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The countries below contain a historic archive of information on the state of the internet that is now three years old. For some countries, the information has remained largely the same whereas for others considerable change has occurred. However it can still be used to identify organisations involved in developing the internet and to understand the historic development of the Internet in Africa. For up-to-date (but "pay-for") information click here: There are special rates for students and universities.

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This is an area where you can download longer articles and reports of interest. These will be updated as new material becomes available.

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(Word format, 875kb)
This IDRC-supported research study looks at how complaints by African consumers in the telecoms and Internet sectors are dealt with and what input consumer organisations are able to make into policy for these sectors. It is based on a survey of 30 African countries and includes detailed case studies of Kenya, Senegal and South Africa.

Download 2 Word document
(255kb)
This chapter from the ITU's Global Trends in Telecommunications Reform 2005 examines the market and regulatory implications of the shift to IP networks and outlines the different types of responses regulators are making to VoIP calling.

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(pdf format, 310kb)
Leslie Chan, Barbara Kirsop, Subbiah Arunachalam look at the use of Open Access archiving as a way of improving scientific capacity building.

If you have updates or interesting material to add, please send it to info@balancingact-africa.com

ALGERIA ANGOLA BENIN BOTSWANA BURKINA FASO BURUNDI CAMEROON CAPE VERDE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC CHAD COMOROS CONGO COTE D'IVOIRE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO DJIBOUTI EGYPT EQUATORIAL GUINEA ERITREA ETHIOPIA GABON GAMBIA GHANA GUINEA GUINEA-BISSAU KENYA LESOTHO LIBERIA LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA MADAGASCAR MALAWI MALI MAURITANIA MAURITIUS MOROCCO MOZAMBIQUE NAMIBIA NIGER NIGERIA REUNION RWANDA SAO TOME & PRINCIPE SENEGAL SEYCHELLES SIERRA LEONE SOMALIA SOUTH AFRICA SUDAN SWAZILAND TOGO TUNISIA UGANDA UNITED REP OF TANZANIA ZAMBIA ZIMBABWE

ISSUE NO 421

ITXC judgement lifts the carpet on bribes to seven African telcos for contracts

Everyone knows it happens but the conclusion of the trial of three former ITXC employees has aired how it is done. Employees of seven African telcos – all state owned with one exception – were given bribes to obtain wholesale VoIP voice contracts. The sums involved were not large but court documents reveal how it was done and some interesting incidental detail about international carrier rivalry.
more

TELECOMS

Smile Communications gets Uganda telecoms licence

South African-based low cost telecoms firm Smile Communications has been awarded a telecommunications licence by the Ugandan government, Uganda's communications minister said last Tuesday.
more

INTERNET

Altech Wins Battle to Build Own Network in South Africa

Business and consumers can look forward to cheaper telecommunications services after technology company Altech won a legal battle for the right to build its own network.
more

COMPUTING

Positive results claimed for the One Laptop Per Child Project test in Rwanda

The Ministry of Education's Secretary General together with the ICT department, has just finished carrying out an evaluation exercise to establish the efficacy of the One Laptop per Child project.
more

ON THE MONEY

Nigerian telco Globacom in Vodacom takeover bid?

South Africa's biggest mobile operator, Vodacom, could become a takeover target for Nigerian business tycoon Mike Adenuga (owner of Globacom), who has proposed a merger between Telkom's 50% stake in the mobile operator and Nigeria's Globacom.
more

WEB AND MOBILE DATA NEWS

South Africa’s national Internet portal growing

South Africa’s national internet portal, SouthAfrica.info, receives almost 30-million hits a month and compares favourably with the country’s top commercial web sites, the statutory International Marketing Council (IMC) says in its latest annual report.
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BACK ISSUES

ISSUE 420

Double play in Nigeria: ipNX will use WiMAX to carve itself a niche offering voice and broadband

ISSUE 419

Libya’s LPTIC heads for full NGN implementation with pilot local access projects

ISSUE 418

West African consumer broadband prices continue to tumble as OTI Telecom lowers its retail offer

ISSUE 417

VoIP wars – The battle moves closer to the mobile operators

ISSUE 416

Communauté Electrique du Bénin issues tender to operate fibre network over its transmission pylons in Benin and Togo

ISSUE 415