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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 350 TOP STORY: ANGOLA – OIL REVENUES FUEL RAPID GROWTH IN TELECOMSAfter the Angolan civil war ended in 2002 a great deal of the country’s infrastructure was in ruins. Since then it has used its oil revenues to start the process of reconstructing its telecoms infrastructure and has tentatively begun to open up the telecoms and Internet sectors to wider competition. However this process is really only in its initial stages and further liberalisation may follow. The telco incumbent is the Government-owned Angola Telecom and it was a partner in the SAT3 fibre and is also the monopoly gateway provider. It has recently reduced international bandwidth prices but they remain relatively high. Privatisation has been in discussion for years and there are rumours that now the Luanda Stock Exchange is operational, the Government may launch an IPO. Pressure to do something comes from Angola’s increasing integration into SADC and the need to start running a modern private sector economy now the war is over. Its main competitor is MS Telecom, a subsidiary of the Government-owned oil parastatal, Sonangol which runs a diverse portfolio of companies including an airline, housing and banking. In other words, the Government is competing with itself in the telecoms sector. Another fixed line operator Mundo Startel (partly owned by Telecom Namibia) is due to enter the fixed line market some time in the next six months. There are two mobile companies: a GSM provider called Unitel in which Portugal Telecom has a strategic stake that the Government would like to buy back and float locally; and Movicel, a subsidiary of Angola Telecom that offers subscribers a CDMA service. Angola’s capital Luanda is showing the familiar symptoms of oil-fuelled growth. There are a considerable number of new cars on the road and traffic makes getting around town time-consuming. There is a queue of ships waiting to get into the harbour to deliver much needed materials. Hotels have been booked up two months in advance by the oil industry and new buildings are going up all over the capital. But despite some of the usual negatives (like corruption), the Government seems to spending billions on infrastructure. MOVICEL LAUNCHES 3G SERVICE AND ATTRACTS 3000 CUSTOMERSLaunched at the end of 2006, Movicel’s new 3G service, Movinet has in just over three months attracted 3,000 subscribers. This scale of subscriber base reflects a number of factors. Luanda has a considerable number of foreign workers who value having a mobile Internet service. There are also a considerable number of corporate users within the Luanda coverage area. Lastly, it is a very fast service for those who can afford the tariffs and Movicel claims that it is more reliable than DSL from Angola Telecom. Currently the fixed line part of the incumbent has only 1,000 broadband subscribers. A post-paid 150K download service costs US$110. A post-paid 300k download service costs US$170 and I meg service costs US$250. There are also pre-pay plans available across the same download bands. Only the 300K and 1 meg download service actually use the 3G service. Movicel’s commercial strategy is to slowly lower these initial prices in order to make the service more popular. The service is currently only available in Luanda but will be rolled out to the oil enclave of Cabinda and Angola’s second city Benguela in about one month’s time. There are problems getting back the investment outside major commercial hot spots like these. Currently the service only offers Internet but there will be a system upgrade that will allow video before too long. Movicel currently has 1 million subscribers against Unitel’s 2.5 million. But it is hoping to give the market leader a run for its money. It has strategies which understandably it does not want to talk about that it believes will make it the market leader in 1-1.5 years time. Part of the recipe is improving its service against its competitor’s. Although it has coverage in all of Angola’s 18 provinces, it plans to increase both its coverage and the quality of its coverage. In August 2006 it had 230 base stations and by the end of 2007 it plans to have 280 base stations. There has been some talk of a third mobile entrant being approved by the Government. Movicel’s CTO Feliciano Antonio say:”It will come but this issue has arisen mainly to force existing operators to improve the quality of their service. Competition improves service.” However it appears that a new entrant will come into the market in the next 12 months. TWO ANGOLAN OPERATORS OFFER VoIP SERVICEAlthough there is no formal law governing VoIP in Angola, existing operator MS Telecom and the new venture Mundo Startel are both operating voice on IP networks. MS Telecom was put together through a process of consolidating existing ISPs. Angolan ISP Nexus bought Ebonet and it was in turn absorbed into Sonangola subsidiary MS Telecom. MS Telecom operates in the fixed line and Internet markets but is largely focused on corporate customers. It has ambitious roll-out plans including investing in a metropolitan fibre network in Luanda and using WiMAX to connect to this network. Next it will roll-out to three provinces (Cabinda, Benguela and Malanje) using the same combination of fibre and wireless. All of its voice traffic goes over IP and it sends out international voice through arrangements with Norwegian satellite carrier Taide and Hong Kong-based international IP operator New Dawn. Currently it costs about US78 cents a minute to make a call to Washington DC. Mundo Startel is still uncertain as to exact launch date but is certain that it will come before the autumn of this year. It is also planning to compete in the fixed line and Internet space and believes that in its first year it will attract 4-5,000 subscribers. However, over 5 years it believes that this figure will rise to 50,000. It is building a WiMAX network using Alvarion equipment that will start in Luanda and then go along the coast to Benguela before rolling out more widely in other provinces. It plans to offer rates that are 20% cheaper than its competitors and will do so on a full MPLS controlled IP network. In the long-term this will have the potential for IP-TV and video on demand but this will not be possible in the initial phases die to limitations of backhaul bandwidth. Beyond these licensed operators is a lively grey market. We interviewed two operators who we’ll call Domingo and Inacio: one of them operates in Luanda and the other in the provinces. Domingo whose main business is in Luanda has a monthly average of 60,000 minutes whilst his colleague Inacio does around 35,000 minutes a month. They are both offering international calls to main destinations for between US25-31 cents a minute. The main users are business people and expatriate workers. There is no line blocking by the incumbent and grey market operators are by all accounts numerous. But isn’t all this illegal? Domingo smiles:”We do not have legislation in this regard and therefore there is no regulation. It’s considered illegal but they are working on ways to accommodate it. We hear that MS Telecom is doing VoIP. It’s not so easy to stop.”
