’s second largest mobile operator Medi Telecom (Meditel) are considering a listing on the stock exchange as well as the future possibility of selling a stake to a foreign strategic investor. Meditel became 100% Moroccan-owned this week when Telefonica and Portugal Telecom (PT) sold their respective 32.18% stakes for a total of EUR800 million (USD1.14 billion) to companies controlled by Othman Benjelloun and Fipar Holding, a unit of state-controlled financial institution Caisse de Depots et de Gestion (CDG). The Benjelloun group’s investment vehicle Finance.Com will reportedly take a 50% stake (up from its current 5%, alongside sister company RMA Watanya’s existing 13.05%), and CDG will control the other 50% (up from the 17.59% it currently owns via Holdco, the investment vehicle it established with conglomerate Akwa Group). The deal remains subject to regulatory approval, expected by the end of the year. In comments to the press reported by Reuters, Othman Benjelloun claimed that domestic ownership would bring stability to the company, as Telefonica and PT ‘squabbled a lot and that had an impact on management and strategy for Meditel.’ However, CDG managing director Anas Alami told the same press conference that the new owners could ‘perfectly envisage opening one day Meditel's capital to an international telecoms operator. The decision on that would depend on the quality of partnership we could develop with this operator and the added value it would bring,’ whilst both he and Benjelloun indicated their openness to a public flotation. After seemingly trumping major bidders including Qatar Telecom, Etisalat, Batelco, Saudi Oger, Telecom Egypt and Turkcell, Benjelloun boasted ‘We held winning cards the seven bidders competing against us did not have.’ According to previous local reports the Moroccan investors’ advantages included pre-emptive rights on stake sales, whilst Reuters writes that Finance.Com holds pre-emptive rights in any further stake sale in the company. (source: Telegeography) 13 bidders interested in buying Nigeria’s disastrous incumbent NitelA total of 13 telecoms companies have expressed an interest in acquiring a 75% stake in Nigeria’s struggling incumbent telco Nitel and its mobile arm M-Tel according to a statement from the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). The government relaunched the sale process in July of this year after a previous attempt to sell the indebted fixed line operator failed. According to the BPE’s statement, the interested parties are: Etisalat Nigeria, Omen International Limited, Summit Group, MTI Consortium, Finetek.Com/Ericsson, MTNL Limited of India, Globacom, MTN Nigeria Communications, Anas Network Services Limited, Telefonica of Spain, MetroPCS Communications, Brymedia, and Galaxy Backbone. It The BPE added that those pre-qualified for the next stage are expected to pay a non-refundable fee of USD25,000 for bidding documents and comply with the confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement. The BPE also announced that an evaluation committee has been formed to independently assess each of the submissions, and preference would be given to bidders who wish acquire Nitel’s fixed lines, transmission backbone, M-Tel and SAT-3 components together. The deadline for interested bidders to express an interest expired on 28 August 2009 and interested parties have until 2 October 2009 to submit technical and financial bids. (source: Telegeography) South Africa: Huge Group’s audited results show R2.7 million increase in revenuesHuge Group, an AltX listed company specialising in managed telecommunications, last week reported that its revenues for the year ended 28 February 2009 had increased by a further R2.7 million with the auditing of the year-end results. The results announced in May this year were reviewed by the auditors but not audited because of delays caused by discussions between Huge and the JSE which affected the accounting treatment of derivatives contracts held by the company. The subsequent audit has increased revenues for the financial year to R608,83 million from the reviewed figure of R605,85 million, following the reallocation of a bad debt provision. The group’s net asset value per share for the year to February benefited from a marginal upward adjustment to 234.91 cents compared to the 234.7 cents reported in May, with tangible net asset value per share being revised to 31.05 cents from the previous 30.81 cents. Huge CEO, James Herbst, said that none of the changes were material, and they had no effect on attributable earnings, headline earnings or earnings per share. Huge Group, South Africa’s leading managed telecommunications company, remains profitable and cash generative, with revenues that are by nature recurring or annuity based. Its cash generated from operations for the year ended 28 February 2009 was R55.7 million. Kenya: Essar Group buys out Econet WirelessIndian telecommunications firm, Essar Group, has assumed majority shareholding in Essar Telecom Kenya after buying out Econet Wireless Kenya. Essar Telecom Kenya Chief Executive Officer Srinivasa