Africa Telecom articles from July 2001

Africa Telecom archives from July 2001

Egypt's Orascom Telecom Wins Algerian GSM license.(Orascom Telecom; Global System for Mobile Communication)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... Egyptian mobile phone operator Orascom Telecom (OT) won Algeria's second GSM license with an offer of $737 million. The only other bidder, Orange, Europe's No. 2 mobile operator and a unit of France Telecom, offered $422 million for the...

ComoreTel and African Nation Toast Historic Worldwide Toll-Free Service in Washington DC Ceremony.(Republique Federale Islamique des Comores)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... In a ceremony attended by U.S. Senators, Congressmen, and telecommunications professionals, ComoreTel, a global communications company headquartered in France, with offices in the UK, US, and the Republique Federale Islamique des Comores (RH...

Flag Telecom to Provide Managed Bandwidth Services and Internet Connectivity to Nile On Line.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Flag Telecom, a leading global network services provider and independent carriers' carrier, announced that Nile On Line, one of the largest privately owned public data networks based in Egypt, has acquired managed bandwidth services (MBS) and...

LINKdotNET and Microsoft to Launch MSN Arabia.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Egyptian Internet service provider LINKdotNET and US software giant Microsoft Corp plan to launch an Arab Web portal called MSN Arabia based in Cairo and Dubai. The portal is scheduled to start public operations in September on Arabia.msn.com....

Tellabs to Improve Voice Quality for One Million Subscribers.
July 1, 2001... Egypt's largest wireless network operator, MobiNil, has selected Tellabs to help provide its more than one million subscribers with improved voice quality and clearer sounding calls. Tellabs' Verity3100 echo cancellation and voice-quality...

EU Signs Pact to Aid Egyptian Telecoms Development.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The European Union has signed an association agreement with Egypt that will commit Brussels to helping its Arab neighbor to improve its telecommunications networks. This forms part of a commitment to "support Egypt's own efforts to achieve...

Ace*Comm to Provide Mediation Technology to Telecom Egypt.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Ace* Comm Corp., the innovator of Convergent Mediation and provider of next generation network (NGN) operations support systems (OSS), announced that Giza Systems Engineering (GSE) has selected Ace*Comm's distributed call measurement system...

Internet Access to Be Upgraded.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Ethiopian Internet access will be upgraded through the UNDP Internet Initiative by Africa program, in partnership with the Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation. Ethiopia's Internet gateway will be enhanced with extended access through four...

Ivory Coast Offers New Cell Phone License and Sets Fee.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The government of Ivory Coast has set the fees payable by the country's three existing cell phone operators for their licenses and it planned an international tender to find a fourth operator. The companies, which have been operating on...

Safaricom to Expand Network.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Safaricom, one of Kenya's largest cellular operators, has announced that it will add an additional 20 base transmitting stations within the next two weeks to improve service delivery. The new base stations are to be installed in Ksumu,...

UUNET Kenya Opens its Offices.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... As of 1 July 2001, UUNET Kenya will be opening its offices for business in Nairobi and Mombasa. The offices will be headed by East African managing director, Henry Njoroge with Geoffrey Sihmanyula as sales manager, and have a staff complement...

VPN Solutions on the Upswing in Namibia.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... UUNET Namibia offers two types of virtual private network (VPN) services to the local market, IP, which is router based and security, which includes added encryption on the circuits. These additional services are in response to increased demand...

Nitel Awards Contracts for GSM Network.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Nigeria's troubled state telephone company, Nitel, has awarded $206 million worth of contracts to build a new mobile network and upgrade its transmission equipment. Communications Minister Bello Haliru Mohammed said in a statement that Siemens,...

France Telecom Surprise Bidder for Nitel.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... France Telecom has emerged as the surprise bidder in a group of six companies to have expressed initial interest in acquiring a controlling stake in Nigerian state operator Nitel. According to Financial Times (FT), Nasir el-Rufai, managing...

Communication Commission to License More Wireless Operators.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC)) has started the process of licensing spectrum for fixed wireless access and broadband fixed wireless access services. Commission spokesman, Dave Imoko said this is in response to demand by many...