GOVERNMENT SHOULD ACT OR GET OUT OF TELKOM SOUTH AFRICAOne thing clearly emerging from the loss of Telkom's CEO last week is the uncomfortable -- if not impossible -- conflict between the company's government owners and the private sector. Government holds 38% and the Public Investment Corporation 7%, giving the state a sizable say in how it is run. Yet the other 55% is held by private shareholders with utterly different goals. Private investors applaud Telkom for its massive profits, while government and the president himself berate it for keeping its prices high. So high that the economy is damaged by the rampant cost of telecoms, and so high that only the richer consumers can afford internet access. One current clash involves Telkom's investment in an undersea cable to increase Africa's bandwidth. Government wants the companies that build the cable to sell the bandwidth at affordable rates. Telkom, out of habit and to please its private shareholders, wants to make its usual killing. Government must have thought it was pretty smart in appointing Papi Molotsane as CEO. By drawing him from the unnoticed ranks of Transnet, it no doubt expected him to be grateful and acquiesce to its wishes to run Telkom as a state-owned puppet entity. Molotsane failed to do that, yet his defiance did not much please the private shareholders either, as he made other mistakes and lost many of Telkom's most talented people. What happens next is crucial. Analysts fear that the government will try to appoint a pliable CEO to cut Telkom's prices, and roll out lines to unprofitable rural areas to increase the coverage. That would be great for SA as a whole, but a slap in the face to local shareholders and an unforgivable anathema to foreign investors. The best solution would see the government step back and allow the board -- with the help of independent advisers -- to appoint a commercially driven CEO to run Telkom as a proper business. Better still, it could do what it should have done years ago and privatise the entire thing, and stop meddling completely. A less palatable but perhaps more honourable alternative, given its seemingly increasing desire to fiddle with the telecoms industry, would be to buy out private investors and regain control of Telkom. A radical option suggested by an insider is to sell Telkom to a foreign operator, such as Vodafone. Vodafone already owns 50% of Vodacom and is dying to control it completely. Buying into Telkom may be the only way to achieve that. But imagine the controversy that would cause, given SA's quest for local black empowerment. What will probably happen is that government will be unable to resist hand-picking a CEO and putting him under pressure to toe the line. But we have already seen the disaster that creates. (SOURCE: Business Day) FRANCE TELECOM ACQUIRES MOBILE AND INTERNET LICENSE IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLICFollowing the recent acquisition of mobile licenses in Guinea-Bissau and Guinea, France Telecom announced last week that it has further strengthened its presence in Africa by acquiring a mobile and internet license in the Central African Republic. Indeed, France Telecom has just signed an agreement with the Central African State for a mobile and internet license, with the commercial activities of Orange's new subsidiary in this country scheduled to start up before the end of the year. This new presence in Central Africa represents a further breakthrough for the Orange brand in Africa and internationally. On the continent, Orange is already present in Botswana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mali and Senegal, serving nearly 10 million customers in this region. France Telecom also has strong positions in Egypt, Jordan and Mauritius, with more than 13 million customers in these three countries. BT TERMINATES AGREEMENT WITH TRANSCORP IN NIGERIA CITING LACK OF CAPITAL AND GOVERNANCEBritish Telecom (BT) has pulled out of the technical services agreement with Transnational Corporation Plc (Transcorp) for the management of NITEL and its mobile subsidiary, MTel. Transcorp, with BT as its technical partner had acquired a 51 per cent stake in NITEL last year under the privatisation exercise handled by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). But in a letter to Transcorp, BT cited the unavailability of working capital needed to turn around NITEL and MTel, and the lack of adherence to corporate governance principles by the companies' management and their boards as the reason for its decision to withdraw from the agreement. The decision by BT to terminate the technical services agreement it has with Transcorp could not have come at a worse time for the Nigerian conglomerate which is yet to overcome the disappointing returns from its initial public offering (IPO). Capital market analysts estimate that the Transcorp's IPO may have been undersubscribed by as much as 70 per cent. Under the technical services agreement, BT was expected to have provided technical and managerial expertise to Transcorp for one year in the first instance, but the contract comes up for review by both parties every six months. In exchange for its services and upon meeting key performance benchmarks that had been agreed under the contract, BT was supposed to have been paid a fixed fee and a performance bonus by Transcorp. In addition, salaries of its two contract staff seconded to run NITEL and MTel for the duration of the technical services agreement would have been met by Transcorp. Transcorp had also committed to raising substantial funds from banks and the capital market to inject into both telecom firms for their network expansion programmes and in order to meet other commercial obligations. In that regard, Messrs Steve Brookman and John Weir were seconded by BT as CEOs of NITEL and MTel respectively in November last year to oversee their day to day operations. Ms Funke Okpeke, meanwhile, was employed by Transcorp and appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO) of NITEL. But ever since Transcorp took over NITEL, and by extension its mobile subsidiary in November, the reconstituted boards of both companies have been enmeshed in internal wrangling among its members, on the one hand, and disagreements with the British CEOs on how best to manage the companies on another. Specifically, John Weir, who was appointed CEO of MTel, has been at loggerheads with the company's chairman, Gboyega Olulade and other board members over the selection of equipment vendors for the company's network expansion programme. Weir was said to have shown a preference for the appointment of Huawei and Motorola, while Olulade was pushing for Ericsson and other vendors. Weir also took umbrage over the appointment of the new Chief Technical Officer (CTO), Davidson Anene, by Olulade without his input, and is said to have refused to recognise Anene as the company's CTO. Things came to a head last month when MTel's board comprising Transcorp members and Federal Government representatives terminated Weir's appointment and gave BT four weeks within which it was expected to send his replacement. His dismissal did not sit well with BT which was already getting disenchanted with Transcorp's inability to deliver on its promise to provide working capital for NITEL and MTel, thus compelling it to pull out of the agreement in its entirety. Both companies are also riddled with massive debts owed banks, equipment suppliers and unsettled interconnect fees. The void created by BT's withdrawal could not have come at a worse time for Transcorp. The company's IPO held between December and January this year is believed to have been undersubscribed by 70 per cent. Even a two week extension granted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to Transcorp which embarked on road shows to the UK and South Africa to shore up investors' participation in the offer did not help matters. Capital market operators are of the view Transcorp grossly underestimated the capacity of the market to absorb another major public offer right on the heels of the Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc IPO. According to a market analyst, "the timing for Transcorp's offer was obviously not right. It came at the end of the year when most investors were cashing in to raise money for the yuletide season. Besides, it came immediately after Dangote's IPO which had soaked up most of the investible funds in the market." Transcorp, he posited, should have bid its time and waited to go to the market later this year when investors would have had a clearer picture on the company's direction. The undersubscribed offer is already impacting on Transcorp's share price which has been on a downward spiral since the technical suspension on the company's shares was lifted twice by the Nigerian Stock Exchange. A few weeks after the IPO had closed the Stock Exchange lifted the suspension placed on Transcorp's share which took a hit in four days of trading to fall from N9.71 kobo per share to N8.34 kobo per share. Without prior notice to stock brokers, the Exchange placed another technical suspension on the shares, which was ostensibly done to stop the free fall. However, the official explanation given by the Exchange for the second suspension was that it had done so to enable the Issuing Houses to the offer conclude collation of returns. (SOURCE: This Day) ORANGE WARNS COMPETITORS OVER LICENCE IN BOTSWANAOrange