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Forthcoming report: African Telecoms and Internet Markets Part 1: West Africa covers sixteen countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. There is a profile of each country. For a detailed breakdown of the contents of each country profile, click: http://www.balancingact-africa.com/atim.html Over the next two years we will be producing five parts that cover the whole of the continent. Using data gathered in 2003 and 2007, it gives the growth rates for the following: mobile and Internet subscribers, international bandwidth and the number of cyber-cafes. It also includes information on Internet and cyber-café access rates. Data is supplied in spreadsheet form for cross-comparison purposes and the report opens with a commentary on the overall findings from the data. In addition, there are two introductory pieces, one looking at IP-TV and the other examining the current state of mobile prices in West Africa. In “IP-TV – Will the pioneers get the arrows or the land?”, we examine the current progress of Africa’s IP-TV pioneers in Cape Verde, Mauritius, Morocco and Senegal. In “Trends in West African mobile prices”, we compare mobile prices in the region with those found elsewhere on the continent. Data is supplied in spreadsheet form for the purposes of cross-comparison. Out September 2007. You can order directly from our website: http://www.balancingact-africa.com/publications.html

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For country-by-country information on internet, telecoms and computing in English go to: http://www.afridigital.net

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ISSUE NO 390

African countries’ ICT policy– going from the blah, blah, blah cycle to getting something done

In a week in which the heart of South Africa’s ICT industry - Sandton - suffered continuous load-shedding (rolling power cuts for those of you who speak English), no-one doubts that developing a modern ICT-enabled economy in Africa is a challenge. It is easy in these circumstances to respond cynically by asking: Government? What is it good for? But a small number of African Governments have managed to make a difference through facilitating major projects but the majority are in the slow-track when it comes to getting the big things done. Russell Southwood looks at why some countries talk, whilst others do.

Changing an economy through introducing ICT is akin to trying to set up a whole row of spinning plates. Without infrastructure, you can’t get media, services and applications. Without media, services and applications, you can’t get critical mass. Without critical mass, there’s no-one to e-mail or exchange videos with, so why bother? And that’s before you get on to all the “nice things” that might happen if African governments delivered their services better.

The private sector can do many things but even in Africa it does not do very high risk investment and it does not go where tomorrow’s market is today. For example, despite all the heady promises made at the Connect Africa event in Kigali last year, the new vertically integrated mobile companies are unlikely to lay extensive high-capacity microwave or fibre infrastructure quickly. They will follow the market in metro areas and connect up major cities. They have shareholders’ money to look after and it would be unusual if they did otherwise.

But for Africa’s fast track economies where growth is running ahead of the global average, it is important that they get in place the new global ICT infrastructure to support their changing economies today. Access to fibre really is the fuel of the new global economy: the cutting of the Flag cable to North Africa and Asia illustrates this all too vividly in a negative way.

For five years and more, African Presidents and Ministers have been making speeches about how important ICT is and how they wish to use it to attract new jobs. If words were money, Africa would be rich beyond its wildest imaginings. Some of this “blah,blah,blah” has led to new initiatives but in most countries these have simply fizzled out. But recently in East Africa, Kenya and Uganda took decisions that they would build national infrastructures. Kenya decided that it would initiate its own international fibre connection.

Spurred by the World Cup in 2010, South Africa has more international fibre plans for the West Coast of the continent and has set up Infraco to intervene in the broadband connectivity supply market. To meet its growing connectivity needs, Angola is going to buy a Russian satellite. Nigeria has launched Nigcomsat and set up Galaxy Backbone to address the Government’s own connectivity needs.

None of these initiatives are above criticism and indeed some are questionable but it is interesting to see that some countries are taking steps to do something rather than simply talking about what needs to be done. However, these countries are the exception rather than the rule. They are the fast-track countries that either have oil-revenues and/or have burgeoning economies that are not solely reliant on mineral extraction. However, mineral wealth is quite widely spread across the countries of the continent and there are significant numbers who have it that are not “stepping up to the plate”. The remainder of the countries concerned have a range of relatively easy excuses: lack of money, lack of education, corruption and much else besides. But if Nigeria or Uganda can foster these kinds of changes, why is it that Gabon or Ghana do not?

Making change in the ICT space requires a particular chemical mix that involves both Government and others, along with a magic ingredient that consultants call vision, but might better be called imagination. Those that have taken initiatives have had the courage to imagine that their countries might go from being global victims to becoming attractive places to live and work. Rwanda’s President Kagame rarely sets a room alight with a speech but he has understood that if his small country Rwanda is to find a place in the global economy, it’s going to be necessary to work very hard at providing the conditions in which that might happen. He and his country may or may not be successful and they may or may not have the capacity to succeed but you cannot fault them for trying.

Getting a Government that does something requires getting a number of committed people in place. Firstly, there has to be a President who does not just make the speeches but also provides political backing and resources to get things done. Africa still has highly centralised decision-making processes and without Presidential backing, no-one takes you seriously.

Next there has to be Minister who can take that backing and motivate the sometimes indolent and leaderless civil servants in the appropriate Ministry and get into dialogue with the private sector and others about what needs to be done and how to achieve it. The Minister is nothing without a highly articulate and energetic civil servant who can: “carry the message”, respond quickly to all the interested parties and knows how to manage initiatives successfully.

All set and ready to go? No. Government by itself working “top-down” is one hand clapping in an empty room. There needs to be a vocal, critical but supportive private sector that knows how to make demands and shape projects. Alongside them has to be an equally vocal civil society that speaks up for the non-market requirements like education and health. Everyone at every level needs to understand the difference between having a successful meeting and actually getting something to happen. No more self-congratulatory speeches to other Ministers but time to concentrate on a small number of achievable initiatives and work to deliver them.

