| ||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 375 Low-cost voice operators: Technology without a business model yet in sightAbout a third of Africa’s far-flung peoples still have no access to mobile phones or the Internet. Both the high CAPEX cost of putting in base stations and the high OPEX cost of running them on generators and satellite backhaul makes this a tough business case to sustain when financially healthier growth is still available. Universal access funds are in the main slow moving (funds sit in them for too long) and they provide too few incentives to create new low-cost business models. Yet when you look at the coverage and population density maps, they are studded with areas that might sustain growth on a different cost base. Russell Southwood picks his way through the tantalising possibilities. As co-author of an infoDev report in 2005 we suggested that there was a market space for what we described as rural “plug-and-play” operators. The idea was to find ways of cutting the capital investment and simplifying roll-out to rural areas. In a subsequent discussion with some of the world’s leading equipment vendors the idea was met with incredulity. One person suggested that all these villages needed was a single phone. Admittedly it was a hard ask to established equipment vendors whose business model had been built on selling relatively high-priced equipment to large-scale operators. One analogy I drew in the conversation was how film-editing equipment went from being a high-cost, specialist application involving tied hardware and software purchase to being a low-cost, just above desktop-type application. Indeed we bandied about the phrase desktop GSM. Earlier this year the first glimmerings of such a technology solution hove into view. Nokia Siemens Networks announced a “Village Connections” pilot project in Eastern Cape, South Africa rolled out in partnership with the CSIR's Meraka Institute. The initiative, part of a broader goal of providing wireless access to 5 billion people by 2015. Linda Khumalo, head of the company’s Southern Africa sub-region, said: “We cannot leave [rural communities] behind. The global connected community is no longer confined to the world’s richest.” However, she added:”The costs of the project are still being worked out." The solution will be available commercially in 2008. The pilot project, in South Africa, will supply between 70 and 80 users through a local provider connected to a GSM operator with a fixed tariff of R20 (US$2.93) for three months, less than a dollar a month. Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) reduced costs are enabled by an innovative “distributed architecture.” In NSN’s jargon, one Regional Access Centre can support up to 200 local access points which in turn can each support 70 handsets. Thus one Regional Access Centre can support 14,000 subscribers in a given area. The local access point runs on a basic computer equipped with a simple software application and wireless card. The equipment vendor’s motivation? It’s the classic disruptive moment because Nokia Siemens (with or without this week’s rumoured break-up of the alliance) has no significant foothold in African markets. It has least to lose by being able to get in the door with a product of this kind. If it works, then the interest must shift to the business model. As it is currently envisaged, like the much vaunted Grameen model, it offers a franchise system that ties local franchisees closely to the apron strings of existing mobile companies. Given the skills deficit that has bedevilled early attempts in this area, this may be no bad thing. But in the mid to long-term it creates yet another string to the bow of the current mobile operators’ market domination. The more market-changing solution would be to allow small-scale operators to interconnect with existing mobile operators. As pointed out in last week’s issue, if the former fixed line incumbent is forced to open its network to other operators, surely the dominant mobile players should be in the same position? Why not allow an independent company to operate the Regional Access Centre? And this is not some obscure interconnect argument for policy “wonks” alone, but perhaps the key to the door for millions of Africans getting voice access. But all of this presupposes that there are those that will be there to seize these opportunities. The experience of South Africa’s Under-Serviced Area Licences (USALs) has not been a very uplifting testing ground for this notion. There are many criticisms that have been levelled at how the scheme was first drawn up. But the bottom line is that money disappeared along the way and the few that are operating are in effect, GSM resellers. Likewise, the local ISPs that might have entrenched themselves in places outside of the capital or large cities, have in the main neither had the nerve or the modest investment power to get out there. And at the point at which this might become an opportunity, most ISPs are facing severe pressure from ADSL broadband and mobile broadband. That said, national regulators have been slow to incentivise the process. They have become so used to raking in large amounts from selling spectrum to large-scale operators. Perhaps now is the time to start offering incentives like free spectrum to smaller operators for under-serviced areas. If there is approximately a third of Africa’s people uncovered (and it varies depending on the history and geography of the country), perhaps a further 10% might be reached by the existing plans of the large-scale operators. But this leaves a further 5-10% who might be reached by low-cost voice operators given the right incentives. And the balance might need those rather slow-moving universal access funds. Nevertheless, whether it’s through franchise/reseller operations or something fundamentally more ambitious, Africa has the ability to lead in this field. Senegal’s regulator ARPT has on the stocks a scheme to offer small-scale rural licences. Senegal has a widely distributed phone shop culture that has had its stresses and strains but is well organised. Perhaps the second-generation low-cost voice operators will do better than the first. Reader’s ResponsesIn response to issue 372’s Top Story “West African licence tendering processes – a case to answer” one reader wrote: "Totally agree with this article you wrote. I might also add although Nigeria seems to have gone through transparent process's generally with licences, I found the award of a 5th licence to Mubadala came at a rather strange time and without warning. i.e. various big GSM players had been looking around to buy (eg V-Mobile or Nitel ) then someone buys a 5th licence and most did not realise it was up for grabs". In response to issue 374’s article “Starcomms launches CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev A network in Abuja” a Nigerian reader wrote: "I noticed from today's BA you mentioned Starcomms EVDO launch in Abuja. In fact, they have run out of equipment already and are only offering snailband services. Meanwhile, our ISP Suburban seems to have sunk beneath the waves. The bandwidth situation in Abuja has gone from bad to worse to impossible. Rosecom's DSL service has an awful reputation; Startech have also run out of equipment and only serve businesses etc etc etc yawn".
