Ethiopia: Paving the Way for Dubai 2020 Expo

Dubai has been climbing the ladder of economic prosperity during the past thirty or so years. Recently a small city in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) , Dubai, has secured the opportunity to host the upcoming World Expo in 2020.

In relation to the 2020 Expo, and eying more business ties, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry is joining hands to promote the expo. Last week, Hassan Al Hashemi, vice president of international relations for the chamber, was in Addis Ababa to confer with the East and Southern African countries' diplomats. In addition to improving business ties with the region, he has a mission to prepare Africa for the Dubai expo.

On that occasion, Al Hashemi sat down with Birhanu Fikade of The Reporter to discuss Dubai business community's interest in Ethiopia and its challenges. Excerpts: The Reporter: I understand that you [members of the Dubai Business community] are showing interest in Ethiopia's banking and telecom sectors. Did you approach the government in this respect?

Hassan Al Hashemi: What we have been hearing from the business community in Dubai is that there is a lot of potential in Ethiopia. Surely, we can bring a lot of know-how to these sectors that you mentioned. But the banking sector needs to be opened to foreign investors. It's an important sector. I know from our members that they are very much interested to be able to set up representations in the banking industry. I know the telecommunication sector as well interests them . Our major telecom operator, Etisalat, is very much interested in the Ethiopian market. We understand the policy of the government; and we respect it. According to the our member businesses, there is a lot to improve in those industries like the retail trade, telecommunication, and banking. More specifically, Islamic banking modality is very important to the market.

source: www.allafrica.com

ZICTA threatens operators with more criminal proceedings over QoS

The Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) has threatened continued criminal proceedings against mobile operators if they fail to improve their services.

ZICTA has already sued the operators to seek remedial measures relating to the enforcement of quality service pursuant to Zambia’s Information and Communication Technology law of 2009. According to ZICTA, the law gives it powers to protect the rights and interests of customers where they are being exploited.

ZICTA says the provision of poor services by the operators were criminal in nature because subscribers are being exploited.

The organisation said it has handled over the docket it opened in July this year to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for perusal and further instructions before the matter goes to court.

ZICTA accuses the three operators, MTN Zamtel and Airtel of failing to meet the minimum standards of quality of service.

source: www.biztechafrica.com

Mainframes: underpinning the cloud

Contrary to some beliefs that the cloud will replace the mainframe, IBM Solutions Sales Manager  Satish Babu points out that the mainframe supports cloud.

“There is a misconception that the cloud computing environment excludes mainframes, and legacy systems. On the contrary, the mainframe was introduced to serve as the most robust, scaleable system ever. Now, coupled with new open standards interfaces, we can take the strengths of the mainframe into the new world.”

“The mainframe is no dinosaur, and it’s not going away. In fact, uptake is increasing globally and the mainframe is more flexible than ever before, while its robustness, availability and reliability are improved year on year. The mainframe is only a legacy system if it is not being used effectively. Where industry is innovating on the mainframe, its strengths enable new technologies,” he says.

Babu says cloud is a construct in which infrastructure and software come into play in a virtualised environment, and the mainframe is an infrastructure element of the overall construct. “So they are not two different worlds,” he points out.  He notes that as the enterprise IT environment becomes increasingly complex, IT looks to move a dispersed computing environment back to a consolidated, single system of records, shared across geographical areas and devices for a lower total cost of ownership.  “You still need a mainframe, and it becomes a very viable infrastructure from which to deploy cloud services

source:www.biztechafrica.com

Swiss Firm in Zim Solar Joint Venture

LOCAL firm Oxygen Africa and Swiss-based Meeco Invest AG have announced a partnership deal to bring solar power boost to the country's struggling energy sector.

Zimbabwe has been reeling under a decade-long power crisis that has seen supplies being rationed to both domestic and commercial users, hitting efforts to fire an economy battling to recover from a crippling recession.

The new joint-venture company, Oursun Energy, is fronted locally by top Harare lawyer Honour Mkushi, and Simbarashe Mhuriro will seek to develop new solar business in the country.

The new company will use the Meeco Group's already established products to assist farmers in a country whose economy is agro-anchored.

"Oursun Energy will focus on supporting the agriculture, manufacturing, mining, telecom, and tourism industries with its world-class turnkey solutions provided by The Meeco Group for rural areas or telecommunication companies," Oursun said in a statement.

"The core activities of Oursun Energy will be the construction of solar energy production facilities and the development of public-private partnership structures to build solar farms ranging from 10Mw to 100Mw," Oursun said.

The company added: "Oxygen Africa will support the Joint Venture with its well-established network in the Zimbabwean industry as well as its good contacts to neighbouring countries whereas The Meeco Group will bring it its huge experience in the development and realization of renewable energy projects".

source: www.allafrica.com

Digital pen reports disease outbreaks in seconds

Livestock farmers in Kenya are sighing with relief after introduction of a digital pen technology used by veterinary officers to immediately report to the capital about any disease outbreak.

The innovative tool which reports about an outbreak to the capital in ten seconds is aimed at curbing the losses of millions of shillings worth of livestock, which can occur when lengthy manual reporting processes make it difficult to contain an outbreak on time.

After witnessing farmers lose the source of their livelihoods to deadly notifiable diseases that could be contained on time if the detection was reported timeously, stakeholders in the veterinary sector set out on a mission to cub these misfortunes.

