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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday. ISSUE NO 398 SAT3 to get a competitor – Infinity set to finalise $865 million financingIn the coming week the Infinity Worldwide Telecom Group of Companies (IWTGC) looks set to finalise the funding of its first phase build for its international fibre route from Portugal to South Africa along the west coast of the continent. Once built, it will be the first independently operated competitor for the incumbent monopoly-controlled SAT3 cable. Russell Southwood looks at what’s involved. A West African bank, a leading institutional investment advisor and European institutional investment advisors are all in the final stages of agreeing an investment package that will come up with the funding for the first stage of the Infinity project. Once agreed, work will start 45-60 days after funding package has been inked. Phase one of the project is estimated to cost US $865 million, of which US$750 million is earmarked for capital Expenditure and the remainder for working capital. This includes funding for sub-sea cable; marine; wet and dry plant; cable stations; licenses; backhaul; and central city PoPs. Tyco International has been chosen as the System Supplier and Infinity and Tyco are ready to execute an ITP that will commit to the marine survey, manufacturing slot, and overall system schedule. Desk Top and Marine Surveys are set to commence in Q2 2008 and the RFS date (commercial operation) for Phase one is planned for Q4 2010. In phase one of the project Infinity will construct a 14,000 kilometre international fiber route along the western coast of continent with direct links into Southern Europe and South Africa. The network will run from Lisbon, Portugal to Cape Town, South Africa with branching units to land in the Sub Saharan coastal countries of Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Angola. Phase 2 will see Infinity land the cable in additional planned countries in the region including: Canary Islands, Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome, Gabon, Congo, DRC, and Namibia. Inland routes will also be explored to link in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Significantly Infinity already has an MOU with VSNL (owners of Neotel) for engineering and design support; use of its global infrastructure; network services; and operational support. VSNL’s International Global Network spans across 4 continents and comprises major ownership of 206,356km of terrestrial network fibre and sub-sea cable. Infinity has three other projects racing it to completion (in likely order of arrival): Globacom’s Glo cable which has already reached Dakar, the Infraco/NEPAD Uhurunet project and Mainstreet Technologies’ One project. All cover broadly similar ground. South Africa’s National Treasury declined funding for Infraco’s west coast fibre project (variously described as landing in Fortaleza and Portugal) on concerns about the lack of private sector involvement and as a result, it is in the process of combining forces with NEPAD’s Uhurunet project which will be partly financed by India’s Biharti. Infraco will hold a stakeholders’ meeting on 15 April. Globacom has been extremely secretive about what it is planning to do with its cable and despite having announced that it will land in a long list of West African countries, there is little sign on the ground in several of these countries that licence applications have been made.
Safaricom IPO goes ahead with shares at US8.2 centsThe Safaricom IPO gives both local and international shareholders the opportunity to own a part of one of the region’s most profitable companies. Priced at Sh5 (US8.2 cents) per share, applicants need just Sh10,000 (US$164.13) to own a part of the firm that made Sh17 billion in pre-tax profits last year. With the operator recording Sh15 billion in the nine months to December, the annual take is likely to be higher. Some 10 billion shares will be put on the block in what is easily the biggest divestiture in sub-Saharan Africa this year. The sale will reduce the government’s holding to 35%, leaving the UK’s Vodafone as the largest shareholder with 40%. Investment bank Morgan Stanley, advisors to the sale, have been forced to defend their valuation of Safaricom following allegations by opposition politicans that it had undervalued the cellco. Last week, Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) secretary-general Anyang' Nyong'o called for a delay in the sell-off until Morgan Stanley’s figures had been scrutinised. Dr Nina Weiden, a senior officer at the bank, said the valuation was based on the value of other African mobile operators. ‘Ours is a global firm with a reputation to maintain and there would be no reason for us to short value Safaricom,’ she said, adding that the valuation report would not be made public as it was ‘confidential information only accessible to Treasury and the Privatisation Commission’. "I have no doubt that the Safaricom IPO will be a resounding success especially for a cash-strapped government desperate for revenue, and the brokers and bankers who will process applications for shares during this 'once in a lifetime' opportunity, regardless of the suspension of Nyaga Stockbrokers," says Andrew Franklin, a capital markets consultant. Many analysts agree. Said James Murigu, managing director at Suntra Investment Bank and a veteran of IPOs: "You can argue that since (the) KenGen IPO, many of our people have become hooked to the stock market after seeing its benefits. The crowd has become bigger. Safaricom is a company whose business is easy to understand. Its 10 million subscribers deal with it on a daily basis. And with innovative products like M-Pesa, its prospects look good." (Source: The Nation) Econet increases investment to US$300 million for Network Roll-Out in Kenya as talks on infrastructure sharing stallEconet Wireless has set aside $300 million to secure its position as the third mobile phone service provider in Kenya, a top company official has said. Phillip Mudimu, the chief executive of Econet Wireless Kenya, said the money is to be spent on the initial roll-out of the network in Nairobi and other major towns. Analysts said this big roll-out budget was a sign that the company's infrastructure sharing plan was facing major hurdles."There has been very little progress on infrastructure-sharing front. We are now acting on the assumption that this option will not materialise," said Mudimu. Econet's late entry into the Kenyan market was expected to be hinged on the signing of infrastructure sharing agreements with existing players Safaricom, Celtel or Telkom. Failure to sign any infrastructure sharing agreement has left the company with no option but to purchase its own base