Issue no 331
Top Story
Tunisie Telecom: Foley bought in to transform company’s culture
At GSM>3G North Africa Forum which took place in Tunis this week, Isabelle Gross met Michael Foley who is currently attached to Tunisie Telecom as the Chief Entreprise Transformation Officer. As his title implies, his main task is to turn around the company and make it a profitable investment for Dubai Holding which so far owns 35% of Tunisie Telecom and is expected to obtain an additional 16% share of the company to reach the 51% required to gain control. Unlike Morocco, Tunisia hasn’t had yet fully entered the broadband revolution. There are less than 50,000 broadband connections at present,…
Telecoms
THE MALDIVES CONNECTION – A NEW FIBRE ROUTE TO AFRICA
A new subsea cable connecting Sri Lanka with the Maldive Islands might turn out to be the the first leg of a new Africa-Asia cable. The US$20m, 850km cable owned…
Telecoms
CCK ANNOUNCES SNO LICENCE WINNER IN KENYA
Vtel consortium, a Dubai based firm, has won the bid for the Second National telecommunications Operator (SNO) licence. The Commission declared the consortium the winner on October 27 after Vtel’s…
Telecoms
VODAFONE INCREASES EGYPTIAN INVESTMENT
Vodafone has announced that it is planning to take management control of its Egyptian subsidiary, Vodafone Egypt. The company is buying just under five percent of Vodafone Egypt from Telecom…
Telecoms
AREEBA LEGAL WAR ENTERS SECOND PHASE IN GHANA
Benson Nutsukpui-Secretary of GBA counsel for Scancom Ltd, operators of the Areeba cellular phone network, last Tuesday set the tone for the legal battles over claims for a twenty percent…
Telecoms
BID TO CONTROL CELL-ROUTING STUMBLES IN ZIMBABWE
Zimbabwe's privately owned cellular companies last week won a court order against a government attempt to force them to route international calls through a state-controlled gateway. High Court judge President…
Telecoms
SIERRA LEONE: QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT ANNUAL RENEWAL FEES FOR MOBILE OPERATORS
A columnist in Sierra Leone’s Leone’s Concord Times questioned whether it was wise for the Government to be charging mobile operators annual licence renewal fees:”The announcement recently by the Minister…
Telecoms
BACK TO SQUARE ONE AT ICASA AS APPOINTEE QUITS FOR TELKOM JOB
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has a lot on its plate. While it awaits the outcome of its disciplinary hearing into charges of irregular behaviour against CEO Jackie…
Telecoms
Telecoms News - In Brief
- In the face of energy challenges, Ghana Telecom (GT) plans to use solar as the main source of power to drive the over 300 cell sites it operates in…
Internet
TELECOM EGYPT LAUNCHES IP-TV SERVICE
Telecom Egypt has become the latest African telco to launch a dedicated IPTV service, joining Senegal’s Sonatel and Mauritius Telecom. TE Data, Telecom Egypt's internet subsidiary, has launched the country's…
Internet
RSF LISTS EGYPT AND TUNISIA AS TWO OF 13 'ENEMIES OF THE INTERNET' BUT LIBYA REMOVED FROM LIST
The campaigning group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Monday listed 13 countries that it labeled as "enemies of the Internet" ahead of a 24-hour campaign in favor of free access to…
Internet
WIRELESS ISPS UNDER FIRE IN SOUTH AFRICA
ISPs delivering broadband access to end users without the proper ECA licensing may soon get a visit from ICASA. This is according to an iBurst warning against unlicensed WiFi…
Internet
EGYPT ARRESTS BLOGGER WHO CRITICIZED AL AZHAR
Egyptian police have arrested a blogger who posted comments critical of the country's Islamic authorities, a security official said Tuesday, a day after a leading media watchdog ranked Egypt as…
Internet
MORE WIMAX LICENCE ALLOCATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA
ICASA is inviting comments regarding the procedures and criteria for awarding radio frequency spectrum in the ‘crowded’ WiMax range. ICASA issued a notice in the Government Gazette No. 29351 published…
Internet
Internet News - In Brief
- An online tourism conference is coming to Nairobi later this month. The Tourism Trust Fund will host the event that seeks among other things to raise awareness on the…
Computing
OFFSHORING PROVIDED OVER 7,000 JOBS IN MOROCCO
The Offshoring professions in Morocco have generated a turnover of about USD 110Mn, and created some 7,200 job opportunities in 2004 alone, wrote Jeune Afrique Magazine. In its latest issue,…
