Sierra Leone Extends SIM Registration Deadline

Sierra Leone’s telecoms regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM), has extended the deadline for the country’s mobile subscribers to register their SIM cards by 60 days, local daily Awareness Times reports.

According to the regulator, the date has been pushed back as only 52% of wireless subscribers met the original 30 June 2010 registration deadline. NATCOM also said it received a large number of calls from the country’s subscribers and its mobile operators for the commission to reconsider the original deadline.

Wireless users have now been given until 30 August 2010 to register their SIM cards, or face the disconnection of their service.

Sierra Leone was home to around 2.34 million mobile customers at the end of March 2010, at which date Lintel SL (Africell) was the largest operator by subscribers with a market share of 37.5%.

Burindi Carriers Team Up To Build Fibre Line

A number of Burundian telecoms operators have joined forces to build out a national fibre-optic backbone network in the small African country, aided by the World Bank. The so-called ‘Burundi Backbone Systems’ group, which includes incumbent PTO Onatel, mobile operator Leo (formerly U-Com), Africell (owned by V-Tel and Palestinian Paltel), Econet Burundi and domestic ISP CBI Net.

Balancing Act reports that Burundi Backbone Systems will oversee the development of a 1,200km backbone and several international fibre links connecting the country to its neighbours in the next 18 months. The World Bank is contributing money to the scheme which will provide coverage throughout Burundi with cables laid alongside road routes, with 26 different nodes.

Zain, Africell Fined in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone’s telecoms regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM), has fined mobile operators Lintel SL (Africell SL) and Zain Sierra Leone USD50,000 each for violating the Telecommunications Act of 2003, local daily Concord Times reports. The duo were penalised for increasing the price of their recharge cards without first consulting with NATCOM, which is the only body permitted to approve tariff increases, 30 days after an operator has notified it in writing. ‘Section 52 [of the Telecommunications Act] says GSM operators should notify the commission in writing before any increase is made, while 53 says the commission should give approval,’ NATCOM’s public affairs manager, Abdul Kuyateh, explained.

The price hike was reportedly a response to the introduction of a new Goods and Services Tax (GST) tax on 1 January 2010, which led to confusion about pricing and subsequent shortages of calling cards. It is believed that some mobile operators increased the cost from SLL1,700 (USD0.43) for 50 units to SLL2,000 after the introduction of the GST, raising protests by consumers and a rebuke by NATCOM, which ordered cellcos to restore prices to previous rates until legal issues were resolved. Kuyateh stressed that cellco Comium SL does not have to pay the fine because it agreed to reduce its tariffs immediately after a meeting with the minister of information and communication. Lintel SL and Zain have been given until 18 January to pay their respective fines, or face further action from NATCOM.

Africell Now Part of Convergys Agreement

Convergys says that the Lintel Group has extended its preferred supplier relationship to provide prepaid and value-added services obtained from Convergys’ acquisition of Intervoice to Lintel’s mobile customers in West Africa. The Lintel Group provides GSM telecommunications services under the Africell name to more than 1.3 million subscribers in Sierra Leone and Gambia and has a nine-year relationship with Convergys.
Through its Relationship Technology Management business unit, Convergys is implementing additional licensing capacity and features to the Lintel Group’s prepaid platforms in Sierra Leone and Gambia to support subscriber growth and enhance the customer experience.
“Our partnership with Convergys has been one of continuous expansion over the years. Today, we are working together to solve the welcome issue of significant growth within the mobile markets the Lintel Group serves in Sierra Leone and Gambia,” said Ziad Dalloul, CEO and Chairman of the Lintel Group.
Africell Holding, Africell Gambia, Africell Sierra Leone, Africell RDC (Congo DRC), and Linfra are among Lintel group subsidiaries.

Econet Begins Burundi Operations

Mobile operator Econet Wireless has launched its operations in Burundi. The company has for the past year been setting up office, recruiting workers, installing masts and doing preliminary testing. Econet Wireless is now connecting clients for a one-month network testing.

According to East African Business Week, the public has received the new operator with enthusiasm. For quite a while, potential clients were bombarding Econet offices with requests as a result of the sometimes erratic connectivity of the existing service providers. Econet Burundi MD Darlington Mandivenga said during the first 30 days, customers will be connected to test the voice quality and coverage of the network as the technical team fine tunes everything. He said the Econet has "hundreds of thousands" of customers on it waiting list.

Currently, Telecel is the biggest player in the market using the trade name Ucom, with about 295,000 subscribers. The second largest is the state-run Onamob, which has 79,000 subscribers. It is followed by Africell, which recently rebranded to the name Tempo, with 23,000 subscribers.

Yanick Mugisha, the brand manager at Econet told East African Business Week the plan was to have over 100,000 subscribers in the first month. The clincher for Econet may be the SMS interconnection agreement it has signed with the other operators, as to date, mobile users could not send SMS from one mobile operator to the other.

The network testing will cover about 16 provinces where Econet has installed base stations. Econet hopes to cover 94 percent of the country by the time it launches its network in a month's time.