Dr. Kahariri Samuel, one of the brains behind the innovation noted: “Time is everything when it comes to curbing of deadly diseases like Rift Valley fever or Anthrax and therefore the faster a disease is detected and reported, then the less it may spread hence less economic losses.” He added that initially they were relying on paper and pen which not only took long to reach the capital but was also tedious as the officers at the grassroots had to make several copies and rounds of visits from rural areas to Nairobi to deliver the reports a process that took over three weeks.

The old trend has greatly been revolutionised with the Digital Pen Technology which reports about an outbreak to the capital in the shortest time span. The technology entails use of a digital pen, digital paper and an internet enabled phone. The digital paper has commands that are interlinked with the pen. It has a start and end command boxes. When one ticks the start box then the Bluetooth in the pen is activated and the pen will note anything that will be written on the paper using the camera on it and when the end box is clicked then the information is automatically stored in the pen’s memory chip.  The veterinary officer just writes on the digital pare normally and then the details are recorded simultaneously by the camera on the pen to the memory chip

source: www.biztechafrica.com

Network Cabling Services Telecom used by NSA in Spying

Spiegel quoted NSA papers dating from February and labelled “top secret” and “not for foreigners” describing the agency’s success in spying on the so-called Sea-Me-We 4 undersea telecommunication cable system.

According to the website of the project Sea-Me-We 4 “the South East Asia-Middle East-West Europe 4 project is a next generation submarine cable system linking South East Asia to Europe via the Indian Sub-Continent and Middle East.

NSA terms this “interdiction.” Agents divert shipments to secret warehouses, carefully open the packages, install the software and/or hardware, and send them on their way.

The project aims to take these regions to the forefront of global communication by significantly increasing the bandwidth and global connectivity of users along its route between Singapore and France.” says report.

The massive bundle of fibre optic cables originates near the southern French city of Marseille and links Europe with north Africa and the Gulf states, continuing through Pakistan and India to Malaysia and Thailand.

Former CIA Edward Snowden’s documents have uncovered a secret NSA hacking unit which delivered the US some of its most significant intelligence information in recent years

source: www.freedistrict.com

Vodacom introduces SaaS in Nigeria

Vodacom Business Nigeria has announced its Software as a Solution (SaaS) offering, an enterprise-class IT solution for all businesses that enables businesses to lower the operating cost (Opex) while maintaining office communication software and focusing on growing businesses. 

According to the technology firm, SaaS is an effective hosted information management solution that is scalable, easy to deploy and manage, adding that businesses could collaborate real-time with up-to-date solutions spanning across the full range of any business function. This solution includes Hosted Exchange, Hosted Lync and Hosted SharePoint.

Vodacom Nigeria’s Portfolio Manager Mr. Abu Etu said Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria can now benefit from improved efficiency and productivity through collaboration, remotely, on-site or on-the-move while enjoying significant cost savings.  “We will provide and manage the software, renew licenses, do the upgrades and ensure full security of our customer’s data. Customers simply lease it from us at an affordable monthly or yearly fee as it suits them,” he said.

The solution also allows for better resource allocation as firms no longer need dedicated resources for network and software management – everything is supported by service offered by Vodacom Business Nigeria. “It is a commendable innovation from Vodacom as it enables a self- service platform where Hosted Exchange, Hosted Lync and Hosted 

source: www.biztechafrica.com

DDB wins Best Creative Agency of the Year

It was a day of pomp and glitz as key players in the different industries, such as MTN, Firstbank, Nokia, Guinness, their advertising agencies, brand icons and leading journalists, came together to acknowledge and reward excellence at the 3rd edition of Marketing World Awards which took place at the resplendent Intercontinental Hotel earlier this November.

DDB Lagos topped the list of awardees, walking away with Best Creative Agency of the Year which once again demonstrated how the craftsmen and wordsmiths at the Nigerian office of DDB are dedicated to towing the line of creativity and being enemies of the ordinary.

It was especially a big celebration for DDB Lagos as MTN received the largest number of Awards beginning with the Marketing Campaign of the Year Award for the Mobile Number Portability advertising campaign masterpiece, ‘I don Port’, featuring leading actor and comedian, Hafiz Oyetoro, a.k.a. Saka. Other awards comprised of Telecom Brand of the Year Award, Overall Marketing World Brand of the Year Award and Marketing Team of the Year Award.

Still on the local scene, during the 9th edition of the annual Nigerian Telecom Awards, creative powerhouse DDB Lagos once again carted away both the Best Telecom Advertising Agency of the Year and The Best Telecom Advert of the Year for the same I don Port campaign.

It comes as no surprise that DDB Lagos picked the most coveted advertising awards at both award ceremonies, going by its profile as Nigeria’s leading telecoms marketing company and a reputation for creative excellence nurtured over 26 years. DDB Lagos has created several award-winning campaigns for Nigeria’s leading telecoms company, MTN, whose advertising account it has held since 2006, a record in itself.