stations-a cost it had not initially factored into its roll-out plan. John Waweru, the director-general of the Communications Commission of Kenya, however reckons that there should be no difficulty in the sharing of infrastructure. "Real competition is on services, not infrastructure," Waweru said. Econet has set a three year deadline for country-wide coverage with service differentiation as its key selling point. "Other players gained temporary competitive advantage on the coverage front but we intend to enter the market with a strong service offering," said Mudimu. Even as the countdown to the deadline for its roll-out draws closer, Econet reckoned that it will be the duopoly breaker in the Kenyan market that remains in the grips of Safaricom and Celtel.South Africa-based Econet is expected to be in the market by end of June. Mudimu said the company was on track to beating the August deadline for the roll-out of its services. Implementation started last month with the recruitment of staff and mobilisation of funds. The programmes started after Kenyan shareholders, blamed for the four year delay of the roll-out, paid for their stake in the company. In January, it emerged that Econet International, EWK's parent company, had sold 49 per cent of its shares to Essar Global - an Indian conglomerate. Sources told Business Daily that the deal had secured almost half a billion dollars for the network roll-out. Econet is expected to push for number portability as part of its entry strategy to give it a competitive edge in the market. Waweru however maintained that number portability would only be feasible in the next three years. (Source: Business Daily) South Africa’s Universal Service Agency to offer big players subsidy to take voice and data to most rural areasA novel idea to take voice and data services to the most rural areas could see Vodacom and MTN paid subsidies to do the job. The operators have to promise high-quality services even the poorest people can afford in return for having up to 80% of infrastructure subsidised. But the cost will not hit taxpayers as the cash will come from the Universal Service Fund, to which the operators themselves contribute. The plan was mooted by the Universal Service and Access Agency of SA after the failure of efforts to help small black companies take telecoms services to poor, rural areas. CEO James Theledi said the big commercial players were rightly hesitant to tackle some of those areas as they were expensive to reach and had no potential to generate revenue. Even where mobile operators had made inroads, the services were still expensive, and offered only voice calls rather than data.The agency handed millions of rands in grants to small black companies that won licences to operate in underserviced areas, but many fizzled out. Only one is actually still operating. They had lacked the cash, training and experience to be successful, Theledi said, while regulatory issues and delays in allocating spectrum also fuelled their failure. The only solution was to offer incentives and subsidies to commercial players, he said. The agency rates 27 areas as underserviced. In one, Umzinyathi in KwaZulu-Natal, 64% of the population has no electricity, 94% no landlines and 69% no cellphones. Fresh research will calculate what it will cost to provide full voice and data coverage. "If R50m is required in one area the subsidy could be R35m to R40m," Theledi said. "If 27 areas need R40m each we will say this is the money required from the Universal Service Fund." The subsidies could be launched next year through open tenders, and the company requesting the smallest subsidy and promising the most affordable services would win. Last year, US$32.5 million sat idle in the Universal Service Fund as the Treasury refused to hand it over until the agency submitted sound business plans. The cash comes from an annual levy of 0.2% on revenue generated by each telecoms company. (Source: Business Day) German Company enters the Cellphone Repair business in East AfricaMobile solution company Combase has established its East African headquarters in Nairobi, hoping to tap into the under-served mobile repairs and maintenance industry. The German-based company, which has already invested SUS$787,000 in setting up its Kenyan offices, is pegging a further US$262,000 million for expansion in the coming year. "There is a missing link in this market. While the use of mobile phones and ICT products has grown at record pace, there has been no corresponding growth in the servicing and maintenance industry. We see this Kenyan operation not just as an opportunity but a must for our business' future growth," said Dirk Ott, the director of business development and research . He said his company was keen on moving into growth markets due to shrinking opportunities in more developed countries, saying countries such as Kenya were now considered essential to the company's strategy. Combase hopes to tap into the growing demand for support services for mobile phones and consumer electronics that have arisen as a result of the country's mobile subscriber base growth from 40,000 users in 2000 to over 12 million subscribers currently. The solutions company hopes to target both end users and mobile phone manufacturers as its key customers in the region. Its presence will open up highly specialised repair services to owners of both popular models and newer entrants, such as HTC and Chinese models. However, Combase will face a challenge trying to shift consumer conception that formal channels for the maintenance and repair of their mobile phones are expensive. Currently, the repairs market is dominated by informal repair shops who are not affiliated with mobile phone manufacturers or service providers. These back-street operators tend to operate independently, sourcing parts from third party suppliers and are usually not qualified to handle phone and other electronic repairs. However, in the past year, mobile phone vendors have been quick to up their local presence, setting up dedicated service centres around the country. Within the last year, Samsung, Nokia and Motorola have all set up country-wide operations aimed at providing owners of their gadgets with qualified repair services. Combase will differentiate its offering by offering guaranteed repair times, touting its affiliation with a cross-section of mobile phone manufacturers to ensure parts and service ability, as well as its stable of highly qualified staff. "We offer vendor-neutral services but are certified by the manufacturers to handle a variety of mobile phones that are both covered by warranty and those that are not. Our edge will be the ability to guarantee quick turnaround times for consumers and to offer quality," said Susan Kaaria, Managing Director for Combase EA. The opening of a regional office follows the company's establishment of a branch office in 2006. Since then, the company has responded to increased demand for its services by opening a repair centre, which can handle up to 5,000 units a month and expanded its regional presence through a combination of partnerships with mobile phone dealers and logistics company G4S around the country. (Source: Business Daily)
