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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 481 20th November 2009 Ghana’s NCA set to offer voice and data WiMAX licences but with conditionsGhana’s regulator NCA is consulting on offering spectrum and a licence that will allow those who win them to offer both voice and data. But as you might imagine there’s a number of catches contained in the package. Russell Southwood looks at what’s on offer. NCA says that it wants to award a total of five spectrum licences for BWA services in the 2,500 MHz-2,690 MHz band. There will be three slots of 30 MHz blocks nationwide for operators using unpaired spectrum and two slots of 2 x 15 MHz blocks for operators using paired spectrum. Both licences will run for ten years. In addition, there will be an extra paired 2 x 5 MHz and an extra unpaired 15 MHz available to the winners of the five licences. Obviously the spectrum could suit a number of technologies but the most likely is WiMAX. What is ground-breaking about the licence is that “end users shall be allowed to use their equipment in fixed locations, in a nomadic manner or with a full mobile capability, at their choice.” Furthermore, these licensees do not require to have a separate Internet user licence. The licence also covers the whole of the country. There’s a non-refundable application fee of US$100,000 with the winning of the five licences being determined through an auction. The minimum reserve price for the auction is US$5 million. However, the licences is hedged about with conditions. The successful operators have to achieve 60% penetration of each of a set of zones and 100% penetration of district capitals. The zones are groupings of district areas from the highly attractive (Accra Metropolitan) to the much less attractive (Bole in the Northern region). In addition, the operator has to satisfy a set of quality of service metrics that will be outlined in the licence. So five years later, half way into their licence period, if they have satisfied all these conditions, luck operators will then be able to pay a one-time fee of US$1 million and be able to offer voice services. However, the licence does not entitle the operator to an international gateway licence and that will have to be purchased separately. So the licence structure is an attempt to get the maximum investment whilst offering a carrot that would be a bargain at US$1 million if you can reach the finish line in five years. The only realistic bidders will either be existing mobile operators wanting to put data traffic on to WiMAX or an insurgent wireless challenger with deep pockets. A recent case in Ghana shows why there needs to be an alternative network to Vodafone Ghana’s wholesale operation, the National Communications Backbone Company NCBC). The Ministry of Communications issued a tender for the eGhana project which required 10 mbps to be delivered to various parts of the country. One of the country’s ISPs Internet Ghana, on the basis of the prices it was charged by NCBC made a bid of US$8,000 per E1, on the basis of being charged US$4,500 per E1 by NCBC. It emerged that NCBC had quoted a price that equated to US$1,083.33, clearly well below the sum it charged for wholesale bandwidth to other companies. After a number of unconvincing explanations, it said had made a mistake and would still offer the bandwidth in order to keep its commitment. The case is currently with NCA and in the courts. Interestingly, the incumbent’s new owners Vodafone have put in place a capacity-related charging structure for wholesale bandwidth so that you get the same price anywhere in the country. Unless you happen to be the company broadband subsidiary and then it looks very like you get a much better deal. Mistakes do happen but a mistake of this magnitude needs a different explanation.
South Africa’s Mobile Market Saturated says MTN’s representativeThe market for cellphone users had reached saturation point in SA, an MTN official said last week, in the first public admission that the years of endless growth are over. All the operators have previously portrayed SA's cellular market as approaching, but never quite reaching, its limit. But MTN's regulatory affairs executive, Zolisa Masiza, last week told delegates at the AfricaCom conference in Cape Town that "in SA the market has reached saturation . We don't have growth," he said. The new opinion has been triggered by a decline in subscriber growth for both MTN and Vodacom since August, when new legislation was introduced preventing anybody from buying a SIM card unless they showed their identity documents. A combination of the increased hassle factor, the unreadiness of rural outlets to record that information properly and a lack of formal documents, by immigrants in particular, has caused MTN SA to suffer a 4.7% drop in subscriber numbers, and for Vodacom to report a definite slowdown in its growth rate. The new law has slowed down the sign-up rate for new subscribers so much that Vodacom doubts it will ever repeat its previous feat of adding 1-million new subscribers in a month. The operators will compile figures to show how the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act was harming people's ability to get access to communications services, and the networks would then meet Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda to lobby for some relaxation of the rules, Masiza said. "In six months' time we are going to go to the minister and raise some of the problems we have encountered. I don't think we will be able to reverse the process. It will be just to improve the legislation." The law is designed to create a database that will help police to identify the owner of any cellphone used in the planning or commission of a crime. Doubts are rife that such a system will work, however, as anyone smart enough to plot a crime is probably smart enough to present fake identity details. So far, its main effect has been to prevent rural people from getting access to communications. "From August 1 there was an impact on the sale of SIM cards, with a 30% drop in sales," Masiza said. Rural areas and informal distribution channels had been hardest hit, as they were not geared up to ensure that every time a SIM card was sold the private details of the buyer were recorded easily. He said people would only be able to judge whether the law was actually helping to combat crime after 18 months, when the operators had been obliged to record the identification and residential details of existing subscribers as well as new users. The operators expect they will have to disconnect thousands of customers who cannot present formal documents for one reason or another. (Source: Business Day) Report Rates Mobile Services in Kenya: Safaricom has best coverage but lowest quality networkThe verdict is out: Safaricom has the best coverage but lowest quality network, while Zain has the best overall performance on the key performance indicators set out by the Communication Commission of Kenya. This is according to an audit report on the quality of voice service in Nairobi GSM networks conducted in October 2009 by Finland based telecommunications consultants, Omnitele, commissioned by local ICT firm, Musimba Investments. "From the end-users perspective, the low quality can be observed as problems with bad quality of voice and call disconnects during conversations and long call set up times," states the report referring to the Safaricom network. While rating the four mobile telephony companies, the report shows Zain meets seven out of nine CCK requirements, while Safaricom meets only four of