Issue no 588 20th January 2012
top story
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Last Saturday in Milan, Vodafone Egypt threw in a free concert with the famous Egyptian singer Nancy Ajram to launch its first MVNO under the label “Bladna”. Bladna which means homeland in Arabic. It is an MVNO targeted at the Egyptian diaspora living in Italy. Isabelle Gross spoke to Arkadi Panitch, CEO of Effortel, the company that has set up and will run the backend of Bladna’s operations in Italy.
Effortel has been set up in Belgium in 2005 by a group of telecoms experts with Arkadi Panitch at its head. The company specialises in building MVNOs for other clients, none telecom clients like supermarket chain Carrefour or perfume and body care company FM as well as telecoms clients like Vodafone. The just launched MVNO Bladna by Vodafone Egypt is primarily targeted at the Egyptian and the other North African emigrants that have made Italy their home.
Bladna will of course offer cheap phone calls to Egypt and other North African countries as well as credit transfers from Bladna customers to Vodafone Egypt customers (a clever way to enter the remittance segment at the same time). Bladna is all in Arabic language and it will be promoted by viral marketing, looking at the specific channels and shops that the Egyptian diaspora use. Rather than traditional marketing and expensive outlets, Bladna will get its SIM cards and calling credits to potential customers using these outlets in Egyptian diaspora communities. There are over one million Egyptians emigrants in Italy and Bladna hopes to reach 150,000 subscribers after four years.
Although Bladna is Vodafone Egypt’s first MVNOm there is no reason that this will be the only one. According to Arkadi Panitch, if the mobile operator develops a consistent strategy at targeting Egyptian and North African emigrants, it will be in position to launch more MVNOs in a few other European countries. Arkadi explains further that large mobile operators will be looking at doing more of this kind of MVNOs in the future – in other words going out in the market or abroad under a new brand name to target specific customers segments that their current offering doesn’t manage to capture. In Italy again, Effortel has also helped a Chinese entrepreneur to set up an MVNO labelled Daily Telecom which offers mobile calls to China and Hong Kong for the price of a local call. The MVNO has already 300,000 customers most of them Chinese emigrants.
Other mobile operators in North Africa have launched MVNOs in European countries with less success. In 2007, Maroc Telecom launched a MVNO under the label Mobisud in France and Belgium targeting the North African emigrants. For Arkadi Panitch, the success of an MVNO like Bladna or Daily Telecom is to keep costs as low as possible across every department. Effortel provides the platform and the technical implementation at an affordable price but alongside this, marketing costs and all other costs (finance, administration, customer support) have to mirror the revenue potential of a low cost offering. At Daily Telecom for example there are only two people on the management side of the MVNO. According to Arkadi Panitch, traditional mobile operators are not good at rolling out low cost offerings targeted at emigrants or other customers segments. Their marketing approach is still too focussed on tailoring offers for the bulk of their customers rather than attractive offers targeted at meeting the needs of specific customer segments. An additional innovation from Effortel includes a feature that allows street vendors to activate a Bladna SIM card directly upon purchase. The details of the new customers and a photo are captured on a smartphone and the data are later uploaded into a central database in order to comply with Italian mobile subscribers’ registration requirements.
Africa has a huge diaspora outside the continent but also on the continent. Just ask yourself how many people from Burkina Faso live in Côte d’Ivoire or how many people coming from Zimbabwe live at present in South Africa? Africa also doesn’t lack of entrepreneurial people keen to make a living by venturing in new business areas. Effortel is currently having advanced talks regarding the launch of an MVNO in West Africa and more African countries are on the roadmap. There are also potentials outside the continent in particular in Europe. What about an MVNO in the UK targeting Nigerians or Ghanaians emigrants? This is an idea that should give some second thoughts to mobile operators like MTN, Globacom or Vodafone.
To follow the exchanges about this news, you need to be on Twitter. Follow us on @BalancingActAfr
An Agenda for 2012 – Part 2
High-end internet offerings
John Kamau, General Manager, Jamii Telecom on the first phase of its FTTH roll-out
Using satellite in a post-fibre world
Doron Ben Sira, CEO, SkyVision on changes in the satellite market in Africa - Africacom 2011Online content browsing for feature phones
Gour Lentell, CEO, biNu on this new feature phone platform taking off in Africa
A cloud phone for low-income and rural users
Nigel Waller, CEO and founder of Movirtu on the Cloud Phone and low-income and rural usersWhat are TV White Spaces and what can they do?
Steve Song, CEO, Village Telco on the TV White Spaces Workshop
telecoms
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Vodacom Group Ltd., the phone company with most South African customers, is close to resolving a dispute that has blocked investment in its Democratic Republic of Congo unit for the last two years.
