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.

source: www.biztechafrica.com

Country focus: Ethiopia breaking new technology ground

Looking past the turbulent history of Ethiopia, one that has been impacted by famine, drought and war, there is evidence today which confirms that this East African region has fully embraced ICT to advance itself and establish a secure position amongst developing economies with high-growth potential.

However, challenges do remain – including slow response by government to mobile money adoption, infrastructure, connectivity, as well as the country’s repressive stance on digital freedoms, particularly social networking and the internet.

It was only at the beginning of 2013 when Ethiopia’s government approved mobile money in the country, allowing banks and micro-finance institutions to provide transaction-based banking online.

The 2013 Web Index, brought out by the World Wide Web Foundation, gave Ethiopia an overall ranking of 80^th position out of 81 countries (taking into account several sub-indexes including universal access, relevant content and impact & empowerment). The country also scored 12.9 in terms of freedom and openness, the criteria of which includes the degree to which users have rights to online information, their ability to express opinion, as well as safety and privacy.

The internet brimmed with information and reports in mid-2012 when news broke  of the Ethiopian government’s intention to ban Skype and other VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services, as well as video chat platforms, for businesses.

source: www.itnewsafrica.com

Morocco gives strong regional performance for internet readiness

Morocco ranked second only to South Africa in terms of "internet readiness", an indicator of future growth potential, among the 14 countries compared in the report, which was published by the consultancy firm McKinsey & Company in November.

The findings come on the back of a drive under way in Morocco to increase broadband access nationwide by extending fibre-optic networks into more isolated regions of the country and to roll out a 4G network.

Preparations pay dividends

According to the McKinsey report, the internet contributed roughly $2.2bn to the Moroccan economy in 2012, or 2.3% of GDP. In percentage terms, this placed the country behind Senegal (3.3%) and Kenya (2.9%), although in absolute terms it exceeded Senegal's $470m and Kenya's $1.1bn.

In calculating the internet's contribution to GDP, McKinsey took into account private consumption (including revenues from mobile and fixed internet service, smart phone and computer purchases, and e-commerce), public expenditure, private investment and trade balance. Morocco's score was driven largely by the trade balance factor, thanks to the exports of its business processing outsourcing (BPO) sector, in addition to private consumption.

source: www.zawya.com

Nokia Opens Office In Libya

Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) has opened an office in Libya, to enhance mobile broadband service delivery by developing its infrastructure, as the North African country embarks on a robust redevelopment programme of its telecom industry.

“The opening of this modern office marks our readiness to deliver large-scale mobile broadband rollouts in Libya,” Igor Leprince, head of the Middle East and Africa business region at Nokia Solutions and Networks told Human IPO.

“As the world’s specialist in mobile broadband, NSN will help Libyan operators provide a superior mobile broadband experience for their customers.”

It was reported that following the civil war in 2011 that ousted long standing leader Muommar Gaddafi, over $1 billion in telecom infrastructure was lost, with more than 20 percent of cell sites destroyed.

Despite the destruction, Libya still boasts one of the most developed telecom industries within Africa.

A report by telecom-focused research consultancy, BuddeComm confirmed the country’s mobile penetration stood at 109%, an unrivalled growth across the continent. It also showed that a 15-year investment budget of $10 billion has so far rolled out cutting edge technologies such as Africa’s first Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP), expansion of DSL and WiMax broadband services and new international fibre connections and upgrades.

The new regime is keen on building on the existing strongholds and as well increasing private participation in the industry, with a plan to privatize one of the three state-owned mobile networks through an IPO listing this year already in its final stages.

source: www.ventures-africa.com

MTN Group - Traverse The Wilds Of Africa For 2014′s Best Stock

Investors have pretty well forgotten about emerging markets over the past three years. The "BRIC" countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China no longer excite. Nor do more exotic non-BRIC locales such as South Africa. The iShares MSCI South Africa ETF (EZA) is down by roughly 15% since the beginning of 2011, while the S&P 500 has gained nearly 45%.

I've made no secret of the fact that I'm a major Africa bull. It's the last major investment frontier, and the growth is very real. Per capita GDP has more than doubled in the past decade, and according to Deloitte, seven of the 10 fastest-growing countries in the world are in Africa. One sign of the booming middle class is Africa's surprisingly high cell phone penetration; by Ericsson's estimates, the continent already has 780 million mobile subscribers. Don't underestimate the significance of this. Africa has harsh geography, which makes building infrastructure very difficult and very expensive. But mobile technology allows large parts of Africa to essentially leapfrog over legacy technology infrastructure - such as copper phone wires - and into the modern world.

