Issue no 663 12th July 2013
Top Story
Africa’s mobile media moves beyond ringtones, football scores and news headlines
Everyone will nod quickly at the idea that the mobile is Africa’s device of choice but people have been much slower to realize the implications for mobile media. Algy Williams, CEO, Every1Mobile is publishing seven mobile channels (what in old media speak you might have called magazines) on everything from sex and relationships to creative writing. What marks it out as unusual is that it has already gathered sizeable loyal readerships for each of these channels across Africa. Russell Southwood talked to him last week.Algy Williams spotted the mobile media opportunity in 2010:”These kinds of audiences in Africa were almost…
Telecoms
Alcatel-Lucent and Surfline Communications Ltd deploy 4G LTE network in Ghana
Alcatel-Lucent and Surfline Communications Ltd have announced they will deploy a 4G LTE network in Ghana. Alcatel-Lucent will provide hardware and software, along with installation, optimization, maintenance and managed services,…
Telecoms
Vodacom Tanzania to Disconnect Nearly Half a Million SIM Cards
Vodacom Tanzania is to cut off nearly half a million SIM cards as a deadline for SIM card registration expires. The telecoms regulator mandated the 10th July as the deadline…
Telecoms
Somalia to get LTE, but targeted at military bases
Somalia is seemingly next on the African LTE watchlist, after it was revealed to HumanIPO. A new entrant into the market has been granted a licence to roll out the…
Telecoms
Ambitel pays USD 0.5 mln to Sierra Leone's NATCOM
Ambitel Sierra Leone, an affiliate of Libya's LapGreen Networks, says it has paid USD 0.5 million to the National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM) and that all other relevant balance payments will…
Telecoms
Zambia’s telecoms regulator charges operators
Zambia’s regulator ZICTA has started criminal proceedings against all three cellphone operators in the country, saying they have failed to meet minimum quality standards.Deteriorating service by the local units of…
Telecoms
Cell C confirms ‘energetic’ uptake for Red Bull MVNO
South African wireless operator Cell C has revealed the subscriber numbers for Red Bull Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that piggybacks on its network. Jose Dos Santos, Cell…
Telecoms
Telecoms – In Brief
- Health workers across Sub-Saharan Africa have been equipped with Sony Xperia mobile devices for the improvement of the local community.Sony Mobile, Columbia University’s Earth Institute and the Millennium Villages…
Internet
Gilat Satcom announces non-stop coast-to-coast fiber redundancy in Africa
Next week at the Great Rift Valley ICT summit taking place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, July 17-18, 2013, Gilat Satcom will unveil a raft of new fibre routes in…
Internet
Sierra Leone parliament group questions ISPs over services
Members of Sierra Leone's Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Information and Communications have questioned the Diakem Investments, Ketraco and Thomas Global Technology (TGT) ISPs after concerns raised by the public regarding…
Internet
Rwanda: ICT On Wheels As Jaguar Buses Get Wi-Fi Internet
A regional bus company has installed Wi-Fi connection on their fleet, an effort officials said will go a long way in upping service delivery to travellers. Jaguar Executive Coaches said…
Internet
NIRA Moves to Drive Domain Name with Security Extension
Determined to increase the number of .ng Domain Name users from its current 40, 000 to 100, 000 by the end of the year, President of Nigeria Internet Group (NIRA),…
Internet
Internet Solutions lights up WACS bandwidth
Internet Solutions (IS) announced that it has connected Namibia (through its local implementation partner, ITN) and Nigeria to the West Africa Cable System (WACS).The company also plans to light up…
Internet
Morocco: Inwi launches pilot Wi-Fi service in El Jadida
Moroccan network operator Inwi (Wana) has launched a pilot outdoor Wi-Fi service in El Jadida, one of the largest cities in Morocco. The free ‘Wifi7dak’ service is said to be…
Internet
Zimbabwe UNWTO 2013: Econet to launch 4G LTE services in Victoria Falls
Econet Chief Marketing Office, Isaiah Nyangari, announced last week that Econet will be rolling out LTE services in Zimbabwe’s tourist town of Victoria Falls, where this year’s United Nations World…
Internet
Tunisia: Article 19 expresses “grave concerns” about Internet freedom
Between February 2012 and February 2013, Article 19 analysed the state of Internet freedom in Tunisia. In particular, we examined the compatibility of the Tunisian legal framework governing the Internet…
Internet
Humanitarian Communications in the Central African Republic: ISP coverage “very patchy”
"The security situation across the country is volatile," says Komi Amedjonekou, ICT Officer for the World Food Programme (WFP) in the Central African Republic (CAR). "It has improved in some…
Internet
Internet – In Brief
- O3b Networks has announced a long-term capacity deal to provide high speed, low latency capacity to RCS-Communication, an internet service provider (ISP) in South Sudan. The agreement will lead…
Computing
MIMOS Partners Africa City Of Technology To Nurture Sudan's ICT Sector
Mimos Bhd, the national research and development (R&D) centre in information and communications technology (ICT), signed a memorandum of agreement with Sudanese Africa City of Technology (ACT) to establish a…
Computing
Dell sends solar powered lab to Nigeria to boost access to education and opportunities for the future
Computer giant Dell has announced its first solar powered lab in Africa to provide increased opportunities for learning to students with little or no access to technology or the Internet.The…