The I don Port campaign, following with which the agency emerged a force in telecoms advertising across Africa, is arguably Nigeria’s most sensational advertising campaign, with over 100,000 hits on YouTube after just one week of its release. It equally generated an unprecedented amount of debate and discourse in the media, as well as mock videos on the internet. The campaign is now being used as a case study at the School of Marketing Communications of the Pan African University, Lagos.

source: www.businessdayonline.com

surprising as the metaphorsis of the Flores-born San Lorenzo fan Jorge Bergoglio into Pope Francis, supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church

Against most expectations, the big news buzz from this week is not the fallout from the October 27 midterm elections (a wholly predictable government defeat) but the Supreme Court decision two days later ruling the 2009 Broadcasting Law constitutional by a 6-1 vote — a clear defeat for the Clarín Group, which can nevertheless contest each subsequent step while the Supreme Court pointedly calls for a more independent AFSCA media watchdog. Meanwhile the bottom line of the midterm elections is a massive two-thirds protest vote against a government which paradoxically emerges with a working majority in both Houses of Congress. The elections themselves are basically a PASO rerun although with CFK absent this time and certain differences in the results — thus the Victory Front fares much better in Córdoba and much worse in Buenos Aires province, losing by over 11 percent. Massa’s win there is massive — the Victory Front can only hold four of the 24 Greater Buenos Aires districts, almost losing La Matanza. Elsewhere, Macri, Socialist Hermes Binner in Santa Fe and Radical Julio Cobos emerge as potential presidential candidates on a par with Massa — the FAP Broad Progressive Front alliance of the latter pair are runner-ups to the Victory Front third of the vote nationwide with 21 percent. UNEN’s Solanas shuts out the Victory Front in this city from the Senate by beating Daniel Filmus behind PRO. Boudou’s turn to claim victory on the night but greater moderation in CFK’s absence does not produce much better results.

W45 — Just as the government has now accepted its defeat in a more institutional atmosphere, so the Clarín Group heeds the Media Law by subdividing itself into six. A big player in this is Mexico’s Fintech (with a foot in both camps as a Clarín partner with strong government ties), to whom Telecom Italia is now sold. Yet Rossi announces the discovery of military dictatorship material on Papel Prensa which could be potentially used to revive the feud with Clarín. “N8” saucepan-bashing proves something of a fiasco since protest has already been expressed electorally — will it be the last in the series? Central Bank reserve losses hit 10 billion dollars for the year.

source: www.http://buenosairesherald.com.com

BBM to be preinstalled on LG smartphones

BBM will soon come preinstalled on the LG G Pro Lite from LG Electronics Inc. in markets around the world. BlackBerry announced a bundling agreement with LG Electronics involving both standard and virtual preloading (using the LG App Manager) and confirmed that BBM will also continue to be available as a free download from Android app stores, including Google Play.

“BBM is widely used throughout the Middle East, Africa and Indonesia where smartphone users tend to engage heavily in social networking,” said Kevin Shin, Vice President of Marketing for Asia, the Middle East and CIS countries of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “The LG G Pro Lite offers an optimized BBM experience with its large, high quality display and embedded Stylus Pen.”

“People across the globe are using BBM to connect with each other and the enthusiasm has been phenomenal,” said Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President for BBM at BlackBerry. “We’re extremely pleased that LG Electronics will help bring their customers a more seamless experience with BBM by preloading the app, starting with the G Pro Lite in key markets.”

BBM is a premier mobile communication service that gives customers privacy, control and immediacy as they chat with their contacts – either one-to-one, in multiple chats or as part of a BBM Group. BBM’s Delivered and Read statuses, as well as message-in-progress notices, keep people engaged and active in their conversations. 

BBM lets users share files such as photos and voice notes, as well as update their profile and status with ease. Up to 30 people can connect as a BBM Group to chat and share photos, calendars and other files or documents.

source: www.biztechafrica.com

The Asia-Africa Link Is IT

Only 16 percent of Africa’s population of over a billion is online. But as Internet and mobile phone connectivity grows rapidly, the continent wants to join forces with Asian powerhouses to change its digital landscape.

While offering its vast market, Africa hopes to leverage Asia’s information and communication technology (ICT) prowess to develop sectors as diverse as banking, telemedicine, education and cyber security.

“There is a lot of opportunity for collaboration,” says Safroadu Yeboah-Amankwah, director and leader, McKinsey’s Business Technology Practice, South Africa.

Ghanaian engineer-turned-telecom strategist told IPS.

He was here to attend Telecom World 2013 organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) last month.

A large contingent of African countries led by Nigeria mounted a big roadshow at the event, both to display their growing mobile and broadband communication-oriented economies and to attract Asian investment.

“North America, to be honest, is not relevant to our markets. There are very interesting opportunities in terms of South-South collaboration, especially around banking, education and so forth, where collaborations will allow for bigger markets and therefore more innovation availability,” Yeboah-Amankwah said.

“Larger Asian and African e-commerce players could collaborate to make the opportunities even bigger. For us, integration between large African and Asian players is an exciting idea,” he added.

According to ITU statistics, more than 720 million Africans have mobile phones and some 167 million already use the Internet. And the figures are rising fast as mobile networks are built up and the cost of Internet-enabled devices falls.

But Asia is far ahead. Comparative figures show that a total of 3.5 billion out of the global 6.8 billion mobile subscriptions are from the Asia-Pacific region.

source: www.ipsnews.net

Kenyan developer wins Appstar challenge

The winners of the 2013 Vodafone Safaricom Appstar challenge have been announced.

Kenyan app Automs.gs has won the 2013 Appstar Challenge - a partnership between Safaricom and Vodafone designed to give support mobile app developers in emerging markets. At the finals in Nairobi yesterday, Bernard Mukangu's Automs.gs was named the overall winner. Automs.gs is an SMS scheduler app that allows the automatic sending of personalized text messages on pre-scheduled dates.