“We’re making good progress and getting closer to a solution,” Johan Dennelind, Vodacom’s head of international operations, said yesterday in an interview at the group’s Johannesburg headquarters. Vodacom is 65 percent owned by Newbury, England-based Vodafone Group Plc.
Vodacom has been at odds with local minority partner, Congolese Wireless Network SPRL, since at least early 2010, following a plan to inject $484 million into the business, Vodacom Congo SPRL. CWN has said the recapitalization would dilute its 49 percent share because its shareholders don’t have the money to support their half. Vodacom said last year it had agreed with CWN to “explore options” for the unit after disagreements over the funding and operational structure.
Vodacom Congo had 4.8 million subscribers at the end of September, Vodacom said on Nov. 7. It is the third-largest operator in the country, which has over 71 million people and a mobile penetration rate of 17 percent, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook.
“We’re having constructive discussions with our partners on the Vodacom Congo board,” said Dennelind. , adding that the parties are “nearing completion.”
The South African operator has said it won’t invest further in the Congo unit until the conflict is solved, and Chief Executive Officer Pieter Uys said in May last year Vodacom may sell its 51 percent stake to end the struggle. The parties have appointed London-based NM Rothschild & Sons Ltd. to advise on the options. Vodacom last week named Ivan Dittrich as Chief Financial Officer from about July 1.
The Congo unit hasn’t reported a profit since Vodacom bought a stake in 2001, while the potential for expansion exists as the country’s mobile penetration rate is 17 percent. The group’s international operations, which include the Congo unit, reported an operating loss of 267 million rand in the six months ending Sept. 30. Tanzania is Vodacom’s second-biggest market, where it owns a 65 percent stake in the local unit which had 10.2 million customers at the end of September.
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Alarmed by the marginal increment in landline subscribers and a revenue shortfall from the targeted 9.8 billion Br of its operations last year, ethio telecom has reduced tariffs across zones for telephone calls made from landlines, beginning January 1, 2012.
The number of fixed line subscribers in Ethiopia is slow to grow compared to mobile, increasing by 37pc since 2005. Despite being launched over a centaury ago, landline subscriber numbers reached only 836,000 last year, while mobile users reached 10.5 million in 2011, up 931pc from only six years ago.
Managers at ethio telecom, contracted from Orange Telecom of France, want to change such marginal growth. In their bid to increase both the number of calls and their durations, they have reduced tariffs, for the first time, for peak hours, from 7:00am to 9:00pm, by 66.3pc to 83 cents on the Birr a minute.
A more significant reduction is seen in off peak hours, including during weekends and holidays. Calls during these periods will be charged 35 cents a minute, dropping by a whopping 228pc.
"This is to encourage subscribers to use it more frequently than they used to, which, in turn, increases the revenues of the company," Abdurahim Ahmed, public communications head at ethio telecom, told Fortune. "The traffic from subscribers making calls is the way to generate more revenue."
This is part of the new business plan of the telecom service monopoly of the country that took over the former Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC), two years ago, for 42.3 million dollars.
"The aim is to avoid the price variations of calls in town and out-of-town," Abdurahim told Fortune.
ethio telecom only charges 20 cents for six minutes in town, below even the tariff rate for calls from its public phones that are charged the same price for three minutes. The number of public payphones in operation was only 5,025, as of September 2009. Despite recent efforts to register and license public phone call providers, the majority of kiosk phones are not regulated, according to the Ethiopia ICT Sector Performance Review 2009/2010.
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Orange Uganda has introduced the latest phone from Apple on the market, the iPhone 4S.The iPhone 4S goes for Shs 2,399,000 for the 16GB model, Shs 2,699,000 for the 32GB model and Shs 3,099,000 for the 64GB model. The phone can be found in all Orange outlets. The phone comes packed with new features including Apple's dual-core A5 chip for fast performance and graphics; a new camera with advanced optics and full 1080p HD (High Definition) resolution video recording.
Iphone 4S comes with iOS 5, the world's most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features; and iCloud, an advanced storage system, among others. Importantly, iPhone 4S stands out from other iPhones because of its Siri service. Siri lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more.
"By asking Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk, Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back. You talk to Siri as you would to a person," notes a press statement. Philippe Luxcey, Orange CEO said: "At Orange, it is always a pleasure to introduce a wide range of devices to our customers and not to forget the clear-cut bundles that go along with them.”
“It is also very important to note that what is before you today is the original iPhone as Orange is the only official distributor for iPhone in Uganda. So, customers are assured of a great device coupled with exceptional quality of service on the largest and fastest 3G+ network in Uganda."