Ghana’s NCA gets tough on QoS with MTN and One TouchRegulators across the continent are tightening up on mobile operators QoS. Nigeria and Senegal recently handed down hefty fines and this week Ghana’s NCA warned the two operators (MTN and One Touch) who control around two-thirds of the market to get their act together on this issue. Speaking at a press conference held last Wednesday, the NCA spokesperson said:”With respect to systems inter-connect, the continuing challenges posed by the MTN and OneTouch to mutually provision circuits in a timely manner to match the growing traffic between them, and respond to faulty circuits has contributed to the less than desirable quality of service.” He gave a time-limited warning to the two operators in no uncertain terms:”The inter-connect rules of engagement are clear, and any operator whose action leads to impeding inter-network traffic flows, with the resulting degradation of service, will be held accountable, and severe sanctions meted out”. He set three conditions, one of which forbade the operators to take on new customers until their networks could handle them: · To clean up their acts within the next thirty days, ending November 8th, 2007, or face severe sanctions. · OneTouch must release sufficient E1’s to MTN to ensure free flow of traffic by end of business day, October 19th, 2007. · OneTouch and MTN are being directed to cease new accessline activations until their networks are appropriately dimensioned to take on additional capacity. He said: These two operators, as mentioned earlier, account for Eighty-Eight (88%) percent of the nations traffic flows; consequently any hitch in traffic flows will adversely affect service quality”. He warned that NCA will set tougher QoS conditions in the future as the licence KPIs have clearly not worked:”Further, we have realized that as deplorable as the quality of service has been the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in the license conditions do not appropriately capture the realities on the ground. As a result, it is possible for service to be sub-standard and still be in compliance with the KPI’s”. “Therefore in order to better align service level experience of the consuming public with the KPI’s we shall with immediate effect take steps to modify the KPI’s in the License Conditions. To complement the metric readings, we are negotiating with a reputable market research consultancy to undertake quarterly surveys of the quality of service as experienced by consumers. The output of these results will be made available to the public and also be factored in the Authority’s assessment of operators.” This is the plainest warning yet to mobile operators who are consistently providing under-dimensioned networks and living of the rewards of doing so. Uganda: Black market in aluminium and copper fuels cable theftA thriving black market for copper and aluminium is fuelling rampant cable-theft from electricity distribution and telecommunication networks in Uganda. Uganda Telecom, one of the leading telecommunications service providers in Uganda has lost up to 50 kilometres of cable for fixed-line network worth US$1.5m in the last one and a half years. Over 7000 customers of Uganda Telecom henceforth have no access to telecommunication services. "The last one and a half years have been a headache," Mark Kaheru, Uganda Telecom public relations manager told East African Business Week last week. The companies are losing millions of dollars in disrupted service and replacement costs. Kaheru cited an incident, where thieves stole two kilometres of cable under Owen Falls Dam bridge cutting off the Jinja district. "This was major cable connecting Jinja. It had to be replaced immediately," Kaheru said. According to the Corporate Communications Manager of Uganda's power distribution company, Umeme, Robert Kisubi, the utility company has in the last two and half years lost wires (both copper and aluminium wires) worth U.S $ 2.5 million to thefts and vandalism of their network. He said this action has "caused extensive damage to their power distribution network and affected service delivery." Kisubi told East African Business Week that the thieves target the 100 mm aluminium bare conductors and the 50 mm copper conductors which he said are on high demand especially in Kenya where are melted. Kaheru said that the company has put up sh5m reward to anybody with information leading to arrest of cable thieves. Police last week arrested suspected cable thieves in a Kampala suburb with a truckful of cables. Police spokesman Simeo Nsubuga said the men Haruna Mubiru 27, Muhammad Lujja 23, and Yunus Mawejje 40, were arrested with their loot aboard a Fuso truck registration number UAH 368P reportedly en route