India’s Kunal Mahajan’s Matchbox puzzle game app was the runner up, while South Africa’s Lynette Huundermark took third place with the GoMetro commuter information app.

A total of 2,200 apps developers registered for this year’s Appstar challenge and eight developers from Kenya, India, South Africa and Tanzania reached the finals to compete for cash prizes valued at USD 22,000.

“The idea to come up with Automs.gs was born when I forgot to send my girlfriend a message to wish her a happy birthday and as a result she was very cross with me. From that day I purposed to develop an application that would ensure that I would never forget important events in the lives of those I care about both at a personal and professional level,” said Mukangu after being named the grand winner of the 2013 Appstar Challenge.

Mukangu started his career at Nairobits incubation hub in South B, where youth from informal settlements are given a chance to study mobile Apps development for free.

“The best innovators are not people who create things because they are smart. Truly innovative people are those who try to find a way of addressing current unsolved problems, unmet needs and unresolved inadequacies in the societies they live in. They understand that every problem or challenge in the society is in fact an opportunity,” said Bob Collymore, CEO Safaricom Limited.

source: www.biztechafrica.com

Questions over Ghana journalists’ laptops

The Ghana Journalists’ Association is in the news again and unfortunately this time, it is for the wrong reasons. The Association is to respond to a charge brought against it by the Media Foundation of West Africa, on how it distributed one hundred laptops purchased with funds from the Government Media Development Fund.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is accusing the journalists group in the country of misappropriating funds set up by the government to assist the development of Ghanaian journalists, thereby leading a campaign to locate the whereabouts of the Funds.

A little bit of survey conducted by Biztechafrica among journalists working in both radio and the print media in Accra reveals that not a single journalist who belong to the journalists association has received a lap top computer as claimed by the president of the Ghana Journalists' Association.

On Wednesday legislatures on the floor parliament questioned the Minister of Information and Media Relations, Mahama Ayariga on the use of funds pledged by the government in 2011 to help the Ghanaian media; they wanted to know how the funds were disbursed.

But the Minister in answering a question said the government was still liaising with the various stakeholders to find the right modalities to disburse the fund. He then disclosed that the leadership of GJA met the government and requested for the laptops as one of their pressing needs.

source: www.biztechafrica.com

Samsung KNOX offers enterprise customers secure Android platform

Samsung Electronics South Africa, a leader in digital media and convergence technologies, is pleased to announce the launch of the Samsung KNOX Partner Programme, designed for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), distributors and resellers to meet the unique needs in developing secure, innovative solutions for enterprises.

Samsung launched KNOX in Barcelona earlier this year as an enterprise-ready Secure Android Platform, powering new Samsung GALAXY devices. KNOX is designed to systematically fortify Android by leveraging the hardware and provide the highest level of security. KNOX resolves the two major enterprise mobility concerns for customers namely security and manageability, in addition to addressing the requirement to seamlessly separate work and play.

The Samsung KNOX Partner Programme creates vast opportunities for distributors, resellers and ISVs to deliver sustained value to their customers.

“The local availability of the Samsung KNOX Partner Programme will offer great benefits to enterprise customers. With the introduction of Samsung KNOX, Android devices can now be deployed for enterprise usage, ensuring the highest level of platform security and information protection,” said Paulo Ferreira, Head of Enterprise Mobility, Samsung South Africa.

The programme offers the following key benefits to resellers, carriers and mobile device managers (MDMs) :

• Quick and easy ramp to sales via a Partner Portal with assets, resources and training that allows partners to be up, running and selling to support Samsung devices; 
• Deal registration and quick trial programmes for customers to enhance margins and protect market development for the partners registering deals;
• Broad support for many MDMs allowing resellers to partner and sell either a holistic device solution for the enterprise that today does not have an MDM installed, or support for what is already installed;
• Enhanced support options allow partners to sign up, to take first line or first and second line of support;

source: www.biztechafrica.com

Samsung Ghana launches festive promotion

Samsung Ghana has announced one of its loyalty promotions to reward customers this festive season.

The nationwide promotion will reward 50 lucky winners each week with Samsung’s range of consumer electronics, Smartphones and an all expenses paid trip to South Africa, for 6 lucky monthly winners.

Speaking on the rationale behind the promotion, the Business Leader for Handheld Products at Samsung Electronics West Africa, Jaspreet Singh said: “At Samsung we don’t just create innovative products; we create platforms to enable people to express themselves through our cutting edge technology and products,

“We believe this new campaign will strengthen our commitment to give back to Ghanaians and to express our gratitude to our cherished customers as we reward them with exciting prizes each week, including an all expense paid trip to South Africa to give them a perfect holiday experience.”

Jaspreet added: “The next few weeks will see exciting Samsung products such as LED TVs, Home Theatres, Galaxy Tabs and more fantastic prizes being won every week. There will be two monthly draws which will reward 6 lucky winners in with 3 being rewarded each month. The 6 grand draw winners would go ahead to grab the ultimate prize to enjoy the perfect holiday through an all expense trip to South Africa.”

Jaspreet further called on all Ghanaians to make Samsung apart of their holiday with Samsung’s array of smart innovative phones. He also thanked Ghanaians for their support and loyalty throughout the entire year and wished them a happy holiday.

source: www.biztechafrica.com

Kenyan developer wins Appstar challenge

The winners of the 2013 Vodafone Safaricom Appstar challenge have been announced.

