Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Google extends Maps to 29 Sub Saharan Africa countries

The Google Africa team has extended its Google Maps application to 29 other countries on the continent following the successful introduction of the application in South Africa and Kenya last year.
Uganda is one of the new 29 African countries where the application has been launched.
“This is a very exciting pan-African launch and we are delighted to be improving our maps functionality for Africa, helping to make information about the continent readily available,” Joe Mucheru, Google’s Regional Lead, sub Saharan Africa said.
Right now, new detailed maps of especially the major cities and towns in the 29 countries are accessible on Google Maps through any web browser or via Google Maps for mobile on data enabled handsets.
“We have seen huge interest in the product and we are collecting some interesting feedback from the users,” Rachel Payne, the country manager, Google Uganda said in an email response.
Mucheru said Google Maps isn't just searchable digitized maps helping one to find a local place, service or product, but rather it is about making information with a geographical dimension available to everyone and allowing users to update the maps and develop on top of them.
“We believe that more accurate, representative local information can greatly improve the breadth of information available about a given area and in turn can help efforts to bolster tourism and business investment in Africa," Mucheru said.
Payne said users will now be able to search up to date online maps, look up businesses, advertise for free via Google Maps local business centre, create their own maps and check locations while they are on the move.
She said Google Maps combines maps, local business search, satellite imagery, street-level search, in one unified service. In addition, Maps provide satellite imagery for the entire world at varying levels of resolution.
Payne said the service helps people find business locations and contact information all in one location, integrated on the map.
“For example, if you search for "hotel in Kampala", locations of relevant listings and phone numbers appear on the map,” Payne said. “You can also view additional information such as opening hours, types of payment accepted, and reviews. With the Local Business Centre, businesses can add their listings for free.”
Payne said the launch of the application across 29 countries followed earlier launches of Google Maps in Kenya and South Africa, as well as Google Street View in South Africa alone.
“Building on the launch of Google Earth Outreach Africa and our Google Maps training sessions....., this is a sign of progress in localising our geo products, and of further exciting things ahead,” Payne said.
“We want to show that the Internet is not just a place to find and consume information, but a place for Africans to create and contribute their own.”
The maps will offer users information on streets, addresses and local businesses and services will now be accessible via a users’ mobile phone when they are on the road or in places a user may not know. Google Maps for mobile can be downloaded for free at m.google.com/maps.
With the maps tool, users will be able to access detailed maps of a total of 32 African countries (including South Africa and Kenya where Maps is already available) and other parts of the world whilst on the go.
The application should be a hit in sub Sahara Africa in countries where the major cities and towns are crowded.
Companies can enter for free information about their business, including their address, hours of operation, phone number and photo. They can also place advertisements on Google Maps even if they don't have their own website.
Users have the option to make searches for companies with similar business in a neighbourhood, both via PC or mobile phone - and then they can access provided links and contact details to the respective services.