Computing
Kenya’s eLimu tablet could revolutionize education in Kenya
The eLimu tablet is engaging Kenyan primary school students in the learning process by shifting the way Kenyans think about education. By changing the approach to learning to a more…
Computing
Computers – In Brief
Gambia: The CountrySTAT, a web-based information technology system that allows gathering and monitoring of national and sub-regional food and agricultural data in compliance with international standards, was officially launched on…
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage
Zimbabwe's Telecel is offering prepay credits of up to US$20 when a customer reactivates a dormant SIM Card.Namibia’s largest mobile network operator, MTC, has announced a massive reduction in its…
Money Transfer
Kipochi brings Bitcoin to Africa through M-Pesa
Kipochi just launched its Bitcoin transfer service in Kenya using M-Pesa as its running platform. This service would allow people across Kenya to send and receive funds abroad with extremely…
Money Transfer
Somaliland Network Activates Mobile Money Remittances From Overseas
Somaliland based mobile network, Telesom has launched a financial remittance service powered by a platform supplied by eServGlobal.Telesom operates a mobile money program in Somaliland called Telesom ZAAD. Launched in…
Money Transfer
Payvia Brings Carrier Billing Mobile Payments to Emerging Markets Through a Partnership with Mobile XL
Payvia, the leading direct carrier billing mobile payments and messaging provider, today announces a partnership to integrate its mobile payments technology with Mobile-XL, whose feature phone browsing platform provides access…
Money Transfer
IFC and Development Bank of Austria (OeEB) Supports Expansion of Mobile Banking in Rwanda
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has announced it will provide advisory services to Urwego Opportunity Bank to help it expand low-cost mobile financial services in Rwanda, especially…
Money Transfer
Kenya's Equity Bank partners with PayPal
Equity Bank has teamed up with PayPal to allow cash withdrawals in Kenya, Nairobiwire reported. This is the first time a Kenyan bank will directly allow PayPal users to withdraw…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Expiry of Telkom Kenya fibre deal may deepen Orange’s woes
Telkom Kenya’s financial woes look set to deepen after the expiry of a contract to exclusively manage and control the State-owned fibre-optic network, which earned the firm Sh250 million annually…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Morocco wants local partner for Maroc Telecom deal-sources
Morocco wants Gulf telecom operator Etisalat to take on a local partner as a condition of backing its bid for a 53 percent stake in Maroc Telecom, three sources familiar…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
WBS near to deal with MTN, Vodacom
iBurst parent Wireless Business Solutions (WBS) may be close to signing a deal with either Vodacom or MTN to build a national 4G broadband network based on long-term evolution (LTE)…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
MTN Deal Talks With Reliance Communications Said Stalled
MTN Group Ltd, Africa’s largest mobile operator, and Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM) of India have put talks to link up on hold, according to three people with knowledge of the…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
MTN Deal Talks With Reliance Communications Said Stalled
MTN Group Ltd, Africa’s largest mobile operator, and Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM) of India have put talks to link up on hold, according to three people with knowledge of the…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Telecom Egypt in MVNO discussions with mobile operators
The chief executive of Telecom Egypt (TE) has revealed that the company ‘is in talks with mobile operators’ about potential wholesale deals, which would allow fixed line telco TE to…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Firm to retain AccessKenya CEO after acquisition
The UK firm that is acquiring AccessKenya will retain Jonathan Somen as CEO for two years as the company prepares to merge its local subsidiary with the Nairobi bourse listed…
Digital Content
Mdundo.com and Microsoft Partnering to Provide Free Music to Africans
Mdundo.com, Kenya’s largest mobile app for legal music downloads, and Microsoft, have teamed up, allowing consumers who buy the $200 Huawei 4Afrika phone a premium Mdundo account for six weeks.…
Digital Content
Zambia: ISP Faces Backlash Over Blocked News Site
Zambian telecommunications company Airtel may be facing unintended consequences for allegedly having blocked access to popular citizen news website the Zambian Watchdog. For over a week, many people in the…
Digital Content
Africom’s Guroo: A VoIP game changer
AFRICOM, Zimbabwe’s converged telecommunications operator, has scored a first by launching the only real Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service in the country.After years of promises by mobile operators and…
Digital Content
Umati Final Report Released
A project by iHub Research and Ushahidi, Umati was born out of the influence social media was seen to have had on the 2007/8 post election violence. The Umati project…
Digital Content
Malawi: Virtual Offices Replacing Internet Cafes
As a strategy to survive on the business market, internet cafes are diversifying into virtual offices in the course of bypassing the smart-phone saturation which has caused the internet cafe…
More
Events
The Social Media Week Lagos Team is excited to announce that our official schedule is now LIVE and registration is open! At present we have 84 events scheduled and will be…