Botswana warned its competitors last week that the issuing of service neutral licences is coming at a time when it is working on a new strategy to give customers value for money. The mobile phone company, which is currently neck-on-neck for a slice of the lucrative market with Mascom Botswana, recently became the second recipient of the service neutral licence or Public Telecommunications Operator (PTO) licence. It joins fixed line monopoly, Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) that got its licence last month. When receiving the licence, the youthful acting chief executive officer for Orange Botswana, Keabetswe Segole, said that it is an enabler of the company's initiative dubbed NExT - New Experience in Telecomms Strategy. Though he did not divulge more details about NExT Strategy, which is adopted by Orange worldwide, he said it will be a destination beyond mobile to broadband and fixed line. This is in line with the company’s strategy as it has developed in France. "The award of PTO comes in perfect time for Orange. Our company is growing, the world around us is changing everyday and the expectations of our customers are at zenith," Segole said. Segole said the NExT strategy would help Orange's vision to transform into a leading integrated telecommunications operator offering not only mobile but other services. The company would not be restricted to mobile telephony alone. PTO allows telecommunications providers (Orange, Mascom and BTC) to offer, among others, mobile telephony, fixed telephony and Internet services under one licence. Thari Pheko, the chief executive officer for the regulator, Botswana Telecommunications Authority (BTA), explained that the new licensing regime caters for New Generation Networks and the advent of broadband wireless access. "We therefore expect new and innovative services to emerge beyond voice, bringing convenient and affordable services to emerge beyond voice and generating value for operators," he said. Pheko revealed that BTA would continue working towards achieving sustainable competition in communications to make the country competitive globally. It is not known whether Orange rival, Mascom, has applied for a unified licence although its representatives were at the Orange licensing handover. (SOURCE: Mmegi/The Reporter) ETISALAT DEFERS EGYPT OPERATIONSEtisalat has pushed back the start of commercial operations in Egypt by two months and will now launch in May, a top company official confirmed last week. Etisala Egypt , or etisalat Misretisalat Misr as it is known in Arabic, will soft launch later this month and then officially inaugurate its mobile services in May, Jamal Al Jarwan, general manager of international business, told Gulf News. Victor Font, managing partner at telecom advisory firm Delta Partners, said a two-month delay was not a major setback but would nonetheless provide a window for the incumbent operators to attract new customers. "Egypt is still very much a growing market and therefore every day a new operator is delayed there is a relevant cost of opportunity," he said. Early reports from the Egyptian ministry of communications had predicted a February start, although the company had until last week forecast a March launch. "The decision to delay the launch is from the management to make sure the network is ready from all aspects," Al Jarwan said. "We wanted to make sure the launch was with everything tested and ready to go." Although the initiation of service was expected as early as February, the company has until May 21 under the terms of the telecom licence awarded by the Egyptian government. Al Jarwan discounted media reports attributing the change to a delay in signing interconnection agreements with Egypt's two incumbent operators, Vodafone Egypt and Mobinil. "I believe the agreement has happened or it is happening - it's never been reported as an issue," he said. Etisalat won Egypt's third mobile licence last July when it offered 16.7 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.9 billion) to become the third mobile operator, beating out runner-up bidder MTC Group from Kuwait. Etisalat currently operates in 14 countries in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. Etisalat networks will cover 70 per cent of the Egyptian population when it launches, initially operating in Egypt's five largest cities. The firm expects to acquire 10 million subscribers by 2010, or 25 per cent of the market. (SOURCE: Gulf News)
IN BRIEF:- According to Yemen Times, Sudan’s regulator the National Telecom Corporation has granted SabaFon a licence to operate a GSM network following a recent tender and evaluation process. - Nigeria’s National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) expressed disappointment over the" high cost of 3G Frequency Licence put at $150 million by the telecommunications regulator NCC. - The Board of Sotelma, Mali’s national incumbent met at the beginning of April to discuss means to resolve the financial deficit of the company. In 2006, the company’s has registered a decrease in revenue on its fixed line business due to competition and internal inefficiencies. However the 2007 budget proposal still forecasts a deficit of 2.6 billion CFA francs ($5.2 million). Sotelma has been hard hit by competition from the second national operator, Ikatel. - The Lagos State Government has indicated its intention to appeal the February 25 judgment of a Federal High Court, which voided the Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (IMRA) Law 2004. - Telekom Malaysia (TM) has sold its entire 60% stake in Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM) to MTL Mobile for USD16 million. The sale is part of a broader re-orientation of TM's international investment strategy to focus on geographic regions closer to home,’ a spokesperson for the Malaysian telco told local newspaper Bursa Malaysia. TELECOMS, RATES, OFFERS AND COVERAGE- Globacom, Nigeria's second national carrier, is set to launch a 3G service following the conclusion of the payment of the $150 million license fee for its licence. The other 3G winners were MTN Nigeria, Celtel and Alheri Engineering Ltd. - In Zimbabwe, Econet Wireless has with immediate effect barred all its prepaid customers from making international calls citing foreign currency shortages. - Post and ICT Minister Boudjemaâ Haïchour, considered as "serious" Algeria's progress in the field of the digitalization and ICT use, revealing that the country ranks at present "first at the level from the Maghreb in phone density and second on the African continent after South Africa." - The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) has revealed a five-year strategic plan that will see it invest ETB37 billion (USD4.34 billion) in expanding its fixed and wireless networks. The ETC also expects to extend its 14,000km fibre-optic backbone to 40,000km over the same timeframe. - In Senegal, the Sonatel’s mobile arm has launched two new services named “Business Everywhere” and “Push-mail” targeted at companies and professionals on the move. Remote data access is one of the new services on offer. - Mobile operator Celtel Niger has announced a reduction on its international rates. The price on international calls will decrease by an average of 35%. A minute to Algeria, Benin or Burkina-Faso will go down from 507 CFA francs ($1.01) to 350 CFA francs ($0.70).
INTERNET CENSORSHIP ON THE INCREASE IN TUNISIAOmar Mestiri, the editor of the opposition online newspaper "Kalima", is the victim of judicial harassment, Reporters Without Borders has said of a libel suit that could result in a three-year prison sentence. The organisation also called on the authorities to stop blocking the video-sharing site Dailymotion ( http://www.dailymotion.com ), which has been inaccessible in Tunisia since 1 April. "The lawsuit against Mestiri is absurd because it is based on an online article that cannot even be accessed from within Tunisia," Reporters Without Borders said. "But we take this case very seriously. The three and a half year sentence imposed on lawyer Mohammed Abbou in April 2005 for an article posted online showed how the Tunisian courts are controlled by the government and how a libel suit can lead to a heavy sentence." The press freedom organisation added: "The censorship of Dailymotion's website shows that the government, which is as paranoid about the Internet as it is about the traditional press, is ready to ban tens of thousands of inoffensive videos in order to block a handful it does not like." The suit against Mestiri was brought by Tunisian lawyer Mohammed Baccar over an article posted on 5 September 2006 accusing him of fraud and forgery. Mestiri was summoned by the deputy state prosecutor to respond to a charge of libel on 29 March. Mestiri's lawyers have challenged the suit's legal basis on the grounds that Kalima's site is blocked in Tunisia and the article could not have been accessed there. The blocking of the http://www.dailymotion.com site may have been prompted by the posting of a number of videos on the political situation in Tunisia. (SOURCE: Reporters sans Frontières) KENYA, BURUNDI AND MADAGASCAR SECURE FUNDS FOR HI-SPEED INTERNETKenya, Burundi and Madagascar have secured a US$164.5 million loan from the World Bank to help roll-out high-speed Internet networks. The World Bank said the money was being made available to boost business competitiveness in