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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 472 18th September 2009 Zambia soon to feel the double-effect of international fibre and liberalisationThis week’s news (see Internet section below) is full of stories about the impact of the Seacom cable on East African countries. With all this brouhaha, it would be easy to miss the way in which the landing of new fibre projects is galvanising markets further afield. Places that were once the sleepy territory of few competitors are becoming significantly more competitive. Russell Southwood spoke last week to Ian Ferrao of Africonnect, one of Zambia’s leading ISP players about what’s happening in the country. Zambia is 80% dependent on copper revenues and the country’s fortunes have therefore fluctuated with the price of this mineral. However in more recent times it has seen a rise in tourism revenues, one side-effect of the political situation in Zimbabwe. It has a population of 11.8 million, 40% of whom live in the main towns and cities, along the “line of rail” stretching from Livingstone in the south, through the capital Lusake to Kitwe and the Copperbelt further north. Zambia has some of the highest prices for satellite on the continent with a duplex link costing between US$6,000-6,500. The first signs that things were changing came with the launching of a link put together by the Zambian power utility Zesco and Telecom Namibia on 1 July last year. As the monopoly international gateway operator, telco incumbent Zamtel was now connected to SAT3 capacity via a connection to Telecom Namibia on the border at Katimamulilo. However, a second link is likely to open in the next six months on a route via Botswana to Neotel’s Seacom POP in Johannesburg which should lower fibre prices considerably. There are not yet any prices from Seacom but they are expected to be around the same price as those currently being offered in East Africa. Other possibilities exist for further links like going into Malawi which will itself connect on to the landing station in Mozambique. There is a strong feeling that if prices do not come down to levels found elsewhere that companies other than Zamtel will finance additional links. Ian Ferrao of Africonnect says that cheaper international fibre prices will almost certainly have an impact on domestic backhaul prices. The current costs on the important Lusaka-Ndola inter-urban route are currently much higher on a per kilometre basis than the international fibre prices being discussed. A volume price on the link on a test basis is US$4,000 per meg. According to Ferrao, metro fibre prices are also extremely high with one supplier charging US$1,000 to go 3 kilometres. There are two major alternatives to the telco incumbent Zamtel for domestic fibre: Realtime Technologies which has a joint venture with the Copperbelt Energy Corporation and the national power utility Zesco. After the coming liberalisation, both will be able to make deals with international providers, adding further downward pressure on prices in the market. There are 17 registered ISPs but only 9 play an active role. There are 18,000 subscribers, 12,000 of which are dial-up and 6,000 broadband. The latter are split between DSL and wireless. Zamtel provides a 64 kbps DSL service on its rather antiquated network and describes this as broadband and has around 4-5,000 of the broadband subscribers. Africonnect says it has 900 subscribers who are split across residential, SMEs and corporate. The cost of a 128 kbps residential connection varies between US$50-150 with a 12:1 contention rate. The main competitors in the market are Realtime in the corporate market and Africonnect, Microlink and Coppernet across all other markets. As elsewhere, competition in the Internet market from mobile providers is looming. The mobile coverage maps show that all 72 districts in the country have at least a signal in the district capital. Zain operates GPRS data services across its whole network, and EDGE in Lusaka and the Copperbelt, which is gradually to be replaced with 3.5G, whose roll-out is currently in the test phase, under a temporary licence from the regulator CAZ. MTN also offer GPRS/EDGE and have their 3G roll-out planned. Value added services on all networks include SMS, MMS and WAP. Zain also supports the use of Blackberry devices. The regulator has a universal access scheme and is looking at ways of incentivising the mobile operators to supply services in the remaining less profitable areas. There are also a range of one-off projects supplying voice based with satellite delivery. So what are the big changes that will come with fibre? According to Ferrao, it will be an upgrading of the access network and a steady increase in the number of value-added services: ” Firstly, we’re going to build an access level network so we can deliver to the customers and we’ll expand our coverage. Currently it’s using Motorola WiMAX to deliver service into 9 provincial capitals. But we’re now talking of fibre to the door for key corporate customers. An increasing number of users gain their access to the Internet either via Wi-Fi hotspots or Internet cafes”. “We want to create an MPLS based network to improve the quality of data and offer video conferencing and other value-adds”. Zambia’s new ICT bill has been signed by the President and it will do away with the international gateway monopoly. Regulator CAZ has announced this week that the previously exorbitant international gateway licence fees will be reduced to a level benchmarked on those elsewhere on the continent. Furthermore, 75% of Zamtel will be sold to a strategic investor with a further portion going to local investors. Unfortunately things have been held up by a local court case by Vodacom Zambia, which has no relationship to Vodacom South Africa. (see issue 467). So with all these changes are there any signs of Triple play coming into the market? “There’s no sign of it at the moment. VoIP is illegal because of the monopoly international gateway. However, the new ICT Bill will allow VoIP. Then we’d look at delivering VoIP to residential and corporate customers. People are getting ready in the next six months”. Africonnect also has a development subsidiary that runs a project called iSchool to deploy broadband to schools in Zambia with e-learning materials:”We’ve been running it for 2 years with e-learning materials. We have a proposal to get to the next 100 schools.” The current project delivers to 20 schools in rural, urban and high density locations. The schools have been provided with free or low-cost connectivity, plus teacher training and support. A large website of free learning materials has been built, based on the Zambian curriculum. The teacher training and support is provided by Intel through their Teach programme. African countries can use a combination of the arrival of the international fibre and liberalisation to spark a second wave of growth in Internet access and services based on it. The rather grim alternative is being in the slow lane for development and who wants to be the Central African Republic in times like these? 