to Kenya after a tip off from a concerned citizen. Nsubuga said that they packed the wires in nylon sacks and the covered them with shoe soles all-around as a disguise. Nsubuga said the men would be charged with being in possession of stolen property, but added that since the suspects had sabotaged government programmes like investment the charges would be upgraded to a more serious crime. (source: East African Business Week) Guinea: Phone shop owners angry at switch from fixed line to GSM by SotelguiA number of Managers and owners of phone shop owners went to see the D-G of incumbent Sotelgui to protest over its decision to switch the supply of their service from copper cable to GSM on a pre-paid basis. Sotelgui says it has introduced this new measure to combat line piracy, where “tele-cabine” owners tap into a phone line that’s not theirs for free. The owners of the phone shops said that not only were they not consulted about this new measure before it was introduced unilaterally but that the new rates from Sotelgui nean their businesses are no longer profitable. Whereas call costs used to be GNF150-200 (US37-49 cents), Sotelgui was now charging GNF300 (US73 cents) a minute. This puts Sotelgui back into the top quarter of phone charging bands within the sub-region and provides the best possible soil for the growth of an extensive grey market. The owners view this price hike as a flagrant violation of the contracts they thought they had with Sotelgui. Various mediation attempts are being made to resolve the situation. (source: Guinéenews) Madagascar: Operators gear up for end of licences at the end of June 2008All good things must come to an end as the current operators in Madagascar are realising as they gear up for the end of their licence period in June 2008, having originally been granted licences lasting four years. Everyone is anticipating that the market will be further liberalised and the existing five operators are beginning to prepare for this eventuality. Orange and Celtel are enlarging the range of products and services they are offering their customers.”We have reserved a certain number of products to deal with this expiry date situation,” said Jean Testemale, Directeur Commercial of Dts. “This will be an opportunity for us to enlarge our presence in the market,” said Mathieu Macé, Directeur marketing et communication of Telma. Telma sees its way of winning in these circumstances through implementing a national backbone:”This infrastructure will be inescapable and the opening of the market is manna (from heaven) for us,” said Macé. “New entrants will be obliged to use this infrastructure if they want to stay competitive.” The Government of Madagascar plans to put in place a plan called “projet d'Infrastructure de Communication pour Madagascar” (Picom). The aim is to lower costs and to extend coverage nationally and also put in place a cheap, high capacity international link. (Source: L'Express de Madagascar).
In brief:- L’Autorité de Régulation Multisectorielle (ARM), Niger’s telecoms regulator, has announced the planned award of a GSM concession and a technology-neutral mobile telecoms licence, without giving further details. - Togo’s ruling party can no longer send SMS messages during election campaigns. Regulator Haute autorité de l'audiovisuel et de la communication (HAAC) has ruled this “unfair”. - Telecom Namibia last week became the first company in emerging sub-Saharan Africa (which excludes South Africa) to be awarded membership to the Cisco Systems programme. - A new body has been formed in Kenya to champion interests of telecommunications service providers. Telecommunications Network Operators Forum (TNOF), comprises representatives of the data carrier network operators, fixed line operators, wireless local loop operators and mobile network operators. TESPOK continues to look after the interests of Internet service providers. - The BlackBerry 8800 is smartphone is now available in South Africa. The quad-band GSM/GPRS and EDGE-enabled BlackBerry 8800 offers integrated support for voice and data applications, including phone, email, text messaging, web browser, organiser, multimedia and more. It also has an ultra-thin battery that “extends the uncompromising battery life for which BlackBerry handsets are renowned”. Telecoms, Rates, Offers and CoverageSenegal has introduced a nine-digit numbering system adding two digits to existing numbers: 33 to Sonatel fixed numbers; 77 to Orange mobile numbers; and 76 to Tigo mobile numbers. The reception of mobile phone services in Algeria has increased to a staggering 200% in the last four years. According to the European Research and Market Group, this increase accounts for more than 65% of Algerians using mobile phones.
