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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Internet News |
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13 Jan (TBA) Google threatens to quit China
Top Search engine group, Google, has said it may end its operations in China following a "sophisticated and targeted" cyber attack originating from the country.
Although the Internet giant did not accuse Beijing directly, it said it was no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine - google.cn.
This could result in closing the site, and its Chinese offices.
Google said the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists were the primary target of the attack, which occurred in December.
It said it had also discovered that the accounts of dozens of US, China and Europe-based Gmail users, who are "advocates of human rights in China", appeared to have been "routinely accessed by third parties".
The search engine has now said it will hold talks with the Chinese government in the coming weeks to look at operating an unfiltered search engine within the law in the country, though no changes to filtering had yet been made.
Google launched google.cn in 2006, agreeing to some censorship of the search results, as required by the Chinese government.
It currently holds around a third of the Chinese search market, far behind Baidu with more than 60%.
Google's decision to concede to China's demands on censorship in 2006 led to accusations it had betrayed its company motto - "don't be evil" - but Google argued it would be more damaging for civil liberties if it pulled out of China entirely.
China provides a fast growing Internet market. Nearly 340 million Chinese people now online, compared with 10 million only a decade ago.
Last year, the search engine market in China was worth an estimated $1bn and analysts previously expected Google to make about $600m from China in 2010.
But unlike most markets, Google comes second in search in China.
It has 31% of the market compared with about 60% controlled by market leader Baidu, which has a close relationship with the Chinese government. Yahoo has less than 10%.
Microsoft has a tiny share of the Chinese market with its new Bing search engine, but in December the technology giant said it was committed to China, calling it "the most important strategic market".
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Telecom News |
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10 Dec (TBA)Telkom Kenya launches 3G service trials
Telkom Kenya has launched trials of its 3G service in Nairobi, while mulling over the $25 million license fee demanded by the government for the 3G deployment.
The 3G technology is designed to enable mobile operators offer its users a wide range of advanced services, including high-speed data, efficiently while achieving greater network capacity.
Speaking to the press on Thursday, Telkom Kenya chief executive officer, Mickael Ghossein said industry players are engaging with the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) to reduce the $25 million (Sh1.9 billion) license fee charged by the government.
"Having already invested a substantial amount in this project, we would be happy to get a positive consideration from CCK to reduce the figure which may ultimately be a barrier to deepening communication services," Ghossein said.
He added that the spectrum fees charged for a 3G service rollout is currently way too much for Telkom Kenya and that if they had to pay the fee, the company would not be able to recoup it.
Asked on what figure he prefers, he said he would prefer the amount waived altogether.
Meanwhile, industry sources said tests for the 3G service will initially cover the city centre, Mombasa Road up to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Milimani area and Westlands.
Infrastructure firm, Ericsson will provide an end-to-end support for the Orange 3G network including design, implementation, rollout, testing and operations support.
Telkom Kenya joins Zain Kenya which recently said that it had plans to roll out its 3G service mid next year, but also insisted on the revision of the licence fees.
According to Zain, the current licence fee is prohibitive and offers low returns on investment, a situation that is not conducive to the firm rolling out its 3G.
Safaricom was first to roll out 3G services, obtaining a licence in October 2007 in the country in selected urban centres. It has around 1.65 million 3G customers.
On this issue, Safaricom says all operators should be treated equally as it wont be fair on their part if others don't pay since they had already paid.
Another operator, Essar Telkom, operating in Kenya under the Yu brand, is also said to be preparing plans to roll out the network.
According to the latest global statistics, 3G networks all over the world are facing capacity issues as mobile broadband becomes more popular.
It is predicted 3G mobile broadband users will soar to over two billion worldwide in the next five years.
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Telecom News |
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02 Aug (TBA) Blackout on West Africa online services
A fault on an undersea cable has wrecked havoc to large parts of West Africa’s online services.
Telecommunications experts say the fault has caused severe problems in Benin, Togo, Niger and Nigeria.
The blackout is thought to have been caused by damage to the SAT-3 cable which runs from Portugal and Spain to South Africa, via West Africa.