Vodafone to Reduce Its 48 Exchanges to Two in GhanaVodafone is slashing its number of exchanges from 48 to 2 as part of its restructuring which will also mean significant job losses, according to its Head of Corporate Communications Major Albert Don-Chebe. He said: "In this era of mobile telephony we still have as many as 48 exchanges across the country, most of which are no more needed but we are still running them at huge cost" He said when the company took over the operations of Ghana Telecom, it inherited 4,300 workers, most of whom worked in the exchanges, where landline calls (particularly IDD) going through the company’s network were held and forwarded manually as and when channels were available. Major Don-Chebe said that a chunk of the staff Vodafone inherited from GT also worked as telephone cable layers. He noted that even after the advent of mobile telephony in Ghana, when it became obvious that most of the company’s staff who worked in the exchanges and as cable layers were not needed, they were still maintained, while persons with relevant skills were hired in addition. Major Don-Chebe explained that with a subscriber level of about 1.7 million, it had a staff strength of 4,300, which are about 1,100 more than all the employees of the other telecom operators put together. He said that "This is one of the reasons we kept making losses for a long time while the competition was making huge profits". Major Don-Chebe stressed that management of Vodafone had taken a decision to lay off some of the workers who did not have the skills relevant to the vision and mission of Vodafone. He cited that there were about 200 women whose sole duty was to channel calls in traffic at the exchanges, but the role of those women became redundant but they continued to be paid every month. "We made a loss of US$264 million last year and we are expecting to make another loss this year, but that will be the end of losses for this company beginning from next year we expect to start making profit and to become productive," Major Don-Chebe said. He said Vodafone was well on course with its strategic business and was confident that it would meet its profitability and productivity target by the close of 2010. Major Don-Chebe noted that through the installation of infrastructure and introduction of affordable handsets, Ghanaians had received improved services over the past five months. He had earlier told the GNA that within the past five months Vodafone had gained an additional 900,000 subscribers, raising its subscriber level to 2.5 million. Major Don-Chebe said both promotions were intended to show gratitude to customers and retailers, but they were also paying off in subscriber numbers, assuring the company that productivity and profitability in two years was possible. Mr. Ekow Blankson, Trading Marketing Manager of Vodafone, also told GNA that since the company started operations, it had gained some 20,000 more retailers of its products, raising the number of retailers from 50,000 to 70,000. (Source: GNA) Globacom eyes Aircom in planned Ivory Coast mobile market entryGlobacom Limited, Nigeria’s second national operator (SNO) has its eyes on Aircom, a GSM licensee in Cote d‘Ivoire in a bid to advance its plan to enter the country’s mobile telephony market. According to a report in Nigeria’s Technology Times, the Nigerian SNO may have opened talks with Aircom in a bid to enter the market anytime soon but details are still very hazy for now. Officials of Globacom did not return calls by Technology Times to comment on indications emerging from Cote d’Ivoire that the SNO promoted by Nigerian billionaire, Mike Adenuga Jnr. is in discussions with Aircom on closing a deal to expand the company’s sub-regional tentacles into the country’s telecoms market. Should Glo’s foray into Cote d’Ivoire succeed in sealing of a deal with Aircom, it would become the sixth operator in the market and it is hoped to significantly increase the over 7.4 million subscribers, based on 2008 market data, in the country boasting some 20 million people. Under its liberalized telecoms market, Cote d’Ivoire currently has five mobile operators: Atlantique Telecom Cote d'Ivoire (Moov); Comium Ivory Coast Inc (KoZ), MTN Cote D’Ivoire S.A., Orange CI, Oricel and Warid Cote d’Ivoire SA with a mobile penetration of more than 40 per cent at the beginning of 2008. Aircom never became operational. (Source: Technology Times) MTN Threatens to Cease Interconnection With RwandatelMTN Rwanda is threatening to disconnect Rwandatel customers over failure to meet its interconnection fees obligations, according to a Business Times. Cutting off the interconnectivity link means that Rwandatel's approximately 280,000 subscribers will not be able to make a call on the MTN network which is comprised of at least 1.4 million subscribers. Under the telecommunication services provision regulations in Rwanda. Companies are required to assess and pay each other whatever interconnection fees are due to them at the end of every month. The terms of the law also provide for either party to legally cut off interconnectivity. Currently the interconnection fees are about Rwf40 for every call made from Rwandatel to MTN. Subscribers are charged the interconnection fees from within the normal call charges. Information availed on condition of anonymity indicates that for every call made from a Rwandatel line to MTN, Rwandatel is obliged to remit Rwf40 to MTN. The source who talked to Business Times said that for almost eight months Rwandatel has not paid consequently accumulating billions of francs in debt to MTN. When contacted for an official comment, officials at MTN office at Nyarutarama, declined to comment on the issue citing ongoing negotiations with the regulator, the Rwanda Utilities and Regulatory Authority (RURA). Cleophas Kabasiita, Rwandatel's Corporate Communications Manager said that Rwandatel has good partenership and the