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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 341 Tradenet launches market intel platform for buying and selling agricultural goodsLast Tuesday saw the launch of an initiative that will combine lessons learned from the success of peer-to-peer sites with agricultural market intelligence in Africa. And perhaps most interestingly of all, the goal is to leverage the mobile networks and their extensive reach into rural areas to do this. ‘There’s been lots of coverage about farmers using mobiles to get prices. Lots of it was hype. We’ve learned a lot from the early mistakes and have developed what we would consider a market intelligence platform 2.0’ says Mark Davies, the investor behind Tradenet. ‘The point is not just to deliver price information, which can be misinterpreted anyway. The point is to get to the core of what people are doing and give them tools to do it better and faster. In agriculture, that’s buying and selling. So we’ve developed a system that is focussed on exactly that… Someone, anywhere, with something to buy or sell can use the power of the mobile networks to expand and exploit new markets…’. The development team in Accra has spent the last two years studying the market needs and building software that enables traders and producers to find each other. You can register your mobile phone to receive buy and sell alerts from other users that text them in. These can be targeted to the commodity you work in, and the region of your choice. Davies is an Internet entrepreneur who has already launched three successful star-tups, each on a different continent: CitySearch/Metrobeat was started in 1995 in New York, FirstTuesday in 1998 in London, and BusyInternet in 2000 in Accra. Busy is the largest privately-owned technology centre in sub-saharan Africa focussed on developing individuals and SMEs. It was after three years of this work that Davies felt frustrated that the promise of technology and internet in Africa was not really making a difference in people’s wallets. ‘It was a period of disappointment… we felt the same way in the States four years in... So much promise, so many ideas, so much hype, and particularly in Africa in the development community… I would go back to England and people would expect stories of how the Internet was transforming lives… it was much slower than that, much more subtle. So I wanted to speed things up…’ In a meeting with Technoserve discovered that farmers were desperate to get current prices so they could negotiate better deals for themselves when selling. ‘It was classic information manipulation… the traders knew the state of the markets and leveraged that to exploit the less powerful farmers in the rural areas… I thought we could shift the balance a bit in favour of the small-scale folks by giving them more knowledge…’. Two years later, with help from different projects across Africa and South America, Davies recognizes that prices on mobile phones is just one part of the story. ‘Maybe it’s the sexiest story and the best picture to put in magazines, but it doesn’t really put money in pockets… you’ve got to go further… you’ve got to help people sell. You’ve got to help them interpret that information… turn it into market intelligence..’. So instead of focussing on a publicly funded government service providing prices and news, TradeNet has evolved into a sophisticated lead-generation tool. Anyone in the world can submit an offer to buy something and it will be distributed via SMS to registered farmers and producers. “We’ve had people in Japan and the USA find traders in Abidjan… Someone in Yemen found an organic fertilizer seller in Lagos… Onion producers in Burkina found buyers in Accra… “ Increasing regional trade within West Africa was also the mandate of a USAID funded project called ‘Mistowa’, run by IFDC. When they started up they saw the potential in what the BusyLab team in Accra was building and licensed it for their ten countries. “Tradenet was a great partnership for us… they brought all the technology innovation that Internet entrepreneurs are famous for. It allowed us to focus on capacity building and content aggregation. We’ve been reaching out to traders and producers and signing them up, building awareness. ‘ says Dr. Kofi Debrah, the chief of the Mistowa Project. But Mistowa, scheduled to run for 4 years with 15 million dollars was cut short by one year and four million. ‘It breaks my heart’ says Davies.. ‘just as these guys are beginning to understand the market and the potential, and are familiar with habits and needs of their target audience, the rug is pulled from under their feet. I can’t understand how reckless Development can be with projects and people’s lives. Just as they get moving, they’re stopped. It really reinforced my belief that TradeNet cannot be a public donor-funded service. Rather, we must deliver value, be accountable to the users, and get them to pay. It’s a much greater chance of long-term viability.’ Indeed TradeNet, although dependant on projects like Mistowa (and FoodNet in Uganda) in these early years, has a very clear transition plan over three years to full sustainability. Whereas basic information about prices and offers will be free, custom, private-label sites that use the technology and tools of TradeNet to deliver private content to their members will pay fees for these tools and in this way, everyone benefits. Davies sees the route ahead through free web sites:”Just like Myspace, we’ll offer free sites to any individual, company or group that wants to showcase it’s products online… but as soon as they start crossing national borders, want to integrate with the SMS providers, distribute private supply chain management tools and information, then they pay. ‘ It’s a gamble admits Davies, but with at least 60% of the African economy still involved in agriculture, whoever provides a set of tools to help people make money will make money and survive. ‘Unfortunately in Africa, too many are risk averse to true innovation, there’s too little capital to play with, and the donor community still has a natural aversion to working with anyone who’s comfortable with the concept of profit. Until that mentality changes, all development work will undermine private sector innovation, despite claims to the contrary”. “The donor community is on a project cycle beholden to their donors and their political whims, which change all the time. We need to see them, like Mistowa, supporting private sector initiatives like TradeNet that are beholden to their customers and can survive for as long as they provide a service and charge for it.” Piloted for the last 12 months, TradeNet is now available across Africa. They’re actively involved in over 300 markets collecting prices and distributing offers, news, and documents. In an impact survey in Uganda Foodnet MIS found that 68% of farmers regularly access market information based on the Tradenet Market information platform. Up to 91% of farmers indicated that receiving MIS had a positive to very positive impact on their business. Farmers regularly using marketing were found to make gains of 12-20% on prevailing market prices, whereas, farmers using MIS in groups made gains of 20-34% on prevailing prices. Whilst 94% of farmers have radios, in 2006, 25% of farmers owned mobile phones but virtually all farmers could access a phone. If you are interested in getting TradeNet up and running in your country contact info@tradenet.biz.
