News update Telecoms and ICT in Africa - Issue no 146 on 28 March 2003
Top Story
LIQUIDAFRICA - BUYING AND SELLING AFRICAN SHARES ONLINE
The telecoms downturn in the developed world has created an investment drought for Africa just when it needs to keep developing its infrastructure. Local capital markets have sprung up in over 18 countries on the continent but they remain small and largely unknown outside the continent. As everywhere Government financing still dominates: for example government bond sales in Nairobi can reach US$150 a week far exceeding the value of stock trades. Things are changing now and launch of online trading in the Lagos Stock Exchange is one indicator (see Web News) LiquidAfrica was launched by a 35-year old Cameroonian based…
Telecoms
FIN-X-SIDE sa, LAUNCHES SWIFT SERVICE BUREAU FOR EUROPE
FIN-X-SIDE sa is a joint venture between SIDE International - the SIWFT Business Partner for France and Benelux and Comesa Financial Exchange (FIN-X) - the first recognized SWIFT Service Bureau…
Telecoms
NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA: MAJOR NETWORK INVESTMENTS ANNOUNCED
As part of efforts to consolidate the gains that have been achieved in the telecommunication sector of the economy, the Federal Government yesterday approved the award of several contracts totalling…
Telecoms
SOUTH AFRICA: SNO SHENANIGANS RESUMES NEXT WEEK
The process of selecting the final partner for the second national telephone operator (SNO) is expected to continue next week with an invitation for foreign partners to come to the…
Telecoms
CARRIER CLASS VOIP TECHNOLOGY GAINING MOMENTUM SAYS COMZTEK
The application of voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks continues to gain momentum with major telecommunications firms around the world deploying carrier class equipment to offer services that benefit from…
Telecoms
UGANDAN RURAL TELECOMS FUND OPENS FOR BUSINESS, LOOKS FOR INVESTORS
Uganda has initiated a Rural Communications Development Programme (RCDP) and Fund, through which it hopes to stimulate investment in the sector. The programme, launched last week, is partly sponsored by…
Telecoms
DJIBOUT TELECOM’S NEW TARRIFS DEFINED BY CCDN ARGUMENTS
The decree approved at the last Council of Ministers covering Djibouti Telecom’s new pricing tariff was based upon proposals from the « Colloque sur la Communication et le Développement National ». Their…
Telecoms
Telecoms News - In Brief
- Much news from the "don’t frighten the horses" department: Felix Owusu-Adjapong, Ghanaian Communications Minister, insisted that no decision had been made to cut jobs at Ghana Telecom by Telenor…
Internet
KENYAN GOVT ACCUSED OF DRAGGING ITS FEET OVER COMPETITORS TO JAMBONET
Frustration is welling up in the local Internet industry following an apparent Government inaction in breaking Telkom Kenya’s monopoly in the provision of international gateway services. At least two firms…
Internet
NOW TUNISIA ARRESTS TWENTY FOR LOOKING AT BANNED WEBSITES
According to BBC Online, twenty young men, many of them students, have been arrested in Tunisia for looking at banned websites. The Tunisian Government is believed to censor the internet…
Internet
Internet News - In Brief
- M-Web has launched a prepaid Internet dial-up access service, Quicksurf, aimed at the foreign tourist market staying in hotels and guesthouses. Quicksurf retails at R79 and provides two weeks’…
Computing
EGYPT LOOKS TO TOP US$15 BILLION IN SOFTWARE EXPORTS IN A DECADE
While finding a way to boost computer ownership and bring Egypt more online has been a conundrum exercising many minds of late, the country?s communications minister has predicted a major…
Computing
MINISTRY ENCOURAGES PUBLIC SECTOR TO PURCHASE MADE IN GHANA COMPUTERS
Several thousand computers will be procured by the Government of Ghana in 2003 making it the single biggest purchaser of IT in the country. In its effort to encourage the…
Computing
INTRINSIC SEES RETURNS FROM AFRICA, HEIGHTENS FOCUS
Squaring up to the challenge of developing further business in Africa this year Intrinsic Technology, the South Africa-based solutions and systems integrator, has cemented vendor relationships, beefed up its partner…
Computing
Computer News - In Brief
- Zimbabwe’s First Banking Corporation Limited intends to acquire a new core banking system following last week’s signing of an agreement with Fintech International, the local representative of software developer…
digtool
OPEN SOURCE SPECIAL
FREE SOFTWARE AND OPEN SOURCE FOUNDATION FOR AFRICA LAUNCHED The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) was launched last week at the WSIS Prepcom meeting. Eric Osiakwan…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
SA’S MTN CURTAILS MYSTERY NEGOTIATIONS OVER FOREIGN ASSETS
Cellphone company MTN has curtailed negotiations involving some of its foreign assets, without the market ever working out exactly what deal may have been going down. The company withdrew a…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
On The Money - In Brief
- Egyptian shares fell on Wednesday last week when the telecom sector retreated amid profit-taking following recent strong gains and as anticipation of an Iraq war weighed on investor sentiment,…
Digital Content
NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE LAUNCHES ONLINE TRADING
Stockbrokers began full remote on-line system of trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange last, thus placing the Exchange ahead of its peers in Africa in terms of technological development. The…
Digital Content
African Web News - In Brief
http://www.congo-mai-mai.net/index.html - As of last week, bunge.or.tz and bunge.go.tz are now Fully Qualified Domain Names. http://www.itu.int/ibs/wsis/pc2/ http://www.wougnet.org/Events/wougnetmeeting1.html http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/aids-africa
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PEOPLE
* According to Mmegi Online, if Communications, Science and Technology minister, Boyce Sebetela had his way, the long awaited privatisation process would have been long set in motion. Sebetela is…
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EVENTS
SOUTHERN AFRICAN INTERNET FORUM, KWA MARITANE GAME LODGE, PILANESBERG, SOUTH AFRICA (11-13 APRIL 2003) The Southern African Internet Forum has three key objectives: 1. To help create a shared strategic…
