News update Telecoms and ICT in Africa - Issue no 197 on 13 February 2004
Top Story
Africa Online seeks the higher ground by targeting the corporate market
Pan-continental ISP Africa Online has been targeting the corporate market. Sales from this source have gone from 30% to half its turnover in two years. This means two things. Firstly, growth in the domestic dial-up market has hit a ceiling in most countries and no-one knows how to break through it and still make money. Secondly Africa’s multinationals have been slow to adopt web-based enterprise systems (particularly the banks) and this holds the promise of good growth from the corporate sector. Paul Sourabh, Corporate Head of Sales and Marketing spoke to News Update about the company’s new found area of…
Telecoms
COMPETITION IN MAURITIUS BRINGS TWO LOW COST INTERNATIONAL VOIP SERVICES
For years there’s been no legal VOIP-based international calling services for retail customers and suddenly two come along all at once. Liberalising Mauritius is leading the way for Africa with…
Telecoms
SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE TO LIBERALISE TELECOMS MARKET
The parliament of São Tomé and Príncipe has approved a bill that will liberalise the country’s telecom market from December 2005. At present CST, a semi-privatised company is the sole…
Telecoms
KENYA’S CCK LICENSES LOCAL LOOP OPERATORS
The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) last week launched a strategy to licence local loop operators (LLO) in order to increase access to fixed telephone lines. The facility is expected…
Telecoms
MOROCCO’S REGULATOR CHOOSES ADVISERS FOR FIXED LINE SELL-OFF
After a pause of several months, it seems that the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector is moving again. After asking for proposals at the beginning of the year, the Moroccan…
Telecoms
ERICSSON AND ECONET SIGN USD 110 MILLION EXPANSION CONTRACT IN NIGERIA
Ericsson and Econet Wireless Nigeria have signed a GSM expansion contract valued at USD 110 million. When completed, the expansion will result in greater geographic coverage for the operator and…
Telecoms
UGANDA TELECOM DEPLOYS ENTERPRISE STORAGE SOLUTION FROM NETWORK APPLIANCE AND IP PLANET
Network Appliance, Inc and IP Planet, last week announced that Uganda Telecom has chosen NetApp and IP Planet to deploy its disaster recovery and business continuance solutions. The solutions enable…
Telecoms
Telecoms News - In Brief
- Chairman of Orascom Telecom Naguib Sawiris, expects the company subscriber growth rate to fall at least 50% to 60% in 2004, from about 79% in 2003. - TeleAccess (Zimbabwe)…
Telecoms
TELECOM RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGE
- SA’s MTN has launched its CorporateMobility solution through wireless data provider (WDP) MTN Network Solutions, to provide connectivity between a company’s mobile workforce and its back-end system. - Nigeria’s…
Internet
KENYA DATA NETWORKS IN USD1M DEAL WITH ALVARION
Alvarion Ltd last week announced that Kenya Data Networks Ltd. (KDN), a subsidiary of Kenya’s Sameer ICT Group, is deploying advanced Alvarion wireless broadband networks valued at over USD1 million…
Internet
TUNISIANS GRANT TEN YEAR VSAT LICENCE TO GIVE TT SOME COMPETITION
The Tunisian regulator has granted a new VSAT licence on a ten year renewable basis to an international consortium. The aim is to gradually liberalize the communications sector and reinforce…
Internet
Internet News - In Brief
- South African internet application provider Warp 10 has announced that it will offer up to R1 million a month to one of its users for the foreseeable future as part…
Computing
SA-SOURCED SOFTWARE USED TO IMPROVE DESERT LOCUST MONITORING AND FORCASTING IN MAURITANIA
The International Association for Applied Acridology (the study of grasshoppers and locusts) is using SAS software - sourced in SA - to determine which plant habitats favour locust communities in…
Computing
SA TECHNOLOGY BREAKTHROUGH MAKES A SPLASH IN THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET
It is not very often a leading technical expert from Microsoft itself can be heard to say, "I do not know of anyone else doing anything like this". Well it…
Computing
Computer News - In Brief
- Sahara Computers has stepped up efforts to capture market share in Africa. The Africa campaign is determined, aggressive and focused says MD Atul Gupta. The company has already opened…
digtool
SA TELKOM BUYS ADVANTEX FIELD SERVICE MANAGEMENT SOLUTION
Service and maintenance costs are one of the key fronts in the battle on costs, particularly for incumbent telcos. They need to be able to make more productive use of…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
MUGABE’S NEPHEW CLAIMS 10% OF TROUBLED TELECEL
Beleaguered businessman James Makamba’s chickens are flocking home to roost at the worst possible time as it emerged last week that while he languishes behind bars, President Robert Mugabe’s nephew,…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
On The Money - In Brief
- Econet Wireless Nigeria reported that its half-year revenues to December were up 49% to NGN22bn (USD157m), while EBITDA was 37% higher at NGN10bn (USD71m) compared to the pervious year.…
Digital Content
INTERNET RECRUITING TAKES OFF IN SOUTH AFRICA
The internet is transforming recruiting and selection practices, says Don Gray, chairman of Graylink."The recruitment industry in SA is a billion rand-plus business and employers are often reluctant to pay…
Digital Content
EGYPTIAN GOVT AND IBM TAKE PYRAMIDS ONLINE FOR TOURISM DRIVE
Egypt can now be seen in the virtual world of Eternal Egypt, an interactive website launched last Tuesday by Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and IBM The project…
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PEOPLE
* Uganda has been elected to chair the newly-formed Association for Regional Regulators of Information and Communications for Eastern and Southern Africa (ARICEA). The Ugandans were represented at the meeting…
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EVENTS
NTIC ET ENTREPRENARIAT : L’ART DE CONCRÉTISER SES PROJETS ZCP, IICD et Balancing Act organisent un atelier d’une journée à Ouagadougou sur le thème : « Entrepreneurs d’aujourd’hui et de…
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JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES
permsec@moct.go.tz - SADC is offering a tender of some USD68,000 to develop a Knowledge>Management System that will serve the region with the latest education research, online training for the SADC…