South Africa: Broadband 'Should Be a Right', say city councilsCity councils had a moral duty to spend money rolling out broadband networks to cover all their citizens, in the same way that they had a duty to provide water, sewerage and electricity, speakers at a technology conference said on Thursday. The right to broadband Internet access and affordable phone calls was just as great as the right to other municipal services. Any government that did not fulfil that need was doing its citizens disservice, speakers said. Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban municipalities are assessing projects to create digital cities by blanketing the area with a wireless network to carry voice and data traffic. That should slash the cost of communications for the councils by ending their reliance on Telkom or the cellular operators. They could also offer cheap phone calls and internet access to businesses and residents and let people access e-government services online. The fact that only Knysna and Tshwane were already operating municipal networks showed how difficult and expensive the projects were, said Denis Smit, the MD of research house BMI-TechKnowledge, which hosted the third annual Digital Cities Forum. There have been some disastrous projects around the world. SA should learn from those mistakes, Smit said. Most councils wanted to appoint private operators to fund and build the network, then sell the bandwidth to the council and to consumers. That was not financially viable, Smit said. Private operators were unlikely to recoup their costs from the few services the municipalities would run over the network and the service would have to be very cheap for consumers to sign up. The financial risk had to be carried by the cities as a public works project, Smit said. The social benefits through economic development, job creation and attracting new business investments would see the authorities enjoy substantial returns that outweighed the cost of the network, he said. Smit said some of the problems in SA were the length of time it took to get the necessary telecoms licences and coping with various levels of bureaucracy and competence within local authorities. SA's cities were also enormous compared to many foreign digital city initiatives and the price of bandwidth was "exorbitant" compared to other countries. (source: 2007 Business Day) South Africa’s DoC gives a clear maybe for SeacomOn the landing of international fibres, the South African Government’s indecision is final. SEACOM may be allowed to land in South Africa according to the latest feedback from the DoC seemed to be the best read as MyBroadband played 20 questions with DoC’s Rosey Sekese. Sceptics might ask: how is it the Government expects to encourage external investment with this cryptic game of questions and answers? Deputy Director General for ICT Infrastructure Development at the Department of Communications (DoC), Rosey Sekese, said that cables wanting to land in South Africa need to be majority African owned. Speaking at the ITWeb Broadband & Wireless conference in Midrand, Sekese made it clear that majority local ownership is not what is needed, but rather majority African ownership with a strong focus on developing the continent as a whole. When asked directly whether SEACOM will be allowed to land in South Africa, Sekese said that this issue is currently under discussion and as long as the undersea cable system abides by the Nepad Protocols governing these developments it will be given the green light. Last week Neotel’s Head of Strategy, Angus Hay, said that he is confident that SEACOM will be allowed to land in South Africa as it meets all the legal requirements. Hay further said that SEACOM falls in line with the spirit of development put forward by the DoC and Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, and since it is an African driven project he believes that landing rights will not be an issue. There are also rumors that Neotel has already started building physical infrastructure to connect the SEACOM landing point to their fiber backbone, which is a healthy sign that the company is not overly concerned about SEACOM landing in South Africa. According to Neotel, statements regarding this issue will ‘come out soon’. While the feeling towards SEACOM’s landing seems to be positive, the DoC seems less optimistic about EASSy. When asked whether EASSy, which is 90% African owned and will function on open access principles, will be allowed to land in South Africa the answer was cryptic at best. Sekese said that while the shareholding is majority African, the system will have to abide by the Nepad protocols governing these developments to be allowed to land in South Africa. Some commentators feel that the DoC and Nepad are particularly ‘sensitive’ regarding the EASSy project as they were unable to hijack the system and make it part of the Nepad ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network. (source: MyBroadband) MWEB upgrades WiMax networkMWEB has upgradedits WiMax network, resulting in improved performance which may allow them to include new trial customers. MWEB has deployed a trial WiMax network in Gauteng and Cape Town serving around 700 trial users with unlimited broadband Internet access. The aim is to extend the trial to 1 000 users whilst observing the technology and network capabilities and testing the true performance of the service. The company currently has seven base stations, 4 in Johannesburg and 3 in Cape Town, and MWEB is looking to erect another base station in the Cresta/Northcliff area in Johannesburg. The deployment is based on the Mobile WiMax (802.16e) standard using Alvarion equipment. Eugene van der Westhuizen, GM for new business projects at MWEB, said that they recently performed a software upgrade on their WiMax network which has resulted in significant performance improvements. Van der Westhuizen said that the speed improvements seen after the upgrade are substantial enough that the company may now try to connect people who were not initially successful as trialists due to poor coverage and throughput. MWEB is currently trialing a 256 Kbps, 512 Kbps and 1 Mbps service, but the company is confident that it will be able to launch a 2 Mbps service using WiMax should they receive adequate spectrum from ICASA. MWEB is however not the only company hoping for spectrum from ICASA, and large players like Altech, Internet Solutions and Vodacom all have big plans for WiMax. The only company that has so far rolled out a commercial WiMax network is Telkom, while Neotel, Sentech and iBurst all have WiMax spectrum at their disposal. Sentech has recently indicated that they will invest in a WiMax network after receiving R 500-Million from government and Neotel is also deploying a WiMax network in parallel to their CDMA rollout. (source: MyBroadband) In brief:- The Kenyan Government has awarded French company, Alcatel-Lucent, the tender to construct the East Africa Marine System (TEAMS) set to link the Kenyan coast with the United Arabs Emirates. - Santa Monica-based Weboconference announced that it has launched its web conferencing application in Africa by securing its first client there, the Panafrican Press Association (APPA).A multi-user platform, the system allows videoconferences in real time joining together 16 participants in its initial version and up to 50 in a bespoke version , or an unlimited number web-casters for a public conference (international conferences, press conferences, debates, commercial meetings, products presentation, contacts with expatriates, etc). - India’s Jataayu Software has released its Truly Mobile Browser – jB5 for Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition mobile phones. jB5 is a mobile browser that can deliver anInternet browsing experience on the widest variety of phones. It can embed seamlessly on smart phones and feature phones as well as other Internet devices. jB5 covers not only all relevant web standards like HTML4, CSS2, ECMAScript but also complete WAP2 specifications. - Some 500 participants are expected to take part in Connect Africa Leaders’ Summit in the Rwandan capital Kigali on 29 and 30 October, United Nations confirmed. The summit’s main goal is to bring connectivity to Africa and promote “Connect Africa”, a new partnership that seeks to expand the information, communication and technology infrastructure of the continent, especially broadband internet, to attract investment needed for employment and economic growth.