issue is being addressed. "Due to our long relationship of trust, MTN has not had a problem with this because they know for sure that we will ensure they are compensated," Kabasiita said. She also added that Rwandatel has shared so many facilities with MTN including office space, hosting of switches, as well as their entire billing systems. "Since we launched our GSM operation last December, we had Rwandatel customers calling MTN thus the interconnection fees. We are in talks about clearing this and we will do so in the near future," Kabasiita said. (Source: The New Times) Zimbabwe’s Telone Urged to be Be Flexible On Telephone BillsTelOne should be flexible when demanding revised February to June telephone bills from its customers as asking for lump sums will lead to public resistance, Transport, Communication and Infrastructural Development Minister Nicholas Goche said last week. Government on Wednesday directed TelOne to reduce its February to June tariffs to 5 US cents per minute. "I encourage TelOne to be flexible when dealing with its customers. They should not demand lump sums because the public will resist paying the amounts again. Government decided to use obtaining regional tariffs of 5 cents per minute when working out relevant bills. So for the subscribers who have already paid at higher rates, the amounts should be credited to their accounts," Minister Goche said. He said the US 5 cents per minute charge was only for the specified period and after that, a new pricing mechanism would be devised. Minister Goche said the tariffs issue was a historical one which arose when the country moved from Zimbabwe dollar-denominated tariffs to the US dollar/multiple currency system. The initial tariffs that were set right across the board were artificially high as operators cited high input costs. Subscribers ended up receiving huge bills sparking a public outcry. Government then took up the matter. TelOne was one of the first organisations to give the Government a breakdown of costs and the tariffs they wanted to charge, but even then, these were high. In July the ministry then did a comparative analysis of tariffs in the region. But there was still the challenge of what to do with the January to June bills. It was then noted that in January, the country had not yet moved into the multi-currency system and therefore it was illegal to bill customers in US dollars. This meant the January bills would have to be offset. This left the issue of the February to end of June bills unresolved. There was no mutual agreement within the sector on how to manage the period and there were interconnection debts that obtained. "It is unreasonable to contemplate writing off the bills. It would set a dangerous precedent vis-à-vis the consumers of the service. There is no such thing as a free service," said Minister Goche. "Government has decided to use obtaining regional tariffs in terms of working out the relevant bills for that period. "For subscribers who have already paid their bills at a rate which is higher than the US 5 cents, they should be credited. The rest of the subscribers should simply honour their bills." (Source: The Herald) In brief:- Since September 14th, South African citizen will be able to dial 17737 and speak to directly to the Presidents office. Twenty-one specially trained Public Liaison Officers will take up their seats and start handling calls and responding to general public inquiries, complaints over service delivery and questions about government. - Secretary General of International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Hamadoun Toure, said last week that $8 billion was invested in the development of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Africa in 2008. Toure disclosed this at a world press conference to mark the end of the African Telecom Development Summit 2009 held in Abuja. - Zambia’s Government has announced that it will reduce international gateway fees to regional averages by the end of 2009. - Access Communications Ltd (ACL), the Second National Operator in Malawi has made it's first call on 11th September 2009. ACL is in the process of implementing a CDMA2000 EVDO Rev A network with Huawei Technologies and will cover the four major cities in Malawi in it's first phase of operations. Commercial trials are scheduled to begin in Quarter 1 2010. - The Federal Government will compel GSM operators to embark on mandatory registration of SIM cards of mobile phone subscribers for security reasons, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan said last week. - The power struggle for the communication portfolio in Zimbabwe seems to ramble on as the two ministers at the centre of the controversy, Nelson Chamisa and Nicholas Goche, issued the same statement on TelOne tariffs this week (see article above). - A Federal High Court in Abuja last week refused the request by Transcorp to stop the resale of 51 per cent shares of Nitel and its mobile arm, Mtel. - The Nigerian Communications Commissions (NCC) has said the new interconnect rate for the telecom industry will soon be out. The Head Public Affairs of the NCC Rueben Mouka told the press that the two consultants appointed to carry out the review, Detecon International and PriceWaterHouseCoopers have submitted their reports. - Rwanda’s Government through the e-soko project will next month buy 35,000 mobile phones for farmers, a move that is meant to bridge the information gap between farmers and buyers. The e-Rwanda coordinator, Wilson Muyenzi said that at least one co-operative in every district has been identified to benefit from the project. Muyenzi said that government will pay 50 percent of the cost, MTN 25 percent and beneficiaries 25 percent of the phone prices. - Egyptian mobile network operator MobiNil may consider lodging an application for its own international gateway licence if it is unsuccessful in pressing its existing provider for price cuts.
