Issue no 576 14th October 2011

The government says it has initiated policies that will see the operations of the National Communications Authority (NCA) decentralised.

The Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrissu told reporters that the decentralisation is to make the NCA show presence in all the regions.

“As I speak the Authority is in the process of establishing regional offices in Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi and Tamale to enhance close monitoring activities and also help address customer concerns in a decentralized manner,” says the Minister in speech during a press briefing October 3, 2011 in Accra.

He adds “Temporal offices in these three areas would be ready for commissioning and operation by the close of November 2011. Three additional regional offices in Volta, Brong-Ahafo and Upper East Regions would be established next year.”

Nigerian telephone subscribers will be able to move from one network to another without losing their numbers as number portability starts from the first quarter of 2012, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said.

Number portability allows subscribers to move to alternate networks when they no longer enjoy quality of services from their current operators, or when they are no longer happy with the tariffs offered by them and still retain their original numbers irrespective of the new network they moved to.

NCC said in a statement by its Head of Media and Publicity Reuben Muoka that a consortium of Interconnect/Saab Grintek/Telecordia would be providing the number portability service for Nigerians phone users six months from now.

NCC said the company will be responsible for the set up and implementation of number portability clearing house in Nigeria, and provide mobile number portability solution administration in Nigeria within six months of receiving the license with a testing period of two months.

Glomile Ghana will launch its 023 mobile services in Ghana before the close of this year, and it would do so on an 'aggressive' note.

Group Chief Operations Manager, Mohammed Jameel told journalists “we know Ghanaians have been waiting for us, we have crossed a number of mile stones and we are ready to launch before the close of 2011.

“We will be aggressive – we will be unique – we will be very competitive in pricing – we will be superior in terms of products and service and be present in all the key cities of Ghana at our launch,” he said.

Jameel made the announcement at a press conference to officially introduce Mr. George Kwadwo Andah as the new Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Glomobile Ghana.

Jameel said Glo had installed enough equipment and brought the most modern mobile and internet technology to Ghana to ensure that Ghanaians would be proud of Glo and say “it was worth the long wait for Glo”.

He said from Ghana, Glo would expand to other African countries providing services in gateway, submarine cable and mobile, adding that Glo had the technology and expertise to ensure its products and services were second to none.

Adom News is reliably informed that one of the reasons Glo had delayed was because they had wanted to install enough equipment and infrastructure to start from almost 100% coverage. New COO, Mr. George Andah confirmed this by saying “we want to ensure that from the day we launch every Ghanaian can stand anywhere in Ghana and be able to make a call on the Glo network.”

"We will do test runs this month and do a full commercial launch later this year," he said.

Glo mobile missed an August 2011 deadline to have covered at least 50% of Ghana as per its licensing requirement. Government then gave Glo up to September 15, 2011, but that was also missed.

The company is not revealing any dates, but unconfirmed information say the launch is slated for November 3, 2011.

Meanwhile Glo has already launched Africa's first fully privately-owned 9,800km long submarine fibre optic cable with landing stations in Ghana, and other countries in West Africa.

It has already started commercial service on Glo One for a number of corporate clients in Ghana. Glo Mobile would launch on 023 prefix as the 6th mobile operator, and 5th GSM operator in Ghana.

South Africa based Wireless Business Solutions (WBS), the holding company that owns the WiMAX network, iBurst and Broadlink, has announced plans to roll out a LTE network by mid-2012.

The company said that the development will enable it to reduce congestion the 3G demands of areas in Gauteng such as Sandton, Randburg and Westcliff.

WBS also said that it would not ruling out possibilities of spectrum sharing and partnering in the deployment of LTE.

WBS has already signed up agreements with reputable international partners for equipment supply and equipment funding.

They envisage commencing the LTE deployment this month, and will continue until the first phase where 2,500 base stations are to be built, is completed. WBS expects to launch commercial LTE services in the first half of 2012.

The cost of providing services through Telkom's network is maddening, says MWeb CEO, Rudi Jansen. Internet service providers (ISPs) MWeb and Internet Solutions argue that Telkom's current prices for connecting into its network to provide services to end-users are untenable.

The ISPs were addressing an Independent of Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) committee during hearings into local loop unbundling (LLU). They argued that the cost of connecting into Telkom's network on the current IP Connect (IPC) model is hampering competition.

Khetan Gajjar, head of new business development at IS, said there is “a lot” of bandwidth arriving on SA's shores, but this needs to get to the end-user. He argued that the current cost of connecting into Telkom's network is prohibitive.

IP Connect (IPC), which connects ISPs into Telkom's infrastructure so they can deliver a service, is charged at an “exorbitant and unreasonable” level, said Gajjar. He added that ISPs cannot innovate, because they are limited to offering the products that Telkom will allow.

ISPs are charged three times to deliver a service through IPC, said Gajjar. He noted that this is the only way of connecting into the last mile. “Telkom is stifling the market.”

IPC is a broken model and needs to be changed into “something that works”, said Gajjar. “IPC is fundamentally broken, but it's what we have at the moment.”