NIGER ISSUES CALL FOR INTEREST AS IT GOES FOR MARKET LIBERALISATIONA week ago, the Multi-sector Regulatory Authority of Niger (ARM) published a call for interest for the provision of various telecommunication services in the country. Rémy Fekete from the French law firm Gide, Loyrette and Nouel, which advised on the bidding process for the recent provision of new telecommunications licences in Mauritania, explained to Isabelle Gross why the Niger regulator is taking a further step towards opening the telecommunications market. According to Fekete, mobile telephony in Niger has still not left much of a mark, with a penetration rate of only 3.42% at the end of 2006. Calling charges to national and international destinations remain also much higher than in other countries in the sub-region. Although Niger started the process of deregulating its telecommunication sector very early, by granting three mobile licences to Celtel, Sahelcom and Telecel, and later by privatising Sonitel, the national incumbent, nowadays growth in the country’s telecoms sector seems to be held back by lack of competition among existing players in the market. A closer look at the market share of operators in Niger, based on the number of subscribers, shows that at the end of 2005 Celtel held 69% of the overall market. Sonitel’s subscriber base went down from 24,145 to 23,954 between 2004 and 2005. Shahelcom and Telecel each had a little more than 38,000 subscribers at the end of 2005. In terms of revenue, the market looks more like a duopoly, with Celtel’s activities accounting for 48% of the overall revenue and Sonitel, which is owned at 51% by ZTE and a Libyan company, generating a further 38% of the total telecommunications revenue. To stimulate a new wave of growth in the telecommunications market, the government of Niger is considering granting one or several telecommunications licences for the roll out of new networks and services. The move will cover mobile telecommunications, routing of international communications, roll out and management of international links, roll out and management of inter-city links, roll out and management of local loops, and the roll out and management of a pre-paid card service for local, national and international calls and the provision of internet access. According to the notice published by ARM, the aim of this expression of interest notice is to “allow the contemplated call for tenders procedure to take into account the nature of the interested operators and the terms and conditions of their interest.” The deadline for this call for interest is February 20th 2007 and further information can be found on the regulator’s website at www.arm-niger.org The scope of this tendering exercise initiated by the Niger regulator is very wide, but as Fekete explains, nothing prevents an existing operators from taking part. The rules would not prevent the current players from making an offer, and rather than leading to the entry of new operators, the process of granting new licences could in some cases simply result in an upgrade to the existing operators’ licences, or the issuing of global licences. Further he adds the whole tendering process should be completed by the end of June this year, and he is confident that transparency and efficiency will prevail, as was the case with the Mauritanian bidding round earlier last year. On April 14th 2006, following a call of interest published in March, the regulator in Mauritania, the ARE, issued a call for tender for the provision of new licences. The Mauritanian regulator received five offers before the closing date and two additional offers came in after the deadline. The latter offers were returned to the bidders without being opened. When the ARE evaluated the technical aspects of the five offers on the table, it rejected the offer of Access Telecom SA on the basis that the company didn’t meet the technical requirements as specified in the rules of the tendering process. The successful candidates were selected after a further selection phase based on the merit of their financial offers. The highest bidders won the licences they bid on. Orange Mauritanie (France Telecom) which was bidding for a mobile telephony licence lost in favour of Chinguitel SA (Sudatel) which made the highest offer. They offered 26.6 billion UM ($99.7 million) while Orange Mauritanie offered 9 billion UM ($34 million) and Wataniya Mauritanie (Wataniya Kuwait) proposed 8.1 billion UM ($30.5 million). Fekete did not want to guess amounts in terms of Niger’s bids but he reckoned that the Mauritanian results were above their expectations at that time ($100 million). Telecommunication licence tenders are delicate matters both during the bidding process and later on when new entrants have to face the reality on the ground. So far, Niger has set rules to carry out a smooth bidding process that should in return yield a fair amount of interest among national and international investors. SONATEL FINED OVER US$0.5M BY REGULATOR FOR MOBILE NETWORK OUTAGESThe Senegalese regualator, the ARTP has issued a decision on January 26th in which it fined, Sonatel, the national incumbent for an amount of 3.4 billion CFA francs ($631,779) for the repetitive disruptions on its mobile network. According to the regulator during the day of January 21st long disruption periods to Sonatel’s mobile service were noticed in Dakar, in the Medina, Centenaire, Reubeuss and Plateau areas. This was followed by another disruption of the pre-paid mobile service on January 23rd in Dakar. The regulator has taken the view that these disruptions are severely prejudicial to the users and further they followed several other disruptions in the service (Magal de Touba in 2005, Sédhiou in June 2006, disruption during the nigths between June 30th and July 1st 2006 in Daka) which led the regulator to issue a warning letter to Sonatel. The regulator further notes that despite the warning letter, the Sonatel has continued to disrespect its obligations as the owner of a licence to offer public telephone services. The repetitive disruptions to its telephone service constitute a severe disrespect to its obligation to provide a telephone service that is permanently available according to the article 3.2.3.1 of its schedule of condition. The disrespect to the quality of service has aggravated by the Sonatel’s failure to inform the ARTP and the general public. The fine of 3.1 billion CFA francs represents 1% of Sonatel’s turnover in 2005 and will have to paid to the Public Treasury in the 30 days following the notification of decision. NIGERIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO MERGE NBC, NCC SOONNigerian Minister of Information and Communications, Mr. Frank Nweke Jnr said that the Federal Government may soon merge the country’s National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) into one agency. On a visit to the troubled SNO Globacom, he said that the merging of NBC and NCC into an entity has become relevant following convergence between the two sectors in technology terms.He stressed that this plan would soon be finalised. (SOURCE: Daily Champion) WILL COMPETITION IN FIXED LINE REVERSE ITS DECLINE IN SUDAN?The Sudanese fixed line market is in decline. The penetration level stood at a mere 1.6% by end of 2005. Meanwhile, the cellular market reflected a completely different growth pattern. Competition energized the market to increase the penetration level from 5.8% at year end 2005 to 9.1% by end of Q3 2006. With fixed services competition initiated in early 2006, the Arab Advisors Group expects the fixed line market to show signs of life driven by economic growth. The Sudanese telecom market is increasingly becoming more competitive in both the fixed and cellular markets. The fixed services market in Sudan (including fixed voice, Internet and Datacomm services) had a new operator launch services in late January 2006. Canar, a consortium led by UAE’s Etisalat, launched its fixed services based on wireless technologies. On the cellular side, the market hosts three cellular service providers: Mobitel, MTN Sudan (previously Areeba Sudan), and Sudatel’s new cellular CDMA network. MTN ended the monopoly of Mobitel in July 2005 when it launched its services. Later the same year, Sudatel finalized its CDMA cellular network, commercially named “Sudani”, and started its operations limitedly in late 2005. “The fixed line market in Sudan is very small, in both absolute and relative terms. The market had 570,000 fixed line subscribers by end of 2005. With such a status, the Arab Advisors Group believes that the fixed services market has ample room for significant growth.” Andrawes Snobar, Arab Advisors Senior Research Analyst wrote in the report. “The Sudanese cellular market has been growing at an impressive rate over the past few years. The Arab Advisors Group projects that the cellular market will continue to growing adding 1 million subscribers per year in the coming few years. This will be spurred by competition between the three operators (2 GSM and 1 CDMA) and the low cellular penetration in the country, which allows for a high growth potential for the three market players.” Snobar added. CELTEL ANNOUNCES $1.4BN NETWORK EXPANSION PLAN IN NIGERIAMTC Group has announced plans to inject $1.4 billion (N325 billion) in Celtel Nigeria within the next 19 months to expand its network. The MTC Group Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman, Dr. Sa'ad Al-Barrak who disclosed this over the weekend said the company will inject $1.4 billion (about N182 billion) in 2007 into Celtel Nigeria, bringing its total Foreign Direct Investment in Nigeria to N2.5 billion (N325 billion) in 19 months. Al-Barrak stated this during a World Media Briefing in Lagos to round up his maiden visit to the country and explained that the new investment in Celtel Nigeria would enable the company pursue aggressive infrastructural development and quality service.Al-Barrak said the Group will pursue an aggressive expansion in Nigeria, adding that the country by virtue of its huge market size and relevance to the political and economic fortunes of the continent will play a significant role in its plan to become a global operator by the year 2011. (SOURCE: Daily Trust) SOUTH AFRICA CELL OPERATORS FACE ICASA BID TO CUT COSTS OF ROUTING CALLSA fresh attempt to force down the cost of phone calls is being made by the industry regulator, with a move to slash the fees local operators charge to route calls from one network to another. High interconnection fees are the main reason why calls are so expensive in SA, with the cellular operators adding R1,25 a minute to calls made to a rival network. That fee is passed straight on to consumers. Genesis Analytics estimates that the fees are at least 30% pure