This is showing up in some interesting places. For example, mobile phones are giving millions of working and middle-class consumers access to basic banking services for the first time. According to Deloitte, "a 10% increase in mobile phone penetration in a poor country is linked to an increase in GDP of 1.2% due to the ensuing economic activity that people engage in as a result of being 'plugged in' and connected." For a part of the world that has been more or less in isolation since the dawn of time, this is a game-changer.

source: www.seekingalpha.com

SEACOM gears up for another year of expansion

Following a year of growth and progress in its business, pan-African telecommunications enabler SEACOM will be hunting for growth in new African territories in 2014, as well as continuing its evolution from a cable operator into an infrastructure provider that offers a range of IP solutions to its service provider and operator customers.

That’s according to SEACOM CEO Mark Simpson, who says he anticipates strong growth in the African telecom market as the impact of government and operator investments into national fibre links, last-kilometre connectivity, and local content continue to be felt across the continent.  With these essential pieces of the puzzle rapidly falling into place, SEACOM expects robust growth for its business in this year.

“During the past year, we have seen terrific progress. Our investments in West coast capacity, our African ring and meshed IP networks have started to come into their own – developments that have been really good for SEACOM’s customers. Terrestrial fibre penetration has also improved and we’re seeing continued and essential access network developments across our markets. These factors helped us to grow in 2013 and will continue to fuel our evolution in 2014,” says Simpson.

Looking ahead strategic plans include expanding into a number of new countries which it does not yet serve directly, including West coast countries. SEACOM will continue to invest in countries to ensure its drive to become a truly pan-African infrastructure provider is met.

source: www.biztechafrica.com

Another South African telecom firm waves goodbye to the Kenyan market.

South African fixed-line telecom operator, Telkom SA, last month made a dramatic retreat from the East African market, selling loss-making units iWayAfrica and Africa Online to Gondwana International Networks. Telkom SA’s sale highlights the competitive and difficult environment facing many telecom companies and Internet service providers as new technologies and better-funded competitors dominate the market and influence the pricing of products and services. Analysts expect the sale to set up the telecom market across Africa for mergers and acquisitions to consolidate market share. It also brings to the fore how a number of South African companies are struggling to penetrate the East African market. The financial details of the Telkom SA transaction were not disclosed, but the operator termed the companies an “immaterial part of the group”. “This transaction is one of many initiatives that will contribute to our own turnaround, allowing us to focus on our core South African fixed-line and mobile operations,” said Telkom SA CEO Sipho Maseko.


source: www.standardmedia.co

Surging mobile internet demand straining African telecom networks

Telecom companies in the Middle East and Africa could face growing quality of service (QoS) issues in future because of a rise in internet usage fueled by more affordable smart mobile devices.

Mahmoud Samy -- area head Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan at Arbor Networks -- told the Trade Arabia publication that the Mideast and Africa could see a 31% traffic leap on consumer internet by 2017 from a 10% growth level in 2012.

Samy added that this could pile pressure on telecommunication companies on the continent to expand their networks and maintain quality services.

He said African telcos’ failure to improve QoS could result in service level agreement credits, damage to brand reputation and customer churn - all of which impact the bottom lines of their business

source: www.itwebafrica.com

Cameroonian Businessman To Launch First Indigenous Telecom

 Cameroonian businessman and owner of Seme New Beach Hotel, Semme Mineral Water and Climacam, Seme Noungon plans to launch Altylis Seme Telecom, a 7.6 million euro ($10.3 million) lowcost telephony company, into the “uncrowded” Central African market this month.

The first locally-owned telecom operator in the Cameroon, Altylis Seme Telecom said its objective is to “break mobile prices” in the country which has South African telecoms giant MTN and French multinational, Orange as its only mobile network service providers.

Both companies control a combined 11 million subscriber base, which is about half of the country’s population.

In 2012, Vietnamese firm Viettel obtained licences to operate 2G and 3G networks in Cameroon and announced it would go live to the public by March 2014.

According to a study by Pyramid Research, the introduction of 3G services and integrated data could attract more than six million new subscribers in Cameroon by 2017.

source:www.ventures-africa.com

Another South African telecom firm waves goodbye to the Kenyan market

South African fixed-line telecom operator, Telkom SA, last month made a dramatic retreat from the East African market, selling loss-making units iWayAfrica and Africa Online to Gondwana International Networks. Telkom SA’s sale highlights the competitive and difficult environment facing many telecom companies and Internet service providers as new technologies and better-funded competitors dominate the market and influence the pricing of products and services. Analysts expect the sale to set up the telecom market across Africa for mergers and acquisitions to consolidate market share. It also brings to the fore how a number of South African companies are struggling to penetrate the East African market. The financial details of the Telkom SA transaction were not disclosed, but the operator termed the companies an “immaterial part of the group”. “This transaction is one of many initiatives that will contribute to our own turnaround, allowing us to focus on our core South African fixed-line and mobile operations,” said Telkom SA CEO Sipho Maseko. 


source: www.standardmedia.co

Cameroonian Businessman To Launch First Indigenous Telecom

Cameroonian businessman and owner of Seme New Beach Hotel, Semme Mineral Water and Climacam, Seme Noungon plans to launch Altylis Seme Telecom, a 7.6 million euro ($10.3 million) lowcost telephony company, into the “uncrowded” Central African market this month.

