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

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

Telecom Egypt To Provide Internet Services For Cairo Festival City Project

State-owned Telecom Egypt has reached an agreement to supply UAE-based Al-Futtaim’s Real Estate Group with telecommunication services for its Cairo Festival City project.

“Telecom Egypt seeks to meet its clients’ needs in high-tech services at competitive prices,” said Mohamed El Nawawy, Telecom Egypt’s MD/CEO.

The project involves 300 retail shops, elegant administrative offices and a residential community comprising a large number of apartments and villas, worldwide hotels and international schools, all within a natural environment, Daily News Egypt reported.

The Egyptian company will provide services such as virtual private network (VPN), Dedicated Internet, data transfer and triple play, using advanced fibre optic technology that guarantees high quality voice output and provides users with access to fast internet, with speed reaching 10G per sec.

According to the MD, the agreement will propel the company towards achieving its vision of becoming the industry’s frontrunner by sponsoring key projects across the country’s telecom business sphere.

Its quest for market dominance was given a further boost today, after regulators disclosed plans to grant fixed-line and mobile operating licence in the coming weeks, which will allow Telecom Egypt provide mobile services to customers.

A detailed scan of the regional market was carried out to determine the most suited company to deliver quality services, The MD of Al-Futtaim’s Real Estate Development, Dr Mohamed Al-Mekawy noted.

“[The agreement was based] on a careful market study to determine the largest and most efficient service providers, not only in Egypt, but on a regional level,

source:www.ventures-africa.com

Mandela's passion for Telecoms growth in Africa

Today, the world celebrates late Nelson Mandela for his political struggle and achievements in bringing peace to South Africa and the rest of the world. Yes, it is worthy to remember him for his political struggles, but there is also need to remember him for his passion and contributions to telecoms development in Africa, and this could be best captured from his speech at the opening ceremony of Telecom 95, the 7th World Telecommunications Forum and Exhibition in Geneva, on October 3, 1995.

The Value of Telecommunications
According to Mandela at the opening ceremony of the Telecom 95, "As prisoners on Robben Island, when we were deprived of newspapers we searched the refuse bins for the discarded sheets of newspapers which warders had used to wrap their sandwiches. We communicated with prisoners in other sections by gathering matchboxes thrown away by warders, concealing messages in false bottoms in the boxes and leaving them for other prisoners to find. We communicated with the outside world by smuggling messages in the clothing of released prisoners. Not even the most repressive regime can stop human beings from finding ways of communicating and obtaining access to information."

This, he said, applied in equal measure to the information revolution sweeping the globe. No one can roll it back. It has the potential to open communications across all geographical and cultural divides.

Nevertheless, one gulf will not be easily bridged - that is the division between the information rich and the information poor. Justice and equity demand that we find ways of overcoming it. If more than half the world is denied access to the means of communication, the people of developing countries will not be fully part of the modern world. For in the 21st century, the capacity to communicate will almost certainly be a key human right, he said.

He added that eliminating the distinction between information rich and information poor countries was also critical to eliminating economic and other inequalities between North and South, and to improving the quality of life of all humanity.

Bridging Communications Gap
Converging developments in the fields of information and communications offer immense potential to make real progress in this direction. The pace at which the price of communications and information systems has fallen has also undermined the previously rigid link between a nation's wealth and its information richness. There is an unprecedented window of opportunity.

But the present reality is that the technology gap between the developed and developing nations is actually widening. Most of the world has no experience of what readily accessible communications can do for society and economy, Mandela said in his speech.

According to him, given the fundamental impact of telecommunications on society and the immense historical imbalances, telecommunications issues must become part of general public debate on development policies. Telecommunications cannot be simply treated as one commercial sector of the economy, to be left to the forces of the free market.

source: www.thisdaylive.com

GVG-SGS stages workshop for West African telecoms regulators and fiscal authorities

Global Voice Group (GVG) reports that the first regional workshop on new telecoms regulation tools and electronic  fiscal solutions for West African telecoms regulators and tax administrations, staged in Abidjan, was a great success. The event was a joint initiative of GVG and Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS).

The organisers said the event attracted representatives from the Telecoms Regulatory Agencies and Tax Administrations of Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Togo.

