Issue no 661 28th June 2013
Top Story
Online film platform Buni TV reaches 2 million views in year and uses comedy shorts to drive traffic
There has a big upsurge in launches of online film and music platforms since user bandwidth has started to improve (see Issue 658). But many are little more than technical platforms as they lack both content in depth and do not yet have significant user traffic. Two film platforms stand out as the exception to this rule: Nigeria’s iROKO Partners and Kenya’s Buni TV. This week Russell Southwood talks to the CEO and founder of Buni TV Marie Lora-Mungai.In its first year Buni TV had 2 million views and 0.5 million unique visitors who watched 100,000 hours of content. 60%…
Telecoms
New deals to cover Mozambique’s underserved areas
The Instituto Nacional de Comunicacoes de Mocambique (INCM) has signed contracts with telcos mCel and Movitel on universal access services in 50 underserved areas.INCM said the contracts came within the…
Telecoms
Rwanda: RURA Takes SIM Card Registration to the Diaspora
Rwandans living in the Diaspora have started registering their roaming SIM cards online. The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (Rura) said the project, which started on Tuesday, targeted MTN Rwanda subscribers.The…
Telecoms
Etisalat, Turkcell, others eye Dubai's Tunisie Telecom stake
Thirteen companies including Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat and Turkey's Turkcell have expressed interest in buying Dubai Holding's 35 percent stake in Tunisie Telecom, a government official said on Wednesday.The Tunisian government…
Telecoms
Clock ticking on Senegal’s mobile ID registration scheme
Senegal’s Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy launched a scheme on 20 June to identify all mobile subscribers in the country, Agence Ecofin reports. The project will be managed…
Telecoms
Telecoms – In Brief
- The number of mobile phone customers in Botswana reached 3.08 million at the end of December 2012, an increase of 5.5% from 2.92 million at the start of the…
Internet
Morocco to launch 4G services
The National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ANRT) will invite bids for 4G licences by year's end. Officials with the agency expect Moroccan 4G services to go live next year.The decision to…
Internet
MTN Uganda Nearly Doubles Mobile Internet Customer Base Over Past Year
Uganda's MTN says that the number of its customers using the Internet has increased more than 85% in the last 12 months leading up to June 2013.MTN Uganda Chief Marketing…
Internet
Kenya: Customers to Enjoy Unlimited Internet Bundles On Airtel
Airtel Kenya has announced the return of unlimited internet bundles to all its pre-paid customers in the country.The daily unlimited bundle will now cost Kshs. 250,the weekly unlimited bundle will…
Internet
Q-KON’s HotZone Solution to increase connectivity in Africa
Q-KON, a South African based engineering group that provides turn-key solutions and managed network services to the African and South African telecommunications industries, has launched a HotZone internet access and…
Internet
Free Wikipedia for learners a pipedream?
A drive by a group of learners to have Wikipedia zero-rated seems to have run into the immovable force that is the South African mobile operators.In December last year, a…
Internet
South Africa: Screamer case gets postponed
The ongoing case between the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) and Screamer Telecom, set to be heard today (26 June 2012) has been postponed to 11 September 2013,…
Internet
Internet - In Brief
- South African company Internet Solutions (IS) has launched allConnect, a converged data service that offers enterprises anywhere access across multiple connectivity platform, IT-Online reported. This allows employees to connect…
Computing
Laptops that run on the sun
A small software developer from London, Ont., is taking on a risky and audacious new project: laptops that run on sunlight.WeWi Telecommunications Inc., a 15-person company, unveiled this week a…
Computing
Kenya: Laptop plan runs into headwinds
Matters have been made worse by a teaching fraternity locked in a bitter salary dispute, throwing the project’s implementation strategy into disarray.“Most teachers in primary schools are computer illiterate and…
Computing
Computers – In Brief
- The Ministry of Information and Communication Infrastructure (MoICI) of the Republic of The Gambia and the Institute for Information Industry (III) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) yesterday signed…
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
Following the announcement in March 2013 to aggressively reduce Internet price plans and bundle rates, MTN SA is pleased to announce an extension of this big mobile data sale until…
Money Transfer
Kenya's Safaricom Targets Companies in Mobile Money Push
Kenya's Safaricom has set its sights on the medium and small enterprises with the launch of Lipa Na M-PESA -- a campaign aimed at entrenching the use of its mobile…
Money Transfer
Etisalat Launches Mobile Wallet Service in Egypt
Etisalat has launched a mobile payments wallet service in Egypt, in cooperation with MasterCard and the National Bank of Egypt.The newly introduced program is an early implementation of the Mobile…
Money Transfer
Zambia: Helping to bank the unbanked
Samuel Tembo, at the helm of the Economic Empowerment Programme at Plan Zambia, insists that tangible things are underway to ensure that some unbanked rural Zambians are reached with services…
Money Transfer
Money - In Brief
- The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS) has given hints of moves to interconnect all mobile money payment platforms in the country. Currently the mobile money platforms in…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Dubai Holdings' EIT to sell its stake in Tunisie Telecom
Dubai Holdings' Emirates International Telecommunications (EIT) is selling its 35-percent stake - bought in 2006 for $2.25 billion - in state-owned Tunisie Telecom, the Tunisian government said on Friday.EIT has…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Kenya: Government stake in Telkom set to drop to 30%
The Kenyan government’s shareholding in Telkom Kenya (Orange) is set to drop permanently to 30% following a decision by the National Treasury not to allocate any money to the ailing…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Internet boosts South Africa's Naspers FY profit by 20 pct
South African media and Internet firm Naspers posted an expected 20 percent jump in annual profit on Tuesday, boosted by strong performance in its Internet businesses and a weaker rand…
Digital Content
Kenya: Orange Launches Facebook for Non-Data Handsets
Orange, has launched a Facebook dial service, that offers mobile access to the world's biggest social networking site to entry level customers who were not previously mobile data users.The service,…
Digital Content
Rancard picks Squires tech for mobile voice app service
Ghanaian company Rancard has deployed a voice application service for mobile users, using media gateways supplied by Squire Technologies. It uses the Rancard Mobility Content Server (RMCS) and Rendezvous technologies…
Digital Content
Solar Powered Open Education Library in a Box for Schools in Sierra Leone
We want to put thousands of open education materials available on the internet and those developed by trained local teachers in Sierra Leone base on their curriculum in the hands…
Digital Content
Adhoc Networking in the Sahel
The Sahel, the belt of parched earth that lies between the Sahara and the tropical Africa is a vast region that practically goes unnoticed, bookended by two massive and more…
Digital Content
Tanzania: Farmers Benefit From New Zantel Service
Lack of timely information on how to access markets, get better seeds and improve their farming methods are among the serious challenges holding back smallholder farmers in Tanzania.According to Ministry…
Digital Content
Ugandan govt to launch SMS alerts for budget spending
Uganda's finance ministry says it has finalised plans to set up mobile phone alerts for the public, civil society and the media to monitor public expenditure in the next financial…
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Events
App Promotion Summit 2013Accelerating your mobile application marketing strategyThursday, 11th July 2013Jumeirah Carlton Tower, Knightsbridge, LondonThe App Promotion Summit is set to tackle the most important issue for mobile app…
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People
MTN South Africa chief technical officer Lambo Kanagaratnam is moving to a new role at the operator. Effective immediately, he will head up its enterprise business division.Airtel Africa chief technology…
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Jobs & Opportunities
Orange launches the third edition of Orange African Social Venture PrizeGlobal telecommunications company Orange has launched the third Orange African Social Venture Prize (OASVP), promoting social innovations in support of…