them. Orange fails to meet two of the requirements and newest entrant YU fails on three. The markers gazetted on the Kenya Communications Act 1998, are the call completion rate, dropped call rate, call set up success rate, call success rate, speech quality, handover success rate, call set up time, blocked calls and failed calls rate. The report indicates that the poorest speech quality is on Safaricom network at 87 per cent, falling behind Zain at 94.9 per cent and Yu at 93 per cent. All three were, however, short of the CCK requirement to have above 95 per cent on speech clarity, only Orange met the requirements with 97.1 per cent speech quality. "All networks need some attention, especially Safaricom, which needs immediate planning and optimisation to offer satisfactory customer experience, due to the large size and number of subscriber traffic," said Patrick Musimba, CEO, Musimba Investments when launching the report. Mobile phone users have also been waiting for their calls to be connected for longer periods of time than they should, as none of the networks met the call set up time. Although the stipulated time is 4 seconds, the report shows that Safaricom calls were delayed for an average 5.206 seconds, YU at 4.201 seconds, Zain at 4.39 seconds and Orange at 4.075 seconds. Orange was reported to have the worst handover rate performance compared to other networks at 97.8 per cent, which is below CCK's indicated standard of 99.5 per cent. All the networks performed satisfactorily on the call completion rate, call set up success rates and call success rate. Musimba said the audit was focused on the consumers' service view rather than the technical part, saying the customers should not be punished for being in a highly subscribed network, as it is the operators' role to plan for how much their infrastructure can accommodate. When reached for a comment the listed telecoms operator ,Safaricom said had not received a copy of the report as they would have to review it first. (Source: Daily Nation) Zimbabwe’s TelOne Admits Restricting Calls to save moneyTelOne, the state-owned fixed-line monopoly, admitted to restricting calls from landlines to mobile operators to reduce its debts. TelOne owed more than US$22 million to mobile operators in interconnection fees, acting managing director Hampton Mhlanga told the Parliamentary Committee on Media, Information and Communication Technology last Thursday. Interconnection fees are paid between operators to allow cross-network calls. Mhlanga also revealed the damage caused by a Cabinet decision to force TelOne to slash its tariffs earlier in the year. According to Mhlanga, the directive had plunged the parastatal deeper into debt. Its obligations to other telecoms operators and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority had ballooned following the directive, Mhlanga told the committee. Gift Chimanikire, chair of the committee, asked Mhlanga whether the mounting interconnection debt had been the reason TelOne customers had found it difficult to get through to mobile networks. Mhlanga replied: "There was a time that the liabilities increased so much that we took a business decision, as the amount we owed had kept on growing. Therefore, we were not allowing 100% of calls to mobile operators, especially to Econet, so that we reduce our liability. "However, we have since had discussion with the operators, and we said to them, we will pay you 10% of our collections, until such a time as we are able to collect 100%." This is the first time TelOne has publicly admitted to having barred calls from its own customers to Econet and other mobile operators. Under the interconnection arrangement between telecommunications operators, operators pay each other for traffic between their networks. For instance, if a TelOne customer calls a mobile operator, TelOne pays that operator seven cents per minute. Because Econet is the largest operator, with over 2 million subscribers compared to TelOne's 300 000, most of the outbound traffic from TelOne is heading into Econet. This means its interconnection obligations to Econet and other operators, who are expanding their subscriber bases, were always rising. Mhlanga also revealed the company had been collecting only about 15% of its bills from customers, yet the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority demands tax returns to be based on what the company bills, and not what it actually collects. In a statement TelOne said it would resume disconnection of services to some of its defaulting customers as from 1 December. "TelOne would like to remind its valued customers to settle their revised bills in full. This is in order to avoid inconveniences that may arise from service termination, which would be resumed in earnest. "Kindly note that with effect from 1 December TelOne will not hesitate to re-allocate to those on the waiting list telephone lines of customers whose arrears are in excess of 90 days past due as well as those who have defaulted on the agreed payment plans," said the company. TelOne further warned the defaulters that the company was considering taking legal action against them if they failed to pay the billed amounts. "Legal action will be taken to recover all outstanding amounts that are over 120 days and legal cost will be for the accounts of debtors," it said. (Source: The Zimbabwe Independent) Merger to Strengthen Warid's Presence in UgandaDhabi Group's Warid Telecom partnership with Essar Group will boost and further strengthen the presence and competitiveness of the telecom company in the local market, the company chief executive officer has said. Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, two days after Essar legally acquired 51 per cent shares in the two-year-old telecom company, Warid CEO Zulqarnain Javaid said they [Warid] intend to use Essar's skills, experience in telecoms and buying power to build capacity for better and cheaper telecom services. "We will improve our marketing spend in advertising new and available products. We will also be more innovative next year," said Javaid. Essar, which now owns majority shares in Warid Telecom, is an Indian-based company which also has shares in Vodafone. Warid plans to put up more than 150 base stations next year and expand its coverage to Kibale, Pader and Adjuman districts as away of strengthening its market position. Though Essar owns 51 per cent shares in the telecom company, Javaid said they will neither re-brand nor restructure. "We have spent the last two years building our brand and we agreed that there will no rebranding," he said. Essar, which is said to have revenues of over $15 billion, also owns 'YU' telecom in Kenya. To capitalise on growth opportunity in Uganda and Africa, Javaid said the company opted for shareholders instead of borrowing money to collectively enhance its services, grow their customer touch points and expand the network in the two countries where it operates. "With this new equity, we will go for a major expansion programmes which is really a bright future for Warid," he said. Last month, MTN raised $100 million through syndicated loan for network expansion. The deal cost $318 million (Shs636 billion) for the two companies in Uganda and Congo Brazzaville. (Source: The Monitor) In brief:- A second set of meetings, which intended to bring the interconnect debate to an amicable end, has broken down in South Africa. The meeting was held by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) this week in an attempt to persuade mobile operators to reduce the mobile termination rates. However, the regulator says the mobile operators