One of India’s largest telecommunications operators, the Essar Telecom Business Group has enhanced its presence on the African continent – the fastest growing mobile telecommunications market, by agreeing to buy a stake in Warid Telecom’s Africa operations.
This means that Essar is ahead of rivals Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications. The two cellular giants from India have all made unsuccessful attempts so far to enter the African mobile market.
They both have tried tie-ups with African giant Mobile Telephone Networks (MTN) of South Africa, but something has on all occasions prevented the merger.
The Essar Group, which is the holding company for Essar Telecom has signed definitive agreements with the Dhabi Group, the owners of Warid Telecom for an investment by Essar into the telecom assets of Warid Telecom in Uganda and the Republic of Congo.
Warid Telecom Uganda is a new comer to the telecoms market here but is gaining fast in terms of subscriber numbers on its rivals MTN, Zain and Uganda Telecom.
A press statement said the agreements were signed by His Highness Sheikh Nahyan Mabarak Al Nahayan on behalf of the Dhabi Group and Prashant Ruia, the Group Chief Executive Essar Group in Abu Dhabi on November 15.
The enterprise valuation of the Uganda and Congo operations is collectively valued at
US$318 million. According to the statement, the Essar Group has committed growth capital to both telecom operations to facilitate network expansion and marketing.
Upon completion, the Essar Group will acquire a majority stake (51 percent) in both operations. “The partnership is also expected to bring operational efficiencies to the African operations,” the statement reads in part.
“We are pleased to join hands with a Group that both complements and extends our synergies to expand further into Africa,” Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, the chairman of Dhabi Group said.
“Warid has expanded its greenfield operations to become credible competitors and challengers in the market where it operates; the time is now right for the next stage of its growth and evolution.”
Ruia expressed delight to partner with the Dubai group saying the tie-up is in line with Essar’s plan to be a part of the growing telecom market in Africa.
“This transaction with the Dhabi Group augments our successful launch of telecom services in Kenya under the brand ‘yu’ which was a stepping stone for Essar to expand its telecom footprint to the African continent,” Ruia said.
He said Essar’s investment in Warid Telecom in Africa is a part of its strategic plans to grow its business in Africa and the Middle East as it explores business opportunities by foreign partnerships with prominent business groups.
After the successful launch of mobile services in Kenya under the brand ‘yu’, Essar Telecom is now expanding its footprint in East Africa with Uganda and Republic of Congo operations.
Regarded as one of the fastest growing telecom operators in Kenya, Essar Telecom Kenya has over 600,000 subscribers and expects this number to grow significantly as it completes its rollout across Kenya.
The Dhabi Group transaction is subject to regulatory approvals in Uganda and Republic of Congo.
In its home market, Essar holds a 33 percent interest in Vodafone Essar, a joint venture with the Vodafone Group, and is one of India’s largest cellular service providers, with over 85 million subscribers.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Nokia’s Ovi Mail comes to East Africa
Mobile phone handset maker Nokia has launched its Ovi mail offering in East Africa – the service is available to users in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
The launch in East Africa is part of a global launch in all markets “but especially the emerging markets.”
Ovi Mail is an email identity that Nokia has primarily developed for first-time email users.
The offering will especially be popular with users in developing markets where people do not have an email account or have difficulty accessing a PC, which is usually required to create an email account.
“Ovi Mail gives such users the opportunity to create an email account directly on their devices and start communicating with their family and friends,” Dorothy Ooko, the communications manager for Nokia in Eastern and Southern Africa said via email.
In more developed markets where users have email accounts and find it easier to access PCs, Ooko said Ovi Mail gives them the opportunity to create a new email account that will also give them contextuality, as well as cross access to other Ovi services.
Ovi Mail enables Nokia mobile device users to create and use email accounts (username@ovi.com) directly on their mobile phone.
Last week, Nokia launched the offering in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania and already the response from users has been good.
“We have received mail from consumers telling us how this has transformed how they do business,” Ooko said.
“The most memorable was a woman in Kajiado, Kenya who said she no longer has to travel to a cyber cafe for mail as she can communicate directly with many of her clients.”
Ovi Mail was developed for first-time email users and advanced Email users – the primary targets being users in developing/emerging markets who do not have a pre-existing email account, or who have little or no access to a PC.
The secondary target base according to Ooko includes users who have other email accounts but would like to create another secondary email account that is designed for mobile use.
Ooko said the service so far has local language support for 11 languages with future plans to support over 80 languages.
Ovi Mail can be set up and accessed directly on users’ service-optimized Nokia Series 40 devices.
The service provides the mobile client interface and mobile service that enables users to access their pre-existing email accounts from over 1000 ISPs (including Gmail and Yahoo mail) around the world on their mobile device.
Ooko said the key drivers for a new email account for those who already have web Email include the ease of setup, ease of access, and also the number of access points.
“We are giving users the opportunity to easily create a new email account for themselves, directly on their devices without needing to use a PC first, so that they too can stay connected,” Ooko said.
“While they may use their web-based Ovi Mail accounts to send and receive files (playlists, images, videos, etc.), we don’t expect them to exceed 1GB of web storage space each.”
The Ovi service is available on the new Series 40 devices that Nokia launched this year.
Ooko however was quick to add that there are currently 36 Series 40 device models that are optimized for Ovi Mail.
Ooko said the market need and opportunity for mobile provisioning of new Web-based email accounts lies in developing markets where the Nokia Series 40 devices are extremely popular. It is expected that the same capability will be introduced for Nokia Series 60 devices over time.
Ovi Mail is Web mail, and like all Internet services, mobile access requires a data tariff.
What Nokia has done is it has removed the barrier for users to set-up and start using Ovi Mail on their devices for free.
“However, users will be charged by the local operators based on the amount of data used to send and receive emails,” Ooko said.
To access Ovi Mail, a user simply needs to go to the email setup wizard on their Nokia Series 40 device or Nokia S60 device such as the Nokia N97. Ovi Mail is also available on the web at https://mail.ovi.com/.
Over one million Ovi mail accounts have been activated over the past six months elsewhere the service was introduced.
The top five countries for Ovi Mail subscribers are India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and South Africa. Since its inception in December 2008, Ovi Mail is available in more than 180 countries and supports 20 languages.
The launch in East Africa is part of a global launch in all markets “but especially the emerging markets.”
Ovi Mail is an email identity that Nokia has primarily developed for first-time email users.
The offering will especially be popular with users in developing markets where people do not have an email account or have difficulty accessing a PC, which is usually required to create an email account.
“Ovi Mail gives such users the opportunity to create an email account directly on their devices and start communicating with their family and friends,” Dorothy Ooko, the communications manager for Nokia in Eastern and Southern Africa said via email.
In more developed markets where users have email accounts and find it easier to access PCs, Ooko said Ovi Mail gives them the opportunity to create a new email account that will also give them contextuality, as well as cross access to other Ovi services.
Ovi Mail enables Nokia mobile device users to create and use email accounts (username@ovi.com) directly on their mobile phone.
Last week, Nokia launched the offering in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania and already the response from users has been good.
“We have received mail from consumers telling us how this has transformed how they do business,” Ooko said.
“The most memorable was a woman in Kajiado, Kenya who said she no longer has to travel to a cyber cafe for mail as she can communicate directly with many of her clients.”
Ovi Mail was developed for first-time email users and advanced Email users – the primary targets being users in developing/emerging markets who do not have a pre-existing email account, or who have little or no access to a PC.
The secondary target base according to Ooko includes users who have other email accounts but would like to create another secondary email account that is designed for mobile use.
Ooko said the service so far has local language support for 11 languages with future plans to support over 80 languages.
Ovi Mail can be set up and accessed directly on users’ service-optimized Nokia Series 40 devices.
The service provides the mobile client interface and mobile service that enables users to access their pre-existing email accounts from over 1000 ISPs (including Gmail and Yahoo mail) around the world on their mobile device.
Ooko said the key drivers for a new email account for those who already have web Email include the ease of setup, ease of access, and also the number of access points.
“We are giving users the opportunity to easily create a new email account for themselves, directly on their devices without needing to use a PC first, so that they too can stay connected,” Ooko said.
“While they may use their web-based Ovi Mail accounts to send and receive files (playlists, images, videos, etc.), we don’t expect them to exceed 1GB of web storage space each.”
The Ovi service is available on the new Series 40 devices that Nokia launched this year.
Ooko however was quick to add that there are currently 36 Series 40 device models that are optimized for Ovi Mail.
Ooko said the market need and opportunity for mobile provisioning of new Web-based email accounts lies in developing markets where the Nokia Series 40 devices are extremely popular. It is expected that the same capability will be introduced for Nokia Series 60 devices over time.
Ovi Mail is Web mail, and like all Internet services, mobile access requires a data tariff.
What Nokia has done is it has removed the barrier for users to set-up and start using Ovi Mail on their devices for free.
“However, users will be charged by the local operators based on the amount of data used to send and receive emails,” Ooko said.
To access Ovi Mail, a user simply needs to go to the email setup wizard on their Nokia Series 40 device or Nokia S60 device such as the Nokia N97. Ovi Mail is also available on the web at https://mail.ovi.com/.
Over one million Ovi mail accounts have been activated over the past six months elsewhere the service was introduced.
The top five countries for Ovi Mail subscribers are India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and South Africa. Since its inception in December 2008, Ovi Mail is available in more than 180 countries and supports 20 languages.
Uganda’s ICT ministry in hot water over $106m data backbone
Uganda’s young ministry of information and communication technology (ICT) is in hot water over the US$106 million National Data Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) and E-government infrastructure projects.
Legislators investigating the alleged mishandling of the two projects have ordered a forensic audit of the first phase.
The ministry has over the last few months been battling allegations of fraud and mismanagement of the $30 million first phase, which was contracted to Huawei Technologies of China under the terms of the agreement.
Stakeholders who keenly follow the ICT sector first raised the red flags on the problems within the ministry some two months ago when comments were made on a popular mailing list (i-network@dgroups.org).
Members pointed out the problems around the NBI/EGI projects and the controversy surrounding the composition and recruitment of the board members of the newly created National Information Technology Agency (NITA) Uganda – the management arm of the ministry.
Badru Ntege, a technology enthusiast and investor pointed out that the ministry has failed to contract an entity or set up a special purpose vehicle to manage the two projects and as a result sections of the fibre network have been damaged and equipment was stolen.
A recent tour of the two projects by the legislators on the ICT committee confirmed Ntege’s comments.
The legislators discovered that work on the $30 million first phase, which was completed, tested and handed over to the ministry in September 2007 has sections of it that are not operational as a result of the damage and stolen equipment.
A status report from the ministry itself also points out that power generators and air conditioners were stolen from three of the four towns that were connected in the first phase.
Keen watchers of the sector, which is ever taking on a more important role in people’s lives have always wondered why the NBI has never been connected to privately run fibre networks to boost user capacity within the country.