Iyengar, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Nation last Wednesday revealed that they now have an 80 per cent stake giving it the control required to carry out a countrywide network expansion. “Previously, we had a 35 per cent stake which was holding us back in accessing funds from lenders. But now we have enough money to see us through our expansion programme,” said Iyengar. He said that the entire yu network rollout is costing $450 million out of which $200 million is equity through the Essar Group. “We have already received $50 million funding and the rest will be coming in phases in a five-year plan,” he said. On Tuesday this week, the company announced that its yu network was now available countrywide. Iyengar said that in the nine months that they have been in operation, the mobile phone firm been able to net 600,000 subscribers with a target of two million by March next year. He said the company is in talks for possible takeovers in Uganda and Congo. “The journey has been long for this brand but with the nationwide reach, we can now compete with the rest of the operators,” he said. (source: Daily Nation) In brief:- Zain, whose shareholders voted to lift a cap restricting ownership last Monday, is in talks to sell a stake in its African operations, its chief executive said. Zain is in talks with a number of partners concerning its African assets and "all scenarios are possible", Saad al-Barrak said after an extraordinary shareholder meeting. "There is a demand (for) African assets beyond what we expected. There are a number of partners interested and we are still in preliminary talks," he told reporters. Barrak was quoted by a local newspaper earlier this month as saying Zain was in talks with three major telecoms firms, including one from India. - Access Kenya’s unaudited results to the end of 30 June 2009 show that its revenues rose to KS1.06 billion, an increase of 55% compared to the KS682 million achieved in the first six months of 2008. This increase was achieved through strong growth in all sectors of the business. Gross profit in absolute terms rose from KS343 milloon in the same period last year KS468 million this year. Gross profit margin in percentage terms fell slightly reflecting a small decrease in the gross margin of the Internet business and the higher proportion of lower margin IT revenues in the mix compared to last year. - The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) has revealed that an equity partner for incumbent fixed line provider Zambia Telecommunications Company (Zamtel) will be selected through an open tender process. In addition, the agency announced that the tender would be open to both local and foreign companies. Prior to the tender it is understood that the ZDA will undertake a study on how best to implement the process. The move comes following the government’s announcement last month that it had approved the sale of a 75% stake in the telco in a bid to save it from collapse; the remaining 25% will be retained by the state. It is expected that the successful winner of the tender will take its stake in Zamtel by January 2009, and it has been estimated that it will cost around USD200 million to capitalise the ailing operator. Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage (briefs)- Subscribers of Nigeria’s Starcomms are in for lengthy conversations this Ramadan period as the network offers a record tariff slash on on-net calls. During the promo, all Starcomms subscribers using both mobile and fixed lines and those who purchased Starcomms phones during the period, with the exception of tele-center operators on the telemax tariff programme, will pay only one naira (N1) per minute for calls made within the network between the hours of 10.00 pm and 6.00 am. - Essar Telecommunication Kenya (ETK - previously Econet Wireless Kenya) has announced that following the activation of 500 base stations this month the company will have attained national network coverage, Kenya’s Daily Nation reports. The cellco, which operates under the ‘yu’ brand, said that subscribers will now be able to enjoy clear mobile calls and data services nationally with seamless coverage on the Mombasa-Nairobi-Busia highway and beyond. The firm also stated that its customer base has exceeded 600,000 and that as the network is expanded it is likely to achieve its target of two million subscribers by March 2010. - Meanwhile, Zain Kenya has revealed plans to launch a subscriber discount service offering customers price cuts of up to 90%. Levi Nyakundi, acting marketing director of Zain Kenya, said: ‘Customers will be required to subscribe for only KES500 (USD6.30) daily so that they can take advantage of the guaranteed savings.’ Nyakundi explained that with the new service, ‘Zain Supa Talk’, customers will be able to make calls at a half price during the day and save up to 90% during the night. - Econet Wireless Zimbabwe announced last Friday the launch of commercial 3G services, including mobile Internet access via handsets and datacards, in tandem with an expanded nationwide launch of GPRS services. The country’s largest wireless operator has recently installed a satellite earth station to provide uplink services for the new W-CDMA-based network. A spokesperson for the company said it now expects ‘90% of internet users to migrate to 3G datacards within a few months.’