brought nothing to the table and refused to disclose any information to ICASA on the cost of actual rates. - Telecommunication companies in Uganda are next month expected to adopt new and uniform rates they charge one another to enable their customers make cross-network calls next month. Patrick Masambu, the executive director Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) said that the new interconnection rates will be announced at the end of this month. Interconnection rates for the different networks were expected to fall from a maximum of Shs181 to Shs91 and 95 per minute on mobile and fixed calls, respectively, a month ago. - MTN South Africa, has advanced strategies to reduce its permanent and temporary workforce as a result of the decline in the economic environment. Ms Bridget Bhengu of MTN SA Communications department, confirmed this on Monday in a press statement made available to Champion Infotel. She said that approximately 403 permanent employees may be affected towards the end of March next year, which comprises about 7 per cent of MTN SA's 4,679 permanent employees. - Gabonews reports that Gabon’s Minister of Communication, Laure Olga Gondjout, has met with Ibrahim Alkharboush, Executive Director of Bintel, the Middle Eastern owner of the African country’s newest mobile operator, USAN Gabon (branded 'Azur'), following which a statement was released which apparently orders the newcomer to suspend its operations for three weeks while it fully complies with regulations. - France Telecom’s Chief Financial Officer Gervais Pellissier said at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference in Barcelona last week that FT wants to continue its foray into Africa by acquiring a struggling operator or buying a new license but will stay out of South Africa and Nigeria. - Portugal Telecom SGPS SA plans to tap the high-growth potential of Brazil and Africa to increase mobile subscribers by almost 50 percent and raise the contribution of overseas operations to two-thirds from half of total operating revenue, the Financial Times reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Zeinal Bava. - Indian Electronics entrepreneur Kumaar Thakkar has added a tiny plug point to solar lamp's base, and suddenly villagers , who had earlier said the lamp - costing Rs 1,600 - was too expensive, wanted one. "After Kumaarsahab rigged the lamps to power mobile phones, they're in great demand," says Pandhari Nuruti Basme, a 21-year-old who sells solar lamps in the village.
Tunisie Telecom launches Hannibal submarine Telecommunications CableTunisie-Télécom has launched last on Friday, its own, 100% Tunisian, submarine fibre cable dubbed "Hannibal." With an initial capacity of 40 gigabits per second, expandable to 3,200 Gbps, the submarine cable, connecting Kelibia to Italian city of Mazara, is one of the most important telecommunications connections in the Mediterranean covering 180 kilometres. The project required an investment of nearly 16 million dinars. The laying out of a submarine cable for Tunisia has become an unavoidable choice to provide the country with a transmission capacity that meets present and future needs. The submarine cable will satisfy Tunisia's communication needs as well as significantly increasing the number of broadband Internet lines (ADSL). The number of subscribers to ADSL reached, by the end of September 2009, approximately 313,000. The cable will also allow Tunisia to secure its international connections, increase the attractiveness of its Internet offer, improve fluidity of navigation on global websites and meet the demands of Tunisian companies wishing to develop their exporting activities. (Source: TAP) Internet Download Drama Strikes At Telecom Namibia after caps put in placeClients of Telecom Namibia's Mobile Broadband deal have come to a shocking realisation - what it actually costs to download data from the Internet. Telecom launched its mobile broadband service - and in particular the 3G-EVDO mobile package - in November 2007. But the company never implemented the caps on its different products - the maximum amount of data a customer can download. The cheapest of these packages was N$289 for 550 Megabytes (MB) of data per month - anything more was to be charged at N$0.50 per MB. But Telecom effectively allowed customers to download as much as they wanted for almost two years before implementing the data caps in August. Now that the company is charging extra for exceeding the caps, the innocuous-sounding 50 cents per MB could amount to a bill of N$40 000 a month or more. Some clients say they know of bills that have reached close to N$100 000. Telecom spokesman Oiva Angula says the company made it clear from the start that there were usage limits. He says although subscribers were allowed limitless usage at first, the number of subscribers soared and this placed heavier demands on Telecom's bandwidth consumption. It was also unfair to those who had subscribed to the more expensive packages for two years, because those who paid less could effectively download more. "Telecom Namibia noted the cost associated with increased Internet usage, as bandwidth is currently costly. Besides, there is a network that must be maintained and upgraded to accommodate more users." In an online petition, at least 25 Telecom clients are asking Telecom to consider alternative options such as making the bundles prepaid products or blocking Internet usage once the limit is reached. As it is, they only find out at the end of the month how much data they had downloaded. One client said he woke up to a cellphone banking message that about N$8,000 had been deducted from his bank account for his Telecom account. The petitioners are also requesting that they be allowed to terminate their 24-month contracts without a penalty fee if Telecom is unwilling to provide other options. "We did sign contracts, and we will adhere to them if the new payments incentives allow us to stay within our affordability ranges. These new changes have caused financial constraints to all of us, and we thus demand more options," the petition states. But Angula says clients who feel they require increased download capacity should opt for flat-rate services that are uncapped. For the mobile or wireless option, this would mean a subscription fee of N$999 per month. He adds that clients can also check their data usage by calling the customer centre. (Source: The Namibian) KDN rolls out second redundant route from Nairobi to Mombasa to combat vandalismKenya Data Networks, the internet infrastructure provider, is laying a 700-kilometre fibre optic cable from Thika to Mombasa to act as a redundancy path to its cable. This will check the downtime that is costing it and its clients millions of shillings. Work on the redundancy path that started in mid October is expected to be completed next March, with the cable passing through Garissa, Hola and Mtwapa in Mombasa. The move to provide an alternative route to the one that links Nairobi to Mombasa through Voi follows rising incidence of cable vandalisms. Vandalism could also force a policy rethink on dedicated paths and encourage shared backbone, saving the country billions in resource duplication, equipment replacement costs and lost business opportunities during network outages. Telecoms rivals have been trading claims of sabotage, but the government now appears resigned to taking a proposal by telecoms regulator, Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), to share network facilities, with the operators swapping capacity to curb sabotage. Adam Noor, the project manager at Soliton Telmec, the