In brief:- Saudi telecoms investor HITS Africa is set to become Equatorial Guinea’s second national telecoms operator (SNO), after being selected to establish a converged fixed, mobile and data network across the country by 2009. According to reports in the local media, HITS will roll out a mobile 2G/3G network by the end of this year, and a fixed wireless WiMAX platform for voice and broadband data services by late 2009. The company will also install its own international gateway. Services will cover the mainland and Bioko Island. - South Africa’s SNO Neotel has had its US$28.6 million acquisition of Transtel approved by the Competition Tribunal, giving it 550 more staff and valuable networking facilities. The deal gives Neotel a presence in more than 100 locations and access to numerous "last mile" networks connecting directly to Transtel customers' premises. - Plans by mobile phone company Safaricom to introduce its money transfer service to UK have hit a regulatory barrier with authorities demanding that the operator meets a set of conditions. - The Uganda Communications Commission will celebrates its 10 years existence this May. - The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will begin to publish operating standards of telecoms companies so as to guide subscribers in selecting the network of their choice. - After months of speculation, Nigeria has officially taken the lead as Africa’s largest telecommunications market. With 41.5 million subscribers, it is now taking a position which was until December 2007 held by South Africa. - In his first interview since becoming CEO of Wataniya Telecom, Scott Gegenheimer revealed that Wataniya Telecom Algeria (Nedjma) would break even in the near future for the first time after four years of operations. Telecoms, Rates, Offers and Coverage- Telecel Zimbabwe has introduced a new system that allows instant airtime transfers among subscribers. NetOne, the other network provider in the country, is yet to introduce the method. - According to local paper l’Express, Mauritius Telecom and Cellplus are likely to be re-branded into Orange. Like in Senegal, two years ago, the re-branding exercise has generated some national resentments and worries about the fees that both operators will to pay to adopt the new brand. - Cellco MTC Namibia and broadcaster MultiChoice Namibia have announced that they will offer MTC’s mobile subscribers broadcast TV services over the operator’s 3G network. - Launched at the Summit of Head of States of the Commonwealth in central Kampala in November last year, Uganda Telecom (UTL) has announced that it will extend coverage of its 3G network to Greater Kampala, Entebbe and Jinja. It plans to roll out to other districts like Mbarara by the middle of the year. - Tunisie Telecom has launched its WAP portal. Dubbed “Ahaya” the website offers a combination of general information and a download services available to all Tunisie Telecom’s mobile users.
South Africa hits 1 Million broadband usersSouth Africa has surpassed the 1 Million broadband subscriber mark. South Africa now has more than 1 Million broadband connections, made up mainly of ADSL and HSDPA subscribers. Telkom currently has in the region of 415 000 ADSL subscribers, and previously indicated that it is on track to hit their 420 000 target by the end of March. Vodacom has 360 000 3G/HSDPA data card users while MTN recently announced that they now have 120 000 3G/HSDPA data card users on their South African network. This brings the total number of ADSL and HSDPA subscribers to 895 000. iBurst currently has 60 000 subscribers while it is estimated that around 45,000 broadband users are served by Wireless Internet Service Providers around the country. Add the few thousand MyWireless users and it brings the total number of broadband subscribers to just over 1 Million. While this is a milestone well worth celebrating in the local broadband environment, the country’s broadband penetration rate of 2% is still very far below international standards. The average broadband penetration rate in OECD countries is 18.8% with Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Korea, Norway and Iceland leading the way with over 29 subscribers per 100 inhabitants each. Experts estimate that the number of broadband connections will grow to between 1.5 Million and 2 Million by 2010. (Source: MyBroadband) Entertainment is Kenyans' Main Activity OnlineInternet use is rising steadily in Kenya with entertainment as the leading driver of the growth, a new report indicates. The report by AccessKenya, a technology company, says that while most Kenyans get online at work, their main activity on the net is play. This aspect of the report is especially critical for Kenyan employers who unlike their counterparts in the more advanced economies have yet to establish workplace policies for Internet use. Employers complain that unfettered use of the Internet was helping their employees to "steal" valuable working time without leaving their working stations. Concern over the time employees spend on the Internet and activities they engage in has seen some employers install software that monitors use of websites during working hours. Alexa.com, the world's leading monitor of website use, says more than 40 per cent of the top 100 websites used in Kenya are sites for social networking, emailing, sharing and blogging. "Kenya has had a worldwide reputation for friendliness and sociability. Once online, Kenyans are proving the foundations of that image. It is clear the Internet has brought Kenya a whole new level of social connectivity," said Mr Jonathan Somen, managing Director of AccessKenya Group. Emailing aside, which has positioned Yahoo as the country's most used site, Kenya's top 20 sites bristle with social networking and blogging sites, top among them, Facebook, Hi5, YouTube, Blogger, Myspace, Fanbox, Tagged and PerfSpot. Also in the Top 100 are the likes of Adultfriendfinder, Megaflirt and Afrointroductions, billed as the site that helps African women find partners for marriage. When not socialising, the next top use of the Intern et by Kenyans is for downloading software, mostly shareware and openware, and for technical support, accounting for about a fifth of use. News and sports sites come next, with two football teams with Manchester United and Arsenal making the top list. This international positioning