In a subjective assessment carried by Balancing Act of the sixteen West African countries on the basis of the above criteria, only two countries (Nigeria and Senegal) met these conditions outlined, although the latter does not really have an active private ICT sector because of the dominance of the incumbent Sonatel. Ghana has the scale of economy to succeed but somehow never really manages to convert all the right words into political will and thereafter into action. The majority of the others have strong individual servants and sometimes Ministers but they lack Presidential and/or private sector and civil society support.

Nearly all of these “slow-track” economies lack the imaginative response to change that says if the country gets ICT support in place, we can start building a very different place to live. They may - like Mali – have a small-scale illustrative project (a Government-sponsored call centre) but this project (or even groups of small projects) are not life-changing enough for the countries concerned. And please do not bleat to me about how these types of countries lack money as there are both private and public sources of financing for those who have the ideas and energy to attract it. Open economies with ideas about their future are at a premium in the global economy.

For private sector ICT companies, whether carriers or vendors, the obstacles in the slow track economies make selling services there a complicated business. For the individual small ISP owner, it means that he or she become not just the commercial head of their company but also unpaid policy advocate in the continuous trench war over a favourable ICT policy.

The big companies like Cisco, Google and Microsoft have understood that they are not simply selling “kit” or software but have to create the “weather” that will allow more open markets to flourish. This week Microsoft and the Centre Africain d’Etudes Supérieures en Gestion (CESAG) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU), which aims to deliver high-quality ICT policy training to government employees in West and Central Africa. CESAG is an institution specialising in the delivery of government-related training and leadership capacity building across

French-speaking Africa.

Microsoft’s Regional Technology Officer Nicol Woodward is tasked with influencing Government across 10 policy areas that include: interoperability; identity, privacy; innovation; IPR; accessibility; spectrum allocation; standards, DRM and formats, and GAP. What’s GAP? It’s Microsoft’s way of looking at Government as decision-maker, influencer and customer. G stands for governance. A for Architecture in the sense of how everyone will get networked and P for procurement.

Like other large vendors, it has both to both set up the debate and try to reap the rewards that come from the dialogue. It would not be a business if it did not want to make sales but it can’t simply say “we’re right and all the other guys are wrong”. Creating a successful economy involves complex but vital debates around issues as diverse as IPR and piracy and how you foster innovation. The answers chosen by policy-makers to these many debates are all linked: get one wrong and it becomes harder to get the others right.

As Woodward told us:”We have got to the point in Nigeria where we are having in-depth discussions about IPR and DRM. It’s the same with Angola. These are blossoming economies and they want to get it right. We want to explain things from our viewpoint but whatever they install, they are well informed in making that decision.”

Obviously explaining these issues cannot be left to the Microsofts of this world alone but given the perilously low levels of understanding in many countries, the discussion has to start somewhere. The issue is then how public these debates are for if they are conducted entirely behind closed doors then they will not be subjected to the full force of all viewpoints.

The difficulty is that for some Open Source advocates that choosing it is so blindingly obvious that they forget it is debate with two sides. The more thoughtful Open Source advocates, like Microsoft, believe this is a debate that they can win on the merits of the arguments. But whichever road you choose, you have to have a growing economy to have the expertise and resources to make it a debate worth having.

So if Africa is to have more open, successful economies that can begin to ride the waves of global expansion and contraction, then it will require multinational (and regional) ICT operators to take more interest in the continent. And for its politicians to understand that words do not feed mouths.

Slower Subscriber Growth across Vodacom’s African operations

Vodacom saw a dip in the pace at which new customers are joining its network in South Africa, with 958,000 signing up in the past three months against 1.5-million just before Christmas a year ago.

The cellular operator is also seeing slower growth in its other operations, adding 519,000 new users in the third quarter to December to the previous December quarter's 870,000. Its biggest slowdown came in the Congo, where its subscribers inched up just 2.9%, well short of the 15% surge enjoyed a year ago. Its networks in Tanzania and Mozambique added fewer customers than they did in the third quarter of last year, with only its tiny network in Lesotho enjoying stronger growth to reach a total of 332,000 customers.

Vodacom is now serving 33-million people, up 4,7% since September, as it connected 4.8-million new users. But that growth is offset by their constant hopping between rival networks, so overall its user base rose by just 600,000 from 31.6-million in September. In South Africa, it now serves 24.2-million users, but its rate of growth fell to 4.1% from 7,3% a year ago.

Yet it remains well ahead of MTN, which claims 14-million users in SA, meaning Vodacom has an estimated 55.6% of South African users. MTN outstrips Vodacom overall, however, with 55 million customers throughout Africa and the Middle East.

Chief financial officer Leon Crouse blamed stiff competition for slower third-quarter subscriber growth in the third quarter. But for the year so far its customers rose 33% in Tanzania and 40% in the Congo, Lesotho and Mozambique. Those markets had not slowed down materially or at all. Revenue for the nine months to December 31 hit R35.7 bn, up 17,3% on the first nine months of its previous financial year.

Its average customer in South Africa now spends R123 (US$17.01) a month, up from R118 (US$16.33) in the previous quarter. That shows Vodacom is bucking the trend for the average spending to wither as poorer customers sign up. What shored up that figure was a move to axe 2.9-million inactive users. Shedding those customers from its database led to a higher average spend for the remaining customers.

(Source: Business Day)

Rwanda’s Government Launches Rural Mobile Phone Scheme

The Government has launched a credit scheme of a cellphone-per-household aimed at bridging the communication gap in rural areas. The initiative kicked off recently in Musanze District, Northern Province. The Minister in the Office of President in charge of Science, Technology, and Research, and Information Communication Technology, Prof. Romain Murenzi, presided over the event that attracted a number of executives from stakeholders in the project.