According to EdouardBlondeau, Orange Uganda's Chief Strategy Officer, iPhone 4S demonstrates the world is moving closer to a phone that has no difference to a computer. With iPhone, Orange targets to tap into the market of companies that seek to equip their staff with the latest phones, which enable their staff to for example do a power point presentation.
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Globacom announced that on January 19, 2012, it would formally begin commercial operations on its network in Ghana. However, today, the 20th of January it has only started a “number reservation campaign”.
Speaking at the Glo CAF Awards which held in Accra, George Andah, the Chief Operating Officer of Glo Ghana, said that the company would pre-empt the launch by holding a series of 'activities' designed to ensure that Glo Mobile's 'superior services' get the launch they deserve. In other words, they’re still not ready yet….
Globacom has operations in Gambia, Senegal, Nigeria, Benin and Cote d'Ivoire. Having received its licence in November 2008, the fledgling operation has found itself mired in delay and controversy. In November this year the cellco's Nigerian parent postponed the latest revised launch of its Glo Mobile service, citing 'logistical constraints.'
Globacom had earlier announced that its official launch in Ghana would take place on November 17, 2011, three years after first receiving a licence to offer services. Glo Mobile Ghana plans an aggressive entry to the domestic mobile market, and claims it would go live with almost 100 per cent coverage.
The Nigerian owned telecom company is said to have invested about $600 million in Ghana since receiving its concession to deploy a 'unique, seamless and world class LTE network'. Glo Mobile said it has initial capacity for at least ten million customers for starters and that its network capacity was expandable.
The newcomer has five switching centres, 18 base station controllers, 1,600 base transceiver stations, 800 3.5G cell sites, 2,850km of fibre, 25 retail outlets across the country, and around 400 staff.
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Somalia’s militant Islamic group Al-Shabaab reportedly took over the running of an independent broadcaster and abducted a reporter in a new round of restrictions in areas of the country that it still controls.
The move has left telecom executives in Somalia and in neighbouring Kenya worried that the militant group could attempt to shut down more communications and hinder citizen’s ability to use telecommunications.
“It is definitely something that we must keep an eye on in order to know where the whole sector is heading right now. It is tense in Somalia and nobody is going to be interested in boosting telecom infrastructure. It’s just too risky,” a communications official within the Somali government said.
According to a witness, Al-Shabaab militants stormed the premises of Radio Afgoye and seized most of the equipment before abducting radio journalist Ayub Yusuf Dalmar.
The group has a history of forcibly taking over independent media outlets in Somalia.
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The Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) has slapped a fine of $500,000 on GSM operator Lonestar for “negligence and omission on the part of the Lonestar management” which led to an outage on its network on November 7, 2011.
The LTA said that the fine is to be paid “within a week” and ordered Lonestar, which is part of South Africa’s MTN Group, to give all its subscribers four hours of free call time on a day to be determined by the LTA.
“The LTA will work closely with Lonestar to ensure the successful implementation of this order,” the regulator said in a statement.The LTA said that it had spent the past two months investigating the outage, which occurred during a “politically motivated” riot in the capital city of Monrovia.The LTA said that Lonestar’s explanation for the outage “did not jive” with the results of its investigation.
However, in a statement sent to CommsMEA, MTN Liberia’s Corporate Communication Executive, Dr. Laurence Bropleh, said that the network outage was the result of an “unprecedented volume of calls at a base station provisioned to handle traffic in certain parts of the Monrovia network coverage area”.
He added that the outage lasted for about 90 minutes and was isolated to a specific location and did not affect the entire network. “The LTA has since requested more data and information for further analysis and a final decision. MTN Lonestar Cell has offered additional details to assist the LTA in its reassessment of its findings,” Bropleh said.
The LTA added that LaminiWaritay, Liberia’s Commissioner for Public and Consumer Affairs, hoped that the fine would send “an unmistakable message not only to Lonestar, but other network operators” that their licensing terms require them provide proper services to their subscribers at all times.
In the statement, the LTA added that LaminiWaritay, Liberia’s Commissioner for Public and Consumer Affairs, hoped that the fine would send “an unmistakable message not only to Lonestar, but other network operators” that their licencing terms require them to provide proper services to their subscribers at all times.
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- According to local media reports, Cote d’Ivoire mobile licensee Aircom is poised to launch commercial services this month – almost twelve years after receiving its original concession. The press reports, which quote Aircom boss NiamoutieKouao, indicate that the cellco has met ‘all administrative requirements’ and will become the sixth mobile operator active within the country, alongside MTN Cote d’Ivoire, Orange Cote d’Ivoire, Moov, Comium (Koz) and GreenN Cote d’Ivoire. Aircom’s network will initially go live in eight cities, with connectivity gradually extended to the remainder of the country. Services will be offered under the ‘Mobile Cafe’ brand.