profit, and says 75% of the cost of a Telkom call to a cellphone goes straight to the cellular operators. Now the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) wants to force them to charge a fee that maps out the cost of making the connection, with no massive profit margin. Icasa tried to force that move in 2005, but was stymied by changing legislation. It is now using its powers under the new Electronic Communications Act to reinstate the battle. "Cost-based pricing is a market remedy that will begin to reduce the costs of calls," Icasa says. Icasa has issued a discussion document proposing that Telkom, Vodacom, MTN and Cell C have "significant market power" over call termination. That step would mark them out as monopolies and let Icasa force them to charge a cost-based interconnection fee. Since Icasa can only intervene if it can prove that insufficient competition exists, the operators are likely to take legal action to oppose Icasa's attempt to dub them dominant players. Icasa says regulators in many other countries support cost-based call termination. It has also studied Tanzania, Nigeria and Uganda, where Vodacom and MTN operate, and found that call termination there was cheaper than in SA. "SA's rates are at least double the actual cost of making the connection and are well above most other Africa countries," it says. The Communications Users Association of SA has long railed against high call fees, complaining that it is cheaper to make a Telkom call overseas than to call a neighbour's cellphone. "We welcome any serious attempt to try to bring down the cost," spokesman Ray Webber said yesterday. "The mobile guys are putting more money in their pockets for every call that's made. They have to have their wings clipped." The cellular networks pumped up the interconnection fee from 20c a minute in 1999 to a punishing R1,23 in 2001, a rise of 515%. It is now R1,25. Telkom charges just 31c to receive a call from a mobile network, only a quarter of the fee users pay for a call going in the other direction, or for a mobile-to-mobile call on rival networks. (SOURCE: Business Day)
IN BRIEF:- Econet Wireless has written to the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) demanding that the regulator reverses the award of the second national operator (SNO) tender to Reliance Consortium. Econet gives a deadline of February 2 after which it will lodge an appeal with the Kenya Communications Appeals Tribunal challenging the decision. It would also apply for an injunction in the High Court restraining CCK from issuing the licence to Reliance Consortium or anyone else until the appeal is heard and determined. - The telecommunication penetration market rate in Morocco continued to rise in Morocco reaching in 2006 57.78% of the land and mobile phones, that is an increase of 12 points compared to 2005, according to figures disclose by the telecom regulatory authority (ANRT). The development of the sector was boosted by the dynamism of the value added market and the multiplication of call centres, which reached 235 by late 2006. The ICT sector turned over some USD 4.1Bn in 2005, against merely USD 1.17Bn in 1998, thus contributing 6.7% of the GDP. This dynamic has allowed for the creation of 11,000 cyber cafés and 46,000 phone shops, that is 75,000 jobs. - Philippe Mvouo, the Minister of Post and Telecommunication in Congo-Brazzaville has announced the launch of the second phase of the project aimed at structuring and controlling the use of the frequency spectrum in the country. Congo will receive the help of a team of Tunisian engineers from the CERT (Centre de recherches des postes des télécommunications). - The UAE-based operator Etisalat is reportedly considering a bid for Algeria’s national fixed operator Algérie Télécom. The government is expected to sell part of its stake in the operator later this year, although full details have still to be published. Reuters quotes Etisalat’s chairman Mohammad Hassan Omran, as saying: ‘We will pay [upwards] of USD2 billion to USD3 billion, but it will depend on many conditions.’ TELECOMS, RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGE- Latest statistics released by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) show that the country's telecom sector now boasts of about 34 million telephone lines, made up of 32,265,827 mobile lines and 1,670,767 fixed lines, while investments worth $8.5 billion have been pumped into it. - Telkom Kenya is set to reduce call costs and introduce new tariffs by the end of next month. Reduced workforce costs and the rolling out of the wireless services will lead to reduced expenditure, allowing them to spread the benefits to the consumers. - Vodacom of South Africa has reported its end-December 2006 operating results, with its domestic customer base increasing 7.8% in the final three months of the year to 21.8 million. Vodacom, which now claims 58% of the South African mobile market, says that its average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) rose from ZAR124 to ZAR127 (USD17.15 to USD17.57). - Areeba Ghana has switched its billing system from the old units-based system to the Cedis, Ghana's national currency. The Ghanaian operation will soon be re-branded to MTN Ghana.
KENYAN GOVERNMENT SIGNS US2.7M CONTRACT WITH TYCOLast Wednesday the Kenyan Government signed a $2.7 million (Sh191 million) contract with Tyco Telecommunications to fund a survey on the construction of a fibre-optic link to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The US-based firm is to undertake a four-month mapping of the Indian Ocean to determine where a fibre-optic cable could be laid. The cable will be known as The East African Marine Systems (Teams). The Kenyan government through Telkom Kenya and the UAE government, through Etisalat, have entered into a memorandum of understanding for the construction of Teams. Kagwe argued that the current cost of bandwith is too high and is driving outsourcing companies in the country out of business. It currently costs Kenyan call centres over 30 times more to transmit data than it costs Indian rivals. "We are talking about real jobs here and that is why this measure has to be taken," said Kagwe. He, however, said that this is only a temporary measure as bandwith costs are expected to come down significantly with the coming of the fiber optic cable expected to be completed by early next year. The submarine survey is scheduled to start in February and will last for about two months after which tendering process for the undersea cable will commence. Permanent Secretary, Dr Bitange Ndemo, explained that a separate company (a "special purpose vehicle") would be created to manage the cable. The government is expected to own 40 per cent of the project. The tender process for procurement of a financing consultant is ongoing. The financing consultant, who will be known as the 'lead arranger', will be responsible for promotion of the project to potential private sector investors. Telkom Kenya will hold the Teams project in trust for the Government until the company that will manage the project is registered. (SOURCE: The East African Standard) EGYPT BLOGGERS REVEAL NEW TORTURE CASEEgypt's politically active blogger community has brought to light another torture case against the regime's security services amid a rising tide of outrage over police brutality. On Saturday, lawyers from the Association for Human Rights and Legal Aid (AHRLA) will go to court in a last-ditch effort to keep alive the case against a state security officer accused of torturing to death a man he arrested three and a half years ago. The case against Captain Ashraf Safwat is gaining new attention following the decision by Egypt's activist blogger community to post the details online in the wake of several other cases of police brutality in recent weeks. "The most significant aspect of the case is this is the first state security officer to truly be put in front of a criminal court," said Mohsen Bahnasi, a member of AHRLA's board, referring to the country's feared plainclothes security service. Mohammed Abdel Qader and his brother were summoned to a Cairo police station on September 16, 2003 by Safwat. Abdel Qader died five days later and an autopsy gave torture by electric shock combined with a weak heart as the cause of death. More than three years later, the case continues to drag on, hampered by slow prosecutors, uncooperative security services and now the family's decision to drop the case and disappear. In the past few months, however, torture cases have gained new prominence in Egypt as bloggers have posted videos, photos and accounts of brutality in police stations, prompting renewed investigations. On January 20, Abdel Qader's case appeared on a blog, featuring excerpts from the forensic report and gruesome autopsy pictures showing the mangled corpse of a heavily bearded man. "There is evidence of the application of high temperature to the right and left breast and the penis resembling the effects of electrocution with an electric wire," read an excerpt. "He was subject to those injuries hours before his death." "The pictures have done something, because they are visual -- it is a shock," said Aida Seif al-Dawla, a veteran anti-torture activist who credits the bloggers for raising public awareness on the pervasive use of torture by security services. Hossam el-Hamalawy, on whose Arabawy blog the pictures appear, said it comes as no surprise bloggers should take interest in such cases. "The bloggers themselves were victims of torture during the past years," he said, referring to the case of Mohammed al-Sharqawi who was allegedly sodomised after being arrested. "We are receiving so many videos now." Bloggers came to public attention during the political ferment surrounding elections in 2005 and then most recently when they posted the grim video of bus driver Imad al-Kabir being sodomised in a police station in 2006 -- the first of many such examples of police brutality to be publicised. Interior Minister Interior Habib al-Adly last week lashed out at the bloggers, condemning the "intentionally unpatriotic campaign striking a national service that seeks stability in the country." The campaign strikes at the heart of official assertions that torture is not widespread and limited to individual cases. "The outcry has encouraged people to come forward in person and take the government at its word that it takes torture seriously and prosecutes it whenever possible," said Elijah Zarwan of Human Rights Watch. (SOURCE: AFP) SOUTH AFRICAN BANK MUM ON INTERNET TROUBLESStandard Bank has still not formally explained glitches with its recent upgrade of its Internet banking interface. Consumers complain the site does not work with Firefox and Safari browsers. Others complain