Murenzi said that the move will ensure a smooth run towards Vision 2020. "This initiative of bridging the communication gap in rural Rwanda is one of key projects that are gradually coming to fruition," he said. The minister expressed gratitude towards the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model. He said that the involvement of a telecommunication company- MTN and Rwanda Development Bank (BRD) played a big role in the implementation of the initiative.

Through the efforts of the initiative, the cost of a mobile phone has been slashed from Frw28,000 (US$52.55) to Frw13, 000 (US$24.40). The relaxed credit scheme will enable a person to own a phone and pay only Frw1,000 (US$1.88) per month in a period of 13 months. Over 53,000 handsets have so far been dispatched to 15 out of 30 districts. Celestin Karabayinga, the mayor of Musanze District, described the initiative as milestone in rural development. He appealed to the suppliers to increase the number of phones to meet the increased demand as a result of fruitful agricultural harvests in the Northern Province.

(Source: The New Times)

Sierra Leone’s Minister denies he is responsible for Sierratel’s monopoly international gateway license

In a magnificent display of political slipperiness, Sierra Leone's Minister of Information and Communications, Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo says his Ministry had nothing to do with the monopoly international gateway license obtained by Sierratel. If the Government had actually opposed the license, it is hard to see how it would have been granted by the regulator.

Nevertheless, the Minister explained to HANA's correspondent in the capital Freetown last week that the only role his Ministry had played was to provide cover for Sierratel at cabinet and parliamentary levels for the stipulated Act to be amended.

"If Sierratel needs a Bill to be passed in Parliament or the support of his Ministry to popularize it at cabinet level, his Ministry would willingly provide support for Sierratel, to achieve those goals reiterating that the Ministry has nothing to do with the award of the gateway license to Sierratel", Kargbo explained.

He also pointed out that the gateway licensing bid came into being through an Act of Parliament which clearly stipulates that the gateway belongs to Sierra Leone and that the Ministry of Information and Communications can only come in when it is necessary to provide some assistance to the telecommunications companies, including Sierratel.

(Source: Highway Africa News Agency)

Orascom Algeria is Not for Sale says MD

Orascom Telecom Algeria (OTA), a subsidiary of the Egyptian Orascom Group has dismissed rumours that it is for sale. According Hassan Kabbani, as long as Algeria remains an emerging economy ICTs will remain central to its development so the sale of Orascom is out of the question, he said. African countries like Algeria are still experiencing a great deal of growth with regards to telecommunications services.

"Our intention is to open up our capital once the Algiers exchange market becomes developed", he underlined. In the meantime, explained Kabbani, "we intend to diversify and extend existing activities to housing, petrol, chemistry and banking sectors."

Orascom Telephone Algeria is the first private mobile telephone operating under the Djezzy brand which obtained its operations licence in 2001 with US$737 million as investment money.

Since its launch, the Djezzy group has achieved outstanding performances. It is a leader with 14 millions subscribers compared to the 8 million of the publicly owned Mobilis and 4 million of the Qtel Nedjma company.

Meanwhile, the Director general of OTA states that Djezzy has managed to recruit 3,700 employees in which 3,300 are highly qualified and 20 000 are subcontract jobs for a period of 6 years. He adds "our network consists of 20 000 sale points, 920 customers councillors and 320 roaming partners in 134 countries."

(Source: HANA)

In brief:

- Madagascar is set to introduce new telecommunications rules to further liberalise this sector. The reform will see a new regulatory body the ARTEC (autorité de régulation des technologies de la communication) to replace the OMERT (Office malagasy d'études et de régulation des telecommunications). Existing and new activities in this sector will be granted under three regimes: licenses, authorisations and declarations. Under the new regulation, communications and IT equipment retailers and service providers will no longer need an authorisation to start their activity.

- Telecom Namibia is pushing to have restrictions on its mobile operations (labelled Switch) lifted during the course of this year. According to Managing Director, Frans Ndoroma, the company will consult with the relevant authorities to seek their approval to resume its mobile operations.

- Following significant progress in the telecommunication sector (4 millions users at the beginning of 2008 and an annual turnover of 260 billion CFA francs in 2006), Jean Louis Beh Mengue, head of Cameroon’s regulator, the ART, has urged mobile operators to decrease their calling rates. The regulator has threatened to introduce price caps if they don not lower prices.

- Zimbabwe’s mobile operator, Econet is currently awaiting response from government for its request for foreign currency to purchase equipment to be used for spying as mandated under the Interception of Communications Act.

- The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced plans to enable a national toll free emergency calling system. Stephen Bello, the Executive Commissioner, Licensing and Consumer Affairs at the NCC said that national emergency toll free centres will be set up in all the 36 states of the federation plus the Federal Capital, Abuja. The system will be financed by the NCC and state governments.

- Telecoms sector regulator, Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), has established a consumer protection arm to deal with customer complaints. John Waweru, the CCK director general, said the division had been necessitated by an increase in the number of players, their non-compliance with licensing conditions as well as violation of consumers' rights.

- In an interview to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Information and Communications Minister, John Odey has confirmed the planned retrenchment of some 3,500 workers of NITEL and Mtel has been suspended by the Federal Government. Meanwhile, Tom Iseghohi, Transcorp’s group managing director said to another newspaper that contrary to insinuations by some interested groups including representatives of labour unions, Transcorp is making progress in working with other stakeholders to restore NITEL and MTEL to enviable positions in the Nigerian telecommunications sector.

- The Kenyan government has given the country’s third mobile license holder, Econet Wireless, a six-month deadline to launch commercial services or risk losing its concession. East African Business Week reports that the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has imposed the June 2008 limit on Econet which was awarded its licence more than four years ago but has since been delayed by financial problems and shareholder issues.