For this first workshop of its kind in West Africa, GVG and SGS decided to invite both telecoms regulatory agencies and tax administrations in order to gain a deeper understanding of their common challenges, including control and protection of the telecoms sector's revenue. Issues more specific to each authority were also addressed in details, such as quality of service monitoring tools, telecommunications fraud management, new regulatory tools in the context of IP convergence, and new electronic fiscal systems.

Many of the technological tools presented by GVG and SGS were also demonstrated in order to allow participants to appreciate their potential and effectiveness.

According to M. François Dugué, Senior VP at GVG and one of the workshop's principal organizers and presenters: "Telecommunications are a key growth sector in Africa, strong in some respects and vulnerable in some others, particularly in the context of IP convergence. These workshops give us a great opportunity to take stock of the latest improvements in terms of governance technologies. GVG is an active participant to the ITU's Study Groups and our company also sponsors major events such as the African Telecom People.

These events allow interesting exchanges between the various stakeholders of the industry, often on questions of general interest. Our workshops are directed specifically to the regulators and address in details the practical issues that concern them in particular."

source: www.biztechafrica.com

African ISPs steal march on LTE

YooMe is a privately held Swiss company that has two African Internet service provider (ISP) businesses, one in Cameroon and the other to open soon in Côte d’Ivoire. Its CEO, Dov Bar Gera, has set up and sold ISPs in Eastern Europe, but his focus now is Africa.

YooMe’s Cameroon operation has deployed WiMax and it claims to have covered 85% of the population in the country’s two main cities, Douala and Yaounde, with 20 base stations. Its main competitors are the two mobile operators, MTN and Orange, and a handful of smaller ISPs.

It has taken significant market share, having about 20 000 of the 50 000 broadband subscribers in the country if you define broadband as 512kbit/s or faster. Overall, Bar Gera estimates that there are probably around a million Cameroonians who use the Internet at least once a week.

But there is a cap on growth as the monopoly international bandwidth provider, Camtel, has not reduced its wholesale prices. “Because of this monopoly, international bandwidth is five to seven times more expansive [than in other more competitive countries].” Obviously, higher wholesale prices lead to more expensive retail prices, which in turn means a smaller market.

YooMee’s next move is to roll out a time-division duplexing long-term evolution (LTE) network in Côte d’Ivoire’s capital, Abidjan. It will launch a network of 35 base stations from Alcatel Lucent in the second half of February, which, according to Bar Gera, will provide “good coverage in populated areas. We will also be looking at the lower income segments.”

He’s quite dismissive of WiMax vs LTE comparisons: “Subscribers don’t care whether it’s WiMax or LTE. They want to know the speed and price of the service. In Côte d’Ivoire, we will be delivering up to 2Mbit/s.” This speed is significantly less than Smile Telecom’s 6Mbit/s service. Prices have not been finalised yet but are likely to be in the US$32-51/month range, which seems competitive.

source: www.techcentral.co

safaricom buys yu stake in fibre firm to launch 4g grid

Safaricom has acquired the full shareholding of rivalEssar in the undersea fibre optic The East Africa Marine system (TEAMs) for an undisclosed fee.

The Nairobi bourse-listed telecom confirmed it acquired the 10 per cent from Yu mobile to offer faster and more efficient Internet data services as well support the upgrade of its network to 4G.

The deal has pushed Safaricom's ownership of undersea fibre optic network to 32.5 per cent, a share that guarantees the operator additional capacity in Teams, which is offered based on shareholding.

Other shareholders are the Kenya government (20 per cent), Telkom Kenya (20 per cent), Kenya Data Networks (10 per cent) and Jamii Telecom (6.25 per cent).

Essar, which has been looking for a strategic investor to inject cash and stave off a liquidity crisis, says it used proceeds from the deal to sustain operations.

"The stake was sold to Safaricom in September at undisclosed figure. The finances from this sale went towards yuMobile's operations," said Madhur Taneja, the Essar Kenya CEO.

"It was an investment made by Essar, which was not being used for operations. This bandwidth had always been idle since we acquired it five years ago."

Teams, which began operations in 2008, offered bandwidth to telecom firms that feed their fibre optic cables that have been laid on land.

