Issue no 544 4th March 2011
Top Story
NICE pioneers second generation low cost internet access points in Gambia – Will roll out in Tanzania and Zambia
With cheaper bandwidth access coming across Africa, cyber-cafes have been having a hard time surviving. Their non-profit cousins telecentres have always struggled to gain traction, particularly their Internet element, with poor network access and unreliable power. Also, not-for-profit management has not always driven high levels of skills and service. NICE International is a Dutch social venture that operates solar-powered ICT service centers with local entrepreneurs on a franchise-basis in Gambia. Recently it got EU funding to expand into Tanzania and Zambia. Russell Southwood looks at whether this new way of providing access might work and talks to its MD, Ties…
Telecoms
WikiLeaks Cable Casts Dim Light on Huawei’s practices in Kenya
WikiLeaks , the online media organization that is drip-feeding leaked U.S. diplomatic cables into the public domain, has published a document, identified as a communication from the U.S. embassy in…
Telecoms
Airtel to Second Its Africa Staff to India
Airtel Africa employees will now be able to work at its parent company in India under a new exchange programme launched. The mobile operator announced that a number of employees…
Telecoms
Kenya: Mobile Firms Attempt to Halt Further Reduction of Calling Rates
Mobile phone users in Kenya may cease to enjoy dramatic call tariff cuts if intense lobbying by Safaricom and Telkom Kenya for the government to intervene and put a break…
Telecoms
Namibia: MTC Drops Case On Cell Call Costs
The dominant player in Namibia's cellphone communication industry, MTC, last week abandoned an attempt to get an urgent court interdict to stall a Namibian Communications Commission decision that would force…
Telecoms
Telecoms News - In Brief
Thuraya Telecommunications has confirmed that its mobile satellite communication services have been subjected to intentional interference from within Libya over the past week. The interference has affected both data and…
Internet
South Africa’s Internet Solutions eyes LTE, fibre networks
Internet Solutions is betting big on telecommunications infrastructure, with plans to participate in a wireless spectrum auction later this year that could result in it building a national wireless broadband…
Internet
Zambia: MTN Launches Broadband Internet
MTN Zambia last week launched the broadband internet services, to make it one of the fastest internet service. MTN Zambia managing director, Farhad Khan said his company had made substantial…
Internet
East African Universities Enjoy Cheap Internet Bandwidth
A global education partnership is working to help selected pioneer African universities make significant savings on their internet bandwidth costs. Through the Bandwidth Consortium (BWC) initiative developed by the Partnership…
Internet
Internet News - In Brief
The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah, has said that the commission would provide light regulation in terms of access and fees charged operators in…
Computing
South Africa’s computer manufacturer Mustek launches Windows 7 tablet
JSE-listed technology distributor has unveiled a Windows 7-based tablet computer, the Mecer Xpress, on the same evening Apple announced the iPad 2. But Mustek says the Mecer Xpress is aimed…
Computing
Experts Meet on eHealth and Telemedicine Harmonization in Africa
The Experts Meeting on Health and Telemedicine Harmonization in Africa, opened today, Monday 28th February, 2011 at the Headquarter of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to present its…
Computing
Rwanda: Minister Calls for Extensive Use of ICT in Land Management
The Minister of Lands and Environment, Stanislas Kamanzi ,wants to use ICT to facilitate land transactions. His Ministry intends to introduce Land Administration Information System (LAIS) in all districts. Kamanzi…
Computing
Computer News - In Brief
The House of Representatives threw out the Cyber Security and Information Protection Agency Bill on the ground that it is a mere duplication of the functions of some existing law…
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
Telecoms Rates, Offers and Coverage
Telkom Kenya has introduced competitive prices for data and voice on its network. The two months promotional offer, dubbed Jienjoy na Mbao, Orange Mobile customers will enjoy a daily bundle…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Sonatel sees fall in net profits in 2010 as competitors muscle in
Senegalese incumbent telecoms operator Sonatel said its net profits for FY2010 were hit as increased competition in the markets in which it operates trimmed its margins and it was hit…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Kenyan mobile operators call for a clearing house for mobile payment transfers
Kenya's smaller mobile networks want the country's Central Bank to set up a centralised clearing house for mobile payment transfers - in a deliberate attempt to reduce the dominance of…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Nigeria: Nitel's Debts Hit N208 Billion
House of Representative Committee on Communications yesterday recommended the immediate disengagement of the entire 3,389 staff of the nation's moribund Nigeria Telecommunications and its mobile subsidiary, M-Tel.It also suggested the…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Zimbabwe: Telecel Under Fire Over Shareholder Structure
Telecel Zimbabwe has come under fire for being slow in regularising its shareholding structure, which is heavily skewed in favour of foreigners.The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Media, Information and Communication…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Money News – In Brief
- Western Union's mobile money transfer service will be introduced in 18 countries where mobile telecommunications firm Etisalat operates following an agreement between the two companies. The agreement will enable…
Digital Content
Team Delivers Development Aid Via Cell Phone Animations
A farmer in Niger learns how to protect his crops from insects. A resident of Port-au-Prince or a rural Haitian village learns how to avoid exposure to cholera. An entrepreneur…
Digital Content
South Africa: Free website to stop Cipro fraud
Online search company WinDeed has come up with what it thinks is a solution, at least in part, to the fraud problems plaguing the Companies & Intellectual Property Registration Office…
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People
Listed cellular infrastructure company Africa Cellular Towers has appointed a new FD. The company last week told shareholders Pieter Nicolaas would take up the position from the beginning of this…
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Events
5th Africa Economic Forum 20117-9 March 2011, Cape Town, South Africa Venue BMW Pavilion, V&A Waterfront Our 5th Africa Economic Forum 2011 (AEF-2011) in Cape Town at the BMW-Imax Theatre,…
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Jobs & Opportunities
IP Network Design Engineer - Telecom Services Company - South AfricaA major provider of pan African network services, which delivers high quality connectivity solutions to hundreds of network operators. They're…
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Contracts
Cell C and Huawei – South AfricaHuawei Technologies (“Huawei”), a provider of next generation telecommunications network solutions, announced the successful live deployment of a New Generation Business Support System (NGBSS)…