Kenyan app Automs.gs has won the 2013 Appstar Challenge - a partnership between Safaricom and Vodafone designed to give support mobile app developers in emerging markets. At the finals in Nairobi yesterday, Bernard Mukangu's Automs.gs was named the overall winner. Automs.gs is an SMS scheduler app that allows the automatic sending of personalized text messages on pre-scheduled dates.

India’s Kunal Mahajan’s Matchbox puzzle game app was the runner up, while South Africa’s Lynette Huundermark took third place with the GoMetro commuter information app.

A total of 2,200 apps developers registered for this year’s Appstar challenge and eight developers from Kenya, India, South Africa and Tanzania reached the finals to compete for cash prizes valued at USD 22,000.

“The idea to come up with Automs.gs was born when I forgot to send my girlfriend a message to wish her a happy birthday and as a result she was very cross with me. From that day I purposed to develop an application that would ensure that I would never forget important events in the lives of those I care about both at a personal and professional level,” said Mukangu after being named the grand winner of the 2013 Appstar Challenge.

Mukangu started his career at Nairobits incubation hub in South B, where youth from informal settlements are given a chance to study mobile Apps development for free.

“The best innovators are not people who create things because they are smart. Truly innovative people are those who try to find a way of addressing current unsolved problems, unmet needs and unresolved inadequacies in the societies they live in. They understand that every problem or challenge in the society is in fact an opportunity,” said Bob Collymore, CEO Safaricom Limited.

source: www.biztechafrica.com

African Tech Deal of the Year

Nokia shareholders in November voted in favour of the sale of the company’s devices and services section to Microsoft, at a price tag of US$7.36 billion.  Microsoft is also granted a 10 year non-exclusive licence to Nokia’s patents. The sale is likely to conclude in early 2014 – currently awaiting regulatory approvals – with approximately 32,000 Nokia employees expected to transfer to Microsoft. The deal sees the Windows Phone platform united with its biggest hardware supplier, and paves the way for Windows Phone/Nokia devices to take over the African market, in which Nokia handsets have proven popular to date. With the Windows Phone platform already being touted as a favourable solution for African markets – under Microsoft’s 4Afrika initiative – and Nokia producing a range of low-cost smartphones suited to lower-income environments, the deal sees the beginning of a potential African market titan.

Richard Cutcher: As news broke that MTN had invested US$75 million in Amadeus Capital Partners, a technology fund targeting emerging markets, at first it appeared Africa’s best-known telecommunications brand was giving something back to the industry it profits so immensely from. However, after interviewing the managers of the fund, HumanIPO established MTN is more interested in taking advantage of the growing mobile sector by boosting foreign ventures to serve the African industry rather than any of the continent’s talented developers and entrepreneurs. As a single indicator of the stupidity surrounding moneymen of African telecommunications, this was surely the ‘African’ tech deal of the year.

source:www.humanipo.com

Airtel Malawi establishes new data centre

One of Malawi’s two mobile phone service companies, Airtel Malawi has unveiled a new data centre in Malawi’s commercial capital, Blantyre which double Airtel’s capacity, thereby enabling the company to host additional ICT infrastructure.

Airtel Malawi Managing Director Saulos Chilima disclosed that his company has injected over US$1 million into the project which will support customers’ growing business needs.

“The data centre will enable Airtel Malawi provide first class data services to customers as it will help eliminate congestion on the systems and ensure systems stability,” declared Chilima who presided over its Commissioning.

Following the launch of the new data centre, Chilima said Airtel Malawi will now unveil cloud computing systems in the next few weeks.

“As a result of the project’s investment, it is expected that Airtel will improve stability of the systems, increase the service offerings and respond to customer’s needs more favourably,” said Chilima.

He explained that cloud computing is an overarching term which defines the myriad tools that enable idea-sharing, non-hierarchical decision making and the full utilisation of the world’s massive ‘cognitive surplus’ the ability of the world’s population to collaborate on large, sometimes global projects.

source: www.biztechafrica.com

Ghana mobile payment system to connect all banks

It will be possible for all bank customers to make payments from their mobile phone from  next year, the Chief The Executive of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), Mr Archie Hesse, says this follows the development of a gh-link mobile payment system by GhIPSS in collaboration with e-transact.

The gh-link platform introduced by GhIPSS interconnects all the banks and therefore any service available on the electronic platform will be available to the banks.

Currently a few banks have introduced the mobile phone payment system, but with the gh-link platform, all other banks will be able to provide the service.

The mobile phone payment systems will link customers phones to their bank accounts and enable them to make payments from their mobile phones.

The payment system is intended to create more convenience for bank customers and encourage more people to keep bank accounts.

Mr Hesse explained that the system has already been developed and would be tested early next year before it will go live.

He said the introduction of the gh-link mobile was part of GhIPSS mandate to transform Ghana into an electronic payment society that will make payments and banking in general pleasurable and convenient for the customer while reducing the cost of operation for banks.

Currently local ATM cards can be used in virtually any ATM, following the introduction of the gh-link ATM.

source: www.biztechafrica.com

Ethiopian Inquiry Reveals Illegal imports and Corruption in Huawei Deal

Government investigators say Huawei Technologies illegally imported $13 million worth of telecom equipment into Ethiopia, adding to the number of cases involving allegedly corrupt activities by Chinese telecom companies in Africa.

