News update Telecoms and ICT in Africa - Issue no 287 on 13 January 2006
Top Story
Apple makes a comeback in Africa with the halo effect of the iPod
Although Apple is an established niche brand of computers in the developed world, it has been almost invisible in Africa. Now you can spot Apple laptops in the hands of a number of ISP "movers and shakers" and of course the ubiquitous iPod has done much to raise the brand's profile. One sign of this growing presence has been the opening of an Apple Centre in Morocco's capital Rabat recently. This week Isabelle Gross talks to Apple's main African distributor, Jihad Bou Samra of Micro Conseil International. With more than 20 million units sold worldwide in 2005, the iPod symbolises…
Telecoms
TANZANIA'S TTCL AND ZANTEL TO ADOPT NEW CDMA
Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd (TTCL) and Zanzibar Telecommunications Ltd (Zantel) will soon start using CDMA. According to TTCL's Communications Manager Issa Semtawa, it will start using CDMA from April, a…
Telecoms
NITEL/ORASCOM DEAL NOT YET CONCLUDED, SAYS NCP'S EL-RUFAI
Chairman of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), and member, National Council on Privatisation (NCP), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, said last week that the negotiations for the sale of NITEL to…
Telecoms
SOMALI PHONE FIRMS REJECT US COMPANY'S GATEWAY OFFER
A storm is brewing among mobile telephone operators in Somaliland after the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications entered into a deal with an American firm to install a gateway system.…
Telecoms
SOUTH AFRICA: MERILL LYNCH SAYS SNO NEEDS R9BN TO SET UP
The second national telephone operator licensed earlier this month requires a capital investment of about R9bn ahead of its commercial launch due in the third quarter of next year, says…
Telecoms
UGANDA: WORKS MINISTRY, MTN SIGN US$6M UNIVERSAL ACCESS DEAL
The Government and the MTN have signed a $6m (about sh10.8b) agreement to connect information and communications technologies (ICTs) in 154 sub-counties. Works minister John Nasasira, MTN CEO Noel Meier…
Telecoms
LIBERIA - MINISTRY INVESTIGATES ILLEGAL GSM SERVICE
The Minister of Post and Telecommunications, Lenn Eugene Nagbe has disclosed that the Government through his Ministry has begun an investigation into an illegal GSM operation in the country. Minister…
Telecoms
KENYA - CELTEL LAYS OFF STAFF AS BONDS START TRADING
Celtel Kenya's US$60 million) bond started trading at the Nairobi Stock Exchange last Thursday, just a day after the mobile telephone operator announced plans to lay off 72 employees in…
Telecoms
AIRTEL SEYCHELLES INVESTS US$8.5M IN WCDMA
Airtel Seychelles says that it will shortly launch WCDMA mobile services in the country. Telecom Seychelles, which has been providing mobile and basic telephone services in Seychelles for the last…
Telecoms
MTML SOFT-LAUNCHES MOBILE NETWORK AND LONG-DISTANCE SERVICES
Mahanagar Telephone (Mauritius) (MTML), a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian telecoms group MTNL, has successfully soft-launched a mobile network and international long-distance services in Mauritius, with its parent saying the…
Telecoms
Telecoms News - In Brief
- Kenya Telkom's fibre optic link from Nairobi to Mombasa is expected to be commissioned by March this year. - What appears to be another setback for hundreds of employees…
Telecoms
TELECOMS, RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGE
- Liberia's COMIUM mobile phone company has once again reduced its rates. COMIUM announced to its prepaid customers the new reduced rates as of January 6, 2006. COMIUM subscribers calling…
Internet
CAMEROON - DOUALA TO GET INTERNET SERVICES WITH WI-FI LAMPPOSTS
A Singapore company has devised a way to provide Internet services through lampposts, the company said Wednesday. The company, Nex-G Systems, was originally hired to provide streetlights for the largest…
Internet
IMPLEMENT PRESIDENT OBASANJO'S DIRECTIVE ON IXP IN NIGERIA, SAYS SENATOR
Worried by Nigeria's continued dependence on other countries for its Internet traffic, Senator Chris Adighije has called on Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to implement President Olusegun Obasanjo's directive for the…
Internet
SOUTH AFRICA - TIFF OVER DATING WEB SITES LEADS TO BITTER CLAIMS
A new player in the online dating industry has denied allegations that it is sending fake replies to lonely hearts to woo them into paying a subscription fee. Suspicion that…
Internet
NIGERIA - ABUJA GETS N670M FIRST WIRELESS INTERNET NETWORK
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Mallam Ahmed Nasir el-Rufai last weekend in Abuja launched the first citywide wireless Internet Network project in Nigeria in conjunction with Suburban…
Internet
Internet News - In Brief
- News lost in the Christmas break was the closure of one of Ghana's leading ISPs NCS. It was unable to resolve its dispute with its landlord.