The committee also concluded that the fibre cables that were installed may not be able to support growing internet traffic in the near future as there is not enough provision for future upgrade of the fibre cable.
It was further noted that there was no Network Operating Centre for the first phase, and neither is there a data centre and disaster recovery centre for a project of that magnitude.
It is against this backdrop that the committee has recommended that the first phase be switched on and is operational as the forensic report is awaited.
The members of parliament also called for security of equipment at the transmission sites to avoid further losses.
In 2006, the Uganda government secured a $106 million concessional loan, with a 2% interest rate payable over 20 years, with a grace period of five years, from the Chinese government to undertake the NBI/EGI.
The two projects are meant to allow for an e-government policy, reduction of expenditure in public administration and provide communication to rural communities and improve service delivery in the fields of health, education and agriculture.
The NBI project entails the laying of 2500kms of fibre optic cable countrywide to provide high speed data transmission while the EGI connects government ministries, departments and local governments into an e-government network.
The second phase of implementation, which will commence after the mess that surrounds the first phase, has been sorted. The second phase will link Uganda's borders with those of neighboring countries – taking in those areas that private players consider unviable.
According to a project brief, the backbone is to be built and owned by government, but will be used by both public and private consumers. Once completed, a special purpose vehicle will be created to lease out the lines in the backbone to whoever is interested.
Legislators investigating the alleged mishandling of the two projects have ordered a forensic audit of the first phase.
The ministry has over the last few months been battling allegations of fraud and mismanagement of the $30 million first phase, which was contracted to Huawei Technologies of China under the terms of the agreement.
Stakeholders who keenly follow the ICT sector first raised the red flags on the problems within the ministry some two months ago when comments were made on a popular mailing list (i-network@dgroups.org).
Members pointed out the problems around the NBI/EGI projects and the controversy surrounding the composition and recruitment of the board members of the newly created National Information Technology Agency (NITA) Uganda – the management arm of the ministry.
Badru Ntege, a technology enthusiast and investor pointed out that the ministry has failed to contract an entity or set up a special purpose vehicle to manage the two projects and as a result sections of the fibre network have been damaged and equipment was stolen.
A recent tour of the two projects by the legislators on the ICT committee confirmed Ntege’s comments.
The legislators discovered that work on the $30 million first phase, which was completed, tested and handed over to the ministry in September 2007 has sections of it that are not operational as a result of the damage and stolen equipment.
A status report from the ministry itself also points out that power generators and air conditioners were stolen from three of the four towns that were connected in the first phase.
Keen watchers of the sector, which is ever taking on a more important role in people’s lives have always wondered why the NBI has never been connected to privately run fibre networks to boost user capacity within the country.
The committee also concluded that the fibre cables that were installed may not be able to support growing internet traffic in the near future as there is not enough provision for future upgrade of the fibre cable.
It was further noted that there was no Network Operating Centre for the first phase, and neither is there a data centre and disaster recovery centre for a project of that magnitude.
It is against this backdrop that the committee has recommended that the first phase be switched on and is operational as the forensic report is awaited.
The members of parliament also called for security of equipment at the transmission sites to avoid further losses.
In 2006, the Uganda government secured a $106 million concessional loan, with a 2% interest rate payable over 20 years, with a grace period of five years, from the Chinese government to undertake the NBI/EGI.
The two projects are meant to allow for an e-government policy, reduction of expenditure in public administration and provide communication to rural communities and improve service delivery in the fields of health, education and agriculture.
The NBI project entails the laying of 2500kms of fibre optic cable countrywide to provide high speed data transmission while the EGI connects government ministries, departments and local governments into an e-government network.
The second phase of implementation, which will commence after the mess that surrounds the first phase, has been sorted. The second phase will link Uganda's borders with those of neighboring countries – taking in those areas that private players consider unviable.
According to a project brief, the backbone is to be built and owned by government, but will be used by both public and private consumers. Once completed, a special purpose vehicle will be created to lease out the lines in the backbone to whoever is interested.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Uganda regulator to install bandwidth monitor
The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) is set to acquire a gadget it will use to measure and monitor internet bandwidth within Uganda as it attempts to regulate this segment of the communications market.
Currently, there is no mechanism of establishing whether the bandwidth Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer internet users including UCC itself is the actual agreed upon capacity
“We are planning to get equipment that will help us in monitoring the bandwidth. If you agree with the service provider to give you, say, 60 kilobytes there is no mechanism of establishing that it is the actual bandwidth you are getting,” Isaac Kalembe, the media and public relations specialist at UCC said.
A lack of proper regulation of ISP’s activities has raised concern among internet users over the years. Users have always complained that UCC does not have a way of regulating especially the efficiency of ISPs in respect to the services they offer users.
Equipment that measure bandwidth can measure it both as raw capacity and available bandwidth.
From a user’s perspective, with this equipment, UCC will be in position to know how much bandwidth is available to every individual user and will be in position to monitor ISPs better.
This development is ever more urgent considering that despite the shift away from satellite connectivity by a lot of ISPs to SEACOM’s fibre optic cable, users said they have not experienced a difference in the speeds of the connections.
“We have problems with our service provider. We were promised double the bandwidth at the same cost but you find the Internet fluctuating most of the time. We are yet to realise the bandwidth speeds that were promised,” an official attached to a regional office of one of the leading computer software companies said.
She said her company had not noted any difference in speeds since the ISP they are subscribed to announced they had connected to SEACOM.
Teopista Aboa, the IT officer at Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) said the standards body had not realized any change in speeds despite being told that they had been connected to the undersea optic fibre cable.
Professor Venansius Baryamureeba, dean faculty of Computing and IT, Makerere University said there is need for regulation because the lay person cannot establish whether they are being cheated or not because they do not have the equipment to measure or ascertain whether they are getting their money’s worth.
“If there is no monitoring, your Internet Service Provider might see that you paid for more bandwidth than you actually use and try to divert some of it. There is really need for monitoring,” he said.
Kalembe said that despite a lack of equipment to monitor internet bandwidth, internet users can still use Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to ensure that they are not exploited.
“Some people get connected without signing SLAs or sometimes when they sign them they do not read them properly,” he said adding that the major problem is that most people do not know their rights regarding communication services.
He said signing SLAs would, for instance, help in establishing whether the bandwidth agreed upon will be at the point of entry or reception.
“If this does not happen you need to contact your service provider and if there is no change you can contact UCC for action,” Kalembe said.
He however did not mention who the vendor of this equipment is, how much it will cost and when the equipment will be installed.
Ends ……/1
Currently, there is no mechanism of establishing whether the bandwidth Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer internet users including UCC itself is the actual agreed upon capacity
“We are planning to get equipment that will help us in monitoring the bandwidth. If you agree with the service provider to give you, say, 60 kilobytes there is no mechanism of establishing that it is the actual bandwidth you are getting,” Isaac Kalembe, the media and public relations specialist at UCC said.
A lack of proper regulation of ISP’s activities has raised concern among internet users over the years. Users have always complained that UCC does not have a way of regulating especially the efficiency of ISPs in respect to the services they offer users.
Equipment that measure bandwidth can measure it both as raw capacity and available bandwidth.
From a user’s perspective, with this equipment, UCC will be in position to know how much bandwidth is available to every individual user and will be in position to monitor ISPs better.
This development is ever more urgent considering that despite the shift away from satellite connectivity by a lot of ISPs to SEACOM’s fibre optic cable, users said they have not experienced a difference in the speeds of the connections.
“We have problems with our service provider. We were promised double the bandwidth at the same cost but you find the Internet fluctuating most of the time. We are yet to realise the bandwidth speeds that were promised,” an official attached to a regional office of one of the leading computer software companies said.
She said her company had not noted any difference in speeds since the ISP they are subscribed to announced they had connected to SEACOM.
Teopista Aboa, the IT officer at Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) said the standards body had not realized any change in speeds despite being told that they had been connected to the undersea optic fibre cable.
Professor Venansius Baryamureeba, dean faculty of Computing and IT, Makerere University said there is need for regulation because the lay person cannot establish whether they are being cheated or not because they do not have the equipment to measure or ascertain whether they are getting their money’s worth.
“If there is no monitoring, your Internet Service Provider might see that you paid for more bandwidth than you actually use and try to divert some of it. There is really need for monitoring,” he said.
Kalembe said that despite a lack of equipment to monitor internet bandwidth, internet users can still use Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to ensure that they are not exploited.
“Some people get connected without signing SLAs or sometimes when they sign them they do not read them properly,” he said adding that the major problem is that most people do not know their rights regarding communication services.
He said signing SLAs would, for instance, help in establishing whether the bandwidth agreed upon will be at the point of entry or reception.
“If this does not happen you need to contact your service provider and if there is no change you can contact UCC for action,” Kalembe said.
He however did not mention who the vendor of this equipment is, how much it will cost and when the equipment will be installed.
Ends ……/1
Innovation, use of IT still low at 50 universities in East Africa
By Edris Kisambira
An e-readiness survey of higher institutions of learning in East Africa that was carried out in 2008 has indicated that region’s universities are limited on innovativeness and use of information technologies (IT).
The report, which was released last week in Kampala, the Uganda capital focused on accessibility, usage and availability of information communication technologies (ICTs) services in 50 universities around the East African region.
The East African region takes in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
According to the study, which was commissioned and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, only 43% of the student population at the 50 campuses were taking part in global IT competitions that would otherwise give them international recognition.
Such competitions involve students or lecturers in developing innovative software like the Google Cup that takes place annually in Paris, France.
“Innovative projects give the universities more credibility in the world,” Professor Meoli Kashorada from the United States International University (USIU), Kenya said. “This can be achieved both by students and lecturers.”
The report indicates that the limited innovation is due to the student computer ratio and the availability of cheap bandwidth.
Rwandan universities had the best ratio at an average of seven computers per 100 students, 6.8 per 100 students in Uganda, 5.2 per 100 students in Kenya, 2.7 per 100 students in Tanzania and 1.5 per 100 students in Burundi.
This according to Professor Kashorada, the senior investigator of the report, is below the target which is 10 computers per 100 students.
The limited innovativeness at the universities has translated into poor records management and admission processes that are characteristic of long queues at universities when new students are being admitted and old ones are renewing their status.
An example is Makerere University, Uganda, the oldest university in East Africa that has the best IT facility in the region but still there is no computer programme that has been developed and installed to electronically register students without them having to queue for hours if not days.
“There is need for IT department heads to clearly present projects that benefit the whole university and push for reforms. The young people need to be given the opportunity to be innovative,” Professor Venansius Baryamureeba, the dean of the faculty of Computing and IT at Makerere University said.
Rwanda despite having the best student to computer ratio and the cheapest internet costs in the region due to a government subsidy also has high number of students leaving campus to go to Internet cafes to do research online. This though is blamed on the stretched university budgets and few facilities.
