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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 383 Algerie Telecom becomes first operator to pioneer Fibre-To-The-Home strategyAlgérie Télécom is the first African telecoms operator to put together a business strategy that includes Fibre-To-The-Home. Although the price of connecting households to fibre has dropped considerably elsewhere, it still remains an expensive way to provide a local connection. However, the prize it is seeking to create is a large user base for its forthcoming triple play offer. Russell Southwood looks at what it’s up to. The operator is deploying an FTTH network from French vendor Sagem Communication and on15 December it will be launching a triple play offer with voice, broadband Internet and television. The triple play service will initially be offered in Oran, Alger, Sétif and Constantine before being rolled nationally in 2008. According to Malik Hachelef, the Manager overseeing the FTTH roll-out:”The service will consist of a modem that can connect to the fibre network that will give very high capacities allowing either triple or quadruple play.” Algérie Télécom has 500,000 ADSL lines in place and is on its way to 3 million lines by the end of 2009. According to CEO Slimane Kheiredine, a WiMAX service will fill in gaps in the company's service where it does not offer ADSL and allow it to consider new services such as IP-TV. The Algerian national operator is working with foreign partners like BT and Korea Telecom on developing new services and is also planning to launch digital terrestrial TV trials. The drive to offer triple-play was triggered earlier in the year by a change in the French satellite Pay-TV market. Previously TPS and Canal Satellite could be received in Algeria using smart cards purchased in France by friends or relatives. But the merger between the two French platforms has created problems for Algerian viewers, as the unified platform uses a more secure encryption technology, eliminating the foreign smartcard option. This turn of events has helped Saudi-owned ART, the only digital pay-TV operator that officially sells subscriptions in Algeria, which offers 3, 6 and 12 month subscriptions for DZD 3,000 (Algerian Dinars, approximately US$ 42.00), DZD 5,000 (US$69) and DZD 9,000 (US$125). The only other option is satellite reception of the unencrypted French TV channels such as TF1, M6, France 2, France 5 and France 3. FTTH is considered the most expensive way to connect users at the local loop but it does offer extremely high speeds, both up and down unlike DSL. The average price per household connected in the USA varies between an estimated US$750-1,000. Actual turn-out figures for one US scheme were between $809-3682, with an average of US$1171. What is extremely hard to estimate is how much lower these figures can be taken in a developing world context. Algérie Télécom recently saw off SNO Lacom which retired hurt, saying that the incumbent had been given undue advantageous in the competition between the two companies. If Algérie Télécom succeeds with its current business strategy, it will have built itself an almost impregnable position in the market.
Mobile base tops 7.7 million mark but fixed lines are down in TanzaniaBy 30th September 2007, about 7.7 millions Tanzanians had a telephone service according to figures published by the regulator, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA). This is an increase of about 12% from June 2007. Mobile telecommunication is by far the largest part of the market (98%) compared to fixed line services (2%). While the population of Tanzania is growing at the rate of 2.7% annually, the annual number of Tanzanian buying a telephone service is growing at an average rate of 47%. However, at least 80.6% of Tanzanians still do not have a telephone service. Market share amongst operators has remained broadly stable. Vodacom is leading the market in terms of number of subscribers with 48% of all subscribers (50% last June). Celtel ranks the second with 29% (28% last June) followed by Tigo with 13%, (12% last June), Zantel (7%, the same as in June) and TTCL with 3% (2% last June). Ghana: Mobile companies unite to say no to airtime taxGhana’s mobile network operators have formally rejected government proposals to introduce an airtime tax on all voice calls, as announced by the Finance Minister as part of the 2008 budget statement presented to Parliament on 15 November. The government is planning the initiative to stop what it claims is a rising tide of untaxed mobile phones being brought into the country. However, in a news conference held in Accra on 5 December, industry spokesperson Ursula Owusu said ‘The tax will disproportionately impact the lower cost calls on all networks, adding that ‘the very nature of this tax imposed across the board for all subscribers does not take the different social and economic means of consumers into consideration’. She went on to point out that the country’s telecoms operators are already highly taxed. They have to pay a regulatory fee equal to 1.5% of their annual revenues and corporate tax of 25% on profits, as well as stumping up a number of ancillary taxes such as customs duty, national health insurance and VAT, employee tax and a business operating fee. Owusu warned that the new tax would have the effect of driving up end-user prices, a situation she says would be ‘inconsistent with the public’s persistent request that prices should come down’. Cell C Voice Heard in MTN Case in South AfricaCellular operator Cell C has won the right to question MTN when the Competition Tribunal stages hearings into alleged anticompetitive behaviour. MTN will be in the dock for charging a commercial rate to connect calls made from Cell C's community service pay phones when callers dial an MTN number. Since the phones are in underserviced areas, Cell C believes MTN should charge the subsidised interconnection fee of just 6c, instead of the R1.25 it demands. The two companies are withholding the fees from each other, with Cell C claiming that MTN owes it R1bn after years of overcharging and Cell C owing MTN R800m in retaliation. Last week the tribunal agreed that Cell C could participate in the hearings against MTN by calling its own witnesses, cross-examining witnesses and presenting evidence of its own. The dispute has been going on since April 2005 when Cell C lodged a complaint with the Competition Commission alleging that MTN was abusing its dominance and was guilty of price discrimination. The commission agreed and referred the complaint to the higher authority of the tribunal in July. MTN is accused of engaging in prohibited price discrimination by charging Cell C the commercial interconnection fee despite charging Vodacom the subsidised rate for calls made from Vodacom's community service phones, even when the phone boxes are standing side-by-side. The commission accuses MTN of abusing its dominance by engaging in prohibited practices by disregarding the interconnection deal it has with Cell C and refusing to terminate calls from Cell C's community phones at the subsidised rate. MTN argues that Cell C is placing its community service phones in areas that are not underserved, and it therefore has no