the region. Eastern and much of southern Africa is the only region in the world not connected to the global broadband infrastructure, the World Bank said. Kenya will take the lion's share of the funding, with a $114.4 million loan. Madagascar is due to receive a $30 million loan, while Burundi will receive a grant worth $20.1 million, the World Bank said. The Washington-based lender said businesses in the three countries were being held back because of the lack of high-speed Internet networks. "University students suffer because they cannot access the Internet, and government agencies cannot communicate effectively with each other and their citizens because they are not connected," the bank added. Currently, the region relies on satellites for connectivity, with costs among the highest in the world. But World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz said Africa was becoming increasingly "plugged-in": "Improving broadband connectivity will add tremendous public value for Africa," he said. "Low-cost, high-quality communications is essential for economic competitiveness." The head of Kenyan outsourcing firm KenCall, backed the World Bank's move. "It is absolutely imperative that something be done right now to make bandwidth affordable," said KenCall chief executive, Nicholas Nesbitt."Otherwise, we're going to miss a huge opportunity and people are simply going to say that Africa is not ready for these kinds of jobs, is not ready for business." Meanwhile the fourth contender to build an East African fibre cable – the SEACOM project – appointed its marine survey company. Tyco Telecommunications, a business unit of Tyco Electronics and an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology and marine services, announced last week it was awarded the SEACOM marine survey by Herakles Telecom, LLC. The 13,000 km marine survey commences the development of the undersea fiber optic network which will provide high capacity bandwidth connectivity between South Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, India and Europe. LIBYA, COTE D'IVOIRE GET TOP LEVEL DOMAIN NAMESFollowing the conclusion of the 28th public session of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in the Portuguese city of Lisbon, Africa topped the agenda as two out of the three formalised country code top level domain (ccTLD) managers at the meeting came from the continent. These are Libyan (.ly) and .ci for Cote d'Ivoire being managed respectively by the General Post and Telecommunications Company and Institut National Polytechnique Felix Houphouet Boigny, in addition to Russian (.ru) under the supervision of the Coordination Center. Speaking at the end of the session attended by over 830 participants from 81 countries, ICANN chairman Vint Cerf said that they had just finished "one of ICANN's busiest and issue-intensive meetings and it helped ICANN make substantial progress on numerous fronts." According to Cerf, some of the top considerations at the meeting consisted of the formalisation of three relationships with country code top level domain managers, including Libyan General Post and Telecommunication Company, Ivoiren Institut National Polytechnique Felix Houphouet Boigny and Russian Coordination Center. Cerf also pointed to the formation of a new working group to develop the recommendations in the Final Task Force Report on Whois Services presented to the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GSNO). He said the group would have broad and balanced participation and had just 120 days to consider input and report back to the GNSO council, which will in turn decide whether to recommend any changes on Whois policy to the ICANN board. The Lisbon meeting is one of the three held each year that is open for public participation and forms an essential component of ICANN's efforts to consult the global community. Meanwhile, the African internet community under the sponsorship of the African Network Operators Group (AfNOG) has concluded plans to gather at Abuja in Nigeria for a four-day meeting in 2007. The event is being organised in collaboration with AfriNIC, the regional registry for internet number resources for Africa, and the Internet Society (ISOC). Isoc African regional bureau manager Dawit Bekele said the Abuja meeting would take place from May 1 to May 4. He also said that the four-day event would provide a public forum for the African internet community and policy makers to discuss different aspects of the internet on the continent, from network operations to internet resources management policies and standards development. Bekele said the forum would discuss, among other issues, the impact of international domain names (IDNs), unwanted traffic, security and the governance of the internet on national and regional information societies and information and communication technology capacity building. He also pointed out that the forum is expected to concentrate on internet governance and on the priorities for Africa for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) that will take place in Rio in November 2007. Bekele said the meeting would be preceded by a five-day workshop organised by AfNOG. (SOURCE: Hana) NIGERIA’S FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OKAYS N1.2B FOR CYBERSECURITY DIRECTORATEThe Federal Government has released N1.2 billion to its new Directorate for Cybersecurity (DfC) to respond to security issues associated with growing usage of internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the country. The development is bad news for con artists who have devised means of using the internet for fraudulent activities ranging from '419' scam mails, hacking and spoofing websites, among others. This Days checks in Abuja revealed that the money approved for the DfC as its take-off fund is the highest by an African nation towards addressing problems of online and other crimes committed using computer networks and allied technologies. Also, former Legal Adviser of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and lately Coordinator of the Nigerian Cyber crime Working Group (NCWG), Mr. Basil Udotai, has been appointed Director and pioneer head of the DfC. The development trails a new report by the U.S. Government that the country followed by the U.K. topped the list of 'perpetrator' countries of cyber crime activities in the year 2006. The DfC, situated under the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), has been given the mandate to develop and implement a National Cybersecurity Policy and also coordinate the protection of critical information infrastructure in the country. Meanwhile, the Internet Crime Report 2006, released by The Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3), a U.S. government agency and collaborative initiative of the National White Collar Crime Centre (NW3C) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), set up to address cyber crime, has shown that the growing criminal activities targeting Americans resulted in estimated loss of $198.44 million last year. The report says that 200,481 complaints were filed over crime including online fraud, intellectual property rights matters, computer intrusions (hacking), economic espionage (theft of trade secrets), child pornography, international money laundering, identity theft, among others. According to the report, the Top 10 'perpetrator' nations in 2006 according to the ranking include: United States (60.9%), United Kingdom (15.9%), Nigeria (5.9%), Canada (5.6%) and Romania (1.6%). Others are Italy (1.2%), Netherlands (1.2%), Russia (1.1%), Germany (0.7%) and South Africa (0.6%) According to the report, victims reported an average of $5,100 loss to "Nigerian Letter Fraud" last year when a total dollar loss of $198.44 million was recorded for all refereed cases, higher than the previous year's figure of $183.12 million. "Of those complaints with a reported monetary loss, the mean dollar loss was $2529.90 and the median was $724.00. Sixteen percent ( 15.6%) of these complaints involved losses of less than $100.00, and (39.4%) reported a loss between $100.00 and $1,000.00. In other words, over half of these cases involved a monetary loss of less than $1,000.00. Nearly a third ( 31.6%) of the complainants reported losses between $1,000.00 and $5,000.00 and only 13.3% indicated a loss greater than $5,000.00. The highest dollar loss per incident was reported by Nigerian Letter Fraud (median loss of $5, 100.00). Check fraud victims, with a median loss of $3,744.00 and investment fraud (median loss of $2,694.99) were other high dollar loss categories. The lowest dollar loss was associated with credit/debit card fraud (median loss of $427.50)", according to the report. (SOURCE: This Day) IN BRIEF:- Competition for a contract to build a broadband “blanket” across Johannesburg is proving fierce, with 24 companies answering an initial request for information. - Tender bids for the connection of schools in Kenya to the Internet will be floated in a month's time. Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), Director General, John Waweru, said nine Internet service providers (ISPs) had done a detailed survey on the connection of the schools. - In South Africa Vodacom announced changes in the organisational structure of the Vodacom Group, with a new company which will focus on Vodacom’s WiMAX, ISP (Internet Service Provider) and VPN (Virtual Private Network) business.