Burundi, which is just recovering from years of instability, has 70% of the student populations at its universities using Internet cafes.
It is hoped the switch from the expensive satellite connectivity to fibre optics could reduce the cost of bandwidth which will make the connectivity much faster and closer to the students.
The report reveals that fibre connectivity could lead to a rise in access from between 300 – 700 kilobites per second to 1 megabite per second for 1,000 students.
“I hope we shall not be embarrassed if we fail to absorb the fast Internet that is coming to our region. We need to have the capacity to utilise it,” Proffessor Francis Tusubira of Directorate for ICT Support at Makerere University said.
The report mentions Uganda as one of the countries where university websites are non-interactive and there is still low budget financing for ICT programmes.
According to Professor Timothy Waema of the University of Nairobi, there is still time for this to change. He says that university heads need to play a major role because they needed to make sure atleast 3% of their budgets go to ICT in general.
This annual report is compiled by the Kenya Education Network in conjunction with the Tanzania Research and Education Network, Rwanda Research and Education Network and Research and Education Network of Uganda (RENU) with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
A local search engine for Uganda
As the drum beats for the development and use of locally generated Internet content in Uganda and indeed Africa get louder, someone has gone ahead to develop a search engine that indexes all the available local content as well as that which will be created in the future.
Reinier Battenberg, the brain behind this search engine calls it a sort of Google or Yahoo. The search engine which can be found at http://search.mountbatten.net is exclusively Ugandan, the same way Google or Yahoo were for the US before they spread beyond the US borders.
Battenberg says the search engine; the first of its kind in Uganda and possibly the East Africa region, is limited to searching websites that are within Uganda and are connected to local Ugandan internet.
“It lets you search Uganda-based websites. People say there is no local content but we have indexed all Ugandan web pages. They are just over 100,000 pages and that is quite substantial. So the argument that there is no local content is not entirely true,” Battenberg said.
Battenberg who is also the director Mountbatten ldt., a local web hosting and developing provider says local hosting in Africa is underestimated and a lot of internet users don’t know what local content is, but that there is a lot of potential for locally hosted Uganda websites with local content.
“It could be your local lawyer, accountant, dentist – all these people need websites and if they are targeting audiences in Uganda, there is no reason for them to host their websites outside the country,” Battenberg said.
Battenberg says hosting one’s website within the country comes with its pluses including your site downloading faster, it being cheaper and being more accessible. However he says a lot of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) don’t encourage local hosting because their networks are not configured well.
If a site is hosted in the USA or Europe it costs the ISPs US$750 per megabit per second to download websites, which they then show their clients.
Locally hosted content is free for them to access, no matter which network the content is hosted on. Currently, the ISPs are pocketing the difference, but the potential of having even cheaper rates for content that is hosted locally are quite amazing.
The trigger for Battenberg’s search engine he said was a copy of Wikipedia he was hosting locally. The copy is static, you cannot search it. “So I decided to make it searchable and after it finally worked, I was like why don’t we do the entire Ugandan Internet,” he said.
The search engine, which started as a weekend hobby has taken him a few months to create and he did this over the weekends. “Using the free Internet crawler Nutch, I developed the search engine,” Battenberg said.
When Ugandans or Africans host websites in Europe or the US, it keeps the knowledge and skills outside there, yet if the reverse was true and those servers were managed here, local ICT professionals would earn a living, which is a good thing for the economy.
From a user perspective, the search engine is all about Uganda and the speed of the network is really important. Battenberg said he does not know of a local website in Kenya or Tanzania that is indexing local content.
Mountbatten’s core business is building intelligent websites for any type of customer; provide local hosting services and training. “We also foster discussion by raising a few issues on topical ICT matters and that helps create awareness of ICT's potential,” Battenberg said.
Asked why he developed this search engine, Battenberg said, it helps to promote the use of local content, which in the end is good for everyone in the ICT field and for the people who surf the internet, which hopefully soon, will be almost everyone.
Reinier Battenberg, the brain behind this search engine calls it a sort of Google or Yahoo. The search engine which can be found at http://search.mountbatten.net is exclusively Ugandan, the same way Google or Yahoo were for the US before they spread beyond the US borders.
Battenberg says the search engine; the first of its kind in Uganda and possibly the East Africa region, is limited to searching websites that are within Uganda and are connected to local Ugandan internet.
“It lets you search Uganda-based websites. People say there is no local content but we have indexed all Ugandan web pages. They are just over 100,000 pages and that is quite substantial. So the argument that there is no local content is not entirely true,” Battenberg said.
Battenberg who is also the director Mountbatten ldt., a local web hosting and developing provider says local hosting in Africa is underestimated and a lot of internet users don’t know what local content is, but that there is a lot of potential for locally hosted Uganda websites with local content.
“It could be your local lawyer, accountant, dentist – all these people need websites and if they are targeting audiences in Uganda, there is no reason for them to host their websites outside the country,” Battenberg said.
Battenberg says hosting one’s website within the country comes with its pluses including your site downloading faster, it being cheaper and being more accessible. However he says a lot of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) don’t encourage local hosting because their networks are not configured well.
If a site is hosted in the USA or Europe it costs the ISPs US$750 per megabit per second to download websites, which they then show their clients.
Locally hosted content is free for them to access, no matter which network the content is hosted on. Currently, the ISPs are pocketing the difference, but the potential of having even cheaper rates for content that is hosted locally are quite amazing.
The trigger for Battenberg’s search engine he said was a copy of Wikipedia he was hosting locally. The copy is static, you cannot search it. “So I decided to make it searchable and after it finally worked, I was like why don’t we do the entire Ugandan Internet,” he said.
The search engine, which started as a weekend hobby has taken him a few months to create and he did this over the weekends. “Using the free Internet crawler Nutch, I developed the search engine,” Battenberg said.
When Ugandans or Africans host websites in Europe or the US, it keeps the knowledge and skills outside there, yet if the reverse was true and those servers were managed here, local ICT professionals would earn a living, which is a good thing for the economy.
From a user perspective, the search engine is all about Uganda and the speed of the network is really important. Battenberg said he does not know of a local website in Kenya or Tanzania that is indexing local content.
Mountbatten’s core business is building intelligent websites for any type of customer; provide local hosting services and training. “We also foster discussion by raising a few issues on topical ICT matters and that helps create awareness of ICT's potential,” Battenberg said.
Asked why he developed this search engine, Battenberg said, it helps to promote the use of local content, which in the end is good for everyone in the ICT field and for the people who surf the internet, which hopefully soon, will be almost everyone.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
First CDMA operator launches Uganda operations
The first Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile telephone operator in Uganda, I-telecom has launched its operations in Uganda’s highly competitive telecommunications market – bringing to six the number of mobile telephone operators.
I-telecom has initially invested some US$30 million in its Uganda operation, which apparently covers only half of the country from east to west according to Augustine Mulenga, the chief executive officer of the company.
“Our investment will rise to more than $100 million over the next 18 months when we hope to have expanded coverage to reach the entire country,” Mulenga said in an interview.
Mulenga said I-telecom is anchored on the latest CDMA platform which performs faster than the GSM platform. All the other five operators operate on the GSM platform, which seems to be the preferred platform in this part of the world.
“We promise our subscribers that we shall bring to them the best products and services in voice and data networks and solutions,” Mulenga said.
Mulenga said I-telecom will employ the more powerful and high performance EVDO technology that also enables high speed wireless broadband connectivity.
I-telecom has been testing its service with about 1,000 subscribers for the last eleven months from across the country from the east to the west.
Mulenga said that their company was way above other players in the market because of the technology they are using.
I-telecom has apparently entered the market with the cheapest call offerings on the market today. While a call especially on the large players today costs about 20 US cents at peak hours at, I-Telecom has come into the market with a call costing about 12 US cents at peak time.
He added that I-telecom has been testing its services with about 1,000 customers for the last 11 months from the East to the deepest end of Western Uganda.
“We have certainty of service from where the sun rises to where it sets across the south and central Uganda. We shall steadily roll out to the rest of the country,” Mulenga said.
Asked how he intends to survive in a brutal market that analysts have described as saturated, Mulenga said there was still room for business.
“See Uganda has a population of more than 30million. And about 55% of this population is actively working but the telecom industry is just jostling for 8-10million people. It means that we have an opportunity to command and bring on board customers that other operators have not been able to attract,” Mulenga said.
I-telecom is a joint venture between local Uganda investors with investors from southern Sudan, where they run the pioneer mobile service provider Gemtel.
While CDMA has been the dominant network standard for North America and parts of Asia, its take up of preference has been limited with almost a few mobile phone networks in the region running on the GSM standard.
In Kenya, it is only Orange/Telkom Kenya that runs on the CDMA standard while in Tanzania, it is only the national operator Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation Limited (TTCL) that runs some of its services on the CDMA standard.
As I-telecom commences its operations, another provider, Sure Telecom from South Africa is waiting in the wings readying itself for launch.
I-telecom has initially invested some US$30 million in its Uganda operation, which apparently covers only half of the country from east to west according to Augustine Mulenga, the chief executive officer of the company.
“Our investment will rise to more than $100 million over the next 18 months when we hope to have expanded coverage to reach the entire country,” Mulenga said in an interview.
Mulenga said I-telecom is anchored on the latest CDMA platform which performs faster than the GSM platform. All the other five operators operate on the GSM platform, which seems to be the preferred platform in this part of the world.
“We promise our subscribers that we shall bring to them the best products and services in voice and data networks and solutions,” Mulenga said.
Mulenga said I-telecom will employ the more powerful and high performance EVDO technology that also enables high speed wireless broadband connectivity.
I-telecom has been testing its service with about 1,000 subscribers for the last eleven months from across the country from the east to the west.
Mulenga said that their company was way above other players in the market because of the technology they are using.
I-telecom has apparently entered the market with the cheapest call offerings on the market today. While a call especially on the large players today costs about 20 US cents at peak hours at, I-Telecom has come into the market with a call costing about 12 US cents at peak time.
He added that I-telecom has been testing its services with about 1,000 customers for the last 11 months from the East to the deepest end of Western Uganda.
“We have certainty of service from where the sun rises to where it sets across the south and central Uganda. We shall steadily roll out to the rest of the country,” Mulenga said.
Asked how he intends to survive in a brutal market that analysts have described as saturated, Mulenga said there was still room for business.
“See Uganda has a population of more than 30million. And about 55% of this population is actively working but the telecom industry is just jostling for 8-10million people. It means that we have an opportunity to command and bring on board customers that other operators have not been able to attract,” Mulenga said.
I-telecom is a joint venture between local Uganda investors with investors from southern Sudan, where they run the pioneer mobile service provider Gemtel.
While CDMA has been the dominant network standard for North America and parts of Asia, its take up of preference has been limited with almost a few mobile phone networks in the region running on the GSM standard.