right to expect the reduced interconnection fees . Cell C says that the areas were selected in consultation with the industry regulator. (Source: Business Day) Big Three GSM operators light up 3G services in NigeriaMTN Nigeria, Globacom and Celtel Nigeria, the big three GSM operators in Nigeria, have completed the initial phase of network upgrade to deliver third generation (3G) services providing enhanced mobile data services to subscribers in the country. Signals have come on air and have been picked up in the Lagos area, the niche urban market where subscribers on the three networks may be the early bird beneficiaries of the high-speed mobile service. Technology Times sources with the mobile networks, citing the need to safeguard 'competitive' information, did not disclose specific details of the planned go live of their 3G offerings. But they hinted as much that commercial services is likely to begin in Lagos area where they eye as a major niche market for the value added service. This comes just as Domain Standard Networks, unveiled the report of a search for 3G signals conducted by the Lagos-based technology consultancy to ascertain service readiness among the four companies issued 3G licences in March by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The telecoms regulator says the nation’s phone subscribers has increased to 46.2 million lines at the end of third quarter (Q3) of the year bringing the nation's teledensity, considered the number of phone to 100 people, to 27.42. Total connected lines at the end of Q3 2007 stands at 46,228,173 lines with GSM mobile users dominating with 43,593,310 lines (94%). On the other hand, fixed wired/wireless services trails with 2,235,257 (5%) of total connected lines while mobile CDMA accounts for 399,606 lines (1%) during the same period, according to NCC. The big three and little-known Alheri Engineering, a unit of the Dangote Group, promoted by businessman, Aliko Dangote, were issued a licence at $150 million apiece by the regulator raking some $600 million into the coffers of the Federal Government during the auction of frequency spectrum for 3G services. According to the report, 3G signals have so far emerged on the mobile network radar for only MTN Nigeria, Globacom and Celtel across locations in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria. But Alheri Engineering is missing from the radar as no signal was detected for the new entrant player that was sold the fourth licence, an indication that it is yet unprepared for the market. Also, the ailing fourth GSM network, Mtel, is currently missing from what analysts consider the next phase of the mobile growth path delivering faster browsing, downloads and other enhanced offerings on mobile phones while opening new revenue streams for operators beyond the traditional voice. Domain Standard Networks says its 'sniffing' of 3G signals in the Ikeja area of Lagos also showed that only Globacom has network supporting the service ready along the old Toll Gate area which forms a major entry point into the nation's commercial nerve centre from other parts of the country. Additionally, "around the Ojota flyover, all three of MTN, Celtel and Globacom have a 3G network ready." Around the Alausa/Secretariat Area of Lagos, says the report, sniffing devices found that, "in the Lagos State Secretariat area, again all three of MTN, Celtel, and Globacom have 3G networks. Mtel, of course, not being a 3G licensee, does not have 3G presence." However, no 3G network was found to have been activated yet in the Ojodu/Omole Area of Lagos. Also, the company report was cautious about claims by operators that the service is ready for the market in weeks citing that "the term 'weeks' can mean anything from less than a month to 6 months from now." According to the report, "as you may have noticed, there does not seem to be a sign of Alheri anywhere in the locations we checked. Of course, that is understandable, especially if the company is starting out from scratch. Their immediate focus will probably be areas like Abuja, Victoria Island and the like." However, the company is positive that when 3G implementation under way among the companies goes live, the cellular technology, which delivers data speeds up to 2 Mbps, "will provide true broadband internet access via mobile phones." Ahead of the frequency sale, NCC had said that 17 companies responded to the tender for 3G licences, and the four companies that made formal applications Alheri Engineering described by the regulator as "an existing long distance landline operator" promoted by businessman, Aliko Dangote; Celtel Nigeria owned by Kuwaiti Zain Group; Globacom, owned by businessman, Mike Adenuga and MTN Nigeria, owned by South Africa's MTN Group. According to the regulator, "the four applicants' submissions were evaluated with respect to the compliance details outlined in the Information Memorandum. Each applicant was found to have been fully compliant. In these circumstances, where the number of applicants matches the number of lots, no further allocation process is required. As such, the NCC announced that each of the applicants has been successful in its bid for a 10MHz lot in the 2GHz band." The three operators have been making progress towards meeting a rollout target of 2007. For instance, Globacom, says it had earlier in August, last year switched on a trial 3G trial platform with plans to take the service in the first phase to Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt. It hopes to extend to Ibadan and Benin, according to insiders. Globacom had signed on equipment supplier, Alcatel-Lucent, to roll out a network based on UMTS/HSDPA technology that will enable its subscribers enjoy mobile broadband and triple-play services in some selected cities. Also, MTN Nigeria’s upgrade of its network for the service, the company had earlier said, will deliver 3G services. The $650 million network expansion and upgrade project flagged off earlier this year will deliver 3G capabilities on the MTN network. Also, Celtel Nigeria is switching on its subscribers on a 3G platform launched in November 2006and has successfully gone through the necessary trials. However, analysts are concerned that Alheri Engineering, the fourth licensee for 3G services may miss the target set for go-live by the big three. Alheri has been linked with plans to buy stakes in Mtel, Intercellular among others to enable it acquire an existing network to fast-track its planned entry into the intensely competitive telecoms market. (Source: Technology Times)