- Egypt's Orascom Telecom announced this week that it has been granted a 3G licence to roll out and operate a cellular service in The Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It's difficult to see Orascom's WCDMA service taking off under the current regime, however, the firm's CEO Naguib Sawiris reckons the move is a good fit with the company’s expansion plans to move in countries with low mobile penetration rates.

- After buying Westel, Celtel will launch its operations in Ghana in March 2008.

- The Mozambican regulator is conducting a market study to see whether there should be one or more new mobile competitors.

Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage

- As of February 1st 2008, prepaid telecommunication cards for airtime sold would be subject to value-added tax at 15 per cent in Namibia. Concerns have been voiced that il will have a negative impact on economic growth and widen the digital gap within the country.

- Uganda Telecom’s subscribers base has grown by 26% in December to reach a total number of 882,000 customers last year. The growth was attributed to the changes in the company's tariffs, sales promotions and the continuous rolling out of the network in many new areas all over the country.

- In Kenya, mobile telephone service provider, Safaricom, is completing the installation of a new system at a cost of Sh1.4 billion ($20 million) aimed at improving its services. The new plateform will improve the company's capacity to offer more services besides upgrading its current pre-paid service billing system.

- MTN Uganda, has unveiled its Blackberry service, following in the footsteps of Celtel and Uganda Telecom. MTN will be offering the BlackBerry Curve 8300 at Shs767, 000 including a tax levy and a monthly charge of Shs110, 000. Its other rival Celtel sells three kinds of BlackBerry phones at between Shs965, 000 and Shs1, 120,000 plus a monthly Internet access fee of Shs88, 000, excluding a 30 per cent tax.

Uganda Telecom offers the sets at Shs1, 050,000 - Shs1, 330,000 and charges a monthly Internet access fee of Shs85, 000.

- In line with the efforts being made by the Eritrean Telecommunications Corporation to expand and upgrade telephone services across the country, the inhabitants of the semi-urban centre of Eden in Anseba region have now access to an automatic phone service.

- Mobile operator Celtel has launched its Blackberry service in Congo-Kinshasa. The service is mainly aimed at business customers.

- MobiConnect key, a new Internet service of a speed of 236 kilobytes per second has been just launched by Algeria’s mobile telephony operator Mobilis, in a bid to enable its clients to access Internet "wherever they are." "Mobilis new service has been tested in Algiers before its launch in the rest of the country.

- Vodacom South Africa has upgraded its HSDPA 3.5G mobile networks to offer peak download speeds of 3.6Mbps. The quicker service is available across Vodacom’s entire HSDPA network and customers can upgrade free of charge for the next three months. From 1 May customers will pay ZAR49 (USD6.86) a month on top of their current data tariff for the 3.6Mbps service.

Rogue vessels cuts sub-marine fibre cable to the Middle East and North Africa

Much of the Middle East was cut off from the Internet and international telecommunications services yesterday when two sub-sea communications cables were severed.

It is believed that a vessel anchored illegally in a "closed to shipping" section of the Mediterranean close by Alexandria in Egypt was responsible for cutting both the FLAG and SeMeWe 4 cables. The two systems are separate but do lie close to one another on the sea bed at that point. It is the first time that two comms cables have been cut simultaneously and highlights the inherent fragility of such systems in areas of comparatively shallow water.

As a result of the cut, Internet links to Egypt, India and the Gulf States were were badly disrupted. India lost 60 per cent of its Web connectivity whilst 70 per cent of all Egyptian connections went down. In the Gulf island state of Bahrain, the incumbent carrier, Batelco, reported that its Internet connectivity services were "badly affected" by the outage.

It is not clear how quickly repairs can be effected as unusually stormy conditions persist in the area. Things were so bad a day or so ago that the Egyption authorities were forced to close the Suez Canal to shipping movements. Best estimates say the cables will not be fully restored for about two weeks although "degraded services" may be available within the next 24 hours.

The cable severance caused telcos and ISPs to scrabble about securing alternative routes for the disrupted traffic with the big operators using their financial clout to secure transfer of connectivity via cable routes through the Atlantic and Pacific and by booking satellite access. As multiple carriers were forced to re-route congestion increased and those still with web and phone access complained of slow service and dropped connections.

(Source: Telecom TV)

National Data Transmission Cable Now On Test in Uganda

The first phase of Uganda's National Data Transmission Backbone has been completed and is being tested. The communication infrastructure which was undertaken by the government to enhance Uganda's domestic fibre-optic network as well as ease public administration, and lower costs of the Internet, is now operational according to Dr Ham Mulira, the Minister for Information and Communication Technologies.

"I am delighted to state that phase one of this project which covers Kampala, Entebbe, Jinja and Bombo has been completed and is currently under testing. It should be officially launched very soon," Mulira said.

He was addressing stakeholders in the telecommunication and media at the launch of Teleport East Africa, a new enterprise wireless internet services provider, in Bukoto, on January 18. Mulira said: "The first phase includes linking of all government institutions on the fiber backbone to provide infrastructure which will be used by thee government to provide services to its self and out rightly to the public."

Currently local Internet business centres currently charge a minimum of UShs15 per minute with some up-country internet access points charging up to UShs100 per minute.

Expansion of the cable across the country will cost government at least $106 million which was secured from the China Export-Import Bank on loan. Huawei Technologies is implementing the infrastructure on behalf of Uganda.

(Source: The Monitor)

Kenya’s TEAMS registers to avoid rumours about ownership

Government-backed high speed Internet connection, The East African Marine System (TEAMs), has been registered afresh to assure potential investors of its ownership, it has emerged.

Speculation over the ownership of the cable had prompted some potential investors to seek a clarification from the Government, forcing it to act. There have been claims that the cable is jointly owned by a local politician and two foreigners with the Government merely acting as a front.