Nigeria: Omatek Launches its latest 8 inch version NotebookOne of Nigeria’s leading OEM companies, Omatek Computers Limited has launched the latest version of its 8" notebook into the Nigerian market. Speaking at the launching ceremony which was held at the Sheraton Hotels and Towers in Lagos recently, managing director of the Omatek Computers, Engr. Florence Seriki noted that the notebook is the solution to the dire need to provide systems that Nigerian youths and teachers can deploy effectively for a functional education in the country. According to her, the notebook which is the latest version is suitable for the Nigerian environment and made with the Nigerian students both in the secondary and tertiary institutions in mind. Seriki said: "We are now beginning to notice an undue advantage that is being granted the foreign computer firms who come into the country and take Nigerians for granted." (source: Leadership) Fight for Project Rosa may be over : T-Systems the winner?Old Mutual and Mutual and Federal have identified a preferred potential supplier for what has been described as one of the biggest ICT outsourcing contracts in the local financial sector. The companies, part of the Old Mutual Group, said today they will now enter into “a period of contract negotiation, with a view to signing a contract in January 2008”. The five-year Project Rosa, worth R1.5 billion to R2 billion, aimed at identifying and exploiting IT infrastructure and service delivery synergy across the two companies. “Part of the project has centred on evaluating and selecting an IT infrastructure supplier, as the current OMSA [Old Mutual SA] infrastructure outsourcing agreement with CSC [Computer Sciences Corporation] is approaching its end,” the Old Mutual Group says in a statement. A spokesman for the group this morning declined to name the preferred supplier, saying it would be too early to do so. However, market speculation is that T-Systems pipped incumbent CSC and rival IBM to secure the contract. T-Systems refused to comment. The project was downscaled in July, due to a decision by the Old Mutual Group not to pursue a group-wide solution. In terms of the new scope, Nedbank – which forms part of the group – will provide its own IT infrastructure and maintenance in-house. This meant the initial contract value, said to have been about $450 million to $500 million (or upwards of R3 billion), decreased by 40% to 50%. However, at the time, sources close to the project maintained the contract would still be one of the biggest in the sector's history. (source: ItWeb) Slow down coming in South African ICT sector?South African technology resellers of all sizes are facing renewed cash-flow pressure and finding their livelihoods more threatened than ever before. Pierre Spies, CEO of Tarsus Technologies says these challenges stem from a combination of the slowdown in the technology market and the rising interest rates. "The slowdown in the market has meant that on the one hand, resellers are making smaller revenues, while the rising interest rates on the other hand, has meant that their costs are increasing." Spies says that this is evidenced by the fact that his company's 'debtors days' have slipped by as much as 15% since the beginning of the year. "The liquidation rates in the channel have gone up exponentially in comparison to a year ago. We see medium-sized customers going out of business on a weekly basis," he adds. While small resellers are making a living out of loyal relationships, larger resellers are making ends meet by leveraging their economies of scale. But even these resellers are feeling the pressure. "It's clear that something has to give," says Spies, "since this is a problem that threatens the health and longevity of the entire channel. In brief:- The Ugandan Government has offered Microsoft land and a go-ahead to construct a software development facility. Microsoft signed a letter of intent with the Government and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to construct the software economy centre, which will be the second software innovation facility in Africa south of the Sahara. - The Linux Professional Institute (LPI), the largest independent Linux skills certification institute,, has announced several new affiliates in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria.
