Issue no 473 25th September 2009
Top Story
Main One will land in five places in Africa and makes alliance with Tata for European connections
Nigerian-owned Mainstreet Technologies said this week that it is on schedule to be operational by June 2010 and that the building of landing stations has started in Ghana, Nigeria and Portugal. Also there will be three other landing station points in Africa with landing station partners to be announced in 2010. Russell Southwood spoke this week to Main One’s Commercial Director Bernard Logan. In a classic fog of unreliable information, the much-delayed Globacom-owned Glo One cable announced in early September that it had landed in Lagos. However, what this means is less than clear as one report spoke of the…
Telecoms
Tigo to Launch By End of Year in Rwanda
Tigo, the new national telecom operator with its parent company based in Luxembourg, has renewed its commitment to launch its operation in Rwanda by the end of this year. Tigo…
Telecoms
Eight licensed for VoIP in Zimbabwe, including three newcomers
The Zimbabwe Chronicle reports that eight companies have been granted licences to operate international VoIP telephony services. Therefore Zimbabwe joins the small but growing number of African countries that are…
Telecoms
Portugal’s Oni wants to set up Telecoms company in Angola
Portuguese telecommunications operator Oni announced it plans to set up a local company in Angola in the first quarter of 2010 and is looking at moving into the Brazilian market…
Telecoms
Companies Want More Time to Respond to Kenya’s Regulator new Guidelines
Players in the telecommunications sector are pleading for more time to respond to new guidelines on tariff reviews published by the industry regulator last week. The regulator, Communications Commission of…
Telecoms
Telecoms News - In Brief
- South Africa’s Parliament has asked consumers and businesses who are exasperated by the high cost of cellphone calls to express their anger in writing. Public comments are being invited…
Internet
Uganda to Outsource Management of its Backbone Project
Through the newly set up National Information Technology Authority-Uganda (NITA-U), government plans to outsource management of both the national backbone infrastructure (NBI) and the E-Government Infrastructure (EGI) to a private…
Internet
How Web Criminals Targeted the Taxman in Tanzania
Investigators from the Financial Intelligence Unit, have revealed that inordinate hours taken by Tanzania Revenue Authority personnel to clear tax payments made through electronic transfers, allowed a syndicate to siphon…
Internet
Neotel Uncapped WiMAX pricing in South Africa
Neotel last week launched an uncapped 2 Mbps WiMAX service aimed at the small and medium sized business market. The service provides both uplink and downlink speeds of 2 Mbps…
Internet
Internet News - In Brief
- South Africa's Sumbandila Satellite finally blasted off into space at the speed of lightning into the earth's orbit on 17th September. The blast-off was accompanied by rousing applause and…
Computing
IBM introduces New netbook software in Africa to bridge the digital divide
IBM and Canonical are introducing a new, flexible personal computing software package for netbooks and other thin client devices to help businesses in Africa bridge the digital divide by leapfrogging…
Computing
Computer System in Tanzanian Hospitals Warns When Medicine Runs Out Or Expires
‘ Beep!’ In the pharmacy department of many IICD-supported Tanzanian hospitals in the Mwanza region, this sound has become very familiar. Pharmacists are warned by a computer system that some…
Computing
Software Freedom Day Marked in Accra
The Software Freedom Day 2009 was marked in Accra with a call on businesses to deploy open source software products in their operations to become competitive. Dr Richard Boateng, Director…
Computing
Computer News - In Brief
- The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) is set to embark on an ambitious project of electronic clearing and forwarding, which would eventually stop people,…
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage (briefs)
- The South African mobile phone company Vodacom on Wednesday announced that its Mozambican subsidiary, Vodacom-Mocambique (VM), is cutting the price of calls for customers on contracts by 10 per…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Telecom Investments to Increase in Kenya Despite Slump
Kenya's highly competitive telecoms sector will continue to attract continued investment, but will experience a slump for now with players facing sluggish growth and revenue drops in the voice segment,…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Rwanda's Phone Assembling Company Hit By Low Sales
A-Link Technologies, a Chinese firm that assembles mobile phone handsets has been hit by low sales, attributed to external shocks of the global economic crisis on the Rwandan economy. Due…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Kenya Data Network and Wananchi seal extra investment
Two Kenyan broadband operators have announced that they have secured additional investment in their operations, funding future expansion of their respective networks. According to a report by news agency Reuters,…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
South African Neotel Aims to Triple Revenue This Year With 50,000 Customers
Neotel, the fixed-line operator set up in 2006 to compete with former monopoly Telkom , said last week it hoped to triple revenue this year as customer numbers rose quickly.…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
On The Money - In Brief
- The Commercial Court in Blantyre has ruled that Malawian cellco Global Advanced Integrated Networks (GAIN), which intends to operate under the G-Mobile banner, is allowed to engage Berlyl Capital…
Digital Content
Gorilla Tracking Goes Online in Uganda
The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) plans to launch online gorilla tracking. According to the authority it is due to a global demand for conservation tourism and promotion of primate tourism.…
Digital Content
New Online Payment And Booking for Air Travellers Launched in Ghana
Amadeus Ghana and e-Tranzact Ghana Limited on Thursday launched a new online booking and payment for travellers and travel agents to make payments online, for travel reservations over a network.…
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People
- The Board of Zain Nigeria said it appointed Alain Sainte-Marie as the new Chief Executive because the outgoing CEO Mr. Bayo Ligali has moved on to pursue other interests…
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Events
BROADBAND AFRICA SUMMIT 28-29 September 2009, Dakar, Senegal Broadband Africa is the leading conference and exhibition for the entire broadband ecosystem in Africa. This must attend event will bring the…
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Jobs and Opportunities
* Invitation to Tender for Consultancy Services for the Development of a Cost Model and Pricing Framework for Telecommunication Services to Enhance Competition among Operators in Botswana The Botswana Telecommunications…
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Contracts
* Suburban West Africa and Tata Communications - Nigeria Suburban West Africa has entered into partnership with Tata Communications Transformation Services (TCTS) India, for process transformation, next generation operational systems…