is reflected in news and information sites too, where Wikipedia and the BBC hold the top spots. "Kenyans are connecting with each other and with the world online. But they are doing it through international websites. Just eight in the top 100 connection points are from East African media, government, corporates and start-ups," said Mr Somen. This trend is seen as a case of the Internet creating and driving the Global Village, where other East African media and communication tools do not easily reach, rather than replacing the information channels already served locally by print, broadcast and telecoms. Just eight Kenyan or East African websites make it to the Top 100 sites for Kenyan users: 1. Nation 2. EAStandard 3. StocksKenya 4. ExamsCouncil 5. Kenya Airways 6. BrighterMonday 7. BDAfrica 8. Safaricom (Source: Business Daily) Google country manager reveals plans for South African marketInternet marketing specialist Intoweb Marketing recently hosted a successful event on search engine marketing at The Innovation Hub's Conference Venue. Supported by Google South Africa, the event featured a keynote address by Stafford Masie, Country Manager for Google SA. Participants came from as far afield as Botswana. Masie's presentation covered a number of topics, including search engine optimisation and the application and benefits of Google Adwords - two of Intoweb's primary service offerings. Masie also detailed a few aspects of Google SA's immediate plans for the local market, the main focus of which is to improve search quality in the country. "Our aim is for the Google spider to catch every single piece of Web real estate in South Africa," he said. A key element of this will entail interfacing with a number of search engine optimisation companies and doing more to educate people about the Google search engine, how to utilise it, and why search is so valuable. Google SA will be looking at localising aspects around the rest of Google such as You Tube and Google Maps. A lot of work is also going into the building of human capacity and the necessary online capabilities to provide optimal search quality to South Africa. Masie's presentation also touched briefly on broadband issues in the country. "I think that in the next 24 months, the situation is definitely going to get better and Google will lend a hand in every platform that we can participate in to demonstrate the value of broadband," he said. With the use of mobile phones in South Africa and the rest of the world at its highest level ever, Masie stressed that the mobile market is a particular area of interest for Google. He said this would be especially important in light of the fact that 78% of all cellphone users in South Africa do not own a PC and over 85% will never own one in their lifetime. These figures could probably also be a contributing factor to another statistic which states that South Africa is the third largest country in the world in terms of the volume of mobile Google searches. Masie's presentation continued with a discussion of the variety of elements of Google that are in place to enhance their fundamental objective, which is to "organise all of the world's information and make it universally accessible" - from Google Enterprise and Adwords, to You Tube, Adsense and Google Co-op. All of these elements take their place within Google's three-spoke model which connects users, advertisers and publishers. (Source: ITWeb) In brief:- A consortium comprising France Telecom, Mauritius Telecom and Orange Madagascar has announced plans to install a submarine fibre-optic cable which will provide the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar with broadband internet access. Known as Lion, the 1,800km cable will connect Madagascar with the region's existing Sat3-Wasc-Safe cable. The new cable will link via the islands of Reunion and Maurice, the two connection points of the Sat3-Wasc-Safe cable, which itself links Europe to Asia via South Africa. A landing station will be established in Toamasina, with an onwards very high speed fibre optic link to the capital, Antananarivo. - Globacom, a Nigerian leading telecommunication company has announced this week that the Owerri-Onitsha route of its nationwide optic fibre transmission network has gone live. - In South Africa, web design company Talk2Us has launched to new client websites for Multisource and Black Steer. The websites have been built using a Content Management System (CMS), with Adobe and Macromedia products for design. - A new bilingual website has been launched dedicated to African journalism at www.journalisteafricain.com - In Algeria, the National Agency for Foreign Trade Promotion (Algex) will launch shortly an interactive Internet portal dedicated to foreign trade and the promotion of non-hydrocarbon products exports, the agency's general Manager Mohamed Bennini has announced. "We will transform Algex website into an interactive portal devoted to foreign trade, in which economic operators will find all the information they need on business opportunities and foreign commerce," Bennini told APS. - Fouad Mourtada, who made international headlines last month for getting jail time for setting up a Facebook account in the name of a Moroccan prince, has been freed, report Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the anti-censorship network of bloggers Global Voices Online.
Electronic Trading to Take Off soon in UgandaUganda’s Capital Market Authority has expressed optimism that the Central Depositary System which is a computerised system of conducting trading on the stock exchange will be operational before the end of the year. "Every body in the industry and those in the legislation are happy with the system and we expect trading using Central Depositary system to commence at the stock exchange before the end of 2008," The Chief Executive Officer of CMA, Mr Japheth Katto told Business Power on March 20 after news that that cabinet had approved the Bill that paves way for its debate in parliament. The system permits makes trading at the stock exchange more efficient as pricing and settlements are done online. According to CMA, the CDS will increase efficiency at the Uganda Stock Exchange realising higher turnover as the market becomes more liquid. It will allow online trading, account registration, deposit of shares, withdrawal, transfer of shares clearing, settlements registration, handling of new and subsequent issues in secondary market relating to equity and debt. All these could be done almost seamlessly between units. He said the CDS Bill had taken long at cabinet level and expressed optimism that the legislature will pass the law faster. If the bill is passed by parliament, Uganda Securities Exchange will be the third to use electronic trading system in East Africa after