Issue no 659 14th June 2013
Top Story
Egypt’s regulator NTRA tries to hold back the wave of the future by banning apps like Viber and What’s App on investment and security grounds
With data revenues set to exceed voice revenues by 2018 according to a GSMA report, there are still some places that are not yet on the programme for the new business model. This week the Egyptian regulator set up a Committee to look at whether to ban apps like Viber and What’s App. Russell Southwood looks at how Africa’s regulators need to stop looking at the future through the rearview mirror of history.This week Egypt’s regulator set up a Committee to monitor mobile applications like Viber and What's App to “decide whether to ban, allow free usage or restrict them…
Telecoms
Orange wants to take on MTN, Vodacom, Cell C and Telkom Mobile
Orange Horizons CEO, Sébastien Crozier says that French based global operator Orange wants to be virtual mobile operator (MVNO) in South Africa. This is the clearest statement yet of the…
Telecoms
Swaziland: Swazi Election - Sponsored By MTN
MTN, which has absolute monarch King Mswati III as a major shareholder, and is the sole mobile phone company in Swaziland, has been attacked for sponsoring registration for the kingdom's…
Telecoms
Telecom Namibia absorbs Leo and pledges fair competition
Late last year Telecom Namibia acquired mobile operator Leo, which is the second biggest mobile telephone operator in Namibia.This year, Telecom announced that Chinese firm ZTE Corporation, will upgrade the…
Telecoms
Nigeria: Government’s Broadband Committee headed by Ndukwe recommends more coastal fibre landing stations
As part of efforts aimed at making Nigeria a leading economy by 2020, the Federal Government may be targeting an 80 per cent growth penetration in Nigeria’s 3G telecommunications services…
Telecoms
South Africa: Local loop unbundling gets new deadline, only 3 years late
ICASA has committed to a new deadline by which to publish LLU regulations The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has announced that it has set a new deadline…
Telecoms
Telecoms - In Brief
- The president of Cameroon, Paul Biya, has signed a decree that approves the award of the country’s third mobile licence to Vietnamese-owned telecoms group Viettel. The operator is now…
Internet
Rwanda signs 4G LTE deal with KT Corp
Rwanda has signed a deal with South Korea’s telco KT Corp to provide high speed 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) service to most of the African state’s population within three…
Internet
Tanzania: Partnership Improves Data Gathering On Agriculture
This story originally appeared in the May/June 2013 edition of Frontlines, an online publication of the U.S. Agency for International Development.Through Feed the Future, the U.S. government's global hunger and…
Internet
FNB Connect starts peering at NAPAfrica
South Africa's First National Bank (FNB) announced that it has become the first bank in South Africa to support peering by joining the NAPAfrica platform. Since the initial introduction of…
Internet
Google aims to improve internet access in universities
Internet search giant Google, has concluded a two day training seminar aimed at improving internet access in universities in Uganda.The seminar aimed to provide a platform for institutions to acquire…
Internet
ANC website attack: Afrihost responds
The official ANC website (anc.org.za) was taken down on14 June 2013 through a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack by Anonymous Africa for being “one of the biggest enablers of…
Internet
Internet - In Brief
- Wireless broadband provider Smile Uganda has announced the consumer launch of its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, which will provide subscribers with average download speeds of 6Mbps. Smile’s…
Computing
In Sierra Leone, Africell Commences Free School Computer Trainings
Africell Lintel Limited Sierra Leone on Monday 10th June 2013 engaged pupils of the Saint Edwards Secondary, Collegiate Secondary, Government Secondary Technical, Freetown Secondary School for Girls (FSSG) and the…
Computing
Digital divide widens in The Gambia
Muhammed Jawara's lessons never last more than half an hour. Teaching ICT at a secondary school in the Gambian village of Sohm, where there is no mains power source, means…
Computing
Vodacom donates computer centre to Gqebera school
South Africa's Vodacom Millionaires donated a fully equipped computer centre with internet access to learners from the Gqebera Secondary School in a bid to improve the standard of education in…
Computing
Computing - In Brief
- Access Bank has donated 10 computers worth over 6m/-to Mugabe Secondary School in Dar es Salaam, as part of its strategy to sensitise application of Information and Communication Technology…
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
MTN Nigeria says it will discontinue SIM swaps by proxy effective from June 7, 2013, stating that after this date, customers who wish to 'swap' or replace their SIM cards…
Money Transfer
The mobile banking game-changer in Ethiopia
New regulations will bring m-banking to Ethiopian consumers, but limits on the companies involved and how transactions must be managed could slow growth.On 1 January 2013, the National Bank of…
Money Transfer
Kenya: MasterCard Launches Training Centre to Enhance Payments Industry Skills Development
MasterCard has announced the launch of a brand new training facility in Kenya to empower the financial services ecosystem with knowledge on various aspects of cashless payments in order to…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Essar Telecom Kenya Looking for Investors to Stave of Liquidity Crisis
Essar Telecom Kenya has confirmed that it is seeking an outside investor to pump cash into the company to stave off a liquidity crisis.The company, which trades as Yu has…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Eaton Towers signs 15 year tower management deal with Telkom Kenya and announces new equity financing
Eaton Towers, a leading pan-African tower company, this announced that it has signed a deal with Telkom Kenya covering its existing portfolio of over 1,000 towers. The fifteen-year management and…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Nigeria: Swift snaps up DoPC WiMAX business, plans LTE rollout
Nigeria: Swift Networks has acquired the WiMAX business of rival internet service provider (ISP) Direct on PC (DoPC) in a deal that will expand its wireless broadband services in Nigeria’s three…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Telkom South Africa Writes Down Assets by US$1.2 Billion
Telkom South Africa has announced that it is writing down the value of its assets by R12 billion (US$1.2 billion) which it puts down to increased competition from the other…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Mauritius Telecom’s revenues pass the MUR8 billion mark
Mauritius incumbent telco Mauritius Telecom has announced the company’s financial results for the year ending 31 December 2012, with 3% increase in operating revenues to MUR8 billion (USD259.32 million) compared…
Digital Content
Bringing music downloads to South African townships
Two weeks into his new job, Mokgethwa Mapaya screwed up. It was 2009, and he was working in IT at Liberty Life, a financial company based in Johannesburg. While using…
Digital Content
Google gives £500,000 to project using camera traps to help save Rhinos
A project created by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) that uses Raspberry Pi computers to curb the illegal poaching of rhinos in Kenya has been rewarded with a £500,000…
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Money - In Brief
- The federal government adopted the process of guided liquidation for the moribund Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) transaction because the company's liabilities far outweigh its current value, the Director General…
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Events
TMT Finance & Investment Africa 2013 20 June 2013Grand Connaught Rooms Covent Garden, LondonThe conference brings together African telecom CEOs, CFOs and strategy heads with investment bankers, financiers, regulators and…