In brief:- The phenomenal growth in Nigerian telecoms sector continues as subscriber base peaked at 46.2 million at the end of third quarter of the year. The nation's teledensity, considered the number of phone to 100 people, is 27.42, according to statistics released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). - Uganda telecom, has cut hundreds of jobs in a restructuring exercise that will see the company increase its influence in a competitive telecoms market. It is the third major restructuring exercise since the government privatised the company in 2004. - After the Nigerian e-mail fraud, a new method has been adopted by fraudsters in Senegal targeting residents in Oman, who are first inundated with a 'missed calls' and then the gullible are sucked into parting with money. Oman's Telecommunications Authority (TRA) has issued a public notice warning residents against responding to missed international calls, especially ones starting with 00221, which is the international code number for Senegal. "When called back, the party at the other end claims to have spiritual powers to heal suffering people and evil magic," the TRA statement said. - The Federal Government of Nigeria has suspended any further dealings with Siemens, the German telecommunications company which allegedly bribed some top Nigerian government officials to secure large contracts in the country, pending the conclusion of investigations into the matter. - A plan by the Communications Commission of Kenya to consolidate existing licences into three categories has raised fears that it could tilt the market in favour of big operators. The consolidated permits are expected to be more expensive than the specific ones, elbowing out small and medium-sized players who cannot afford the fees. Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage- The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) is finalizing preparations to launch 3G (Third Generation) mobile services in fifty selected areas to corporate customers and its professionals. ETC also announced that the new Nokia Amharic Mobile Phones are supported by its mobile networks. - Zimbabwe's major cellular phone operators have increased their tariffs with immediate effect, saying the previous rates were too low and their businesses were running at a loss. Econet Wirelss has increased its tariffs to Zd 45 000 per minute with immediate effect. Econet messaging services now cost Zd 11 500 each. Meanwhile, the government controlled NetOne increased its own rates to Zd 35 000 per minute for all calls. One US Dollar for example fetches two million Zimbabwean dollars. - MTC Namibia has stopped abruptly its new promotion. Its General Manager of Corporate Affairs, Albertus Aochamub blamed the situation on "unexpected congestion of the network and related technical challenges which are being attended to". The promotion offered users to make endless calls to fellow MTC subscribers for N$10 per day. - In its second expansion exercise in one month, Nigeria’s mobile operator, Globacom has rolled out in 40 communities and towns in 17 states in an effort to cover the entire country; just as it also launched its N83 billion nationwide fibre backbone to improve service quality. - Abu Dhabi based company Warid Telecom which announced last week successful test calls on its new network in Uganda, is also deploying a network in Congo-Brazaville in partnership with Huawei Technologies. - Mauritius Telecom is going to launch next January its NetPC service whereby users will be offered online access to PC applications and storage space.
Millions Unspent in Drive to Bring Poor Online in South AfricaMore than R250m that companies have poured into a fund designed to give everyone access to telephony services is gathering dust at the treasury -- while 20,000 schools still lack internet access. Cash collected from Telkom, cellular operators and other telecoms operators has been sloshing around since 1999, and now a newly overhauled universal services agency is demanding it back. "We need to spend that money now and we want it," said Cassandra Gabriel, chairman of the Universal Service and Access Agency of SA. The operators pay 0.2% of their annual revenue to the universal services fund, but only a fraction was being reinvested to grow the industry, she said. The agency has received just R195m of R456m collected for the fund so far, leaving R261m in limbo. This year the levy raised R151m, but just R31m was given to the agency to take voice and data services to poor or remote communities. Now the agency has submitted an R800m wish list, but has been told to expect just R32m of the R180m that the industry will contribute next year. "It's a crying shame that this money gets collected from our industry for the sake of the poor and it's not coming back from the treasury. It's an unfair tax on the industry," Gabriel said. The agency had asked the Communications Minister and the industry regulator to intervene, and was willing "to placard outside the treasury" if the cash was not forthcoming, she said. "When they are convinced we can give them a proper plan we will access it, but it's not happening fast enough," she said. Her new management team was determined to do its job, and the government "must fire us" if it objected to them for being outspoken. The treasury's communications director, Thoraya Pandy, said the levy would be reinvested in the sector, but only when the agency could demonstrate a sound business plan and the ability to execute it. In the past it had struggled to spend its cash or present proper plans. The treasury was willing to allocate the funds if the agency could show that it would use them wisely, Pandy said. Gabriel and the new CEO, James Theledi, said the agency had to shoulder some blame for its history, with a lack of leadership and an exodus of senior managers. Before a recent overhaul it had no clear budgets and had handled projects on an ad hoc basis. "We haven't made a huge impact on the digital divide," Theledi said. "Almost 21,000 schools don't have connectivity. We need to change the way the fund has been managed and work with the industry to reach every South African with telephony and connectivity." The fund can cull up to 1% of operators' annual revenues, which would give it R800m a year with which to increase voice and data services in poor and underserved areas and roll out services to schools and community centres. Theledi acknowledged that the agency's record was poor. Of SA's 27000 schools, only 7000 had internet access. The agency had funded computer labs for only 234 schools, and just 90 of those had internet access. It wants to open 200 new computer labs a year and take internet access to 3000 schools a year. Its 154 community telecentres have been equally unsuccessful. Some have no staff with the skill to run them, or the equipment has been stolen. (Source: Business Day) Cybercrime Bill Goes Through Second Reading in BotswanaParliament last week adopted the Cybercrime Bill with amendments by Minister of Communications, Science and Technology, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi. With the Bill, government wants to make it a crime to repress criminal activities perpetrated through computer systems and to facilitate the collection of electronic evidence. The Bill will go for third reading in the near future before it is signed into a law. According to the minister's amendments, offenders or accomplices will be fined between P10, 000 and P100, 000 depending on the gravity of the offence. Venson-Moitoi explained to the House that they imposed a minimum prison term as a deterrent and that the cybercrime offences can impact negatively on national operations such as interference with civil servants' salaries or general elections. However, MP for Lobatse Nehemiah Modubule was not happy with the idea of minimum terms, saying Parliament should give judges an opportunity to exercise their discretionary powers. He argued