Microsoft launches OneApp/Mibli for mobile Internet in South Africa with Blue Label TelecomsBlue Label Telecoms is touting its partnership with Microsoft as a potentially lucrative source of income, with them jointly launching a service that lets people with low-end cellphones use Internet applications on the small screen. Blue Label CEO Mark Levy last week said his company had worked with Microsoft for 18 months to create Mibli, a service designed for the masses in developing nations. Mibli can be downloaded to a cellphone to let people run applications including Facebook, twitter and instant messaging services. Local software developers will be encouraged to create new applications or games to run through the system. Mibli and Microsoft's OneApp software are free to download and come with more than a dozen applications, including a mobile wallet. It will be aimed at users whose phones can connect to basic data services and install applications, but have limited memory and processing power. The system keeps the processing and storage burden off the phone and on the Internet, so only a very small piece of software is stored on the handset itself. The software will let people do things they could not do before, including paying bills or diagnosing their health issues, and will provide a better mobile experience for millions of people who want to do more with the handset they already own, the companies say. It also uses data networks very efficiently, to lower the bills incurred by accessing online data. "When people saw their normal phone running these fancy applications their eyes lit up," said Microsoft's senior director of mobile product management, Tim McDonough. "What we're letting you do is get access to the applications and services you want from a device you already own. If you don't have a PC, your phone may be your only computing device." The US software giant owns 11,99% of Blue Label Telecoms, which it bought just before the company listed in 2007 for about R560m. As well as buying a stake, Microsoft wants to sell its products, services and advertising through Blue Label's network of point-of- sale devices in emerging markets, with the companies sharing the revenue that generates. (source: Business Day) Google kicks off the work to launch Street View in South Africa in 2010The local arm of Google and Toyota will start taking snapshots of South Africa’'s suburban streets for the coming version of Google Street View in the country. Street View is a feature on Google Maps that allows users to gain a 360-degree view of a given street, or area. The feature has become both contentious and popular in the established markets. It allows users to virtually explore and navigate a neighbourhood through panoramic street-level images. It is also available in Google Earth and on Google Maps for Mobile. Google SA's newly-appointed country manager, Stephen Newton, announced earlier this year that the company had intentions of building a Street View version for SA. At the time, he explained international users would expect to see similar functionality in Google products to what they are used to. Over the next few weeks, Google will use a fleet of Toyota Prius vehicles mounted with camera equipment to take in the Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban and Port Elizabeth streetscapes. "We are thrilled to be partnering with Google and supplying our fuel-efficient and environmental-friendly Prius for this groundbreaking project in SA. South Africans and international visitors alike will benefit tremendously from Street View, which is both fun and practical,” says Toyota's senior VP for sales and marketing, Andrew Kirby. Tourism minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk says the Internet is a good way to promote SA and its cities. “Street View is going to make SA more accessible, both to locals and international visitors. It will give tourists a taste of the variety that the country offers, and a chance to research their holidays in advance, all with the click of a mouse.” He adds that, with the upcoming World Cup, it is good to see an international business, like Google, deploying innovative technology to promote the country. While it will be some time before South Africans will be able to access Street View on products like Maps, Google says the solution will be available before the World Cup next year. (source: ItWeb)