Dyer & Blair partner with Morgan Stanley for Safaricom IPOKenyan investment bank, Dyer & Blair last announced it has formed a consortium with Morgan Stanley to provide transaction advisory services to the Safaricom IPO. Dyer and Blair’s Joint Managing Director, Mohammed Hassan is confident that the partnership with Morgan Stanley will help complement the firm’s efforts to deepen the capital markets and ensure the success of East Africa’s largest IPO to date. “We partnered with Morgan Stanley because we felt that global firm would offer innovative strategies and international best practices to propel the Safaricom IPO to success”, said Hassan. The announcement comes ahead of the largest initial public offer ever in the history of the Nairobi Stock Exchange in which the government plans to sell 25% stake in Kenya’s most profitable company, Safaricom. The partnership with Dyer and Blair is a first in the region for Morgan Stanley. Damian Dolland, the Executive Director of Morgan Stanley Company, said that he was confident that the partnership would be successful and he also said it would help develop the capital markets in the East Africa. Dolland said, “This is the first time we have worked with an investment bank in East Africa. I feel that this partnership with Dyer and Blair not only shows the strength of the local companies, but it signifies the growing importance of Kenya and the East African region as a key investment hotspot and an emerging capital markets sector in this part of the continent”, said the Morgan Stanley Director. Meanwhile Kenyan opposition party ODM says it will continue to fight to halt the government’s planned sale of the 25% stake despite a recent High Court ruling which says the share offer can go ahead. The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) wants to block the initial public offering (IPO) until the new Privatisation Act is brought into operation. The party has vowed to take its case to the Court of Appeal after losing out in the High Court, reports the East African Standard. Econet raises US$20 million for Zimbabwean network expansionEconet Wireless has raised the entire funding for its expansion programme targeted to lift network capacity to 1.2 million. The firm is now waiting for contractors and suppliers to finish their work. Earlier this year, Econet secured US$20 million from the PTA Bank to help fund its expansion projects. Econet chief executive Douglas Mboweni said this week all the funding was in place and work on construction was at an advanced stage. He said local contractors were now putting up towers, which had been disrupted by the price freeze. Mr Mboweni said the mobile phone company had already identified 240 additional sites to install some of the base stations adding to more than 300 base stations already operational. Econet is expanding capacity from the current 800,000 to 1.2 million by February next year. The company awarded contracts to Ericsson of Sweden and ZTE of China to supply the network equipment. Ericsson is providing equipment to expand the core network which is made up of the switching systems, Intelligent Network platforms, prepaid systems and new base stations in Harare, Mashonaland and Manicaland. On the other hand, ZTE is supplying radio base stations for the southern part of the country, covering Bulawayo urban and its environs, Masvingo, Midlands and Matabeleland provinces. The Chinese company will also build new sites in remote rural areas and along the national highways. Mr Mboweni said although getting foreign currency funding for each year's expansion was difficult, Econet would continue exploring for innovative ways to do so. (source:The Herald) Botswana: IFC picked as transaction adviser for BTC privatisationThe Public Enterprise Evaluation and Privatisation Agency (PEEPA) board has engaged the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to act as transactional advisers as government shifts attention to privatise the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC). PEEPA Chief Executive Officer, Joshua Galeforolwe confirmed that a procurement tender has been filed through the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology to the Public Procurement and Assets Disposal Board (PPADB). "We have started finalising the agreement with the PPADB and the line ministry, and by next week we hope they will be ready to start," he revealed. In an advert placed last week in the Daily News, the PPADB board indicated that it has approved the ministry's request for a waiver to request information from IFC for the transaction advisory services for more wholesome liberalisation of the day-to-day operations of the BTC. "The board approved the request to source more information and clarifications according to the documents submitted," the advert reads. In 2003, IFC was the lead consultant in the aborted Air Botswana sale bid involving Airlink. Galeforolwe said the government was interested in finding as much information as possible to aid a smooth privatisation process at BTC. He pointed out that as transactional advisers, IFC had a mandate to identify strategies to further privatise the parastatal. "We also hope to explore prospects for selling shares at BTC," he added. "We sought legal advice and we approached the company and asked them to show cause why the bid should not be disqualified," he said. Inside sources reveal that the collapse of the Air Botswana deal has raised fears that even in the instance of the BTC, PEEPA might be elbowed out of performing their primary role as chief policy adviser to government. "In the last meeting that I attended the minister made it clear that she will not allow BTC to privatise itself," replied Galeforolwe. (source: Mmegi/The Reporter) Six companies shortlisted to bid for Ghana TelecomThere are six bidders for incumbent Ghana Telecom including Portugal Telecom, France Telecom and Telkom South Africa for the 51% stake the government wants to sell. Twenty foreign investors initially expressed interest in the sale. The rest of the shares will then be floated on the Ghana stock exchange (GSE). According to source close to the Information Ministry indicates that these Telecom Companies would be in the country