The first locally-owned telecom operator in the Cameroon, Altylis Seme Telecom said its objective is to “break mobile prices” in the country which has South African telecoms giant MTN and French multinational, Orange as its only mobile network service providers.

Both companies control a combined 11 million subscriber base, which is about half of the country’s population.

In 2012, Vietnamese firm Viettel obtained licences to operate 2G and 3G networks in Cameroon and announced it would go live to the public by March 2014.

According to a study by Pyramid Research, the introduction of 3G services and integrated data could attract more than six million new subscribers in Cameroon by 2017.

source: www.cameroon-africa.com

Country focus: Ethiopia breaking new technology ground

Looking past the turbulent history of Ethiopia, one that has been impacted by famine, drought and war, there is evidence today which confirms that this East African region has fully embraced ICT to advance itself and establish a secure position amongst developing economies with high-growth potential.

However, challenges do remain – including slow response by government to mobile money adoption, infrastructure, connectivity, as well as the country’s repressive stance on digital freedoms, particularly social networking and the internet.

It was only at the beginning of 2013 when Ethiopia’s government approved mobile money in the country, allowing banks and micro-finance institutions to provide transaction-based banking online.

The 2013 Web Index, brought out by the World Wide Web Foundation, gave Ethiopia an overall ranking of 80^th position out of 81 countries (taking into account several sub-indexes including universal access, relevant content and impact & empowerment). The country also scored 12.9 in terms of freedom and openness, the criteria of which includes the degree to which users have rights to online information, their ability to express opinion, as well as safety and privacy.

The internet brimmed with information and reports in mid-2012 when news broke  of the Ethiopian government’s intention to ban Skype and other VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services, as well as video chat platforms, for businesses.

source: www.itnewsafrica.com

Telefonica launches global wi-fi hotspot service with single sign-on in 110 countries

Telefonica has launched a new global wi-fi product, offering users single billing and sign-on for 1.3 million wireless hotspots across the world.

The new Telefonica hotspot service is aimed at globetrotting execs, and attempts to make it simpler for business travellers to buy minutes from public wi-fi connections across the world.

The service, called Universal Wi-Fi, supports iOS and Android mobile devices as well as Windows PCs and Macs, offering access to hotspots in 110 countries across Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia.

It follows Telefonica's launch last year of its pan-European 3G plus hardware bundles in partnership with Dell. The packages give users access to Telefonica's 3G networks in 29 countries across Europe. Like Universal Wi-Fi, the NetReady services are pitched as making access, billing and expenses management simpler for businesses, but come with premium pricing.

Telefonica hasn't released any details of the cost of Universal Wi-Fi, but is promoting it as a flat rate service within its mobility portfolio, with single sign-on at various hotspots, which can be used across up to five devices.

source: www.zdnet.com

Sony announces new affordable phablet

 It may have arrived late to the phablet party, but now that Sony has turned up, it has done so with something new, exciting and accessible in the form of the Xperia T2 Ultra.

Theoretically, it's simple to make an affordable phablet. Start with an affordable, mid-range phone and add a bigger, medium resolution screen and put it on sale.

In practice, finding the optimum balance between performance and features and the bottom line is very challenging if you want the end product to be in any way desirable. But that's exactly what the Xperia T2 Ultra manages to do.

Its 6-inch screen offers a 1280x720p entry-level HD resolution and its rear-facing camera boasts 13 megapixels. It can shoot full HD video too. But Sony hasn't stopped there, the device is also packed with the company's own imaging know-how and apps so that users really can make the most of the camera. Then there's the processor which is quad core and there's 1GB of RAM at hand too, so it shouldn't be too hard to multitask.

Internal storage capacity is a bit on the low side -- just 8GB -- but that can be expanded via microSD card by a further 32GB. As well as physical, Sony is also offering 50GB of free cloud storage for the device, via Box.