company that KDN has outsourced to lay out the cable, says the alternative route will enable KDN to reroute all its traffic in either of the cables when there is a problem. "A redundant route will ensure that KDN clients get quality services and remain uptime, thus reducing the losses associated with such occurrences," said Noor. Apart from human activity such as road construction which sometimes damages the cables, claims of sabotage have lately been rampant. Having one route means that the companies have either the option of rerouting its traffic to satellite connectivity which is costly or remain down and charge the client the penalty for business loss during that period. But the laying of the cable has not been smooth sailing in northern parts of the country, like in Bangela where resident have threatened to uproot the cable. Rashid Aden, a Soliton Telmec official who is overseeing the laying of the cable between Mwingi and Garissa says the local community did not understand the benefits of the cable and were opposed to its passing in the area. As a result the company had to involve civic leaders and the chief who convinced the residents of the project's benefits. "We had to involve the locals in the project by giving some of then work as security officers to guard the temporary stores and also to act as store men," said Mr Aden. People employed to dig trenches manually are paid between Sh3,000 and Sh10,000 a week depending on the length of the trench. Organisations based in the areas that the fibre optic cable pass through will also benefit from its connectivity. Depending on the terrain, the company uses either machine or manual labour to dig the trenches. While it costs roughly Sh40,000 to do three kilometers using manual labour, it costs slightly above Sh10, 000 to do the same distance. (Source: Business Daily) In brief:- The Kenyan Government last week made a bold step towards ensuring network security for its agencies, when it scaled-up plans to set up an internet exchange point, where they will all connect. The telecoms industry regulator, the Communications Commission of Kenya last week invited firms to bid for the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of a Government of Kenya Internet exchange point. - Tunisair has recently launched a new upgraded version of its website (www.tunisair.com.tn) which will provide users with the possibility of finding out about the company's latest offers. The new website which does not limit itself to a simple reversioning of the former web site, it provides the whole array of Tunisair services, including the company's "fidelys" customer service, hotel bookings, and medical tourism in three languages (Arabic, French and English). - A new fibre optic cable to provide Internet broadband to Rwanda are expected to reach the Katuna border post in Rwanda in December. "Connecting Katuna to Kigali will take another one month, hence completing the project in January 2010," Fred Sewe, the chief executive of Green Future, said. - iDirect has announced that SimbaNET Nigeria, a service provider and systems integrator based in Africa, has launched its network over Nigeria and West Africa. Under the new network, SimbaNET Nigeria will introduce additional bandwidth capacity to support more advanced enterprise applications for existing corporate and government customers in the region. - The installation of fibre-optic cable links across Angola’s southern provinces of Huila, Namibe, Kuando Kubango and Cunene is on target for completion by the end of this year, according to Angola Telecom’s regional director, Manuel Octavio. Speaking to news provider Angop, Octavio said that fibre links between Namibe and Huila are complete, adding that the company’s technicians are doing their best to reach Kuando Kubango and Cunene by the end of this year, to provide better quality, high speed communications with cheaper prices. - Egypt will apply for the first Internet domain written in Arabic, its information technology minister said Sunday at a conference grouping Yahoo's co-founder and others to discuss boosting online access in emerging nations. Tarek Kamel said Egypt on Monday would apply for the new domain - pronounced ".masr" but written in the Arabic alphabet - making it the first Arab nation to apply for a non-Latin character domain. - A new site called African Repatriation has been launched recently. The site (http://www.africanrepatriation.com) is an invaluable resource for any African currently working overseas who has a desire to return home to work and make a new life in Africa. The site is rich with the social networking tools needed to connect African’s from all corners of the globe, to share their experiences and find the solutions to the problems that one can face when making such a move. The site also features a job search tool, a forum, industry related articles and specialist editorials from experts across the African employment market. - The World Bank is organising a workshop on Universal Access and Service (UAS) and Broadband Development When: November 23, 2009, 9:00 am - 12:30 pm Washington D.C. time You can watch this event on live or recorded webcast at: http://www.worldbank.org/edevelopment/live (live webcast URLs will be published there shortly)
Home Affairs Technology to Improve Service Delivery in South AfricaAn innovative new system aimed at speeding up the processing of identity documents (IDs), is currently being implemented at Home Affairs offices around the country. The system, known as live capture, has already been introduced at 40 regional offices to secure data captured at front offices. The system entails the capture applicants' signatures and fingerprints digitally. Officials scan the photo of the ID applicant on to a computerised system, which then prints the image directly on the document. While currently used for passport applications, the system will be extended to ID applications during 2010. Home Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, said the new technology would save officials time, as they no longer have to manually stick an applicant's photo on his or her new ID. The department's administration duties would also be dramatically reduced, as until now copies of all citizens' fingerprints and ID photos have had to be manually collected and filed. Dlamini Zuma said that innovation not only formed part of the department's turnaround strategy, which involves a complete overhaul of document-processing methods, but also marked a move towards meeting international standards. It was also imperative to the department's programme to improve service delivery and the security of the passport. The government plans to equip every Home Affairs office with such a workstation by the end of its turnaround drive in March 2011. On other technology developments within the department, Dlamini Zuma informed the media that Home Affairs Information System (HANIS ), which converts existing hardcopy records from paper-based images into digital images to allow for faster and more accurate identification of persons, currently houses 33 million sets of fingerprints and more than 13 million pictures. The department is also investigating making changes to the birth certificate to include more information and make it more secure. The current certificate is easy to forge, said Dlamini Zuma. "The abridged birth certificate has been upgraded to include the details of one parent (especially the mother). The inclusion of additional information will go a long way in curbing the misuse of birth certificates." (Source: Bua News) Computer languages go local with Microsoft’s Local