- Airtel Kenya chief operating officer ShivanBhargava has responded to questions over the year-long delay surrounding its 3G network launch by promising that the belated service will be operational by end-March 2012. In an email to Kenyan daily newspaper The Star, Bhargava confirmed: ‘We will continue to offer more innovative products and services, including the increased depth of [mobile wallet service] Airtel Money, and the introduction of our world-class 3G HSPA [network] this quarter’.
internet
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Internet users in the country now have the luxury of the fastest internet yet which is the 3. 75G service provided by Airtel Ghana.The telecom giant has upgraded its 3. 5G network to 3. 75G, the first to be launched by any internet and mobile network provider in the country.
In an interview with Citi Business News at the launch of the 3. 75G network, the Managing Director of Airtel Ghana, Philip Sowah, indicated that about 300 additional cell sites would be deployed across the country within the next three months to boost the accessibility of the high speed internet by its customers.
“What we have done is, since we have the 2G covering the whole of the country and the 3G in the key areas where the data traffic is a lot."But more importantly we will be increasing our 3G coverage by 50% so we are putting a number of cell sites across the country,” he said.
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An Indonesian hacker has caught Kenya government tech gurus napping. In an unprecedented occurrence, an Indonesian hacker known as direxer has taken down 103 government of Kenya websites.
According to a Tuesday discussion on Kenya's online tech forum, Kictanet, the hacker is part of an online Indonesian security forum known as Forum Code Security and says he took down the websites following tutorials from the forum.
The news of the hacking was first exposed on the site code-security.net/archives/114, a forum on code security.
The title on the website read: "Joint Discussion -- Forum on Code Security".
"Such tutorials usually exploit programming errors in code, known as bugs, which have not been fixed. The hacker appears to have a website at http://www.direxer.com/ though this has not been updated to reflect the hacking.
In a message in the forum, the hacker says:
show off by me...
thanks for tutorial in www.code-security.com all...
i have exploit from cs web, and i attacking to server Government Kenya,,,, and then,,, success full... this is deface in this night...
The government has reportedly moved fast to take the affected websites offline through a Cyber Incidence Response Team (CIRT) based at the Communications Commission of Kenya.
The CIRT was formed to handle such situations and ensures Kenya's security in cyber space. In a comment, Vincent Ngundi who heads CIRT said: "We're on it. Thanks for the heads-up and comments" in Kenya's Security Forum where the news first broke.
The websites included those of various government ministries, departments and local authorities.
The government normally hosts several websites in one server at The Treasury thus compromising the server may expose several websites to a hacker.
The Administration Police website has been hacked several times in the recent past. At the same time, most of the websites hacked appear to have been running the Joomla Content Management system:
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Vox Telecom plans to launch a "low-cost satellite internet broadband" service in June and the company expects to sign up about 40000 subscribers in the first three years of operation.
Vox has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi-based Yahsat, which next month will launch its YahClick satellite called Y1B, to sell capacity and market the satellite in SA. The satellite will cover 26 countries in Africa and the Middle East.
Vox product manager Jacques Visser said yesterday the satellite would provide connectivity to rural and remote areas that were not covered by traditional telecommunications infrastructure.
"YahClick is a perfect broadband option for those who can’t get ADSL service, or who need a backup service in case of outages," Mr Visser said. Although the use of satellite telecommunications has been in practice for years in Africa, high costs have prohibited take-up.
"Satellite has traditionally been seen as an expensive option that’s only suitable for remote sites of large enterprises," he said. "But the technology has changed so much in recent years that it’s a real option as a primary broadband connection."
YahClick is based on the high performance Ka-band spot-beam technology, making it possible to offer efficient and low-cost service.
Vox will target farms, clinics, game lodges and schools in remote areas. It will sell the service through existing resellers and also subsidiaries such as @lantic and VoxTelepreneur. Vox’s primary focus is on internet data but it will test the viability of a voice service later.
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MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd. (“MEASAT”) has announced an agreement with SkyVision Global Networks Ltd.(“SkyVision”), for capacity on the AFRICASAT-1 satellite across the African region.
The multi-transponder agreement enables SkyVision to continue providing its existing cost effective, reliable, tier-one internet connectivity solutions to ISPs, enterprises, telcos and mobile operators in the region. SkyVision offers a wide variety of connectivity options and provides direct access to the internet backbone via tier-one internet providers. SkyVision was chosen as the Satellite Service Provider of the Year 2011 at the recent AfricaCom exhibition and conference in Cape Town.
“Extending existing contracts with leading satellite suppliers is part of our strategy to offer reliable coverage over vast geographies,” said Doron Ben Sira, CEO of SkyVision. “I am confident that SkyVision’s customers will benefit from the competitive edge our satellite infrastructure is offering.”
