Africa Telecom articles from April 2001

Africa Telecom archives from April 2001

Number of African Countries with Internet Access.(Illustration)
April 1, 2001... Number of African Countries with Internet Access 1990 0 1991 1 1992 1 1993 2 1994 7 1995 17 1996 36 1997 45 1998 53 1999 55 2000 55 Source: ITU World...

Telecom Egypt Defers Quest for Mobile Partner.
April 1, 2001... Telecom Egypt has postponed talks with foreign companies on setting up the country's third mobile phone service until the sale of a stake in Telecom Egypt itself. Telecom Egypt chairman Akil Beshir, said that several major foreign firms had...

Telecom Egypt Seeks Bids on Wireless Local Loop System.
April 1, 2001... Telecom Egypt has announced that it is seeking bids for a contract to set up and operate a wireless local loop system to expand its fixed telephone capacity. Telecom Egypt has stipulated that the new system use CDMA narrowband technology...

Applicants for Telephone Service in East Africa Increases.
April 1, 2001... There are over 450,000 registered applicants for telephone service in the East African region, a positive sign for the fixed telephony market, Kenyan Minister for Information, Transport, and Communications, Musalia Mudavadi, said. Speaking at...

Kenya in Final Talks with Econet on Telkom.
April 1, 2001... Kenya's government said it was in "final" negotiations with a consortium led by Zimbabwe's Econet for the sale of a 49 percent stake in state-owned Telkom Kenya. It said that if the talks did not yield a satisfactory price, the government would...

India's ITI Considers Setting up Manufacturing Facility in Mauritius.(Indian Telecom Industries)
April 1, 2001... State-owned telecom equipment manufacturing company, Indian Telecom Industries (ITI), is exploring the possibilities of setting up a manufacturing facility in Mauritius, besides offering consultancy and maintenance services for the telephone...

Morocco Awards McKinsey Contract to Assist with Issuance of Telecom Licenses.
April 1, 2001... The government of Morocco has awarded a consultant contract to McKinsey and Company to advise the government on the issuance of three new telecom licenses in the coming year. The Agence Nationale de Reglementation des Telecommunications...

Nigeria to Add 250,000 New Lines in Lagos.(NITEL)
April 1, 2001... The Nigerian telecommunications company (Nitel), announced that it will provide an additional quarter of a million wire and fixed wireless telephone lines in Lagos as part of its short-term strategy to improve quality of service in the...

Nigeria Starts Long-Awaited Sale of Nitel.
April 1, 2001... Nigeria has begun the process leading to the long-awaited sale of a controlling stake in state phone company, Nitel, a vital step in bringing the digital revolution to Africa's most populous nation. Telecommunications, along with electric...

OmniE Labs to Develop Advanced IP Fiber Optics Gateway Linking US and Nigeria.
April 1, 2001... OmniE Labs has been contracted by 2pipe.com, an international telecommunications company, to design and build an advanced IP-over-satellite network for high-speed voice and data transmission between the US and Nigeria. The contract to...

Nigeria Opens Mobile Market.
April 1, 2001... Nigeria's 120 million people have come into the pan-African cellular network equation for two operators planning to connect the continent, following the country's first auction of GSM licenses for competitive mobile operations. MSI...

IT and Telecom Joint Venture Company Formed.
April 1, 2001... Germany's Deutsche Telekom and information technology company, Debis, have set up a joint-venture company, T- Systems, to provide IT and telecommunications convergence services. The new firm hopes to secure a 25 percent share of the South...

AXS-One South Africa and Resort Condominium International Create a Procurement Joint Venture.
April 1, 2001... AXS-One Inc., a global provider of e-business solutions, announced a joint venture between its South African subsidiary and Resort Condominium International (RCI) Southern Africa, the region's leading holiday exchange company. The new company,...

South Africa to License Second Operator.
April 1, 2001... South Africa is set to license a second national operator to compete with Telkom, but the precise timetable has yet to be outlined South Africa's Communications Minister has confirmed plans to license a second national operator (SNO) that will...

Liberty Group Selects Centra for Live e-Learning and Collaboration.
April 1, 2001... Centra, a provider of software infrastructure and ASP services for live e-learning and business collaboration, announced that Liberty Group, the third largest life insurance company in South Africa, has selected Centra to support the firm's...

Colubris Networks Establishes Distribution Channels in South Africa.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Colubris Networks Inc., a manufacturer of wireless LAN routers for small- to medium-sized businesses, has announced new distribution channel partners in France, Germany, the UK, and South Africa. As part of its growing international...

Telkom Declines Option to Extend Monopoly.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... South African phone monopoly, Telkom, which the government plans to privatize in an initial public offering this year, has said it would not take up its option to apply for an extra competition-free year. Telkom said this was despite the...

Siemens Sees Strong Business Growth in South Africa.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Sub-Saharan Africa's telecom business is growing by at least 25 percent a year as markets open to competition and governments issue new mobile licenses, according to German engineering and electronics group, Siemens AG. "As deregulation...