SUB-COUNTIES GET DATABASE IN UGANDAThe Ugandan Government is set to spend about USH1bn to design a community information system data base. The system will simplify the dissemination of information by the Government. It will also enable the Government to monitor its programmes to fight poverty. John Male, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) the executive director, disclosed recently that his organisation would spearhead the development of the database in all sub-counties. The database will store and provide regular, reliable and meaningful reports on households, community services, production and markets to ministries, agencies and donors. Male said this will help in planning, budgeting, evaluating and monitoring policies for sub-counties and parishes that are most stricken by poverty. According to the 1992-1999 UBOS report, 73% of the people in Kaabong Township in Kotido district live below the poverty line compared to 11% of the central region. The report explains that the census-based predictions show that the northern region was most hit at 74%. (SOURCE: New Vision) IT STAFF 'LACK INNOVATION' IN SOUTH AFRICALocal software developers are lacking in talent and innovation, stoking a high level of dissatisfaction among companies that employ them or use their products. A severe lack of innovation and inadequate support are the main gripes expressed by corporate customers, academics and government buyers, according to a survey for the Cape IT Initiative (Citi). The study shows that end users are becoming increasingly disheartened by the lack of innovation in today's software graduates. Companies also complain that the staff they hire become intellectually lazy after being recruited, forcing them to question whether SA's training institutes are preparing students to compete in an aggressive international market, says Citi's executive director, Viola Manuel. Large and small software companies alike are also frustrated by a lack of government intervention to grow and develop the software engineering sector. Although this is a richly innovative country, Manuel says action must be taken soon if it is to remain that way. The survey will help to shape the agenda for a software engineering colloquium to be held in Cape Town on May 8. The findings will be discussed, and participants will be asked to come up with workable solutions. Their suggestions will be presented to the government and other stakeholders. "This will not be a finger-pointing exercise, but rather an opportunity for the government to hear first-hand from industry what needs to be done to protect our industry from the growing intellectual malaise that it is falling into," Manuel said. "We wanted to hear from those most affected, and come up with an agenda that would find solutions." Complaints about a lack of programming skills confirm a need for initiatives that let software development students gain work experience during their studies, says Pierre van der Merwe, an applications manager at Fujitsu. "The problem that most new developers complain about is not being able to get work without on-site experience," he says. "The government also needs to give a larger number of schoolchildren the opportunity, or access to equipment, to start experimenting at a young age. Unless we get our youth involved and interested, we may run out of skilled resources due to the demand and rate of growth in the IT industry." Van der Merwe believes SA can compete well abroad and export more software because its quality can be high. "The current interest in software development as a career at postgraduate level compared to past years is fairly high," he says. That was matched by a growing demand for postgraduates' services, albeit mainly for more specialised developers. Companies also need to do more training themselves, he says. "As IT is the way of the future, there needs to be more emphasis on software development at schools and more graduate intake programmes in larger companies." (SOURCE: Business Day) UBUNTU PLANS NEW ULTRA-FREE VERSIONIn the usual announcement to the Ubuntu developer list Ubuntu founder Mark Suttleworth this morning announced the name of the next Ubuntu release plus one, due out in October 2007: Gutsy Gibbon. Gutsy will follow Feisty Fawn due for release on April 19. But, more interestingly, Shuttleworth also talked of a new ultra-free version of Ubuntu that can be expected alongside Gutsy Gibbon. The new "flavour" of Ubuntu will take "an ultra-orthodox view of licensing: no firmware, drivers, imagery, sounds, applications, or other content which do not include full source materials and come with full rights of modification, remixing and redistribution ... for those who demand a super-strict interpretation of the 'free' in free software," said Shuttleworth. He said the new distro would be done in conjunction with the team behind Gnewsense, the Free Software Foundation-backed Gnu/Linux distribution. The move follows prolonged discussion on the Ubuntu developers' lists over the past year in which the inclusion of non-free components, particularly video drivers, has been raised as problematic. In February the Ubuntu developer team announced that, despite requests, proprietary software would not be enabled by default in the forthcoming Feisty release. If a new "free-er" Ubuntu distribution is to be released in October it is very likely that the inclusion of proprietary drivers in the default Ubuntu release may again be on the cards. Shuttleworth said that easier installation routines will be a key goal for Gutsy development. "The Gibbon will take easy installation to a whole new level, with work on an unattended-installation infrastructure in Ubiquity that makes it trivial to roll out Ubuntu desktops across an organisation while getting on with other, more complicated stuff such as Windows service pack installations on legacy desktops," wrote Shuttleworth, taking a dig at competitor Microsoft. Gutsy will not be an LTS (Long Term Support) release, but Shuttleworth said he does expect to see it being deployed in a lot of server environments. On the desktop front Shuttleworth put the 3D/alternative desktop squarely on the agenda saying "I remain convinced that malleable, transparent and extra-dimensional GUIs are a real opportunity for the free software community to take a lead in the field of desktop innovation, and am keen to see the underlying technologies land in Ubuntu, but we have to balance that enthusiasm with the Technical Board's judgement of the stability and maturity of those fundamental layers. "On a personal note, the monkey on my back has been composite-by-default, which I had hoped would happen in Edgy, then Feisty. I'm nervous to predict it now for Gutsy, for fear of a third strike, but I'm told that great work is being done in the Compiz/Beryl community and upstream in X. There's a reasonable chance that Gutsy will deliver where those others have not," said Shuttleworth. (SOURCE: Tectonic) RITA, US FIRM IN ICT DEAL IN RWANDAThe Rwanda Information and Technology Authority (RITA) and SolidWorks Corporation, a US firm, have entered into a deal to boost Information, Communication and Technology in the country. According to a release posted on the Website of SolidWorks Corporation April 2, a company known as the Gasabo 3D Design Ltd will be launched to convert ICT graphic design software of 2D data to 3D solid models at affordable rates. Efforts to contact Executive Director of RITA, Peter Fullerton over the development of the joint venture were fruitless by the press time. The release describes the anticipated Gasabo 3D Design Ltd as the joint venture of RITA on behalf of the government, the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and Ecole Technique Officielle (ETO) Gitarama high school. "The venture will provide fast, accurate file conversion as a service, enabling SolidWorks clients to leverage their existing 2D design data without having to do it in-house" it reads in part. John McEleney, the chief executive officer of Solid Works Corporation is quoted as saying "This partnership is really a testament to Rwanda's resilience in the face of devastating circumstances." It also reads that Gasabo 3D Design Ltd will provide large manufacturers a cost-effective and fast way to convert vital 2D files into accurate 3D models they will be able to modify, machine, and build upon to meet customer needs. "That efficiency will help companies stay alert, so they can design better products and excel in a global economy." (SOURCE: The New Times) IN BRIEF:- Nigeria's premier Independent ATM Deployer (IAD), Consortium and operator of QuickCash brand of ATM network has completed its Europay MasterCard Visa (EMV) certification interface, making it the first independent operator in the country to implement the secured chip-based e-payment platform. - The Congolese IT Agency (Office Congolais d’Informatique) has celebrated its 35 years of existence. Created in 1972, the organisation counts today 445 employees and its activities cover software development, selling IT equipment and providing IT training - The newly elected President of Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN), Jimson Olufuye has said that IT Industry stakeholders and stake-owners must take the forthcoming elections serious and vote only for candidates that have IT agenda in their manifestos. - According to PanaPress, networking company, Cisco will be making a business incursion into Liberia later this month.
