Africa to benefit from ISOC, AfriNIC infrastructure project
The Internet Society (ISOC) and AfriNIC (African Network Information Center) have rolled out a collaborative project seeking to strengthen Internet infrastructure on the continent. The only way to maintain electronic commerce in the continent is by strengthening the infrastructure, said Adiel Akplogan, AfriNIC CEO. The project will help countries establish national Internet eXchange Points (IXPs) where service providers can peer. Up to now access has been routed through Europe or the U.S. The second phase is setting up copies of the DNS (Domain Name System) root servers, which allow faster access to Web sites and pages.
Nokia cautions customers against fake products in East and Southern Africa
Nokia East and Southern Africa has cautioned its costumers in the region against buying counterfeit Nokia handsets and called for urgent enactment of the law on counterfeit to curb the malpractice. Nokia East and Southern Africa Devices and Software Manager, Mose Onchwati said the market in the region was now full of counterfeit handsets that trade as genuine Nokia brands. He said the company would start educational radio programmes throughout East and Southern Africa region to educate its customers on how they can detect counterfeit and substandard Nokia handsets.
New Uganda interconnection rates could open market
The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) is set to regulate the interconnection fees that players in the mobile telecommunications sector pay when they carry traffic from other operators. A fixed interconnection rate is international practice, which the Ugandan market has yet to adopt. Today, every one of the five players in the Uganda market charges a high interconnection fee to maximize profit. When the termination fees are finally fixed, at the start of July, experts on the sector expect a drop in the call costs for the user. Interconnection refers to the commercial arrangements under which service providers connect their equipment, networks and services to each other in order to allow their customers to access services and networks of other providers.
Comesa chairman blasts Africa telecom infrastructure efforts
Eastern and Southern African countries have failed to develop their ICT infrastructure to enhance communication in the region, according to President Mwai Kibaki, also the chairman of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa). Last month at the North-South Corridor infrastructure development conference in Lusaka, Kibaki said that more achievements have been realized in telecom policy and regulatory harmonization than in physical telecom infrastructure development in the region. Comesa wants to develop the region’s telecom infrastructure through a broadband telecom project dubbed Comtel in order to boost communication. However, the project has over the past four years failed to take off.
African researchers rank Asus Eee computer over One Laptop Per Childs’s XO
Though the XO laptop from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project is aimed directly at children in developing nations, research by African universities and Computer Aid International ranks the Asus Eee PC netbook as a better choice for emerging economies. They were ranked, in order: the Asus Eee; the Intel Classmate; OLPC’s XO laptop; the Inveneo Computing Station; and Ncomputing’s X300. Asus has the best solution for an average individual owner and user in rural Africa who needs a low-power PC, while Ncomputing proved to be the more viable choice for many people in the educational field. The study found that though the XO is better overall in terms of power consumption, the Asus Eee netbook is, overall, better suited for Africa, a continent still grappling with issues of erratic power supply, dusty conditions, heat, low income and illiteracy, among other challenges.
News Round Up For April's Issue of Telecentre Times
ICT revenues in East Africa to hit USD 788 million by 2014
Revenues in the ICT sector in East Africa will rise to USD 788 million by 2014 due to a favourable business environment for internet service providers and growth in broadband connections. A report by market analyst Frost & Sullivan says the region’s lack of an undersea cable connection has meant that internet services have been prohibitive.
E-Gov forum calls for more Investments in ICT
Despite a remarkable growth in the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Africa, more investments in the sector are needed for improved and sustainable services. This was highlighted at the start of the 3 day ‘3rd annual African e-government Forum 2009’ that took place in Kigali,Rwanda on 25th March 2009. Delegates at the conference maintained that the use of telecommunications is progressing on the African continent but called for more initiatives to promote it.
Amid crisis, policymakers embrace mobile banking to reach unbanked poor
Despite regulatory challenges and the financial crisis, policymakers are embracing mobile banking as a means of providing financial access to the un banked poor. More than a billion people worldwide lack bank accounts, but do have mobile phones, providing a dramatic opportunity to achieve greater financial inclusion, according to officials that met in the UK in early March. “Mobile banking services offer millions of poor people a route out of poverty by helping them to improve their incomes and pay for health care and education. It is vital that policymakers ensure that the needs of the poor are central as they develop regulation for this innovative and emerging sector,” said Mike Foster, UK Minister for International Development
Rural schools need Internet, Govt told
Despite a remarkable growth in the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Africa, more investments in the sector are needed for improved and sustainable services. This was highlighted at the start of the three-day ‘3rd annual African e-government Forum 2009’ that took place in Kigali,Rwanda on 25th March 2009. Delegates at the conference maintained that the use of telecommunications is progressing on the African continent but called for more initiatives to promote it.
Ghana’s mobile phone sub scri ption hits 98% market penetration
Statistics obtained from the Ghanaian National Communications Authority (NCA) indicate that there are 11,962,224 active mobile phone sub scri ptions, representing 98% market penetration of the telecom industry. The recent figures indicate that whiles mobile phone sub scri ptions increased by some 16.8%, fixed sub scri ptions have been dropping since 2002.
SEACOM finally comes to Uganda
The construction of SEACOM’s 15,000 km fibre optic undersea cable, linking East Africa to the rest of the world is finally coming to Uganda. A number of major milestones have already been reached including ground breaking at the cable station landing sites in Mozambique and Kenya.
This signals the onset of a new era in the Information and Communications Industry in the East African region. Apparently, over reliance on satellite based data solutions is blamed for the high cost of internet in the region. The construction of this fibre optic will help develop appropriate infrastructure to oversee the rapidly increasing traffic.
Opportunities to be realized will include high quality broadband international connectivity at affordable rates; it will also provide access to untapped emerging markets in voice, mobile and internet traffic at lower costs. Payments to foreign telecommunications facility providers will also be reduced since there will be an improved high capacity optic fibre connectivity with in Eastern and Southern Africa to the rest of the world.
SEACOM will be the first cable to provide broadband to countries in East Africa which, at the moment, rely entirely on expensive satellite connections. With this in place, high speed data solutions, especially internet are expected with an increase in bandwidth. It is a fully funded private sector project with most of the ownership being in the hands of African entrepreneurs. Currently, SEACOM is the most advanced of all the broadband cable projects in the Eastern and Southern Africa regions. In South Africa, it is anticipated that SEACOM will greatly reduce bandwidth for universities and research institutions especially in international communications.
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