Around 70% of Nigeria's bandwidth was cut last week, causing severe problems for its banking sector, government and mobile phone networks.
"SAT-3 is currently the only fibre optic cable serving West Africa," said Ladi Okuneye, chief marketing officer of Suburban Telecom, which provides the majority of Nigeria's bandwidth. "So all West African countries have to use it."
Okuneye said companies were being forced to use alternatives - such as using satellite links - to maintain connections to the rest of the world.
Telkom South Africa, one of the shareholders of SAT-3, has not commented on the cause of the problems, but said it was aware of "a cable fault on the Benin branch that is being investigated".
The 15,000km (9,300mile) SAT-3 cable lands in eight West African countries as it winds its way between Europe and South Africa.
Nigeria has been badly hit because around 70% of its bandwidth is routed through neighbouring Benin.
The network, run by Suburban Telecom, was set up to bypass Nigeria's principal telecoms operator Nitel which runs the SAT-3 branch cable which lands in Nigeria.
Telecommunications experts said the SAT-3 consortium is in the process of sending a ship from Cape Town in South Africa to the area to investigate the fault.
However, Okuneye told the press that by the time the relevant paperwork was done, it was likely to be "two weeks" before the ship arrived off the coast.
Meanwhile, Benin has been able to reroute its net traffic through neighbouring countries to get back online. Togo and Niger, which are not part of the SAT-3 consortium, remain offline.
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Telecom News |
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 23 Jan Libya to launch advanced Internet WiMax
Libya Telecom and Technology, Libya’s only internet service provider is set to launch its first commercial wireless network.
The state-owned firm says its system will be one of the most advanced in the world, as only a handful of countries have rolled out the advanced internet connection known as WiMax on such a wide scale.
It is estimated that the new service will cost around $30 (£21) per month - twice the existing cost of broadband - although prices are expected to drop in the long-run.
Libya Telecom and Technology aims to start with WiMax coverage, including a mobile feature, in 18 cities.
Africa is seen as a potentially huge market for WiMax technology.
The network is meant to be cost effective in the long run and does not depend on often poor conventional wire infrastructure.
Anyone with a simple USB device which can be plugged into a laptop can connect to the internet within 50km (30 miles) of any WiMax tower.
Six years ago most Libyans depended on internet cafes to connect to the web, but technology has moved a long way since then. The new WiMax network, which has a capacity for 300,000 subscribers, will begin taking on business clients from next week and individual customers the week after.
Other African countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria also have WiMax networks, but their coverage is more fixed and limited.
There are an estimated 51,000 broadband subscribers in Libya and some 170,000 still depend on the much slower dial-up internet.
Both of these connections need a fixed phone-line, a service that has come under massive pressure in recent years because the available infrastructure is outdated and limited in coverage.
The WiMax network is meant to do away with all these hurdles and bridge the digital divide, making the internet available to people across the country.
Analysts say it will be difficult for the average Libyan to afford the initial cost of the new WiMax service, since a one-year advance payment of around $400 (£290), including the cost of a USB device, will be required from subscribers.
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Telecom News |
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 24 June T-mobile cuts EU rates
T-Mobile has announced a reduction in international roaming rates for Internet access and mobile broadband within the EU, by 80% from GBP7.50 per megabyte to GBP1.50. The new rates will come into effect on July 1, 2008.
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Telecom News |
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 28 Mar Kenya Safaricom share floatation
Kenya has launched a share flotation of Safaricom, the state-owned and the country's largest mobile phone network.
Reports in Kenya said the government is selling off a 15% stake in the company, which is expected to raise around $750m (£376m).
Analysts said the share sale, which had been greatly oversubscribed, will be the largest flotation ever on the Kenyan stock market, with ordinary citizens the bulk of the buyers.
Currently, the government is believed to own 60% of Safaricom with the other 40% in the hands of UK giant Vodafone. However, media reports in Kenya speculate that another firm called Mobitelea, which is registered in Guernsey in the Channel Islands, holds 10% of the shares.