According to the Computer World section of the IDG news Service, the equipment was allegedly imported into the country in the name of Ethio Telecom, a state-owned telecom company, without Ethio’s knowledge, according to the Ethiopia Revenue & Customs Authority (ERCA). This was done to avoid paying taxes, ERCA said.

ERCA has said it will confiscate the equipment and is likely to slap the company with tax avoidance charges. The equipment has been stuck at the country’s port since last year.

Ethio Telecom signed an $800 million telecom equipment deal with Huawei and another $800 million contract with China-based ZTE to expand its mobile phone network only around five months ago. The equipment under investigation, however, was imported into the country toward the end of last year.

Questions are being asked regarding the timing of the imports. Industry are asking how Huawei Technologies knew it should start importing the equipment about nine months before the Ethio tender was actually awarded to the company.

Huawei declined to comment on the matter.

Huawei imported a total of 235 items including energy storage units, various types of batteries and microwave telecom communication products. Ethio has told ERCA that it never told Huawei Technologies to import any telecom equipment on its behalf.

source: www.zegabi.com

VMware announces general availability of latest VMware cloud management solutions

VMware, the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, has announced the general availability of new and updated offerings to the industry’s leading portfolio of management solutions purpose-built for the cloud era. These solutions – VMware vCloud Automation Center 6.0, VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite 5.8 and VMware IT Business Management Suite – were unveiled earlier this year by VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger in his keynote at VMworld 2013 Europe. In addition, VMware today announced that it has updated the automation and management capabilities of VMware vCloud Suite 5.5.

“Providing cloud management solutions that simplify and automate how IT is managed is key to helping our customers on their journey to deliver IT-as-a-Service,” said Ian Jansen Van Rensburg, senior systems engineering manager at VMware. Southern Africa “With the availability of new products and enhancements across our management portfolio, customers can take advantage of the business opportunities that exist whether it’s increasing business agility, enabling cost transparency of IT services or expanding to the hybrid cloud.”

Today, VMware extends the business and IT benefits delivered by management solutions purpose designed for dynamic virtualized and cloud environments with a new offering, as well as significant enhancements to its product portfolio, including:

VMware vCloud Automation Center 6.0 offers a self-service catalogue for requesting and managing all types of IT services across multiple clouds and platforms to provide customers with on-demand access to any service and reducing time to value. Additionally, the product enables rapid application delivery, including application release automation and support for DevOps automation tools, through the incorporation of VMware vCloud Application Director.

source: www.biztechafrica.com

Ghana, SA sign cooperation agreements

Ghana and South Africa have signed Memoranda of Understanding as part of President Jacob Zuma's three-day state visit to Ghana.
   
The Ghana government reports that the agreements included cooperation on Air Service and Transport which was signed by Mrs Dzifa Attivor, Minister for Transport and Mrs Dipuo Peters, South African Minister of Transport. 
   
The agreement on Electricity and Energy was signed by Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah and Mr Ben Martins, Ministers for Energy for Ghana and South Africa respectively.
     
In a media briefing, President Mahama said he and his South African counterpart had held meetings that bordered on peace and security on the entire African continent and commended President Zuma for his role in ensuring peace and security in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, as well as Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.
   
President Mahama said South Africa had the biggest economy in Africa, and that there was the need to cooperate with it to share knowledge and experiences. He said Ghana had a comparative advantage in the production of energy for both domestic consumption and export and would therefore continue to partner others to achieve their energy goals.
   
President Mahama said Ghana was expected to meet its energy production target of 5,000 megawatts and would therefore step up its export to neighbouring countries such as Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

source: www.biztechafrica.com

Eco cash to offer lending

EcoCashSave account holders will soon be able to also borrow money just like ordinary bank account holders. This is part of what will be called EcoCashCredit that Econet is planning to roll out early in the new year.

Econet Wireless CEO, Douglas Mboweni, confirmed that a scheme is being developed whereby people can also borrow money from EcoCash.

He said the borrowing will be done through partner banks, including Steward Bank.

He said lending was a natural next step, adding that the plan was to lend for uses such school fees, right up to housing loans. He said more details would be released in the new year.

Meanwhile, Mr Mboweni confirmed that the number of bank accounts held by Steward Bank on behalf of EcoCashSave now surpassed those held by all the banks put together. “We have more than 900,000 account holders, compared to 850,000 for all the banks,

source: www.biztechafrica.com

Africa to attract more ICT investment in 2014, IDC says

Investments in ICT are expect to increase in 20144 in Africa as both public and private spending rises and local content businesses partner with larger operators and tech companies, according to IDC.

Adoption of data analytics and cloud services is expected to be a main driver of growth on the continent, IDC said in a year-end report.

"In the year ahead, business models based on mobility, internet and cloud will grow quickly but local constraints will cause this to be in fits and starts and regional pockets; the most important events in 2014 will continue to cluster around growth and innovation, built on mobile devices, cloud services, social technologies and Big Data analytics," IDC said.

Africa has had massive growth in mobile phone usage and IDC expects mobile technologies to catalyze investment, with mobile enterprise applications a leading priority.

Governments will also invest in fiber-optic cables, public services, content and governance and compliance oversight to ensure the security of transactions online.

Countries such as Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Africa and Nigeria, in cooperation with international developmental agencies, academia and ICT vendors, have made considerable investments in ICT infrastructure and IDC expects this to benefit local startups that have had problems sustaining and running successful businesses.