ACCESSKENYA’S IPO RECEIVES APPROVAL FROM NSEAccessKenya Group shareholders approved the Group’s IPO plans at an Extraordinary General Meeting last week. The AccessKenya Group has been given approval to start receiving applications for shares in its Initial Public Offering on 19th of April up to the 30th of April. The Group will be the only Kenyan IT / Tech company listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. Speaking after the EGM, the Group’s Managing Director, Jonathan Somen said that the company offered great value for potential shareholders. “Accesskenya has seen an increase in revenue of more than 75% per annum over the last three years and profit has grown by almost 90% per year from 2004 to a current level of 94 million shillings”. Somen continued: “We have also included in our prospectus an unaudited review of our results for January and February of this year which demonstrate that the business is well on track to deliver at least a 50% improvement in profitability this year on the back of further growth. We have had a tremendous first quarter, adding over 200 new leased lines to the 1,250 with which we closed 2006. The customer growth was particularly driven by sales of our new “Broadband Max 2” – quadruple downlink leased line solution - and “Go” – our new entry level solution for people buying leased lines for the first time. These results should give all our potential investors comfort of the tremendous and ongoing growth potential of this business.” The Group currently holds the lead position in the market for the highest number of corporate leased line connections. The Group’s growth has been driven by significant increases in customer numbers over the last five years, and according to Africa Analysis, a South African market research company .AccessKenya has a 32% market share, giving the company a clear lead over its closest competitor who stands at 14%. The ICT market is also expected to grow rapidly in the next few years with Africa Analysis also predicting a 600% increase predicted for Kenya on the take up of broadband data services between 2006 and 2011. “The combination of our excellent financial performance, leading market position and the huge potential for growth in the ICT market, will make the Accesskenya IPO very attractive to Kenyan shareholders”, said Somen. The Accesskenya IPO will offer 80 million shares at a price of 10 shillings per share. LIBYAN TAKES OVER UTL IN UGANDAA Libyan company, Libya African Portfolio (LAP) Greencom has finally taken over Ugandan Telecom Limited, (UTL), after acquiring Ucom, the majority shareholder in Uganda's largest fixed line telephone operator. In a new shareholding structure, the Libyans now own 69 per cent of the equity while the government of Uganda retains the remaining 31 per cent. According to a statement from UTL last week, Libya African Portfolio (LAP) also immediately appointed a new MD Abdulbaset Elazzabi, a Libyan replacing acting MD Donald Nyakairu. He started work on Tuesday. It is unclear what experience of competitive telecoms markets Elazzabi brings to the company. UTL's Marketing and Communications Officer Mark Kaheru said they did not expect further management changes. "We haven't been told about any changes so there won't be any," he said. Kaheru said the; "The government offered shares to Ucom at a premium rate," but he refused to disclose the actual price paid. Daily Monitor reported on March 30 that the government had ceded 18 per cent of its shares to Ucom after failing to raise $12 million that was required to finance the company's expansionist investments and guard its market share. When UTL was formed in 2000, the government owned 49 per cent while Ucom had 51 per cent. After the government failed to raise the money, it agreed with Ucom that the latter raise the money which would then be converted into more shares for it. It remains unclear whether the Libyan interests in the company had any bearing on the government's curious failure to find the $12 million and secure the public's stake in the company. The Libyans are expected to embark on a sweeping re-organisation of the company to pull it into a more robust position and particularly offer it technological and financial muscle to start challenging its top rivals MTN and Celtel, other two telecommunication service providers. Uganda's telecommunications market has increased notably after the rescinding of the dominance of MTN, UTL and Celtel. The country has a total of 2.5 mobile subscribers of which MTN controls almost three quarters. Last month, the Uganda Communications Commission,(UCC), licensed the fourth and fifth national telecom operators, Hits Telecom and Al-Warid Telecom, both from the Middle East. Industry analysts say the new entrants are spending more than $300 million and that this would unleash tremendous pressure on the existing operators who will have to invest in new, costly technology to offer competitively superior products and services if they are to keep their customers. LAP thus, according to sources, was brought in to offer its hefty chest of resources to UTL so it can effectively respond to an increasingly tight market. LAP's entry into UTL is also an entrenchment of its already deep roots in Uganda. Early this year it bought 60 per cent shares in the troubled textiles company Tri Star Apparels. It has said it will recapitalise the company with $40 million so manufacturing of garments for the US's Agoa market can resume. LAP's UTL deal also reflects the spreading Libyan presence in Uganda. Last year a Libyan company, Tamoil won a tender to construct a petroleum pipeline from Western Kenya to Jinja in Uganda. (SOURCE: The Monitor) BLACK GROUP BUYS 7 PERCENT OF DIALOGUE IN SOUTH AFRICACall-centre specialist the Dialogue Group has sold 7% of its shares to black-owned media and communications group MSG Afrika Investment Holdings for R24m. This is the AltX-listed company's first step towards a goal of becoming 26% black owned. MSG Afrika bought 15-million shares previously held by existing shareholders so no fresh shares were issued that would dilute the stakes of other investors, said Dialogue CEO Jason Drew. Most of the shares were owned by a private venture capital firm that helped Dialogue with start-up cash years ago. The venture capitalists made a nice return on their investment, Drew said. Another 2-million shares were sold by Dialogue's strategy director Duncan Miller. They were sold at 160c each, based on a 60-day average trading price. Its share price rose to 198c recently, but traded 1,5% down at 195c after yesterday's announcement. Drew said Dialogue was in no hurry to reach the black ownership target of 25%, and would wait for deals with black investors who could add value and help to grow the business. Dialogue already had a BBB EmpowerDex rating based on its staff profile, its investment in training and the promotion of previously disadvantaged individuals. More than 90% of its managers and 93% of the workforce were from previously disadvantaged backgrounds. Drew said the new equity deal could pump that up to a grade A rating. MSG Afrika is majority owner of the Jupiter Drawing Room advertising agency and of Curious Pictures, a television production group. It owns the Communications Firm and has shares in Telkom Media and Quarto Press. Those groups hold contracts with several blue-chip companies including Absa, Edcon and MTN, which also use Dialogue's call-centre services. "This was an opportunity to get a shareholding by a group with which we have synergies," Drew said. "We think the relationship will be particularly successful because we overlap so heavily in our client base, and that gives us new ways to work with our customers. There is a great opportunity to talk about how we deliver their brands through our call centres." MSG Afrika was co-founded by CEO Given Mkhari, who holds 37,5% of its shares. He became a Dialogue nonexecutive director last year. The investment was its first outside media and communications and would diversify its investment portfolio, he said. "We believe the South African call centre industry ... has buoyant growth prospects, with call-centre outsourcing in SA and offshoring rapidly gaining popularity," Mkhari said. "We believe SA is a destination of choice for call centre outsourcing, and are proud to be investing in the leader in this field." Dialogue's maiden results for the year to December showed revenue up 55% to R121m and headline earnings a share of 7,6c, up from 3,6c. (SOURCE: Business Day) GHANA FIGHTS FOR OUTSOURCING BUSINESSGhana has been working hard to have a business processing outsourcing (BPO) presence. In November 2005, Ghana commissioned Hewitt Associates of India to probe the country's key strengths and weaknesses in the global services sector. The analysis of Ghana, as benchmarked against 11 established and emerging offshore international and regional destinations, showed that the country scored high on the size of its English-speaking population and competitive labor costs. However, it ranked poorly on the quality of infrastructure and demonstrated government focus. Overall, there is significant potential for Ghana to scale up offshoring activities and position itself in niche markets of the BPO sector. The