Dr Bitange Ndemo, the Information permanent secretary, said the company had been registered as TEAMs to distinguish it from TEAMS Limited whose ownership had been questioned. "TEAMS Limited was registered by a private law firm with the instruction from regulator and is not privately owned," Dr Ndemo said."Our suspicion is that these rumours are being generated and circulated by agents of competing submarine cables," he said.

The PS said that the rivalry between TEAMS and its competitors had escalated mainly due to its pricing model. "We have not been keen on making TEAMs a profit-generating venture. Rather the Government intends to make money from the taxes it will collect from the businesses that will rely on it," said Dr Ndemo.

Industry sources told Business Daily the rivalry had escalated to a level where agents of a competing cable had convinced the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) board not to guarantee the project.

The Ministry of Finance is said to have allowed the Ministry of Information to ask the CCK for a $59 million guarantee to enable French firm Alcatel - the company that won the tender to lay the cable - to start the work.

Treasury said the decision to ask for a CCK backed guarantee was informed by the fact that Parliament was not in session. Last week, it emerged that a new deal had been struck to have Citi Bank offer the guarantee.

The Government of Kenya, through the East Africa Marine Systems, owns 85 per cent of the project while Etisalaat of the United Arab Emirates owns 15 per cent. Locally, a number of telecoms sector operators have been invited to buy a stake in the company.

Safaricom has been positioned as the anchor shareholder with an offer of 30 per cent ownership. The Government will remain with 20 per cent while the regional operators will have 50 per cent. "Government should not be in business and for us to obtain the landing rights we had to look for a private company" said Dr Ndemo.

The laying of the cable is expected to kick off next month. The Government will pay a deposit of $ 9.5 million.

(Source: Business Daily)

In brief:

- Cameroon has been chosen alongside two other African countries to host one of the major network operational centres of RASCOM. Following the terms of the agreement, Cameroon has allocated some 10,000 square metres of land for a period of 99 years for the building of a ground control installation for the first-ever African satellite. Two other ground centres would be established in Libya and The Gambia

- Google is supporting local online store WantItAll with its best practice advertising information and advertising standards, says Google South Africa’s country manager Stafford Masie. Until recently, Drennan and two university friends operated WantItAll out of a garage. The original service involved ordering items that were available overseas, importing them into SA, and then delivering locally. According to Drennan, the shop now offers eight million items and the team works full time for the store.

- Congolese opposition political party, the “Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie” has launched its website at www.rcd.cd

- Google launched its popular blogging service, Blogger, in Arabic, enabling Arabic-language users around the world to connect, express themselves, and participate in one of the biggest Internet trends today.

Microsoft introduces Instalment Payments for Vista in Kenya

Software giant Microsoft has announced plans to adopt the mortgage industry's marketing concepts to speed up the uptake of its latest release, Vista. The company's local subsidiary Microsoft Kenya said it had embarked on an aggressive drive aimed at convincing small business owners to upgrade their software systems to Microsoft Vista and Office 2007 - and pay for it over a three year period.

"If your upgrade costs came to $600, you could pay in instalments of $200 over the next three years," said Laura Chite of Microsoft. Customers will also be eligible for 50 per cent discount on the first year's payment - reducing the total cost of the upgrade to $500 instead of $600.

Vista is the direct successor to XP, whose uptake has been relatively slow in Kenya and around the world compared to earlier releases from the software giant. The company's latest Open Value offer is targeted at small businesses, but parallel initiatives are being implemented for other customer segments.

(Source: Business Daily)

Lenovo's computers hit the high street in South Africa

Chinese computer company Lenovo is entering SA's crowded consumer market, hoping to win a sizeable chunk of the half-million notebooks and desktops bought by individuals each year.

The company bought out the computer business previously owned by IBM three years ago, and South Africa is among a slew of countries now receiving its first global models designed for consumers and small businesses. The range will be sold exclusively through Incredible Connection, because Lenovo wanted a national retailer that could also handle after-sales support.

So far Lenovo's business in SA has been confined to corporate buyers, where country manager Rashid Wally says it already holds a substantial slice of the market – 9.6% of notebooks and 6.5% of desktops.

Lenovo has grown its local presence from 25 people to 35 in the past three years, but has broadened its distribution channel considerably since taking over from IBM. "We have trebled our revenue in the commercial market," Wally said.

In the fourth quarter of last year, local sales of desktop computers shrank 5%, but Lenovo grew its sales a massive 60%. "It's our intention to make the same impression on consumers," Wally said.

(Source: Business Day)

Lagos may become a toxic E-Waste Dump

According to the Basel Action Network (BAN), a Seattle-based environmental group, an estimated 500 shipping containers with a load equal in volume to 400,000 computer monitors or 175,000 large TV sets enter Lagos each month. As much as 75 percent of some shipments are classified as e-waste.

"The reasons for this huge influx of e-waste into Lagos are not far fetched," Peter Ejiofor, a Lagos dealer in second hand computers told IPS. "Lagos has a large sea port where the items easily slip through, also there is a huge appetite for cheap second hand imported electronics items in the city," he says.

But Lagos is paying a huge environmental cost for these cheap items. Most of the imported items get discarded almost as soon as they are shipped into Lagos. "E-waste is a major problem, it's a major challenge, we have a pile up of them," Ola Oresanya, managing director of the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), told IPS.

With no facilities to recycle e-wastes, they are indiscriminately discarded around the city. Some of them end up in dumpsites where they are burnt. Environmentalists have expressed concern about this. "It is a very worrisome situation because components from these electronic items are very hazardous," Leslie Adogame of the Nigerian Environmental Society told IPS.

He is particularly concerned about the health implication. "There is open burning. Some components produce a lot of particulate matters," he says. "People around the areas where the wastes are being burnt have to be suffering from chest-related diseases because they inhale a lot of noxious substances," he added.