Phase 3 Telecom to build terrestrial fibre network over power line between Togo, Benin and NigeriaPhase 3, the provider of transmission and IP services using the aerial fibre optic transmission, has expanded its network to cover the Republic of Benin and Togo. This development came as Phase3 executed an exclusive right of way concession agreement with the Communauté Electrique du Benin (CEB), the authority responsible for the operation of high voltage power lines in both Benin and Togo Republics, signed by Djibril Salifou, Director-General of CEB and Stanley Jegede, CEO of Phase3. Phase3's network now becomes the longest regional terrestrial fiber network, linking Nigeria to the Republic of Benin and Togo, with potentials for connections to Ghana and Burkina Faso from Togo. By this development, Phase3 becomes the first regional fiber optic cable network provider in West Africa to operate national fiber optic cable backbone interconnecting six West African countries. Phase3 has commenced with the expansion of the aerial national infrastructure in the two countries to extend their current combined length of fibre from 600km to over 3,000km within the next few months. This infrastructure targets existing regional telecommunication service providers currently operating in these countries, as well as the transmission needs of operators who plan to interconnect with operators in Togo and Benin. This also positions Phase3 as the infrastructure provider for the distribution of broadband services to various locations in these countries. Phase3's aerial infrastructure in Nigeria is deployed on the 330kV and 132kV high voltage lines; whilst aerial infrastructure in Togo & Benin are deployed on 161kV high voltage lines. The regional network will be equipped with state-of-the-art 10G DWDM systems providing multi services platform for all carriers for layer 1 and layer 2 operations. (Source: Leadership) Rwanda’s National Fibre to Connect Seacom to Burundi, DRCSeacom, the company that owns the undersea cable that links the East Africa coast to the rest of the world via the Red Sea will use Rwanda's national fibre-optic backbone to connect high speed affordable bandwidth to Burundi and the DRC. This was part of the agreement signed between the company and government owned Internet Service Provider (ISP) New Artel. The two parties signed a one year 620 Mbs connection agreement with a possibility of extending it. SEACOM's capacity is 1.28 Tbps of bandwidth. Without divulging into details, the CEO of New Artel, Francis Karemera confirmed that there is an arrangement of using the national ICT infrastructure with neighbouring countries. "They will use our national backbone to extend their connectivity to Burundi and DRC," he explained. The national fibre optic backbone with over 2,300kms of cables is an extension of the ongoing Kigali Metropolitan Network that aims to connect 97 government agencies in Kigali and 226 government agencies in districts. It will link 36 main nodes in both Kigali City and in all the 30 districts. (Source: The New Times) Internet price reductions take time to trickle down to the end users in UgandaThe arrival of high-speed Internet in Uganda has finally been matched by price reductions to Internet service providers. By last week, some ISPs were purchasing capacity at $650-$700 per Mbps, a sharp drop from the $2,000 for the same quantity of bandwidth from satellite. But this price is for short-term contracts. For clients who signed long term contracts of up to 20 years, like Infocom, the price is much lower at $150 per Mbps. Infocom is the sole capacity reseller for Seacom and Uganda Telecom. Infocom chief executive Hans Haerdtle said the 20-year contracts involve IRUs. Internet users are optimistic that as more ISPs connect to Seacom the price will go down for customers who are currently experiencing high speeds but at previous high rates. According to Mountbatten Ltd director Reinier Battenberg, once ISPs sign up with Seacom, the competition would be similar to the telecoms war for customers, which would see prices go down. "We are waiting for competition. After that, it will just be a matter of time before prices are slashed," said Battenberg. “We have started migrating our customers to fibre. The price will not change but we shall double the connection speed," said Mark Kaheru, Uganda Telecom public relations manager. This is the trend with all companies that have migrated their customers to fibre so far. "We have been on broadband fibre connection for a month now. The speeds have gone from 64/64 to 512/512 which is sustained for 24 hours in a week with limited outages," said Simon Vass technical manager E-Tech Uganda Ltd, also a customer of Infocom. Though the speeds have doubled, ISPs have stuck with the previous rates, only promising reductions in months. "I am sure all ISPs are reworking their pricing to bring benefits to customers as much as possible. But at times the IT industry is like the oil business, where price reductions take time to trickle down to the end users," said Samuel Sentongo, an IT expert. Most ISPs are saying that they have to maintain some satellite capacity, which is tried and tested, for redundancy and to guard against any problems that Seacom may face as a new operating fibre cable. (Source: The East African) In brief:- In a press release issued this week, Funke Opeke, Chief Executive Officer of Main One Cable Company said that “with the Main One project having secured commitments for the entire funding of its first phase, “practically everything is in place to ensure that Main One cable is ready for Service in June 2010. When that happens,” she added, “we will usher a new lease of life to broadband penetration in the West Africa sub region and a strong growth imperative to the economies of the sub region”. - Mobile operator Zain Kenya has linked with under sea fibre optic cable on the Seacom platform. Zain Kenya managing director Rene Meza said the connection to Seacom will enhance availability of bandwidth on Zain’s upgraded network that is estimated to reach 90 per cent of the population. Zain Kenya has unveiled two flat rate access packages in a bid to increase uptake of data services for the prepaid customer. The unlimited bundle and pre-paid bundle packages will see customers make up to 90 per cent savings when accessing the Internet. - Vodafone Ghana has announced a reduction in the installation charge of its fixed broadband service from GH¢90 to GH¢55. The reduction, which started from September 11, 2009, would last for a period of three months. This reduction meant that, the initial upfront cost for new broadband customers has reduced significantly. - South Africans could soon choose to register their internet sites by using city specific domains, or speciality fields like sport instead of the .co.za domain, the .za Domain Name Authority said this week. Apart from considering domains like sport, food and local city-specific ones, the authority was also considering re-opening domains like web.za and net.za. - Kenyan Internet Service Provider, UUNET, has entered into a partnership with electronics manufacturer Sony to provide video conferencing facilities in Kenya. In the agreement, UUNET will provide bandwidth capacity required while also reselling Sony's video conferencing equipment. - The battle to be top website in South Africa heats up. Times Live has set its sight on overtaking News24 and IOL as SA’s top news website. - O3b Networks Limited (O3b) the developer of a new fiber quality, satellite-based, global Internet backbone announced that Vizada Networks, the leading system integrator and satellite service provider will resell O3b capacity to the entire African market. - The BBC is currently running interviews and articles on how Africa is getting connected. They have put together a nice interactive map of broadband users and submarine fibre rollout around the world over the last ten years. To see the map click on the following link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8255695.stm