that in some instances, offenders would have been used either by their employers or did not know that they were committing a crime. He added that those who do not have money to pay the fines are going to rot in jails. Minister of Justice, Defence and Security Phandu Skelemani, who is also former Attorney General, and Local Government Minister Margaret Nasha supported Venson-Moitoi stating that would-be offenders would avoid the crime because of the heavy punishment involved. There were a total of 16 amendments that the minister proposed and all were accepted. (Source: Mmegi/The Reporter) Internet Election Wars Hit E-Mail Boxes in KenyaInternet service providers in Nairobi have raised the red flag over abusive and unsolicited campaign material flooding the web as spam mail as the campaigns in Kenya head for the December 27 polls. But what is worrying is the frequent virus attacks over the past month which have disabled computers and caused a scare among Internet service providers. Africa Online sales manager George Njeru told The EastAfrican that there have been complaints from users mainly accessing the Internet at cyber cafes of invasion by this category of spam mail. "Much of it may not do any damage to the computers but it slows down the networks and at times customers cannot access some sites or even their inboxes," said Njeru refering to web-based e-mail accounts such as Yahoo and gmail. He said the increase in spam has forced customers to waste time and money deleting the unwanted mail. Muchiri Kabogo, a manager at Nairobi Net, which runs a network of cyber cafes in Nairobi and also an Internet service provider said the viruses have hit most cyber cafes in Nairobi. "They are all lodged in the computer start-up folder and strike the moment the users power up their machines giving them no chance to avoid the damage," said Kabogo. He said the viruses are eating up the desktop folders of the computers and besides possible damage to the equipment, have also destroyed vital information. An official of Swift Global also confirmed the presence of the viruses. "A virus that is on the net remains in circulation for a long timeit is up to users to institute appropriate measures to shield their equipment," she said. Some cafes have been forced to close down for days at a time to clean up the damage, incurring unexpected costs. Kenya's presidential election contest, especially between incumbent President Mwai Kibaki and his ODM rival Raila Odinga, is becoming increasingly intense. The war of words in public forums is being mirrored on the web, where the propaganda war is being waged. So much so, that at the launch of his campaign website last week, President Kibaki cautioned the public against believing all that they read on the web. "I'm sure you can make good judgment and ignore the malice in most of the material being bundled online," he said. The top three presidential aspirants have set up websites for their election campaigns. The president also mentioned use of text messages as a medium of propaganda, but the sms system is limited and does not allow the dissemination of bulk graphics and details possible through the web. Most Internet users have been looking out for the juicy campaign propaganda, usually scandals touching on the three candidates. These at first seemed readily available through the Kibaki Tena, Raila Tosha and Kalonzo Tayari sites, which all came disguised as election campaign material, but turned out to be viruses that did major damage to an unspecified number of computers. Efforts to get comments from the two major political parties have been fruitless, but most fingers point at rogue PNU and ODM operatives trying to outdo one another in the propaganda war. Most ISPs have advised their clients on ways of removing the viruses but are yet to trace their origins. Njeru said the bugs may have been sent from abroad, being fairly sophisticated and obviously created by people with high skills. But Kabogo said it was possible that they originated locally. (Source: The East African) In brief:- Galaxy Backbone Plc, Nigeria’s Federal Government's Internet Service Provider (ISP) has announced that it will provide connectivity nationwide to support triple play solution in the areas of rural telephony, video conferencing and internet connectivity. - In Senegal, a new fairtrade website named “taftafpro” (www.taftafpro.com) has been launched. It offers to buy online arts and crafts items made in West Africa. -In South Africa, the number of broadband subscribers is increasing at a rapid rate, but there are currently still more dial-up subscribers than broadband users. According to information released by Telkom there are currently around 946,000 dial-up subscribers, more than the current 800,000 broadband users in South Africa. - The Arab permanent committee of information and communication examined the use of Arab letters in the writing of URL addresses, through the signing of an memorandum of understanding with UNESCO and the follow-up of the preparation of the Arab social and economic summit in terms of information and communication technologies. -South Africa’s ISP, Internet Solutions’ General Manager for Internet Access, Alan Bacher, said that the company’s total ADSL Traffic for October 2007 came to 326 TB. Business DSL accounted for 57% of this usage while consumers made up 28% and express services 15%.
Zinox goes live in Ghana, eyes West African PC marketChairman of Zinox Technology, Leo Stan Ekeh says he has his eyes on expanding the reach of Nigeria’s leading PC maker across other West African nations as the company last week launched its brands in Ghana. Ghanaian media reports last week quotes Ekeh that the expansion of the Zinox business train will soon into other parts of the sub-region to assist their governments extend information and communication technology (ICT) among the populace. "As we all know, no nation can claim to be independent without technology independence. Zinox to us is a spiritual responsibility to deliver Africa in the emerging knowledge economy, and we have delivered so far in Nigeria, now in Ghana and moving to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Gambia and others soon”, says Ekeh. Zinox's emergence in Ghana, after Nigerian rival, Omatek, is because of the West African nation’s strong economic growth which has created an enabling environment for investment and expansion of ICT in the economy. The Zinox chief says the launch of the PC brand in Accra last Wednesday expands the company’s footprint ahead of a sub-regional expansion drive and had given them the opportunity to advance the corporate objectives of their consuming passion. It was also a way of keeping faith with the pan African vision of the founding fathers of Ghana, through the provision of a technology platform to harness and actualise the collective aspirations of Africans, says Ekeh. Zinox employs about 200 people in Ghana with 90 per cent being indigenous Ghanaians. Zinox computers are the only Microsoft Authorised OEM Partner in West Africa, Intel’s largest premier partner in sub-Saharan Africa, and the first and only certified system built in sub Saharan Africa. (Source: Technology Times) Uganda is Changing Rural Lives With Financial SoftwareThrough