The handset runs version 4.3 of Android and supports 4G/LTE as well as 3G networks so it should be fast at pushing data back and forward; this means that streaming a HD video from the cloud via that LTE connection should be more than feasible and won't result in the frustration that constant buffering of a moving image can cause.

source: www.mysinchew.com

Unitel and Ericsson Demo LTE-Advanced Technology in Angola

Ericsson has partnered with Angola's telecoms service provider Unitel, to demonstrate LTE Advanced (LTE-A) Carrier Aggregation technology.

The demonstration was done on both 1800MHz and 900MHz spectrum bands on a commercial network, using a commercial terminal in mid December 2013 when Unitel transferred data across its live network in Luanda, Angola, carrying commercial traffic.

LTE Carrier Aggregation is the next step in the evolution of high-speed mobile broadband services, enabling operators to make the most of their existing spectrum assets by combining multiple spectrum bands to enable higher mobile broadband download speeds.

Amilcar Safeca, deputy CEO, Unitel, said: "Unitel is always innovating to enhance the customer experience. With the global leap toward higher data access speeds for sophisticated video and mobility services, we are enhancing our network to ensure we continually provide high-quality services to our high-demanding subscriber base. With this demo, we are well on the way to launching the most advanced mobile network in Angola and perhaps Africa in the near future. We are working with Ericsson to make this happen."

Magnus Mchunguzi, VP, Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa, commneted: "Using LTE-A technology, operators can increase their network capacity and enhance the mobile broadband user experience, enabling up to 1Gbps data rates in the future. This demo places Unitel on the very limited list of operators in the world to demonstrate LTE-A in a live network using a commercial terminal. We are very proud to have partnered with Unitel in this achievement, further extending our long-standing relationship with Unitel."

source: www.allafrica.com

Africa set for free Wi-Fi boost this year

Africa is set to see an increase in the number of free Wi-Fi hotspots in 2014, in line with recent moves to connect entire cities in both Rwanda and South Africa.

According to Ruckus Wireless, a company specialising in Wi-Fi infrastructure, initiatives based on those implemented in Kigali, Rwanda, and the City of Tshwane, South Africa, will become commonplace this year.

HumanIPO reported in November the City of Tshwane, in partnership with the non-profit Project Isizwe, was rolling out the first phase of free Wi-Fi for the city.

Just a few months earlier, it was announced that the Smart Kigali initiative was planning to set-up free Wi-Fi zones in the Rwandan capital.

source: www.humanipo.com

Unitel and Ericsson demo Africa’s first LTE-Advanced technology

Ericsson and Angola's leading telecommunications provider Unitel, successfully demonstrated LTE Advanced (LTE-A) Carrier Aggregation technology for the first time in Africa.

The demonstration was made on both 1800MHz and 900MHz spectrum bands on a commercial network, using a commercial terminal, and took place on December 18, when Unitel transferred data across its live network in Luanda, Angola carrying commercial traffic.

LTE Carrier Aggregation is the next step in the evolution of high-speed mobile broadband services, enabling operators to make the most of their existing spectrum assets by combining multiple spectrum bands to enable higher mobile broadband download speeds.

Amilcar Safeca, Deputy CEO of Unitel says: “Unitel is always innovating to enhance the customer experience. With the global leap towards higher data access speeds for sophisticated video and mobility services, we are enhancing our network to ensure we continually provide high-quality services to our high demanding subscriber base. With this demo we are well on the way to launching in the near future the most advanced mobile network in Angola and perhaps Africa. We are working with Ericsson to make this happen.”

source: www.telecomtiger.com

Is 2014 the year of Wi-Fi in Africa

Free Wi-Fi initiatives in African cities such as Rwanda’s Kigali and South Africa’s Tshwane are set to drive wireless internet access on the continent, says Ruckus Wireless.

Ruckus Wireless, a supplier of advanced wireless systems for the mobile internet infrastructure market, has predicted that this year could be a watershed one for Wi-Fi.

According to research from the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) compiled by Informa Telecoms & Media, global public Wi-Fi hotspot numbers could reach 5.8 million by 2015, marking a 350% increase since 2011.

And officials at Ruckus Wireless say that in 2014 the state of the Wi-Fi industry could continue to improve

source: www.itwebafrica.com

Gabon Wagers on High-Speed Internet

Gabon wants to be a player in the digital economy on the African continent and a regional hub hosting enterprises in the sector. The authorities of the middle-income African country have announced this goal in their quest to diversify Gabon’s economy and reduce its dependence on oil.

At the TransformAfrica summit on new technologies held in Kigali, Rwanda, in late 2013, Gabon’s president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, declared that Gabon’s connection to the Central African high-speed fiber optic network by 2015 would mark the “first step of a journey toward digital independence.” The president stated, “If we want to change the lives of our citizens, we need to act quickly to make ICTs a top priority.”

