Issue no 450 17th April 2009
Top Story
M-Money services a huge success in Kenya but waiting for their breakout moment elsewhere
Safaricom started its M-Pesa service in April 2007 with a first year target of getting 0.5 million users. It passed this target within six months and in February 2009 clocked up an astounding 5.8 million customers. Both in Kenya and elsewhere on the continent its competitors have been putting in place their own competitive M-Money products. But things seem to be going somewhat more slowly outside of the Kenyan market for these innovative service. Russell Southwood looks at what’s happening and tries to identify what makes a good M-Money market. It has been estimated that 90% of Kenya’s 37.9 million…
Telecoms
Outremer Telecom Applies for Mobile License in Mauritius
Outremer Telecom says that last month, it tabled an application for a mobile licence for Mauritius with that island’s regulatory authority, the ICTA, for the deployment of GSM and 3G…
Telecoms
New entrant Orange urges UCC to allow number portability in Uganda
New entrant Orange (which bought HITS Telecom) has urged the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) to permit the use of number-portability. Market newcomers like Orange would obviously gain from its introduction…
Telecoms
Mobile Network Trouble Resurfaces in Cameroon
Customers say communicating on MTN and Orange networks has become a nightmare. The country has been rendered almost incommunicado during the past three or four days. Customers of the two…
Telecoms
Nokia cautions customers against fake products in East and Southern Africa
Nokia East and Southern Africa has cautioned its costumers in the region against buying counterfeit Nokia handsets and called for urgent enactment of the law on counterfeit to curb the…
Telecoms
Telecoms News - In Brief
- Mozambique has began the search for a new mobile operator, paving the way for a third mobile communications company to enter the market, state media reported. Regulators were meeting…
Internet
WACS consortium, Alcatel-Lucent sign contract to deploy new 14,000km submarine cable network in West Africa
WACS will link countries in southern Africa, Western Africa and Europe, with high capacity international bandwidth. The WACS consortium and Alcatel-Lucent have signed today a turnkey contract valued at several…
Internet
New ISP Jostles for 1 Million Subscribers in Nigeria
NetAfric Internet Services, a subsidiary of Maybach Strategic Investment Limited, said it's working hard to register one million subscribers in Nigeria within the next twelve months. "We want to offer…
Internet
Newly formed South African National Broadband Forum calls for “affordable broadband” as first priority of new Government
The South African National Broadband Forum will hand over a proposed broadband policy framework to the new Minister of Communications at the first sitting of Parliament after the South African…
Internet
Internet News - In Brief
www.nac.org.zm - Vodacom South Africa has not picked up any trouble with its data services over the past few months, says the local mobile giant. This is despite consumers alleging…
Computing
Dell to partner with Uganda firm to offer low-priced laptops to students
Computer maker, Dell is partnering with Xavier Group, a local consultancy firm which has started an initiative that will see university students and tertiary institutions in Uganda get low-priced laptops.…
Computing
2008 Computer sales hit N34b in formal sector in Nigeria
Nigeria's formal computer sector sold 407,621 laptop and desktop computers in the year 2008, according to a report from IDC. This figure broke down into 211,499 desktops and 196,122 laptops.…
Computing
South Africa’s State IT Agency seeks R5m from consultants
State IT Agency (SITA) chairperson Zodwa Manase is expected to testify today in the Pretoria High Court in a lawsuit against a business consultancy that purportedly owes the state-owned organisation…
Computing
Computer News - In Brief
- South Africa and Uganda are to strengthen their co-operation in areas of science and technology. South African Science and Technology Minister Mosibudi Mangena and his Ugandan counterpart Ephraim Kamuntu…
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage (briefs)
- The Nigerian mobile market’s bullish growth showed no signs of abating in Q4 08. Quarterly net additions of 7.15m took the total number of customers over 60m, with a…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Orascom claims MobiNil sale deadline missed
After recent claims that it had offered to extend the deadline to 15 April for its enforced stake sale in Egyptian cellco MobiNil to France Telecom (FT), Orascom Telecom has…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Comesa chairman blasts Africa telecom infrastructure investments
Eastern and Southern African countries have failed to develop their ICT infrastructure to enhance communication in the region, according to Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, also the chairman of the Common…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Didata’s big telecom gamble in South Africa
Dimension Data’s Internet Solutions (IS) is set to up the ante in South Africa telecommunications by pumping many hundreds of millions of rand into new fibre infrastructure as it steps…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Mboweni Speaks On Econet Wireless Deal in Zimbabwe
Econet Wireless Holdings (EWH) held a stormy Extraordinary General Meet-ing (EGM) in Harare last Friday where a proposal to acquire equipment worth about US$94 million from Econet Wireless Global (EWG),…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
On The Money - In Brief
- Telkom South Africa and US-based AT&T signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will see the operators collaborate in sub-Saharan Africa. The local telecoms giant explains the crux of…
Digital Content
Mobile Shopping Set to Boost Digital Mall in South Africa
Online shopping portal Digital Mall aims to increase turnover fivefold in the next two years as mobile shopping becomes a reality in SA and on the continent. Yaron Assabi, CEO…
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People
* Telkom South Africa has named the second of three top-level managers under a new structure it introduced at the beginning of April. Weeks after appointed Nombulelo “Pinky” Moholi to…
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Events
*AFTLD ANNUAL EVENT 13-17 April 2009, Arusha, Tanzania Under the theme "Securing Africa’s Internet Infrastructure”, the AfTLD annual African ccTLD event for 2009 will include a detailed three (3) day…
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Jobs and Opportunities
TASK MANAGER 3rd infoDev Global Forum on Innovation & Business Incubation. The 3rd infoDev Global Forum will be held in Florianopolis, Brazil on October 26-30, 2009 and will integrate the…
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Contracts
Libya Telecom and Huawei - Libya Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. has secured a FTTH (fiber to the home) network deployment contract from Libya Telecom and Technology (LTT), announced the Shenzhen-based…