Post Bank Uganda, the government is changing the financial landscape with an intended massive rollout of financial software to the countryside to empower the rural folk. The introduction of the biometric identity card is in many ways a new invention for the financial sector because it brings to an end the vigorous processes of paper work and the need for those intending to access financial services or do banking to have fixed recognisable addresses. Map International, an American company that operates a multi dimensional financial services platform will deliver the mass market virtual payment solution linking consumers, merchants, banks and service providers. Almost 90% of the Ugandan population have no access to banking services. This has in many ways impacted negatively on the possibility of growing savings and accessing capital for progressive production. Top industry sources say there is an informal agreement between the governments of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to ensure that the connectivity of this facility will allow users to access the service in any part of East Africa. "The impact is increased deposits and therefore bankable funds," said Stephen Mukweli, the managing director of Post Bank Uganda. The unique selling feature of the positive biometric identity cards is that the customer does not have to go and present a lot of paperwork because the features like the client's photo and fingerprints are captured. The same features cannot be replicated or faked, as opposed to the conventional way of opening a bank account today. Once the roll-out process begins, the gadgets will have local translations so that even those who don't read or speak English can use them comfortably. The biometric I.D. also guards against chances of money laundering because the audit trail and finger print features captured provide more secure features. The partnership between Map and Post Bank also involves Uganda Telecom, whose telecommunications infrastructure it will run. (Source: East African Business Week) Microsoft is playing a dangerous game with Vista, says Tarsus chief in South AfricaMicrosoft's release of Windows Vista earlier this year caused somewhat of a stir in the market, receiving an overly critical response to its newest operating system from literally every corner of the globe. Pierre Spies, CEO of the largest technology distributor in South Africa, Tarsus Technologies says that this negative response has caused numerous challenges for vendors, distributors and resellers that were betting on the product's success. "Broadly speaking, there are three problems with Vista," Spies says. "Firstly, the market was not happy with the delay Microsoft experienced in the shipping of the operating system. Secondly, consumers do not like the fact that the final shipping product is still relatively incomplete. "Thirdly, the operating system is extremely resource-hungry - much more than one would expect from a major operating system overhaul," Spies says. Spies says that these problems have led to a slower than anticipated uptake of the product in the business market. "Furthermore, those companies that have taken the decision and upgraded to the product have been sorely disappointed," he says. "In fact the vast majority have downgraded." In downgrading, however, Spies says that customers have experienced additional challenges. "At the moment, you can only downgrade the Vista 'Business' SKU to Windows XP Professional - all other versions of the product are not eligible for downgrades," he says. "This has meant additional cost for most companies taking the downgrade route." Tarsus has also faced its fair share of issues in negotiating the downgrade process. "One of the services we offer our customers," Spies explains, "centres on blasting software images across multiple computers, thereby cutting down on rollout times. "Vista, however, won't go quietly," he chuckles. "It seems to embed itself on the computer we're trying to downgrade and makes it virtually impossible to do bulk downgrades. "This has challenged our automated process and we've had to resort to manually downgrading each machine with a technician's dedicated attention. We have even had to significantly increase the staff complement in our configuration centre to accommodate this increased demand," he says. While the business market in general is not at all charmed with Vista, Spies says it's not doom and gloom across the whole market. "The retail response has been extremely positive," he adds, "and unlike the approach that's been taken by many vendors in the corporate space, retail focused vendors have ensured that their computers have sufficient resources. "This has meant that the performance level of Vista machines in the retail sector has been far better than in the corporate space." Despite the positive response in retail, however, Spies believes that Microsoft is playing a dangerous game. "There's a great deal of uncertainty in the market right now and it's not a good idea to have users doubting your product around the time you release a new operating system," Spies says. "That uncertainty could urge customers to begin exploring their open source options again. "While open source may not necessarily be their chosen route, they will be exposed to new and interesting options on the other side of the fence - and if they like what they see, Microsoft may begin losing customers," he concludes. In brief:- The Federal Government of Nigeria has renewed the licensing agreement with the Microsoft Corporation under a strategic partnership agreement. Director-General of National Information Technology and Development Agency (NITDA). Prof. Cleopas Angaye said that the establishment of Microsoft Training Laboratory and education of various levels of manpower in the public service were part of the agreement. - According to research company IDC, Morocco’s IT market expanded from US$403.88 million in 2001 to US$638.69 million in 2006, representing an average annual growth rate of 9.6%. With more than 1,500 ICT firms employing over 42,000 people, the country is now firmly established as one of the leading suppliers of IT services in the Middle East. - Kenya has become the third African country to launch e-learning facilities in secondary schools. The programme by Intel, and whose only other beneficiaries are South Africa and Nigeria, was launched at Kamiti Secondary School in the outskirts of Nairobi. - In a repeat of what happened less than a year ago, Nigeria’s enterprise software and systems integrators, Progenics Corp Limited, has once again got its flagship investment management software solution Symbols, honoured with the Best Indigenous Software award in Nigeria at Nigerian IT and Telecoms Award (NITTA) 2007. - Makerere’s University in Uganda is to get a $2.5m digital library, a top official announced this week. The move is part the education ministry’s plan to promote the use of information and communications technology (ICTs) in schools, the official added. - Sun has announced the Open Source Community Innovation Awards Program to promote open source software (OSS) development within six projects that it is involved in. The company said that prizes are expected to total at least $1 million a year.