According to ARCEP, Gabon’s Postal and Electronic Communications Regulatory Agency, out of a population of 1.6 million, Gabon had only 497,371 Internet subscribers (mobile and fixed) at the end of 2012, and high-speed 3G and 4G mobile connections were not yet available. Thus the country lags far behind its goal to increase Internet speed for the public. Development of high-speed mobile and fixed Internet in Gabon cannot be achieved without fiber optic infrastructure to facilitate high-quality, low-cost transmission of digital applications, services, and content to citizens and businesses across the country.

source: www.worldbank.org

Airtel scoops 2013 African operator award

BHARTI Airtel, one of the country’s leading telecommunications service providers with operations in 20 countries across South Asia and Africa, has been recognised as the African Operator for 2013 at the CommsMEA Awards.
Airtel out-shined strong shortlisted contenders, among others the MTN Group, Vodacom and Nedjma, at the eighth edition of the event held at Jumeirah Emirates Tower in Dubai.
The event was attended by over 300 executives from the telecommunications sector, vendors, ministers and regulators.
The award recognises excellence within the telecommunications sector across the Middle East and Africa.
This is according to a statement released in Lusaka yesterday.
The winners were picked from a record number of nominations by a judging panel.
Bharti Airtel managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) (international), Manoj Kohli is elated by the achievement.
“We are humbled by this recognition and the trust that the international industry panel, consumers and other stakeholders have placed on Airtel since our entry into Africa in 2010,” he said.
Mr Kohli said in the past three years, the company has succeeded in serving more communities within countries it operates.

source: www.daily-mail.co

The best route to the African consumer

Africa is ushering in positive indicators across the board. The challenge is how to reach this growing demand in a continent where not everyone has access to financial services, rural areas are still highly populated and the costs of expanding ATMs and bank branches to remote rural areas are prohibitive.

The best solution for Africa seems then to be mobile commerce. Mobile phone penetration in the continent is much higher than bank account penetration. According to a report by TA Telecom it reached 80% in December 2013 of which 63% was 2G, 26% was 2.5G (also called EDGE, adding low-speed data), and only 11% was 3G connections. This sets Africa for diverse payment methods, however the ultimate channel to reach the largest portion of African demand is by SMS (2G) through which M-banking, M-retail, and M-payments are made possible. Business Monitor International estimates that the value of mobile transactions on the continent will move from $12bn in 2011 to $85bn in 2016.

Mobile commerce has proved to be a winning formula in a number of African countries. In Kenya it is a true success story. M-pesa, the largest and most developed mobile money platform in the world, has 19.5m subscribers (cellphone users). The platform has also been adopted by 10 Kenyan banks. Central Bank of Kenya data shows that mobile payments in Kenya grew 21.8% to $13.9bn by the end of August 2013 compared to the same period last year. The government has also found the solution perfectly suited to fulfil its goals of financial inclusion, welfare disbursement and inward international transfer promotion.

source: www.howwemadeitafrica.com

OnMobile bets on 3G boom for VAS push in India

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.

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 widest 3G network in South Africa battle

The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) has ruled that Vodacom may not claim to have the “widest 3G network” in South Africa. This followed a complaint by MTN.

A Vodacom print advertisement stated that “Get extra data on the widest 3G network … surf more, download more and stay connected 24/7”.

MTN lodged a complaint with the ASA against Vodacom’s “widest 3G network” statement, arguing that the claim is unsubstantiated and misleading.

MTN said that Vodacom may have the widest coverage in some regions, but it does not have the widest coverage across all regions.

MTN further said that coverage methodology needs to be considered when assessing such claims.

Vodacom responded, saying that it has a substantially wider network than MTN. This, the company said, is evident from the published coverage numbers by all networks, and the actual number of towers deployed by each network.

Vodacom showed that it deployed 6,649 3G towers, whereas MTN has 4,768 3G towers. “These published figures also support the published claims of 90.1% (Vodacom) and 67.7% (MTN) 3G coverage respectively,” Vodacom said.

The ASA was not convinced that a higher number of 3G towers automatically translates into wider coverage.

source:mybroadband.co

Africa to attract more ICT investment in 2014

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.

source: www.news.idg.no

Nigerian plan for telecom tariffs to vary by region

Telecommunications tariffs are set to differ in various parts of Nigeria in accordance with the ease of doing business, according to a proposed plan by operators.

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) announced the decision at the Telecoms Stakeholders Summit the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) organised in Lagos.

ALTON’s chairman, Engr Gbenga Adebayo, noted that subscribers in the North East and those with multiple tax regimes, multiple regulations, as well as all “unwholesome” practices would pay higher tariffs.