Yu, unlike Safaricom, is yet to lay down its own terrestrial fibre-optic cable, prompting the equity sale in Teams.

Safaricom said Friday it was the only shareholder in Teams that showed interest in snapping the Essar share.

"The additional shareholding in Teams entitles Safaricom to have increased capacity on the 1.28 TB/s international cable," said Safaricom.

"It is an integral part of our data strategy to have sufficient international capacity to feed the demands of our growing customer base and to support our terrestrial fibre strategy and LTE (4G network) plans. 

The firm said earlier it was going to spend about Sh8 billion over the next four years to lay down 2,300km of inland fibre-optic cable and support a rising customer base.

source: www. hispanicbussiness.com

telecom Egypt to provide internet services for Cairo festival city project

State-owned Telecom Egypt has reached an agreement to supply UAE-based Al-Futtaim’s Real Estate Group with telecommunication services for its Cairo Festival City project.

“Telecom Egypt seeks to meet its clients’ needs in high-tech services at competitive prices,” said Mohamed El Nawawy, Telecom Egypt’s MD/CEO.

The project involves 300 retail shops, elegant administrative offices and a residential community comprising a large number of apartments and villas, worldwide hotels and international schools, all within a natural environment, Daily News Egypt reported.

The Egyptian company will provide services such as virtual private network (VPN), Dedicated Internet, data transfer and triple play, using advanced fibre optic technology that guarantees high quality voice output and provides users with access to fast internet, with speed reaching 10G per sec.

According to the MD, the agreement will propel the company towards achieving its vision of becoming the industry’s frontrunner by sponsoring key projects across the country’s telecom business sphere.

Its quest for market dominance was given a further boost today, after regulators disclosed plans to grant fixed-line and mobile operating licence in the coming weeks, which will allow Telecom Egypt provide mobile services to customers.

A detailed scan of the regional market was carried out to determine the most suited company to deliver quality services, The MD of Al-Futtaim’s Real Estate Development, Dr Mohamed Al-Mekawy noted.

“[The agreement was based] on a careful market study to determine the largest and most efficient service providers, not only in Egypt, but on a regional level,”

source: www.ventures-africa.com

Twitter to be available on entry level mobile phones without internet

Twitter Inc is tying up with a Singapore-based startup to make its 140-character messaging service available to users in emerging markets who have entry-level mobile phones which cannot access the Internet.

U2opia Mobile, which has a similar tie-up with Facebook Inc, will launch its Twitter service in the first quarter of next year, Chief Executive and Co-founder Sumesh Menon told Reuters.

Users will need to dial a simple code to get a feed of the popular trending topics on Twitter, 

More than 11 million people use U2opia's Fonetwish service, which helps access Facebook and Google Talk on mobile without a data connection.

Twitter, which boasts of about 230 million users, held a successful initial public offering last month that valued the company at around $25 billion.

U2opia uses a telecom protocol named USSD, or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, which does not allow viewing of pictures, videos or other graphics.

"USSD as a vehicle for Twitter is almost hand in glove because Twitter has by design a character limit, it's a very text-driven social network," Menon said.

Eight out of 10 people in emerging markets are still not accessing data on their phone, he said.

U2opia, which is present in 30 countries in seven international languages, will localise the Twitter feed according to the location of the user.

"So somebody in Paraguay would definitely get content that would be very very localized to that market vis a vis somebody sitting in Mumbai or Bangalore," he said.

The company, whose biggest markets are Africa and South America, partners with telecom carriers such as Telenor, Vodafone and Bharti Airtel. U2opia usually gets 30 to 40 per cent of what users pay its telecom partners to access Fonetwish

source: www.ibnlive.in

liquid Telecom scoops Best African Wholescale carrier award

Liquid Telecom has been named the Best African Wholesale Carrier for the second time at the Global Carrier Awards.

It is the second year in succession Liquid Telecom has won the gong, beating off strong competition from WIOCC, Orange and PCCW Global.

According to the panel of judges: “Liquid Telecom has again shown great promise and ambitious plans for development in Africa. It has aggressively targeted expansion of its fibre footprint in the continent and is attempting to access a range of countries where infrastructure maintenance remains the most challenging in the world.”