NATCOM raises US$1.5 million in Sierra-LeoneSierra Leone's National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM) has raised close to US$1.5 (five billion leones) to beef up its work. According to the outgoing chairman of NATCOM, Kanji Daramy, his commission will leave behind a healthy regulator with modern buildings, computers, vehicles, generators, office equipment and other assets. These he said, were accomplished in less than a year of the establishment of the regulatory body by the past regime. The new boss of the commission will also inherit a well-structured organization with five fully-established departments to supervise administration, finance, technology, consumer interests and legal services. It would be recalled that when the Government of Sierra Leone was badly in need of funds during the early part of the year NATCOM contributed an amount of Le 3 billion (three billion Leones) equivalent to one million dollars to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF). During NATCOM's first year of operation the regulator became much more accountable and telecoms operators were for the first time brought under regulation, as opposed to the indiscriminate issuing of licenses which had prevailed, the proceeds of most of which were largely unaccounted for. However, the country's national spectrum, said a senior official at NATCOM still requires some revisiting as certain operators continue to hold on to radio frequency channels or bandwidth far in excess of their needs and for which payments have still not been made; a situation inherited by NATCOM from the then Ministry of Transport and Communications. Daramy also pointed out that transnational operators such as Multichoice Africa who operate DSTV services in the country have remained recalcitrant in their defiance of regulatory laws of Sierra Leone and until they comply, NATCOM will continue to face problems. (Source: HANA) Discussions on Nigcomsat’s Privatisation have startedVice-President Goodluck Jonathan met with the National Security Adviser (NSA) and other stakeholders, to decide on t he proposed privatisation of the Nigeria Communication Satellite Limited ( NIGCOMSAT). The proposed privatisation of the company was suspended by President Umaru Yar'Adua in November, following a submission b y the NSA, Maj.-Gen. Abdullahi Mukhtar, on the security implication of the exercise. The Federal Executive Council had earlier approved the privatisation of the company, expected to go into full-scale commercial operations. Jonathan said the meeting was meant to address the security concerns, and forward a final agreement on the matter to the federal executive council. "Anything that affects the security of the nation, the executive council will look at it 10 times, because security is paramount," he said. The stakeholders at the meeting include the Minister of Information and Communication, Mr John Odey, and his National Planning counterpart, Alhaji Sanusi Daggash. Others were the NCC Vice-Chairman, Ernest Ndukwe, the Managing Director of NIGCOMSAT, Alhaji Ahmed Rufa'i, BPE Director-General, Mrs Nkechi Chigbue, and officials of the Ministry of Science and Technology. Samsung to Boost Investments in AfricaKorean mobile phone and electronic goods manufacturer, Samsung Electronics, says it will increase investments in sub-Sahara Africa. The firm has regional offices in Nairobi, Lagos and South Africa. Its African market share is about at 11 per cent. "We have not been very familiar with sub-Sahara Africa, but that is going to change," says Mr Kwang Bae Roh, a senior manager for marketing and sales Middle East and Africa. He said Samsung sold 7.5 million units of mobile phones in Africa last year, and expects the figure to double this year. "Our target is to sell 28 million units next year," he said. He, however, asked African governments to intensify the war against counterfeit products, saying his firm had suffered in the past, where fraudsters targeted Samsung products. Although counterfeiting in global markets was reducing, it was still rampant in Africa, said Roh (Source: The East African Standard) MTN Spends N660 Million On Diesel Monthly in NigeriaSouth African mobile-phone company, MTN, said it spends $5.5million (about N660 million) on diesel fuel monthly in Nigeria. The whopping sum is spent on fuelling the company's 6,000 generators at its base stations across Nigeria. The generators supply power to the base stations for 19 hours daily. MTN, now the largest mobile-phone provider in Nigeria, has to spend this huge sum of money to keep its generators running in view of the poor electricity supply situation in Nigeria. According to Wale Goodluck, MTN Nigeria's manager for regulatory affairs, "we rely on generating plants as our primary source of power." He spoke in a report published by CNNMONEY. Other investors and owners of small scale businesses in Nigeria are also reeling under the burden of huge cost of generating electricity to keep their businesses afloat. "It wasn't always this bad. Nigeria used to have 79 power stations. When civilian rule was restored in 1999, only 15 were still functioning, generating just 1,500 megawatts of electricity," he said. President Olusegun Obasanjo, had spent $8.5 billion repairing and building power stations, but the output has not increased significantly, he said. "Emmanuel Adewole, an economics professor at the Lagos State University, calls it "the most expensive darkness in the world," he added. He added that, "The World Bank estimates that the country is losing about $600 million a year because of inadequate supply of electricity. Nigeria's new President, Umaru Yar'adua, has called the power situation "abysmal," saying it has stunted the country's economic growth, and he has pledged to make fixing it a priority of his administration. "But the task is daunting. One problem: getting gas to the plants from the Niger Delta, where rebels regularly vandalize pipelines. Corruption also runs deep, and consumers, who see no need to pay their energy bills, owe billions of dollars to the state-owned Power Holding Company of Nigeria. "Prepaid cards are increasingly being used, but in a country where everyone is an electrician, many have figured out how to bypass the meters. The government wants to privatize the company and is taking bids for power-generating plants from 400 local and foreign investors." (Source: Daily Trust) In brief:- Kuwaiti telecommunications Zain Group (owner of Celtel) has announced plans to increase its working capital by 75 per cent to finance an expansion programme in Africa and the Middle East. The company will use a combination of cash and stock dividends to raise the $4.4 billion it needs to finance its expansion. - Orascom Telecom is looking to exit its MobiNil wireless joint venture with France Telecom (FT), writes French daily newspaper Les Echos.The newspaper reported that Orascom chairman and chief executive Naguib Sawiris has tried in vain to buy out FT from the joint venture. The two companies control MobiNil through direct and indirect holdings, and must approve one another's decisions. Each company has the option of buying out the other's shares in the case of a ‘serious disagreement’. It is this clause that Orascom has decided to invoke, the paper said. Orascom Telecom said further that it is close to finalising a deal to offload its stake in Algerian wireline operator Lacom to an unnamed Palestinian-Jordanian venture. - The Director-General of the National Information Technology and Development Agency (NITDA),Prof C.O. Angaye disclosed that revenue from licensing and taxation of profit from the National Outsourcing Programme in Nigeria is projected to grow from N55m to N1.3 billion by 2014. - South Africa’s civil engineering and construction group Sanyati Holdings said it planned to expand its geographic footprint and broaden its services offering after buying telecoms infrastructure company Meyker Group for R220m. - Zenith Bank has been rated the best overall performing bank in the design and provision of e-banking products and services among the 25 banks in Nigeria. - Ghana is to host the 12th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XII) in April 2008, under the theme 'Science, Technology, Innovation (STI) and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)s for Development (ICT4D)'.