the bank's terms and conditions transfer the risk of the transaction entirely to the consumer and that the deletion of an on-screen touchpad has reduced the site's security. Attempts to solicit answers from the bank met with several days of delay, with none forthcoming last week. The bank last week said the problem with Safari and Firefox was the first of its kind in 10 years of Internet banking. It added the problem would be solved by tomorrow. It also pointed out to columnist Samantha Perry that less than 1% of its user base uses browsers like Firefox and Safari. A reader complains Standard Bank has shifted all risk in doing electronic banking to the consumer. The reader says he was required to accept an agreement before entering the site. A bank spokesman earlier this week said there was no such requirement and a visit to the site this morning confirmed that no agreement had to be acceded to before entering. However, the clause that concerned the reader was found in the bank's electronic banking agreement, which has apparently been in place, without amendment, since June 2002. Paragraph eight reads: “We will act on instructions that appear to have been sent by you. Use of a communication system means we do not interact face-to-face. Unless you notify us before we give effect to an instruction, you authorise us to rely on and perform all instructions that appear to originate from you (even if someone else is impersonating you).” The reader complains the clause amounts to an abdication of responsibility on the part of the bank. “How does it impact consumer rights? Also, in terms of the FICA [Financial Intelligence Centre Act] regulations, the bank has a responsibility to identify customers. Is their statement not in conflict with this?” The bank was asked to answer these questions, but had not done so by the time of publication. (SOURCE: ITWeb) IN BRIEF:- New Skies Satellite says it will continue to serve existing customers without interruption despite losing its NSS-9 satellite in a spectacular fireball as it was launched in the Pacific Ocean. The NSS-9 satellite was planned for an Indian Ocean orbital slot from where it would have provided services to Asia, India, the Middle East, Europe, Australia and Africa. Instead it was destroyed as the rocket carrying the satellite payload exploded on take-off from the Sea Launch platform (a converted oil rig) that is located in equatorial Pacific waters far off the coast of California. - Zambia has become the first African country to become part of Jajah.com’s free global calling zone: http://www.jajah.com/info/rates/
TECHNOLOGY KEY TO SUCCESS AT DISCOVERY HEALTH IN SOUTH AFRICAThe operations at Discovery Health, which is said to be the largest medical scheme in SA, with about 1,9m lives, depend to a large extent on the effectiveness and flexibility of its IT infrastructure. John Robertson, CIO for the Discovery group, says its IT infrastructure was designed to provide real-time services and accessibility to members, doctors and pharmacies alike. Robertson says Discovery Health employs its online channel – www.discovery.co.za – to encourage members, doctors, employers and brokers to interact with the company electronically. “For instance, we have recently introduced a real-time automated process whereby the hospital pre-authorisation is done when our members are admitted to hospital,” he says. “We use a switching method in conjunction with HealthBridge that makes this possible,” he adds. Robertson says that the medical scheme receives 80% of claims electronically. This, he adds, has helped improve accuracy during the data capturing phase, making data kept for members, doctors and pharmacists up to date. The other 20% of the claims are received through the mail. They are scanned and the images are stored and linked to the member’s records for use in the call centre environment. Robertson says on average, 25 000 claims documents and about 12 000 pieces of paper are scanned on a daily basis. “Our objective is to create a paperless office in our operations as far as is practically possible,” he says. “In our call centre and claims capture operations there is no paper at all. All functions and operations are electronic. This has saved us time, has improved speed and accuracy and helped us provide an excellent service for our members and partners.” Robertson says the medical scheme also uses mobile telephony to interact with its members in real time. These facilities include immediate access to Medical Savings Account balances, Vitality points and status, the progress of most recently submitted claims and balances on their DiscoveryCard – Discovery’s Visa credit card. "The use of SMS has proven to be an excellent tool in providing a nimble and real-time solution,” says Robertson. (SOURCE: ICT World) RWANDA TO OFFER REGIONAL ICT SCHOLARSHIPSRwanda intends to offer Information and Communication Technology (ICT) scholarships to students from Eastern and Central African states. The disclosure was made by Prof Romain Murenzi, the Minister in the President's Office in charge of Science and Technology, who said that the development is meant to standardise the country's ICT programme in the region. According to Prof Murenzi the scholarship scheme is expected to start in 2009 with facilitation of up to 100 undergraduate students from eleven Central and Eastern African countries. Rwanda's step towards promotion of regional ICT programme comes at the heels of a unanimous decision taken at just-concluded African Heads of State Summit (in Ethiopia) to enhance science and technology studies. Under the theme 'science and technology, with the goal of stimulating African development' the African Heads of State announced numerous scholarship schemes to increase the number of scientists in the continent. (SOURCE: The New Times) GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHES CENTRALISED DATA BASE IN TANZANIAThe government, through the National Statistics Bureau has launched a comprehensive and centralised public statistical database. Speaking during the launch of the Tanzania Integrated Statistical Database (TISD), Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Planning, Economy and Empowerment, Ambassador Charles Mutalemwa said TISD will enable NBS to provide statistics to users. "This database will facilitate planning and decision making within the government and the business community," said the PS. Ambassador Mutalemwa said the database would also stimulate research and inform public debate on various issues of importance to the nation. He said TISD was very crucial in assisting the government to improve the living conditions and welfare of Tanzanians through MKUKUTA and MKUZA. "This can be done through the implementation of strategies for wealth creation, poverty reduction and good governance," he said, adding that all strategies required a lot of statistical information. He said: "The need for reliable and timely statistical information for all these purposes is what led the Union and Zanzibar governments to establish monitoring systems for both MKUKUTA and MKUZA. The TISD comes in as a handy tool." In his statement to the gathering, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA)'s Resident Representative, Toshihiro Obata said his agency has been involved in the field of statistics and poverty reduction in the country which started in 2004. "The three-year Strengthening Capabilities of National Bureau of Statistics in Data Providing Services project is one of the most significant projects in Tanzania," he said. He said the project contributed to updating of the statistical indicators, which are very crucial in the planning, and evaluation of the status of any country. "In the new poverty reduction strategy, MKUKUTA, there is emphasis on the importance of poverty indicators. This project contributed directly to the implementation of the strategy," he said. (SOURCE: Guardian ) LINUX PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTE LAUNCHES LPIC-3The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) last week announced the new LPIC-3 certification programme. The LPIC-3 is the organisation's highest level distribution-neutral Linux certification and is targeted at Linux professionals providing IT services at the enterprise level. The certification consists of a single exam (LPI-301) and additional specialty certifications. Launched together with LPI-Japan, the LPI recognised the "substantial" contribution made by the Japanese affiliate in creating the programme. Jim Lacey, president and CEO of LPI, said "LPI-Japan brought significant resources to the table in the creation of this programme. In particular, they were responsible for ensuring the involvement, counsel and strategic advice of key technical and business individuals from amongst the world's most highly respected and recognised IT companies. This input and other necessary investments helped to make this programme possible." Lacey also said the process to develop the examinations was open and transparent and involved more than 300 Linux professionals from around the world: "We also thank the numerous senior IT professionals who volunteered their time to ensure the industry's best interests were represented throughout our Job Tasks Analysis, exam question creation, and beta-testing of the LPIC-3 exams," he said. Gen Narui, chairman of LPI-Japan, said that there was substantial demand within enterprise for this high level certification in ratifying employee skills: "This certification level will assist organisations in their investments in training and human resources programs. It will demonstrate significant and professional enterprise level skills in Linux particularly for those companies that have a substantial customer base in Linux services." The LPIC-3 certification program consists of a single core exam (LPI 301) which focuses on skills in authentication, troubleshooting, network integration and capacity planning. This core certification can be supplemented by additional speciality certifications: the first of these will be the LPI-302 Mixed Environments. Other proposed speciality certifications include security, high availability and virtualization, web and intranet, and mail and messaging. The LPIC-3 exam (301) is priced at US$250 (R1,800) in most jurisdictions. However, local affiliates may provide special introductory pricing. Exam candidates are advised to contact their local affiliate or testing centre for pricing details. The LPI-302 exam is US$150 US worldwide. (SOURCE: Tectonic) IN BRIEF:- The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has pledged to support the Mozambican Institute of Information and Communications Technologies (MICTI) in training its middle-level technical staff, according to Mozambique's news agency.