The judges said Liquid Telecom’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) strategy was a significant highlight to the company being recognised, with the firm having acquired four companies in 2013.

They also said the company commitment to serving the region’s communications sector was a key highlight, where Liquid Telecom has been diverting traffic as a result of multiple cuts to undersea cables to enable redundancy on a number of routes from Africa to Europe.

Nic Rudnick, Liquid Telecom’s chief executive officer (CEO), said: “At Liquid Telecom we celebrate the people who make it happen. This award is a real team effort and recognises our company’s drive and ambition to provide internet connectivity across the whole of Africa”.

It is the second week in a row Liquid Telecom has been recognised after it bagged Best Connectivity Solution in Africa at last week’s AfricaCom 2013, in Cape Town, for building the longest fibre links in Africa.

Organised by Capacity Magazine and now in its eighth year, the Global Carrier Awards have become the biggest and most prestigious awards event of the wholesale telecoms calendar.

HumanIPO reported  last week Liquid Telecom had built the first fibre optic cable into Somalia, connecting the country to undersea cables by fibre for the first time.

source: www.humanipo.com

Telecom Namibia cuts tariffs

Telecom Namibia’s lower tariffs have come into effect.

From 1 December, the tariffs for international calls have dropped by an average of 9%, with local call costs down by up to 15%.

Telecom Namibia says in a statement: “We have made it our goal at Telecom Namibia to make telecommunication most affordable to consumers of our services and products.

It is a pleasure to announce the new reduced tariffs to our consumers for the 2013/14 financial year with effect from 1 December 2013. This is part of the company’s efforts to stimulate traffic to key international destinations and facilitate economic growth and development. It is also important to note that there have been reductions in international settlement rates over the past years and it is necessary to pass these savings to consumers in order to stimulate demand for international calling services.”

Peak tariff for calls to RSA mobile destinations have been slashed by 8% while the off-peak RSA mobile and RSA fixed call charges were kept unchanged.

Peak tariffs for calls to Angola, Germany, UK, Portugal, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Australia, France and Kenya have been cut by an average of 10% while off-peak tariffs to the same destinations will be lowered by average 8.5% for both fixed and mobile destinations.

Call tariffs for the USA and Rest of the World have been reduced by 9% both mobile and fixed line destinations.

In aligning to prevailing settlement costs, tariffs to call Zimbabwe mobile will be increased to N$ 4.35 and N$ 5.15 per minute for postpaid and prepaid, respectively.

Telecom has introduced an attractive call plan for international callers. The Talk International package will enable fixed line residential customers (post-paid) to sign-up for a package and benefit from preferential tariffs to selected international destinations and bundled minutes.

Customers who sign-up for this call plan can call to all fixed and mobile RSA destinations at only 99c per minute.Calls to Germany, UK and USA will be charged at N$1.99 per minute for both fixed and mobile destinations.

Calls to Angola, Botswana and Zambia will be charged at N$ 1.49 per minute both fixed and mobile destinations.

The Talk International call plan attracts a subscription fee of N$199 per month and customers are awarded 100 FREE minutes to call international destinations. Activation of the package is FREE of charge.

source: biztechafrica.com

liquid telecom provides Somalia first fibre cable link to the world

a number of undersea fibre cable systems have landed on the shores of the African continent, it’s easy to assume that any country on the continent has reasonable access to these cables. More so countries in East Africa that have a huge shoreline. Easy to assume yes, but not the case with Somalia. Apparently, owing to conflict, Somalia has so far had no access to a fibre cable and has had to rely on expensive satellite links for internet.

That will now change as Liquid Telecom, the continent’s largest terrestrial fibre network operator, has finalised a deal with the Somalia’s Hormuud Telecom to link the mobile operator to its fibre network directly. The cable link will become Somalia’s first fibre connection and is set to improve internet speeds in the horn of Africa.

The announcement was made at the ongoing AfricaCom conference in South Africa by Liquid Telecom chief executive, Nic Rudnick. Liquid Telecom will link Somalia to cables that land in Kenya where it already has presence.