Oresanya says LAWMA is concerned about the dangers posed by e-waste. Education has been one of the main actions taken by the authorities to curb the menace. "We have been educating people against burning e-wastes. We believe they would change," he says.

But Adogame believes combating e-waste should go beyond education. He says the way out is for the establishment of "an integrated system to manage the waste."

To combat the enormous task, Lagos authorities are looking to the private sector for assistance. "We have been talking with the organised private sector who have the wherewithal to manage the disposal of these e-wastes to come in and assist us," says Oresanya.

(Source: Inter Press Service)

In brief:

- As South Africans are urged to fill in their tax returns for January 31st, a first evaluation indicates that over 400 000 returns were submitted via the electronic filing facility provided by The South African Revenue Services (SARS). This figure is more than 10 times higher than the number of electronic forms received during the previous year of assessment and indicates growing public confidence in the electronic system.

- The latest book byAlgerian academic, Mohamed Meziane, gives an overiew of the changes noticed in society and brought about by the technological revolution in the fields of information and communications. The book, entitled "Au bout des claviers... La société de l'information" (behind keyboards… the information society) published by "Al Hikma," proposes a reflection on the beneficial effects of the new information and communications technologies (NICTs) on the Algerian society, that is undergoing radical "transformations," if "authorities integrate them as means for development."

- The Knowledge Network Centre of Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire has published a 30-page paper that explores the challenges of good governance in Africa and focuses on the role that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can play in improving governance. To download the report click on the following link http://tinyurl.com/25w7gd

- Ghana is to put into operation a new electronic governance programme, with assistance from the Italian government to improve information flow, leading to the creation of a national data centre in public administration. The support from the Italian government will put in place a certified e-mail infrastructure including digital signature and electronic document work flow that would improve among other things, the quality of work in the public service.

- The South African arm of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project has suffered a setback following the past weekend’s devastating fires in the Western Cape. The project’s servers, which are run from Scarborough in the Cape Peninsula, were apparently damaged by the excess smoke and water in the area, and are now apparently unlikely to host the project’s website anytime soon.

State Says Safaricom’s IPO Plan in Doubt Over Chaos in Kenya

The Government has expressed doubts over the success of the planned Safaricom Initial Public Offer (IPO), but maintains the process will go on despite the stormy political environment. Finance minister, Amos Kimunya, said logistics are still being sorted out before he releases a timetable detailing among other things the IPO's pricing. "We are still on track. We should be giving you the dates very soon," he said.

"But we still believe Kenyans are still keen in buying the shares," said Kimunya.

The Government's 25 per cent sale of its 60 per cent shareholding in Safaricom has met several frustrations including a suit filed by the opposition party, ODM, requiring it to be nullified until a privatisation commission was set up.

The Association of Kenya Stockbrokers, the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) and Investment banks also joined ranks demanding the process be postponed to this year, at least to give local investors a chance to buy into the company.

However, as the minister exudes confidence on the IPO, the political crisis that has severely tore into Kenya's social fabric sets no suitable platform for major investments in the country.

The Government's sentiments over the timing of the IPO, which is expected to net in an estimated Sh35 billion to the Exchequer, concur with those of the NSE and Dyer and Blair Investment Bank, the transaction's lead advisors.

The exact date when the process is supposed to start has become a worrying issue to all the stakeholders.

"Safaricom is a very important IPO, and its timing must be right and correct," said Mr Jimnah Mbaru, the chairman of NSE and Dyer and Blair Investment Bank.

"We have gone back to the drawing board to sort out some few details," he said.

However, involved parties are unable to make tangible commitments as to when the stalled transaction would be re-started owing to the volatile political situation that has sparked jitters in capital markets, as investors wear a 'wait and see' attitude.

(Source: The East African Standard)

Mobile operator Zain '07 Profits Rise By 11 Percent to Hit $1.13 Billion

Zain Group, the Kuwait-based telecoms company that owns local mobile phone firm, Celtel Kenya, has announced full-year results for 2007 showing its profits rose by 11 per cent riding on robust revenue growth.

The results show the telecom firm's revenues jumped by 32 per cent to settle at $5.91 billion and net profit hit $1.13 billion compared to $1.01 billion in 2006. "These results reflect improvement in operational efficiencies across two continents," said Saad Al-Barrack, the managing director and deputy chairman.

It was not possible to unravel the performance of Celtel Kenya from the results that are the first since the Kuwaiti company took over the pan-Africa telecoms operator, Celtel but industry sources said Celtel pushed up its subscriber base by two million in Kenya, realising a 30 per cent increment.

Al-Barrack said the positive results are the product of successful re-branding and the company's foray into new product areas. Zain Group has maintained the Celtel brand since it took over the company early last year. The firm concluded its 100 per cent ownership in regional operations, giving it access to some of the fastest growing markets in the world.

Last year, Zain Group's active customer base grew by 56 per cent to 42.4 million from 2006 levels. Al-Barrack said Zain Group would use cash and stock dividends to raise $4.4 billion, which it will use to consolidate the gains in 22 of its operations across Africa and the Middle East.

(Source: Business Daily)

VTEL Holdings acquires Burundi's Africell

VTEL Holdings Ltd, a Dubai based telecommunications company finalised the acquisition of Africa Cellulaire (Africell) of Burundi. Africell currently possess a GSM and WiMax license and its network name is Safaris. VTEL was a failed bidder for the Kenyan SNO licence after its local shareholder failed to come up with its share funding.

A press statement issued by the company did not give details on how much VTEL paid to acquire Africell but that the partnership will help Africell expand its network and services offering starting in the second half of 2008.