VODACOM LOOKS AT R7.5BN BLACK CAPVodacom is planning to use an agreement thrashed out by the hi-tech sector to sell shares worth R7.5bn and still be considered sufficiently black-owned. The company said last week that numerous black empowerment entities were competing for its shares as it prepared to strike an empowerment deal. "All indications suggest that the size of the transaction will be in the vicinity of R7.5bn," said CEO Alan Knott-Craig. Estimating the value of the company is difficult, but UK-based Vodafone paid R16bn for 15%, valuing it at R106bn. That was almost exactly a year ago, when Vodacom had far fewer subscribers than it has today. Although that figure included its operations in other countries as well as in SA, the local stake alone will now be worth at least R110bn. Without the R7.5bn cap to soften the extent of black ownership demanded from SA's largest companies, Vodacom would have to sell shares worth about R33bn, and find partners able to take on that burden. Last week Knott-Craig said Vodacom was committed to the empowerment charter governing the information and communications technology sector. The clause declaring that any company selling equity of R7.5bn would earn the maximum points for ownership -- no matter how much it is worth -- provoked criticism from smaller companies as being designed purely to protect heavyweights Vodacom, MTN and Telkom. Vodacom's managers were working on proposals for equity participation by suitable empowerment entities and would submit their proposals to the board in March, said Knott-Craig. "A large number of applications have been received from such entities," he said. The deal is likely to see both its 50% stakeholders Telkom and Vodafone dilute their stakes equally, to avoid disrupting a fragile truce that gives neither of them a greater say in Vodacom's operations. One bidder is a group of black hi-tech professionals led by Nkenke Kekana, a former chairman of Parliament's communications committee. Kekana expressed interest in buying into Vodacom a year ago, but Vodafone vetoed selling any shares until the government clarified its requirements for equity ownership. Other partners in his consortium include the respected analyst John Poluta, formerly of JP Morgan, and Isaac and Benjamin Mophatlane, the founders of Business Connexion. Reuters has previously reported that groups led by businessmen Saki Macozoma and Tokyo Sexwale are also likely contenders. (SOURCE: Business Day) TRANSPARENCY ISSUES DOG $400M GSM DEAL IN NIGERIAThe recent announcement by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that Mubadala Development of United Arab Emirates has been offered Nigeria’s fifth GSM slot for $400million has raised issues about how it came to make the deal.. Across the industry, questions have continued to be raised about the regulator’s announcement of the spectrum packages that were offered the Abu Dhabi based company in what one analyst called an ‘under-the-table-deal.’ NCC chief, Ernest Ndukwe, last week deflected blame for the offer saying that it emanated out of a negotiation between President Olusegun Obasanjo and the government of UAE. Ndukwe, in an interview published last week in Nigeria’s Businessday, says the spectrum belongs to the government which could do as it wishes with it and believes rather that the sale actually promotes bilateral relationship between the two nations. “If you look at our laws, we retain fees for licensing but we don't retain fees for spectrum. Spectrum that is sold (goes) straight to the Federal Government coffers. So when you come from that premise then you would understand that when there is a spectrum to be sold, the federal government knows that it is their property”, he says. Ndukwe’s critics say that his defence that the President offered the licence to the UAE offers no comfort as the regulator had in December last year announced to the local and international investment community that new licences were on offer through an auction including the one that was sold as well as the much-sought-after spectrum for 3G networks. The regulator has said that international consultancy, PA Consulting Group, had been hired to see through the process as part of its commitment to “implementing Government policy on telecommunications by having open and transparent development within this important part of the Nigerian economy and infrastructure.” Prior to that time, there has been widespread industry speculation that an offer had been made to Arab investors, facilitated by former Chairman of UBA Plc, Hakeem Belo-Osagie. However, the news was largely taken with a pinch of salt as industry watchers, looking at the track record of competitive bids for previous spectrum licences since the advent of the Obasanjo Government doubted that the fifth GSM licence would be issued in a disimilar manner. That view was further bolstered when consultant to the proposed auction held exploratory talks with major operators and likely bidders made up of the top mobile operators, among others, to open up discussions on the way forward. It had, just like the NCC, assured that a notice was under way that would stipulate the rules guiding the process. “We were also assured that the spectrum that was sold to UAE was still available as part of the overall offer and on the basis of this, we discounted the speculations that it had been offered someone else”, says a top official of a telecoms company. Industry players were further reassured when NCC had in December last year announced that the spectrum was still on offer. During the exploratory talks, the consultant rekindled hope further when it named the last GSM slot as part of the package on offer in the planned auction, a source confirmed to Technology Times weekend noting that this had stimulated considerable activity among local and international investors looking into stakes in the fast-growth Nigerian market. The regulator in December last year said in a statement attributed to Ndukwe and posted on its website, which as at press time, is still available for public access that the Board of NCC has approved, “the auction of radio-spectrum in the 1800 MHz, 3G and 450 MHz, bands, leading to the award of new licences.” Ndukwe also confirmed the appointment of PA Consulting Group, a leading firm of international management and telecoms consultants tasked by the NCC with assisting in developing and overseeing the auction and award of licences, “to ensure the process meets international best practice.” Ndukwe has a word for critics of the process when he said that, rather than being conducted under the table, NCC which was not part of the high-level negotiations that resulted in the licence offer, sent out words to the public soon as it was notified by the Presidency. “I am not sure it is right to say it was done in secret because all the information was put out in the public view as soon as we were aware of it as far as the NCC was concerned”, he adds. The negotiating team of the current Minister of Energy then Minister of State for Petroleum, Edmund Dakoru; Minster of FCT, Nasir el-Rufai and Minister of Finance, Nenadi Usman formed the trio that were given presidential mandate to explore investments from the oil-rich Middle East. (SOURCE: Technology Times) VODAFONE SAYS MYSTERY MOBITELEA STAKE IN SAFARICOM OWNED BY “CHANNEL ISLANDS COMPANY”The mystery over the owners of the company deepened last week when Vodafone (UK) Ltd declined to reveal the local shareholders of Mobitelea, said to own a five per cent stake in Safaricom. However the UK-owned PLC revealed that the shares were held by a Channel Islands-owned company, a traditional route for shareholders seeking to remain anonymous. The Clerk to the National Assembly, Samuel Ndindiri, last week presented to the Public Investments Committee (PIC) a letter written to him by Vodafone (UK) chief executive in charge of the Americas, Africa, China and India, Gavin Darby, explaining the shareholding structure of Safaricom and Vodafone (Kenya) Ltd. In the letter, Vodafone recognised the existence of Mobitelea, which it described as its partner in Kenya when it sought to acquire Safaricom shares in 1999. Darby said Mobitelea, which owns 12.5 per cent shares in Vodafone (K) Ltd, was registered in Guernsey, an Island in the British Channel. "Vodafone's chosen partner in Kenya was Mobitelea, a company resident in Guernsey," he said in the letter dated January 29, 2007. But he declined to give more details about the company, stating that doing so could be breaching confidentiality. "Vodafone would prefer to be in a position to make a comprehensive disclosure but, having taken legal advice, could be in breach of a duty of confidentiality were it to discuss Mobitelea further," Mr Darby states in the letter. Darby said Vodafone (K) Ltd acquired 40 per cent of Safaricom in 2000 by paying Sh1.4 billion ($20 million). It spent another Sh1.54 billion ($22 million) for its portion of