Language Programme in AfricaFor most English speakers, computer terms such as “instant messenger,” “download” and “cut and paste” seem quite ordinary. But for millions of African indigenous language speakers, the absence of technology in their own language simply increases the digital divide. That’s according to Ntutule Tshenye, the head of citizenship at Microsoft West, East and Central Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands (WECA & IOI). Speaking at the Local Language Programme (LLP) Africa Summit in Sandton, Johannesburg yesterday, Tshenye said providing access to computer technology in local languages will open up new worlds for education and economic participation for millions of people across the African continent. “United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) funded research in 2006 showed that development and learning is only possible through languages familiar to people. Yet many of the world’s 6 000 languages are absent from the public arena and 50% are in danger of disappearing altogether,” said Tshenye. He outlined Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to make software accessible to people in their vernacular. The company plans to make its newly-released Windows 7 operating system available in 10 African languages by June 2011. “Translation teams from South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia have already started translating Windows 7 and the upcoming Office 2010 productivity suite into languages like Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, kiSwahili, Amharic, Sesotho sa Leboa, Setswana, isiXhosa, isiZulu and Afrikaans,” said Tshenye. Languages play an important role in the integration of societies into public life, but especially so in education. According to Mr. Koichiro Matsura, Director-General of UNESCO, languages are a critical element of attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which the United Nations agreed upon in 2000. “Providing computing experiences in local languages is vital to driving greater access to technology across the continent. It literally opens up new worlds for education and economic participation for millions of people,” says Pan-South African Language Board (PanSALB) Chair, Professor Sihawukele Ngubane. Translating software to an indigenous language means more than just linguistic translation. Localisation – adapting to a particular language, culture and preferred ‘look and feel’– requires that idiomatic expressions be adjusted so the software appears as if it were first developed within the local culture. “Take words such as ‘broadband’ and ‘network’. In languages like Hausa, Igbo or Yoruba, a direct translation simply doesn't exist. It was important to protect the language and address the specific needs when doing translations,” added Professor Ngubane. The Microsoft LLP team has worked closely with government, universities and local language experts to create freely downloadable language interface packs (LIPs) so that indigenous language speakers can access Office 2007, Windows Vista and XP in their mother tongue. Microsoft plans to translate Windows 7 and Office 2010 into 59 local languages by June 2011. Its most popular software packages have already been translated into 101 languages – including Azeri, Georgian, Macedonian, Uzbek, Bosnian, Punjabi and Kyrgyz. “Studies show that we learn better in our mother tongue, so we are not only driven by getting more computers to more people, but also by offering software and services in local languages,” said Tshenye. Sainsbury's Goes Bananas For Fair Trade PC DonationsRetailer Sainsbury's is donating more than 4000 of its PCs to health and education projects in South America and Africa, in a move which the retailer claims will extend the useful life of the machines by at least three to four years. Sainsbury's has donated the 4390 PCs and 4572 monitors to IT charity Computer Aid, which will handle the refurbishment of the devices, including wiping any sensitive information on the machines before they are shipped to developing countries such as Eritrea and Ecuador. According to Computer Aid, 256 PCs and monitors have already been sent to the Association of Small Banana Producers in Ecuador to help improve the day-to-day running of the Fair Trade organisation. Other projects which will receive machines include the African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF) in Kenya which provides PCs to rural hospitals to help with remote diagnosis and treatment as well as the British Council in Eritrea which has a project to equip public libraries with PCs in the East African country. “Computer Aid made donating these PCs extremely straightforward by assuming full legal liability for the equipment we sent and providing documentation to prove our compliance with electrical waste and payment card industry regulations," said Rob Fraser, Sainsbury’s IT director. "I’m proud to say that our IT division already supports many local charities but with this donation to Computer Aid we are also able to make a difference to those in need even further afield." Jack Cunningham, Sainsbury’s environmental affairs manager, said that supporting Fair Trade projects with its old, but still usable, PCs made environmental sense. "As the UK’s largest retailer of Fair Trade products it’s exciting to be able to donate old IT equipment via Computer Aid to Fair Trade producers and the additional benefit is that we are continuing to divert a valuable resource from landfill. Both successes should be celebrated.” In July, Sainsbury's scooped top prize at the prestigious UK business awards for its work with NCR to cut the environmental impact of paper till receipts. The work resulted in the use of 502,000 fewer till rolls, where the NCR devices used 35 to 50 percent less energy than other till printers. Computer Aid International says it has professionally refurbished over 150,000 PCs for use in schools, hospitals and community projects in more than 100 countries. The charity is an Authorised Approved Treatment Facility, licensed by the Environment Agency to handle equipment under the UK's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) laws. "Every PC refurbished by Computer Aid will go on to provide at least 6000 hours of computer access, which is enough time to train 60 children to a vocational level of IT literacy," said Tony Roberts (pictured), founder and chief executive of Computer Aid. Earlier this month, The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) announced that it had updated the UK's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment laws to help improve the amount of old technology hardware which is recycled and kept out of landfill. According to reports in the Independent this month, the head of an alleged UK tech recycling operation was questioned by police over illegal shipments of waste electronics to the Nigerian city of Lagos. The investigation by The Independent, Sky News and Greenpeace apparently showed how a broken television was shipped from the UK to an electronics market in the city. (Source: eWEEK Europe) In Brief:- Uganda’s Defence ministry has launched a computerised automated information management system, which is expected to remove 'ghosts' from its payrolls. - Under the patronage of Lebanese Minister of Education, the Arab Support Centre for Free and Open Source Software, Ma3bar, was officially launched in Beirut on 5 November 2009. The new Centre is the result of cooperation between UNESCO, UNDP-ICTDAR and the University of Balamand. Other leading academic institutions in the region are expected to join the partnership.
