Africa Telecom articles from September 2000

Africa Telecom archives from September 2000

Algeria Approves Telecom Privatization Law.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Algeria's parliament has passed a draft law to privatize state-controlled telecommunications and postal services as part of an ongoing privatization plan. Algeria's Post and Telecommunications will be split into two separate companies and a...

Siemens Wins $10 Million Telecom Contract in Burkina Faso.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Siemens Telecommunications has won a contract, to the value of over $10 million, with network operator, MSI Cellular Investments, to supply the equipment and infrastructure for a GSM mobile network in Burkina Faso. Siemens has supplied five...

World Bank Selects Egypt for Internet Technology Transfer Support.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The World Bank selected Egypt to receive technical and financial support for Internet services and applications technology transfer. The project will be implemented by early 2001. It is being funded by the International Finance Corp., a major...

Massive Fiber Optic Cable Network to be Led by Egyptian Consortium.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The African continent will be connected via a fiber optic cable with the international communication network. The project will cost $1.9 billion. An Egyptian-multinational consortium has been formed and led by Africa Wan, which recently gave...

Egypt Plans to Raise Fixed Line Penetration to 90 Percent for Residential Users.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... A three-year expansion plan for the telecom sector calls for expanding the fixed line penetration rate among residential users to 90 percent from the current 40 percent, announced Ahmed Nazif, Minister of Telecommunication. This will be...

Stake of State-Run Egyptian Monopoly to be Sold by Year's End.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Egypt's Communications and Information Minister, Ahmed Nazif, said he hoped the sale of a sizable stake in state-owned monopoly, Telecom Egypt, could be completed by the end of this year. The government had originally said it would sell 10 to...

Ethiopia Looks to Information Technology to Stimulate Growth.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission (ESTC) said that it has systematically organized over 10 million technology-related information systems that will stimulate multi-sector development activities in Ethiopia. Speaking on African...

Kenya: IT Growth Bottlenecked by Policy.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Lack of a clear policy guideline is the single largest impediment to investment in the Information Technology industry in Kenya, and the sector's overall growth. The industry is virtually held hostage by Telkom Kenya, on whose expensive...

Morocco Mobile Phone Users Eclipse Two Million Mark.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... A total of two million people have subscribed to mobile phones in Morocco and 100,000 are Internet users, the Minister of State for Posts said. He said that additional networks were being established and would be completed between 2010-2015....

Moroccan Telecommunications Company Eclipses 115.7 Million Dollars Profit.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The Moroccan Telecommunications Company announced that it made a net profit of US$115.7 million during the year up to September 1, 2000, up from to 85.5 million dollars during the same period in 1999. The company's managing director, Abdessalam...

Nigeria Clears Digital Phones for Seven Cities.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The Federal Government has approved the cut-over of seven cities into the nation's digital telephone network. The project to be executed by the Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd. (NITEL) will gulp N2.5 billion. It also debunked insinuations...

Nigeria Cites Importance of Telecommunications to Economic Growth.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The Nigerian Government has identified access to telecommunications as a critical factor in the development of all aspects of the nation's economy. An efficient and widely available telecommunications and information technology infrastructure...

Nigerian Fiber Optic Plans at Crossroads.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd. (NITEL) is in a dilemma over its plans to implement a US$1 billion (N115billion) expansion project that would entail the laying of fiber optic links throughout the country. The organization had planned the...

Nigerian Telecom Corruption Case Reviewed.
September 1, 2000... The house which was supposed to serve as the official residential accommodation for the former managing director of NITEL, Professor Buba Bajoga, was said to have been acquired in Abuja between 1996 and 1997. The deputy general manager of...

Nigerian Government Official Alleges Bribery.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Chief Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL) general manager in charge of budgets and planning, Alhaji Garba Yar' Adua, has alleged that officials of two companies -- Kefe Nigeria Ltd. and Kalila Nigeria Ltd. -- attempted to induce him to...

NITEL to Flood Lagos with 290,000 Telephone Lines.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd. (NITEL) is focusing attention on Lagos State, with plans to provide 290,000 lines to meet the increasing demands of subscribers in the area. The company's deputy general manager of corporate affairs,...

