Malawi cancels GAIN's Licence

The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has said it has revoked the wireless licence of Global Advanced Integrated Networks (GAIN), which intended to provide services under the G-Mobile banner.

According to local news source Nyasa Times, the cellco’s concession was withdrawn because of its failure to meet specific rollout targets stipulated under the terms of its licence. GAIN was awarded Malawi’s third mobile licence in July 2008.

The cellco received an extension to its network rollout deadline in March 2010, after it admitted that it would not be able to meet the original condition of its licence to rollout by end-2009. After the operator failed to meet the new deadline of 12 April 2010, the local press reported that MACRA had started the process to revoke GAIN’s concession.

Reacting to MACRA’s decision to withdraw GAIN’s licence, the firm’s lawyer Ralph Kasambara said the regulator acted in contempt of court, because the matter is undergoing judicial review.  On 20 May 2010 GAIN was given 30 days to pay a USD6.9 million fine issued by regulator MACRA for failing to deploy its wireless network.

However, the cellco took the matter to the High Court in Mzuzu and gained an injunction against the penalty until a judicial review could be carried out. Since then, GAIN said it has begun to deploy its infrastructure; the cellco partnered Telkom Management Services of South Africa to help it plan and deploy a network and said it was using ZTE of China as an equipment supplier.

In August the company announced that it would invest USD150 million in the next three years and earlier this month revealed that South African private equity investor Musa Capital would invest around USD30 million in the firm. Musa Capital owns 50% of South Africa’s Beryl Telecoms, which holds the majority stake in GAIN.

Kenya's Digital Village Project Gets IBM Boost

Kenya’s Digital Village initiative, which was rolled out in 2008 with the purpose of narrowing the digital divide between rural and urban areas, and accelerating the growth of ICT in Kenya, received a boost when a team of IBM Corporate Service Corps consultants (CSC) from seven different countries arrived in Nairobi for a one month project aimed at defining a rollout strategy for the project.

Under regulations introduced by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) in 2009, each constituency in Kenya should have at least five digital centres, complete with computers and internet connectivity. IBM’s eleven-strong team will start work in Machakos, joining forces with the ICT Board and the Ministry of Information and Communication.

The IBM-guided initiative will run alongside similar programmes that are currently being rolled out by other Kenyan telcos as they seek to meet new regulatory requirements.

IBM CEO Samuel J. Palmisano commented: ‘People are on the ground in Machakos to help the government realise its aim of extending the reach of digital services to rural areas. This will form part of our drive to boost ICT use in countries like Kenya.

IBM is well known for helping public and private sector organisations around the world to leverage technology to drive innovation and do things smarter. The Kenya initiative is part of a programme in Africa which began in 2008 through which IBM has deployed teams to Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa’.

Zain Introduces Low Price Vouchers As Price war rages On

After reducing its calling rate by 50% just a fortnight ago, Zain Kenya, the second largest mobile telephony operator in Kenya, has introduced Sh5 and Sh10 denomination airtime vouchers to the market.


Zain Kenya Managing Director Rene Meza said the move was aimed at complementing its recent 50% reduction on call charges.

“We are offering a wide range of scratch card denominations to suit the needs of all individuals. Access to telecommunication services is no longer a luxury but an integral part of each Kenyan’s socio-economic needs,” said Meza.

Meza said the lowering of tariffs was only the first ace up Zain’s sleeve, adding that the operator would be able to match any move its competitors made.

The Kenyan mobile telephony industry is currently experiencing cutthroat competition, with networks introducing various incentives to lure customers.

According to the Communications Commission of Kenya’s latest statistics, Zain was closing in on the two million-subscriber mark.

Zain becomes the second operator to introduce the Sh5 and Sh10 vouchers after Safaricom made a similar move in November 2009.

“We would like to enable our subscribers to enjoy our new low calling rates without hindrance. The low denomination scratch cards that we have introduced onto the market underpin our continued commitment to make access to telecommunication services in Kenya more affordable,” he said.

Meza said Zain Kenya would continue enriching the customer experience through providing affordable and flexible services in line with changing market needs.

“We are very happy with the way the Kenyan market has received our new approach to business. We are confident that we will be able to reclaim a significant portion of the market share as we pursue our goal of attaining market leadership,” he said.

He revealed that Zain had embarked on an upgrading programme for its infrastructure to cope with growing call traffic.

Last month Bharti Airtel announced that it had released Sh24 billion in capital investment into the Kenyan operation following acquisition of the company.

Zain Nigeria Enables Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo Via SMS

Zain Nigeria has introduced a new service that enables mobile phone users to keep connect with leading social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo via SMS (short message service).