One mega project is the $14 billion Konza City initiative in Kenya, expected to drive local and international ICT business in East Africa. There are other smaller projects in other countries including Rwanda, Botswana, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast, that IDC expects to gain traction in 2014.

source: www.idg.co

main one supports Ngren initiatives

MainOne, the leading communications service company and first private undersea cable company to land in Nigeria and Ghana, has identified National Research and Education Networks (NREN) services as a factor for the increment of knowledge development in Nigeria.

MainOne CEO Funke Opeke, represented by Gbenga Osinoiki, the head, public sector sales,  said this in a presentation titled “Sustainable National Development through Research and Education Networks: The MainOne advantage” at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Research Education Network (REN) held at the ICT Centre in Software Engineering in Ile-Ife.

Opeke said the Research and Education Network was a transformation vehicle, innovation incubator, an economic development engine and an essential global platform for national and educational development.

She commended the efforts of the UbuntuNet Alliance for Research and Education Networking schemes across Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Mozambique, South Africa and eight other NRENs, and noted that though they are successful, there is still need for the provision of high speed internet connectivity to universities at even lower costs.

She also acknowledged efforts by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVC) for their support of the Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN), noting that the Network service would be beneficial for the development of e-education and social networking.

MainOne’s contribution to the propagation of ICT development in education and tertiary institutions form a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility tripod of Education, Information and Communications Technology, in addition to mentoring of the girl child.

MainOne is also leading sponsor of the annual Software Competition organised by the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, the Girls-In-ICT Day, TENT as well as supports ideation and innovation clubs, such as the Co-Creation Hub, among others.

source: www.biztechafrica.com

tn mobile rolls out 4G LTE prepaid

tn mobile, the mobile division of Telecom Namibia, reports that it is the first operator in Namibia to offer 4G LTE prepaid broadband service to consumers.

This follows the launch of tn mobile’s superfast 4G LTE network and services by the minister of ICT Joel Kaapanda last week. With the tn mobile Prepaid 4G LTE, users can now enjoy faster data access on their laptops and PCs on tn mobile’s 4G LTE network, with theoretical download speeds of up to 100Mbps.

tn mobile Prepaid 4G LTE is available at N$298 and comes with a Dongle bundled with free 500 MB data. The out of bundle rate is 95 cents per MB.

The service is currently available in Windhoek, Swakopmund, Walvis Bay, Henties Bay, Ondangwa, Oshakati, Ongwediva, Ohangwena and Oshikango.

Telecom Namibia reports that outside the 4G LTE coverage area, users will be served by tn mobile’s 3G HSPA+ network with theoretical download speeds of up to 21Mbps and upload of 5.76Mbps, which makes it the fastest 3G service in the country.

“Where the 3G/HSPA+ network is not available our 2G network will do the job. So we always have you covered,” explains Chris Keeping, Chief Mobile Officer at Telecom Namibia.

“We will continue to enhance and expand our 4G LTE network coverage to key towns around the country,” Keeping added.

"Leveraging on our new 4G LTE network, we are glad to offer the country's first 4G LTE prepaid broadband service. Our prepaid users are now able to enjoy ultra-fast 4G LTE data access and an enhanced mobile experience," says Oiva Angula, senior manager for corporate communications and public relations at Telecom Namibia.

source: www.biztech-africa.com

Bharti Airtel bucks trend after brokerage upgrade

 the BSE Sensex was down 135.85 points, or 0.65%, to 20,789.76.

On BSE, so far 77,000 shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 3.61 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 329.50 and a low of Rs 324.50 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 373.50 on 1 November 2013. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 266.95 on 5 April 2013.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 12 December 2013, sliding 4.15% compared with the Sensex's 3.17% rise. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 1.67% as against Sensex's 5.78% rise.

The large-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 1998.70 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5.

The foreign brokerage also raised its target price on the stock to Rs 375 per share. According to the brokerage house, risk reward in case of Bharti Airtel (Airtel) has turned favourable, India pricing pressures have abated, data ramp-up is at inflection point and Africa operations have stabilised.

Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm (Reliance Jio) on 10 December 2013, announced a comprehensive telecom infrastructure sharing arrangement under which they will share infrastructure created by both parties. This will include optic fibre network - inter and intra city, submarine cable networks, towers and internet broadband services and other such opportunities identified in the future. The cooperation is aimed at avoiding duplication of infrastructure, wherever possible, and to preserve capital and the environment. This will also provide redundancy in order to ensure seamless services to customers of the respective parties.

On 9 December 2011, the company announced partnership with Government of Punjab to expand high speed 4G LTE services across the state. The company will invest over Rs 4000 crore in the Indian State of Punjab over the next 5 years to expand services and contribute to the Government of Punjab's digital inclusion agenda. Airtel and the Government of Punjab signed an agreement on the sidelines of the Progressive Punjab Investors Summit, under which Airtel will take its high speed 4G LTE services to all towns and villages across Punjab.

source: www.business-standard.com

Latest Sub-Saharan Africa Telecoms Investment Opportunities – Business Monitor Release Brand New Whitepaper

Business Monitor has just released its latest analysis on Sub-Saharan Africa Telecoms Investment Opportunities in their new whitepaper ‘Sub-Saharan Investment Opportunities in Telecommunications: Risk/Reward Analysis’. The whitepaper includes Business Monitor’s country comparative risks and rewards ratings tables for the telecoms industry in each country, as well as specific analysis on three countries of interest within the region - Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa - including key data and the latest trends and developments.

