Issue no 733 14th November 2014
Top Story
AfricaCom 2014: If you hum it, I’ll sing it – Africa’s mobile operators struggle to get to grips with the new content narrative
The big knock-down, drag out fight of industry talkfest AfricaCom 2014 was the Over-The-Top operators vs the mobile operators. In the event, the former arrived smiling and diplomatic, rather catching the more pugilistic of Africa’s mobile operators off-balance. Russell Southwood dips below the surface to take the temperature of Africa’s dazed and confused mobile operators.The business logic is clear, only the timing remains to be settled. Everything including voice will soon be data. Without knowing what is happening, the women in a Lagos reception I saw contacting a friend using What’s App know this. And a friend who told me…
Telecoms
Zambia: ZICTA Erects 147 Towers in Rural Areas
THE Zambia Information Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) has so far erected 147 out of 169 new telecommunication towers earmarked for construction in selected rural parts of the country.ZICTA assistant public…
Telecoms
Mobile operators vs over-the-top services: The next big battle in African telecoms?
Mobile operators across Africa are becoming increasingly concerned about the popularity of overseas-hosted over-the-top (OTT) services eating into their potential to monetise traffic as the number of smartphones and data…
Telecoms
Ghana: NCA says Expresso subscribers can port to other networks if they so wish.
The National Communications Authority (NCA) says Expresso subscribers "can make use of the Mobile Number Portability platform to change to another provider while keeping their number if they so wish".The…
Telecoms
BringCom launches MPLS PoP in Djibouti
BringCom has announced that it has established a new MPLS Point of Presence (PoP) at the Djibouti Teleport facility in the Republic of Djibouti. This is the result of a…
Telecoms
Telecoms – In Brief
Moroccan telecoms watchdog, the Agence Nationale de Reglementation de Telecom (ANRT), has announced that the country’s long-anticipated auction for 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile licences will be launched on…
Internet
Orange using O3b ‘Fibre-in-the-Sky’ network via African satellite provider Raga Sat
Raga Sat, provider of African satellite services, has announced it is now live on O3b’s ‘Fibre-in-the-Sky’ satellite network. Based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Raga Sat is in…
Internet
iWayAfrica set to enhance network, deliver LTE capabilities
Kenya is set to get a connectivity boost as African Internet services provider iWayAfrica upgrades its network from fixed worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMax) to time-division long-term evolution (TD-LTE).The…
Internet
Internet domain name ‘dotAfrica’ faces hurdles
A dispute is holding back the .africa internet domain name with the earliest possible launch only looking likely for mid-2015, almost a year later than initially planned.This week, South African…
Internet
Pamoja and SEACOM – strength in the Cloud
Pamoja, a Cloud services company, continues to dominate this area of the market and is progressing in its quest to cultivate a Cloud services marketplace for the continent. The Company…
Internet
O3b, RCS deliver high speed internet to South Sudan
O3b Networks has announced that RCS-Communication, an internet service provider (ISP) in South Sudan, has entered commercial service on its O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite constellation. O3b’s low latency,…
Internet
Facebook expands free access to Kenya
Kenya has become the third African country after Zambia and Tanzania to get the Facebook-led Internet.org application, giving Airtel customers in that country zero-rated access to a range of services,…
Internet
Internet – In Brief
Rwanda’s top musicians King James, Miss Jojo, Riderman, Tom Close, and Urban Boyz join the fight against malnutrition in Rwanda with a YouTube music video. The video is also available…
Computing
Kenya: School Transforms Bus Into Computer Lab to Attract Street Children
Giving the youth and young children the chance to learn life skills is one of the main aims of the Wema Centre in Bamburi, Mombasa. To achieve this, they set…
Computing
Nigeria: Pushing the Frontiers of Data Centre Management in Nigeria
Today, in Nigeria and other parts of the globe, more companies and individuals rely on data centre services provided, sometimes through the cloud, even in remote locations scattered across the…
Money Transfer
Ericsson supports Tigo m-wallet rollout in Senegal
Global mobile telecom company Ericsson has unveiled that Tigo Senegal has launched Tigo Cash service based on the Ericsson Wallet Platform solution.The rollout brings mobile financial services to Tigo Senegal`s…
Money Transfer
Vodacom Creates Kilimo Club Package for Farmers
Thousands of small scale farmers in the country will be connected to a communication technology through a new project dubbed ‘kilimo club’ in which they will be able to send…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
Africell takes over at Orange Uganda
Pan-African telecoms group Africell has completed its acquisition of Orange Group’s 65.93% stake in Orange Uganda, under a deal which was first announced in May this year. Orange Uganda has…
Mergers, Acquisitions and Financial Results
IroFit Scores $600K Seed Round For “Internet-Free” Mobile Payment Tech Targeting Emerging Markets
In a sea of ‘me too’ mobile payment startups/dongles à la Square, Finnish startup IroFit actually looks like it has an interesting proposition. The soon-to-launch Helsinki company offers a mobile…
Digital Content
Kenya: Samsung unveils 8 new locally developed apps
Samsung has partnered with @iLab Africa in order to offer 8 locally developed mobile applications. The reveal was made at Samsung’s second edition of the “Show N’ Tell” event. According…
Digital Content
Hashtag accountability: Social media & the political protest of Africa’s middle class
The 2011 uprisings that toppled the Tunisian and Egyptian regimes—and sparked the regional firestorm known as the Arab Spring—are commonly called “Twitter revolutions”. Protesters were not predominantly the poor and…
Digital Content
Digital music in Africa: Demand for local driving growth
In Africa there is more demand for local digital content than anywhere in the world, said Rick Fant of Mozilla at AfricaCom.This is particularly true when it comes to digital…
Digital Content
Samuel Meyiwa and the funeral pose
An unusual meme has emerged in which people are replicating a picture of Senzo Meyiwa's father, taken at the footballer's funeral.Tens of thousands of people attended the funeral of the…
Digital Content
Zimpapers enters the game with Sportszone
SportszoneIt’s been a long time coming but Zimpapers, in its move to a more digital approach, has finally decided to create an online sports news platform.Sportszone, which was unveiled yesterday,…
Digital Content
2014 AfricaCom award winners revealed
AfricaCom is still running strong at the CTICC Convention Centre, which is located in Cape Town – South Africa. The winners of the digital industry’s most anticipated Awards were announced…
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People
Eaton Towers Appoints Jimmy Eisenstein as Chairman Eaton Towers, a leading independent telecom tower company in Africa, has announced the appointment of Jimmy Eisenstein as Non-Executive Chairman.Jimmy was co-founder in…
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Events
TMT World Congress18 November 2014LondonTMT World Congress 2014 & Awards will gather the leading industry, finance and advisory executives in London on November 18 to assess the most exceptional investment…
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Opportunities
First Global Voices Meetup in Accra, GhanaFollowing a successful round of gatherings in six cities around the world in 2013 and other gatherings in 2014, members of the Global Voices…