Adebayo said subscribers in states like Lagos, Kwara, Ekiti and Akwa Ibom would pay less, because of their friendly telecoms policies.

He urged other state governments to emulate the example of Lagos State, which he says has come to realise that telecommunications is a socio-economic need rather than merely a source of revenue generation.

Adebayo stressed that the state had reduced the Right of Way charges from N6,000 to N500 per square metre of road.

source: itwebafrica.com

MTN partners on e-commerce services for Africa

MTN Group has announced a partnership agreement that will enable Africa’s leading telecoms operator to extend online retail and other essential digital services on the African continent.

MTN has partnered with Rocket Internet and Millicom International Cellular to develop internet businesses in Africa through Africa Internet Holding (AIH), an exclusive vehicle to develop e-commerce businesses across the continent. MTN, Millicom and Rocket Internet will each become 33.3% shareholders in AIH.

Commenting on the transaction, Sifiso Dabengwa, MTN Group President and CEO, said: “We are excited to engage in a strategic partnership with Rocket Internet and Millicom to develop online ventures across the fast growing internet markets of Africa. Rocket Internet’s proven successful track record, coupled with Millicom and MTN’s leading mobile telecommunications position, will allow the partnership to capture the growth potential of the digital media space across our footprint in the region”.

source: www.biztechafrica.com

NSA spying on Africa-Asia-Europe undersea telecommunications cables

The US National Security Agency has collected sensitive data on key telecommunications cables between Europe, north Africa and Asia, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported Sunday citing classified documents.

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 cable system.

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.

"Among the companies that hold ownership stakes in it are France Telecom, now known as Orange and still partly government-owned, and Telecom Italia Sparkle," Spiegel said.

It said NSA specialists had hacked an internal website belonging to the operator consortium to mine documents about technical infrastructure including circuit mapping and network management information.

"More operations are planned in the future to collect more information about this and other cable systems," Spiegel quoted the NSA documents as saying.

Der Spiegel has over the last several months reported on mass NSA spying on targets in the United States and abroad using documents provided by fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

A White House-picked panel this month recommended curbing the secretive powers of the NSA, warning that its spying sweeps in the "war on terror" had gone too far.

source: www.gadgets.ndtv.com

Korea Telecom to review business projects in Africa

Korea Telecom(KT)  plans to review its business projects in Africa as its new CEO Hwang Chang-gyu wants to focus on bolstering the firm’s competitive edge in the domestic telecommunication business, said KT officials who are close to the matter, Thursday.

This means that the company will fold or scale down the company’s business in Rwanda and other countries on the continent, depending on the outcome of the review.

Under the leadership of outgoing Chairman Lee Suk-chae, the nation’s second-largest mobile carrier signed an agreement in March 2013 to invest $140 million in the African country to build a fourth-generation (4G) mobile network that will serve 95 percent of the country’s population. 

After the signing of the agreement, the company has sought to expand business in other countries including Kenya and Uganda.

source:pctechmag.com

Coordinator Macon Phillips Travel to Benin, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa January 7-17

Coordinator Macon Phillips of the Bureau of International Information Programs will travel to Benin, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa from January 7 to 17.

In Cotonou, Benin, Coordinator Phillips will meet with representatives from the telecom, internet, and civil society sectors, as well as traditional and new media outlets. He will then travel to Porto Novo for a discussion with youth on the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders (WFYAL).

In Windhoek, Namibia, Coordinator Phillips will meet with WFYAL applicants and United States Government exchange program alumni. In addition, he will travel to American Spaces in Walvis Bay, where he will engage with youth leaders around the WFYAL. He will also discuss a range of communications and technology issues with private sector leaders and media contributors.

In Harare, Zimbabwe, Coordinator Phillips will meet with journalists and entrepreneurs on new media and digital engagement. He will also meet with civil society and youth leaders to discuss social activism, outreach, and the WFYAL.

In Johannesburg, South Africa, Coordinator Phillips plans to visit the African Regional Media Hub and tour the Mae Jemison Science Reading room in Mamelodi, one of the Department’s premiere American Spaces.

source: www.state.gov

Rocket Internet Partners With African Telecom Operator MTN To Invest $410M in Middle East Startups

MTN Group and Rocket Internet announced that they have formed a new joint venture to invest in startups in the Middle East, with a focus on e-commerce. The two companies will each hold a 50% stake in Middle East Internet Holding (MEIH).

The announcement follows another partnership, concluded earlier this week, between MTN, Rocket Internet and Millicom International Cellular, to develop startups in Africa through Africa Internet Holding (AIH). MTN expects to pour 300 million euro (about USD$400 million) into AIH and MEIH, subject to regulatory approval, by the first and second quarter of 2014, respectively.

