News update Telecoms and ICT in Africa - Issue no 213 on 6 August 2004
Top Story
POWERLINE TECHNOLOGIES FOR INTERNET AND VOICE ACCESS - AFRICAN TRIALS UNDER WAY
The idea of sending data down electrical power cables - called powerline technologies - has been around for some time but has nearly always received a mixed press. Keeping data and power from interfering with each other on a consistent basis has been a challenge that never quite seemed to be overcome. Nevertheless there are now a number of developed world companies who are going from tests to commercial services. Tests are now beginning to take place in Africa where - if the technology delivers according to its claims - it could considerably lower the costs of network roll-out. Russell…
Telecoms
USD38 MILLION FIBRE PROJECT TO CONNECT MADAGASCAR TO THE WORLD
"We have made excellent progress in understanding how to connect Madagascar to Africa by an offshoot from the international cable," said Minister of Telecommunications, Post and Communications Gervais Mahazaka in…
Telecoms
ALGERIA'S OTA SIGNS USD2 MILLION BILLING SOTFWARE AGREEMENT
Algeria's leading GSM cellphone player OTA has signed a multi-million dollar billing software agreement with the South African company Intec. The deal between Orascom Telecom Algeria (OTA) and Intec is…
Telecoms
CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE'S SOTELCO OPENS FOR BUSINESS IN EWO
Congo-Brazzaville's incumbent telco Sotelco will soon be offering services in Ewo, the capital of the "department" Cuvette-Ouest from the beginning of August. The Admistrateur-General of Sotelco René Serge Blanchard Oba…
Telecoms
TANZANIA'S RURAL TELECOMS FUND - MINISTRY 'CURRENTLY WORKING ON'
The Tanzanian government plans to establish a rural telecommunications fund that will expeditespeed up the extension of telecommunication services in rural areas. Answering a question in Parliament last week, the…
Telecoms
Telecoms News - In Brief
- A new organisation representing SA's young but ambitious callcentre industry was launched in Johannesburg on Saturday. Technology companies and service providers have realised after two years of talking that…
Telecoms
TELECOM RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGE
- Ghana Telecom is to provide 60 payphones at Odumase-Krobo and another 30 in Adukrom-Akuapem by the middle of July, this year. GT iss installing 240 capacity broadband switches in…
Internet
MICROWAVE LINK BETWEEN SPAIN AND TANGIERS
Slashdot reported that a company called have just installed a wireless link between Tarifa in Spain and Tangiers in Morocco, thus linking the African and European continents together with a…
Internet
THE .NG DOMAIN DISPUTE - LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL?
A request to ICANN to redelegate Nigerian Country Code Top Level Domain (.ng ccTLD) has been ratified, writes Shina Badaru. The transfer to the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA),…
Internet
MAURITIUS' POST OFFICE SEEKS TO UNDERCUT THE MARKET WITH CLICKPOST.COM
Mauritius' La poste wants to become an ISP with its Clickpost.com service. In order to get market share, it will offer what it claims are the best prices per minute.…
Internet
Internet News - In Brief
- According to Ian Isenberg, Network Solutions Business Unit Manager at South Africa's Internet Solutions (IS), 46% of all Internet traffic is e-mail, and a large portion of that is…
Computing
ACER NAMES JET DISTRIBUTION AS PREFERRED AFRICAN PARTNER
Multinational PC brand, Acer, has signed an African distribution agreement with specialist distributor, Jet Distribution. The agreement will see the latter distributing Acer's entire product range, which includes PCs, notebooks,…
Computing
GRINTEK DEVELOPS SMART POWER SUPPLY UNIT FOR POS TERMINALS
ICT specialist Grintek Telecom, a Grintek Limited company, has developed a 'smart' power supply unit for point of sale (PoS) terminals, providing an integrated standard power supply, a GSM GPRS…
Computing
OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE CENTRE OPENS IN KAMPALA
The African Open software community in Uganda is to set up a regional training centre in Kampala to train up to 200 students a year with the help of Dutch…
Computing
Computer News - In Brief
- The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has chosen Hyperion Strategic Finance as its financial modelling and evaluation software solution, aiming to guarantee enhanced levels of accuracy in terms of financial…
digtool
THE NEED FOR SPEED - FACTOR THAT SLOWS ONLINE RETAIL GROWTH
Speed is the hidden factor behind the slow-down in growth of online retail in South Africa, writes Arthur Goldstuck. According to latest World Wide Worx report, "The Goldstuck Report: Online…
digtool
A NEW BREED OF CYBER-LAWYERS:"ICT LAW IS A GREAT LEGAL ADVENTURE"
As ICTs continue to proliferate, they also continue to become a target for government intervention and legislation. Within the legal profession ICT has been coming into its own as a…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
ALTECH'S AUTOPAGE CELLULAR LOOKING FOR AFRICAN GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES
Autopage Cellular, the independent cellular service provider, will aggressively pursue growth opportunities in certain parts of Africa, Allied Technologies (Altech) said in its latest annual report. Autopage Cellular is a…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
ZIMBABWE'S CELSYS BUYS COMSHOP AND LOOKS FOR INCREASED HANDSET SALES
Celsys Ltd has acquired Comshop (Nokia Zimbabwe), the exclusive Nokia mobile phone agent in Zimbabwe, chief executive officer Gary Shayne said this week. The acquisition is however subject to regulatory…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
On The Money - In Brief
- Mobile Systems International Egypt MSI has concluded the sell-off of 1.219 million shares (10.58%) of its total 4.8% stake in Vodafone Egypt.
Digital Content
AFRICAN COTTON PRICES SITE LAUNCHED WITH ASSISTANCE FROM AID
Launched in June by the American programme for assistance to agricultural business, Rates, CottonAfrica has laid out its ambition: to be the best market place for the buying and selling…
Digital Content
African Web News - In Brief
- The Central Bank of Nigeria has issued its Guidelines for Electronic Banking in Nigeria. A copy of the Guidelines can be found at: http://www.cenbank.org/OUT/PUBLICATIONS/BSD/2003/E-BANKING.PDF - South Africa's job portal…
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PEOPLE - WSIS PREPCOM IN TUNISIA
* The WSIS caravan rolls on...This week sees the preparatory meeting (Prepcom) for the big event.The Civil Society session began half an hour late, as many representatives had not factored…
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EVENTS
KABISSA - TIME TO GET ONLINE TRAINING-OF-TRAINERS WORKSHOP AUGUST 23-27, 2004 ACCRA, GHANA Kabissa has launched the next phase of its Time to Get Online project, training African civil society…
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JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES
http://www.delconsulting.com chris.moller@evonet.com If our correspondent is "off the mark" or you have factual amendments, mail them to us and we will include them in subsequent News Updates. If you'd like…