ReloadNG Launches E-commerce platform in NigeriaReloadNG , a web-based application, which provides a one-stop shop to all solutions regarding simplifying the process by which corporate bodies manage and distribute airtime (vouchers/credit) to their members of staff/customers has been launched. In an interaction with newsmen at the launch recently, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of SOFTCOM, the company behind ReloadNG, Toochukwu Onyemelukwe summed it up simply as bringing simplicity into everyday living. "It is a brand new development which just three weeks after the lunch over a 1000 people were already active on the site. The site is customer focused. What it does is that it finds out what customers need and then provide the services for them", he said. Onyemelukwe explained that ReloadNG is the first project of SOFTCOM Ltd, adding that "SOFTCOM was put together by like minds, vibrant young entrepreneurs who set out to design and customized solutions and applications to various sector of the industries especially corporate industries, small and medium scale businesses and also individuals". "Our first product is Reloadng, is a site that allows you simplify the way you go about your daily utilities and purchasing them. Daily utilities like recharge cards, PHCN bills, DSTV bills, Water bills etc. "It is all about e-commerce, which is buying and selling on the Internet. ReloadNG is free of charge and no payment of subscription fee. When you log on to ReloadNG, for the first time it gives you a username and password and gives you a SOFTPURSE account name. SOFTPURSE is another application designed by SOFTCOM. Is an online virtual account that can be used to pay for goods and services on the Internet. ReloadNG takes money from SOFTPURSE. You can use your Visacard, ATM, and MasterCard on ReloadNG to buy and sell whatever you want in any part of the world. This has never happened in Nigeria . No company has been able to allow any foreign credit cards like VISA CARD, MASTERCARD to be use here in Nigeria", he said. To assure ReloadNG site users and potential users alike on how secured the site is, SOFTCOM got the endorsement of Verisign. VeriSign is a company that puts its stamp on a website to guarantee its security and authenticity that the site is free from hackers and fraudsters. "We know that there is a lot of fraud on the Internet and skepticism can always come in when it comes to things like this in Nigeria, we had to look for ways to win the confidence of the average Nigerian. So we put VeriSign. Is a security sign company based in the United States of America and once they stamp your site it means your site is secure. It does not put its sign on any site that is not secure. If you want to verify if the site is secure there is a padlock that you will click on and it will show you the certificate, which it is registered to. "We have also gone into partnership with Interswitch. Everybody knows Interswitch they are the ones producing all the ATM cards for all the banks in Nigeria. Our partnership with Interswitch means that apart from the fact that you can use your Visacard and Master; you can use any ATM card from any bank in Nigeria to buy on this site. So there no card you cannot use on this site, you are not limited any more", he said. For now the products on the site are e-vouchers as low as N100 from MTN, Celtel, Glo, Mtel and N500 from Multilinks, Starcomms. "As time goes on we are going to add prepared PHCN cards, water bill. We are talking about you sitting at home or in your office and buying what you want and you are sure of what you are buying. We are also looking at you sitting in your office or home to pay your children's school fees, that's our target in the next couple of months", he said. Onyemelukwe also spoke on the unique feature on the site known as FlashMeCredit. "We put into consideration that you might not be on line all the time hence you will be limited. But so long as you have money in your SOFTPURSE account it means that once you go to the site and configure "FlashMeCredit" and with that you can be able to buy credit even when you are not on the Internet using your phone. "Once your phone calls any of the designated numbers it can send you credit in the specified amount that you want, that I can guarantee you is done in less than a minute and there is no delays because as the calls comes in it solves your request and knocks you off. A line can take like 500 calls in a minute. Another way is that you can buy your credit via a text message in case you can't make a FlashMeCredit call. Another feature that is very unique is "Manage Referrals". The Reloadng site is very lucrative because you can make money from it. If you log unto the site you can invite as many people as you want to the site, for each person that buys using the Reloadng site, which are your referrals you earn a commission on any denomination of cards, and this is for life. So just imagine that you are able to pull in 200 people and those 200 people buy cards you earn a commission on them. And if those 200 people refer other people, they will make money and you too will make money and so your tree keeps growing. (Source: This Day) E-Tendering One Good Way to Curb Procurement Corruption in AfricaTendering and awarding bids is the most sensitive and critical step in public sector procurement. Tendering is basically the process where a buying institution publishes its intention to purchase some goods from or engage the services of a suitable vendor, passes on the details of what it needs in terms of goods or services and invites sealed bids / offers in order to select the most competent and competitive bids. It has been established that the bulk of corrupt practices in the region takes place at the procurement and tendering boards level. Corruption is a complex problem that needs multi faceted actions. Online tendering would ensure transparency, accountability to citizens, and incorporates all the benefits of transacting on the Internet - anytime-anywhere access, improved efficiency, wider reach, and access to information. It also cuts down on the public sector's biggest tender processing costs - advertising, preparing, printing and disseminating tender documents, and then processing bids - both in terms of money and time. The emergence of the Internet has revolutionised business access to information. IT plays an important role in impacting development in general and specifically combating transparency and corruption. Technology promises a lot in development and lowering corruption. E-procurement is one such initiative that has the potential to limit corruption. Many large and complex systems in the government can be made more efficient through computerisation. However, for improving transparency of these systems, E-Government solutions are necessary. Significant process re-engineering should be done prior to computerisation to avoid the risk of simply replicating existing processes, which lack transparency and efficiency. Electronic procurement allows governments to remove inefficiencies from their processes and build integrated supply chains. It introduces exciting new ways for organisations to communicate internally and externally, conduct business transactions and manage supply chains and alliances. Automating the processes could reduce the cost of procurement transactions. These reduce administrative tasks, such as manually copying information. Maximum benefits are reaped when procurement processes are reformed to exploit the potential of