Mauritius Telecom to raise USD50m from telecom listingIn his budget speech delivered yesterday, the Mauritian Finance Minister Ramakrishna Sithanen said the government hopes to raise MUR1.5 billion (USD50 million) from the listing of the nation’s largest telco, Mauritius Telecom (MT). ‘While the fiscal deficit for 2010 is projected at 4.5%, government borrowing requirement will only be 4% of GDP. This is mainly due to the sale proceeds of Mauritius Telecom shares which is expected to raise at least 1.5 billion rupees,’ Reuters quotes the minister as saying. The government sold a 40% stake in its national operator to France Telecom (Orange) in 2000 and retains a 60% stake along with the State Bank of Mauritius. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, MT reported post-tax profits of MUR1.9 billion (USD51 million) in 2008, down 5% year-on-year, on the back of increased interest payments, but confirmed its plans to list on the Indian Ocean island’s stock exchange. Full year turnover climbed 6.5% to MUR6.8 billion in 2008, driven by 12% growth at its mobile unit Cellplus Mobile Communications. In May 2008 the government of Mauritius imposed new taxes on local phone firms, including a 5% levy on profits and 1.5% on revenues as part of a wider plan to keep the budget deficit in check. MT had planned to list last year but postponed the event in the wake of the global credit crunch. At the time it stopped short of providing a date for the listing, although its chairman Thomas Appalsamy confirmed it was still on. ‘The company has completed its due diligence exercise and now shareholders are working on the price and the number of shares that will be floated on the Stock Exchange,’ he said in June 2009. (Source: Telegeography) Telkom South Africa Fears Dive of 140 Percent in EarningsTelkom South Africa , Africa's largest fixed- line phone company said last week it expected its headline earnings per share for the six months to September to fall as much as 140%. The trading update did not impress the market and Telkom's share price fell sharply soon after it made the announcement, and it lost 3.55% on Friday to close at R40.75. Telkom said it expected its headline earnings per share to decrease 130%-140% compared to the corresponding period last year, while normalised headline earnings per share were expected to fall by between 45% and 55%. "The main differences between basic earnings and headline earnings are the profit on the sale and gain on unbundling of our 50% share in Vodacom and the related capital gains tax and impairments and write-offs relating to property, plant and equipment and intangible assets." The headline earnings per share include secondary taxation on companies on a special dividend relating to the sale of Vodacom. The South African business had to absorb higher than expected increases in operating costs because of higher payments to local and international operators, salary increases after an agreement with trade unions and inventory write-offs . Multi-Link, the Telkom-owned private telecommunications operator, is also expected to deliver poor results. "Trading conditions in Nigeria remained tough as a result of local economic factors, pricing pressures and the short-term strategy to reduce inventories and acquire subscribers by subsidising certain handsets," Telkom said. The weaker Nigerian economy had increased pressure on consumer spending, it said. (Source: Business Day) UBA Backs Lonestar's U.S. $10 Million Network Expansion Programme in LiberiaThe United Bank for Africa (UBA) Liberia Limited has signed a$10 million financing deal with Liberia 's leading telecom company, Lonestar Limited, a company majority owned (51 per cent) by MTN Communications Limited, for a network expansion programme. The deal according to a press statement issued by the bank yesterday, is one of the biggest single projects to be financed by a commercial bank in the country, which underscores UBA Group's role in project financing across Africa.The Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, UBA Liberia, Ebele Ogbue, led other UBA management team to sign the deal on behalf of the bank, while Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Lonestar Liberia, Francois Joubert and his Deputy, Stephen Fleming signed on behalf of the telecom giant, Lonestar Liberia Limited. Ogbue was quoted as saying that the financing was part of the group's policy of supporting investments in sectors such as the telecoms industry, especially given the increasing role that telecommunication is playing in e-banking and e-commerce development in Africa He described the event as "a key milestone in the history of project financing in the country," noting that Lonestar Communications, the Liberian subsidiary of MTN Communications, which controls about 56 per cent market share of the telecoms industry, would now be able to expand its network and services, much to the delight of the people. Joubert, in his remarks, said that the collaboration was a sign of renewed optimism for economic growth and development in the country. According to him this kind of long-term financing is good for to the business environment and translates into increased investors' confidence. (Source: Leadership) Zain expands One network in Egypt but Africa weighs on profitsMiddle East and African operator Zain said Wednesday that it is expanding its pioneering One Network to Egypt via a strategic partnership with Mobinil. The deal means over 27 million Zain customers in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Sudan can benefit from One Network services – effectively being treated as local customers - when visiting Egypt, while Mobinil’s 24 million customers will benefit from similar treatment when visiting any of these Zain countries. The One platform allows subscribers to make calls, send SMS and access the data services at local rates of the visited country and to receive incoming calls from their home country at free or minimal charge. Middle East and African carriers are known for their innovation in the face of falling ARPUs, rising competition and the recession - something which has attracted many investors but also dissuaded them from moving into more Africa markets. In Zain’s case, the company’s soaring ambition and presentational verve has not yet been matched by the performance of its operations in sub-Saharan Africa, where many of its units are loss-making. This week Zain reported that net profit for the nine months to the end of September fell 17 per cent year on year to KWD195.7m ($677m), although revenues for the period were up 24 per cent year on year to KWD1.78bn. But Africa is causing much of the company’s financial pressure. The vast and capital intensive expansion of Zain’s network in key operations such as Nigeria, Zambia, Sudan, and Iraq, has resulted in increases in fixed costs from depreciation and amortization, with the company being further burdened by increases in financing costs. In late September, confusion reigned as a consortium of buyers that included Indian operators BSNL and MTNL were thought to be carrying out due diligence on Zain in a bid to acquire some or all of Zain Africa. But nothing came of the supposed interest and at the recent Africa Com 2009 event in Cape Town, South Africa, Chris Gabriel, CEO of Zain Africa repeated a number of times that “Zain Africa is not for sale. We are focused on our objective to become a top ten player by 2011 and we still have an appetite for expansion,” he said. (Source: Telecoms.com) In brief:- Libyan investment company LAP Green has signed a USD300 million loan agreement with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to allow it to fund capital expenditure in its telecoms investments in Uganda, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Niger and Togo. The USD300 million is part of the USD10 billion