Issue no 656 24th May 2013
Top Story
Kenya’s Sleepout.com raises seed funding to expand its offer across Africa and into the Middle East
The seed fund sum is a modest US$200,000 but it marks the slow but steady march of business going online in Africa. Sleepout.com attracted this seed funding from Amsterdam-based Africa Media Ventures Fund. It has already invested in EatOut.com and its founder Mikul Shah is a co-founder of this new venture. Russell Southwood spoke to its other co-founder Johan Jenson.Johan Jenson had an accommodation booking site for the Kenyan island of Lamu and comes from a family with a history in hospitality and accommodation. However, the beta version of the site in its current incarnation launched in June last year.Jenson…
Telecoms
Zimbabwe to Make Infrastructure Sharing Mandatory
The Zimbabwean Government is mooting a policy that forces telecommunication firms to share infrastructure in far reaching reforms set to remove the duplication in investments by operators. The move comes…
Telecoms
Econet Solar eyes East Africa with prepaid power device
A prepaid solar device dubbed the ‘HomePowerStation’ and developed by the energy division of African telecoms group Econet is planned to be launched in East Africa.Econet Solar’s ‘HomePowerStation’ provides lighting…
Telecoms
3G launch delay prompts questions in Algeria
Algerians are asking many questions about the country's delay in launching high-speed 3G mobile telecommunication, which was scheduled to take place in the first quarter of this year.Post and ICT…
Telecoms
Telecoms - In Brief
- Netxcell Limited, a Hyderabad-based telecom applications and value-added services (VAS) provider, has tied up with Funmobile, a West African company that offers entertainment and information with multimedia forms of…
Internet
Gambia: Seven Service Providers Awarded International Data Gateway Licenses
International Data Gateway Licenses have been issued to Africell, Comium, Gamcel, Gamtel, Qcell, Unique Solutions, and Netpage by the minister of Information and Communication Infrastructure in accordance with Section 7(2)…
Internet
South Africa: Western Cape Minister for Finance, Economic Development and Finance Announces Spaces for Broadband Network's Pilot Phase
The Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) area in Khayelitsha has been selected as one of the first spaces to be linked to the broadband network.The Western Cape Government's broadband…
Internet
Nigeria: Main One Rebrands, Addresses Broadband Initiatives
Main One Cable Company has rebranded itself as Main One. The rebranding marks the conclusion of the company's evolution from a submarine cable company to a full-fledged communications services provider,…
Internet
Internet - In Brief
The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), in partnership with Africa Network Information Center (AfriNIC), is organising a four-day international workshop on IPv6 in Lagos from June 18 to…
Computing
UNHCR partners with Microsoft, HP to boost refugee education
The UNHCR in partnership with Microsoft and HP has launched the Community Technology Access (CTA) project in Dadaab in northern Kenya. The CTA is an initiative to harness the potential…
Computing
Kenya: Students Showcase Kenya's First Tablet
The Jubilee Manifesto to have every class one child have access to a laptop may soon be realised, thanks to a locally made tablet established by a youth group.The tablet…
Computing
Computing - In Brief
- Green, bar-coded identity books will be replaced with identity smart cards from July, Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor said. The South African company, Altech Card Solutions, had won the…
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
Telecom, Rates, Offers and Coverage
- Orange Mali has made Orange Money Transfer International free of charge, instead of costing EUR 5, until the end of the year. Malians or anyone living abroad can send…
Money Transfer
Hellofood, Tigo Cash Ink Deal on M-Payments
ust weeks after becoming the number 1 app in Ghana, Hellofood announces its new cooperation with Tigo and Tigo Cash. With the cooperation with one of Ghana's largest telecommunications provider,…
Money Transfer
Paying Wages Direct to Mobile Accounts Trialled in Kenya
A Vodafone report says mobile money payroll (mPayroll) could enable secure, cost-effective wage payments to be made to millions of unbanked workers by 2020, reducing corruption, lessening the risk of…
Money Transfer
Safaricom plans ‘opening up’ M-Pesa to third-party developers
Opening up M-Pesa to third party application developers and enabling money transfers to countries outside of Kenya are future plans for Safaricom’s mobile money service.This is according to the mobile…
Money Transfer
M-PESA in Mozambique
Vodacom Mozambique has introduced the mobile money transfer service M-PESA, as popularised by its Vodafone-owned sister company Safaricom in Kenya. Speaking at the launch ceremony in Maputo last week, Ernesto…
Money Transfer
Bank of Africa launches e-banking in Tanzania
Bank of Africa Tanzania has launched its B-Web Smart mobile e-banking service, enabling customers to make online money transactions at all times.Customers can access the service by using a smartphone…
Money Transfer
Money - In Brief
- Ghana has broken the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial (SWIFT) record with a 20 per cent annual traffic for the period ended March 2013, along with a 56 per…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Altron offers to buy out Altech minorities