technology. Information technology improves efficiency, brings stronger relationships and new form of service delivery. Regional governments should make its business opportunities information available online to service providers. Tendering should be conducted through the Internet and incorporate functionality for real time dynamic pricing and project management. Invoicing and payments can also be conducted electronically. Ideally, the whole procurement process would be integrated with the government's financial management system. This would enable reports, statistics and analysis of purchasing patterns to be produced. eTendering enables prospective bidders to view opportunities, register expressions of interest, receive information and submit tenders electronically. Service providers will have a chance to seek information for tenders online, submit tenders, maintain and communicate information on their goods and services via the Internet. They would also receive orders, invoice buyers and receive payments electronically. The tender web site should be easy to navigate. Locating and submitting tenders is a simple operation requiring no special user skills, software or hardware. The eTendering system streamlines the whole tendering process and provides better access and greater opportunities for all. The government should adopt a centralised procurement system. Announcing of tenders and arranging contracts for projects needed by the public organisations should be entrusted to an agency. A wide web-based system should be set up to deal with the entire procurement process including acquisition of all the information on the procurement projects, procurement request, bids, contracting and payment. Such a system should not only result in dramatic reduction of unnecessary paperwork and procedures, but also remove inconveniences and potential corruption due to the increased transparency it would bring to the public procurement market. Under the current traditional processes, complicated paperwork not only takes a lot of time but also opens loopholes for corruption. However, a procurement system would provide a one-stop procurement service via linkage with procurement-related information held by government agencies and institutions. Procurement participants would handle procurement business over the Internet without physically visiting the public offices. Bid contents would be fully disclosed on the Internet, which brings up transparency and efficiency in overall public procurement. By putting all public bidding information on one site, anyone can easily find all available information via the Internet with great ease. The payment process would then be simplified, and money transfers conducted in an electronic way. Best-case practises show that with such systems, analysis is easily generated and corruption is detectable. Systems should be put in place to pursue remedial action where cases of actual corruption are identified. Governments should re-engineer its procurement processes to optimise the use of electronic commerce and other innovative technologies. There should be a strategy that outlines the use of information technology. This would streamline internal government practices, reduce costs, and improve service delivery. (Source: East African Business Week)
People* President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has been awarded the Africa ICT industry development Award by ForgeAhead, a South African ICT firm. * Nii Quaynor received the Internet Society’s Jonathan B. Postel Service Award for Pioneering Work to Advance the Internet in Africa. Events- 3rd REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON MEDIA AND ICT ISSUES IN WEST AFRICA 13-15 december 2007, Dakar, Senegal The workshop entitled “new journalism, new technologies, improved governance” will aim at promoting uses of blogs and new ICT tools by medias for improved governance in West Africa and strengthening reporting on ICT in the region. For further information on the workshop please contact Judith Lenti jlenti@panos-ao.org or Ken Lohento contact@cipaco.org at PIWA. - E-TISSAL EXPO 2008 6-8 February 2008, International Congress and Expo Center of the Exchange Office of Casablanca, Morocco. e-Tissal is organized by the media and communication professionals for every professional that creates, uses, delivers or services media and communication in the Mediterranean, African and Middle East Region, the third most active media market in the world. For further information visit http://www.e-tissal.com/ - ICT AFRICA 13-15 February 2008, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia CT Africa 2008 offers: A Plenary session featuring policy makers, Business leaders and key ICT research leaders High quality, peer reviewed technical presentations Technical tutorials on emerging ICT technologies Workshops on ongoing projects Industry exhibition For further information contact visit http://ictafrica.nepadcouncil.org/ - THE AFRICAN BANKING TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE 19 -21 February 2008, Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi, Kenya The conference theme is “sharing knowledge and best practices in banking across Africa”. For further information click on www.aitecafricac.om - 2nd ANNUAL CALL CENTRE CONFERENCE 20-21 February 2008, Birchwood Executive Hotel & Conference Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa This annual conference twill give you the ideas and insights you need to achieve outstanding service in South Africa’s most challenging work environment. For more info contact Neliswa Duma on +27 11 880 8540 or by email at neliswa@knowres.co.za Jobs and Opportunities* PARTNER SOURCING MANAGER If you are an experienced business or nonprofit leader with a strong track record who would like to leverage your talents to better the world, we may have the position for you. We are seeking a talented, enthusiastic, socially minded individual to manage partner sourcing for our global program. You will play a key role in developing the strategies to grow efficiently while maximizing our impact on global civil society. ! TechSoup is a nonprofit organization that helps other nonprofits acquire and use technology to better serve their missions. For further information visit www.techsoup.org/stock/global - TENDER TO DESIGN, SUPPLY AND IMPLEMENTATION OF BOTSWANA NATIONAL EXAMINATIONS PROCESSING SYSTEM Bids are invited from suitably qualified professional organisations to provide the services specified in the Tender No. BEC IT 001/07 - Design, Supply and Implementation of Botswana National Examinations Processing System. Tender documents will be available with effect from Monday, 12th November 2007 on payment of BWP500. Bids must arrive no later than 10:00 am (local time) on Wednesday, 5th March, 2008. The tender documents can also be downloaded from the Government of Botswana web site http://www.gov.bw/business/tenders.html Contracts* CELTEL AND CHEVRON -NIGERIA Celtel Nigeria and American oil giant, Chevron Nigeria Ltd (CNL), have finally sealed a multimillion-dollar strategic business partnership deal which entails the mobile operator to provide telecom infrastructure and communication support at the oil company's locations throughout the country. * TUNISIE TELECOM AND ALCATEL-LUCENT - TUNISIA Tunisie Telecom has signed a contract with Alcatel-Lucent to expand its broadband network capabilities. This will later on enable Tunisie Telecom to launch services like VoIP and IP TV.
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