Ryan Hawthorne, senior manager of economic regulation at Neotel, said during the hearings that IPC accounts for 80% of Internet bandwidth costs, a price that the second operator can bring down substantially if it has access to the last mile.

IS regulatory director Siyabonga Madyibi said local loop unbundling is the start of the introduction of a wholesale pricing regime. He says the process is a “stepping stone” towards effective regulation.

There have been a number of interventions by the regulator, but these have not been effective, said Madyibi. He added that the playing field is tilted in Telkom's favour and there is very little new operators can do to stimulate competition and push down pricing.

Although the effects of lower interconnect prices have been seen at wholesale level, other regulations have not changed the wholesale pricing model, argued Madyibi. He said geographic number portability has failed, because numbers are charged on a single basis, and blocks become too costly to port.

In addition, said Madyibi, carrier pre-select is also not a success, because the incumbents have moved to protect their market share by increasing the cost of the origination fee. This means the regulation is only good on paper.

As a result, argued Madyibi, ICASA has to get LLU right. If it does not have a regulatory impact; the sector will end up back at “square one”, he said. There is a need to intervene in the wholesale cost of data, he added.

Madyibi said IS has tried to go around the last mile issue to connect to its clients, without any real success.

MWeb CEO Rudi Jansen said the cost of IPC is “driving everybody mad”. He said it is about nine times the expense of moving data between Cape Town and Europe. “That is just absolutely absurd.”

Jansen said it is difficult for ISPs to compete effectively with such high prices, and IPC causes congestion on the network, a situation that is out of ISPs' hands. The cost of an ADSL line rental is a big bugbear, said Jansen. He added that Telkom charges both the customer and the ISP for access to the last mile.

Determined to change internet users’ experience in the country, Spectranet Limited, a national broadband wireless access (BWA) provider has began operation in the country with the commercial inauguration of its WiMAX wireless broadband services, which provides cutting edge services at affordable price points.
 
The company which was one of the four telecommunications companies that participated in the 2009 2.5 GHz spectrum licencing, is using the most advanced 16E Wimax technology, which facilitates fast, reliable internet access service.  Speaking at the launch in Lagos, Spectranet’s Chief Operating Officer, Rajiv Rao, said compared to some other technologies which are fixed access, the Spectranet wireless broadband service would provide a certain level of portability. “This is being delivered on the retail-friendly frequency, which facilitates better signal penetration and therefore, more stable services indoor”, he said.
 
Initially available in Lagos, Spectranet said it would soon cover other cities across Nigeria in the nearest future. Chief Ezekiel Fatoye, a director in the company, noted, “today, reliable internet is no more a luxury, it is a necessity. We see tremendous potential in delivering high quality reliable broadband services as consumers in Nigeria increasingly demand high quality internet connectivity but at an affordable price.
 
He said besides, the advantage of cost, convenience and reliability, Spectranet broadband services comes with easy deployment and wide choice of tariff and plans, which will be of great value to the customers.  Also speaking at the event, chairman of the company, the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, said, the company is committed to growing the business and making sure that every Nigerian benefits from the venture.

Eight local technology start-ups have been offered a unique opportunity to pitch their business ideas to delegates, potential investors and media at this year’s Tech4Africa conference, taking place at The Forum in Bryanston, Johannesburg on 27 and 28 October.

This platform has been created by virtue of Samsung Ignite, an initiative that aims to showcase and foster local technology development, and which has been made possible by Samsung Apps store, in association with Tech4Africa.

“We are extremely excited about such a platform from which local technology innovators can showcase their ideas to a broad audience, potential investors and technology entrepreneurs who have walked this path before,” says Gareth Knight, Tech4Africa Founder and Managing Director. “Tech4Africa’s primary aim is to promote and inspire local mobile and web innovators, entrepreneurs and developers by inviting global leaders in the sector to share their knowledge and insight with an audience from across the continent.

“The Samsung Ignite programme is an integral part of the overall vision that it is hoped will provide the spark that the eight start-ups need to take the next step in their development.”

The 8 selected startups include:

10Layer: the most feature-complete, competent and customisable open source content management system for serious publishers and media houses.

Feedback Rocket: which offers an innovative online solution to obtain useful, insightful and honest feedback.

iSign.pro: that allows users to get legally-binding contracts signed in minutes - legally, cheaper, greener and stored forever, with automatic reminders before renewal/expiry.

Lessfuss: is an affordable South African personal assistant service that helps you save time and get things done for as little as R30/task.

Mobiflock: is a product range that consists of a parental control service, a personal smartphone tracker, and a corporate smartphone manager.

Plot my Ride: is a social networking service for the cycling community that offers an easy and real-time means of capturing, displaying, saving and sharing a cyclist’s riding activity.

Real Time Wine: captures the supermarket wine-buying audience and empowers them to discover, review, engage with and buy wine using smartphone apps, game mechanics & barcode scanning.