that China has pledged to lend Africa in low interest loans. - Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Dr Christopher Anyanwu, has assured that the renewed sale of moribund Nitel to a new core investor would be concluded by January next year. - London and JSE-listed Dimension Data Holdings plc has announced its results for the year to end-September 2009. Given the extremely challenging economic conditions that prevailed over the period the Group did well to report flat revenues overall in constant currency. Strong growth of 13.0% in services revenues drove an improvement in the gross margin and this, when combined with tight cost management, resulted in operating profit growth of 25.4%. The Group operating margin grew to 4.9%, an excellent increase on FY2008’s 4.0% operating margin. A further highlight of the results is good working capital management and strong cash generation, which resulted in a closing cash balance of $600 million. - Egypt-based group Orascom Telecom has revealed that revenue for the three months ended 30 September 2009 remained flat compared to the previous quarter’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for 9M 2009 meanwhile was USD1.68 million, down 3.5% against the corresponding period in 2008, although again a minor improvement against the previous quarter was seen, with Orascom reporting 3Q 2009 EBITDA of USD577.6 million, up 0.9% against 2Q 09. Orascom posted far more healthy results in terms of net profit however; for the three months ended 30 September 2009 it posted a 260.6% y-o-y rise to USD180.9 million. - Global satellite operator SES S.A. and Jersey, Channel Islands-based O3B Networks Limited (O3b), announced today that SES has made a minority investment in O3b to support the development of O3b’s satellite-based, global internet backbone designed to reach the “other three billion” people in the developing world who today do not have access to the internet. SES joins Google, Liberty Global, HSBC and North Bridge Venture Partners to become a large investor in O3b. SES will invest a total of US$75 M in the company, and will provide engineering and commercial support to O3b in order to assist the company’s development. Morocco's Maroc Telecom Group has reported that its revenues for the first nine months of 2009 totalled EUR1,999 million, up 3.6% compared to the same period in 2008 (+1.1% at constant currency and at constant perimeter). Despite a continuing difficult economic environment, revenue growth was driven by both an ongoing leadership position in Morocco and the solid performance of Maroc Telecom's subsidiaries. Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage (briefs)- Nigerian smart phone maker, Anabel Mobile has slashed all brands of its mobile phones including PS200, PS185Y, PS100, effizzy, Ice and MP3 players by 10%. According to President and Chief Executive Officer of Anabel, Mr Nicholas Okoye said that the price slash was necessary so as to allow more entertainment fans and other Nigerians to own Anabel phones and other products which have continued to attract high patronage in the market. - In Kenya, mobile phone service subscribers on the yu network can now call at a flat rate of Sh6 under a new a tariff. The company's chief commercial officer Kunal Ramteke said subscribers will now enjoy the round the clock flat rate on their phone calls billed per second adding this rate is applicable across all networks in Kenya. - The Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) says the upgrading of its nationwide wireless backbone and the backhaul network of its mobile subsidiary be Mobile by Ceragon Network is ongoing after the Israeli company was awarded a $1.5 million (P9.96 million) contract earlier this year. - Telma Mobile has launched the first 3G+ services in Madagascar. The 3G+ services being offered include high-speed mobile data, video calling, and will soon include mobile TV channels. As part of a nationwide initiative to bring computing and mobile broadband access to rural Madagascar, Telma Mobile’s 3G+ service also enables access to basic necessity products pricing, e-learning, e-medicine, and creates new business opportunities. - MTN Cameroon, has announced that it has successfully launched ‘MTN Virtual’, a service that considerably transforms the economics of individual telephony access and has enabled MTN to gain rapid entry into the vast and under-penetrated BOP (base of pyramid) consumer segment. MTN Virtual is based on Comviva’s award-winning Virtual SIM solution. Virtual SIM requires no special handsets, SIM cards or additional client software - it works instantly on all mobile handsets. - Somalian subscribers have finally gained the benefits of one code and one rate for the whole of their country. Somafone will expand its seamless mobile network with Tecore hosted managed services. Mogadishu Somafone, a GSM mobile network operator in Somalia, has launched the service in the Puntland region, including Garowe, Galkaio, Bosaso and other cities. The market for mobilising Social Networks in Latin America and Africa is set to increase ten-fold to 527 million users by 2015, according to research announced today by Frost & Sullivan and Colibria. Within six years Frost & Sullivan estimates the combined market will be worth almost US$2.4 billion, with growth being driven by increased availability of the Internet, mainly through mobile phones.
FNB cellphone banking for ZambiaFirst National Bank (FNB) is taking advantage of the growth of cellphone banking across the continent and has introduced the service for its clients in Zambia. In line with trends where cellphone banking has overtaken banking on PCs, the bank will give clients the ability to access their accounts through their phones. Options will include prepaid purchases on the Zain network, the viewing of account balances and the ability to make payments to customers using other banks. FNB says cellphone banking has already proven a success in a number of countries across Africa, including SA, Botswana and Namibia. In SA, at least 4.4 million people are using cellphone banking, while 1.5 million of these users are registered with FNB. “Millions of Zambians are already familiar with the use of the cellphone; our objective is to familiarise the market to do banking using this tool, and we trust the uptake in Zambia will be a success,” says Richard Hudson, CEO of FNB Zambia. The results of analyst firm World Wide Worx's Mobility 2009 report support the increasing adoption of mobile as a banking channel. The findings state cellphone banking has already overtaken banking on PCs in SA, and that more than a quarter of bank customers are turning to their cellphones for services ranging from informational transaction types such as balance enquiries, to financial transaction types which include account payments. Other banks are also cashing in. Absa mobile banking is also looking to innovate in the mobile payment space and has invested R12 million in a training initiative to drive awareness of mobile banking in rural areas. According to Ravesh Ramlakan, CEO of cellphone banking from FNB, banking in the rest of Africa has traditionally not been innovative or cost-effective, and this is something which cellphone banking could help address. “FNB's objective is to address these traditional barriers in banking in order to promote the use of a convenient, innovative low-cost medium of banking for people from all walks of life,” says Ramlakan. The bank says its offering will be across commercial banking and personal banking. Clients will also have the option of the inContact service, which allows customers to receive immediate messages or e-mails updating them of financial activities on their accounts. “The channel is designed to provide customers with convenient and accessible banking solutions, and we are very pleased that