VTEL will bring to Africell its financial backing in addition to knowledge of services provisioning especially in the area of broadband. “Burundi is looking for a true service provider with innovation and new value services with affordable prices,” said VTEL’s chief executive officer for Africa, Mr. Nour Atout.

He said VTEL was committed to put Burundi on the broadband map, and have Africell as the company’s showcase in Africa.“We are excited about Burundi and its growth potential,” Atout said.

Burundi has a mobile telephony penetration rate of only 2.3%, which according to VTEL creates an opportunity for the company. He said the company is confident it will bring to Africell the leadership position that it deserves. “We are proud of this acquisition and confident that it will create shareholder value, and we will expand beyond Burundi in Africa and elsewhere,” said Mr. Yousef Bazian, the chief executive officer of VTEL Holdings Limited.

He said the company will work with local partners and all stakeholders to grow the standards of the telecommunication services in the country in terms of technology and developing the local talent pool.

The Dubai-based company currently operates in emerging markets in the Middle East region, Africa, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Latin and Central America, and the Caribbean.

(Source: East African Business Week)

Vox Sitting Pretty After Acquisitions in South Africa

The pace of mergers and acquisitions in the hi-tech sector will slacken off as interest rates climb and the cost of capital swells, Vox Telecom believes. The latest deal by Vox to acquire Storm Telecom for R360m has won approval from the Reserve Bank and the competition authorities, and should be its last takeover for a while, said chairman Tony van Marken.

Vox has absorbed a dozen voice and data players so far, including Orion Telecom, Amvia and Absa's internet division. The number of worthwhile opportunities was now drying up, Van Marken said, with Storm being the last major independent telecoms player worth buying.

"Looking at where the financial markets are right now, I am relieved that we got our timing right. We bought 12 companies in 18 months, raising R1.1bn in cash. We think we paid a reasonable price and haven't overpaid."

Global stock markets had shed trillions of dollars, and although plunging share prices should make acquisitions more affordable, there were few assets to buy in SA, Van Marken said. Vox had assessed other potential takeovers but shareholders were asking too much, he said.

"Raising equity will be more difficult and we have high interest rates so debt isn't cheap. It's going to be a much tougher fund raising environment and far more challenging to do acquisitions."

Vox itself got regular predatory overtures, Van Marken said. This would continue as demand for voice and data services grew.

"There will be international players looking at SA and growth potential here -- and players here are looking at the same thing -- so we are an acquisition target."

Vox financed the Storm acquisition by issuing R400m in new shares to black investors. This gave it a more hefty black stakeholding, 41,8%, than any other telecoms firm in SA. Main black investors are the Lereko Metier Capital Growth Fund, with 23,6%, and Mvelaphanda, with 12,42%.

That black profile should help Vox win more contracts in the government and parastatal sectors, Van Marken said. And deals made in the past few months positioned it well for growth.

(Source: Business Day)

In brief:

- Togo Telecom has extended its deadline to February 8th to complete its international loan funding round. The national incumbent is looking to raise 20 billions CFA francs but so far it has only secured 7 billions CFA francs, 6 of them coming from national investors. The loan is believed to be over 7 years and this period is seen as too long, particularly given an unattractive interest rate of 6.5%.

- In an interview to local Nigerian newspaper, This Day, the Executive Vice-Chairman of Reliance Telecommunications Limited (RELTEL), Kenneth Aigbinode, confirmed that the company was not excluding foreign investors to sustain its growth plans to extend its CDMA network. Aigbinode claims that Reliance has the most extensive footprint of any CDMA operator in Nigeria with in 17 cities and towns.

- South Africa based mobile services company, Celcom Group has announced that it has acquired a 50.5 percent interest in the business of Nile Com for about R9.4 million (US$1.3 million). Nile Com is an exclusive MTN dealer in Uganda, and is currently owned by the chairman of MTN Uganda. Specifically, Nile Com operates seven MTN branded retail outlets selling mobile telecoms products and controls 1,200 sub-dealers.

Xam Marsé – the Communication Initiative Network in Senegal

Launched by Manobi in 2001, Xam Marsé provides market information about various products to Senegalese farmers, traders, hoteliers and others via internet and free, daily telephone SMS (short message service) messages. Meaning “know your market’ in Wolof, Xam Marsé provides SMSs with real-time information on the prices and availability of fruit, vegetables, meat and poultry, on any of Senegal’s markets. Manobi introduced the service to increase access of producers to information that would allow them to make better decisions about sales and purchases.

More than 3400 producers, middlemen, traders and hotel keepers participate in the service. Manobi's information system on fruits and vegetables accessible by GSM-Data has enabled the farmers of the Niayes - a market gardening area in the West of Senegal- to increase their sale prices negotiated from their fields or on the markets by over 50% per year. Overall…this brings an annual income of CFA F 10 billion from the 7,000 ha cultivated in the Niayes area, which can immediately be used by the beneficiaries to take care of their own social and economic development.”

The project was initiated by Manobi, a private telecommunications company, in partnership with three local fishing unions, two telecommunications companies (Alcatel and Sonatel), and the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC). “Manobi's clients have increased revenue by 20% after deducting communication costs. The service was tested and launched in 2000 by a Senegal businessman Daniel Annerose, is now backed by Sonatel, the principal national telephone operator.

In conjunction with the Senegalese agribusiness companies Manobi is now developing a monitoring sytem for advertisements in the space available in these SMS so as to sponsor the service and continue making it available free of charge.

(Source: Soul Beat Africa)

Intercontinental Bank Activates I-Mobile Cards in Ghana

Intercontinental Bank Plc has launched the I-Mobile card that will enable both its account holders and non-account holders to use its ATMs in both Ghana and Nigeria. It is in effect a re-loadable pre-pay card. Ken Tadaferua, Group Executive, Corporate Affairs & Brand Management, said that before the bank's electronic products were only used within the country and was limited to account holders only.