Nairobi and Dar es Salaam stock exchanges. (Source: The Monitor) PC Sharing Gains Momentum in Kenyan officesSeveral years back, it was a privilege for employees to have their own computer in their work stations. Unfortunately most of them did not know how to fully make use of the machines. A new trend is catching on among some Kenyan firms in their bid to cut down on costs: sharing of the PC. Instead of a PC for every employee, a single PC is being used by up to 10 people. But what does this really mean for the company as well as the employees? "The concept of having shared PCs is definitely working well for the company, but employees are at a disadvantage," said John Munyiri, IT manager Dyer & Blair. Having been in operation for a year, Munyiri told the Business Daily that the stockbroking firm has been able to cut down on expenditure by 60 per cent by having a shared PCs. However, a major setback to the users is work interruption. Since several employees share the resource, if the machine goes down, all the users are affected. It may not be as dynamic for the users as they are not able to manage their own machine. Some users also complain that there is infringement on their privacy as other people are able to view their documents. However, this should not be case, according to George Njoroge, managing director East Africa Data Handlers, which supplies Windows PC Station, networking devices that use Windows over Internet Protocol to connect a host PC to serve 10 station users independently. "If every user has their own configured and independent profile, privacy is assured since the user can only access the network through their password," he said. The local supplier added that many users share the resources of the host computer, such as CPU, memory, hard disk, driver and each user can simultaneously share the resources of the host independently and securely. The operation is the same with that of host. The PC sharing concept can widely apply in an office with a large workforce, hospitals, call centres, training centre, as well as libraries. The Windows PC Station can incorporate as many as 32 users. "Think of the cost of 32 computers? If you were to buy each of the 32 computers at price x, think of the number of installations you have to install to have to configure the 32 computers, not counting antivirus protection and other technical support issues. Now that is the cost that you cut down," explained Njoroge. Another company that has recently implemented the concept is Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers. Explaining how the concept works, Ronald Simiyu, the IT manager said that one PC with 10 terminals attached on the network is used to serve 10 employees. The company has saved on cost of hardware by up to 40 per cent, instead of purchasing the 10 PCs, one machine can do. The PC multi user also shares the terminal with USB port and Touch screen port. Also the companies using this central PC system save on licensing costs as only one licence is required. "We have been able to save up to 80 per cent on the software since we do not need 10 licences for the 10 machines we used before switching to the sharing concept," said Simiyu. (Source: Business Daily) Computer Aid International Seeks Partnerships in UgandaUK charity Computer Aid International is looking for new distribution partners in Uganda. The hunt for new partners is driven by the ambition to build technical capacity in efforts aimed at strengthening ICT for development by helping bridge the digital divide. CAI supplies professionally refurbished computers to developing countries at a small fee. While most people and organisations would find it difficult to imagine how laborious it would be to record and analyse data if they didn't have access to a computer, there are people that cannot afford, not a single computer but the number of computers they need. It is also easy to take access to computers and the Internet for granted but in this new information age everybody needs the two. Until now, CAI has operated in Uganda with four partner NGOs. "We are constantly looking for new opportunities to work with local organisations looking to apply affordable ICTs to education and social development," Gladys Muhunyo, the Africa Programme Manager for CAI said. CAI works to help not-for-profit organisations that work especially in rural communities as well as those that are constrained by finances and cannot afford PCs to serve the communities they work with better. Muhunyo said CAI's role is to bridge the digital divide through development of distribution channel partners and leveraging their existing global partnerships. She said the activities of CAI aid implementation of the millennium development goals at the grassroots but also ensures the programmes to which ICT is implemented are sustainable. Lack of technical capacity by partners as well as the end users is usually a drawback and has often times led to the failure of promising development initiatives in especially disadvantaged and marginalised communities. Muhunyo was recently in Kampala to brief the media on the activities of CAI in Uganda, where so far some 4,000 PCs and laptops have been distributed to different institutions among them institutions of learning and health centres. In Uganda, PC penetration is very low with about 2 million PCs for a population of 28 million people. (Source: East African Business Week) In brief:- Ingram Micro South Africa has announced the signing of a distribution agreement with Microsoft South Africa, which sees the company gaining official OEM distribution status for the vendor's client operating systems, client-side applications and server solutions. - In Nigeria, Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) has donated a state of the art ICT centre to the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB). - To participate in the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) which allows students to work on projects for a number of mentoring organisation over their (Northern Hemisphere) summer holidays and get paid for the privilege contact translate.org.za , an mentoring organisation selected by GSoC. - CodeWeavers, developer of software that makes it possible to run Windows applications on Mac and Linux operating systems, yesterday announced CrossOver Games. Crossover Games is a tool allowing users to play Windows games on the platform and machine of their choice. - Adobe announced an online, free, version of its popular Photoshop application. The Flash-based Photoshop Express application is a stripped down version of Photoshop allowing users to manipulate and store their images online. And because Photoshop Express is Flash-based the application will run across most operating systems including Linux, Mac and Windows.