The new Social Networking services will help users rise above the barrier of internet data access and enjoy a quick link up with friends, former school-mates, colleagues and notable personalities amongst others, on Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo simply by sending SMS to specified numbers

According to Deepak Srivastava, Zain Nigeria’s Chief Operating Officer, the new services demonstrate the company’s commitment to enhancing customers’ lifestyles by providing alternate means of blogging and social networking irrespective of the availability of internet data access on the PC or on data-enabled handsets.
Zain’s Twitter SMS service is designed to create direct access to tweets from customers’ mobile phones especially where there is no data access or they do not have data-enabled handsets. With Zain’s twitter SMS, subscribers can receive TWITTER notifications, tweet and update their profiles directly on their phones via SMS.

Yahoo Open Chat is an SMS-based service which enables customers to send and receive Yahoo chat messages, without the need for internet access. This service is exclusive to prepaid customers who have valid existing and operational yahoo accounts i.e. valid Yahoo user name and password.

To enjoy the Facebook SMS service, customers are expected to send “ON” to 40405 to activate the service on their phones, and follow all subsequent instructions.
On how to connect to the Twitter Service, he said, customers are required to send an SMS with the word, ‘START’ to 40404.

Srivastava said that customers can connect to the Yahoo Open Chat service by sending the letter L followed by Customer’s Username space Password to the short code: 38660, that is, L haykay2005 XXXXX to 38660, saying that customers are advised not to include @yahoo.com at the end of username.

The first three days of activating Yahoo Open Chat is free while customers are billed N100 for subsequent three days. Twitter and Facebook SMS cost N9 and N10 respectively per SMS.

Bharti Seeks Bids For New Towers

Bharti Airtel, which acquired the African Zain’s African assets a few months ago is seeking bids to set up towers in Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania. The Business Standard reports that the company would award contracts for infrastructure equipment and turnkey projects to build towers sometime next month. 

Bharti, which acquired Zain’s African assets for $10.7 billion in the largest deal this year, is under pressure to cut costs and turnaround its African assets. It also plans to implement its minute factory model, a success in India. Bharti has outsourced the company’s networking and information technology backbone, and targets low usage customers in addition to high-end customers.

Minute factory model allows the company to add network as and when the user numbers increase. It does not require Bharti to invest heavily in network infrastructure and reduces fixed costs.

“The company says the average minutes of usage (MoUs) per subscriber in Africa are lower than 100 (one-third of Indian MoUs), and there is, therefore, potential for exploring usage elasticity and replicating the minute factory model,” said HSBC in a report released during the Zain acquisition.

Algeria Hires Experts to Value Djezzy

­The Algerian government will be hiring international consultancy firms to put a valuation on Orascom Telecom's local subsidiary, Djezzy and expect the process to be completed by the end of this year.

Orascom Telecom has previously indicated that it puts a valuation of $7.8 billion on the company, although analysts doubt the government would offer more than US$5 billion.

"We have a ministerial committee. We have also an Algerian consultancy firm working with foreign consultancy firms to determine the financial value of Djezzy," Telecommunications Minister Moussa Benhammadi told the Reuters news agency.

Finance Minister Karim Djoudi, also present at Thursday's session of parliament , said on the latest developments over Djezzy: "We are still ready to buy it. We have started the evaluation to prepare for the acquisition talks."

The future of the Algerian network has been under discussion for several months, with the Algerian government unwilling to let Orascom sell the company, while also suggesting that it wants to buy the firm itself.

Vimpelcom Announces 23% Grouth In Revenues, Confirms Wind Bid

Russia-based telecoms group Vimpelcom has announced revenues of USD2.64 billion for the three months ended 30 June 2010. This figure represents an increase of 23.1% from USD2.15 billion one year earlier. However, net income for the same period slumped from USD700.5 million to USD334.7 million, a drop of 52.2%.

The group’s domestic unit saw revenues increase 4.4% to RUB61.74 billion, of which RUB51.83 billion (USD2.01 billion) was derived from Vimpelcom’s mobile unit, a rise of 5.3% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the group’s fixed line operations generated RUB9.91 billion, and increase of 0.1% from 2Q09. In operational terms Vimpelcom recorded 50.91 million mobile subscribers as at 30 June, a rise of 1.9% year-on-year. Of these, 1.3 million used the company’s Russian 3G network, up 70.4% from 763,000 in 2Q09. Vimpelcom saw fixed broadband subscriber figures increase 33.8%, from 896,000 to 1.2 million as at end-June.