In Kenya, it is only Orange/Telkom Kenya that runs on the CDMA standard while in Tanzania, it is only the national operator Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation Limited (TTCL) that runs some of its services on the CDMA standard.
As I-telecom commences its operations, another provider, Sure Telecom from South Africa is waiting in the wings readying itself for launch.
Uganda Telecom and Rwandatel buy SEACOM capacity
Uganda’s largest internet service provider (ISP), Uganda Telecom has come online the SEACOM submarine cable following a purchase of capacity a few weeks ago.
The signing of a service level agreement between Uganda Telecom, which controls 70% of the internet segment of the communications market, and SEACOM is set to end a lot of anxiety from users who are eager to enjoy the high-speed broadband experience.
Since SEACOM went live late last month, internet users have been anxious, wondering why the largest ISP in the country had not signed onto the broadband network.
Today, only Infocom Uganda, who hold SEACOM’s point of presence (PoP) tenancy agreement is signed onto SEACOM.
The fact that Uganda Telecom had not signed onto SEACOM led to speculation that the firm would not actually sign onto SEACOM because they are shareholders in the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy), which lands in June 2010.
According to an official, Uganda Telecom has signed onto SEACOM for now as it waits for EASSy.
At the same time that Uganda Telecom purchased capacity, its sister company Rwandatel S.A. (RTL) from neighbouring Rwanda also purchased capacity to take high-speed broadband internet connectivity to that country.
SEACOM’s purchase of the UTL and RTL’s backhaul solution guarantees that Rwanda will be connected immediately.
The purchase agreement with Rwandatel will further extend the reach of international broadband capacity across eastern Africa but under the same agreement, SEACOM has secured backhaul network between Kampala and Kigali.
Through the concurrent deals, Uganda Telecom and Rwandatel, both subsidiaries of the Libyan Africa Portfolio LAP Green Networks, have purchased a significant amount of international broadband capacity from SEACOM whilst SEACOM has in turn secured a backhaul solution for Rwanda on the two regional players’ terrestrial networks between Kampala, Uganda and Kigali, Rwanda.
“Under the terms of the partnership agreement, both entities will have immediate access to the SEACOM network,” Brian Herlihy, the chief executive officer, SEACOM said.
While Uganda has been connected to the SEACOM network since its commercial launch on July 23 last month, this agreement means that Rwanda will benefit from the newly available broadband capacity as soon as September 2009 according to Herlihy.
Herlihy said the Uganda/Rwanda development is in line with SEACOM’s objective to provide connectivity solutions to landlocked countries across the east and southern African region.
Because many countries set out to deploy massive terrestrial networks in anticipation of the arrival of real and affordable international bandwidth connectivity, Herlihy said it is now making it easy to connect to SEACOM.
Now that Rwanda is connected to SEACOM, Herlihy said it will make it easier for neighbouring Burundi in the south of Rwanda to connect to the rest of the world.
“The capacity purchase by Uganda Telecom on the SEACOM network will dramatically modify the local Internet market and we look forward to a new era of true broadband across the region,” AbdulBaset Elazzabi, the managing director LAP Green Networks and Uganda Telecom said.
On Rwandatel’s behalf, the chief executive officer Patrick Kariningufu said that in line with its strategy to extend affordable connectivity to the Rwanda population, Rwandatel took major steps in developing its infrastructure.
LAP Green Networks is a telecommunications operator owned by Libyan African Investment Portfolio and specialises in the acquisition and management of telecommunications networks across Africa.
LAP Green Networks’ other investments on the continent include Sonitel Niger, Sahel Com Niger and Oricel Green Cote D'Ivoire.
SEACOM’s undersea fibre optic cable system will provide African retail carriers with equal and open access to inexpensive bandwidth, removing the international infrastructure bottleneck and supporting east and southern African economic growth.
The signing of a service level agreement between Uganda Telecom, which controls 70% of the internet segment of the communications market, and SEACOM is set to end a lot of anxiety from users who are eager to enjoy the high-speed broadband experience.
Since SEACOM went live late last month, internet users have been anxious, wondering why the largest ISP in the country had not signed onto the broadband network.
Today, only Infocom Uganda, who hold SEACOM’s point of presence (PoP) tenancy agreement is signed onto SEACOM.
The fact that Uganda Telecom had not signed onto SEACOM led to speculation that the firm would not actually sign onto SEACOM because they are shareholders in the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy), which lands in June 2010.
According to an official, Uganda Telecom has signed onto SEACOM for now as it waits for EASSy.
At the same time that Uganda Telecom purchased capacity, its sister company Rwandatel S.A. (RTL) from neighbouring Rwanda also purchased capacity to take high-speed broadband internet connectivity to that country.
SEACOM’s purchase of the UTL and RTL’s backhaul solution guarantees that Rwanda will be connected immediately.
The purchase agreement with Rwandatel will further extend the reach of international broadband capacity across eastern Africa but under the same agreement, SEACOM has secured backhaul network between Kampala and Kigali.
Through the concurrent deals, Uganda Telecom and Rwandatel, both subsidiaries of the Libyan Africa Portfolio LAP Green Networks, have purchased a significant amount of international broadband capacity from SEACOM whilst SEACOM has in turn secured a backhaul solution for Rwanda on the two regional players’ terrestrial networks between Kampala, Uganda and Kigali, Rwanda.
“Under the terms of the partnership agreement, both entities will have immediate access to the SEACOM network,” Brian Herlihy, the chief executive officer, SEACOM said.
While Uganda has been connected to the SEACOM network since its commercial launch on July 23 last month, this agreement means that Rwanda will benefit from the newly available broadband capacity as soon as September 2009 according to Herlihy.
Herlihy said the Uganda/Rwanda development is in line with SEACOM’s objective to provide connectivity solutions to landlocked countries across the east and southern African region.
Because many countries set out to deploy massive terrestrial networks in anticipation of the arrival of real and affordable international bandwidth connectivity, Herlihy said it is now making it easy to connect to SEACOM.
Now that Rwanda is connected to SEACOM, Herlihy said it will make it easier for neighbouring Burundi in the south of Rwanda to connect to the rest of the world.
“The capacity purchase by Uganda Telecom on the SEACOM network will dramatically modify the local Internet market and we look forward to a new era of true broadband across the region,” AbdulBaset Elazzabi, the managing director LAP Green Networks and Uganda Telecom said.
On Rwandatel’s behalf, the chief executive officer Patrick Kariningufu said that in line with its strategy to extend affordable connectivity to the Rwanda population, Rwandatel took major steps in developing its infrastructure.
LAP Green Networks is a telecommunications operator owned by Libyan African Investment Portfolio and specialises in the acquisition and management of telecommunications networks across Africa.
LAP Green Networks’ other investments on the continent include Sonitel Niger, Sahel Com Niger and Oricel Green Cote D'Ivoire.
SEACOM’s undersea fibre optic cable system will provide African retail carriers with equal and open access to inexpensive bandwidth, removing the international infrastructure bottleneck and supporting east and southern African economic growth.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Gorilla tourism goes online in Uganda
Mountain gorilla tracking is hard work; up steep slopes, through dense but fascinating scenery.
A good level of fitness and patience is a must and that means gorilla tracking is not a holiday for tourists who want instant, easy viewing from the comfort of an air conditioned van or jeep.
It is for those with determination and the reward for the lucky ones sometimes is to be in the presence of one of the world’s gentlest, rarest and most reclusive gentle giants.
Technology is however set to change things and make gorilla tracking easy and cheap for those who cannot afford a trip to Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in the southwest of the country near the Rwanda and DR Congo borders.
The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the apex body on park tourism in the country has introduced an online gorilla programme – a new initiative aimed at addressing the global demand for conservation tourism.
The online project, which is due for launch on September 26, is also aimed at bringing attention to the plight of mountain gorillas that have suffered at the hands of man over the years.
Users will have to donate a minimum of $1 to be able to track the movements of individual gorillas through a custom-made website.
Strategically placed video cameras in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park will stream video footage of the gorillas to audiences worldwide.
“Through the www.friendagorilla.org website, gorilla lovers will have a chance to befriend any individual gorilla from the seven habituated gorilla families in the Bwindi National Park at $1," Serapio Rukundo, the junior minister for tourism said.
Moses Mapesa, the UWA executive director said the website’s menu will include sections like geo-track that will allow users to track gorillas using GPRS coordinates.
"The platform will also allow users on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to 'befriend a gorilla," Mapesa said.
In executing this world first in park tourism, game rangers will track the gorillas using the normal methods and will register the location of the gorilla families using GPRS.
Social interactions within the groups will also be recorded, allowing subscribers to keep up to date with the whereabouts and activities of gorillas they will have befriended. Only gorillas accustomed to human contact will be included in the project.
Last year gorilla tourism raised $225 million for Uganda, providing 37 percent of the country’s national annual earnings from tourism, and more than half of UWA’s internally generated revenue.
The online tracking initiative UWA officials reckon will raise an additional $700,000 a year.
Tracking gorillas physically costs upwards of $500 per person, and visitors are strictly limited to small groups in order to minimize contact between gorillas and humans.
Permits for such journeys are often fully booked months in advance and this has always caused friction between tour operators and UWA. With the online initiative, it will be possible for tourists to follow the gorillas from the comfort of their home or office.
There are an estimated 720 mountain gorillas left worldwide, over half of which live in Uganda. According to The World Conservation Union, three of the four species of gorilla are in danger of extinction.
This new online initiative has been designed to coincide with the United Nations declaration of 2009 as the year of the gorilla.
A good level of fitness and patience is a must and that means gorilla tracking is not a holiday for tourists who want instant, easy viewing from the comfort of an air conditioned van or jeep.
It is for those with determination and the reward for the lucky ones sometimes is to be in the presence of one of the world’s gentlest, rarest and most reclusive gentle giants.
Technology is however set to change things and make gorilla tracking easy and cheap for those who cannot afford a trip to Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in the southwest of the country near the Rwanda and DR Congo borders.
The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the apex body on park tourism in the country has introduced an online gorilla programme – a new initiative aimed at addressing the global demand for conservation tourism.
The online project, which is due for launch on September 26, is also aimed at bringing attention to the plight of mountain gorillas that have suffered at the hands of man over the years.
Users will have to donate a minimum of $1 to be able to track the movements of individual gorillas through a custom-made website.
Strategically placed video cameras in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park will stream video footage of the gorillas to audiences worldwide.
“Through the www.friendagorilla.org website, gorilla lovers will have a chance to befriend any individual gorilla from the seven habituated gorilla families in the Bwindi National Park at $1," Serapio Rukundo, the junior minister for tourism said.
Moses Mapesa, the UWA executive director said the website’s menu will include sections like geo-track that will allow users to track gorillas using GPRS coordinates.
"The platform will also allow users on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to 'befriend a gorilla," Mapesa said.
In executing this world first in park tourism, game rangers will track the gorillas using the normal methods and will register the location of the gorilla families using GPRS.