Private Investors Sign Up for Stake in TEAMS cable project in KenyaThe TEAMS shareholder stakes were announced publicly this week. The new shareholder agreement leaves Safaricom and the Government of Kenya as the anchor shareholders with a 20 per cent stake each in the project and Wananchi Telecom with 10 per cent. Kenya Data Network and Celtel jointly acquired a 10 per cent stake in the company while France Telecom and Econet Kenya have a 10 per cent share each. Jamii Telkom got four per cent although it had initially expressed interest in buying 3.75 per cent. Two firms, Gilat Satcom and Internet Research, a Ghanaian company, were knocked out of the ownership agreement for failing to meet the 20 per cent local representation requirement. Each had expressed an interest in acquiring a 1.25 per cent stake. The identity of two local companies that had expressed interest in the project remains unknown. The companies are, however, said to be associated with Brian Longwe, a Kenyan IT sector businessman. The signing of the shareholder pact, also known as an Escrow agreement comes after the Government signed an initial shareholder agreement with Etisalat of United Arab Emirates. The Government paid 12 per cent of its total 85 per cent ownership in the cable. Etisalat also made a down payment of $1.2 million to cover 12 per cent of its total 15 per cent ownership of the cable. These two payments gave Alcatel-Lucent the required funding to build the cable from Fujairah to the port of Mombasa . Manufacturing the cables was to begin on March 15, this year, but started three days later. Information ministry Permanent secretary, Bitange Ndemo, said Alcatel-Lucent has appointed a team to oversee construction. The timeline for the TEAMs project indicates that it should be ready by the second quarter of next year. Other than TEAMs, two other fibre optic cables, SEACOM and EASSy are competing to connect East Africa to the global network of highspeed internet. EASSy concluded financial closure in the last week of February having raised $248 million that enabled it to make a down payment to the contractor Alcatel-Lucent. According to the EASSy secretariat, the first phase of construction kicked off on March 14, this year and is expected to be ready in the first half of 2010. Jamii Telecom Limited, a subsidiary of the AdGroup of Companies' investment in TEAMS project is meant to complement its Metro Fiber Network whose construction began last year. Technology company AccessKenya has a 1.25 per cent stake in the project and aims at increasing its bandwidth capacity 10 times. Access Kenya is yet to disclose the amount of money it plans to pump into the project. So far Jamii has spent more than Sh500 million on the Nairobi Metro Fibre -- targeting a market that is currently dominated by Telkom Kenya and Kenya Data Networks (KDN) --and plans to spend additional Sh700 million in the network. (Source: Business Daily) Zinox to Acquire Three Local Firms in NigeriaShareholders of Zinox Technologies are injecting a total of 3.5 billion naira into the computer firm in a bid to take it to the next level as the number one technology company in Africa. Leo Stan Ekeh, the Chairman of Zinox Technologies in a chat with newsmen also disclosed that the firm is also to acquire three local computer firms, launch the largest Nigerian software company in 2009 and introduce an interest free computer ownership scheme in Nigeria and Africa that will help in digitalizing the country and Africa. Zinox technologies is owned by STAN Technologies of Nigeria, Mustek of South Africa, Kenya and Zambia’s No.1 brand MECER Computers and Alhaner Ventures of France, a telecom facility company with interesst in Europe and Africa Ekeh stated that the additional capital will help Zinox in its expansion drive. He disclosed that the Board resolved at its last meeting in late 2007 to inject this amount only from present shareholders to take Zinox to the next level as promised by the founding fathers of Zinox Technologies in 2001. Ekeh who disclosed that Zinox is expanding its office/support network to 20 by the end of the year, reiterated that the expansion programme is three fold. The first is to acquire majority shares in some local computer companies that will add value to its present network of branches both locally and internationally in order to serve customers better, reduce the total cost of ownership of ICT products and fast track the firm to its desired destination. Second is to deploy world class infrastructure that will sustain its position as the number one brand. At the moment, Zinox is building the largest computer assembly plant in the whole of Africa in Lagos, Nigeria . When completed, this plant will increase its output by over 500% . The third expansion programme will see Zinox to launching the largest software company in Africa in partnership with some Asian concerns before the end of 2009 or first quarter of 2010. He said that Zinox was set to launch an interest free computer ownership scheme for Nigerians. He added that ìafter the successful launch of Zinox Student Computer Ownership Project (ZSCOP) and the current Computer Discount scheme partly financed by a Nigerian philanthropist, a few foreign companies have approached Zinox to use it as a credible platform to test the reliability of the Nigerian consumer when it comes to paying for items bought on credit. (Source: This Day) Vodacom South Africa gets takeover nod for Global Telematics and Glocell dealsVodacom has won approval to acquire two small companies that distribute its airtime, despite initially being given a mauling by the Competition Tribunal for allegedly lying in its evidence. The tribunal has agreed to let Vodacom's Service Provider Company absorb Global Telematics and Glocell, and made no comment on previously lambasting Vodacom. The tribunal last week said Vodacom could acquire the operations that resell cellular services and products for its network, and said the reasons for the decision would be released soon . Vodacom's chief communications officer, Dot Field, said it "wishes to state that at no stage did it lie to the competition authorities ". The takeover drew flak from tribunal chairman David Lewis earlier this month, when he accused the operator of lying during the hearings. Vodacom said its R206m purchase of Global Telematics and Glocell would strengthen ties with its customers. But the tribunal suspected that Vodacom wanted to buy the businesses to eliminate competition and improve its profit margins . Lewis had also questioned the legitimacy of several previous deals where Vodacom ate up a succession of independent service providers, saying they might also have been approved "on the basis of equally false information and equally false rationale". Vodacom had absorbed four to six service providers in the past few years, representing 20% to 30% of all contract and prepaid airtime sales, he said. (Source: Business Day) Telkom Kenya Still Needs Million From Shareholders to Stem Cashflow ProblemsContinued Government funding for the newly privatised Telkom Kenya has stirred up controversy locally in a report in the East African. The company is expected to get a payment of US$92.41 million in three tranches between now and July this year. However, restructuring costs are only estimated at US$72.72 million. Telkom, now under the management of France Telecom subsidiary Orange East Africa SA, has asked its shareholders to pump a whopping Ksh6.1 billion ($92.42 million) into the company in the form of shareholder loans to deal with its cashflow problems. Last year, the French multinational paid the government $269 million for a 51 per cent stake in the largest telecommunications company in the country - and in the process took control by assuming five out of nine directorship slots and appointing a new chief executive, Dominique Saint-Jean. Billed as the most successful privatisation transaction in the country's history, the deal was touted by the government as marking the end of Telkom's dependence on the exchequer for funds. Expectations were high that the foreign investor would take advantage of the company's strong and clean balance sheet to raise capital and immediately roll out a massive expansion programme. Which is why the company's request to the state to pump more money into the former parastatal has confounded observers. The EastAfrican has learnt that Telkom