Hewitt study recommended that the key vertical market niches Ghana should focus on include medical transcription, coding, billing, data processing and customer contact processes. Hewitt recommended that Ghana sell itself as a primary offshoring hub for Europe and the U.S.; as a third-party or subcontracting hub for more established offshoring destinations; as a third-party hub to South Africa in particular; and as a regional hub to West Africa. The government of Ghana subsequently requested the World Bank Group's support in developing an IT-enabled services sector and was given a $40 million credit. South Africa leads the effort to expand BPO on the continent, other countries like Egypt and Kenya are also vying to attract foreign business. (SOURCE: GHP) CRANE BUYOUT SET TO HOIST EARNINGS AT DATATEC SOUTH AFRICADatatec is splashing out R290m to buy Crane Telecommunications, a European distributor of voice and data communications services. The move will cost up to £20.7m and will be paid for with £11.5m in cash and by issuing new Datatec shares worth £9,2m. The cash will come either from Datatec's existing resources or from placing new shares with an institutional investor if the directors deem that more beneficial to the balance sheet. Its shares fluctuated between R38.80 and R35.65 on the JSE after the move was announced last week. Crane would be integrated into the European operations of Westcon, Datatec's largest subsidiary, which specialises in supplying networking equipment. One instant benefit would be to reduce Westcon's reliance on selling networking equipment from Cisco, the US supplier that dominates the market but is notoriously tight on profit sharing with its distribution partners. Crane sells equipment from vendors including Avaya, Nortel, Alcatel, Mitel, BT and Samsung, and also provides higher margin services including system design, consulting, technical support and technical training. It has offices in the UK and the Netherlands, and works through a network of more than 250 resellers spread across Europe. Crane's revenue for the year to December touched £74m. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) came in at £2,8m. It carries a net debt of £10m, and Datatec expects the deal to boost earnings only in the year to February 2008. "The earnings-enhancing acquisition of Crane brings further breadth, depth and scale to Westcon's European operations and consolidates Westcon's position as a leading value-added distributor of voice, data and convergence products in Europe," said Datatec CEO Jens Montanana. In February, Datatec struck a R500m deal to buy the distribution company NOXS Europe, which operates in seven territories. NOXS was also folded into Westcon with the expectation of cost savings and cross-selling opportunities. Both acquisitions were important steps in Datatec's plan to capitalise on Westcon's financial strength and size in Europe, Montanana said. The deals offered new opportunities to sell more equipment and services to new and existing customers. Datatec has told shareholders to expect its revenues to increase 17% to almost $3,5bn for the year to February 28, and its Ebitda to reach $117m, up from $85m a year ago. In that trading update, Montanana said Westcon's revenue in the past year had grown 10% to $2,5bn and its profit margins had increased after tightening up its performance in Europe. That turnaround had made it the right time to capitalise on its recovery by growing through acquisitions. A "pipeline of opportunities" to expand Westcon were being investigated, he said. (SOURCE: Business Day) IN BRIEF:- South Africa’s second national operator Neotel hopes to spend R230m taking over Transtel Telecoms' networking infrastructure. The in-principle deal is subject to the two parties reaching a full agreement and winning regulatory approval, which could take up to four more months. - Morocco will held its first international IT off-shoring exhibition in Casablanca in May this year. Morroco is the preferred destination for French off-shoring services. There are more than 200 centres employing around 22,000 people in the country. - The South Africa Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro) is planning to spend R157m over the next three years to upgrade its information technology system and to fund a decentralised organisational structure. The long-term goal was to have a totally electronic-based operation in which registrations and applications could be made online. - Indian financial newspaper Economic Times reports that MTNL is planning to bid for the 26% stake in Telkom Kenya for which the Kenyan government recently invited bids. The successful bidder will be announced on 25 September. - France Telecom Orange intends to increase its annual investments in Egypt to over $20 million dollars annually with the launch of a second business services center for R&D. The new business center, which will be located at the Smart Village, is part of Orange’s future plans to employ another 500 Egyptian engineers raising the total number to 1,500 by the end of 2007. It will provide technical support to the company’s clients’ worldwide as well as serving new markets in Africa and the Middle East.
THE NEW TIMES ONLINE GETS FACELIFT IN RWANDAThe New Times Online has improved its interface to serve online readers better.The websites' interface was changed recently to give readers in the diaspora more opportunity to explore with more web functions. The sites on-line poll with a question, "What do you think of our new look?" indicated that 35.5 percent of the The New Times online readers think the site is good, while 32.7 percent think it is excellent. Seventeen percent of the others who participated in the on-line poll think the old interface should be reinstated, 12 percent think it is poor and 11 percent don't know. The website feeds other news web portals such as www.allAfrica.com, www.CNN.com and the British Broadcasting Corporation's web portal www.bbc.co.uk. "We even serve many universities and researchers all over the world," the outgoing web editor, Issa Kainamura said. The New Times' website is an on-line gateway to most readers in the diaspora. According to web statistics, 70 percent of the sites' readers are in Europe and USA. "I was surprised, we have readers in Asia, and even as far as Kuwait," Kainamura said. Statistics indicate that there are over 60,000 unique visitors. During the month of March there were over 2 million hits on the front page of the website. Managing Editor Ignatius Kabagambe attributes this trend to the fact that hard copies printed don't reach every reader in Rwanda, and very few outside Rwanda. And he added, "There are also many Rwandans within the country who use on-line facilities to read us on the web." The management plans to develop The New Times on-line edition further to cater for the growing number of advertisers who are targeting Rwandans in the diaspora. (SOURCE: The New Times) ONLINE JOB-HUNTING ON THE RISE IN SOUTH AFRICAOnline job-seekers are more experienced and older than is traditionally believed, and visitors to online job boards spend more time engaging with the Web site than in other information-only Web sites. This is according to statistics released by SA career Web site, CareerJunction. CareerJunction reports that there has been a 27% increase in the amount of new career seekers registering on CareerJunction, completing their resumés and making their resumés searchable since April 2006. Between April 2006 and March 2007, over 190 000 new career seekers registered on CareerJunction, with around 100 000 of them completing their resumés. And during the month of March 2007, CareerJunction received a record posting of more than 36 000 fresh jobs, over 5,7m job views and over 630 000 job applications. "In the past, we had more 'curious' users who visited the Web site but were wary of loading their details into an online resumé. However these days, transacting and interacting on the internet is the norm, and job seekers are a lot more comfortable with storing their resumés in an online format and applying for jobs online,” says Kris Jarzebowski, CEO of CareerJunction. The increase in job application activity on CareerJunction corresponds with the surge of traffic to the Web site, which now receives an average of over 280 000 unique visitors and more than 13m page impressions per month. CareerJunction has also noted an increase in the career level and age of online job seekers. “Traditionally, the Internet was seen to be a domain predominantly for the youth and those just entering the job market, however it is interesting to note that only 14% of our career seekers are below the age of 24, 67% are between the ages of 25 and 39, and 15% are over the age of 40. In terms of career level, 55% of career seekers are in a skilled, senior or management level,” emphasises Jarzebowski. (SOURCE: ICTWorld) IN BRIEF:- The Algerian Interior Ministry has launched a website www.legislatives2007.dz to offer a complete panel of information to electors. This site, in Arabic and French, "provides news in details about all the legislative and regulatory process governing the elections in the country, in general, and the next legislatives, in particular," its home page indicates.