Social interactions within the groups will also be recorded, allowing subscribers to keep up to date with the whereabouts and activities of gorillas they will have befriended. Only gorillas accustomed to human contact will be included in the project.
Last year gorilla tourism raised $225 million for Uganda, providing 37 percent of the country’s national annual earnings from tourism, and more than half of UWA’s internally generated revenue.
The online tracking initiative UWA officials reckon will raise an additional $700,000 a year.
Tracking gorillas physically costs upwards of $500 per person, and visitors are strictly limited to small groups in order to minimize contact between gorillas and humans.
Permits for such journeys are often fully booked months in advance and this has always caused friction between tour operators and UWA. With the online initiative, it will be possible for tourists to follow the gorillas from the comfort of their home or office.
There are an estimated 720 mountain gorillas left worldwide, over half of which live in Uganda. According to The World Conservation Union, three of the four species of gorilla are in danger of extinction.
This new online initiative has been designed to coincide with the United Nations declaration of 2009 as the year of the gorilla.
Fibre link from Uganda to Rwanda to cost $9m
Technology firm Altech Stream East Africa will invest US$9 million to expand its terrestrial fibre optic cable from the Uganda capital, Kampala to the Rwanda capital Kigali.
Altech Stream East Africa is made up of three companies including Kenya Data Networks (KDN), one of the leading internet service providers (ISPs) in the Kenya market, Infocom Uganda with a 30% market share in Uganda and Altech Stream Rwanda.
Altech Stream today boasts of a terrestrial fibre optic link that stretches ……kilometers from the Kenyan city of Mombasa at the coast to Kampala.
On the Kenyan side of the fibre, KDN built and owns the network while on the Ugandan side, Infocom has leased fibre from power company Uganda Electricity Transmission Company (UETCL).
This is how the company, which holds the point of presence (PoP) tenancy agreement for the Seacom fibre cable and its subsidiaries in the two countries, have been able to deliver high speed broadband to users.
“The link from Kampala to Kigali will cost between $8-$9 million and work will start within a month,” Hans Heardtle, the chief executive Infocom said. Today, there is no existing fibre optic link between Kampala and Katuna at the Uganda/Rwanda border.
However, Altech Stream East Africa has just completed work on a high-powered microwave link that is on test. It is this link that will in the meantime connect Rwanda to the Seacom submarine fibre optic cable that went live last month.
“Rwanda missed out on the launch of Seacom because then we did not have a link to the cable, but when the tests are completed, they will come online and the microwave link will be complimented by the terrestrial cable when work is completed in four months,” Heardtle said.
Heardtle was speaking last week at the launch of Green Future Limited, a Kenyan company that builds and provides support to optic fibre cable infrastructure development companies by offering surveillance to their optic fibre networks.
Green Future builds and maintains optic fibre networks but their package comes with an environmental agenda and the company plans to plant some 5 million trees along the route of the cable between Kampala and Kigali.
“We call ourselves environmentalists first and then technology savvy scientists second,” Fred Sewe, the managing director Green Future said.
“For every meter of ground that we lay our fibre optic cables, we shall plant two indigenous trees. Our objective is to plant and nurture to maturity at least five to six million indigenous trees between Kampala and Kigali by the end of 2009.”
Green Future was among the groups of companies that laid down fibre between Mombasa and Bungoma in Kenya. Green Future developed the remaining distance to Kampala and that link enabled Uganda to be the only inland country to be part of the global information superhighway when Seacom went live last month.
Since December 2007, Green Future has been involved in surveillance and resolution of faults arising from fibre optic cuts all over East Africa.
Sewe said that along the way from Kampala to Kigali, Green Future will employ at least 100,000 people.
“It warms my heart that someone has found a way for correlation between modern technology and taking care of our natural habitat where others including first world countries have failed,” Uganda vice president Professor Gilbert Bukenya who launched Green Future’s operations in Uganda said.
“This is a challenge that we should give to all not just corporations but to each and everyone of us here today. Our future, our energy is dependent on our activities where the environment is concerned.”
Altech Stream East Africa is made up of three companies including Kenya Data Networks (KDN), one of the leading internet service providers (ISPs) in the Kenya market, Infocom Uganda with a 30% market share in Uganda and Altech Stream Rwanda.
Altech Stream today boasts of a terrestrial fibre optic link that stretches ……kilometers from the Kenyan city of Mombasa at the coast to Kampala.
On the Kenyan side of the fibre, KDN built and owns the network while on the Ugandan side, Infocom has leased fibre from power company Uganda Electricity Transmission Company (UETCL).
This is how the company, which holds the point of presence (PoP) tenancy agreement for the Seacom fibre cable and its subsidiaries in the two countries, have been able to deliver high speed broadband to users.
“The link from Kampala to Kigali will cost between $8-$9 million and work will start within a month,” Hans Heardtle, the chief executive Infocom said. Today, there is no existing fibre optic link between Kampala and Katuna at the Uganda/Rwanda border.
However, Altech Stream East Africa has just completed work on a high-powered microwave link that is on test. It is this link that will in the meantime connect Rwanda to the Seacom submarine fibre optic cable that went live last month.
“Rwanda missed out on the launch of Seacom because then we did not have a link to the cable, but when the tests are completed, they will come online and the microwave link will be complimented by the terrestrial cable when work is completed in four months,” Heardtle said.
Heardtle was speaking last week at the launch of Green Future Limited, a Kenyan company that builds and provides support to optic fibre cable infrastructure development companies by offering surveillance to their optic fibre networks.
Green Future builds and maintains optic fibre networks but their package comes with an environmental agenda and the company plans to plant some 5 million trees along the route of the cable between Kampala and Kigali.
“We call ourselves environmentalists first and then technology savvy scientists second,” Fred Sewe, the managing director Green Future said.
“For every meter of ground that we lay our fibre optic cables, we shall plant two indigenous trees. Our objective is to plant and nurture to maturity at least five to six million indigenous trees between Kampala and Kigali by the end of 2009.”
Green Future was among the groups of companies that laid down fibre between Mombasa and Bungoma in Kenya. Green Future developed the remaining distance to Kampala and that link enabled Uganda to be the only inland country to be part of the global information superhighway when Seacom went live last month.
Since December 2007, Green Future has been involved in surveillance and resolution of faults arising from fibre optic cuts all over East Africa.
Sewe said that along the way from Kampala to Kigali, Green Future will employ at least 100,000 people.
“It warms my heart that someone has found a way for correlation between modern technology and taking care of our natural habitat where others including first world countries have failed,” Uganda vice president Professor Gilbert Bukenya who launched Green Future’s operations in Uganda said.
“This is a challenge that we should give to all not just corporations but to each and everyone of us here today. Our future, our energy is dependent on our activities where the environment is concerned.”
Zain to link other providers to its ‘One Network’
The Zain group is running a pilot test that if successful will see the Africa and Middle East mobile service provider admit rival operators into its ‘One Network’ offering.
“In the Middle East, the operator we are trialing with is from a big country and in Africa, the operator is from a big economy with a big population,” George Held, Zain’s director of products and the One Network said without directly naming the operators or the countries they come from.
Held said the test phase is ongoing and has been successful and Zain and the providers in question are only waiting as the legal and regulatory framework under, which the service will be implemented are worked out.
“It will happen in a few months. Technically it is implemented and right now we just need a legal and regulatory framework in place and then we will officially announce it,” Held said.
The single network offering has been a key factor in helping turn around the fortunes of Zain especially in the East Africa market where the offering has given them a competitive edge over its rivals.
“At any given point in time, a quarter of a million people in East Africa are calling across the three borders at no extra cost and for us that is what it is all about; we are serving the needs of users at minimum cost,” Held said.
The One Network is a borderless mobile telecom service that was launched in September 2006; offering communication services across borders without users having to pay roaming call-surcharges, and it does not require customers to pay for incoming calls.
When Zain (then Celtel) launched the single network across Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, it was a world first in telecommunications innovation.
Today, Zain has the service in 17 of its 21 operations with Sierra Leone and Madagascar set to join the single network any time soon
Held said the geographical coverage of the single network is twice the size of the European Union and is accessible to 1 billion people.
He describes the offering as extremely complex from the Zain perspective but is seamless and simple from the user perspective.
Held said that Zain has won many awards with the One Network innovation. Outside of the Zain network, the innovation is being taken up by other mobile operators and is becoming a global standard.
Already, South Africa-based Mobile Telephone Networks (MTN) plans to remove roaming fees across all its 22 operations to essentially create a single network as Zain has done.
“In the Middle East, the operator we are trialing with is from a big country and in Africa, the operator is from a big economy with a big population,” George Held, Zain’s director of products and the One Network said without directly naming the operators or the countries they come from.
Held said the test phase is ongoing and has been successful and Zain and the providers in question are only waiting as the legal and regulatory framework under, which the service will be implemented are worked out.
“It will happen in a few months. Technically it is implemented and right now we just need a legal and regulatory framework in place and then we will officially announce it,” Held said.
The single network offering has been a key factor in helping turn around the fortunes of Zain especially in the East Africa market where the offering has given them a competitive edge over its rivals.
“At any given point in time, a quarter of a million people in East Africa are calling across the three borders at no extra cost and for us that is what it is all about; we are serving the needs of users at minimum cost,” Held said.
The One Network is a borderless mobile telecom service that was launched in September 2006; offering communication services across borders without users having to pay roaming call-surcharges, and it does not require customers to pay for incoming calls.
When Zain (then Celtel) launched the single network across Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, it was a world first in telecommunications innovation.
Today, Zain has the service in 17 of its 21 operations with Sierra Leone and Madagascar set to join the single network any time soon
Held said the geographical coverage of the single network is twice the size of the European Union and is accessible to 1 billion people.
He describes the offering as extremely complex from the Zain perspective but is seamless and simple from the user perspective.
Held said that Zain has won many awards with the One Network innovation. Outside of the Zain network, the innovation is being taken up by other mobile operators and is becoming a global standard.
Already, South Africa-based Mobile Telephone Networks (MTN) plans to remove roaming fees across all its 22 operations to essentially create a single network as Zain has done.
Money transfer: the next battleground for Uganda telcos
By Edris Kisambira October 30, 2008
Mobile money transfer services will be the next battle ground for Uganda’s mobile telephone operators with plans to launch the service by two of the four operators at different stages of development.
While MTN Uganda has kept its plan to go into money transfer under wraps, Zain Uganda has come out with it.
Yesse Oenga, Zain Uganda’s country manager said the company plans a service that will see its customers send and receive money over its ‘one network.’
Zain’s ‘one network’, which was first launched in East Africa to initially cover Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, has since expanded to cover 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East.
A top official at MTN has confirmed the company is looking to introduce a money transfer service but did not go into details.
For Zain, the company looks at money transfer as one of many arenas for growth.