Rudnick also disclosed at the conference that his company will spend $250 million over the next two years in its mission to connect people and businesses on the continent to the internet. Liquid Telecom’s fibre cable network in Africa now spans 17,000 km connecting Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia and several other countries.

source: www.techzim.co

cell C, Mirage telecom start MVNE in South Africa

Cell C, Comverse and Mirage Telecom announced the launch of their joint project to set up a Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE. The live platform can provide cellular network services to potential new MVNOs throughout South Africa. The MVNE platform enables niche sectors and innovative thinkers to start building new businesses within the mobile technology space. As part of the agreement, Comverse will supply its telecommunications software to Mirage Telecom, and Cell C will provide the wholesale network capacity. This will allow Mirage Telecom to take on new MVNO partners and supply core network access. 

source: www.telecompaper.com

Alcatel-lucent focusing on LTE, divesting in 2G and 3G

Dave Geary, president of wireless at Alcatel-Lucent, told the Alcatel-Lucent Technology Symposium in New Jersey, United States, that LTE networks were “growing in unanticipated ways” and the company was focusing its attention on LTE in order to beat its competitors to a larger share of the growing market.

“Operators are investing in ultra broadband to get a competitive advantage,” he said. To those of us that use LTE it is undeniable that the quality of service is much better. It is undeniable that the adoption of the technology is growing and is exceeding expectations.”

He said that this translated into the opportunity for profitable growth, with a particular opportunity for those that are first to market. For this reason, he said Alcatel-Lucent was cutting investment in 2G and 3G and looking to the future.

“You don’t want to be spending money on old technology, you want to be spending it on the future,” Geary told HumanIPO on the sidelines of the conference. “2G and 3G have not been strongholds for us. It is in our advantage to cut investment there as soon as we can. Why invest in something that is well through its growth phase?”

The manufacturer and network specialists launched West Africa’s first commercially available LTE network in Ghana in July this year, in partnership with Surfline Communications, while it has also been working on 4G services with Smile Communications in Tanzania and completed superfast broadband trials with Tunisie Telecom in North Africa.

HumanIPO reported last week Alcatel-Lucent had partnered with data-only specialists YooMee to provide Cameroon with its first LTE network in the first quarter of 2014.

Geary said these investments formed part of Alcatel-Lucent’s broader strategy.

“Opportunities are moving to LTE and whoever gets there first has the opportunity to do very well,” he said. “We have single purpose on this, and that is around LTE, and scaling that.”

He said though there was still a long way to go, Alcatel-Lucent was in a strong position in terms of obtaining a strong position in the LTE market.

“I think we are getting better placed, and you have to make that judgement based on what you see,” Geary told HumanIPO. “The game is far from over. We are in the third innings here. There is a long way to go. That is going to take a long time, so we are not declaring victory, we know we have work to do.”

LTE networks are on the increase globally, with HumanIPO reporting in July a report compiled by the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) expected another 18 countries to obtain LTE networks by the end of 2013, although it is not clear whether any of those will come from Africa.

It predicts that by the end of the year there will be 260 live networks across 93 countries.

HumanIPO also reported in July earlier this month Huawei had already built 44 LTE networks in Africa, although the majority of those lie dormant, with operators holding back on going live until market conditions are right.

source: humanipo.com

China's Huawei to roll out 4G service in Ethopian capital

Ethiopia's state-run Ethio Telecom  had picked Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's second largest telecom equipment maker, to roll out a high-speed 4G network across the capital Addis Ababa.

The introduction of the service is part of a $1.6 billion deal signed in July and August between the Ethiopian firm, Huawei and ZTE, China's second-biggest telecoms equipment maker, to expand mobile phone infrastructure throughout the Horn of Africa country.

"In terms of allocation, Huawei will be responsible for the expansion of 4G in Addis Ababa, including other mobile services - the 2G, 3G, IP and the like," Abdurahim Ahmed, Ethio Telecom's head of communications, told Reuters.

Abdurahim said the allocation plan was finalized on Wednesday.

"It is expected to benefit more than 400,000 subscribers. Within an eight-month period, the expansion project of Addis Ababa, including 4G, will be completed."

The deal, signed by ZTE in August and Huawei a month before, will enable Ethiopia to double subscribers to more than 50 million by 2015 and expand 3G service throughout the country.