has requested that the money be released in tranches - the first, an amount of Ksh4.3 billion ($65.15 million) by March this year; the second tranche, Ksh1.3 billion ($19.69 million), in May and the last, Ksh0.5 billion ($7.57 million) in July. The company is projecting a negative cashflow position from September this year. The single largest cash outflow within the current financial year is expected to be a Ksh4.8 billion ($72.72 million) payment on restructuring costs. Until recently the largest state-owned company in Kenya, Telkom's privatisation came at a high price to the government, characterised by very complex transactions involving multiple book entries. For instance, the Treasury had to actually pay Telkom for the 60 per cent shares it formerly owned in mobile phone company Safaricom. According to an agreement that the parties signed, the shares were transferred to the Treasury at a consideration of Ksh63 billion ($954.54 million). However, the Treasury did not actually pay Telkom Kenya the full amount for the Safaricom shares, because most of that money was offset by the monies Telkom owed the government. One of the debts that was offset was a sum of Ksh15 billion ($227.27 million) in tax arrears that Telkom owed the Kenya Revenue Authority. But the greatest proportion of the money was offsets made with respect to expensive foreign-exchange loans that the government paid off on behalf of Telkom Kenya several years ago. These were mainly supply credits tied to procurement of equipment from specific countries, these loans and credit facilities had been extended to Telkom Kenya and its precursor, the Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, by companies from Italy, Norway and Canada. Also offset was an amount of $33 million that the government advanced Telkom to enable it to pay for its part of Safaricom's licence fees. Under the agreement, the government was obliged to remit the sum of Ksh5.8 billion ($87.87 million) to Telkom to enable it to repay a loan it acquired from a syndicate of commercial banks last year and that was used in paying terminal dues of retrenched staff. The Treasury was also to pay Ksh8 billion ($121.21 million) to enable Telkom to cover a deficit in the employees pension scheme. The government also has to hand over a sum of $55 million to Telkom to allow it to pay the Communications Commission of Kenya for a mobile telephone licence. What this state of affairs shows is that the state is likely to continue playing a major role in the company. (Source: East African) In brief:- Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has concluded arrangements for the advertisement of Expressions of Interest (EoI) for the appointment of privatisation advisers for the commencement of the privatisation of Nitel and its mobile arm, Mtel. - Amos Kimunya, Kenya’s Minister of Finance has announced that the Government would not investigate the owners of Mobitelea, a minority shareholder in Safaricom, despite pressure to do so by the opposition party ODM and NGOs. - Celtel Nigeria is investing about USD1 billion this year for several projects to enhance capacity and improve service quality. - South Africa’s Blue Label Telecoms, the recently listed telecommunications company, is now being investigated by the JSE after director Selwyn Diamond sold shares without permission and without reporting the trades to the JSE. This was Blue Label's third known transgression of the JSE's listings requirements.
Web2.0 technology to help the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in LiberiaCreated in collaboration with Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia, the interactive site is the first of its kind for a truth commission. Its creators hope it will play a key part in Liberia's reconciliation process, bringing video footage of the TRC's work to Liberians around the world. "By hosting videos on our website, we hope to better engage Liberians at home and around the world in the work of the TRC" says TRC Chairman Jerome J. Verdier. TRC hearings are now in session, and are being uploaded to the website as quickly as possible given Liberia’s limited bandwidth. The TRC of Liberia is the first TRC to be mandated to reach out to the Diaspora. As such, the website will be a valuable tool in fulfilling their mandate. Another first for the TRC, is that the website accepts formal statements. The site also features discussion fora, spaces for user-submitted media, and up-to-date news and footage of the TRC's activities. The website was created by researchers from both the School of Interactive Computing and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech using web 2.0 technologies and leveraging web social networking trends. The design and layout of the content was also implemented to meet the TRC's goals. Researchers consulted focus groups of Liberians living in America and Liberia to assist in the design. Previous truth commissions have used their websites to simply host their final reports. The TRC of Liberia's website was designed from the ground up to be an integral part of the reconciliation process. As the site accepts sensitive statements, utmost effort was taken to ensure the security of the site. The statements are secured with 2048 bit encryption. Georgia Tech conducted a security audit on the website to ensure its security. The website also uses content management systems to allow TRC staff members to add news and press releases at any point in the reconciliation process. "Georgia Tech has brought cutting edge technology to enhance the TRC process." says TRC Executive Secretary,Nathaniel T. Kwabo. He told of the calls he receives from people overseas asking questions about the news on the site, saying, "That tells me people are engaged from abroad. They weren't before." To view the videos from the hearings go to: https://www.trcofliberia.org/memorials/video-galleries/pubilc-hearings Mobile marketing Innovations will drive Etisalat Nigeria’s 3G offerFarmed out License Holder, Etisalat Nigeria sure understands how to engage the subscribers in the 3G Era. During the launch of the Network last week in Lagos, the company spokesperson mentioned something significant. Etisalat will deploy innovative Mobile Services like the mobile cam. Mobile cam allows 3G subscribers to dial into a gadget at home or office and be able to take a quick look around the location and even record voices, writes Emmanuel Okoegwale. The significance of this is that while other operators in Nigeria are trying to sell 3G Services based on television services, the late entrant is looking at it from a strong compelling side, security. They keep stressing on TV while not offering a strong reason why subscribers will want to switch from their non-paying terrestrial TVor satellite Pay TV to get Mobile pay TV. Mobile operators are not even making a pretence about building contents around the ever popular and money spinning Nollywood. Two to five minutes mobisodes of Nigeria drama, musicals and comedy will be a huge hit in the 140 million fun loving Nigerian market but the operators are rather focused on full length sports and news channles.This does not come cheap for the average Nigerian whose ARPU is hovering around 10 dollars. Without a perfect understanding of the 3G Marketing, the Nigerian 3G Project might be heading for doom. The advantages of 3G is that it has a higher bit rate and operators can therefore deploy more data intensive applications. It allows for increased call volumes and support multimedia data applications, such as video and photography. The operators need to start thinking along the three spheres of 3G applications. First is the Business Sphere which allows for Mobile videophone, video conferencing, database management and informational services. Second area is the private sphere which allows karaoke on demand, music on demand, portable Television, interactive games and video on demand while third area is Business sphere. This allows traffic informational service, personal security, remote monitoring systems, Electronic newspapers, Home schooling systems and remote monitoring systems. Etisalat’s understanding of 3G marketing gives some hope and something to look forward to. At least in the Nigerian telecommunications market, there is clear differentiator. All the operators need to do is to see an operator launch a service and all others will follow suit.