Namibia’s 'Spy Bill' Set to Outlaw Encryption The Communications Bill in its current form could make it a criminal offence to do Internet banking and get onto social networking sites such as Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. This is how Peter Gallert, Polytechnic IT lecturer, interprets Section 76 (2) b of the Communications Bill, which makes provision for outlawing encryption. Internet services such as Hotmail, Gmail, Skype, Ebay, Amazon, MSN messenger and anti-virus software also will not work without encryption. If you see the "lock" icon at the bottom or top of a Web page, it will not be usable without encryption. Section 76 of the Communications Bill makes it illegal for people to sell or own equipment that may be used to prevent interception of data by the national intelligence service. Encryption is a method of using mathematical techniques to hide data while it is sent between parties. Like a box with a lock, it prevents the contents of the box from being seen by anyone except the key holders. Gallert last week submitted the Polytechnic of Namibia's School of IT's comments to public hearings on the Communication Bill being held by a Parliamentary Standing Committee of the National Council. He said by criminalising encryption, large portions of the Internet and private computer networks would not operate in Namibia anymore. Virtual Private Networking offered by service providers to large companies relies heavily on encryption, as their traffic is routed over public network channels, he said. This could mean all secure sites or networks, such as Internet banking sites, would be rendered illegal because they cannot be intercepted. He said Section 76 (2) (b) includes all data encryption, including those necessary for legitimate transactions such as online banking, online shopping and general Internet business applications. Gallert said in terms of Section 76 (2) (a), the Minister of Information on recommendation by the Intelligence Director General may regulate equipment seen as being able to perform interceptions. This is not practical, he said, as all computers, cellphones and every programming language could be used for that purpose. "The fact that a knife can be used to stab a person cannot be sufficient reason to outlaw knives," he told the committee. He added that the bill is not clear on actions that are executed for educational purposes in private networks, stating that the Polytechnic's degrees in computer networking must cover encryption techniques to be effective. (Source: The Namibian) University of Lagos Launches Laptops for Staff and Students ProjectVice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof. Tolu Odugbemi has reaffirmed the institution's commitment to transfer relevant skills to students so that they could be in tune with the ever-changing technology landscape. He said this at an event to launch the laptops for all staff and students at the university's senate chamber recently. The occasion also saw the university becoming the first tertiary institution in the country to be certified as a Microsoft IT Academy under a Private Public Alliance (PPA) Initiative with Microsoft Corporation. The PPA, which the VC initiated in May, was developed between UNILAG, Microsoft and a number of Microsoft's hardware partners such as Hewlett Packard, Zinox Technologies, Brian Integrated Systems and MSI, to provide the university with affordable laptops - loaded with Vista Business and Microsoft Office software. Odugbemi said the partnership was aimed at providing laptops to all staff and students at affordable prices to enhance and improve teaching, learning and research activities at the university, adding that it would empower them with Information Communication Technology (ICT) skills and capabilities for global competitiveness. He said the university had already received a shipment of 2,000 laptops and that wireless networks will also be set up on campus, including the Idi-Araba and Yaba campuses. According to him, the brands available are Brain Laptop, Zinox Smart Plus HP550, MSI VR430, Dell Vostro 1320. He said the prices range from N80,738 to N93,409, payable in 12 months instalments for senior staff and 18 months for junior staff, while interested students would make a 15 percent down-payment and the balance to be paid in 12 months instalments. "All staff and students shall be required to sign an agreement with the university on the mode of payment. All laptops remain the property of the university until fully paid for by the staff and student concerned. Each of the computers has Intel Core Duo processor, 1G RAM, 100-250GB HDD, TFT 15", OS, MS Vista Business, Norton Antivirus and 650 VA UPS specifications. In addition, facilities (VSAT) that will link the institution's SAP systems to the internet at 512/512 kbps are provided." Odugbemi advised buyers to insure their laptops and protect them with Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems, as the university would not be responsible for any loss, willful and accidental damages. The PPA consists of three components such as access to hardware software and connectivity; access to affordable financing and enabling ICT skills acquisition through content and training. Microsoft will also fund the skills training and development of lecturers at the university so that a train-the-trainers programme can be instituted to ensure an efficient skills transfer. (Source: This Day) Ministry to Launch E-Health programme in RwandaIn line with the country's goal of promoting the use of ICT in all institutions, the Ministry of Health (MOH) is set to roll out, state-of-the-art software systems in all hospitals next year. This was revealed by the Ministry's e- Health Coordinator, Richard Gakuba, in an interview with The New Times. He said the new system will be a solution to most problems that hospitals still face with regard to efficiency in service provision and boosting quality care. "A new software system called Jeeva has already been introduced in King Faisal Hospital (KFH) and installation will soon be completed. So far, it has enabled patients to register and consult health workers in the shortest time possible and improved general hospital management."Many other hospitals are still losing big sums of money as a result of inaccurate financial management but soon, this will be history. Proper management of patients' flow in hospitals as well as stock management will be guaranteed with new software systems," Gakuba explained. KFH Jeeva software installations alone are worth Rwf789.2 million (US $1.4 million) but further roll out will cost a lot more that is yet to be calculated. According to Gakuba, a decision as to what type of software to choose is yet to be decided, but once Jeeva proves to be successful in KFH then it could be used. "Quality technology systems such as these will also enable health facilities to exchange data as well," he added. Yvonne Collins, the Information Technology Systems' expert at KFH recently attested that long queues at the hospital are no more and that new patients now take only 5 minutes to register while old ones take about 15 minutes. (Source: The New Times) In Brief:- The newly formed Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH) has received a major boost from Ericsson. Speaking in Gaborone, the company's head of marketing responsible for sub-Saharan Africa, Lars Linden, said they are thrilled to be involved in BIH because it will give them the opportunity to be involved in the development of technology in Botswana. "Although I can't say much about how exactly we will be involved in the Hub, I can confirm that we are going to be among its first tenants and that negotiations are almost complete," Linden said. - The South African Police Service (SAPS) will spend R700 million to upgrade its network capacity in an effort to speed up its services. - South Africa has dropped in the global IT competitiveness index. This year saw a drop in South Africa’s standing from 37 in 2008 to 43 in 2009. According to the report this can be contributed to changes in the country’s performance as well as to improvements in the sources of data used to measure some indicators. The top five countries in Middle East and Africa are Israel 64.3; South Africa 35.3; Saudi Arabia 33.9; Turkey 33.8 and Egypt 26.8.
