Issue no 639 25th January 2013
Top Story
Game on ! – Call of Duty 4, multi player games and the arrival of LTE in Uganda
Along with video, the next wave of uses in Africa will be network gaming. Except for South Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa has not really had this kind of competitive gaming culture. But as the bandwidth increases and its price drops, it has begun to arrive and it seems to have started in Uganda. Russell Southwood talks to inveterate gamer Kyle Spencer about what’s happening.Kyle Spencer works for a local health services company but but outside of his day job he enjoys multi-player computer games competitively against other players. It has taken him a while but the self-organising enthusiasm of these kinds…
Telecoms
Maroc Telecom To Invest $1.2 Billion In Morocco’s Broadband Network
Maroc Telecom will invest 10 billion Moroccan dirhams ($1.2 billion) to upgrade the country’s broadband network, Morocco’s biggest telecoms company said on Wednesday.Maroc, which is 53 percent owned by French…
Telecoms
FT-Orange, Vodafone, Vimpelcom, Digicel among telcos vying for Libyan management contracts
According to a report by TMT Finance, a number of major international telecoms players have expressed an interest in landing one of two available contracts for the management of state-owned…
Telecoms
Tanzanian govt may cut mobile fees by 69% to drive competition
Bloomberg News writes that the government of Tanzania is considering slashing the rates that mobile network operators charge each other for terminating calls on each others’ networks by up to…
Telecoms
Nigeria: Cell phones for farmers to cut corruption
Nigeria's agriculture minister on Monday responded to a barrage of criticism about the planned distribution of cell phones to the country's poorest farmers.Opposition politicians attacked the idea, and news articles…
Telecoms
Telecoms - In Brief
- Gabon’s regulator will sanction Airtel Gabon for irregularities in its records.The country’s electronic communications regulator, ARCEP, said there had been under reporting of incoming call traffic and non-compliance with…
Internet
Libya - Country-wide WiMax internet by August, says ZTE
There could be WiMax coverage across the whole country by August this year, according to ZTE, who are working on the project with Libya Telecom and Technology (LTT).Malik Shaban, the…
Internet
MYICT, partners, launch ICT literacy campaign
Rwanda’s Ministry of Youth and ICT (MYICT) together the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC), the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC), the Rwanda Education Board (REB), Rwanda Development Board (RDB), the Private…
Internet
Google will decline censorship requests in Africa
Google will decline requests for user information from totalitarian governments in Africa that seek to crack down on online communication."We get these requests all the time," said Google Executive Chairman…
Internet
South Sudan plans link to fibre-optic Internet in 2013
South Sudan, one of the world's least developed countries, aims to lay a fibre-optic network this year to link the capital Juba with submarine cables in east Africa to cut…
Internet
Internet in Brief
- Mali: The population of the city of Gao have no phone signal since January 15, 2013. In retaliation for attacks jihadists Mujao destroyed the facilities of telephone operators Malitel…
Computing
Kenya begins construction of 'silicon' city Konza
Kenya's president has launched a $14.5bn (£9.1bn) project to build a new city intended to be an IT business hub and dubbed "Africa's Silicon Savannah". It will take 20 years…
Computing
Rwanda: 3,200 ICT Teachers to Train Others
At least 3,200 teachers who, last year, completed a one-year ICT training course conducted by Rwanda Education Board (REB) will, this academic year be deployed to various schools countrywide.The teachers…
Computing
Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs to sort, modernise archives
The Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced plans to organise and modernise its archives, which escaped numerous attempts of being looted or destroyed over the past two decades.Sheikh Ahmed…
Computing
Windows 8 launches in the Kinyarwanda language
Microsoft has released its latest version of Windows to include the Rwandan language of Kinyarwanda. The operating system now supports 109 languages.After the release of MS Windows 8 in October,…
Computing
Talking business with the man behind Tanzanian startup Bongo Live
When Taha Jiwaji saw that his parents couldn’t afford to market their computer company to customers in Tanzania using the traditional methods of TV, radio and magazine adverts, the inspiration…
Computing
Computing - In Brief
- Jongilanga High School and Chief Henry High School in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, will be the recipients of Internet connection and computer facilities from tomorrow, Friday, January 25,…
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
Vodacom links data services to national broadband backbone
Dar es Salaam. Clients with Vodacom Tanzania can now enjoy faster data speed following the company’s investment in its 3G networks and connection to the National Information Communication Technology Broadband…
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
Tanzania: Airtel Slashes Call Tariffs
AIRTEL Tanzania on Wednesday announced that it has reduced tariffs to 10 cents a second after the first two minutes of the call. "We have lowered our call rates by…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Alcazar no longer a shareholder in Telkom Kenya after low-key FT-Orange deal
France Telecom-Orange (FT-Orange) has belatedly confirmed that it has acquired the 11% stake in Telkom Kenya (Orange) held by Dubai-based private equity firm Alcazar Capital. Business Daily Africa reports that…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Orange and MFS Africa extend the remittance service Orange Money Transfert International to Orange Money users in Mali.
Orange and MFS Africa today announced the addition of Mali to the growing portfolio of countries able to receive international remittances via Orange Money Transfer International (OMTI). Orange Money customers…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Interswitch introduces additional payment security
Interswitch, a Nigerian integrated payment and transaction processing company, has introduced Safetoken, which triggers One-Time-Passwords (OTP) when customers are performing payment transactions on the internet using their cards. The system…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Money - In Brief
- The second phase of the e-Soko application in Rwanda is set to kick off next month and it will see the government taking full control of the system. Currently,…
Digital Content
Benin agri market launches ICT project
Benin has launched a project that will collect and disseminate food market prices by SMS.Aiming to revolutionise the market information system, the project will see market information collected, analysed and…
Digital Content
utd. by content taps into the African film market with new partnership
Newly launched utd. by content today announced its further global expansion through a recent deal with WB Cape Media*, a company spearheading the secure distribution of digital media throughout Africa.…
Digital Content
NHIF plans phone platform to grow members, revenue
The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) is turning to mobile phone users to grow its membership and increase collections from the informal sector.The healthcare provider is implementing a system that…
Digital Content
FootballZone releases its first football app: AFCON 2013
Footballzone Afcon AppLocal Football updates startup, FootballZone, has announced the launch of its Afcon 2013 mobile app that went live in the Nokia Ovi Store last week. According to FootballZone…
Digital Content
Intersec technologies support pan-European mobile public alerting initiatives
Following the natural disaster that struck the North American eastern coast and the Caribbean recently, Intersec, a leading provider of VAS software for telecoms operators reaffirms its engagement in the…
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Events
National Enterprise ConferenceJanuary 26, 2013University of Lagos, Yaba.Themed 'Our generation needs to get to work', several of the speakers have been recognised by The Future Awards for their outstanding efforts…