Both firms will split their work along 13 expansion areas.

The contract was awarded under a long-term loan package to be paid over a 13-year period with an interest rate of "less than 1 percent", Abdurahim said.

Africa's rapidly expanding telecoms industry has come to symbolize its economic growth, with subscribers across the continent totaling almost 650 million last year, up from just 25 million in 2001, according to the World Bank.

Ethio Telecom is the only mobile operator in the country of more than 80 million people, among the last remaining countries on the continent to maintain a state monopoly in telecoms.

The government has ruled out liberalizing its telecoms sector, saying the 6 billion birr ($321 million) it generates each year is being spent on railway projects. Ethiopia plans to build 5,000 km of railway lines by 2020.

Intel joins ITU telecom to explore educational transformation

ITU has announced that Intel Corporation, the global leader in silicon chip innovation, will join  ITU Telecom World 2013 as a partner, co-hosting sessions on leveraging the power of information and communication technologies (ICT) to transform education.

The leading networking, knowledge-sharing and innovation showcasing platform for the global ICT community, ITU Telecom World 2013 will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, 19-22 November, bringing together an influential audience of private and public sector leaders from across the world.

Intel Education Solutions, created in recognition of the need for quality education to prepare tomorrow's workforce in an increasingly global economy, will host three interactive panel sessions and a ministerial round table at the event, focused on harnessing investment in ICT to accelerate technology adoption, transform education and advance economies and societies:

Education Transformation: Content that Matters – how traditional educational material must evolve to make the most of broadband delivery and help students acquire 21st century skills

Education Transformation: Financing e-Learning Programmes – exploring the role of governments and public private partnerships in funding technology and multidisciplinary education projects

Education Transformation: From Vision to Action – learning lessons from current national and regional education transformation projects

Ministerial Roundtable on The Importance of ICT in 21st Century Education – bringing together the experiences, best practices and e-education initiatives of ministers from around the world

source : biztechafrica.com

minister of state for telecommunications affair receives djbouti minister of information

Minister of State for Telecommunications Affairs, Shaikh Fawaz Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa received in his office today Ali Hassan Bahdon, Minister of Communications in charge of Posts and Telecommunications, of the Republic of Djibouti, on the occasion of his visit to Bahrain. 


The Djibouti Minister will participate in the Arab Development Regional Forum of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), hosted by Kingdom of Bahrain. 

Shaikh Fawaz welcomed the Djibouti Minister, lauding the good bilateral relations bonding the two friendly countries and peoples, stressing the keenness to support and strengthen joint cooperation horizons, particularly in the area of telecommunications. 

Shaikh Fawaz highlighted the readiness of the Ministry of Telecommunications Affairs to cooperate with the Republic of Djibouti in the fields of training and benefiting from the advanced Bahraini experiences in the area of telecommunications and Information Technology, of which contribute in developing bilateral cooperation between both sides. 

During the meeting, Shaikh Fawaz reviewed the sustainable successes and achievements accomplished by Kingdom of Bahrain in the Telecommunications and Information Technology sector. He pointed out the important role of this sector in strengthening the comprehensive development march witnessed by the Kingdom at all levels. 

Meanwhile, Shaikh Fawaz wished the Djibouti Minister all success in his visit to Kingdom of Bahrain. 

For his part, the Djibouti Minister thanked and appreciated Shaikh Fawaz Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa’s keenness on strengthening the bilateral relations with his country, particularly in the field of telecommunications, showing his admiration of the witnessed progress and development in the Kingdom. 

Uganda readies for new telecom operator

A new mobile operator is setting the stage for the launch of its operations in Uganda and a number of other East African companies. With no name disclosed so far, the upcoming “innovative, socially responsible and maverick telecom operator” is offering internet users the opportunity to participate in the naming process with a campaign dubbed “Give Us a Name”.

With a promise being to raise the bar for subscribers, the new telecom, launching simultaneously in Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi with a creative “Give Us a Name” online and SMS campaign is giving East Africa the opportunity to nominate and vote for the best name.