Computing
ETHIOPIA - AAU TO UNDERTAKE FURTHER NETWORK EXPANSION
The Addis Ababa University Signed On Saturday Agreements With Two Business Consortiums for the Third Phase AAU Net expansion.The expansion includes the supply, installation, configuration, testing and documentation of ICT…
Computing
UGANDA HOSTS OPEN SOURCE II
Uganda will next week host Information Communication Technologies (ICT) experts and support staff working with Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) on the continent in a hands-on workshop aimed at building the…
Computing
GAMBIA COMPUTER FACTORY IN THE OFFING
Sing-Chi Cynthia Chow, who led a group of IT experts from the Institute for Information Industry in Taiwan (IIIT), has disclosed to the Daily Observer that plans are underway for…
Computing
NEPAD LAUNCHES TECHNOFUTURE TO BRIDGE DIGITAL DIVIDE
TechnoFuture, an innovative computerized educational tool, was launched last week by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) at a roundtable chaired by President Olusegun Obasanjo. The project is with…
Computing
MOZAMBIQUE - ITALIAN FUNDING FOR COMPUTER PROJECTS
The Italian government has disbursed over 1.1 million euros (about 1.3 million US dollars) in the first tranches for two projects intended to speed up technological development in Mozambique. A…
Computing
ZIMBABWE - ZABG SIGNS LEASE AGREEMENT FOR SOFTWARE
The Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group (ZABG) has signed a U$3 billion lease agreement with a Kenyan company, FinTech International, for a financial instalments management software (information technology) system, LeasePac. The…
Computing
Computer News - In Brief
- The National Institute of Statistics for Rwanda (NISR) is set to develop an organized central system of data storage for all the country surveys between 1996 and the subsequent…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
16 NIGERIAN, FOREIGN BANKS RAISE US$1.1BN FOR V-MOBILE
History was made in Nigeria's financial sector last week as V-Mobile Nigeria announced the completion of a US$1.1 billion medium-term debt financing agreement with leading international banks and a consortium…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
TROUBLED KENYA TELKOM SUBSIDIARY ON THE VERGE OF BANKRUPTCY
Gilgil Telecommunication Industries (GTI) will soon collapse unless the Government acts quickly to solve its financial woes.A subsidiary of Telkom Kenya, the firm is indebted to the tune of Sh200…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
ZIMBABWE - CELSYS SHAREHOLDERS BLOCK SHAYNE BID
Shareholders in Celsys Limited have rejected a debt-for-equity swap that would have handed founder Gary Shayne a larger stake of the technology company, while drastically cutting minority interests. Shayne had…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
OIL MAGNATE CHIEF JIMOH IBRAHIM FAILS IN BID TO BUY VGC COMMUNICATIONS
The attempt by Lagos oil magnate, Chief Jimoh Ibrahim to buy over wireline operator, VGC Communications has collapsed. VGC Comm sources told that the deal was called off by the…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
On The Money - In Brief
- Egyptian operator Orascom Telecom announced that it is to acquire a 19.3% interest in Hutchison Whampoa's emerging markets spin off, Hutchison Telecoms International (HTIL) for a total of HK$10.1…
Digital Content
MOROCCO PUTS US CENSORSHIP BUSTING SITE ANONYMZER.COM ON ITS BLACK LIST
The Moroccan government has blocked the US website http://www.Anonymizer.com, which allows Internet users to get around censorship, days after Reporters Without Borders recommended its use to access Sahrawi websites. These…
Digital Content
TUNISIAN GOVERNMENT BANS INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF JOURNALISTS WEB-SITE
The International Federation of Journalists today protested to the Tunisian government over the banning of the Federation?s web site. In recent weeks, following the World Summit on the Information Society…
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PEOPLE
* MWEB Nigeria Limited, a premium Internet Service Provider, has announce the appointment of a new General Manager, Mr Chris Engelbrecht. Mr. Engelbrecht is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has…
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EVENTS
- International ICT Meeting on free and open software (FOSS), Kalangala on the Ssese Islands starting, Uganda, January 8-15th. The meeting is being jointly organized by Linux solutions, Women of…
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JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES
- ICT Advocacy Manager for SANGONet This position presents a vital opportunity for an individual passionate about shaping the role and application of ICTs for development through policy advocacy and…