Zambia to sell up to 75% telecoms firm ZamtelZambia plans to sell up to 75 percent of the telco incumbent Zamtel as part of a push to privatise state assets, the country's development agency said on Tuesday. The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) said in an advertisement in South African financial daily Business Day that prospective bidders were invited to place bids to qualify for the proposed sale of an equity stake in Zamtel. A senior Zambian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government would not put a price tag on Zamtel because that might lower the price. The ZDA said up to 75 percent of Zamtel would be offered for sale, while the government would retain a 25 percent stake which it might sell at a later stage through an initial public offering on the Lusaka bourse. The long-planned privatisation of Zamtel has been criticised by opposition parties who said Zambians should be allowed to hold a bigger stake in the company. Zamtel is Zambia's only licensed fixed-line provider of voice and data communications and revenue for the year to end-December were $100 million, according to the ZDA. "The government advertised the sale of 20 percent shares in Zamtel in the 1990s but no investor came up. Zamtel requires money to turn around," the source said. The government considered breaking the firm up but the value of individual Zamtel parts would have been less than if it was sold as an entity. (Source: Reuters) Internet Solutions acquires stake in Mozambique ISPInternet Solutions and Convergence Wireless Networks acquire stake in Mozambique based ISP. Internet Solutions (IS) and Convergence Wireless Networks (CWN) announced last week that they have collectively acquired a 68.5% equity stake in a Mozambique based internet service provider (ISP), INTRA Lda. The deal forms part of IS’ East-African expansion initiative aimed at capitalising on the recently launched Seacom undersea cable. IS will take the lead as INTRA’s operating partner while CWN will act as an active financial investor. “Securing a presence in Mozambique is important as the country is strategically significant due to its geographical relevance to South Africa,” says Hillel Shrock, Business Solutions Director at IS. “The country also provides an ideal base to reach various landlocked African countries along Mozambique’s and South Africa’s borders, as it is only 200km wide. This is key to developing our business into Uganda and Tanzania and growing our existing business in Kenya.” According to Shrock, IS also has a number of South African customers with a presence in Mozambique. “Acquiring a stake in an existing Mozambique based ISP was the ideal approach, as it enables us to leverage off of their established infrastructure and immediately secure a broader customer base,” he says. “Furthermore, the investment we are making in INTRA allows us to deliver the substantial capacity we have secured as an anchor tenant on Seacom to our existing and prospective customers in the region. This is a key element in our strategy to grow our pan-African footprint.” Established in 2001, INTRA was one of the first wireless broadband ISP's in Maputo. INTRA has a substantial spectrum allocation from the industry regulator that it uses to deliver connectivity services to local consumers and SMEs. “IS will utilise this wireless infrastructure to service the established SME and the growing corporate market in Mozambique.” comments Karim Premji, Chairman and founding member of INTRA Lda. “The INTRA business division that serves these markets will therefore be rebranded as IS Mozambique, while the INTRA brand will remain operational in the Mozambican consumer market.” IS plans to retrofit 20 base stations in Maputo, install the latest generation MPLS network and support it with industry best practice power back-up and redundancy, which will then enable the high capacity core backbone to connect into the Seacom landing station. Current Maputo based IS satellite customers will be transferred to a cable based Virtual Private Network/MPLS Network, while a state of the art V-Sat hub will be deployed in Maputo to connect outlying areas in the north, as well as customers in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Angola and parts of South Africa. (Source: Mybroadband) Orascom Confirms Receipt of Dividends from Algerian SubsidiaryEgypt based Orascom Telecom Holding has announced that its Algerian subsidiary Orascom Telecom Algerie (OTA) has received the approval of the Algerian government's tax office to repatriate 50% of its 2008 dividends to its non-resident shareholders. With this approval, OTA is entitled to transfer 50% of the 2008 dividends in the amount of approximately US$257 million to its non-resident shareholders. The remaining 50% of the 2008 dividends shall be transferred by OTA to its nonresident shareholders when the tax office issues a clearance certificate in relation to the tax position of the Algerian subsidiary. Debt ratings agency, Standard & Poors recently warned that difficulties in repatriating the dividends from Algeria could impact the parent group's debt ratings. "We believe that any substantial delays in repatriation of expected dividends of over $500 million from Algeria could have potential knock-on consequences on liquidity management at Orascom Telecom, where most of the group's rated debt sits.", the debt ratings agency wrote earlier this month. "After having paid cash dividends of about $93 million on Aug. 27, 2009, the delay in receipt of dividends from Algeria could cause liquidity pressures for the substantial investment requirements in newer operations in Orascom Telecom's portfolio such as in Canada, or payment of interest and other cash calls at the parent company level." (Source: Cellular News) Telemasters invests to grow in South AfricaOrganic growth and additional clients aided revenue growth in the nine months to June, says listed least-cost routing company Telemasters. The