Based in Johannesburg, MTN is one of Africa’s largest telecom operators. Rocket Internet can potentially leverage MTN’s footprint as it seeks to tap into the continent’sfastest growing Internet markets, including Kenya and Nigeria.

Its agreement with MTN follows several other key partnerships cemented by Rocket Internet. For example, earlier this month Rocket Internet and U.K. retail giant Tesco, the world’s second-largest retailer by revenues after Wal-mart, announced a strategic investment partnership that began with a $250 million lead investment in Lazada. The online marketplace, in which Rocket Internet has invested $486 million so far, operates in Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

source: www.techcrunch.com

Korea Telecom may scale down Rwanda business

Korea Telecom CEO Hwang Chang-gyu has revealed plans to review the company’s projects across Africa and place greater focus on bolstering the firm’s competitive edge in its domestic telecommunication market.
According to a Korea Times report, this review will likely result in the scaling down or scrapping of the company’s activities in Rwanda and other countries on the continent.

Under the leadership of outgoing Chairman Lee Suk-chae, Korea’s second-largest mobile carrier signed an agreement in March 2013 to invest $140 million in Rwanda to build a fourth-generation (4G) mobile network that will serve 95 percent of the country’s population.

The investment, however, is being questioned as it takes quite a long time to generate profits. Since signing the agreement, the company has sought to expand its footprint in other countries including Kenya and Uganda.

“One of the key priorities for the upcoming CEO is to recover KT’s telecommunications-related business. Synergy will be maximized only after realizing business structures that can generate profit in a stable manner regardless of market situations,” one KT official told Korea Times, adding moves are already under way to realign its overseas business projects.

“The new CEO will re-examine our African business projects from a zero-base,” he said.

The review of the overseas projects comes on the back of KT officials feeling the pinch in its domestic market as its globalization efforts are seen to have sacrificed its competitiveness locally.

“The outgoing CEO was busy following ‘trendy business projects.’ KT should set short-term, mid-term and long-term targets if it wants to earn results from overseas business projects that the company is involved in,” said Chang Joon-hyuck, senior vice president at Atlas Research and Consulting.

source: www.itnewsafrica.com

Another South African telecom firm waves goodbye to the Kenyan market.

South African fixed-line telecom operator, Telkom SA, last month made a dramatic retreat from the East African market, selling loss-making units iWayAfrica and Africa Online to Gondwana International Networks. Telkom SA’s sale highlights the competitive and difficult environment facing many telecom companies and Internet service providers as new technologies and better-funded competitors dominate the market and influence the pricing of products and services. Analysts expect the sale to set up the telecom market across Africa for mergers and acquisitions to consolidate market share. It also brings to the fore how a number of South African companies are struggling to penetrate the East African market. The financial details of the Telkom SA transaction were not disclosed, but the operator termed the companies an “immaterial part of the group”. “This transaction is one of many initiatives that will contribute to our own turnaround, allowing us to focus on our core South African fixed-line and mobile operations,” said Telkom SA CEO Sipho Maseko.


source: www.standardmedia.co

Simmtronics Enters India Smartphone Market

Simmtronics Semiconductors Ltd has said it was foraying into the mobile phone segment with the launch of XPAD smartphones in India, after the successful launches of XPAD tablets. The XPAD range of smartphones would be across all segments starting from entry to high end and would be equipped processors ranging from single core to superior quad cores. The company has already launched these products in UAE market, during GITEX 2013 and says has got overwhelming response from Africa, Egypt, GCC and CIS countries. Simmtronics also claimed that it was the only company both in tablets and smartphone segments to be licensed by Ericsson, and have a licensed access to launch 2G, 3G, 4G LTE products across the globe. The company has also tied up with HCL Care for providing aftermarket services, said a Simmtronics release. Indrrajit Sabharwal, Managing Director, Simmtronics stated, “The smartphone usability is increasing day by day, we decided to foray into the smartphone segment with the launch of XPAD range of smartphones in affordable price range. This innovatively designed device’s is enriched with a high end technology.” Anticipating growth, the company is also gearing up for local production of the same, and is investing Rs 200 crore in the smartphone segment with a revenue target of Rs 500 crore by this financial year end. Currently at a turnover of Rs 550 crore, the company is targeting Rs 800 crore of revenue in the next fiscal.  The smartphone range comprises Fundroid, Amazoid and Smartdroid series of phones.

source: www.lightreading.in

Israeli start-up seeks to end roaming charges

An Israeli startup is trying to combat a common fear for international travelers: getting socked with hundreds or thousands of dollars in unexpected roaming charges for using cellphones away from home.