the license fee of Sh3.85 billion ($55 million) while it was still wholly owned by its UK parent company. Two years later that it sold 25 per cent shareholding in Vodafone (K) to Mobitelea at a cost of Sh1.4 billion. However, Vodafone (UK) bought back 12.5 per cent of Vodafone (K) in 2003 at an undisclosed figure from Mobitelea to increase its economic interest in Safaricom from 30 per cent to 35 per cent. "As the owner of 12.5 per cent in Vodafone (K), Mobitelea is a financial investor only and has no seat on its board, no vote on operational or investment decisions of that company and no influence in any way over Safaricom," he stated. (SOURCE: The Nation) ONLINE AUCTIONEERS BUY INTO JUMP TECHNOLOGIESGlobal internet auction company bidorbuy.com has bought 22% of Jump Internet Technologies, the brains behind the local online shopping comparison website, Jump Shopping. The size of the deal was not disclosed, but bidorbuy had an option to take a majority stake in the business within three years if it was happy with its investment, said Jump MD Albert Bredenhann. Until this week, he and co-founder Jaco Roux were the sole shareholders in Jump, which is SA's largest online shopping aggregator. The deal with bidorbuy took a month to negotiate and trumped two offers by local investors. "We were looking for investors and bidorbuy offered more money for less," said Bredenhann. "Organic growth just doesn't happen fast enough. We need to speed up to get market share and take Jump to where it belongs." Jump has been self-funded so far, and all the cash from bidorbuy will go directly into building up the business. The website works by letting users search for goods and compare the prices offered by competing online traders. Once a user clicks through to the trader's website, Jump earns a commission of R1 whether the customer makes a purchase or not. So far all but one of the stores has repeatedly bought more of those click-through credits from Jump. Although the website lists about 600 stores, only 70 have joined the merchant programme where all their products are listed in Jump's catalogue to be searchable by consumers. "I want to reach 100% as soon as possible," said Bredenhann. "We needed the money so we can employ people to help us. This is more than enough to keep us going and bidorbuy can become a majority shareholder if we prove that the first investment was worth it." In June 2005, eBay bought the comparison shopping site Shopping.com for $620m in cash, and the previous year Yahoo! bought a European version, Kelkoo, for €475m. "We do exactly the same as they do," said Bredenhann. At the moment it does it on a far smaller scale, with Jump attracting 202000 visitors last month. The deal was helped by Andy Higgins, the MD of bidorbuy's South African subsidiary. His company aimed to enhance online buying by making it easier, safer and more convenient, and Jump Shopping complemented that, he said. (SOURCE: Business Day) MPS QUESTION UTL PHONE DEAL WITH SUDAN FIRMMPS have questioned the deal between uganda telecom (utl) and a Sudanese company called Gemtel. The legislators want the information and communication technology minister, Ham Muliira, to explain the contract that was not approved by the Government. The chairperson of the committee on commissions and state enterprises, John Odit (Erute South), yesterday also expressed the concern that under the deal the callers were not paying taxes. He said: "Callers use utl's mobile and fixed lines using Uganda's code (+256) to make calls from Sudan to Uganda without paying taxes. We are concerned why the Uganda Communications Commission, which regulates the sector, is not aware of this deal." The MPs wanted to know why the communications commission allowed utl to do business outside Uganda's borders without giving chance to other service providers like MTN and Celtel Uganda. They also sought to know how much revenue Gemtel was remitting to the Government. These issues were raised when the head of the commission, Patrick Masambu, appeared before the committee last week. After the grilling in Parliament, Masambu recorded a statement at the Police headquarters. At Parliament, Masambu admitted that utl operates in Sudan but the commission does control its activities: "We issue operational licences but do not control operation areas of the service providers." The MPs advised the commission to get means of detecting revenue generated by the telecommunication companies and ensure that they remit 1% of it for the development of communication in rural areas. However, Masambu explained: "Installing a machine for each service provider is expensive." (SOURCE: New Vision) IN BRIEF:- Mincom, a software and service provider will be acquired by Francisco Partners in an all cash transaction valued at AUS$315m (R1.85bn). Francisco Partners proposes to acquire all shares and share options in Mincom via a scheme of arrangement that sees Mincom’s shareholders receiving AUS$8.77 (R51.57) in cash per share and option holders receiving AUS$8.76 (R51.50) in cash per option. - The telecommunications cable manufacturing businesses and assets of Reunert and Altron have been merged on 1 February 2007 following the approval of the proposed merger by the Competition Tribunal.
LAUNCH OF A FREE ONLINE MARKET PLACE FOR SECOND-HAND TELECOM EQUIPMENTSAllforsite has recently launched a market place where telecom operators and contractors can buy and sell second-hand telecom equipment (products that have already been used and dismantled, but that are still in good working condition). A similar interface allows the same kind of transaction for excess stock products (brand new products that are still wrapped in their original packaging). These solutions are particularly convenient for the African market, as already established operators and constructors but also challengers can exchange and renew for lower budget and lower risk their telecom infrastructure product. Allforsite offers two possibilities. Customers can buy second-hand equipment in their current state and therefore have them at a minimum cost (around 25% of the OEM price); It is often the best solution (best price versus risk ratio) for non technologic items or low value products (e.g. towers, antennas). However, when a customer buys second-hand BTS, TRX etc., Allforsite always recommends the buyer to also buy refurbishment services in order to minimize his risk and receive an item ready to go on site. This market place offers several advantages for both sellers and buyer. Sellers can offer their products to maximize the profitability of their initial purchasing. It helps them to renew their current equipment. In other word, selling second-hand or excess stock products is a good way to increase cost effectiveness. Buyers can acquire quality products for a very low cost. By choosing this solution, they get significant cost savings against new telecom equipment. In addition, the Allforsite second-hand market place offers customers the possibility to find and trade spare parts that are no longer manufactured. The buyers and sellers can manage their transactions directly or use Allforsite’s mediation. Thus, customers can experience the easy, flexible and effective way of dealing with Allforsite. CAREERJUNCTION LAUNCHES CV2RESUME ONLINECareerJunction says that it has launched a technology that will transform the face of local online recruitment. CV2Resume is designed to convert CVs from a variety of formats into a professional online résumé in a matter of minutes, and to give career seekers access to thousands of jobs online. CV2Resume integrates a résumé parsing technology into the CareerJunction Web site. This specific technology is available in SA for the first time ever, aiming to give career seekers the ability to import their original CV in Word-, PDF- or any text-based format, and, according to CareerJunction, the artificial intelligence tagging technology will read and extract information from the résumé, converting it into the CareerJunction database configuration. Importing the CV into the CareerJunction résumé takes a few seconds, while verifying the information only takes a matter of minutes, the company says. The benefit to career seekers is that they now have an option of either building an online résumé, which is important if they do not have one already crafted, or alternatively they now have the opportunity to simply import their Word or PDF CVs on to CareerJunction and the CV2Resume process will automatically populate a new Resume4Life. “The advantage of an online résumé is that it is matched more accurately in résumé searches, giving career seekers a much greater chance of being found by recruiters who specialise in matching people to job specifications,” explains Kris Jarzebowski, MD and founder of CareerJunction. (SOURCE: ICT World)