company says revenue grew 32.7%, to R170 million, due to an internal revenue enhancement programme, organic growth and the additional revenue from the client bases acquired during this financial year. After-tax earnings for the third quarter were up from R8.2 million to R9.9 million. Earnings per share for the nine months were 23.59c, up from the previous corresponding period's 19.57c. Telemasters says it has “shown remarkable tenacity during the recession and the effect of the strategies implemented by the board resulted in a growth of 32% in revenue”. It has also been successful in growing margins, it adds. “The company focused on core customers and pursued new clients in growing industries. The belt-tightening programmes of customers also ensured our business offering found very fertile ground.” As a result, it is confident of growth in the year ahead. Telemasters has invested in the growth of the company by acquiring intangible assets of R2.9 million and fixed assets of R6.2 million. It has funded this expansion of R9 million mostly from cash, with only 28% being paid through long-term borrowings. “This, together with the total of 12c per share, which has paid out in the form of dividends and capital distributions, indicates the optimal management of working capital of the business.” However, while it is focusing on receiving money owning, it has seen a small increase in customers who are not meeting their repayment obligations as they should. “We have taken steps to reduce our risks by insisting on upfront payments from higher risk clients and we also choose to not do business in certain industries,” Telemasters explains. As a result, its actions have seen trade receivables increase by only 16%, despite revenue improving 32.7%. (Source: ITWeb) In brief:- In Nigeria, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa (SAN) said that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has cleared the former Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori, over the sale of the state's shares to Vmobile around 2007. - EOH, one of South Africa’s largest technology and outsourcing providers listed on the software and computer services sector of the JSE, today announced it has recorded a turnover of R1, 255 billion for the financial year ended 31 July 2009 and is now ranked as one of the top five IT service providers in Southern Africa. EOH reported revenue growth of 32,0%, an increase in profit before tax of 27,3% (R116,5m). - Telkom South Africa Ltd. is in talks on co-operating with PCCW Ltd., a Hong Kong-based pay-TV and telecommunications company, Business Report said, citing a person familiar with the negotiations. The talks may result in an agreement similar to one that was reached earlier this year with AT&T Inc., the Johannesburg- based newspaper said, citing the person, who it didn’t identify. PCCW and Telkom declined to comment, the newspaper said. AT&T agreed in April to work together to expand Telkom’s geographical footprint by serving the Dallas-based customers in Africa using AT&T’s size and technology. Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage (briefs)- Nigeria has attained 67 million active phone subscriber base, the Minister of Information and Communications Professor Dora Akunyili said. The breakdown of the telephones line figures from the Nigerian Communications Commission shows that the GSM active lines in the country are 59, 194,972, Mobile CDMA are 7,223,039 and the fixed Wired / wireless are 1,435,279 lines as at first half of this year June 2009. The commission said the teledensity stood at the 48.87 percent in the country as at June 2007. - In Kenya, Safaricom has launched a tariff that is expected to renew price wars common in the industry. The tariff allows its subscribers to a discounts based on time of calling and location and is expected to send other players back to the drawing board. Branded Supa Ongea, the tariff, the firm noted is based on a technology called Dynamic Discounting Service (DDS). The technology lets operators discount call rates based on traffic in a particular cell, introducing a completely new way to price telecom services. MTN was first to bring this technology and offer it creates to market. - Liberian GSM operator Comium Liberia has announced the launch of its E-Voucher or Easy Credit scheme, allowing users to top up their SIM card more easily. The new system enables a Comium subscriber to recharge electronically without purchasing a scratch card. Dealers and sub-dealers can recharge directly into the subscriber’s account at ease, the cellco said in a statement. - Mobile-XL, a mobile technology company has partnered with Orange in Cameroon, to bring the XLBrowser to Orange’s customers, starting in October 2009. Mobile-XL’s XLBrowser is a mobile software application that utilises SMS to provide instant access to local and global information to anyone, anywhere, using almost any mobile phone. The mobile handsets market in sub-Saharan Africa will continue to achieve high growth long after the number of mobile subscriptions has started to decline. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan finds that over 139 million handsets were shipped to sub-Saharan Africa in 2007 and this is expected to reach 400 million by 2014. - The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) reports that the country had a total of 14.723 million subscribers by the end of June 2009. Mobile companies collectively added net 840,000 subscribers in three months to 30 June, with market leader Vodacom Tanzania attracting 251,143 new users for a mid-year total of 5.921 million. The second place went to Zain 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, which boosted its base by 314,565 to 3.264 million users, 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 Benson Informatics Limited (BOL) had 3,500 subscribers, up to 500 since the start of the year. Benson Informatics Limited has been in the field for three years.
