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

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

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

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.

Revenue sharing has always been a matter of concern between VAS players and telcos in India...Since the last one year, operators are beginning to realise the importance of getting more service providers and developers on board to provide services and so are open to giving more revenue share today. From 30-40% earlier, the revenue share is now moving up to 60-65% today. Service providers also have the freedom to provide and market the service themselves, while operators only provide the billing platform.

source: www.dndia.com

vodacom seeks entry into Ethopia,s telecom sector

South Africa’s Vodacom Group has opened its first office in Ethiopia in an attempt to establish its presence in the country.

The company, which has a strong presence in several African countries including Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, DRC, Nigeria, and of course South Africa, has described Ethiopia as the “most fantastic telecoms market on the continent.”

“We would invest here tomorrow… One operator, 80 million people, the economy growing at 7% – it’s a great market,” Vodacom Group chief executive officer, Romeo Kumalo told Reuters.

The Telecoms firm says it will soon apply for a license to offer value-added services – all other services aside from standard voice calls. This is seen as an attempt to position itself in anticipation of the government’s opening of the country’s telecommunications sector to private investors.

More than 200 Telecoms companies have applied for similar licenses from Ethiopia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, but only MTN group has been granted the authority to offer value-added services. But MTN is yet to set up shop in the country.

Ethiopia’s state-run Ethio Telecom continues to maintain a monopoly in telecoms and refuses to liberalize the sector saying the USD 321 million generated by the company every year is used to finance infrastructure projects. Foreign investors continue to show great interest in the sector, which Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has described as a “cash cow”.

Ethio Telecom recently made deals with Huawei and ZTE to expand the mobile phone infrastructure throughout the country. The two deals will see the introduction of a 4G network in Addis Ababa and expansion of mobile phone and 3G internet access throughout the rest of the country.

Growth in Ethiopia’s Telecoms sector is indicative of the entire continent, which has seen tremendous growth in recent years with subscribers increasing significantly between 2011 and 2012.

source: www.zegabi.com

vodacom seeks entry into ethiopia's telecom sector

South Africa’s Vodacom Group has opened its first office in Ethiopia in an attempt to establish its presence in the country.

The company, which has a strong presence in several African countries including Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, DRC, Nigeria, and of course South Africa, has described Ethiopia as the “most fantastic telecoms market on the continent.”

“We would invest here tomorrow… One operator, 80 million people, the economy growing at 7% – it’s a great market,” Vodacom Group chief executive officer, Romeo Kumalo told Reuters.

The Telecoms firm says it will soon apply for a license to offer value-added services – all other services aside from standard voice calls. This is seen as an attempt to position itself in anticipation of the government’s opening of the country’s telecommunications sector to private investors.

More than 200 Telecoms companies have applied for similar licenses from Ethiopia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, but only MTN group has been granted the authority to offer value-added services. But MTN is yet to set up shop in the country.

Ethiopia’s state-run Ethio Telecom continues to maintain a monopoly in telecoms and refuses to liberalize the sector saying the USD 321 million generated by the company every year is used to finance infrastructure projects. Foreign investors continue to show great interest in the sector, which Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has described as a “cash cow”.

Ethio Telecom recently made deals with Huawei and ZTE to expand the mobile phone infrastructure throughout the country. The two deals will see the introduction of a 4G network in Addis Ababa and expansion of mobile phone and 3G internet access throughout the rest of the country.

source : www.zegabi.com

MTN communications renews critical capacity agreement with SES

With cruise ships, yachts and exploration vessels demanding more connectivity worldwide, communications service provider MTN and global satellite operator SES (NYSE Paris:SESG)(LuxX:SESG) today announced they have renewed a critical capacity agreement to deliver high-speed broadband to vital shipping routes throughout the Indian Ocean Region. The deal marks the latest milestone in a long-term global maritime partnership.

A multi-year deal meeting global demand for reliable communications and content services in the IOR, MTN has secured capacity on several transponders aboard SES’ NSS-12 satellite to offer reliable connectivity for applications as varied as the connectivity needs at sea. Corporate network services, passenger and crew communications and lifestyle entertainment offerings are being delivered to vessels travelling one of the world’s largest oceans and busiest shipping routes serving the African and Asian coasts and port cities in Australia and Antarctica.

Ship operators and their guests and crew count on MTN communications services to meet a broad range of offshore demands, including the need to keep passengers and crew happy and connected to family and colleagues around the world. Satellite-delivered high-speed broadband also enables MTN customers to remotely monitor their operations at sea real-time from anywhere. MTN relies on multiple SES satellites to serve its maritime customers around the world.

“MTN and SES have successfully served the growing connectivity demands of our customers throughout the world for years,” said Zafar Khan, Vice President of Systems and Space Engineering for MTN. “This renewed agreement with SES underscores our commitment to the Indian Ocean Region and serves as a testament to our confidence in SES satellites, people and expertise. SES has been an important partner, as MTN continues to grow and expand its mobility service offerings as well as its new hybrid-network. This innovative solution allows partners to seamlessly switch from satellite to terrestrial broadband, maximizing the bandwidth delivered to each vessel and others in their fleets for the best and most reliable performance and cost efficiencies.”

“MTN is a true innovator in global maritime services enabling passengers and crew aboard cruise ships, yachts and oil and gas exploration vessels to connect at sea,” said John Matlaga, Vice President of Mobility and Enterprise Services in North America for SES. “Exciting advancements in mobility technologies, including high-throughput mobility beams aboard SES satellites, are enabling maritime leaders like MTN to help their customers operate as effectively and efficiently on the world’s oceans as they do on land.”

source: www.bussinesswire.com

Rwandan telecom want roaming fees scraped

Regional calls, mostly made by business people, charge both the caller and receivers. After the previous year’s review, RURA introduced new charges where a person calling an operator in the country is charged RWF144.3 per minute from RWF59.

The New Times reports Yvonne Manzi Makolo, chief marketing officer (CMO) at MTN Rwanda, said: “The increase in taxes meant rates for people calling from other countries went up by that additional amount.”

She added the situation was made worse by regulators in Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania imposing the same tax again.

“When I call my suppliers, they charge me and also deduct airtime fees. This is making it hard for us to do business,” said businessman Laments Mugabo.

Uganda and Burundi previously cost RWF60, which was hiked to RWF120 to call Uganda and RWF350 for Burundi, with Kenya the only country that has not imposed high taxes to the EAC.

Enos Bukuku, EAC deputy secretary general for planning infrastructure, however said the secretariat will come up with a model that will make roaming call rates seamless by calling on the operators and governments to discuss the issue.

Airtel Tanzania inks partnership deal with Manchester united

Airtel Tanzania has announced a partnership deal with English Premier League champions Manchester United that will see the operator's customers win all-expenses-paid trips to watch the club's matches live at Old Trafford stadium. Airtel Tanzania MD Sunil Colaso said the partnership underlines the company's commitment to partner with major global brands and bring them close to its customers. The announcement was made during the launch of the operator's promotion 'Mimi Ni Bingwa' (I'm the champion) that seeks to reward its customers with over TZS 500 million worth of prizes.

source:  telcompaper.com