After a wave of regulatory penalties, including fines and a ban on promotions, Nigeria's mobile operators have announced plans to expand and upgrade their networks to cope with strong subscriptions growth and increasing data usage. Business Monitor expects this trend to continue over the medium term as the market is forecast to add around 45mn new subscribers in the five years to 2017. Meanwhile, consolidation and, subsequently, transition to LTE technology appears to be a growing trend among tier two telecoms service providers in Nigeria. Business Monitor sees this as a positive development as, through consolidation, tier-two operators are able to gain scale for bigger network deployments while the transition to LTE should enable them to compete better with 3G HSPA+ offerings from the GSM operators.

Kenya's mobile operators will prioritise high value services over aggressive network expansion into underserved areas to improve their profit margins. 

source: www.prweb.com

T-Mobile's Deal With Facebook Is an Important Test

In Facebook's second-quarter conference call, Mark Zuckerberg outlined three main goals for the company going forward. The first was to connect everyone. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) shares this goal with Facebook, and the advertising rivals might end up helping each other.

With a growing number of users accessing Facebook through mobile devices, the company wants to ensure that anyone can access its services. In February, Facebook announced partnerships with 18 carriers in 14 different countries to allow subscribers free or discounted access to Facebook.

The best part about these deals for Facebook is that it isn't footing the bill for data usage.It has helped out with marketing and promotion, but considering its access to one of the largest advertising platforms is all but free, that isn't too much of a burden for the company.

Although the terms of the arrangement with GoSmart were not disclosed, it's likely Facebook has come to similar terms. Considering Facebook's saturation level in the U.S. and the average price per ad in the country, T-Mobile is getting just as good of a deal as Facebook.

Google, on the other hand, is unlikely to make similar deals with carriers. The company's service, by its very nature, sends people to other parts of the web. Instead, Google has taken to setting up free WiFi networks all over the world, including plans for a potential network of balloons or blimps over Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, which could connect an additional 1 billion people.

Google can benefit from Facebook's deals with carriers, however, as more people sign up for data plans once they get a taste of the mobile web. This is what T-Mobile and GoSmart are banking on.

source: www.fool.com

OnMobile bets on 3G boom for VAS push in India

OnMobile Global, one of the world’s largest mobile value-added services (VAS) companies with operations across 55 countries, had taken a beating in India after its CEO Arvind Rao was expelled last year. However, under Mouli Ramanan, its co-founder and managing director, the company has been able to rise again. Ramanan tells Beryl Menezes about OnMobile’s journey ahead. Excerpts from the interview:

OnMobile has been aggressively targeting emerging markets, including India. What is happening on this front?
While caller tunes, which contribute about 70% to our overall revenues, are primary focus, we are now in the process of rolling out other services in the areas of music and sports as well. For example, we acquired Livewire, which offers high quality, personalised service at low cost, in the US in July. We also recently won a large deal with MTN, the largest operator in Middle East and Africa, with 200 million users, and we have a contract to roll out services in 22 countries where MTN is present. Latin America and Africa contributes 26% to revenues, and , in the last 1-1.5 years, besides emerging markets, we are also focusing on rolling out VAS services in Europe and North America.

How do you see growth in India in the coming years?
Out of 120 million users globally, we have 45 million in India. While in the last 1-1.5 years, OnMobile has witnessed a de-growth of 20-22% in India, due to regulatory intervention for promotional services and the downturn in the telecom and VAS industry, this does not reflect the opportunities that lie ahead. With 800 million mobile users in the country, a lot of them first time mobile internet users, we are seeing a lot of demand for VAS services on the mobile in local languages. There are also enough developers who want to provide services to these customers.

The ecosystem being developed for anybody who wants to provide these services. In the next 2-3 years, we will see a lot more services on mobile.

source: www.dnaindia.com

the Asia - Africa link is IT

Only 16 percent of Africa’s population of over a billion is online. But as Internet and mobile phone connectivity grows rapidly, the continent wants to join forces with Asian powerhouses to change its digital landscape.

While offering its vast market, Africa hopes to leverage Asia’s information and communication technology (ICT) prowess to develop sectors as diverse as banking, telemedicine, education and cyber security.

“There is a lot of opportunity for collaboration,” says Safroadu Yeboah-Amankwah, director and leader, McKinsey’s Business Technology Practice, South Africa.

lot of the talent, skill and technology available (in Asia) may be of great use,” the Ghanaian engineer-turned-telecom strategist told IPS.

He was here to attend Telecom World 2013 organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) last month.

A large contingent of African countries led by Nigeria mounted a big roadshow at the event, both to display their growing mobile and broadband communication-oriented economies and to attract Asian investment.

“North America, to be honest, is not relevant to our markets. There are very interesting opportunities in terms of South-South collaboration, especially around banking, education and so forth, where collaborations will allow for bigger markets and therefore more innovation availability,” Yeboah-Amankwah said.

“Larger Asian and African e-commerce players could collaborate to make the opportunities even bigger. For us, integration between large African and Asian players is an exciting idea,” he added.

According to ITU statistics, more than 720 million Africans have mobile phones and some 167 million already use the Internet. And the figures are rising fast as mobile networks are built up and the cost of Internet-enabled devices falls.

soure:ipsnews.com