SnapBill: is an automated billing system that allows users to easily sell their services online.

“We are very passionate about the African market and encouraged by the innovations emerging from the continent, so it’s a natural fit for us to partner with Tech4Africa to present this stage for innovators to showcase their products,” says Brett Loubser, B2C Apps Development Lead at Samsung. “We intend using this partnership to help create a wider network of local developers, reward African innovation in the mobile tech and app space and promote the Samsung Apps Store as an alternative channel for smartphone developers.

“A key outcome of our participation as the Ignite partner is to engage South African developers and therefore we have made available a number of discounted tickets to facilitate their involvement at this year’s conference.”

The Samsung Ignite participants will each be afforded five minutes to showcase their products in the main auditorium at the end of the first day of the conference. A panel of judges has been gathered to adjudicate and the winning startup will be announced on the second day of the event, and be given the opportunity to present their start-up to the entire Tech4Africa audience. The winner will also receive the latest Samsung mobile devices and valuable exposure and profiling through the Tech4Africa website.

The World bank has said that all players in African Global System for Mobile Communications networks, GSM, Nigeria inclusive would need about $15.5bn to enhance GSM coverage across the continent.

In a recent report released by the bank, the African GSM market is capable of expanding beyond its present status, if the needed funding is injected into the industry.

The World Bank report by Mark Williams, Rebecca Mayer and Michael Minges, posited that Africa will require a total expenditure of $15.5bn between 2007 and 2015, for Africa to expand its coverage of the GSM network across the continent.

The report rated Nigeria as one of the countries that attracted the highest investment between the periods of 1998 to 2008, with an estimate figure of $12.7bn behind South Africa, that had $18bn.

Other African countries rated in the report include: Kenya ($2.9bn); Sudan ($1.8bn)); Uganda ($1.6bn); Senegal ($1.5bn); Tanzania ($1.4bn); Democratic Republic of the Congo ($1.2bn); Ghana ($1.1bn); Angola ($1bn).

Of this, $6.9bn is for areas that are potentially commercially viable, with the total cost of expanding networks to cover the eight percent of the population that lies outside these areas amounting to $8.7bn, or about $1bn per year.

Access to finance, according to the World Bank, is often seen as a constraint on economic development in Africa, but the telecommunications sector appears to have overcome this constraint by accessing a wide range of financing sources to fund the rapid expansion of networks.

Besides, the report, the latest of the World Bank, noted that operators and governments in Sub-Saharan Africa are investing heavily in the region’s ICT sector, stressing that, about $5bn a year or one percent of Gross Domestic Product is been invested.

The report informed that, private sources accounted for the majority of capital investment in the sector, but that, a significant amount of money is invested by operators that remain under state ownership.

According to the World Bank, Official Development Assistance from outside the region is still marginal, overall.

The World Bank, which said it was cheapest to call the United States from Ghana at $0.31 per minute, compared to $0.88 a minute in 2008 from other parts of Africa, noted that Ghana, for instance, still has a long way to go in order to provide the best network in the continent.

“Kenya and Ghana, for example, are of similar size, but Kenya’s networks are growing much more faster – with 6,445 km versus Ghana’s 919 km of backbone network currently under construction”, it stated.

The World Bank adduced to the fact that, African capital markets, corporate bond markets, and commercial bank loans all have played key roles in financing investment in the telecommunications sector in the Continent, but stressed that, securities exchanges in Sub-Saharan Africa are generally underdeveloped, reason why telecommunications businesses were relatively well represented in them and have successfully used exchanges to raise investment finance.

It further added that despite the wave of privatization and liberalization of the telecommunications market in Africa, the public sector—both domestic and foreign, continues to play a significant role in financing ICT development.

The World Bank informed that, private sector has invested heavily in ICTs since the end of the 1990s, when the expansion of telecommunications networks in Africa began, adding that, this investment has fluctuated from year to year, however, and the amount of investment received by each country has varied enormously.

The report explained that bank loans were used to finance investment in all types of infrastructure in Africa, and telecommunications infrastructure was no exception. According to it, at the end of 2006, outstanding commercial bank loans used to finance infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa totaled $11.8 billion. It however, stressed that, though it is difficult to determine the exact allocation of these loans among sectors, but that, at least $8.3 billion went to projects in the transport and communication sectors.

The report further revealed that other development institutions are also involved in providing financing for telecommunications infrastructure in Africa.

“The World Bank, for example, provided $338m in financing for investment in the ICT sector in Africa between 1998 and 2008. Not all of this, however, was invested in physical infrastructure: It covered a wide range of activities, from policy and regulatory reform to e-government and information technology ndustry development.”

- Glo introduces George Andah as new Chief Operating Officer for Ghana operations
Mr Andah, who recently joined Glo from Bharti Airtel, said the Ghanaian market hold good prospects which the company would explore and tap into, adding that Glo is in the position to make significant strides. Mr Andah previously worked with Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited, MTN Ghana and was in 2009 awarded the Marketing Man of the Year.