Kenya’s Finance Minister, Amos Kimunya (pictured) has however dismissed reports that opposition party leader, Raila Odinga, who is on the verge of being installed as Prime Minister in a government of national unity, has reservations with regard to Mobitelea’s undisclosed shareholding in Safaricom.
"The reservations over the IPO are not valid. I spoke to Raila and he endorsed the IPO," the minister said on Wednesday.
Safaricom, which recorded a profit of US$370m from a total revenue of US$700m in 2007, is the most profitable company in the whole of east Africa. The company employs more than 1,000 people.
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Telecom News |
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01 Dec Econet raises Zimbabwe tariffs by 450%
Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe's biggest mobile phone operator says it has raised tariffs by over 450 percent in an attempt to cope with the effects of inflation, currently pegged around 14 000 percent.
Econet Wireless chief executive officer, Douglas Mboweni, told the press this week that his company had raised rates from Z$7 500
to Z$43 000 a minute for local calls and from Z$15 000 to Z$89 000 for international calls.
Mboweni said sub-economic rates charged by the company had led to a deterioration of communication services offered by the mobile firm and stifled the company's expansion projects.
"We are failing to manage infrastructure because revenue has become too low due to low tariffs against high inflation and other operational costs. Construction of sites and base stations to increase subscriber base was affected by the low tariffs and where construction was taking place, it was at a slower pace due to reduced revenue," said Mboweni.
Furthermore, Mboweni said with the new rates, Econet will go ahead with work that began earlier this year to add capacity to its network and increase its subscriber base from the current 800 000 to 1.2 million by February 2008.
Meanwhile, analysts said severe electricity shortages in Zimbabwe has hit mobile phone operators in the country hard, with calls failing to go through between networks.
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Telecom News |
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31 Oct. 07 Celtel buys $120m telecom stake in Ghana
Celtel International, a subsidiary of Zain (formerly MTC Group) has signed an agreement to acquire 75% of Western Telesystems Ltd (Westel) from the Government of Ghana for US$120m.
Ghana’s stake in Westel is now only 25%. The transaction is subject to standard approvals and authorizations and is expected to be concluded quickly.
Westel is the second national operator in Ghana and is licensed to provide fixed and mobile (GSM) telecommunications services. The Zain Group, the leading mobile telecommunications network in the Middle East and Africa.
The acquisition of Westel solidifies Zain's leading position in Africa under the Celtel brand, where it covers 14 countries with over 24 million customers. With the addition of Ghana, Celtel's presence in Africa will expand to 15 countries, making the Zain Group's total footprint 22 countries.
Commenting on the deal Dr. Saad Al Barrak, Zain's CEO, said: "We are very excited to enter Ghana, one of the most important markets in Africa. We look forward to offering Ghanaians the quality telecommunications services which we provide in all the countries in which we operate. Based on our pan-African experience we are confident that the increased competition in telecommunications will benefit the people of Ghana and support the already robust national economy of the country."
Ghana’s Minister of Communications Dr. Benjamin Aggrey Ntim said: "The Government of Ghana is delighted to welcome a world class telecommunications operator such as Celtel to Ghana, and we look forward to working together as partners. We are also very pleased to announce that the parties have agreed to list a portion of the company's shares in the future on Ghana's public stock exchange for the benefit of Ghanaians."
Celtel said it looks forward to promoting Ghana as a gateway to West Africa through its One Network, the world's first borderless network. This offers Celtel's customers the opportunity to move freely across geographical borders using the same services they would access in their home country, and to make calls without roaming surcharges and without having to pay to receive incoming calls and messages.
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Telecom News |
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14 June Zimbabwe to monitor phones, emails
The lower house of Zimbabwe's parliament passed a Bill on 13 June 2007 allowing the government to monitor phones, mail and the internet to protect national security.
Opposition members said that they feared the Bill would pave the way for President Robert Mugabe's government to curtail freedom of speech and breach privacy.
The Interception of Communications Bill passed the lower house without amendments and will now be sent to the upper house, where it is expected to face little opposition. Mugabe's party holds a majority in both houses.
Zimbabwe’s transport and communications minister, Chris Mushohwe, told the press that the Bill was necessary to combat criminal activities that could threaten national security. He added that similar legislation existed in the United States, Britain, Canada and South Africa.