“MEASAT is delighted to provide satellite capacity and support SkyVision for its services and expansion plans in the African region,” said Jarod Lopez, Senior Director, Sales and Marketing, MEASAT.
The AFRICASAT-1 satellite which is located at the 46°E orbital slot provides C-band coverage across the African region as well as the Middle East and parts of East Europe. The slot will be enhanced with the AFRICASAT-1a satellite in Q4 2012.
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Jamii Telecoms Ltd JTL is upgrading its entire fibre optic network at a cost of Sh261 million in a move aimed at making the infrastructure more secure and positioning itself for government’s Internet tenders to connect the Counties ahead of its rivals.
The upgrade will see the JTL fibre network moved to a superior technology (Internet Protocol /Multiprotocol Label Switching MPLS) which is more secure than the one it is currently using ( Ethernet network ), giving it a competitive edge over its rivals such Kenya Data Networks (KDN) and Telkom Kenya.
JTL is also offering services to banks who demand high security on their data.The demand of high security networks by banks stems from the fear that the country is now more exposed to cyber crime activities such as hacking than before after it got connected to the three undersea fibre optic cables, TEAMs, Seacom and Eassy, which not only exposes the banks to risk but also their clients.
The cost of the project will be met through vendor financing where ECI Telecoms, an Israel firm will supply JTL with equipment on credit to be repaid in instalments.
Joshua Chepkwony, the chairman Jamii telecoms, said the upgrade exercise which begins next week is supposed to be complete by end March and will cover Nairobi, Mombasa, Naivasha, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu, Kitale, Bugoma, Busia, Kakamega, Thika, Kisii and Kericho.
“The upgrade will give us a head start over our rivals, especially in the counties where banks and government will require secure internet connections due to the sensitivity of the information they handle,” said Chepkwony.
He said that other than the banking institutions it is targeting, the firm has also set eyes on the government tenders –to connect learning institutions, health facilities and the administrative offices in the devolved government.
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Local information technology experts have expressed misgivings over the move by the US government to enact laws aimed at controlling internet use.Speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday, they noted that the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and protect IT Act (Pipa) would curtail the people's right to interact, as well as obtain information and useful data.
Thousands of websites were shut down for 24 hours last week, to protest the proposed law over concerns that it will infringe on the people's rights to communicate and access free information. One of them was the popular Wikipedia. Sebastian Nkoha, a Dar es Salaam-based ICT expert, said the decision by the bigger websites to shut down would affect millions if not billions of people worldwide.
He said it was unfortunate that this was happening even before the law was introduced."Who knows if the Wikipedia or any other website will decide to shut down its services completely when the Bills are passed...it is alarming because it will create a knowledge vacuum," he said.
Nkoha said if the US House of Representatives passes the bill, more than 75 per cent of websites, whose servers are located in the most powerful country in the world, would be affected.His comments were echoed by University of Dar es Salaam Deputy Managing Director for ICT services, Dr Respickus Casmir, who noted that Tanzanians would be affected by the law.
Elaborating, he said a lot of websites in the country have their servers in the US and it was dangerous if the US government gives itself powers to control them.
"Tanzania websites are dependent on US servers. So, if US government does anything to the servers, it means that we are going to be the victims with little options to defend our rights," he lamented.
"If passed, the bills will also limit the right of people to express their opinions as well as accessing information," he said. For his part, GodblessMushi, a system administrator at one of the local telephone companies, said the Bills, if passed, would "colonise the internet industry," and elaborated: "Since most servers are in the US, the country would dictate what should or should not be online."
However, the US government maintains that Sopa and Pipa has been designed to basically thwart copyright infringement but the protesting websites warn that such concentrating such power in one authority could threaten the functionality of the internet.
In addition to Wikipedia, other major websites like google also joined the protest. Google placed a black redaction box over its logo on its much-visited US home page to draw attention to the bills, while social news site Reddit and the popular Cheezburger humour network was planning to shut down later last week.
The legislations which are backed by the Hollywood, the music industry, the Business Software Alliance, the National Association of Manufacturers and the US Chamber of Commerce, seek to allow the Justice Department and content owners to seek court orders requiring search engines to block results associated with piracy.
The critics, however, seem to have managed to make their point as on Saturday, the White House issued a statement that appeared to side with critics of the legislation.It said: "While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cyber-security risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet."
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Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Mohamed Salem and his Ethiopian counterpart signed an agreement that implies benefiting from the Egyptian expertise in human development and the provision of information and communications technology (ICT) training.