   Cell Buddy aims to turn any smartphone into a local one. Travelers can choose from an array of calling and data plans with carriers in dozens of countries. As a result, they pay local rates -- not the pricey fees charged by their wireless carriers at home.

   Here's how it will work once the service starts next year: Customers use a universal SIM card provided by Cell Buddy. Travelers turn on their phones and launch a Cell Buddy app once they reach their destination. The app finds local carriers and lets travelers compare prices, data packages, download speeds and other factors. Travelers are assigned a local phone number and can continue to use their regular phone number back home, at regular prices, using the same SIM card.

   One major caveat: Cell Buddy's SIM works only with unlocked phones, making it difficult for American travelers who have phones still tied to two-year service contracts. Those phones are locked and won't accept other SIM cards. In addition, Verizon and Sprint use the CDMA cellular standard, and some phones won't work with the more common GSM networks elsewhere.

   Cell Buddy's service eliminates the need to order a roaming plan ahead of time, stand in line at the airport to buy a local SIM card or physically switch the cards. Most importantly, it eliminates roaming charges to the home carrier.

source: www.kmov.com

Global Connected Car Market Report 2013-2018

The market presents direct revenue channel from applications, services, and content. Industry experts believe that if it is done right, software updates will become the major revenue generator since people are willing to pay for them if they are reasonably priced. Software can keep the car up-to-date even if it is not the latest model anymore and essentially tied to the regular maintenance of the vehicle.

The future remains to be seen and will depend on how much the automotive companies open up their systems for third party developers. However, car manufacturers need to standardize on common solutions to drive the market and open systems to create the necessary critical mass among app developers.

Key Take-Aways

• The total shipments of connected car in 2012 are expected to grow at an estimated CAGR of 41.2% from 2013 to 2018. This would account for more than 50.0% of total global car shipments by 2018.
• Various connectivity solutions such as LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, and HSPA are being bundled with OEM manufactured cars, apart from the existing traditional connectivity such as Bluetooth and 2G.
• North America and China would lead the way in LTE adoption, while 3G would get a boost from European countries andIndia.
• Middle East, North Africa, and emerging economies in countries such as Indonesia offer a better opportunity for traditional connectivity solutions.
• Automotive Semiconductor Industry to reach $18 billion by 2018
• The growth of end product market such as display and screen is directly linked to the OEM shipment of the connected car market.
• Aftermarket service is likely to witness the highest CAGR from 2013 to 2018.

source: www.prnewswire.com

MTN pushes cheap internet on feature phones

Mobile operator MTN is driving feature phone users to the internet at lower cost.

MTN on Wednesday introduced a SurferLite pilot project that aims to roll out internet access to phones that do not currently access data services.

"The MTN SurferLite application provides an introductory data service to the digital world to customers by delivering an affordable experience that allows non-internet-customers access to content that is otherwise only available on an internet enabled phone," said Peter Malebye, MTN SA general manager.

Feature phone users generally have a poorer internet experience than smartphone users as the devices with smaller displays are not easily able to display mobile web content.

However, some feature phones like the Nokia Asha range are able to produce reasonable access to the internet.

Spectrum

Also, the cost of smartphones continues to decline, especially at lower price points. The Huawei 858 retails for around R399 from an initial retail price of R799.

Samsung's upgraded Galaxy Pocket smartphone is available for around R1 000.

For many users, though, the cost of data remains a stumbling block and junior operator Cell C offers data at 15c per megabyte.

While the expansion of the internet would no doubt enhance the mobile experience for cellphone users, spectrum for true broadband continues to hurt the mobile economy.


source: www.news24.com

Traditional matchmaking goes hi-tech

Agrasen Social Group will use video chat to help prospective partners interact.

If you thought that traditional matchmaking conventions limited your choices just because those  outside Indore are not able to participate and interact with you, then Agrasen Social Group has a solution for you.

The Group has decided to make match making convention of Agrawal society in the city a high-tech affair. Video chats and conferences over the net or 3G-enabled phones will be set up to facilitate those based in metros or overseas wishing to be part of the convention.

“If a boy or girl is not present during the matchmaking, a mere picture normally fails to suffice while taking a decision on marriage. As such we have decided to arrange video chat to let these future partners have a live interaction,” said Group’s coordinator Rajesh Garg.

Taking advantage of the growing usage of technology, the group has this time uploaded registration forms on its website -asgshadi.com and also accept registration fee online.

“We have received 1593 entries and out of these, around 125 forms are from metros and countries like US, South Africa, UAE, Thailand and Australia,” he said.

“We have included around 1200 of these entries into our booklet which would be given to the participants as the convention gets underway on Sunday,”

source: www.dnaindia.com