very soon to submit their bids for the majority stake in GT. Ecobank Development Corporation (EDC) and Societe Generale are the transactional advisors for Ghana for the privatization. It is believed that the transaction would be completed the process by the end of this year. All bidders are probably most interested in two things: Ghana Telecom’s mobile subsidiary One Touch and Ghana Telecom’s potential to dominate the supply of broadband. This will be France Telecom’s first outing that it has itself initiated (rather than inherited through acquisition) in an Anglophone market in Africa and it has the money and the track record to be a strong favourite. Portugal Telecom has teamed up with Nigerian VC company Helios for its new investment strategy but is more accustomed to sleepy monopoly markets rather than competition. Teaming with others to raise money may mean that it lacks the resources for a major bid. After a long spell where it seemed unable to buy anything, Telkom South Africa’s luck has changed recently. Whoever wins the bid has an awful lot of sorting out to do against a backdrop of increasing competition in the market. (source: Ghanaian Chronicle) In brief:- Nigeria’s Visaphone Communications has acquired International Phone Networks ITN for N3 billion. - Results posted by Mincom Limited, Australian software developer and global provider of software to asset intensive industries, showed the company’s African operations have seen significant growth in the last financial year. Mincom, internationally, reported a record full-year profit of $22.171 million before tax and non-recurring costs for the year ended 30 June 2007 - almost double the 2006/07 financial year result of $11.311 million. Mincom’s operation in Africa saw significant growth during the same timeframe, with a 170% increase in software licence revenues and a doubling of its profit for the year. Mike Evans, managing director of Mincom Africa, India and Middle East said: “We signed ten major new mining customer contracts this year, most notably African Copper, Umcebo and Lonmin Platinum. These new clients contributed heavily to our licence revenue growth, and helped us contribute substantially to the organisation’s overall profitability on a global scale,” - South Africa’s Altron group has posted continuing strong results for the six months ended 31 August 2007 driven by exceptional growth in the Powertech businesses and satisfactory performances from Altech and Bytes, resulting in a 32% increase in revenues and a 38% increase in headline earnings per share. - Zimbabwe’s foreign currency inflow from the telecommunications industry slumped 42 percent during the first eight months of the year due to escalating use of illegal routes handling incoming international calls.
Nokia captures the spirit of RamadanNokia’s latest phone selection -Nokia N73 Special Edition, Nokia 6300, and Nokia 3110 Classic – all come pre-loaded with Islamic applications. The selection of applications available in the Nokia devices are: Azkar, Ramadaniat, Ramadan Greetings, Hajj and Umrah, Islamic Organizer, Universal Dictionary and Ramadan Themes. In addition to that, the N73 Special Edition includes three E-books, Names of Allah and additional Ramadan content. "At Nokia, we enjoy the challenge of developing and producing solutions that are beneficial for the every day life of our customers, wherever they may be," said Timo Toikkanen, Senior Vice President, Customer and Market Operations Nokia Middle East and Africa "The Ramadan applications have been especially designed to aid prayer and worship throughout the Holy-month for this year and in the future, with options like the Azkar and Ramadaniat full of useful information and advice to users. The Islamic applications are especially useful for those people who lead busy lives and look to technology to help them organize their time, as they are a comprehensive platform that covers all aspects of the holy season - from daily prayers, rules on fasting and Zakat, and even Ramadan SMS greetings," he added. The Azkar application provides a valuable collection of Azkar for the morning and evening. Users can navigate the application in a choice of different languages including Arabic, English, French, Farsi, and Urdu. In addition, users can send Azkar via SMS to family and friends. The Tasbeeh counter, which can be used in place of physical prayer beads can calculate and log the number of prayers said. Ramadaniat consists of a large collection of useful information including the rules of fasting, Zakah Al-Fitr, the benefits of Laylat Al-Qadr and the I'tekaf in Ramadan. Included in the application are a number of images that relate to different elements and teachings of the Holy season, which can also be sent via SMS. The Ramadan greetings application allows users to send greetings cards for the Holy season via MMS and SMS, either from the vast array of images in the picture gallery or by creating new cards on the device itself. The Hajj and Umrah application is considered a complete guide to the Hajj and Umrah, and contains detailed explanations for every step involved. The application includes multimedia instructions with audible narration. It highlights the most important Islamic shrines with illustrations and pictures, as well as instructions for the pilgrim's work during the Hajj. As a commitment to users in the region, Nokia added the Islamic organiser to a selected range of its devices. The Islamic Organizer includes audible alarms for the five daily prayers, a Qibla direction indicator and a Hijri calendar, marking important Islamic events. The Universal Dictionary supports English, Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, and French. Users can listen to words being pronounced in translation, as well as viewing the translation on screen. N73 Special Edition users will find two valuable Islamic E-books: "Forty Hadith Qudsi" and "Forty Hadith Nabawi", which have been provided by Dar El Shourouk, the biggest Arabic books publisher in the Middle East, pre-installed on the miniSD card. The offering of the Download Application includes a third E-Book, the Name of Allah application, which is exclusively available for Nokia NSeries users.