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Telecom News |
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21 March MTC Zambia investment tops $130m
MTC Group's new investments in Zambia will exceed US$130 million during 2007 according to the company’s Managing director Saad Al-Barrak. This will bring the total MTC investment so far to around US$400 million through its local subsidiary, Celtel. Dr Saad, who announced the setting up of a US$ 250,000 fund for children in Zambia while on a two day visit to the country recently, said the Celtel Bursary Fund will pay for five years of education fees for vulnerable children. Celtel launched its Build Our Nation programme two years ago in partnership with the Zambian Ministry of Education. Since then the company has donated more then US$120,000 worth of text books and educational supplies to more than 20 government owned schools across in Zambia. MTC was launched in 1998, and has over 1.33 million active customers in Zambia where its services cover all nine provinces. It is Zambia’s most innovative mobile phone operator being the first to introduce GSM services. It was also the first to introduce roaming, the first to have both per-second and per-minute billing as well as offering customers a wide range of advanced data and voice services. MTC Group acquired the pan African mobile telecomm operator Celtel International in April 2005.
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Cellphones |
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Dec 05 Cell phones crucial in rescue missions
Cellular phone networks have become an important tool in the search and rescue missions, especially for people lost in remote areas, experts say.
Citing the case of CNET Reviews editor, James Kim and his family who disappeared in Oregon during a Thanksgiving road trip, experts say the rescue of James' wife, Kati, and their two children could not have been achieved were it not for the signal from a mobile phone carried by one of them.
Kati and her two children were found safe on Monday afternoon. Searchers are still looking for James Kim, who left his family on Saturday in search of help.
Authorities said the cell phone signal indicated only that the family had been within a 26-mile radius of Glendale, where the tower is located. But people at Edge Wireless took this information and mapped the area, providing an approximate location of the Kims' vehicle, the sheriff's department spokesman said. And using this information, authorities sent out rescue teams, which eventually located Kati Kim and her children.
Joe Farren, director of public affairs for CTIA-The Wireless Association, a trade organization representing mobile operators, cited the experience of the Kim family as the reason why people must opt-in to services that allow tracking.
"Wireless phones are an incredible safety tool," he said. "They are the most valuable tool invented for some time. They save scores of lives. And they will continue to get better."
Phones sold today by Alltel, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel have GPS technology embedded in them to fulfill the E911 government mandate. The GPS chips allow authorities to send signals or pings directly to these handsets to find an approximate location of the phone.
Some cell phone operators, such as Disney Mobile, Boost Wireless and Helio, are using GPS-enabled phones to provide tracking services.
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Telecom News |
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Nov 29 Zimbabwe army calls for monitor of mobiles
The use of independent connections to the outside world, by Zimbabwe’s mobile phone operators is seen as a threat to national security by Zimbabwe’s military, according to reports in the government-owned daily, The Herald, on Tuesday.
The newspaper quoted Zimbabwe Defence Forces director for communications, Colonel Livingstone Chineka as saying: "The mobile service providers have their own international gateway system, and from a security point of view, this is dangerous to the state because we need to monitor traffic coming in and outside, but at the moment we can not."
Chineka said the three mobile phone firms in the country should route international calls through the state-owned fixed line operator TelOne, and not use their own gateways, in order to make it easier to monitor international traffic.
A Zimbabwe court this month suspended a government statute forcing mobile
operators to route international calls through TelOne after a challenge by
the country's two private firms, Econet Wireless and Telecel Zimbabwe.
The two companies had argued that re-routing calls through TelOne was meant
to subsidise the loss-making state company, Net*One, the third mobile
operator owned by the government.
Civil groups challenging the "Interception of Communication Bill" insist that it is part of a crackdown which has included tough policing and political intimidation to
stifle criticism of an economic crisis many blame on President Robert
Mugabe's policies.
"We want to listen, to make sure the nation is safe. If we liberalise the
gateways then it means there would be a group of people who would
communicate without our knowledge," Chineka was quoted as saying by the
government-controlled daily Mirror.