In Kenya, Zain has abandoned an e-cash product the firm had launched onto the market to counter Safaricom’s M-Pesa, but has abandoned that one for the new service, which it reckons it will be superior because it will be available to users in the three neighbouring countries of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
The e-cash service is looked at as a centre-piece of Zain’s target of becoming one of the top 10 mobile phone companies with a combined subscriber base of 110 million with a EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and armotisation) of $6 billion.
The innovation means that a chunk of Zain’s two million subscribers in Uganda will be able to send and receive money beyond the limited baking facilities in the country.
It will also open another competition front against money transfer firms that handle remittances from Ugandan who live and work abroad.
Experts predict that immigrant labour will continue to grow substantially, with global remittances set to reach $700 billion by 2012.
Uganda currently has a steadily growing immigrant labour force in countries in the Middle East (Zain’s one network is operational in most of them) in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq.
At least 3,000 Ugandans work in Iraq, while numbers in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and the United Emirates are on the rise.
The cost of remittances by mobile technology (e-cash) is said to be much lower because it removes the need for physical points of presence.
There are many new arenas for growth. We want to go into money transfer on the One Network. We also want to go into the growing data segment as well as cable TV.
All these are arenas that we are going into because our strategy is based on innovation and product development. This strategy looks at how to get to our target by 2011.
Zain Uganda country manager Yesse Oenga said money transfer is one of the innovations that the group is set to launch as it seeks to reach its target to become one of the top 10 global telecom brands with a $6 billion EBITDA (earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) rating by 2011 and a 110 million strong subscriber base, up from the current $1.3billion and 50.7 million subscribers respectively.
Oenga said Zain would achieve this following the group’s daring move to re-brand and merge its Africa and Middle East operations under the Zain brand in August.
The group was formerly made of the Kuwait based MTC and its pan African mobile phone subsidiary, Celtel.
Safaricom’s M-Pesa
The ping of a text message has never sounded so sweet. In what is being touted as a world first, Kenya's biggest mobile operator is allowing subscribers to send cash to other phone users by SMS.
Known as M-Pesa, or mobile money, the service is expected to revolutionise banking in a country where more than 80% of people are excluded from the formal financial sector.
Apart from transferring cash - a service much in demand among urban Kenyans supporting relatives in rural areas - customers of the Safaricom network will be able to keep up to 50,000 shillings (£370) in a "virtual account" on their handsets.
Developed by Vodafone, which holds a 35% share in Safaricom, M-Pesa was formally launched in Kenya two weeks ago.
More than 10,000 people have signed up for the service, with around 8m shillings transferred so far, mostly in tiny denominations.
Safaricom's executives are confident that growth will be strong in Kenya, and later across Africa.
"We are effectively giving people ATM cards without them ever having to open a real bank account," said Michael Joseph, chief executive of Safaricom, who called the money transfer concept the "next big thing" in mobile telephony.
M-Pesa's is simple.
There is no need for a new handset or SIM card. To send money you hand over the cash to a registered agent - typically a retailer - who credits your virtual account.
You then send between 100 shillings (74p) and 35,000 shillings (£259) via text message to the desired recipient - even someone on a different mobile network - who cashes it at an agent by entering a secret code and showing ID.
A commission of up to 170 shillings (£1.25) is paid by the recipient but it compares favourably with fees levied by the major banks, whose services are too expensive for most of the population.
Mobile phone growth in Kenya, as in most of Africa, has been remarkable, even among the rural poor.
In June 1999 Kenya had 15,000 mobile subscribers. Today it has nearly 8 million out of a population of 35 million, and the two operators' networks are as extensive as the access to banks is limited.
Safaricom says it is not so much competing with financial services companies as filling a void.
Mobile money transfer services will be the next battle ground for Uganda’s mobile telephone operators with plans to launch the service by two of the four operators at different stages of development.
While MTN Uganda has kept its plan to go into money transfer under wraps, Zain Uganda has come out with it.
Yesse Oenga, Zain Uganda’s country manager said the company plans a service that will see its customers send and receive money over its ‘one network.’
Zain’s ‘one network’, which was first launched in East Africa to initially cover Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, has since expanded to cover 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East.
A top official at MTN has confirmed the company is looking to introduce a money transfer service but did not go into details.
For Zain, the company looks at money transfer as one of many arenas for growth.
In Kenya, Zain has abandoned an e-cash product the firm had launched onto the market to counter Safaricom’s M-Pesa, but has abandoned that one for the new service, which it reckons it will be superior because it will be available to users in the three neighbouring countries of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
The e-cash service is looked at as a centre-piece of Zain’s target of becoming one of the top 10 mobile phone companies with a combined subscriber base of 110 million with a EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and armotisation) of $6 billion.
The innovation means that a chunk of Zain’s two million subscribers in Uganda will be able to send and receive money beyond the limited baking facilities in the country.
It will also open another competition front against money transfer firms that handle remittances from Ugandan who live and work abroad.
Experts predict that immigrant labour will continue to grow substantially, with global remittances set to reach $700 billion by 2012.
Uganda currently has a steadily growing immigrant labour force in countries in the Middle East (Zain’s one network is operational in most of them) in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq.
At least 3,000 Ugandans work in Iraq, while numbers in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and the United Emirates are on the rise.
The cost of remittances by mobile technology (e-cash) is said to be much lower because it removes the need for physical points of presence.
There are many new arenas for growth. We want to go into money transfer on the One Network. We also want to go into the growing data segment as well as cable TV.
All these are arenas that we are going into because our strategy is based on innovation and product development. This strategy looks at how to get to our target by 2011.
Zain Uganda country manager Yesse Oenga said money transfer is one of the innovations that the group is set to launch as it seeks to reach its target to become one of the top 10 global telecom brands with a $6 billion EBITDA (earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) rating by 2011 and a 110 million strong subscriber base, up from the current $1.3billion and 50.7 million subscribers respectively.
Oenga said Zain would achieve this following the group’s daring move to re-brand and merge its Africa and Middle East operations under the Zain brand in August.
The group was formerly made of the Kuwait based MTC and its pan African mobile phone subsidiary, Celtel.
Safaricom’s M-Pesa
The ping of a text message has never sounded so sweet. In what is being touted as a world first, Kenya's biggest mobile operator is allowing subscribers to send cash to other phone users by SMS.
Known as M-Pesa, or mobile money, the service is expected to revolutionise banking in a country where more than 80% of people are excluded from the formal financial sector.
Apart from transferring cash - a service much in demand among urban Kenyans supporting relatives in rural areas - customers of the Safaricom network will be able to keep up to 50,000 shillings (£370) in a "virtual account" on their handsets.
Developed by Vodafone, which holds a 35% share in Safaricom, M-Pesa was formally launched in Kenya two weeks ago.
More than 10,000 people have signed up for the service, with around 8m shillings transferred so far, mostly in tiny denominations.
Safaricom's executives are confident that growth will be strong in Kenya, and later across Africa.
"We are effectively giving people ATM cards without them ever having to open a real bank account," said Michael Joseph, chief executive of Safaricom, who called the money transfer concept the "next big thing" in mobile telephony.
M-Pesa's is simple.
There is no need for a new handset or SIM card. To send money you hand over the cash to a registered agent - typically a retailer - who credits your virtual account.
You then send between 100 shillings (74p) and 35,000 shillings (£259) via text message to the desired recipient - even someone on a different mobile network - who cashes it at an agent by entering a secret code and showing ID.
A commission of up to 170 shillings (£1.25) is paid by the recipient but it compares favourably with fees levied by the major banks, whose services are too expensive for most of the population.
Mobile phone growth in Kenya, as in most of Africa, has been remarkable, even among the rural poor.
In June 1999 Kenya had 15,000 mobile subscribers. Today it has nearly 8 million out of a population of 35 million, and the two operators' networks are as extensive as the access to banks is limited.
Safaricom says it is not so much competing with financial services companies as filling a void.
UCC to increase RCDF levy and telcos will not be happy
By Edris Kisambira September 01, 2009
Players in Uganda’s communications sector should brace themselves for a further cut in their profit margins as the industry regulator looks to further boost the Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF).
The RCDF programme, which aims to deliver communication services to parts of the country that commercial players consider unviable, was set up by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) to drive its universal access agenda.
According to a draft Rural Communication Development Policy (RCDP)-II, UCC needs US$17 million per year to finance increased coverage of the RCDF activities across the country.
The 1% levy operators pay to UCC today off their annual profits can only raise $4 million and according to the draft policy, that amount does not ensure sufficient RCDF inflows.
“The law talks of a maximum of 2.5% and today we are still frugal at 1%. It is possible it can be revived downwards but it may go up if you look at the demand that still exists,” Mr. Patrick Masambu, the executive director UCC said. “The mandate to reduce or decrease the levy is with the minister but we will advice.”
Masambu was reacting to concerns raised by officials from the operators who reckon the levy should not be raised further because there are now more players in the sector than was the case when the first phase of the RCDF programme was instituted.
However, the policy also suggested other avenues of raising the $17 million. It could also take the form of making provision for it in the national budget and engaging development partners.
The new RCDF policy proposes to make it more collaborative, with other government arms with a view of mainstreaming some of the RCDF-initiated interventions into other sector strategies.
It also aims aim to achieve a target of 1 pay phone per village (with an adult population of at least 500 people) by 2015 by deploying at least 2,500 public pay phones per year in underserved areas only.
According to the draft RCDF policy 2009, although the geographical isolation gap has been substantially addressed by the increase of major telecommunications operators in Uganda, new demand for extending the RCDF is informed by the gap of inadequate ICT awareness that still exists and needs further tackling.
Others are the poverty gap that has not been addressed and very low functional ICT literacy is a gap that still persists and requires further RCDF intervention.
It said access to ICT services was improved by the first phase but coverage gaps and inadequate range of basic services still require RCDF intervention.
It said affordability has improved a lot but costs are still substantially higher than what is feasible for average income levels and RCDP-II should continues to catalyze further lowering of ICT costs.
The policy proposes the modernization and expansion of postal services by effectively supporting at least one initiative that aims to either modernize or expand coverage of postal services in Uganda.
Further, the new RCDF will support the establishment of at least one community information centre (CIC) per underserved local area (LCIII), as a profitable business providing essential ICT and related services (postal services, public pay phone, email and internet and financial services) aiming at a minimum of 150 CICs per year.
To ensure easier sustainability, RCDF-supported CICs should target viable points of population convergence such as trading centres, market sites, medium and large health units, local administration points and education institutions.
It will also support the establishment of at least a 40-workstation IT laboratory with broadband access in a total of a minimum of 200 educational institutions (including both Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education schools) that are located in underserved areas per year.
RCDF will also support at least three collaborative initiatives (each year) to sustainably develop and disseminate local ICT content and its application in areas like health, education, market information, agriculture, local administration and commerce so as to encourage faster uptake of ICT.
It will support at least two institutions of higher learning each year to undertake research that explores new ways of using ICT to support rural development.