Computing
LANGUAGE CHOICE DRIVES ACCESS TO COMPUTER PROFICIENCY
Translate.org says that it has enabled the teaching of computer proficiency in all 11 official languages, with the implementation of translation software developed on an open source platform. “Our…
Computing
COMPUTERISED STUDENT LOAN SYSTEM EXTENDED IN BOTSWANA
The Ministry of Education (MoE) is currently extending their computerised Student Loan Management System (SLMS) to users and administrators at foreign missions and embassies. Representatives from South Africa, Australia, the…
Computing
MEDICATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM LAUNCHES KHAYELITSHA PILOT
SIMPill, a locally developed product that uses GSM technology to ensure that patients with chronic diseases take their medication regularly, has launched its largest pilot to date at the Michael…
Computing
LOCAL EFFECT OF HP DEAL TO BE FELT NEXT YEAR
The local impact of HP's buyout of Mercury is only likely to be felt during the first quarter of next year. HP said this week it had completed its $4.5…
Computing
Computer News - In Brief
- Nigeria's computer manufacturers, Zinox Computers, has started rolling out computers produced under the Computers for All Nigerians Initiative (CANi). Zinox in a statement disclosed that the systems include laptops…
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
TELECOMS, RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGE
- MTN Uganda's subscribers have increased by 14% in the last quarter of the year. The number of subscribers rose to 1,403 ,000 while the average revenue per user dropped…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
GATEWAY RAISES $100 MILLION TO EXPAND IN AFRICA
ICT firm Gateway Communications said last week it had raised $100m through a bond issue, which would allow it to make further inroads into Africa's rapidly expanding telecommunications market. Chief…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
ACCESSKENYA INCREASES ITS INVESTMENT BASE FOR FUTURE EXPANSION PLANS
AccessKenya, one of the country’s leading corporate Internet Service Provider (ISP), last week announced the successful completion of a Private Placement of shares in the company and sister company Broadband…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
On The Money - In Brief
- Algerie Telecom second bond issue has raised 21.6 billion dinars (about US$301 million), 15% more than the target amount. Keireddine Slimane, Algerie Telecom’s CEO has announced that the company…
Digital Content
FINGAZ, ECONET LAUNCH SMS-BASED CLASSIFIEDS IN ZIMBABWE
The Financial Gazette has, in partnership with leading mobile telephone operator, Econet, launched a hassle-free classified advertising solution called 'TXT Classifieds', which enables advertisers to place their adverts with the…
Digital Content
UNLEASH WEB TO FIGHT HIV IN AFRICA, STUDY
The Internet is already a source of information about Aids for children in Africa but could be more powerful if it were free, a US study says. About one-third of…
Web and Mobile Data_old
NEWTEC TO LAUNCH SATELLITE-BASED TRIPLE PLAY SYSTEM
Newtec is launching its new Sat3Play system, a product that allows the bundling of data, voice and video services over a single satellite broadband connection. Sat3Play is an unprecedented 2-Way…
More
PEOPLE
Celtel Kenya's chief executive officer Gerhard May has been recalled to the Celtel International head office in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Steve Torode, who is currently the regional vice president of Celtel…
More
EVENTS
- 1ST INTERNATIONAL ICT INVESTMENT CONFERENCE FOR AFRICA 14th – 15th November 2006, Tunis, Tunisia. dmorrissy@i-ep.com - WIRELESS BROADBAND AFRICA –EAST AFRICA 29 November –1 December 2006, Hilton Hotel, Nairobi,…
More
JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES
* DEVELOPMENT OF GUIDELINES ON FREQUENCY SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT Company: Danish Management A/S (www.danishmanagement.dk) for the RICTSP/COMESA Objective: To elaborate policy and management guidelines for frequency spectrum regulation and monitoring by…
More
CONTRACTS: WHO'S SELLING WHAT TO WHOM?
* NARSDA AND SSTL - NIGERIA Then National Space Technology Development Programme of Nigeria signed a contract with a British firm, Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), for the construction of…