Ugandan Firm to Put Face to Virtual NetworkingFor most people, on-line social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in or Beebo remain virtual networks. That is now changing, thanks to a new networking initiative called the 360° network, launched recently. Alex Balimwikungu spoke to David Tumwesigye, the brain behind it. Q: What is the 360° network all about and what is its main objective? The basic idea of the network is "to transform existing virtual social networks into a real people-to-people, life-changing network for enhancement of members' knowledge and skills, opportunities and lifestyles". The objectives of the 360° network are to translate existing virtual social networks like Facebook, into real networking opportunities for the benefit of their membership and business entities. The network will provide a life-changing opportunity for members to enhance their lifestyle, knowledge, skills and business opportunities by offering a rich recreation and entertainment experience Q: How does it work? Members of existing social networks currently join the 360° Network group on Facebook. Members will then be invited to attend monthly and quarterly 360° forums to network, learn and have fun in one place! They will also have continuous access to moderated online posts and interactive forums about life changing subjects on the Facebook group and at our website on www.the360network.com Already, the network has over 400 members in just one month. Q: What is so unique about the concept that should make anyone join? A: By joining the group and attending the 360° forums, members have an opportunity to meet, create or enhance their existing businesses and social networks; and mutually share information and opportunities. They can also learn from peers and experts on thematic issues in personal finance, personal branding, professional development,lifestyle and spiritual issues. Personally, I have been positively inspired by listening to great people and reading life changing books like Richard Branson's Autobiography "Breaking my Virginity." Young people need to listen to home-grown experiences by people like Andrew Rugasira of Good African Coffee, Patrick Bitature of Simba Telecom, and several others for inspiration. They certainly wouldn't mind sharing their experiences because this wisdom can be acquired! One may not become Patrick Bitature himself, but who would have thought that a dyslexic boy (Richard Branson) would now be a global brand? It is all about their soft skills: attitude, vision, networks and real hard work. Q: Who are you primarily targeting for membership? We are targeting the technologically-savvy trendsetters, employed or actively seeking employment, or mid-career professionals. Those that are keen on developing their careers and financial literacy, those that want to develop their business networks, those that are setting up businesses and those keen on learning and developing personally. The youth, especially those between 20 and 35, who besides being cool and fun loving are equally ambitious are also encouraged. Q: Why should an individual or organisation support the network? As a virtual and real-time forum, it offers an opportunity to create a unique niche that can be targeted with specific marketing strategies. The Virtual forum also creates endless possibilities for effective organisation of people, communication and marketing, while the real-time forum puts a face to the message. (Source: New Vision) Ghanaians to pay water bills on mobile phonesAqua Vitens Rand Limited (AVRL), in collaboration with eTransact, on Wednesday introduced the first ever mobile utility bill payment system in the country. The system, developed by eTransact, an electronic transaction solutions company, would enable debit card and ATM card holders to pay water bills through selected banks using the credit on their mobile phones. The selected banks include UBA, Intercontinental Bank, Amalbank, Zenith Bank and Unibank. George Babafemi, Chief Operating Officer of eTransact, told the GNA that within the next one week, five other banks would get on board. He said the system would allow water consumers who had accounts in the selected banks to pay their bills from the comfort of their homes and offices, at a transaction fee of 50 Ghana pesewas per every transaction. “Anytime one wants to make a payment through the eTransact platform, one would be given a onetime pin code, which he/she can use to generate a secret code on his/her phone before authorizing the payment,” he said. Babafemi said the eTransact platform had a monitoring mechanism to ensure nothing more than the amount commanded by the customer was deducted. Cor Lievers, Customer Care Director at AVRL, assured customers that before the official introduction, a pilot had been run to test the functionality, security, effectiveness and robustness of the system. Lievers said when a customer made a payment through the eTransact platform, the payment would automatically reflect in AVRL’s bank account and with the provided data AVRL would be able to process the payment to reflect on their billing system. “When a bill is paid before the pay date indicated on the bill, the payment will reflect on the next month’s bill,” he said. (Source: GNA)
People- Mi-Fone ( BVI ) Ltd the commercial entity behind the successful “Mi” brand of Mobile Devices appoints their first Regional Sales Manager for East and Central Africa. Fareedh Kana joins Mi-Fone ( BVI ) Ltd as their Regional Sales Manager to cover the high growth markets of East and Central Africa covering countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi and DRC. - Nokia Siemens Networks has appointed Jorg Erlemeier as its new Middle East and Africa region head. Erlemeier is the head of the company's services business in the Asia-Pacific region. EventsEAST 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 Opportunities* Invitation to Tender for Consultancy Services for the Development of a Cost Model and Pricing Framework for Telecommunication Services to Enhance Competition among Operators in Botswana The Botswana Telecommunications Authority (BTA) is inviting suitable qualified and experienced companies to provide consultancy services to enhance competition among operators in Botswana. To download the tender announcement click on the following link http://www.bta.org.bw/news/cost_tender.pdf * Project Manager (Telecoms) – South Africa A Project management role at an International Telecoms Service Provider. The person should have experience of Project Managing Telecommunication Infrastructure. For further information on this position click on the following link http://www.thecorporatehub.co.za/ITJobs/ProjectmanagerTelecoms/tabid/16200/Default.aspx ContractsPlanetsky and Real Image - Swaziland Real Image Ltd, a pioneer in the provision of Internet Services and customized communications solutions in Swaziland, has signed a contract with leading provider of satellite communications Planetsky Ltd, in order to make the next generation of broadband services available to Sub-Saharan Africa. Under the contract, Planetsky will provide Real Image with a complete turn-key, self managed, platform for the provision of one-way satellite broadband DVB-IP service to Real Image’s customers. Angola Telecom and ECtel - Angola Angola’s principal telecommunications service provider Angola Telecom has selected Israel-based ECtel Limited, a provider of integrated revenue management (IRM) solutions to provide it with a fraud management solution to protect revenue through real-time detection and prevention of fraud losses. In a press release, ECtel said it will work in partnership with the financial firm LR Group, which has a special focus on Africa, to realise the project. MTN and Arieso – South Africa In preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Arieso, the leader in network optimisation and customer centric network management solutions, has been working with MTN South Africa to implement a major expansion project for its network using its world leading geo-location solution, ariesoGEO. LPTIC, ZTE and Huawei - Libya According to a report by Panapress, citing official sources, Libya Post and Telecommunication Information Technology (LPTIC) has signed four contracts to expand and upgrade the networks of its telecoms subsidiaries, General Posts and Telecommunications Company (GPTC), Libya Telecom & Technology (LTT) and Al Madar Telcomms Company. The first contract agreed with Chinese vendors Huawei Technologies and ZTE pertains to the expansion of GPTC’s fixed-wireless CDMA networks; hiring the companies to boost the capacity of the network to 800,000 lines. The second contract, signed between LTT and the Libyan General People's committee for education and scientific research, is for a project connecting Libyan schools to the internet via VPN. The third contract, between Huawei and LTT, will see the supplier build out a new mobile network with a capacity of 100,000, while the fourth contract is understood to relate to an upgrade for Al Madar’s mobile network, although specific details were not released.
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