The new RCDF will also help disseminate the findings and support the improvement of sustainability by providing entrepreneurial training (including business planning) for the managers of all new RCDF supported projects.
With the increased funding, the draft proposes catalyzing the utilization of renewable energy sources (such as wind and solar) to power rural ICT projects and encourage use of the national fibre backbone for the delivery of broadband to underserved communities.
This will be done by the fund supporting the establishment of at least four regional centres of excellence each year that demonstrate the use of new technologies to address the challenges of ICT delivery and utilization in rural areas.
According to the draft, the first phase did not adequately address or document the human development impact and should be addressed in the second phase. It said underlying technology issues (unreliable power, last mile technologies, equipment requiring less maintenance) should not curtail the second phase.
Players in Uganda’s communications sector should brace themselves for a further cut in their profit margins as the industry regulator looks to further boost the Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF).
The RCDF programme, which aims to deliver communication services to parts of the country that commercial players consider unviable, was set up by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) to drive its universal access agenda.
According to a draft Rural Communication Development Policy (RCDP)-II, UCC needs US$17 million per year to finance increased coverage of the RCDF activities across the country.
The 1% levy operators pay to UCC today off their annual profits can only raise $4 million and according to the draft policy, that amount does not ensure sufficient RCDF inflows.
“The law talks of a maximum of 2.5% and today we are still frugal at 1%. It is possible it can be revived downwards but it may go up if you look at the demand that still exists,” Mr. Patrick Masambu, the executive director UCC said. “The mandate to reduce or decrease the levy is with the minister but we will advice.”
Masambu was reacting to concerns raised by officials from the operators who reckon the levy should not be raised further because there are now more players in the sector than was the case when the first phase of the RCDF programme was instituted.
However, the policy also suggested other avenues of raising the $17 million. It could also take the form of making provision for it in the national budget and engaging development partners.
The new RCDF policy proposes to make it more collaborative, with other government arms with a view of mainstreaming some of the RCDF-initiated interventions into other sector strategies.
It also aims aim to achieve a target of 1 pay phone per village (with an adult population of at least 500 people) by 2015 by deploying at least 2,500 public pay phones per year in underserved areas only.
According to the draft RCDF policy 2009, although the geographical isolation gap has been substantially addressed by the increase of major telecommunications operators in Uganda, new demand for extending the RCDF is informed by the gap of inadequate ICT awareness that still exists and needs further tackling.
Others are the poverty gap that has not been addressed and very low functional ICT literacy is a gap that still persists and requires further RCDF intervention.
It said access to ICT services was improved by the first phase but coverage gaps and inadequate range of basic services still require RCDF intervention.
It said affordability has improved a lot but costs are still substantially higher than what is feasible for average income levels and RCDP-II should continues to catalyze further lowering of ICT costs.
The policy proposes the modernization and expansion of postal services by effectively supporting at least one initiative that aims to either modernize or expand coverage of postal services in Uganda.
Further, the new RCDF will support the establishment of at least one community information centre (CIC) per underserved local area (LCIII), as a profitable business providing essential ICT and related services (postal services, public pay phone, email and internet and financial services) aiming at a minimum of 150 CICs per year.
To ensure easier sustainability, RCDF-supported CICs should target viable points of population convergence such as trading centres, market sites, medium and large health units, local administration points and education institutions.
It will also support the establishment of at least a 40-workstation IT laboratory with broadband access in a total of a minimum of 200 educational institutions (including both Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education schools) that are located in underserved areas per year.
RCDF will also support at least three collaborative initiatives (each year) to sustainably develop and disseminate local ICT content and its application in areas like health, education, market information, agriculture, local administration and commerce so as to encourage faster uptake of ICT.
It will support at least two institutions of higher learning each year to undertake research that explores new ways of using ICT to support rural development.
The new RCDF will also help disseminate the findings and support the improvement of sustainability by providing entrepreneurial training (including business planning) for the managers of all new RCDF supported projects.
With the increased funding, the draft proposes catalyzing the utilization of renewable energy sources (such as wind and solar) to power rural ICT projects and encourage use of the national fibre backbone for the delivery of broadband to underserved communities.
This will be done by the fund supporting the establishment of at least four regional centres of excellence each year that demonstrate the use of new technologies to address the challenges of ICT delivery and utilization in rural areas.
According to the draft, the first phase did not adequately address or document the human development impact and should be addressed in the second phase. It said underlying technology issues (unreliable power, last mile technologies, equipment requiring less maintenance) should not curtail the second phase.
SEACOM arrives but where is the cheap bandwidth
Three or four years ago when we first heard news of an undersea fibre optic cable and the benefits that would come with it, Internet users could not wait to enjoy the super speeds and uninterrupted access at a fraction of what they paid for internet services then.
On July 24, 2009, SEACOM, one of three undersea fibre optic cables at different stages of development on the eastern seaboard of Africa went live in Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Internet users were excited about the prospect of the super speeds, lower prices and all the nice things that come with enough bandwidth at lower prices than they pay today. What many users wanted to see was an immediate change in surfing experience because of increased speeds and a drop in the cost of internet services.
During the launch on July 23, Fred Moturi, the SEACOM Uganda representative said, "everyone should expect the cost of Internet service to come down as the cost of international bandwidth will become cheaper."
Until hitherto, communication operators in this part of Africa have relied on expensive satellite connectivity for telephones and the Internet.
As a result, supply of bandwidth has been constricted – a factor that explains the slow Internet speeds and high prices.
However, SEACOM and indeed all the other fibre optic companies expect ISPs to buy more bandwidth capacity as the price is expected to come down by about 80% what a megabit costs from a satellite provider.
Africa like the rest of the world is experiencing enormous growth in capacity demand due to the Internet’s ability as a medium for communication, providing information and entertainment and fibre connectivity is a necessity and not a luxury.
That is why SEACOM, a privately funded and three-quarters African owned cable is expected to provide bandwidth on an open access basis, allowing all operators to have equal access to the cable 1.28 terabytes per second (Tb/s) cable system that links south and East Africa to global networks via India and Europe.
Reaction to availability of high speed broadband has been mixed with users largely irked by the fact that prices have or will not move down immediately as was expected.
With only Infocom Uganda as the only ISP that initially signed onto SEACOM, users have also been unhappy about the fact that ISPs who supply them internet have reacted in a rather cold way to the availability of high-speed broadband.
“From my personal opinion, I see two reasons why we are not about to see a big drop in prices,” George Lule commented on the I-Network mailing list. “Seacom is insisting on long term contracts moreover with established ISPs.”
“That simply means that the market is not yet open enough to initiate a price war that will bring the prices tumbling down. It’s the same traditional players that can afford the type of commitment that Seacom is demanding and since they are the same players, why are you expecting a change in the game?”
Badru Ntege said the discussion on whether Ugandans will see a decrease in internet prices when optic fibre arrives has been had earlier but the difference is that only the rosy picture was painted.
SEACOM’s offer to operators is based on them buying bandwidth in units of 155 megabits (Mb), which is what is called an STM1 in technology speak.
And according to Ntege, operators are being asked to buy leases of capacity for prices ranging from $2million to $3.5 million and that they are locked in these contracts for as many as 20 years.
Ntege argues this does not make internet access cheaper in terms of price considering annual maintenance fees and other overheads that ISPs as businesses have to factor into their calculations.
Ntege did a quick calculation and he says that an operator who will take the option of leasing capacity worth $3.5 million for 20 years, they would accumulate annual maintenance costs of $210,000, which works out to be $17,000 per month for an ISP that has bought 155Mb of capacity.
Ntege suggested that the Uganda government needs to buy capacity from SEACOM, place it on the Uganda internet exchange where especially small ISPs would buy it at reasonable rates as opposed to them having to go to the banks to borrow to be able to purchase SEACOM capacity as it is.
“Ugandans would overnight end up with affordable capacity and this would actually enable a fair playing ground for small and big ISP's and ultimately mean that we all come out as winners,” Ntege said.
James Wire disagreed with Ntege saying it is competition alone that will bring down prices and reliability of service and not government intervention.
He said that government, which funds the semi-autonomous regulators, is more inclined to immediate revenues that accrue than the long term social impact of bridging the so called digital divide.
Paul Asiimwe said the ministry of ICT or the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) needs to come out and tell the public the state of the existing private sector infrastructure in terms of distributing the data capacity that will be provided when ISPs sign up with the fibre optic companies.
“As a consumer, I would like to specifically ask UCC what it is doing to reduce asymmetry between prices that are being charged and the supposedly cheaper broadband,” Asiimwe said.
During its launch, Brian Herlihy, the chief executive officer SEACOM said the broadband network will open up opportunities for governments and business to use the network as a platform to compete globally and drive economic growth and enhance the quality of life across the continent.
But what does the fact that users in this part of Africa now have access to fibre optic connectivity as opposed to satellite connectivity that has been branded expensive?
President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania who presided over the switch-on function in Dar es Salaam couldn’t have put it any better when delivering the launch speech.
“With this technology in place, a doctor at Johns Hopkins hospital in New York will be able to supervise and direct a doctor at Muhimbili hospital through a complex operation that today requires one to travel to the US,” Kikwete said.
With a broadband connection, someone will be able to download an application form for a passport, fill it out and send it back to immigration. Within a few days, they will pick up their passport from the post office. It will reduce movement, contact with people and above all corruption.
For rural Tanzania, Kikwete said farmers will be able to sell their beans as far as President Hugo Chavez’s (Venezuela) kitchen.
Broadband connectivity means that Uganda will have no problems linking to medical and education institutions all over the world for telemedicine and tele-education."What is more important is that e-commerce and e-business will now be taking place in the region and Internet connectivity will definitely spread to rural areas because of increased capacity," Herlihy said.
Since its launch, Uganda’s largest ISP, Uganda Telecom has joined Infocom and Warid Telecom by purchasing capacity from SEACOM. Infocom Uganda holds SEACOM’s point of presence (PoP) tenancy agreement in Uganda and this did not initially go down well with other players in the market.
On July 24, 2009, SEACOM, one of three undersea fibre optic cables at different stages of development on the eastern seaboard of Africa went live in Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Internet users were excited about the prospect of the super speeds, lower prices and all the nice things that come with enough bandwidth at lower prices than they pay today. What many users wanted to see was an immediate change in surfing experience because of increased speeds and a drop in the cost of internet services.
During the launch on July 23, Fred Moturi, the SEACOM Uganda representative said, "everyone should expect the cost of Internet service to come down as the cost of international bandwidth will become cheaper."
Until hitherto, communication operators in this part of Africa have relied on expensive satellite connectivity for telephones and the Internet.
As a result, supply of bandwidth has been constricted – a factor that explains the slow Internet speeds and high prices.
However, SEACOM and indeed all the other fibre optic companies expect ISPs to buy more bandwidth capacity as the price is expected to come down by about 80% what a megabit costs from a satellite provider.