PeopleSouth Africa’s Public service and administration minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi has announced that Llewellyn Jones will assume the top spot at the State IT Agency (SITA). She also confirmed that COO Noedine Isaacs-Mpulo's resignation had been accepted by the board and announced Cabinet's confirmation of the appointment of two new members to SITA's board. Michelle Williams, the newly-appointed government CIO, and Rose Seseke, deputy DG at the Department of Communications, will join the board on 15 October. Taide Network announced the appointment of Matous Vykydal as Sales Director for Taide Tanzania. Mr. Vykydal will be responsible for all sales and marketing activities in Tanzania. He will also play a key role in establishing the access network and partnerships with local providers in Tanzanian cities. Vykydal is 32 years old and originally from the Czech Republic. He has been living in Norway for the last 10 years, holding positions as Senior Sales Engineer and Area Sales Manager for Taide Network. He has now moved and will be stationed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Prior to joining Taide, he worked for Telenor Czech Republic as Senior Sales Engineer with responsibility for all marketing activities and account management of government, finance and retail sectors. EventsIMPLEMENTING SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS- ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) TRAINING WORKSHOP Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, 18 - 19 October 2007 This two-day Training Workshop will be presented by Vision Software of Canada, in association with In-Sync Ltd and AITEC Africa. Jean-Paul Ouellette, President and CEO Vision/RF Corporation, Canada will lead a host of other trainers. For details contact: Eunice Wanjiru, In-Sync Ltd Tel: +254-4450115/6 Cell: +254-727 737355 Email: eunicew@in-sync.co.ke - USING ICT FOR EFFECTIVE DISASTER MANAGEMENT - AFRICA FORUM 2007 13th - 15th November 2007, Dar es Salaam International Conference Centre, Tanzania The use of ICTs in disaster management is one of the CTO's core areas of expertise. Following successful events in Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific, we are delighted to deliver our fourth regional ICTs for Effective Disaster Management Forum in Tanzania. There is no admission fee and we hope that all disaster management stakeholders will be able to attend and contribute to this event's success. With the Ministry of Communications and the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority as hosts, as well as the potential of a half-day workshop conducted by the ITU, this event has already attracted a huge amount of interest. For further information contact Mr. Salim Binbrek at the CTO on Tel: +44 208 834 1592 or Email: s.binbrek@cto.int. For more information please see the CTO website http://www.cto.int - THE EUROAFRICA-ICT INITIATIVE UPCOMING EVENTS. 8-9 October, Gaborone, Botswana 11-12 October, Yaoundé, Cameroon The EuroAfrica-ICT initiative is organising its 5th and 6th awareness workshops in sub-Saharan Africa. These workshops specifically aim at supporting the development of a deeper and broader Scientific and Technological cooperation between the European Union and sub-Saharan Africa in the ICT sector. For further information visit http://www.euroafrica-ict.org Jobs and OpportunitiesLearning Africa 2008 Opens Call for Proposals The 3rd eLearning Africa conference, which will take place from May 28 to 30, 2008, in Ghana's capital Accra, has opened its Call for Proposals. The event, organised by ICWE GmbH and Hoffmann & Reif, focuses on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Development, Education and Training in Africa. Serving as a Pan-African platform, eLearning Africa links a network of decision makers from governments and administrations with universities, schools, governmental and private training providers, industry, and important partners in development cooperation. Suggestions for sessions, presentations, workshops and discussions can be submitted until December 7 via an online form at http://www.elearning-africa.com/proposals.php ContractsNigeria: Celtel and Nokia Cellco Celtel Nigeria, owned by Kuwait’s Zain Group, and European vendor Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) have signed a USD130 million deal for network expansion nationwide. The project will see NSN installing 4,000km of fibre-optic backbone and microwave transmission equipment enabling Celtel to offer next-generation IP-based services. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Celtel, formerly Econet, Vee Networks and V-Mobile, ended June 2007 with just under eight million subscribers, placing it third in the market with a 25% share. Tunisia: Tunisiana and Comptel Tunisiana, the Tunisian cellco owned by Orascom Telecom and Wataniya, has selected Finnish equipment vendor Comptel to supply a provisioning and activation solution. The software upgrade will be used to improve the firm’s service fulfilment processes, including planned 3G services. Established in May 2002, Tunisiana has a customer base of around 3.4 million, giving it a market share of 50%.
If our correspondent is "off the mark" or you have
factual amendments, mail them to us and we will include them
in subsequent News Updates. If you'd like to contribute, write
and let us know. |
|
   
     |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
This page last updated on October 22 2007.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