Telular Corp. Announces Initial $2 Million Fixed Wireless Deployment in Nigeria With Multi-Links Telecom, Ltd.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Telular Corp.. announced it has begun shipments of its fixed wireless terminals to Multi-Links Telecom, Ltd., in Nigeria. Multi-Links Telecom has ordered $2.0 million of TDMA fixed wireless products. Initial shipments began this quarter and...

Cyber Digital Inc.'s $21 Million Proposal to Sell Wireless Telephone Exchanges Accepted.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Cyber Digital Inc., a manufacturer and software developer of fixed wireless digital central office telephone exchanges announced that it has received approval of its proposals to sell its digital wireless telephone exchanges in three additional...

MTN Rwandacell Launches International Gateway.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... MTN Rwandacell, part-owned by South African mobile operator MTN, launched an international gateway, ending its dependence on the state's satellite station. "What it means for us is that we are no longer an island," said MTN Rwandacell chief...

Work Starts on Last Leg of African Subsea Cable.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Work has begun on the last leg of a 28,000 kilometers (17,400 mile) undersea cable which is expected to meet Africa's communication needs for the next 25 years and that will link Asia to Europe via South Africa. South African phone utility...

Cell-C Estimates South Africa Mobile Market up to 16 Million by 2008.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The winner of South Africa's long-delayed third mobile phone license said it expected to capture up to 20 percent of the market, which it foresees ballooning to 16 million users within seven years. Cell C, backed by Middle Eastern conglomerate...

Conexant's Cable Modem Solution Chosen by UEC Technologies for Its Next-Generation Cable SetTop Box.(Conexant Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Conexant Systems Inc., a worldwide leader in semiconductor system solutions for communications applications, announced that UEC Technologies Ltd. will incorporate Conexant's single-chip cable modem solution into its next-generation set-top box...

Date for Telkom IPO Set.(initial public offering)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... South Africa's government has said that an initial public offering of phone utility Telkom was on track for November 2001, giving a definite date for the landmark privatization effort for the first time. A short statement issued by...

Expand Networks Adds South Africa's Core Networks to its Global Team of Partners.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... With bandwidth becoming increasingly costly and difficult to obtain in the fast growing African market, Expand Networks, a leader in optimizing enterprise network performance, announced that South Africa-based Core Networks, a leading full...

Comverse to Provide Call Return Service.(Comverse Technology Inc.)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Comverse, a unit of Comverse Technology Inc., and the world's leading supplier of software and systems enabling network-based multimedia enhanced communications services, announced it has been selected by Vodacom of South Africa to provide call...

Infonet Forms New Partnership with Telkom SA.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Infonet Services Corp., a provider of global communications services for multinationals, announced a new partnership with Telkom SA, the leading communications operator in South Africa. Under the terms of the agreement, which commenced as...

M-Cell's Basic Headline Earnings up 47 Percent Per Share.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... M-Cell Limited (M-Cell), the holding company of Mobile Telephone Networks Holdings (Proprietary) Limited (MTN) and satellite distribution company, Orbicom (Proprietary) Limited (Orbicom) announced a 47 percent increase in basic headline...

Telefonica, PT Finalists for Tunisian GSM license.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... A consortium of Spanish telecoms firm Telefonica and Portugal Telecom is the final contender for Tunisia's second GSM phone license, a senior official said. The official said talks were underway between the authorities and the consortium...

MTN Invests $150 Million.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... MTN Uganda, has invested over $150 million in the local telecommunications industry over the past two years, According to a press statement, the company has customers in excess of 170,000,220 outlets all over the country and has also installed...

Rural Areas Targeted for Wireless Technology.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Remote Wireless Telecommunications Limited is the first telecommunications company seeking a license from the Communications Authority to develop Zambia's rural telecommunications infrastructure. According to documents at the Registrar of...

Fiber Optic Link Project for East Africa on Track.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Negotiations for alternative funds to finance the Kenyan segment of a telecommunications project linking Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Kampala are almost complete. The project, a joint venture of Telkom Kenya, Tanzania Telecommunications Company...

African Telecommunication Ministers Meet in US.(10th Annual Afcom Conference )(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Afcom met in July, 2001, drawing the largest gathering of African Ministers of Telecommunications to Washington D.C in the US. The 10th Annual Afcom Conference was sponsored by Intelsat, Hughes, Gilat, GE Capital, IBasis, AllAfrica.com, Tecore...