News update Telecoms and ICT in Africa - Issue no 203 on 7 May 2004
Top Story
NEW RESEARCH FINDINGS POINT TO HIGH RATES OF PHONE USE EVEN IN NO OR LOW SERVICE AREAS
Teledensity figures are probably no longer a useful guide to the number of people actually making use of phone services. New research carried out by Gamos looks at the different patterns of use amongst rural and urban users. It raises important questions for both operators and policy-makers. In a nutshell, rural inhabitants and poorer urban users value phone services but do not use them very often compared to relatively more affluent users. In these circumstances, how will coverage of these areas pay its way? It puts the focus firmly on the need for asymmetrical charging where the city dwellers pays…
Telecoms
VODACOM RENAMES ECONET NIGERIA AND SNAPS UP 51% OF DISTRIBUTOR SMARTCALL
As management contractor for Econet Wireless Nigeria, Vodacom is quickly putting its stamp on the operation. It has changed its name and bought control of one of the main pre-paid…
Telecoms
CELTEL INVESTS USD30 MILLION IN SIERRE LEONE
Celtel’s managing editor, David Hunter announced last week that it will be investing USD30 million in Sierre Leone. He also disclose that Celtel has now secured a licence to operate…
Telecoms
NAMIBIA TELECOM BUYS CSG SYSTEMS BILLING TECHNOLOGY
Telecom Namibia has chosen US based provider CSG Systems to supply its billing systems solution. Based on IBM eServer iSeries (AS400) platform, CSG® ICMS offers operators the choice of a…
Telecoms
SWAZILAND’S SPTC ACHIEVES 12% NET GROWTH IN CONNECTIONS
The Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications achieved a 12% net growth in connections compared to the 5.9% last year acorrding to SPTC MD Vusi Mkhumane . "The favourable growth rate is…
Telecoms
Telecoms News - In Brief
- The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has asked mobile network operators to install the software that will make stolen phones unusable once their loss has been reported. According to a…
Telecoms
TELECOM RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGE
- An ITU study group meeting in Yaounde focused on how its members might collaborate with a view to fixing rates at the lowest level possible. Within this context, it…
Internet
BAD WEEK FOR 419b SCAMMERS: ONE JAILED IN UK AND THREE ON TRIAL IN LAGOS
It was a bad week for 419 scammers as three went on trial in Lagos and another (in an unrelated case) was jailed in the UK. The Nigerian Economic and…
Internet
CÔTE D’IVOIRE’S CNITG SIGNS DATA AGREEMENT WITH GSAM
The Secretary-General of Cote D’Ivoire’s CNITG signed a data agreement with GSAM Holdings that covers economic information that will be made available over the internet. There will be four different…
Internet
SA’S INTERNET SOLUTIONS GOES MOBILE WITH MTN
Internet Solutions (IS) has been appointed an MTN Wireless Data Provider (WDP) and Network Service Provider (NSP). The company says that this will allow it to offer cost-effective and secure…
Internet
Internet News - In Brief
- The Burkina Faso international internet connection has returned to normal and all seems well for now.
Computing
CÔTE D’IVOIRE: CONFERENCE TO PROMOTE THE USE OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
Last week there was an Open Source Conference in Cote D’Ivoire that was addressed by Christian Roland of Assic on the theme:"Les logiciels libres et les collectivités territoriales". Didier Kla…
Computing
KENYAN GOVT LOOKS TO GET RID OF OLD EQUIPMENT, SAYS CABINET ICT ADVISER
The Kenyan Government looks set to upgrade its computer equipment as part of an e-government strategy that will start in June this year, according to Peter Gakunu, ICT adviser to…
Computing
SA’S DIREQLEARN LAUNCHES OPENLAB3-EDU FOR SCHOOLS
DireqLearn has announced the South African release of the OpenLab3-edu computing solution at the Innovation in Education, Schools ICT Conference, held at SACS, Cape Town, 5-7 April 2004. OpenLab3 is…
Computing
Computer News - In Brief
- NICE Systems, a provider of multimedia digital recording solutions, applications and related professional services for business interaction management, and Dimension Data, a leading global technology company providing solutions and…
digtool
BANKS BOOST CRM WITH UNISERVER SMS
Orion Telecom’s Uniserver SMS product, a solution aimed at the insurance and financial services sectors, is being adopted by several players in these fields, including Nedbank. The Uniserver SMS offering…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
MOROCCO TO FLOAT MAROC TELECOM STAKE IN 2004
Morocco has launched an international tender to select an adviser for the flotation this year of a stake in state-controlled telecoms operator Maroc Telecom, a government minister said on Friday.…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
GHANA’S KAN DAPAH SAYS GOVT STILL IN DISPUTE WITH TELEKOM MALAYSIA
The Ghanaian government is still locked in conflict with Telekom Malaysia. Although it has indicated its willingness to pay USD50 million for the 15% of shares the company wanted to…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
On The Money - In Brief
- ICT infrastructure and solutions provider, Datacentrix, has announced its annual financial results for the year ended 29 February 2004. The company says that revenue has decreased by 1% to…
Digital Content
PINK AVIATION FIGHTS GHANAIAN AIR FORCE DEAL GONE BAD WITH A WEB SITE
Pink Aviation, a European skydiving company rues the day that it got involved in a deal with the Ghanaian Air Force over four scrapped Skyvans. It’s paid its money and…
Digital Content
SA’S CYBERHOST GHOST TO WOO INVESTORS
The ghost of Cyberhost seems set to rise from the grave. The once-defunct Internet service provider (ISP) today applied for the lifting of the suspension of its JSE shares and…
Digital Content
African Web News - In Brief
- South African online retailer Kalahari.net has teamed up with international model Minkie van der Westhuizen and You/Huisgenoot magazines to allow people to donate books to needy schools online.The campaign…
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EVENTS
A LOW COST SOLUTION TO INTERNET IN AFRICA? (ITU TELECOM AFRICA EVENT) Special Workshop on National and Pan-African IXPsThursday 6 May 9:30-11:00 Room: Mycerinos C Sending emails from one address…
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JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES
- SA’s Telkom has launched a series of learnerships designed to plug the gap between the skills in demand and skills available in SA’s ICT industry. According to the company,…