HITV BREAKS DSTV MONOPOLY, BEGINS OPERATION - EXPLOITATION OF NIGERIANS UNACCEPTABLE, SAYS NWEKEMonopoly in Nigeria's pay-television industry hitherto enjoyed by South Africa's Multic-hoice, owners of DSTV, was finally broken yesterday when an indigenous firm, Entertainment Highway Limited (HITV), began commercial broadcast in Lagos. Minister of Information and Communications, Mr. Frank Nweke (Jnr), who was the special guest at the launch also described as "ridiculous, exploitative and unacceptable", a situation where Nigerians pay the highest rate for Pay-TV services in any part of the world. HITV is a wireless digital terrestrial platform that has no limit on the channels it can broadcast and is starting with 24 channels including CNN, BBC World, LBC International, Al Jazeera, God Africa, MTV Base, Fox Sports and Nicke-lodeon. It also has specially created channels like Hi-Sports, Hi-Ovation, Hi-Nolly, Nigezie, Hi-KIDS, Hi-Mix and Hi-Biz. The direct-to-home entertainment service provider, HITV, made history late last year when it won the right to broadcast English Premier League (EPL) to its Nigerian subscribers. The implication of this is that from August, South Africa's DSTV would no longer broadcast EPL to its Nigerian subscribers. The company already has rights to broadcast other football leagues including La Liga, Spanish League, Euro 2008 qualifiers, among others. The Managing Dir-ector/Chef Executive Officer of HITV, Mr. Toyin Subair said at the launch that "the achievement of HITV is nothing to be boastful about, but seen as tool to create value, develop the minds of Nigerians and to sell Nigeria's uniqueness to the world." He added that "as part of our strategy, we have channels that would fill any vacuum aside our commitment to be socially responsible in developing, for instance, our National League. That was why we took the management of Nigerian Football League (NFL) to London, where they studied the EPL format. This resulted in the signing of agreement between the EFL and NFL, where EPL would help in the growth of the Nigerian league in a way that it would be attractive to watch. We are different because we have a line up of local content. We have invested so much in the project, all for the benefit of giving pride to Nigerians". HITV, according to Subair, disclosed that four channels have exclusively been dedicated towards selling the Nigerian project and they are Channels TV, Hi-Nolly, Nigezie and Hi-Ovation. Subair who explained that HITV was established to fight the inefficiency, exploitation, poor customer service and stringent subscription payment pattern by foreign operators, which it would replace with local content, animation of Nigerian folktales and good pricing. According to him, "Channels TV would produce 24 hours news for HITV, Hi-nolly would feature series of quality Nigerian home videos, Hi-Ovation, in conjunction with Dele Momodu's Ovation International, would be used as a platform to sell the excellence of Nigerians in Diaspora from all walks of life, while the Nigezie is a strictly music and local show channel with 90 percent Nigerian content being produced by a top Nigerian producer, Olufemi Aderibigbe (popularly called Kwame)" He disclosed that HITV is committed to helping music, sports and entertainment grow in Nigeria as a result of "our belief that pay-TV is a major driver in the development of music, sports and entertainment. HITV as terrestrial, gives it an advantage of cost efficiency and quality output of broadcast which a satellite broadcast would not be able to cope with." Speaking as the special guest, Minister of Information and Communicatins, Mr. Frank Nweke described as "ridiculous, exploitative and unacceptable", a situation where Nigerians pay the highest rate for Pay-TV services in any part of the world. The Minister who said he was extremely proud to be HITV's first customer, lamented the exploitation of Nigerians though the Pay TV business saying, "At N9,000 per month, which is equivalent of $65-$70, Nigeria is far exploited compared to all other societies where Pay TV exists, that they pay between 5 and 10 dollars monthly subsription." He said his support for HITV was not based on personal ground, "but for the integrity and pride of Nigeria as a nation", explaining that "it is also a demonstration of the commitment of the Federal Government to open doors for Nigerians in any legitimate business endeavour, especially in situations where any firm or group of persons from other nations operate in our clime with the intent to shut Nigerians out of engaging profitably in the same venture, thereby outrageously exploiting Nige-rians". Nweke who paid cash to acquire an HITV decoder described the take-off of HITV as a demonstration of the fact that Nigeria is indeed the Heart of Africa, urging HITV to through, its content and broadcast network, "sell the uniqueness of Nigerians to the outside world". Also at the launch were a reputable Nigerian industrialist, Mr. Felix Ohiwerie and Senator Olayinka Omilani, the National Vice Chairman, South West of People's Democratic Party (PDP). (SOURCE: This Day) NTV BACK ON AIR IN UGANDANTV Uganda is back on air. The Nation Media Group station had been switched off on Saturday by the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation at the direction of the Uganda Broadcasting Council. Uganda Broadcasting Council acting managing director Musinguzi-Mugasa alleged that NTV Uganda's facilities were "not in compliance with the industry's accepted standards". Nation Media Group's Editorial Director Wangethi Mwangi said the station was switched on yesterday at around 6.10pm. "Our programming schedule is back on schedule," he said, adding: "Everyone is happy, but it took a lot of lobbying." Efforts to get the station back on air were steered by Mr Wangethi and NMG Chief Executive Linus Gitahi. Mr Gitahi said: "We're happy to be back on air and to continue serving Ugandans as we pledged to." The Uganda Broadcasting Council had also claimed that NTV Uganda's licence application had indicated that the station's location would be at the Serena Hotel, Kampala. NTV studios are at Serena Conference Hotel. (SOURCE: The Nation) BROADCAST DIGITAL UPGRADE WILL BOOST JOBS AND SKILLS IN SOUTH AFRICAUpgrading the national broadcasting infrastructure from analogue to digital at a likely cost of R2bn is an opportunity to create more hi-tech jobs, boost IT skills and invigorate local television and radio production studios, government believes. A network overhaul driven by the international phasing out of analogue technology is not a costly evil but a chance to spread wealth and skills around the country, says the communications department's deputy director-general of policy development, Harold Wesso. Although the International Telecommunications Union cites June 2015 as the final date for axing analogue, SA faces a far more urgent deadline after pledging to broadcast the 2010 World Cup in digital technology. This week, the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation is staging a Digital Broadcasting Switchover conference in Sandton, where the technologies, the timetable, the sheer scale of the task and the enormous costs are under scrutiny. Sentech's acting chief operating officer, Frans Lindeque, estimated recently that modernising and extending SA's telecoms and broadcasting networks was likely to cost R2bn. Sentech alone has asked for R1bn, but has been allocated only R205m over the next three years. Now government is also debating subsidising the set-top boxes that consumers must buy to unscramble digital television signals. Government had to subsidise set-top boxes if it wanted consumers to go digital in time for the World Cup, said Rob Sobey, CEO of Altech UEC. The boxes produced by his company cost about R500. Subsidies introduced in other countries had covered the cost of the boxes and left consumers to pay for their installation, Sobey said. In countries where digital television was introduced without a subsidy, consumers took at least a decade to make the switch, as they objected to buying new equipment to continue receiving a service they already had. "To have a turnaround time of less than 10 years you need a subsidy to empower people to access the services," Sobey said. Wesso expects broadcasters to pay a cumulative R1,5bn for digital licences, and some of that cash could be used to subsidise set-top boxes. He expects another R4bn to be pumped into the economy through job creation as set-top box manufacturers expand with small companies forming to install them and as production studios are set up to create more local programmes. Even greater optimism was displayed by Paris Mashile, chairman of the Independent Communications Authority of SA. "The switch to digital technology offers great opportunities to address the country's social ills," he said. Monopolies in the sector would be done away with, equipment manufacturers would boom, and more efficient broadcasting technology would allow e-government services to be delivered to underprivileged areas. As digital