IMobile Product Manager, Austin Akwarandu said that "The newly introduced I-Cash Mobile and I Cash International as well as the ATM Connect Services has bridged the distance between Nigeria and Ghana. Ghana is now just a card away with your I-Mobile reloadable card. Customer can draw the equivalent of the money in Naira from any of our bank's ATMs in Ghana in Cedis"

He said all that "is required is for the customer is to pick up one of the reloadable cards from any of our branches across the country or in Ghana . They are required to change their PIN and off you go to any of our ATMs in Nigeria or Ghana .

Account holders need not get the reloadable cards with their I-cash mobile or their phone which is linked to their accounts. They can transfer funds to any of the Imobile reloadable cards which can then be used on the ATMs. Similarly, with the I-Cash mobile you can transfer money to any mobile phone in Nigeria ."

Only recently, the bank formally launched two new electronic products- I-Cash International and I-Cash Mobile to further expand the frontiers of its robust e-banking platform in response to the demands of the market. The Bank believes that through I-Cash International, for instance, it would facilitate seamless business transaction between Ghana and Nigeria and provide ready access to money in Ghanaian currency for a sender. The I-Cash International is to be facilitated by six Intercontinental Bank Ghana Ltd branches situated in hub of Accra .

(Source: This Day)

ISSUE NO 390 PEOPLE, EVENTS, JOBS, CONTRACTS

INDEX

People

* Public Investment Corporation (PIC) CEO and empowerment activist Brian Molefe has joined Telkom's board in South Africa. Molefe will replace Tshepo Mahloele as the PIC's representative on the fixed-line telco player's board.

Events

* 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

ICT 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 www.ictafrica.nepadcouncil.org/

* AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST NEXT GENERATION NETWORKS SUMMIT 2008

18th - 19th February 2008, Indaba Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa

The conference revolves B2B, B2G, G2G Next Generation Networks business opportunities and challenges, convergence challenges, security, quality of service, pricing and billing, operator strategy, mobile content and applications, interoperability, network and infrastructure etc. Attendance is by invitation only.

For further information Abas,Patahul at abas.p@kl.unistrategic.com

* 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

* CAPACITY MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA 2008

25th – 26th February 2008, Dubai

Now in its 3rd successful year Capacity Middle East & North Africa 2008 provides the leading high-level, important meeting point for executives from international telecommunications companies and companies in the GCC and North Africa to discuss strategic domestic and international wholesale telecommunications market opportunities.

Capacity Middle East & North Africa 2008 provides attendees with the optimum networking forum to forge business partnerships and execute business deals. Offering high-level content in the form of interactive panel discussions and presentations, this event is not to be missed!

To register please contact Clare Heath on Tel: +44 208 481 3460 or Email: clare.heath@capacitymedia.com or for more information please visit www.capacitymedia.com/conferences-events.asp

* THE AFRICAN BANKING TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE – “New dates”

28th March – 4th April 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.aitecafrica.com

MED-IT@ALGER 2008

22- 23 April 2008, Algier, Algeria

The fifth edition of this B2B exhibition will provide plenty of opportunities to develop contacts and relationship with local companies in the IT and Telecoms sectors.

The exhibition main topics are: new mobile services, call centre solutions and equipment, VoIP, IT security, banking software, CRM, ERP and storage solutions.

For further information please http://www.medit.eu.org/2008/algerie/presentation.htm

- E-LEARNING AFRICA

29-30 May 2008, Accra, Ghana

eLearning Africa 2008 is a conference organised by ICWE GmbH and Hoffmann & Reif that focuses on ICT for development, education and training in Africa. The event establishes and links a Pan-African network of decision makers from governments and administrations with universities, schools, governmental and private training providers, industry, and important partners in development cooperation. For further visit www.eLearning-Africa.com

- SEMINAR ON E-GOVERNMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT: STRATEGIES AND POLICIES

13-27 June 2008, Washington DC, USA

This intensive face-to-face seminar includes lectures, panel discussions, and interactive workshops presented by leading e-Government experts from USAID, USTTI Board member corporations, private sector firms, universities, NGOs, and multinational organizations.

For additional information about the content of the course, how to apply, as well as funding, visit the USTTI website at http://ustti.org

Jobs and Opportunities

* PIWA-Information Society” Prize – 2008 / Haayo Prizes

Within the framework of its objective to strengthen journalist capacity on ICTs of the its Haayo-Mediactic project funded by the Open Society Institute West Africa (OSIWA), the Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA) has launched a media production contest on ICTs.

The contest is open to all print and broadcast media journalists from West and Central Africa. Journalists who wish to take part in this contest are required to submit an article or an audio programme on the theme: « ICTs and elections” ».

Deadline to apply: March 15th 2008.

For more information on the prizes and the application modalities, please check http://www.haayo.org/PIWA-Information-Society-Prize.html

Contracts

* mCel and Alcatel-Lucent - Mozambique

Mozambique’s largest mobile operator has awarded Alcatel-Lucent a contract for the deployment of a 3G network. The deployment will take place in populated urban centres and suburban areas of Maputo, Beira and Nampula. Alcatel-Lucent will supply UMTS and HSPA equipment, allowing mCel to offer mobile data downloads with peak transfer rates of 14.4Mbps. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

* African Copper and Mincom - Botswana

African Copper, an international exploration and development resource company has selected Mincom’s Ellipse enterprise asset management software as it brings the Mowana Mine into production. The Mowana Mine is situation approximately 130 km north west of Francistown. Ellipse Mincoms’s asset management software application aims to help businesses take full control of their assets. The software allows businesses to get the most out of their assets by ensuring that they do not fall prey to unforeseen problems, breakdowns or inefficient operation.

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