People* Carel Potgieter, COO and executive director on GijimaAst's board, has resigned with immediate effect. Events* 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 * SATCOM AFRICA 2008 7-10 April 2008, Johannesburg, South Africa For further information visit their website at http://www.terrapinn.com/2008/satcomza/ * EURO-AFRICA ICT AWARENESS WORKSHOP Supporting sub-Saharan African organisations in FP7/ICT 16-17 April 2008, Peacock Hotel, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania For further information visiter their website at http://www.euroafrica-ict.org/awareness_workshops.html * 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 * AFRICA MOBILE MARKETING FORUM 23-24th April 2008, Lagos, Nigeria Up until recently the only mechanism for delivering advertising messages to mobile devices was via SMS and WAP Push. However, now that 3G phones, with their multimedia capabilities, are reaching critical mass, the opportunities for advertising and brand extension, primarily via mobile video, are greatly increased. For further information visit http://www.mobilemarketingafrica.com/ * VoIP WORLD AFRICA 12-15 May 2008, Johannesburg, South Africa The world of VoIP is rapidly changing - costs are coming down; more applications are coming into play and new forms of revenue generation are being exploited. For further information visit the website
* ITU TELECOM AFRICA 2008 12 - 15 May, Cairo, Egypt, Cairo International Convention and Exhibition Centre (CICC) Comprising a high-calibre Exhibition, a Forum and a whole lot more, ITU TELECOM AFRICA 2008 will provide a major networking platform for Africa's top ICT names to come together to focus on the core issues relating to ICT expansion across the region. For further information visit http://www.itu.int/AFRICA2008/?050707 * ITU REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FORUM 2008 "Bridging the ICT standardization gap in developing countries" for the African Region 26-28 May 2008, Accra, Ghana The Forums are intended for executives from National Regulatory Bodies, Telecommunication Operators and Service Providers in the regions who need to be kept abreast of the latest development in telecommunications and who need to be familiar with the future challenges ITU is facing and, therefore, be able to draw up strategies to achieve greater participation in ITU activities, in particular ITU Study Group activities. For further information visit http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/tech/indexDevelopmentForum.html * TELECOMS FRAUD AFRICA 2008 26-29 May 2008, Cape Town, South Africa IIR's Telecoms Fraud Africa conference 2008 brings you case studies, networking, advice and analysis from expects in detecting and managing telecoms fraud. With special attention to roaming frauds and internal frauds, operational issues and the impact of new technologies. For more information please visit, http://www.iir-events.com/IIR-Conf/page.aspx?id=11306 * 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 * FRAUD PREVENTION AND REVENUE ASSURANCE MEA 1-2 July 2008,Dubai UAE ViB events’ Fraud Prevention and Revenue Assurance MENA will bring together telecoms operators and industry experts to discuss the critical issues, which are faced by revenue assurance and fraud personnel today. For further information visit website
* UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGY FOR SOCIAL IMPACT August 2008, Johannesburg, South Africa The fourth annual SANGONeT “ICTs for Civil Society” conference and exhibition will be held in August 2008 in Johannesburg. This year’s event will be co-hosted with MobileActive.org and branded as “MobileActive08”. For further information visit www.sangonet.org.za Jobs and Opportunities* e-Community Building Coordinator SANGONeT is looking for an e-Community Building Coordinator for its various online content projects, including the SANGONeT NGO and Development Information Portal (http://www.sangonet.org.za) and Citizen Journalism in Africa (http://www.citizenjournalismafrica.org). Please e-mail your application letter, curriculum vitae and supporting documents to info@sangonet.org.za. Contracts* MTN and Cambridge Broadband Networks - Nigeria MTN Nigeria has awarded a significant contract that will deploy its VectaStar microwave backhaul product in the country to Cambridge Broadband Networks. During the deployment in Nigeria, 40 VectaStar hubs would be installed to backhaul traffic from 454 3G base stations. * KDN and Alvarion – Kenya Alvarion has announced that Kenya Data Networks (KDN), plans to expand its WiMAX network. An integral part of the current KDN Butterfly network, Alvarion's BreezeMAX is expected to enable KDN to offer voice and data services to seven additional cities across Kenya. * Wana and Alcatel-Lucent - Morocco Alcatel-Lucent has signed a two-year EUR24 million frame agreement with Moroccan operator Wana to expand and upgrade its fixed-wireless network. * mCel and Ericsson - Mozambique mCel has selected Ericsson for the expansion and upgrade of its Mobile Packet Backbone Network solution (Mobile-PBN). The deal will boost network capacity and manage increased traffic growth at Mozambique’s largest mobile operator by subscribers. * Uunet and and Redline Communications - Kenya Regional business communications provider UUNET Kenya has inked a deal with Redline Communications for the provision of a national WiMAX network. The telco will extend its ‘Beyond Broadband’ network to serve corporate customers in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu in 2008.
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