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

growing internet use in Africa to lift contribution to economies

internet services have experienced exponential growth in Africa, thanks to the significant investments made in building backbone infrastructure and the roll-out of 3G networks. This has allowed millions of Africans to connect to the internet for the first time.

McKinsey said the continent was now in a better position in terms of international bandwidth, as capacity had been added faster than peak demand had grown.

According to the report, only 16% of the continent’s 1-billion people are online, but the take-up is rising rapidly as mobile networks are built and as the cost of internet-capable devices continues to fall.

More than 720-million Africans have cellphones, about 167-million already use the internet and 52-million are on Facebook.

"The internet is a catalyst for economic growth," said McKinsey director and co-author of the report Saf Yeboah-Amankwah. "In China, India and Brazil, it has contributed more than 10% of total GDP growth over the past five years.

"Its impact in Africa to date has been much smaller, but is likely to accelerate in the coming decade and could have a transformative effect on the continent’s development."

source: www.bdlive.co

Q&A: peter lyons GSM Association

As mobile uptake rockets across Africa, fuelling connectivity across the continent and boosting the popularity of mobile-based economic activities, HumanIPO speaks to Peter Lyons, director of public policy for the Africa and Middle East region at the GSM Association (GSMA), about how to leverage mobile to spur further growth, and what issues policy makers should be focusing on to facilitate connectivity in Africa.

HumanIPO: What are the drivers of the significant growth in mobile uptake across Africa?

Lyons: Prices for mobile services have fallen substantially over recent years, driven by a range of factors including increasing competition in a number of markets, decreased equipment prices (both in terms of handsets and infrastructure for mobile networks), as well as growing scale for the operators.

 The mobile operators themselves have played an important role with ongoing investments to improve network coverage as well as to introduce new service offerings that can attract lower income subscribers. For example, prices have fallen in Kenya by 20 per cent per year over the last four years and by 15 per cent per year over the same period in Senegal.

source: www.humanipo.com

Vimplecom capex up 25% to $ 1.04 billion in third quarter

Telecom service provider VimpleCom on Wednesday said its Capex (capital spending) rose 25 percent in the third quarter of 2013 to $1,040 million from $829 million in the same period last year.

During the first nine months of 2013, VimpleCom Capex decreased 3 percent to $2426 million from $2489 million.

VimpleCom says its Capex for the full year will be approximately 20 percent of revenue.

VimpleCom CEO Jo Lunder said the company would plan substantial investment in its mobile data networks in Russia in the final quarter.

Its capital spending in Q3 reflects the expansion of the mobile networks in Russia, Bangladesh and CIS, as well as the continued roll out of HSPA+ and backbone capacity to support data growth in Italy and acquisition of 3G license in Bangladesh.

In Italy, VimpleCom Capex reached EUR 153 million, which was invested primarily in the expansion of mobile HSPA+ coverage, capacity, and performance, as well as in the backhaul capacity to support the strong data growth.

source: www.telecomlead.com

Sandvine Provides Econet Wireless Zimbabwe With Usage-Based Plans

Waterloo, Ontario — Sandvine, (TSX:SVC) a leading provider of intelligent broadband network solutions for fixed and mobile operators, today announced it is providing Econet Wireless Zimbabwe with network policy control products to roll out new service packages for the growing demand for mobile data. Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, the largest subsidiary of Econet Group, serves over 8.5 million subscribers on its 3G network and became a Sandvine customer in March 2013. Sandvine is the market leader in Africa with customers in 20 countries across the continent.

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe is using Sandvine's Usage Management product with plug-and-play capabilities that will enable them to roll out new revenue-generating services for their pre-paid and post-paid subscribers. Sandvine was selected based on its ability to fulfill the technical requirements of usage-based charging over Gy and policy enforcement over Gx, which are critical for rolling out new services such as roaming notifications, bill shock prevention, family plans and data bundles.

"Sandvine's technical accuracy and scalability gives us confidence that as our network and subscriber adoption continues to grow, so too will our service offerings," said Leon de Fleuriot, General Manager: Products and Services, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe. "We are committed to maintaining our leadership position in Zimbabwe by rolling out new services that meet the growing demand for mobile Internet data across the country."

Sandvine recently published its semi-annual Global Internet Phenomena Report identifying that video accounts for less than 6% of traffic in mobile networks in Africa but is expected to quickly grow towards the 40% levels seen in other regions.

"The African market is especially unique, as most users are connecting to the Internet for the first time through mobile devices, and using applications like BBM, Facebook and WhatsApp," said Tom Donnelly, COO, Sales and Global Services, Sandvine. "We expect that Africa will be a fast video adopter and forward-thinking operators like Econet Wireless Zimbabwe are rolling out creative device-and application-based service tiers to drive revenue and increase adoption of mobile Internet."

Join Sandvine at AfricaCom booth P17 for more information on usage based billing and network policy control.

Zimbabwe

Court Acquits Human Rights Lawyer

A judge in Zimbabwe has freed a prominent human rights lawyer Tuesday who was facing charges of obstructing justice. see more »

Growing use of internet in Africa due to 3G services

Internet services have experienced exponential growth in Africa, thanks to the significant investments made in building backbone infrastructure and the roll-out of 3G networks. This has allowed millions of Africans to connect to the internet for the first time.

McKinsey said the continent was now in a better position in terms of international bandwidth, as capacity had been added faster than peak demand had grown.

only 16% of the continent’s 1-billion people are online, but the take-up is rising rapidly as mobile networks are built and as the cost of internet-capable devices continues to fall.

More than 720-million Africans have cellphones, about 167-million already use the internet and 52-million are on Facebook.

"The internet is a catalyst for economic growth," said McKinsey director and co-author of the report Saf Yeboah-Amankwah. "In China, India and Brazil, it has contributed more than 10% of total GDP growth over the past five years.

"Its impact in Africa to date has been much smaller, but is likely to accelerate in the coming decade and could have a transformative effect on the continent’s development."

Governments have placed internet-driven economic growth firmly on the agenda, with several countries pursuing ambitious plans to expand broadband access.

source : bdlive.co.za