A statement by the Ministry on 18/1/2012 said that the cooperation includes several domains, such as securing cyberspace, frequency spectrum management and pumping investments in this field.
The agreement also includes enhancing the knowledge of the Ethiopian side in electronic applications and e-government services and creating a regulatory and legislative environment for the ICT policies, especially when it comes to frequency spectrum management.
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SpaceDSL service from ‘Afrique Telecom’, enabling high-speed internet via satellite, was launched on 18th January, 2012 in Paris. It is available in 32 countries across Africa including Nigeria, Liberia and Ghana (see the full map here). The objective is to extend internet access especially in remote rural areas where there is no other broadband internet access alternatives, writes Sylvain Beletre.
The launch of SpaceDSL is a small revolution in the field of broadband internet access in Africa because it is more affordable than existing solutions and has no strings attached: its price structure is not based on a long term subscription but on pre-paid, pay-as-you-go options which can be stopped anytime and recharged via a dedicated and secured web portal from anywhere in the world.
It is "a mini-VSAT", said Philippe Tintignac - the CEO of Telecom Africa - during the press launch. In other words, SpaceDSL is a smaller satellite system with the qualities of larger models with "99% availability, high bandwidth, low cost, stand-alone DIY installation and no subscription" benefits.
The complete SpaceDSL kit includes a 1 meter diameter metallic antenna, a sophisticated modem, 30 meters of protected cable, a ‘Point & Play’ device for self-installation and a 1 year guarantee with onsite and phone/email service. The dedicated web portal (http://www.spacedsl.com) allows to purchase cards and refills.Afrique Telecom has been established in Africa since 2005 and has set up around 700 V-sat stations in 22 countries across Africa. The company has a network of partners across Africa and is currently looking for more resellers.
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- Airtel Zambia has announced the launch of the 3.75G upgraded internet broadband technology for the highest internet speed as it reduced internet service costs by 91 per cent, down to just K98 per megabyte (MB).
- Telkom Kenya has introduced a cheaper unlimited Internet access tariff in an effort to curb the growing dominance of Safaricom in the mobile data market. The firm said yesterday it would charge its mobile Internet subscribers based on the period of use rather than data capacity with consumers paying Sh39 daily, Sh249 weekly and Sh990 monthly on their mobile phone. Those using 3G modems would be charged Sh990 and Sh2,990 weekly and monthly respectively. This has put Telkom Kenya in the same breath as Safaricom, which has used the unlimited pricing structure to gain marketshare.
- Google Ghana has launched “Africa, Get Your Business Online”, an initiative to bring most Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) online in the next two years.The initiative is expected to transform the Ghanaian SME landscape and contribute to the country’s fast-paced economic growth by making it quick, easy and free for businesses to register an online, at a time when more and more Ghanaians are accessing the internet.
computing
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When techno-whiz Seth Owusu left Ghana for the United States in 1991, he had never used a computer before.But two decades later, he’s using the power of technology to provide computer literacy to the children of rural Africa, one refurbished computer at a time.
Owusu is the founder of the Entire Village Computers Organization (EVCO), a Washington-based charitable organization that donates reconditioned old computers and accessories from the developed world and delivers them to those schools in need in the developing world.
“We try to put the computers there as electronic tools, also as a library, also to a place where not just the school but the entire villages around that school can come in and benefit from the computer,” says Owusu, who moved to the United States at the age of 24.
Growing up under difficult conditions in rural Ghana, Owusu was inspired at a young age by a group of missionaries who visited his school, willing to make a long and difficult journey to help strangers.He says that that incident has motivated him ever since to try and make a difference in the lives of others.
“It showed me that regardless of how little you have, you can do something for somebody which can be great for their life and their future,” says Owusu.
Since 2004, EVCO says it has built and donated 25 computer labs in village schools and communities in Ghana and Nigeria for a total of 233 computers.The non-profit organization is funded entirely by Owusu, his family and a small pool of committed donors.But besides money, Owusu, who did computer studies in the USA and now works for an electronics company in Washington, also dedicates his personal time, putting a lot of hard work on the project that’s become his mission in life.
Using the monitor-crammed garage of his house in Washington as his base, he tests, fixes and upgrades all the donated computers himself before shipping them to Africa.
He says it’s all worth it: “I feel very excited because it takes a lot to do it and finally when you get it done like this it’s just joy,” says Owusu. “You feel overjoyed because finally you know that you’ve reached the destination and somebody is going to benefit from all the hard work that you have to put in,” he adds.
But EVCO goes much further than just shipping hardware to African villages.
The group also runs training workshops for teachers and students and provides technical support, maintaining an ongoing relationship with the recipients of their computers.“When we do the donation, we enter into a three-calendar year agreement with the kids, with the school, to go back and fix them and make sure everything is working for the next three years,” says Owusu, who runs EVCO with the help of four volunteers in Ghana.