Third Cellular Network to Cost More.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Setting up South Africa's third cell phone network will cost up to 40 percent more than anticipated by winning consortium, Cell C, further reducing the troubled venture's commercial viability. Cell C director, Zwelakhe Mankazana, says the...

MTN Selects Micromuse's Netcool Suite.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Micromuse Inc., a provider of real-time fault management and service assurance software, announced that Mobile Telephone Networks (MTN), a South African cellular network operator with services throughout the African continent, has selected...

South Africa Cold-Shoulders African Satellite Plan.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... South African telecommunications authorities cold-shouldered an African consortium's plan to launch a satellite exclusively to serve the continent, saying the service would not be competitive. South Africa accounts for more than half of...

Keyword Registry Brought to South Africa.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... RealNames Corp., the extended naming services company, and Dotcom Trading (Pty) Ltd., a leading media company in South Africa, have announced a multimillion dollar, multi-year partnership to bring Keyword Web addresses to businesses and...

Clarinet Systems Signs Distribution Agreement with Optron.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Clarinet Systems Inc., a global provider of wireless connectivity for handheld appliances, has signed a $6 million distribution agreement with Optron of South Africa for the supply of its high-speed infrared Internet and LAN access equipment...

UUNet SA Launches New Communication Service.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... UUNet SA, a WorldCom company, has formed a partnership with Vocalis, part of the Complex-IT group, which specializes in voice recognition software, to create a new communication solution, UUNet SpeechMail. This new service offers customers the...

Benefon to Supply Safety and Security Service in South Africa.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Benefon of Salo, Finland and Matrix of Johannesburg, South Africa, have signed an important contract for the adaptation and supply of Benefon Track GSM/GPS telematics phone for Matrix's safety and security services. The deliveries of the...

Firms Merge to Provide Mobile E-Mail in Tanzania.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Two leading telecommunications firms in Tanzania have merged to create a service that enables mobile phone users to send and receive Web-based e-mail text messages for as little as $1. The general manager of Mobitel, Jim Bell, said that his...

Siemens Signs $12 Million Support Contract and Maintenance Agreement.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Siemens and Vodacom Tanzania Ltd. have signed a network support and maintenance agreement, valued at $12 million, over the two year contract period. The contract gives Siemens full responsibility for the running and quality maintenance of the...

Internet Society International Opens Branch in Togo.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Internet Society International (ISOC-International), an American association whose objective is to develop the Internet through wider access, has opened a branch in Lome, the Togolese capital. The objectives of ISOC-Togo include the...

Tunisia to Award Second GSM License by July.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Tunisia, anticipating huge interest from major telecommunications firms, will award its second GSM mobile phone license in July at the latest, a senior official at the Telecommunications Ministry said. Tunisia opened a tender for the...

Zimbabwe PTC Chooses the iBasis Network for Internet Telephony.(Zimbabwe Posts & Telecommunications Corp)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... iBasis Inc., a provider of advanced Internet-based voice communications, announced that Zimbabwe Posts & Telecommunications Corp. (Zimbabwe PTC), the national carrier of Zimbabwe, working together with iBasis, local partner, IP Africa, a...

Global One Signs Major Data and Voice Contract with DuPont Corp.(contract information)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Award-winning global carrier, Global One, has signed a major data and voice contact with DuPont, one of the world's oldest and best-known industrial enterprises. Under the three-year contract signed in Germany, Global One will interconnect...

T.G.I. Friday's to Offer Wireless Access to Food and Fun.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... T.G.I. Friday's becomes the first global restaurant chain to launch a restaurant locator and its menu via Internet-enabled mobile phones and wireless handheld devices. Weary travelers and frequent guests can easily locate a T.G.I. Friday's...

Globaltron Corp. Signs New Telecommunications Contracts in Morocco and Ivory Coast.(voice and data communications network contract)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... Globaltron Corp. has announced that it has signed two sets of contracts that will allow Globaltron to terminate and originate voice and data traffic in Morocco and the Ivory Coast. The contracts will allow Globaltron to immediately begin to...

West Africa to Create Common Telecom Market.(to promote economic growth)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) plans to create a single, liberalized telecommunications market with the aim of providing a telephone for three percent of people in the region by 2006. Foreign investors and Western...

Arab Nations Experiencing Explosive Wireless Growth in Communications Today.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2001... Morocco saw an impressive growth in mobile subscribership after it approved a second global system for mobile communications (GSM) operator to offer wireless service in the country last June. The number of mobile subscribers jumped from 150,000...

African Telecom Summit Addresses Strategies for Effective Development of Universal Access and ICT in Africa.(Information Communications Technology )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2001... The third African Telecom Summit took place March 27-29,2001 at the Accra International Conference Centre, in Accra, Ghana. Attended by 12 African Communications Ministers and Deputy-Ministers, over 300 participants from Africa, Europe, North...