Zambia will reap the benefits of FNB's innovative thinking,” says Hudson. (Source: ITWeb) Jinny Software trials VoiceSMS across AfricaJinny Software, a supplier of messaging and media platforms to mobile network operators, is trialling its VoiceSMS service with several Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in countries across Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania and Burkino Faso. The company expects operator interest in its VoiceSMS service to increase during 2010 due to the minimal cost of implementation. The Jinny Media Resource Server is already used by operators to provide other services from the company such as Voicemail of Ringback Tones, and VoiceSMS is simply another application that is hosted on the application servers. Therefore, implementation of VoiceSMS requires minimal additional investment; this low CAPEX start, coupled with a similar pricing point to standard texting, means that operators can expect a fast return on investment from VoiceSMS services. The African market is well suited for this additional and more affordable VAS, offering an alternative to voice at a reduced rate. An approach to pricing the service being considered by some group operators in Africa is to offer the same tariffs for VoiceSMS across all their African networks. In this scenario, a message sent between two different countries, e.g. Kenya and Tanzania, but within the same operator group, is charged at one rate, regardless of origin and destination, with first retrieval included in the price. A further major advantage of VoiceSMS over text for the African market is it offers everyone, irrespective of language, alphabet, literacy level or handset, the chance to send a short personal message to the recipient. It also educates the customer base about voice-related services, still the primary and strongest revenue stream for MNOs in Africa and the rest of the world. Aniket Deuskar, Sales Director Africa, Middle East & Asia for Jinny, said “As part of our Call Completion proposition roll-out, Jinny is looking forward to successfully completing the VoiceSMS trials currently underway and seeing these operators reap the rewards from these new voice and call-related services in terms of increased ARPU and network revenue, once commercially launched.” (Source: Developing Telecoms)
People- Egyptian carrier Orascom Telecom announced a shake up of its leadership team, promoting chief operating officer Khaled Bichara to the position of group chief executive officer. - Firetide Inc, a provider of wireless infrastructure mesh networks has announced the appointment of Chris Lee to director of sales for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). EventsCUSTOMER 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) ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN 2009 2-4 December 2009, Berlin, Germany Innovate, Share, Succeed – is the theme of OEB 2009. This year’s agenda will be about your learning innovations, your expertise and the great ideas that will lead your organisation, company or school to success. For the full programme visit the organiser’s website TANCon AFRICA 2009 4-6 December 2009, Taia Resort, Freetown, Sierra Leone This years conference will explore the theme "Virgin Territories: A New Market for Innovative Investment" through the use of case studies on Sierra Leone and other liberalizing African markets. TANCon Africa is hosted by TAN a global non-profit organization that fosters entrepreneurship and technology among people of African descent. TAN was founded in Silicon Valley, California in 2004 to provide a support structure and network for entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, and community leaders worldwide. This year, the TAN Africa conference is held in collaboration with the Internet Society of Sierra Leone and supported by the Ministry of Trade & Industry and Sierra Leone Import Export Promotion Agency (SLIEPA). TANCon Africa 2009 will attract over 250 local and international attendees from the United States of America, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Ghana and the rest of the world. Conference participants will range from industry leaders and key decision makers of global financial institutions, fortune 500 companies in ICT, Finance, Agriculture, Tourism, Infrastructure, Social Entrepreneurship and Renewable Energy. For more information on the conference, see the conference Web page at: http://www.tanconf.org/. MOBILE PAYMENT, REMITTANCE AND M-COMMERCE AFRICA 2009 9-10 Dec 2009, La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, Accra, Ghana This premier Summit brings in telecom operators, Mobile Virtual Network Operators, financial institutions and technology providers in the mobile payment & remittance space to look at the new opportunities in Africa, particularly West, Central and Southern Africa. Indeed, banks, including microfinance/microfinance institutions, together with the national telcos are tapping on new business opportunities in the African market by rolling out mobile financial services products. For further information visit the conference’s website http://www.magenta-global.com.sg/MPRMC/ TELECOMFINANCE 2010 26th – 27th January 2010, Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel, London TelecomFinance 2010 will bring together the key individuals and companies that will shape the telecoms industry in what is set to be another challenging year ahead. After a subdued year of deal activity the panel sessions will explore the changing focus in global M&A, the hottest regions for deals and fresh ideas on operational efficiency and maximising new technologies. Don't miss this opportunity to network, share knowledge and do business with operators, financiers and dealmakers from across the global telecom finance community. For further information please visit www.telecomfinance.com/2010 MOBILE WEB EAST AFRICA: Harnessing the potential of the internet and applications on mobile devices 3rd & 4th February 2010, The Continental Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya Following the unrivalled success of Mobile Web Africa, the most progressive and innovative mobile focused event in Africa is now moving to East Africa. With contributions and support confirmed from a host of the leading individuals and organisations Mobile Web East Africa is promising to be a superb two day conference. If the evolution of one of the most important technological advances of the 21st century is of interest to you then attending this event, which features an interactive roundtable seating format, is a fantastic opportunity. For information visit the event website: www.mobileeastafrica.com or contact the organiser All Amber on: info@allamber.co.uk Jobs and OpportunitiesCustomer Support Engineer (Dwdm, Sdh) - Angola Customer Engineer required to provide first level technical support for customer queries. You would also be involved in sw maintenance, upgrades, audits, install/commissioning/integration of new software, acceptance testing.Excellent knowledge of DWDM and/or SDH required.Must have worked previously in customer support capacity.Good knowledge of Nokia Equipment Language : Portugese, any English beneficial For further information or to apply for the job click on the following link http://www.cellular-news.com/recruitment/list_job.php?uid=10540 ContractsSynchronica – West Africa Synchronica plc, a mobile email and data synchronisation provider has announced that it has received a purchase order for US$ 197,000 for an initial 20,000 user license from a West-African mobile operator for its award winning mobile email product Mobile Gateway, as well as a contract for professional services. The order is the fifth deal in this region in 2009 and the 12th operator contract announced by the Company in 2009.
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