People- The CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah has underscored the importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to the growth and development of most emerging economies in Africa. Citing Asian countries as worthy examples Dr Spio-Garbrah emphasised the need for African Governments to intensify their efforts and solidify their commitments to take a leading role in promoting rural connectivity. The CTO CEO was addressing some 150 delegates made up of various ICT stakeholders, in Livingstone, Zambia, at the opening of a three-day conference on Africa Rural Communications organised by the London-based CTO. In its fourth year this year's conference was under the theme "A vision for the Future", and was in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Transport of Zambia. - Glo Mobile Ghana, one of the latest entrants in the country's mobile telecommunications industry, on Tuesday unveiled 17 personalities as ambassadors to promote their brand. The ambassadors drawn across the music, movie, sports and entertainment sectors is in line with the cellular outfit's corporate policy of recognising outstanding achievements and encouraging enterprise. They include Black Stars striker Manuel Junior Agogo, Ayigbe Edem, Nii Addo Quaynor 'Tinny', Amakye Dede, Paapa Yankson, George Kwabena Aidoo (Kwabena Kwabena), Gyedu Blay Ambolley and Jackie Appiah. Others are Van Vicker, Irene Logan, Nadia Buari, Nana Wiafe Asante Mensah (ASEM), Pat Thomas, Reggie Rockstone, Sherifatu Gunu and Wutah. At a media briefing, Mr David Naji, National Sales Coordinator of Globacom, the parent company of Glo Mobile Ghana, said the signing of the ambassadors adds up to the company's objective to roll out excellent and innovative telecommunications services that will transform the telecoms sector. Events:* Telecoms World Africa 31 August - 4 September 2009, Cape Town international Convention Centre - Cape Town Telecoms World Africa is an established forum for the communications sector in Africa. The only one of its kind, this event provides a platform for key stakeholders to discover the opportunities for growth in Africa, and establish themselves as market leaders… For more information visit website: http://www.terrapinn.com/2009/telecomza/ or email: katia.selibas@terrapinn.co.za * MOZAMBIQUE NATIONAL ICT CONGRESS 17-18 September 2009, Centro Internacional de Conferencia Joaquim Chissano, Maputo Held under the auspices of the Mozambique Ministry of Science & Technology, this is the annual gathering of Mozambique’s rapidly growing ICT community, with a two-day conference and industry expo. Users and vendors of ICT systems and solutions will be sharing problems, knowledge and ideas in the stimulating conference programme, with high-level local and international speakers. There is simultaneous translation between English and Portuguese to facilitate international participation. The recent commissioning of the Seacom undersea cable link to Maputo will be a major focus of the conference, which has the theme “Optimising network managements and creating content for the fibre era”. For the full programme visit Aitec Africa’s website (www.aitecafrica.com) * EAST AFRICAN FIBRE SUMMIT 22-23 September 2009, Laico Regency Hotel, Nairobi With the landing of East Africa’s first undersea fibre cables, the region is on the eve on a communications revolution - the transition from a predominantly satellite-based communications infrastructure to one that is fibre cable-based. There is also an urgent need for new approaches to financing and building out information and communication infrastructure to address large unmet demand for information and communication services. The East African Fibre Summit will provide a platform for all stakeholders to assess these exciting developments, the impact they will have on their organizations and the optimum technical implementation strategies to gain maximum benefit from the opportunities they represent. For the full programme visit Aitec Africa’s website (www.aitecafrica.com) * BROADBAND AFRICA SUMMIT 28-29 September 2009, Dakar, Senegal Broadband Africa is the leading conference and exhibition for the entire broadband ecosystem in Africa. This must attend event will bring the industry together to define the future of both fixed and mobile broadband. The comprehensively researched agenda will cover the most topical and timely issues, and will serve as a platform for discussion and debate at the highest level. For more information visit the conference’s website http://www.broadbandglobalsummit.com/africa/home/home * INFRASTRUCTURE PARTNERSHIPS FOR AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT – CONGO DRC 6-8 October 2009, Grand Hotel, Kinshasa, Congo DRC The Infrastructure Partnerships for African Development (iPAD) DRC 2009 conference and exhibition is a platform for sound investment and collaboration in the reconstruction of the DRC - under one roof between governments, the public sector and business. iPAD DRC 2009 is a one-stop-shop for investigating investment opportunities in the DRC and the region, opening up a previously inaccessible but lucrative market. Visit: www.ipad-africa.com/drc or email: nicole.smith@spintelligent.com MOBILE WEB AFRICA 13-14 October 2009, Johannesburg, South Africa Coverage of one of the most important technological advances of the 21st century and the exceptionally interactive roundtable format promises to make Mobile Web Africa one of the leading events of 2009 in Africa. Attend Mobile Web Africa and help understand how the mobile