Alexander Izosimov, Vimpelcom’s CEO commented: ‘Our second quarter results show positive dynamics, reflecting economic recovery in major markets and seasonal trends. Revenues increased substantially as a result of both Kyivstar consolidation [in Ukraine] and strong organic growth across all key segments of our business. The mobile segment in Russia delivered its highest ever quarterly rouble revenues. Quarterly revenue and margin dynamics in Ukraine improved substantially on a like-for-like basis. In Kazakhstan, our largest market in the CIS segment, the strong quarterly results also reflect the macroeconomic recovery.’

Isozimov also confirmed reports that Vimpelcom is in talks with Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris' holding vehicle Weather Investments to buy a majority stake in Egypt-based telecoms group Orascom as well as Italian full-service operator Wind. The CEO said, 'We are in talks with them as well as others,' without giving further details.

Zimbabwe Extends SIM Registration Deadline Indefinitely

Zimbabwe's telecoms regulator, Potraz has announced an extension to the deadline for pre-paid SIM card users to register their details with the telecoms networks. The deadline which should have come into effect on Wednesday has now been extended to an "indefinite date".

A new deadline will be established within the coming weeks, Nelson Chamisa, the Minister of Information, Communications and Technology told The Herald newspaper.

"People have been worried and concerned about issues of security, issues of privacy, secrecy and confidentiality. But when one weighs issues of the demerits and the merits, using the cost benefit analysis, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages," he added.

However, despite the minister's assurances, the registration remains controversial because not all mobile phone users may be willing to turn over personal information to the mobile networks.

This is because of fears that the personal information collected could be used for government or security surveillance purposes. Under Zimbabwean laws, it is a criminal offense to spread falsehoods using a mobile phone, especially those deemed prejudicial to the state.

eFive Choses Alcatel-Lucent For Undersea Cable

South African telco eFive Telecoms has selected Alcatel-Lucent to build a new submarine cable network linking the west coast of Africa to South America, the French/US equipment vendor has announced. The network will consist of two trunks – the first one connecting South Africa to Angola and Nigeria, and a second trunk linking Angola to Brazil.

Alcatel-Lucent has confirmed that it will be in charge of the project end-to-end, with responsibility for the system’s design, manufacture and installation. The cable will be maintained by Alcatel-Lucent through its Atlantic Private Maintenance Agreement (APMA), which currently covers over 100,000km of submarine cable infrastructure from the west coast of Africa to the Caribbean and as far north as Greenland.

Lawrence Mulaudzi, managing director of eFive Telecoms commented: ‘We believe that high-growth areas such as the African continent require the development of new projects. The planned submarine network will also provide cable route diversity to South America, making the most economical and operational sense in the current landscape’. Philippe Dumont, head of Alcatel-Lucent’s submarine network division added: ‘Growth in African internet and mobile telephony is driving service providers’ demand for more connectivity options to ensure higher reliability, as well as increased widespread access to bandwidth.

This project will further position Africa as a major hub for broadband connectivity’.

Cote d'Ivoire Gets First Tower Company

Cote d'Ivoire's first independent tower company "SWAP Technologies and Telecomms Limited" (SWAP) has gone live with its first cell sites built for co-location. SWAP commenced telecoms services operations in Abidjan in 2009 with the objectives of providing infrastructure support services to the industry in Cote d'Ivoire by construction of BTS and managed services.

According to Dammy Olarinde, Country Director & Head International Operations of SWAP CI: "This is a very exciting time for the mobile industry in Cote d'Ivoire, which is set for rapid growth. We are open for business now and ready with our extensive expertise and local experience to partner further with mobile operators."

"We'll manage their towers and help them rapidly roll out new sites so that they can focus on their customers whilst reaping the compelling economic benefits of tower sharing without having to make any additional capital expenditure."

SWAP is an African-focused tower company that owns, builds, manages and maintains telecom towers for mobile operators.

SIM Registration Deadline in Kenya Ends, Users Given Upto 16th September

Kenya’s four mobile phone operators will be required to disconnect any subscribers that have not registered their SIM cards by 16 September, it has been announced. The ruling follows the conclusion of the national SIM card registration exercise, whose deadline expired on 31 August.

Information and Communication Permanent Secretary Dr Bitange Ndemo has confirmed that operators have been given 15 days to compile updated subscriber databases following the two-month exercise.

Although disconnections are technically left to the operators’ own discretion, Dr Ndemo suggested that it is in their best interests to do so: ‘If I was to report that someone perpetrated a crime against me and the police went to the operator and find the number is not in their register, then the operator will be held accountable’.

According to the CCK, approximately 80% of subscribers have complied with the government directive. At 25 August market leader Safaricom had registered 84% of its subscribers, Zain Kenya 65%, and Telkom Kenya (Orange) 50%, whilst Essar Telecom reported the lowest rate for registration, with just 29% of subscribers submitting their details.