Netherlands Asks for Equal Business Relationship in Uganda.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The Netherlands asked Uganda to provide equal business opportunities to her investors to ensure competition and quality services. The request was made by a Dutch business delegation. The request follows an appeal to the Government by a Dutch...

Uganda: Fiber Optic Project Launched.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The Minister of Works, Housing, and Communication, John Nasasira, on September 6, 2000 launched the MTN Fiber Optic line. "We are witnessing the launch of a new fiber optic line, the first of its kind in Uganda and Africa to provide high...

ITU Brings Telemedicine to Uganda.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The Minister of State for Health of Uganda, Dr. F. Byaruhanga, inaugurated on August 11, 2000 the country's first Telemedicine Pilot Project between the University teaching Hospital of Mulago and the Mengo Hospital in downtown Kampala. In...

ECOWAS Official Report Progress with Intercom One.(Economic Community of West African States direct telephony system)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) executive secretary, Lansana Kouyate, stated that the telecommunications sector had achieved remarkable gains with the completion of the ECOWAS Intercom One Program. Now direct calls can be...

USAID Official Reviews Numbers Game for African Internet Access.(investigation of pricing practices of Internet service providers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... More sordid revelations of financial wrongdoings continued to pour out at the Justice Ishola Adeniyi panel probing of the Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd. (NITEL) and The Nigerian Mobile Telecommunication (M-Tel) when the panel learned that N30...

Johnnic CEO: New Technology Could Leapfrog Africa into Information Economy.(Paul Edwards)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... New technology such as wireless telephony and satellite communications hold the key to Africa's development, said Johnnic Group CEO, Paul Edwards, at the Highway Africa 2000 Conference. Edwards said that Johnnic was South Africa's largest black...

On-line Newspapers Key to Expressing Information about African Conflicts.(Concord Times, editor-in-chief, Kingsley Lington)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... On-line newspapers and other publications could play an important role in spreading non-censured information from African conflict areas, said Sierra Leone editor, Kingsley Lington, at the Highway Africa 2000 Conference. Lington, the...

Kennard Urges More Investment by American Companies in Africa.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... In a speech made at the AECOM 2000 Conference in Fair Lakes, VA, FCC chairman, William E. Kennard, urged American companies to invest in Africa's telecommunications sector. While stating that in Uganda and Ghana alone cellular teledensity had...

Value-Added Network Services.(dispute with Telkom)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... The South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA) issued a ruling on the valued added network services (VANS) dispute ordering Telkom to provide services requested by VANS providers, as stipulated in the Telecommunications Act,...

Cell C Wins Third Cellular License.
September 1, 2000... Reconfirmed Cell C was the winning bidder for the third cellular license. The losing bidders were allowed five business days to contest the decision and several have already indicated they will appeal the decision through the courts. (Source:...

ICASA Is Born.
September 1, 2000... The seven nominees for the council of the newly formed Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) were confirmed by President Mbeki. ICASA started operations July 3, 2000. ICASA formed following the merger of SATRA and the...

Cable Project to Spark African Revival.(international telecommunications traffic growth)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Amid forecasts that international telecommunications traffic to and from Africa will grow nearly 60 times in the next five years, Telkom South Africa Ltd. is part of a continent-wide drive that will ensure capacity matches rocketing demand. ...

Africa Is on the Verge of a Telecom Explosion.(with Telkom South Africa)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Telkom SA is working with neighboring countries towards the concept of regional network infrastructure enhancements for Southern Africa, which would support reliable, effective, affordable, and advanced telecommunications services among SADC...

Softworx Chooses Clarus to Develop South African e-Business.(Internet service provider)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... Clarus, a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce solution provider, announced an agreement with South African enterprise application solution provider, Softworx. The agreement will give Softworx the rights to distribute the Clarus B2B e-commerce...

The Dangers Of A Telecom Duopoly.(ICT 2000 conference, South Africa)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... At the first ICT 2000 conference, held at the Vodacom LINK center, telecoms scholar Bill Melody suggested that South African policy-makers "look long and hard" before instituting a duopoly when Telkom's exclusivity period comes to an end. "A...

LHS to Implement ConVerge with Two African GSM Operators.(cellular telephone company)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2000... LHS Group Inc. announced that two telecommunications companies have selected its ConVerge product to support customer acquisition at the point of sale. Both new clients, the Egyptian mobile phone supplier, Click GSM, and the GSM network...