broadcasting was more efficient than analogue, spectrum would be freed up to offer newer services such as television on the cellphone, wireless broadband access, more capacity for educational, health and e-government programmes, and for channels in all 11 official languages. "Greater spectrum efficiencies will deliver new services to benefit the country's economy and consumers," Mashile said. "It is imperative to ensure that all households have access to affordable digital television services and are able to benefit from additional channels." As different radio and television channels competed for an audience, the quality of content would improve, he said. A dynamic industry developing programmes to meet SA's different cultural and linguistic needs should evolve. A note of caution was sounded by Deon Conradie, of the Southern African Digital Broadcasting Association. Conradie warned that there were unrealistic expectations of what the new system could offer, particularly given SA's policy vacuum, the lack of a clear licensing regime for digital broadcasting, and low consumer awareness. At the moment, digital television in SA is dependent on satellite systems as the earth-based delivery systems are not yet ready. Current technologies are not as spectrum-efficient as people believe, and cannot carry six to 10 channels in the same frequency occupied by a single analogue channel. "That's not the case," said Conradie, who is also Sentech head of technology management. At best the current technology could carry two digital channels in the space occupied by one analogue channel, he said. The SABC had to go "shopping galore" to prepare for digital migration, said its acting technical officer, Sharoda Rapeti. A posse of 22 digital cameras was in place for outside broadcasts, with another six still to come. The shopping list for 2010 must also include more access to more international bandwidth and broadcast-friendly stadiums. But visionary leadership and new skills were just as crucial as physical equipment, Rapeti said. "We need visionary leadership to transition us and implement these projects. We need content producers to focus on production competencies to explore the ability of these technologies. "We shouldn't underestimate the development time we need to get really robust content development going." (SOURCE: Business Day) IN BRIEF:- South African customers may soon be able to upgrade to digital television viewing with financial help from the state as the communications department debates whether to subsidise the purchase of set-top boxes. - Khalil Guèye, CEO of Génération Tv has launched an online TV channel in Senegal. Viewer can log onto www.nbnlive.com/ to get up-to-date political, economic, social and cultural news of Senegal.
PEOPLEMike Frayne, co-founder and former executive Chairman of Intec Telecom Systems, joins VoluBill as a non -executive Director. EVENTSMEETING AFRICA’S BANKING NEEDS: WORLD-CLASS OR ALL-CLASS BANKING SYSTEMS?” 5-8 February 2007, Nairobi, Kenya The African Banking Technology Conference will provide the region’s banking community with in-depth briefings from African and international experts that will enable them to assess latest banking technology systems and strategies to achieve an effective and profitable balance. For further information visit www.aitecafrica.com - BROADBAND SUMMIT 2007 26-27 February 2007, Southern Sun, Grayston, South Africa South Africa faces a huge broadband demand, from all sides. However, the broadband access media and business strategies in South Africa still do not resemble the international standards. In order to reach these standards you as ISPs, mobile and/or fixed operators, need to assess the current and future potential of the African broadband market. For further information visit http://www.iir-conferences.co.za/eventInfo.php?e=1202 - SMB ROADSHOW 2007 - MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA 26th March 2007, Nile Hilton, Cairo, Egypt. IDC's SMB Roadshow provides a comprehensive and trustworthy platform for discussing strategic IT issues directly impacting the SMB sector. Debate led by recognised experts and based on best practices and sound technology analysis provide objective and critical insights required by leaders in this sector. This event will target IT decision makers - by vertical industry sector - within SMBs across the region. For further information visit http://www.idc-cema.com/events/smbeg07 - 1stWEST AFRICAN E-CONTENT SUMMIT 4-7 April 2007 – Cotonou, Benin This ICT symposium expects to launch the official discussions to establish the “Panafrican Agency for New Media, advocated to provide training courses in new media management for young people in Africa in to bridge the content gap. For further information visit http://www.icnm.net/ - eLEARNING AFRICA 2007 28-30th May 2007, Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi, Kenya The subject is Building Infrastructures and Capacities to Reach out to the Whole of Africa, reflecting the significant efforts of African countries to set up their national and regional ICT infrastructures to create access to education, training and services for all. For further information visit www.icwe.net or call +49-30-327 6140 - ICTS FOR CIVIL SOCIETY CONFERENCE June 2007 – South Africa The conference and exhibition organised by SANGONeT will be aimed at increasing NGOs’ awareness of the strategic importance of their websites and the online environment in general. For further information visit http://sangonet.org.za - TELECOMS WORLD AFRICA 31st July - 2nd August 2007, Johannesburg, South Africa Key decision-makers in South Africa and leading international players will share their expertise and forge invaluable business relationships in a highly interactive environment. For further information visit www.terrapinn.com/2007/telecomza - WI-WORLD AFRICA 2007 27 – 30 August 2007, Michelangelo Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa. In Africa, fixed-line infrastructure is lacking and there is a major problem with copper wire theft. Wireless communication is therefore a great alternative. For further information visit www.terrapinn.com/2007/telecomza JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIESSENIOR LEVEL OPPORTUNITIES IN ICT – EAST AFRICA The company is a key player in the Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) sector within the East Africa region and has interests in voice, data, broadcast and fibre services, with a wide service offering to both businesses and individuals in all industry sectors. The company is looking to fill various strategic positions to take leading roles in the continuing transformation of the organisation in this fast-moving sector. Specifically they are seeking to recruit a Chief Finance Officer, Chief Commercial Officer, Chief Logistics Officer and Chief, Strategy and Regulatory Affairs Officer. These are senior positions, and the individuals concerned can expect to play a major part in the development of the sector in the future. The appointed candidates will have demonstrated their ability to lead and shape an organisation, and a track record of successfully managing multiple complex business issues. For further information contact advertising@balancingact-africa.com SYSTEMS INTEGRATOR / BSCS SPECIALIST - MOZAMBIQUE The company is currently looking for a Senior System Integrator/BSCS Specialist. The role includes BSCS billing experience of over 5 years, BSCS EC module implementation experience (Interconnect). Experience in supporting operator interconnect reconciliation processes. Ericsson EMM experience and preferred IX experience. Applicant must be fluent in English, Portuguese would be an advantage For further information contact advertising@balancingact-africa.com CONTRACTS: WHO'S SELLING WHAT TO WHOM?GLOBACOM AND ALCATEL - NIGERIA Nigeria's second national operator (SNO) in telecommunication Globacom and global solutions provider Alcatel-Lucent have entered into a $600 million (about N78 billion) network expansion deal. Under the terms of the deal, Alcatel will deploy nation wide fixed and mobile networks as well new next generation IP/MPLS and optical network solution which would expand Globacom's national mobile network capacity from its current 12 million subscribers to 35 million by December. SWAZILAND TELEVISION AND SPESCOM MEDIA IT - SWAZILAND Spescom Media IT has been awarded a R15,5m contract by the Swaziland Television Authority (Swazi TV). Swazi TV purchased the latest Avid Newsroom production system and Sony XDCAM to upgrade its current analogue news production system. The resulting digital newsroom system will take the company from a tape to a tapeless environment, which will put it on a par with its broadcast neighbours in SA." The upgrade is scheduled to go live in April.
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This page last updated on February 12 2007.
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