The non-profit organization also promotes local involvement and development, trumpeting Owusu’s belief that an entire community benefits when computers are introduced in local schools.
“The whole concept about our donation process is first, not just the computers, but getting the entire community involved in the process” he says. “That makes them part of the process, so they know the kids are learning and so they can feel proud to have them go to school rather than tell them to go to the farm.”
Owusu has visited his native Ghana 11 times after the launch of EVCO — there, he doesn’t only organize computer workshops but he’s also giving motivational speeches and raises awareness about issues such as HIV and teenage pregnancy.
He says that his goal is to run EVCO as a full-time project and be able to bring his work to many more rural areas across Africa — he’s currently working to implement the project in Sierra Leone but admits that he has had to turn down calls for help from people in other African countries due to funding difficulties and logistics issues.
Yet, despite all the difficulties, Owusu is determined to carry on with his dream of introducing the world of computers to children across Africa.He hopes that by re-building old computers, he will also be give them the tools to compete globally.
“If we want to change the world we have to start by changing the people who are going to be the world tomorrow, who are the kids,” says Owusu.
“So any seed we sow today are what’s going to bloom tomorrow to shape our world and make a better world, so anything that you can do, regardless of how little it is, goes toward making the world a better place,” he adds.
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The ICT Board is planning a Sh34 million project to digitise records at the Kenyatta National Hospital, to increase efficiency and improve service delivery.
Commencing in April, the project will see 4 million documents scanned and stored in digital format."We want to improve back office operations such as finance and accounting at the hospital," said ICT Board CEO, Paul Kukubo.A tender invitation was issued by the board on Thursday for bids to supply and install software and hardware for the project.
The move comes at time when the technology community is fraught with anxiety over cyber security after 103 government websites were hacked and defaced on Tuesday.However, the hospital remains confident that sensitive medical data will remain protected with concerted efforts from various government authorities.
"The paper-based data is no safer than electronic data. We plan on restricting access to the information and adhering to e-security guidelines that are being developed by the ministry of communication," said Mr Ambrose Kwale, the hospital's ICT manager.
The digitisation is part of a master plan to automate processes not only at Kenya's main referral hospital, but across the country's health sector.
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Maputo — The Mozambican government needs 40 million US dollars in order to computerise the civil registration system throughout the country, reports the electronic newsheet "Canal de Mocambique".
The National Director of Registry and Notary Offices, ArlindoMagaia, said this sum is needed to equip all registry offices and health units with computers so that they can register children within days of their birth. Some of the money would also go to building other specialist registration facilities.
Magaia said that a computerized registration system would contribute to the government's goal of implementing a Single Citizen Identification Number (NUIC), so that all personal documents, including birth certificate, identity card, passport and driving licence carry the same number.
Magaia recognised that it is not only a shortage of computers that hinders modernisation of the civil registration system, but also the fact that electricity supply, though greatly improved in recent years, is still erratic in much of the country, and access to the Internet remains difficult, if not impossible, in many rural districts.
Currently the Ministry of Justice, with the support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is carrying out free registration, throughout the country, of children aged from 0 to 14 who were not registered by their parents immediately after their birth.
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- The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) on Tuesday presented 360 computers to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for distribution to 24 Community Development Vocational Institutions (CDVI).
money
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Shares in Net1 UEPS last week jumped as much as 37% to an intraday high of R79.50 after the company said its subsidiary, Cash Paymaster Services, had won a five-year tender to distribute social grants in all provinces.
Net1, which is listed on the Nasdaq and JSE, has been paying social grants to 15-million people since 2006 after a tender process. But over the past year, it has had a temporary contract with the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa).
The contract had price and volume reductions, which shrank Net1’s revenue and operating income. This threatened the profitability of Net1’s local operations, which make the bulk of their money from the Sassa contract.
Herman Kotze, the chief financial officer of Net1, has warned that there may be a short-term negative financial effect.
"Given the magnitude of the Sassa tender award, we expect a significant impact on the group’s financial affairs when the contract period commences as a result of new volume and pricing, additional costs, capital expenditure and additional contractual obligations. These may have different financial effects in the short term relative to the long-term benefits to the group," Mr Kotze said.
Net1 beat the big banks that were eyeing the business, which could have opened the door to tenders for banking services.
The number of welfare grant recipients in SA is expected to reach 16,3-million by the end of March. SA plans to spend more than R104bn on grants in the 2012 financial year.
Serge Belamant, the chairman and CEO of Net1, said the company’s biometric technology enabled it to provide Sassa with a comprehensive, cost-effective solution for the payment of about 15-million monthly grants to 10-million recipients in rural and urban areas.