SOUTH AFRICA’S STATE DENIES INTERFERING ON TV LICENCES WITH ICASAThe communications department has sought to allay fears that it is interfering in the issuing of new pay-TV licences by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) by imposing a moratorium on the process. The department denied media accusations that it was undermining Icasa's authority. "At no point has the minister proposed that there be a moratorium on pay-television licensing, as has been alleged by the media," the department's director-general, Lyndall Shope-Mafole, said. "It is common ... knowledge that the licensing of broadcasting services is, and continues to be, an Icasa process." A document issued for public comment last month "largely represents the proposals of the digital migration working group" made up of experts and representative of the broadcasting industry, the department said. The working group was appointed by the department. It handed its report to Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri late last year. The department proposed at a meeting with stakeholders that Icasa postpone the issuing of new licences until the end of next year to prevent the undermining of "the government's plans for digital migration, which will benefit all South Africans, not just those who can afford to buy subscription television services". Shope-Mafole said the meeting was meant to garner the views of the broadly defined information and communications technology industry. "It was made clear that the draft strategy and the implementation were not representative of the views of the department (or) of the minister." Icasa spokesman Joel Sekgoela said Icasa had submitted its response to the working group but he could not comment further because "Icasa doesn't want to pre-empt the strategy -- it is just a proposal at this point". (SOURCE: Business Day NCC'S COPYRIGHT REGULATION 2006 SEEKS TO STRAP PIRATES OUT OF BUSINESSDR. Adebambo Adewopo, Director General of Nigerian Copyright Commission, NCC appears set on making many more enemies with his resolve to drive pirates and incidents of piracy in the Nigerian entertainment industry into oblivion. At last Monday's public presentation of the 'Copyright (Optical Disc Plants) Regulation 2006, the DG described piracy as a cancer that has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation's intellectual component. "Intellectual production is an important component for nation building. The copyright crime exists as a stimulant to creative production and by extension, paves way for access to the worldwide resources of knowledge which is necessary for advancement in various sectors of the nation's life," said Adewopo. The event packed the creame of Nigeria's feasible music and movie personalities. Oritz Wiliki, Chairman of Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria, (MCSN) described incidents of copyright infringement in Nigeria as unbecoming and must be fought with all vigour. "Are you kidding me? The reason I'm is to demonstrate the fact that this is an evil that must be fought with all our energies. It must be stamped out of the country. We cannot pretend that the cancer is not growing. It is taking business out of hardworking Nigerians," said Wiliki, who was also a performing artistes on the Polygram libel. Polygram and other big name multinational recording companies left Nigeria in the 1990's when they couldn't stand the combine effects of piracy and economic downturn of the country's Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) under military president, General Ibrahim Babangida. Charly Boy, immediate past president of Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, (PMAN) was also on hand at the Ladi Kwali (Banquet) Hall of the Abuja Sheraton Hotels & Towers, to lend support to the Optical Disc Plant launch. "Fighting piracy is everybody's business. You would have known my battles against the pirates during my tenure at PMAN, so it's no coincidence that I'm here. The pirates are killing everybody's creative endeavours in this country and have driven big businesses out of town, now it is time for us all to put our hands together and drive them out of town," said Charly Boy, son of former Supreme Court Justice, Chukwudifu Oputa at the occasion. According to Adewopo, the "copyright (Optica Disc Plants) Regulation 2006 is one of the efforts of the Commission to check piracy especially from the point of production (and importation) of creative works." He stated that incidents of piracy of copyright works has increased following establishment of many domestic optical discs manufacturing and duplicating facilities which has increased over the past ten years. "Ten years ago, Nigeria reportedly had only two optical discs plants. This increased to five within four years interval. As at today, there are about 14 such plants with varying production capacities in Lagos alone. This is not surprising as the position of Nigeria as the most populous black nation in Africa makes it an investment haven, and even more so in the area of arts and entertainment where Nigeria is hugely endowed," said Adewopo. He believes the new Optical Discs Plant initiative is within the ambit of STRAP (Strategic Action Against Piracy, launched in May 2005 by President Obasanjo) aimed at keeping track of persons engaged in manufacturing, duplicating, importing and exporting of Optical Discs in the country. "The aim is to entrench high standards of Copyright practise amongst such persons, detecting and tracing the sources of any pirated or unauthorised products and punishing infractions perpetrated in the course of such businesses." Nigeria's Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Mr. Bayo Ojo, SAN said the new law on copyrights was put into place in Nigeria to "create an environment where the business of optical discs production is carried out in a transparent manner. It is also expected that the provisions will be advantageous to each operator of a plant in terms of enabling them monitor the distribution of their products, and forestall attempts at counterfeiting by underground operators, if any." The Attorney General stated that the new law "contains penal provisions in the nature of administrative measures like revocation of licence, suspension of licence, or refusal to renew a licence as well punitive measures like fines and imprisonment." Jeremiah Gyang, one of Nigeria's new acts who entertained guests told Vanguard it was high time the government took the issue of copyrights infringement to higher scale, much like fighting fake drug marketers. "For us in this industry of entertainment, piracy is much more like fake drugs merchants. The government needs to fight them with the same vigour as NAFDAC is doing with those fake drugs importers. When a man has put in so much to produce what he perceives to be a good work, only for some other persons to reap bountifully from it thereby leaving the creative person in penury is the worst form of criminality," said Gyang. In the words of Eddie Ugbomeh, OON, actor and film producer, "I no longer realease videos or DVDs into the Nigerian market. What I do now with my films is premiere them and take them to select film halls and after I've made my money, I simply retire them to the shelves. The last time I released VCDs to video rental outlets across the country, they never gave me any returns. In Port Harcourt, Rivers state, these rental operators even threaten to kill me if I come for my money. Same thing at Warri, Delta state. So I've made up my mind not to release VCDs in the present circumstances." (SOURCE: Vanguard) IN BRIEF:- Johnnic Communications (Johncom) announced this morning that it would be split into two separately listed companies. The announcement follows in the wake of the sale of Johncom's M-Net and SuperSport stake. It is envisaged that the restructuring will enable OpCo to apply greater focus to growing the integrated media and entertainment assets of the group. - Tofrraace is designed to reinforce the professional capacities of broadcasters and media practitioners in Africa. Established as an eLearning platform by the Mediafrica.Net initiative, it offers a variety of topics of shared interest.
PEOPLE- West Africa Telecommunication Regulators Assembly (WATRA) has appointed Nnamdi Nwokike its Executive Secretary for a term of three years. - The following four women have been appointed to the task force on transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. The appointees are Ms Esther Kamweru, the Media Council of Kenya secretary, Ms Rachel Alwala, an assistant manager at the Communications Commission of Kenya, Dr Catherine Adeya, an ICT consultant, and Ms Annete Martys, the chairperson of the Advertising Practitioners Association. - Paul Fick has been appointed as an executive director on the board of Spescom with effect from April 12. EVENTS- E-LIBERIA: VISION 2010 - FREE SOFTWARE AND MEDIA WORKERS WORKSHOP - eLEARNING AFRICA 2007 -USING MOBILE PHONES FOR HRO IN AFRICA - ICTS FOR CIVIL SOCIETY CONFERENCE HIGH SPEED ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES CONFERENCE - TELECOMS WORLD AFRICA - WI-WORLD AFRICA 2007 JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIESCONSULTANT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL ICT BILL FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF RWANDA PRESIDENT OF THE DIGITAL BRIDGE INSTITUTE - NIGERIA CONTRACTS: WHO'S SELLING WHAT TO WHOM?VERIFONE AND INTERSWITCH - NIGERIA SNTF AND HUAWEI - ALGERIA MTN AND ERICSSON – UGANDA MTN
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This page last updated on April 23 2007.
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