Econet has the largest subscriber base in Zimbabwe and is expected to notch around 800,000 subscribers by the end of this year.
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Telecom News |
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Nov 27 EMAILS FOR ‘NOT SO SMART PHONES’
Seven Networks, a provider of wireless e-mail software, and service provider Alltel Wireless on Monday announced that they have extended the capability of cell phones which use the Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless, (Brew), to receive wireless push e-mail.
Analysts said the development will enable mobile users with cell phones such as the popular Motorola Razr and an Alltel subscription, to receive wireless e-mail and get access to their contacts through Seven's Office Sync software for Brew.
Office Sync is available in two versions: Enterprise Server Edition for businesses and Personal Edition for individuals and smaller businesses.
Smartphones have been coming down in price and new ones have entered the market targeted at both consumers and professionals, such as Motorola's Moto Q and Research In Motion's BlackBerry Pearl. But the price of smartphones is still high, ranging between $200 and $300 (with a service subscription).
Businesses that choose not to deploy smartphones to their employees can purchase the new service through Alltel's business channel for $15 a month, which includes unlimited data, according to the company.
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Telecom News |
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Nov 26 AFRICA TOPS MOBILE PHONE MARKET
The wireless revolution has astounded mobile phone market analysts by placing Africa on top of the league as the world’s fastest-growing market. At the start of 2000, there were eight million subscribers in Africa. According to a report by Informa, a telecoms analyst, there are now more than 100 million mobiles in use on the continent — one for every nine Africans.
Yet as recent as 2003, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) forecast that there would be only 67 million users by the end of 2005.
In South African cellular operator, Vodacom, has estimated that the South African market will reach 48-million by 2012. In September 2006, Vodacom South Africa had an estimated 59% market share, up from 57% at the end of September 2005. The market penetration of the cellular industry in South Africa is now an estimated 72,2% of the population, Vodacom noted.
Vodacom also reported a customer base increased of 28,1% in South Africa to 20,2-million last September. In the rest of Africa, customers increased by 61,5% in Tanzania to 2,6-million; by 64% in Vodacom Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo) to two million; by 39,2% in Lesotho to 238 000; and by 106,5% in Mozambique to 694 000.
In South Africa, the 28,1% increase in the customer base was driven by growth in both the prepaid and contract market.
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Strategic alliance |
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Nov 14 YAHOO TIES UP WITH VODAFONE
Yahoo Inc the online search engine giant and Vodafone Group PLC the largest mobile phone company in the world, today announced a strategic alliance to create a mobile advertising business.
Industry analysts said the deal, which will make Yahoo, Vodafone’s exclusive display advertising partner in the UK, has immense potential, as online advertising is now widely recognised as the fastest growing sector in the market.
Vodafone has 16 million customers in the UK. They will be offered free music downloads or extra text messages if they sign up to receive ads ranging from simple text messages to full stream video ads.
Vodafone chief executive Arun Sarin declined to forecast how much money his company is likely to make from the venture. But he was quoted in the press saying: “The profits are likely to be quiet good.”
It is envisaged that the service, which will be optional, will be launched in May or June 2007. Vodafone made a profit of £3.9 billion in 2005.
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| TELECOMMUNICATION - Telecom News |
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Nov 13 TELKOM SHARES BLIP UP
Telkom SA, the largest communications group in South Africa today announced positive Group Interim Results for the six months ended September 30, 2006.
Announcing the headline earnings per share growth of 10.6% to 874.7 cents per share, Telkom’s CEO, Papi Molotsane said the Group had delivered a “commendable performance across all business segments.”
Analysts said continued growth in the fixed-line and mobile business was pivotal to Telkom’s performance. Incidentally, Telkom’s market share in the mobile telephone sector now stands at around 59%.
Meanwhile, industry sources said news that Britain's Vodafone Group Plc had agreed to allow Vodacom, which is jointly owned by Vodafone and Telkoms, to expand anywhere in Africa except Kenya and Egypt, has been welcomed by investors.
Molotsane also said that Telkom is hoping to expand into new markets and that it was considering moving into potentially lucrative markets in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Kenya and Angola.
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