Ethiopia to get high speed 4G network

Ethiopia’s Ethio Telecom has revealed that Huawei Technologies Co Ltd as been contracted to launch a high-speed 4G network in the country, according to a report by Reuters.

This announcement comes following a deal between Ethio Telecom and China’s Huawei and ZTE earlier in the year to expand and improve the country’s information technology (IT) infrastructure.

The Ethiopian government’s ability to monitor the online activities of its citizens and intercept their digital communications has grown more “sophisticated” in the past year despite the fact the Ethiopia has one of the lowest information technology penetration in the world, according to a recent Freedom House Report.

The annual report, which evaluates the state of internet and digital media around the world, revealed that the Ethiopian government’s hawk-eye inspection over its citizens internet usage “is made possible by the state’s monopoly over the country’s only telecom company, Ethio Telecom”.

With the support of the China, the Ethiopian government is reported to have increased its surveillance abilities to be able to censor online political and social content as well as block advanced applications which could enable anonymous online communication.

“Ethiopia is the only country in Sub-Saharan Africa to implement nationwide internet filtering,” the report revealed, adding that the Ethiopian government’s censorship of online content intensified following speculative reports about the illness of the Late Prime Minster Meles Zenawi and Muslim protests in 2012 which was geared through the internet.

Mobile phones and internet were only introduced into Ethiopia during the twilight of the last decade. Despite several notable improvements in information technology (IT) across the world, the Ethiopian IT sector has grown at a slow pace. Currently, only an estimated 2.5% of the Ethiopian population are believed to have access to the internet. The Ethiopian government has noted that plans are underway to expand internet access to rural areas of the country where a majority of the nation’s population reside—thousands of kilometers of fiber-optic cables are reported to have been installed in the country and there are plans to connect Ethiopia to the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy).

source: www.zegabi.com

SA,s 3G world class , fixed broadband poor : Naspers CEO

Naspers CEO Koos Bekker said that while South Africa’s mobile broadband (3G) services are world class, fixed broadband access remains poor.

Speaking to Talk Radio 702’s Bruce Whitfield, Bekker said that South Africa’s Internet access diverges between mobile phones and PCs.

“Our 3G [mobile broadband] systems are as good as we get anywhere in the world,” said Bekker, adding that fixed broadband [used on a PC] has a problem with a lack of bandwidth.

The bandwidth restraints of fixed broadband access in SA, said Bekker, has a consequence on their pay-TV operations.

Bekker said in an interview with Money web that they are forced to “fake the Internet” using their new DStv Explora decoder to make it possible for users to catch up on news or sporting events when it suits them.

“But we can fake the Internet a bit by putting it on satellite, loading it down into the PVR and then offering it to you as if it were the internet.”

source: www.mybroadband.co

Capacity demands in Africa: an opportunities for satellite

Africa is served by several satellites and undersea fiber operators – the availability of capacity for communications over the continent is tremendous. This abundance of capacity leads to the creation of a whole new industry for high-speed connectivity from call centers to growing Internet. But most of the capacity available is limited to the capitals, coastal areas and major cities in the countries. There are cities, undeveloped and rural areas still in the dark not only in terms of utilities and infrastructure but also in terms of telecommunications as well. This market presents challenges as well as opportunities for satellite to play an important role; the potential for growth is enormous.

In Africa, the liberalization of the telecom sector, the arrival of multinational conglomerates from the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the Americas coupled with the competition in this sector are contributing to the growth of the demand and opportunities.Today, Africa is served by several satellites and undersea fiber operators – the availability of capacity for communications over the continent is tremendous. This abundance of capacity leads to the creation of a whole new industry for high-speed connectivity from call centers to growing Internet. But most of the capacity available is limited to the capitals, coastal areas and major cities in the countries. There are cities, undeveloped and rural areas still in the dark not only in terms of utilities and infrastructure but also in terms of telecommunications as well. This market presents challenges as well as opportunities for satellite to play an important role; the potential for growth is enormous.

In Africa, the liberalization of the telecom sector, the arrival of multinational conglomerates from the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the Americas coupled with the competition in this sector are contributing to the growth of the demand and opportunities. There may be more than 600 million mobile phones in Africa today but this is still a relatively small percentage to the total population of Africa, which now surpasses 1 billion. Africa’s booming mobile phone market is forecast to almost quadruple in size from a value of $60 billion in 2013 to $234 billion by 2020, according to researchers. With smartphones getting more and more popular, there is a growing demand for data to connect these bandwidth-intensive applications. Mobile operators are in a situation to expand their networks from 3G to 4G and LTE to support the bandwidth-hungry subscribers, which has resulted in more undersea fiber and satellite capacities. Still, satellite is very common and reliable means of backhauling domestic voice traffic in Africa. M-commerce is another area of growth in the region, which demands more bandwidth, be it fiber or satellite.

source: satellitetoday.com

opera sofware ASA : MTN group renews agreement with opera software

Opera Mini is a mobile web browser that compresses webpages to as little as 10% of their initial size,which helps customers to save on data costs and network operators to save on bandwidth, thus enabling more people to access the mobile web.

In the past two years, MTN has rolled out a co-branded version of Opera Mini in 17 markets including Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Sudan, Zambia, Uganda, Congo, Rwanda, Swaziland, Cameroon, Benin, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Guinea and Yemen.

The MTN co-branded Opera Mini browser has seen phenomenal uptake since it was first launched, with its user base more than doubling in the past 12 months alone.

MTN and Opera have worked together to promote the co-branded browser via different campaigns in all regions in which it has been rolled out. Opera has also partnered with local MTN operations to embed Opera Mini on devices sold by MTN.

Under the new agreement, Opera Mini remains available for new and existing MTN subscribers in each market, providing one-click access from the home page to services such as MTN Play and MTN Football.

According to MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer, Pieter Verkade, "The renewed partnership with Opera Software will allow MTN customers to continue to have the best possible digital experience of the internet using their mobile devices, while accessing content in a fast and affordable way."

He adds that this is in line with MTN's vision to lead the way in bringing a bold new Digital World to its customers, as Opera Mini works on 3,000 handsets and does not require a 3G network to access the web, providing customers with a fast and functional web experience.

"Our relationship with MTN is a strategic one, and we look forward to building on the success we have had in the 17 MTN markets where Opera Mini has already been rolled out. Our goal with Opera Mini is to make the internet more accessible to people via mobile phones, as well as to increase the efficiency of operators in keeping up with an ever-growing mobile web demand," says Lars Boilesen

source : www.4traders.com