web and mobile applications can contribute to the evolution of the continent. With capacity limited to just under 200, register your interest in attending this exclusive conference immediately. Join the unrivalled speaker faculty as well as a delegation with representation from the entire ecosystem. For further information visit http://www.mobilewebafrica.com/ * AITEC GHANA 2009 22-24 October 2009, International Conference Centre, Accra In its 14th year as Ghana’s leading ICT event, AITEC Ghana this year will have the theme, “The expanding interface between technology and your lifestyle”, focusing on how subliminal technology in our daily work and home environment can benefit our lifestyles. This year’s expo will feature an ICT Learning Hub where Ghana’s ICT training institutions, along with suppliers of educational videos, distance learning, educational software, books, recruitment agencies and other training support products will be on show. The event will include the annual AITEC Ghana conference covering the following themes: Developing Outsourcing Service Excellence; Banking & Mobile Payments; The Impact of Fibre on West Africa’s Communications Sector; and ICT for the Oil & Gas Sector. For the full programme visit Aitec Africa’s website (www.aitecafrica.com) 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 ComBIT AFRICA 2-4 November 2009, Lagoon Conference Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos AITEC has been commissioned to organise this leading annual ICT expo hosted by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON). This year’s theme is “Setting the Pace for Africa’s ICT Transformation” ComBIT Africa has it roots in Nigeria’s burgeoning telecommunications sector, having been the showcase for the industry since it was launched by ATCON 14 years ago (previously called NICOMM and changed to ComBIT Africa in 2008). The event has grown to be the country’s premier ICT event. In light of Nigeria’s leading regional role and to the era of rapid convergence, the event has been expanded to be Africa-wide in perspective, as well as covering the full spectrum of ICT technologies and strategies. It is ATCON’s mission to develop the event as the continent’s premier ICT industry event. For the full programme visit Aitec Africa’s website (www.aitecafrica.com) OUTSOURCING & CONTACT CENTRES EAST AFRICA 11-12 November 2009, Laico Regency Hotel, Nairobi Now in its fourth year, this is East Africa’s leading BPO conference, gathering international outsourcing companies and buyers of outsourced services with local service providers to explore partnerships and business opportunities. For the full programme visit Aitec Africa’s website (www.aitecafrica.com) CUSTOMER SERVICE & CONTACT CENTRE WEST AFRICA 24-25 November 2009, Oriental Hotel, Lagos This year’s theme is “Achieving excellence in Customer Service & Increasing Market Share during an Economic Downturn”, it is aimed at organisations in the region with established contact centres – and those planning to set up centres – to learn about world trends and latest developments in contact centre technologies and management strategies. Telecom operators, banks and other financial service companies, outsourcing operators, oil companies, public utilities and government departments will be the key target sectors. For the full programme visit Aitec Africa’s website (www.aitecafrica.com) Jobs and OpportunitiesAlcatel Lucent 3G Optimisation Engineer is needed by a major client.You will have very good technical experience of 3G Optimisation working Alcatel Lucent equipment.The successful candidate will carry out 3G/2G neighbouring planning for all sites and will have knowledge of scrambling code definition and creation of RNO procedures. For further information click on the following link http://www.cellular-news.com/recruitment/list_job.php?uid=9113 ContractsZain, and Harris Stratex Networks US wireless solutions provider Harris Stratex Networks has announced it has partnered with mobile operator Zain Nigeria to build a new network operations centre (NOC) in the Nigerian capital Lagos. The NOC was first commissioned by Kuwait-based Zain in July and forms part of a full, turnkey project completed by the vendor. The new facility is designed to monitor and manage multi-vendor, multi-protocol network infrastructure, including subscriber access, 4G/WiMAX access, IP backhaul and core network technologies. It also monitors Zain Nigeria's networks to identify problems before they impact business functions or productivity, and seeks to resolve issues remotely from the NOC or by dispatching technicians to network infrastructure sites. ‘Our customers are our number one priority, and we have an ongoing commitment to offer an increasingly compelling experience, particularly as our customer base and network traffic grows,’ said Khaled Khorshid, Zain Nigeria's CEO, adding, ‘The end result will drive us towards our goal of achieving 100% network visibility, so we can proactively maintain quality of service and improve our overall operational efficiency.’
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