South Africa's Allied Electronics (Altron) said on Friday it had made a firm offer to acquire all of the share capital in Allied Technologies Limited (Altech) it does not already…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Telecom bankers predict up to $2 billion more Africa mobile towers sales in 2013
Leading telecom and infrastructure chiefs are meeting in London on June 20 discuss the surge in mobile tower sales in Africa, with US$2bn more sales expected in 2013, according to…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Millicom Invests $45m In Jumia, Hellofood, Kaymu And Vamido
Emerging market-focused telecommunications company Millicom International Cellular S.A, invested an additional $45 million into Rocket Internet’s Africa online ventures, Jumia, Hellofood, Kaymu & Vamido.According to a CP-Africa report, the investment…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Etisalat's Nigeria affiliate signs $1.2 billion loan
Etisalat's Nigeria affilate has signed a $1.2 billion loan with 13 Nigerian banks, the United Arab Emirates' No.1 telecom operator said on Tuesday.The medium-term facility will be used to refinance…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
AccessKenya investors set to discuss Dimension Data buyout
Investors and shareholders of Kenyan firm AccessKenya will meet on Monday for the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) to discuss the company’s future amid reports of a Dimension Data buyout.According…
Digital Content
Ashish J. Thakkar Launches Mara Online
Founder/CEO of Mara Group and Mara Foundation, Ashish J. Thakkar today announced the launch of Mara Online during his keynote address at TiEcon entrepreneur’s conference..Mara Online is an online and…
Digital Content
Zimbabwe: Global Fund Project in Zimbabwe Uses Technology to Improve Data Collection
A project being implemented under a Global Fund grant will improve Zimbabwe's health information systems by providing Internet connection infrastructure for 82 urban and rural sites. The Zimbabwe project is…
Digital Content
ANC turns to Mxit for votes
The ANC in the Western Cape is turning to mobile social media network Mxit in an effort to attract voters in the province, which is controlled by the Democratic Alliance.The…
Digital Content
IMImobile and Content Connect Africa sign pan-African strategic content partnership agreement
IMImobile, a leading global specialist provider of mobile data platform and services to telecom operators, enterprises and media companies, announced a strategic partnership with Content Connect Africa (CCA) to provide…
Digital Content
Cote D’viore adopts Ghana’s e-agric technology
Prep-eez Tech Ltd, the developer & implementing consulting partners of Ghana’s e-agriculture and extension technology, has being awarded a contract by the Cote D’viore government to deploy an effective enterprise…
Digital Content
Young Kenyans Build Mobile Apps For Local Use
You're out navigating the jammed sidewalks of Kenya's capital city when you suddenly realize you're in desperate need of a toilet. You crane your neck over the crowds, vainly seeking…
Digital Content
Web-connected libraries for Africa: the dream of digital knowledge for all
New venture Librii is seeking to set up self-sustaining libraries with internet access in poor and isolated communitiesA decade ago, Brewster Kahle, philanthropist and founder of the Internet Archive, created…
Digital Content
Rwanda: Architects Welcome Online Permit Application System
The Kigali City Council on Monday launched the Online Construction Permit Management Information System that will make obtaining the permits simpler and faster.Mayor Fidele Ndayisaba called the initiative, which involves…
Digital Content
Namibia: Namcol Launches E-Learning Portal
The Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL) has launched Notesmaster Namibia, a freely accessible e-learning platform, designed specially to facilitate the development of a global education network for secondary learners.Notesmaster…
Digital Content
Cellfind partners with mapIT to expand into new markets
South Africa’s foremost location-based mobile and wireless application service provider, Cellfind, has formed a strategic alliance with mapIT, leading international digital mapping partner throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The alliance will enable…
Digital Content
Kenya's Momentum Core fight HIV/ AIDS with new game, Pamoja Mtaani
A Kenyan gaming startup Momentum Core, known for a 2D casual game Mosquito Hood, that talks about malaria prevention has launched another health related game on HIV/AIDS awareness game dubbed…
Digital Content
Digital Content – In Brief
- Kenya has developed an electronic reporting system to speed up the tracking of adverse drug effects and substandard medicinal products. The Pharmacovigilance Electronic Reporting System — believed to be…
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Events
Card, ATM & Mobile Expo Africa 201311 – 13 June 2013Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos, NigeriaCard, ATM & Mobile Expo 2013 will showcase innovation and new differentiated products, bring about…
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People
Africa: Ory Okolloh Departs Google for OmidyarOmidyar Network today announced that Ory Okolloh has joined as a director, investments within the philanthropic investment firm's government transparency initiative. Okolloh will help…