Africa like the rest of the world is experiencing enormous growth in capacity demand due to the Internet’s ability as a medium for communication, providing information and entertainment and fibre connectivity is a necessity and not a luxury.
That is why SEACOM, a privately funded and three-quarters African owned cable is expected to provide bandwidth on an open access basis, allowing all operators to have equal access to the cable 1.28 terabytes per second (Tb/s) cable system that links south and East Africa to global networks via India and Europe.
Reaction to availability of high speed broadband has been mixed with users largely irked by the fact that prices have or will not move down immediately as was expected.
With only Infocom Uganda as the only ISP that initially signed onto SEACOM, users have also been unhappy about the fact that ISPs who supply them internet have reacted in a rather cold way to the availability of high-speed broadband.
“From my personal opinion, I see two reasons why we are not about to see a big drop in prices,” George Lule commented on the I-Network mailing list. “Seacom is insisting on long term contracts moreover with established ISPs.”
“That simply means that the market is not yet open enough to initiate a price war that will bring the prices tumbling down. It’s the same traditional players that can afford the type of commitment that Seacom is demanding and since they are the same players, why are you expecting a change in the game?”
Badru Ntege said the discussion on whether Ugandans will see a decrease in internet prices when optic fibre arrives has been had earlier but the difference is that only the rosy picture was painted.
SEACOM’s offer to operators is based on them buying bandwidth in units of 155 megabits (Mb), which is what is called an STM1 in technology speak.
And according to Ntege, operators are being asked to buy leases of capacity for prices ranging from $2million to $3.5 million and that they are locked in these contracts for as many as 20 years.
Ntege argues this does not make internet access cheaper in terms of price considering annual maintenance fees and other overheads that ISPs as businesses have to factor into their calculations.
Ntege did a quick calculation and he says that an operator who will take the option of leasing capacity worth $3.5 million for 20 years, they would accumulate annual maintenance costs of $210,000, which works out to be $17,000 per month for an ISP that has bought 155Mb of capacity.
Ntege suggested that the Uganda government needs to buy capacity from SEACOM, place it on the Uganda internet exchange where especially small ISPs would buy it at reasonable rates as opposed to them having to go to the banks to borrow to be able to purchase SEACOM capacity as it is.
“Ugandans would overnight end up with affordable capacity and this would actually enable a fair playing ground for small and big ISP's and ultimately mean that we all come out as winners,” Ntege said.
James Wire disagreed with Ntege saying it is competition alone that will bring down prices and reliability of service and not government intervention.
He said that government, which funds the semi-autonomous regulators, is more inclined to immediate revenues that accrue than the long term social impact of bridging the so called digital divide.
Paul Asiimwe said the ministry of ICT or the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) needs to come out and tell the public the state of the existing private sector infrastructure in terms of distributing the data capacity that will be provided when ISPs sign up with the fibre optic companies.
“As a consumer, I would like to specifically ask UCC what it is doing to reduce asymmetry between prices that are being charged and the supposedly cheaper broadband,” Asiimwe said.
During its launch, Brian Herlihy, the chief executive officer SEACOM said the broadband network will open up opportunities for governments and business to use the network as a platform to compete globally and drive economic growth and enhance the quality of life across the continent.
But what does the fact that users in this part of Africa now have access to fibre optic connectivity as opposed to satellite connectivity that has been branded expensive?
President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania who presided over the switch-on function in Dar es Salaam couldn’t have put it any better when delivering the launch speech.
“With this technology in place, a doctor at Johns Hopkins hospital in New York will be able to supervise and direct a doctor at Muhimbili hospital through a complex operation that today requires one to travel to the US,” Kikwete said.
With a broadband connection, someone will be able to download an application form for a passport, fill it out and send it back to immigration. Within a few days, they will pick up their passport from the post office. It will reduce movement, contact with people and above all corruption.
For rural Tanzania, Kikwete said farmers will be able to sell their beans as far as President Hugo Chavez’s (Venezuela) kitchen.
Broadband connectivity means that Uganda will have no problems linking to medical and education institutions all over the world for telemedicine and tele-education."What is more important is that e-commerce and e-business will now be taking place in the region and Internet connectivity will definitely spread to rural areas because of increased capacity," Herlihy said.
Since its launch, Uganda’s largest ISP, Uganda Telecom has joined Infocom and Warid Telecom by purchasing capacity from SEACOM. Infocom Uganda holds SEACOM’s point of presence (PoP) tenancy agreement in Uganda and this did not initially go down well with other players in the market.
Close the Gap coming to Uganda
Close the Gap, an international not-for-profit organisation that assists in developing local knowledge and putting local talent and potential to use by offering cost-efficient IT solutions in Africa, is exploring ways of making its entrance into Uganda.
The Belgium-based organisation is currently carrying out preliminary inquiries about the possibility of working in Uganda.
If the results, which will be ready in December, are positive, the organisation, which is dedicated to help reducing the digital divide, will come to Uganda.
“We have sent a request for information. This is a preliminary exercise before making the critical steps to be active in Uganda,” Olivier Vanden Eynde, the general manager of Close the Gap said in a phone interview.
“Whether in the future we will be active in Uganda depends a lot on the due diligence that we are currently carrying out. “As from October to December we will know whether we will do something in Uganda.”
“Close the Gap, through the Ugandan non-profit organisations with whom it wants to partner, wants to give young people the tools they need to invest in their education in order to build on their future; therefore having access to vital information is crucial!”, Olivier said.
Olivier said that the charity is at present looking for possibilities of finding partners that can help build capacity for quicker and easier take-up of the solutions.
Basic infrastructure, local IT knowledge and proficiency need to be at hand and agreements with local governments must be in place before a prospective partner is taken on board.
For a project proposal to be successful it must focus on the needs and requirements of the target audience like primary and secondary schools and health centres are ideal.
In essence, Close the Gap does not offer direct aid to any project, but rather provides tools to local non-profit partners in Uganda which can be put to good use and which enhance the further growth of their program and vision in the country.
Close the Gap believe ICT should trigger social and economic development as it embraces enormous potential to accelerate growth in efficiency and accessibility.
At present, Close the Gap has sent proposals to logistics companies that are active in Uganda and that have the capacity to handle the type and volume of shipments they make.
Close the Gap works demand-based and also ensures that matters concerning maintenance and self-sustainability are met before recognising a project application.
“We work on demand from as low as two computers to a local orphanage in Nigeria to more than 1,000 computers to South Africa’s University of the Western Cape,” Olivier said.
The organisation envisages partnerships with different stakeholders in order to come to all-embracing IT solutions to socio-educational projects in developing countries.
Olivier said Close the Gap takes care of software agents in place and the PCs are ready to use with new peripheral equipment and new software.
Close the Gap is active in 27 countries among which Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Namibia, Malawi and Burkina Faso.
Initial contact with logistics providers has been made and they will help importing and implementing the computers. Afterwards they will also take care of the on-site management of the computer classes.
If the preliminary work should give rise to concrete plans, Close the Gap will start partnerships with local committed organisations for distribution of desktop PCs to primary and secondary schools in Uganda.
“Furthermore Close the Gap sets up several conditions towards its partners, to make sure environmental concerns regarding the handling of e-waste are handled by a capable local company.”
Interestingly, even before the project gets off the ground, technology enthusiasts are rounding on it saying it is another dumping project.
“……..proposal by the organisation Close the Gap, which has plans to distribute computers to Ugandan institutions. When I read through the proposal it seems to me like it is the just another ploy to dump yet again more computers in Uganda,” Emmanuel Mulo wrote on the knowledge sharing platform run by I-Network.
Those that see the project in a positive light argue that Close the Gap is welcome as it will help change the lives of Ugandan school-going children by helping to bring them at par or thereabout with their advantaged counterparts in expensive schools.
The Belgium-based organisation is currently carrying out preliminary inquiries about the possibility of working in Uganda.
If the results, which will be ready in December, are positive, the organisation, which is dedicated to help reducing the digital divide, will come to Uganda.
“We have sent a request for information. This is a preliminary exercise before making the critical steps to be active in Uganda,” Olivier Vanden Eynde, the general manager of Close the Gap said in a phone interview.
“Whether in the future we will be active in Uganda depends a lot on the due diligence that we are currently carrying out. “As from October to December we will know whether we will do something in Uganda.”
“Close the Gap, through the Ugandan non-profit organisations with whom it wants to partner, wants to give young people the tools they need to invest in their education in order to build on their future; therefore having access to vital information is crucial!”, Olivier said.
Olivier said that the charity is at present looking for possibilities of finding partners that can help build capacity for quicker and easier take-up of the solutions.
Basic infrastructure, local IT knowledge and proficiency need to be at hand and agreements with local governments must be in place before a prospective partner is taken on board.
For a project proposal to be successful it must focus on the needs and requirements of the target audience like primary and secondary schools and health centres are ideal.
In essence, Close the Gap does not offer direct aid to any project, but rather provides tools to local non-profit partners in Uganda which can be put to good use and which enhance the further growth of their program and vision in the country.
Close the Gap believe ICT should trigger social and economic development as it embraces enormous potential to accelerate growth in efficiency and accessibility.
At present, Close the Gap has sent proposals to logistics companies that are active in Uganda and that have the capacity to handle the type and volume of shipments they make.
Close the Gap works demand-based and also ensures that matters concerning maintenance and self-sustainability are met before recognising a project application.
“We work on demand from as low as two computers to a local orphanage in Nigeria to more than 1,000 computers to South Africa’s University of the Western Cape,” Olivier said.
The organisation envisages partnerships with different stakeholders in order to come to all-embracing IT solutions to socio-educational projects in developing countries.
Olivier said Close the Gap takes care of software agents in place and the PCs are ready to use with new peripheral equipment and new software.
Close the Gap is active in 27 countries among which Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Namibia, Malawi and Burkina Faso.
Initial contact with logistics providers has been made and they will help importing and implementing the computers. Afterwards they will also take care of the on-site management of the computer classes.
If the preliminary work should give rise to concrete plans, Close the Gap will start partnerships with local committed organisations for distribution of desktop PCs to primary and secondary schools in Uganda.
“Furthermore Close the Gap sets up several conditions towards its partners, to make sure environmental concerns regarding the handling of e-waste are handled by a capable local company.”
Interestingly, even before the project gets off the ground, technology enthusiasts are rounding on it saying it is another dumping project.
“……..proposal by the organisation Close the Gap, which has plans to distribute computers to Ugandan institutions. When I read through the proposal it seems to me like it is the just another ploy to dump yet again more computers in Uganda,” Emmanuel Mulo wrote on the knowledge sharing platform run by I-Network.
Those that see the project in a positive light argue that Close the Gap is welcome as it will help change the lives of Ugandan school-going children by helping to bring them at par or thereabout with their advantaged counterparts in expensive schools.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
