News update Telecoms and ICT in Africa - Issue no 283 on 18 November 2005
Top Story
NEW CDMA OPERATOR SET TO CREATE GREATER COMPETITION IN MOBILE MARKET
Mauritian mobile operator Emtel installed the first mobile network south of the equator and the first UMTS network in Africa. In 2004, both Emtel and its larger rival Cellplus made quite a healthy profit. But in 2006 they could face a new challenge to their dominance with arrival of a new CDMA network. Mauritius is also one of the few markets worldwide where mobile termination fees are considerably lower than fixed line termination fees. The bigger mobile operator on the island of Mauritius is Cellplus, the mobile subsidiary of the fixed line incumbent Mauritius Telecom (MT). Operating a GSM network…
Telecoms
VSNL TO INVEST US$230MN OVER 3 YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA
Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) will invest over US$230 million over three years in South Africa to develop and operate national long distance (NLD) and fixed wireless networks in the…
Telecoms
SENIOR MCI BOSS ATTACKS SAT3 MONOPOLY
A strong regulator is essential for the development of a strong and competitive telecommunications market, says Daniel Crawford, MCI's president for international and wholesale services. Crawford, the most senior of…
Telecoms
GHANA PREPARES TO LEGALISE VOIP
Ghana is drawing up legislation that will lead to the legalisation of VoIP services. According to Communications Minister Albert Kan Dapaah VoIP has come to stay and Ghana cannot afford…
Telecoms
LIBERIAN MINISTER IN WIBRO TALKS WITH MOTOROLA
Liberia’s Minister of Post and Telecommunications, Lynn Eugene Nagbe, has invited Motorola to discuss the prospect of rolling out a nationwide wireless broadband (WiBro) in the country using its Motorola…
Telecoms
SOUTH AFRICA - ICASA SUSPENDS CEO
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) council has confirmed the “cautionary” suspension of CEO Jackie Manche, effective from 24 November. Manche was suspended as a result of alleged violation…
Telecoms
KENYA - IS TIME UP FOR ECONET?
As the year 2005 draws to a close Kenyans are coming to terms with the fact that the entry of a third mobile phone service provider will be long in…
Telecoms
OPERA TELECOM WORKS WITH C3 TO LAUNCH ENHANCED VOICE SERVICES
C3 is providing the managed service platform with call-handling and IVR facilities which is supplied with connections to all of the South African fixed line and mobile phone networks to…
Telecoms
Telecoms News - In Brief
- Chinese equipment vendor Huawei Technologies has won a contract for the supply of next-generation voice and data network equipment from Algeria Telecom. The project involves the deployment of a…
Telecoms
TELECOMS, RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGE
- Vmobile Nigeria has fulfilled its promise to launch commercial GSM service within 45 days in the towns that won the first phase of its on-going SMS (Short Message Service)…
Internet
TUNISIA TO HOST AFRICAN ONLINE ACADEMY FOR INTERNET TRAINING
Plans for a 'virtual university' that will provide African students with Internet-based training were unveiled last week (18 November) at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia. The…
Internet
SOUTH AFRICIA - MORE FIRMS USING ONLINE RECRUITMENT
Approximately two-thirds (68.97%) of top South African companies believe that the Internet is an effective recruitment channel and almost half (46.81%) are using online recruitment as part of their overall…
Internet
KENYA'S INTERSAT LAUNCHES DUAL MESH NETWORKING VSAT
Kenyan VSAT network solution provider interSat Africa has launched SkySwitch, a new generation Dual Star+ Mesh Networking VSAT system. It has installed the new system at the Inmedia teleport in…
Internet
TELFREE AND IS LOOK SET TO CHALLENGE TELKOM ON VOIP INTERCONNECTION
Two companies - TelFree and IS - are going to challenge Telkom South Africa to provide interconnect agreements for terminating VoIP calls on their network. For VoIP calling to take…
Computing
ANGOLA: MPS WANT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FUNDS INCREASED
Angolan Parliamentarians defended funding from the 2006 State Budget for the Ministry of Science and Technology so a special attention is paid to the information technology. The call came during…
Computing
UGANDA PIONEERS IN ARV TECHNOLOGY
Uganda has become the first country in the world to benefit from a healthcare information system that manages, measures and monitors the distribution of Anti retroviral drugs (ARVs). Harvey Stewart,…
Computing
SOUTH AFRICA - OPEN SOURCE GIVES SOUTH AFRICAN FARMERS A LEG UP
EuroOSCOM the first European conference on open source took place in Amsterdam last month. Though it was roughly a third smaller than its North American counterpart, EuroOSCON attracted the cream…
Computing
NAMIBIAN MINISTER EXPRESSES ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNNS ABOUT THE $100 LAPTOP
Namibia has warned against possible adverse environmental consequences amidst the hype following the launch of the "100$ Laptop", an ambitious project hoped to open education communication to children all over…
Computing
NIGERIA'S ELECTORAL COMMISSION TO TEST ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEM
Independant National Electoral Commission (INEC) said last week that it would test run the controversial Electronic Voting System (EVS) in the planned revalidation of voters register next January. Chairman of…
Computing
Computer News - In Brief
- Acer South Africa has turned in a strong performance in the third quarter of 2005 by retaining its strong second place in the South African notebook market and moving…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
UCS LOOKS TO DOUBLE PROFIT ON CONSOLIDATION
Software developer UCS believes it can more than double profit margins in coming years, having consolidated six units into one and set up a software factory in Centurion. Consolidation has…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
MTN CONSIDERS LISTING IN NIGERIA
In a bid to broaden its Nigerian shareholder base, mobile phone company MTN Group (MTN) will consider some options including listing its Nigerian subsidiary in Lagos during the first quarter…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
BOTSWANA - MTN’S MASCOM PURCHASE RUNS INTO DELAYS
South African-owned mobile group MTN's USD128 million bid to buy a 44% stake in Botswana’s largest cellco, Mascom Wireless, has not yet been finalised and the sale is still subject…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
On The Money - In Brief
- The Egyptian Cabinet has approved the offering of 20% of Telecom Egypt's shares to the public. The shares will be split into two tranches for individual investors and financial…
Digital Content
NIGERIA - OCENAIC, ACCELON PARTNER ON E-EDUCATION PROJECT
Driven by a passion to effectively enhance the knowledge of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) of secondary schools students in Nigeria, Oceanic Bank is partnering with Accelon to introduce an…
Digital Content
GAMBIA GCCI LAUNCHES DATABASE, WEBSITE
In its drive to be more responsive to the needs of its members and play a better role in the development of the country, The Gambia Chamber of Commerce and…
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PEOPLE
* Naguib Sawiris, head of Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holdings, has been named by the New York Stock Exchange to join its board's international consultative committee. The Egyptian leading mobile telecommunications…
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EVENTS
- Corporate Network Management Forum: LANs, WANs, VPNs, Multimedia, VoIP, Security: “Developing Strategies in Network Management and the Business Imperatives” 23-24 February 2006, Nairobi, Kenya For further information contact, Vincent…
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JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES
- Qualcomm in South Africa is looking for an Office Administrator who can also take on web site development/maintenance in its Johannesburg office. Office Administrator: >> Will provide office administration…