Based on total subscriber figures and market share per network, this means that around four million of Kenya’s 20 million mobile phone subscribers could find themselves disconnected later this month. Charles Njoroge, Director General of the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) said that all operators are obliged to inform subscribers before disconnecting them for non-registration.

Rwanda's National Fibre Line Deployment Reaches 50% Mark

Deployment of Rwanda’s 2,300km national fibre-optic backbone is over halfway to completion, with around 1,380km of fibre already rolled out across the country, local daily The New Times reports, citing ICT Minister Ignace Gatare.

According to Gatare, two major regional links – which connect the capital Kigali to Gatuna and Rusumo – are already covered and two more regional routes – linking Kigali and Kanyaru, and Kigali with Rubavu – will be completed by the end of September.

He added that construction of the backbone will be finished by the end of the year, with the network scheduled to be fully operational by April 2011.

The Rwandan government signed a USD40 million deal with South Korean incumbent telco KT Corp in October 2008 to supply and install the national fibre-optic backbone. The network will connect 317 institutions (97 in Kigali and 220 outside the capital) in all 30 districts, and connect all nine of Rwanda’s borders.

The government hopes the infrastructure will boost access to broadband services, including e-governance, e-banking, e-learning and e-health, and facilitate IT-based foreign direct investments in areas such as business outsourcing.

Algerian State TV Stops Airing Djezzy Ads Over Orascom Dispute

­The dispute between Orascom Telecom and the Algerian government appears to have escalated after the country's state-owned television channels all stopped running adverts for the OTH's local mobile network, Djezzy.

Algerian state television, which controls all the country's terrestrial stations, refused to renew an annual advertising contract with Djezzy, an unnamed source with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters.

"They (state television) are no longer agreeing to run Djezzy's ads," said the source, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The timing is interesting as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is typically one of the strongest selling periods for companies operating in the country.

Adverts are continuing to be run on radio and in newspapers, while satellite television networks that operate overseas but are watched in Algeria are also running adverts.

Following a long running tax dispute, Orascom recently confirmed that the Algerian government was in talks to buy Djezzy. A clamp down on advertising could push down subscriber growth, and hence the price that the government would have to pay to buy the company.

Orascom Confirms Talks With Vimpelcom Are On

Orascom Telecom's Executive Chairman Naguib Sawiris has confirmed previous press reports that his holding company Weather Investments is in talks with Russia’s Vimpelcom over possible merger plans involving assets including Weather’s controlling stakes in the Egypt-based Orascom group and Italy’s Wind. Whilst talking to press on a visit to Orascom’s Canadian subsidiary Globalive Wireless (Wind Mobile), the Egyptian entrepreneur also confirmed that he was open to discussions with any potential strategic international partner for Weather/Orascom, Canadian paper the Global & Mail reported. Sawiris said: ‘We are not only talking to [Vimpelcom], we are talking to anybody ... We have two things on our agenda right now – solving the Algerian issue [where the local government wants to block attempts to sell Orascom’s mobile unit Djezzy] and, second, finding a good partner for the group.’ He also declared it was possible that Wind Mobile could eventually acquire other Canadian cellular start-ups such as Mobilicity and Public Mobile.

Safaricom Choses Huawei For 4G Technology

Safaricom, Kenya’s largest cellco by subscribers, has announced that it will begin technical trials of 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology across its network within the next two months.

Safaricom has selected Chinese firm Huawei Technologies to supply its core network requirements, and to facilitate the rollout itself.

The two companies have signed a three-year strategic partnership worth KES12 billion (USD141.2 million). Speaking during the signing ceremony at Huawei’s headquarters in China, Safaricom's CEO Michael Joseph told the Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation: ‘We are going to do a technical LTE trial on our spectrum to see if it suits the Kenyan market and its commercial viability.

This is completely a technical trial and not a commercial trial and we are going to do the trials within our spectrum in the next two months’. Joseph also said that Safaricom is keen to overhaul its billing system and core network, whilst expanding its 3G network coverage across the country. These upgrades are expected to begin within the next six months and will be completed in two phases.

Hits Seeks Majority Stake in Libercell

Local newspaper Al Watan reports that Kuwait’s Hits Telecom is in talks with Atlantic Wireless over the company’s Liberian cellco Libercell.

Hits currently owns 30% of Liberia’s smallest operator by subscribers but is believed to be seeking a majority stake.

According to the newspaper, Hits Telecom’s CEO Barr Erickson has revealed that talks are at an advanced stage and a deal could be reached within a few days.