News update Telecoms and ICT in Africa - Issue no 143 on 7 March 2003
Top Story
GABON - MARKET GROWS IN THE LONG RUN-UP TO PRIVATIZATION
Gabon has entered the communications era with a bang. As elsewhere in Africa, mobile subscribers exceed fixed lines: a staggering 100,000 to 14,000. The state telco is being prepared for privatization but the climate for external investment is not auspicious. The natural investor in Francophone Africa, France Télécom is struggling to get out from under a mountain of debt. The internet has developed but subscriber numbers are small and in large part focused in the capital. Edgard Mandrault describes what has taken place. The first internet operator in Gabon was l’Office des Postes et des Télécommunications (OPT) who set up…
Telecoms
GHANAIAN GOVT LOOKS SET TO USE VENDOR FINANCING FOR GT INVESTMENT PLANS
The exact shape of the Ghanaian Government’s deal with Telenor and how it intends to finance its expansion plans are becoming clearer. There has been much adverse comment locally on…
Telecoms
MALI’S IKATEL SIGNS DEAL WITH ALCATEL ON NETWORK
Ikatel, the second GSM operator of Mali and a subsidiary of Sonatel/France Telecom, has announced that it has signed a contract for the delivery of a nationwide GSM-network in Mali…
Telecoms
EAST AFRICAN BUSINESSES BACK THE FIBRE CONNECTION
East African businesses have taken the first step to fulfil an ambitious plan to have an optic fibre installed in the east coast of Africa to ease communication with the…
Telecoms
MAURITIUS: TELCO LIBERALIZATION TAKING SHAPE
The liberalization of telecommunications in Mauritius continues to take shape. ICTA, Information and Communication Technologies Authority, the regulatory body has published a draft contract for interconnection as a guideline to…
Telecoms
SEVEN BIDDERS FOR 30% STAKE IN MALAWI TELECOMS
According to a Reuters report, the state privatisation agency announced that seven groups submitted bids for a 30% stake in state-owned telecommunications provider Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL). One local bid…
Telecoms
Telecoms News - In Brief
- Sun Satellite Ltd, of Senegalese Abdoolaye Diagne, one of the applicants for a licence with Mauritius’ Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) is proposing prepaid cards for international calls.…
Internet
ODEBRECHT SELECTS KINGSTON INMEDIA FOR ITS ANGOLAN OPERATION
Kingston inmedia last week announced that it is providing Internet backbone connectivity and VoIP services via satellite to the Odebrecht Group, an Engineering, Construction, Chemicals and Petrochemicals group . The…
Internet
Computing
BOTSWANA COMPUTERISES COMPANY REGISTRATIONS
The company registration process will be computerised instead of being done manually. Government had commissioned KPMG Consulting to come up with a solution that would replace the manual data collection…
Computing
Computer News - In Brief
- Bytes Technology Networks (BTN), a division of Bytes Technology Group Limited (a member of the Altron Group), has been appointed Glenrand MIB Limited’s Microsoft Licencing Consultant to licence and…
digtool
ONLINE PAYMENT - THE AFRICAN ECOMMERCE NIGHTMARE POST 9-11
Cordelia Salter-Nour of eShop Africa explains the negative impact of 9-11 security precautions on Africa’s fledgling e-commerce businesses. If you want to sell something online but are a business based…
digtool
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
AFRICAN LAKES YEAR END RESULTS SHOW £5.4 OPERATING LOSS
According to the preliminary results announced last week:"Prior to exceptionals the Group operating loss is £5.4 million (2001: £3 million), the £2.4 million difference being primarily due to the £1…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
On The Money - In Brief
- Communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri today said she agreed with the regulator’s recommendation that neither Goldleaf Trading nor Optis Telecommunications be awarded a stake in SA’s second fixed-line telephone company.…
Digital Content
NIGERIAN WEB SCAM RIPS OFF RHODES UNIVERSITY
A Nigerian college is using material from the Rhodes University website in South Africa to promote itself. The so-called Sefcody’s International College of Nigeria has even used campus pictures of…
Digital Content
TECTONIC OFFERS TOP SOURCE FOR AFRICAN LINUX COMMUNITY
Tectonic is a news site focusing on the use of open source software(OSS) in Africa. Although physically based in South Africa, the site coverage ands its contributors come from all…
Digital Content
African Web News - In Brief
- Ugandan company Watuwetu has launched an online shopping service for Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. The online store provides products such as mobile phones, gift vouchers and certificates, flowers and…
Digital Content
SPECIAL BRIEFING - THE BENEFITS FOR AFRICA FROM CONVERGENCE
Teresa Peters of Bridges.org looks at convergence can affect lives in Africa and how positive changes can be made to affect the this part of the balance of the digital…
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PEOPLE
- Colonel Abihud N. Nalingigwa, Director General, Tanzania Communication Commission made a plea for operators to extend their services to rural areas at the inauguration of Tanzania’s first private-sector commercial…
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EVENTS
BOTSWANA HOSTS SCHOOLNET’S PAN-AFRICAN CONFERENCE (28 APRIL - 2 MAY 2003) A Pan-African workshop focused on using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support the education systems in Africa will…