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Eaton Towers, an African towers network operator has secured a US$30 million loan to fund its expansion into Ghana.
The transaction was signed last month and provides for a 5-year senior secured term loan facility to fund the enhancement and upgrade of towers under a Site Sharing and Maintenance Agreement contract with Vodafone Ghana.
It will fund further capital expenditure in relation to the build-out of up to 300 additional wireless towers in Ghana.
Peter Lewis, Chief Financial Officer of Eaton Towers, says: "We are delighted to have completed our first bank debt financing with Standard Bank Group. Given our strong deal pipeline and the interest we are seeing from financial and development institutions, we are confident that this will be the first of many such financing deals. This debt facility is an endorsement of our business model and demonstrates our ability to leverage our assets in Africa in a highly efficient way."
The company had already secured $150 million of private equity funding last September.
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- Uganda’s Warid Telecom and Obopay announced a new agreement that will see the telecommunications operator launch a mobile banking and payment service called WaridPesa.
Web and Mobile, Content and Services
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The Internet is changing, and the greatest impact may be felt in Africa. With the exploding use of the web globally and the planned 2012 expansion of the top-level domain name system, the future of the web is on the mind of most non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
International attention has largely been focused on groups and companies in the global north that see the potential for profit in new online real estate. However, some of the biggest changes - and some of the greatest benefits - may be felt in the global south (and in Africa specifically) by NGOs taking up a new community extension designed for them: (dot)NGO (.NGO).
The aim of the initiative is to create a definitive online home for NGOs around the world. The extension .NGO (or .ONG for countries using French, Spanish and Portuguese, for example) would be exclusively for NGOs, giving them an immediately recognizable identity as members in good standing of the global non-profit community.
The Public Interest Registry (PIR), which runs .ORG and is applying for the .NGO and .ONG domains, has designed the new extension as a cornerstone of the next phase of online community-building for NGOs. The goal is to help NGOs gain real recognition and to network and fund-raise more, including conducting online fundraising with the growing African diaspora populations around the world.
As part of the initiative, Andrew Mack of AMGlobal Consulting spoke recently to assemblies of NGOs in Yaoundé, Douala and Dakar, including regional public service leaders, press and government supporters from some 10 Central and West African nations. The events were designed to introduce the initiative, but also to get feedback from the African NGO community about their needs and the best ways to include ongoing NGO participation as standards and new products are developed.
The meetings touched on a range of issues, from how the new extension could help with the sharing of best practices, to how NGOs could use a dedicated online community to help them combat cybercrime and other security risks. Guy TeteBenissan, of the regional NGO association REPAOC, attended the Dakar meeting. He said, "I appreciate PIR's approach. They are collaborative. They came here to listen as well as to seek our support. And I feel a high level of trust. I think PIR understands us because they, too, are an NGO."
A final decision on the applications for .NGO and .ONG is expected later in 2012 when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers finishes its evaluation process.
"In the end," said Mack, following one of the meetings, "the future of NGOs in Africa is as much online as it is in the field. The creation of a new .NGO extension can really help capacity-strained African NGOs. And the way the .NGO initiative is structured, African NGOs can have a real voice - not just now, but over the long term - in the design and management of this great new tool. Africans can make history in the next phase of the Net."'
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
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- South Africa's MTN is offering 20% of free airtime with PrePaytopups until the end of March.
- A Nigerian company, called ZodaFones has awarded an LTE contract to Huawei covering the capital city and surrounding area.
- Tigo Tanzania has launched Voice SMS, which allows subscribers to send messages by voice, eliminating the need to type. The service is supplied by Kirusa.
- Airtel Zambia has launched a HSPA+ network upgrade offering theoretical peak rate download speeds of up to 21Mbps.There are currently 280 airtel 3.75G sites across Zambia -- covering all provincial districts -- with the aim to roll out up to 400 by the end of this yearAccording to Mr.Fayaz King, Managing Director, airtel, the company will be rolling out its data network across all its markets in Africa with the objective of building the largest 3G network across the continent.
More
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- South Africa’s third-biggest cellular operator, Cell C, on Thursday announced it had appointed the former head of Vodacom , Alan Knott-Craig, as its new chief executive officer.He will take up the position from the beginning of April.Knott-Craig was CEO of the country’s biggest cellular operator, Vodacom, for 12 years up to 2008, and managing director of the company from 1993 to 1996.
- Telecom Egypt has named Eng. TarekAboualam as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director with effect from 19 January 2012.Telecom Egypt's current CEO, Eng. Mohammed Abdel RehimHassanein is stepping down when he reaches the age of retirement, in line with TE's corporate policy.
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