The first phase of the “Give us a Name” campaign will run up to 4^th-December-2013, on-line, via SMS and on Facebook. In this phase, East Africa is being asked to propose names they would like the new telecom that is a real catalyst of change, a partner of the people and invest in communities to better their lives, to be called.

telecoms industry an investment haven

The Broadband Commission (a joint initiative of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) postulates that the Internet and other Information Communications Technology (ICT) platforms now constitute critical modern resources and are vital prerequisites for participation in today’s growing digital economy.

Eugene Juwah, executive vice chairman of NCC, had said the contribution of the Information and Communication Technology sector to the GDP was anticipated to rise to about 15 percent by 2015. He said this would be achieved by the government’s structured investment and regulatory intervention.

Since the introduction of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) in Nigeria, it has significantly impacted the economy in a variety of ways, enhanced personal and corporate communications and generally improved the quality of life across the country.

Nigeria’s teledensity

Latest data by regulator of the nation’s telecommunications industry says tele-density has increased from less than 63.11 percent by end of year 2010 to 85.25 percent in June 2013, which represents a 22.14 percent increase. In addition, active mobile subscriptions in Nigeria has grown to over 120 million in the last 12 years.

Teledensity is the percentage of connected lines in relation to the population in a given period of time, and its growth is proportional to the growth in telephone subscriber base.

The Commission said active telecoms subscriber base in the country peaked at 114.1 million as at the end of January 2013, an increase of 18.3 million lines or 19.1 percent, compared with the figure in the correspondent period of last year. According to the NCC, in 2012, the industry ended the year with combined subscriber base of 113.1 million up from 95.8 million in January, 2012.

Highlights of the latest industry data also reveals that telecoms firms continue to spend more on network upgrades to accommodate more subscribers and reduce teething challenges associated with quality of service.

Growing FDI

New Pyramid Research Report on Nigeria taking a five-year look at the country’s communications sector believes the fast-paced growth and the huge population, which exceeds 170.1million, will continue to make the country one of the most attractive markets in Africa and the Middle East.

The study, ‘Pyramid Perspective 2013: Top Trends in the Global Communications Industry’ provides information on top trends in telecoms landscape in Africa and Middle East (AME), Asian Pacific, Europe and Americas.

According to the study, eco nomic growth in emerging markets is expected to nearly quadruple the economic growth in developed markets. Telecom service revenue in emerging markets will increase five times faster than in developed markets.

The report sees massive growth and opportunities in the country’s telecom sector, particularly with the 2012 end subscription base of 113.1 million, which places Nigeria ahead of Egypt’s 95.5 million; and South Africa’s 71.8 million. Giving credence to the report’s assertion, the latest data published by the NCC puts the telecom subscriber base at over 120 million.

source: businesstodayonline.com

liquid telecom builds somalia's first cross- border fiber link

Wholesale African fibre optic supplier Liquid Telecom has built the first fibre optic link into Somalia, the company announced at AfricaCom in Cape Town.

The network connects the country to neighbouring countries, the rest of the world and even undersea cables by fibre for the first time in the country.

Specifically, the fibre link connects across the Kenya-Somalia border and then directly to the fibre network of Hormuud Telecom Somalia (Hortel) for local termination.

Hortel is a private telecommunications firm in Somailia that has over two million subscribers. The company offers a variety of telecommunication services such as GSM voice and text services, 3G, fixed line and data services.

Meanwhile, Hortel’s fibre network is planned to provide Liquid Telecom’s customers with robust connectivity in southern and central Somalia.

These customers, in turn, include the likes of fixed and mobile operators, wholesale carriers and enterprises.

“We will be providing the people of Somalia with access to the global internet at higher speeds and with more capacity available than ever before,” said Nic Rudnick, chief executive officer of the Liquid Telecom Group.

Hormuud Telecom chairman and chief executive officer, Ahmed Yuusuf, said, "The connection of the HORTEL network to Liquid Telecom's international fibre network is a landmark for Somalia and will provide our customers with the fastest and most cost effective communications speeds available. This is a significant accomplishment for both companies.”

Liquid Telecom’s pan-African fibre network spans more than 17,000 km across Botswana, DRC, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

It also provides connectivity into the five main subsea cable systems landing in Africa: the West African Cable System (WACS), the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (Eassy), SEACOM, SAT3 and the East African Marine System (TEAMs).

source : www.allafrica.com