Friday, March 26, 2010

EASSy fibre optic cable lands at Kenya coast

The East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) has landed in Mombasa, Kenya – bringing the construction phase of the project closer to completion.
The fibre optic cable, which was brought ashore on Monday (March 22) morning from the cable laying vessel Ile de Sein was connected directly into the landing station at Telkom Kenya’s telephone house.
It is from Telkom Kenya’s telephone house that this third undersea optic cable will interconnect with domestic and international networks.
“We witnessed the landing of both TEAMS and SEACOM cables and though both are operational stakeholders, the public is yet to experience any remarkable changes in the pricing of bandwidth as had been expected,” Samuel Poghisio, Kenya’s Information and Communication Minister said.
A press statement issued from the EASSy headquarters in Mauritius quoted Poghisio as saying that as government, they expect that when EASSy is operational, it will create a competitive environment where bandwidth prices will fall, so that service providers pass the benefit onto users.
Chris Wood, the chief executive of WIOCC, the EASSy investment vehicle said his company was delighted to be partnering with Telkom Kenya in delivering an improved online experience to consumers in Kenya to improve the country’s connectivity across the East African region and the rest of the world.
Wood said that several organizations interested in securing direct international connectivity to key internet exchanges in Europe and the US were already in discussions with WIOCC and its partners.
“We can confidently assure the stakeholders that we will be able to meet such demands in Kenya and other African countries, including landlocked countries,” Wood said. “We are happy with the progress being made on the vital construction phase of EASSy.”
He said the project continues to run as planned, with nearly 70% of the cable now laid in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
“We expect to start testing the system at the end of April 2010, in readiness for the System Ready for Service date on 30th June 2010,” Wood said.
Donald Nyakairu, the chief legal counsel, Uganda Telecom, which is a partner in the EASSy project said the cable would have landed earlier if there had been no internal interference.
“We will pass on the benefits we intended to our customers,” Nyakairu said.
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Secretary General Dr. Hamadoun Toure said the landing of EASSy was timely, as it will enhance the telecommunications development in Africa, positioning Africa at par with other developed nations.
He said he was optimistic that the internet connection costs would drastically come down, with increased competition in tandem with international trends.
“If this does not happen, then there is a big problem in regulation which must be addressed to ensure fair competition,” Toure said.
In June last year when the SEACOM fibre optic cable went live; followed later by the TEAMS cable, internet users expected a drop in prices, not to mention the super speeds that were promised, but this largely has not been the case.
Internet service prices have remained more or less the same while the speeds and efficiency have barely improved.
The director general of Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), Mr. Charles Njoroge, who was present, said that he believed that the industry would self regulate, with the consumer demand and market forces determining the price.
He however was quick to add that the commission will keenly keep an eye to ensure a level playing field, where the user will be the end benefactor.
WIOCC is the largest investor in EASSy with 30% shareholding.
WIOCC is owned by Botswana Telecommunications Corporation, DALKOM Somalia, Djibouti Telecom, Gilat Satcom Nigeria Ltd, the Government of Seychelles and the Lesotho Telecommunications Authority.
Others are ONATEL Burundi, Telkom Kenya, TDM Mozambique, U-COM Burundi, Uganda Telecom Ltd and Zantel Tanzania.
Wood said that upon commissioning, EASSy will have the highest capacity of all submarine cable systems along the east coast of Africa, with a 1.4Tbps, 2 fiber-pair configuration.
Mombasa is the fifth landing for the cable, having already landed in Sudan, Djibouti, Mozambique and South Africa.
Of the 10,000 kilometres, 4,000 kilometres of cable have been laid. Two ships are laying the cable, one going south from the Red Sea while the other is going north from South Africa.

World Bank, Nokia to fund mobile innovators in Africa

The World Bank in partnership with mobile handset maker Nokia is set to fund the establishment of mobile applications laboratories in Africa in a move that will boost innovations in mobile telephony on the continent.
“We hope to increase the competitiveness of innovative enterprises in the mobile content and applications area, and to ensure that locally relevant applications are created to meet growing developing country user demands,” Dr. Tim Kelly, the lead ICT specialist at infoDev, the World Bank said in an interview via email.
Dr. Kelly said the bank is committed to developing technology entrepreneurship in all fields, especially in mobile applications development, where the barriers to entry are relatively low.
“With support from the Finnish government and the Korean ICT for Development Trust Fund, we hope to support similar initiatives elsewhere in Africa, using the tool of social networking to encourage industry collaboration and entrepreneurship,” Kelly said.
He was speaking at the official launch of the Mobile Monday Kampala chapter. The World Bank and infoDev have supported the establishment of the Mobile Monday Kampala chapter. Mobile Monday is the global community of mobile industry professionals, startups, developers and visionaries.
The mobile phone is already becoming the main means of communication for people in Africa – particularly the youth – to access the Internet.
“They will be hungry for local content, for things relevant to their personal success, an outlet for their creativity, really interesting news and more and the bank thinks there is need to innovate locally,” Dr. Kelly said.
The mobile laboratory will help assist mobile applications entrepreneurs to start and scale their businesses.
Through the laboratories that will be set up, the bank and Nokia will work to leverage an existing organisation in a host country.
The laboratory will offer training and testing facilities, identification and piloting of potential applications, incubation of start-ups, business and financial services and linkages with operators.
Dr. Kelly said entrepreneurs will be recruited through incubation networks and mobile social networks like Mobile Monday Kampala, given the role this forum is expected to play in mobile telephony.

The project will grow in geographical scope over time, but the aim is to cover Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole. The laboratories project is part of the US$18 million “Creating sustainable businesses for the knowledge economy.”
Dr. Kelly said the funds will be awarded through a competitive tendering process aimed at potential host organisations.
“We will work with the successful candidate in defining a suite of services to be offered by the lab with the aim of becoming self-sustaining within three years,” he said.
infoDev has a network of around 300 different business incubators around the world, some of which are multipurpose and others of which are specialized in areas such as agriculture and Information Communication Technology (ICT).
This he said will be the first lab the bank has established that is specific to mobile applications.
He said there will be beneficiaries at different levels including the mobile industry in Africa, which will be a direct beneficiary, in terms of operators, equipment manufacturers and other stakeholders.
More specifically, the applications development community will benefit from the services the lab will offer, such as training and accreditation, certification, and mentoring of start-ups.
Dr. Kelly said mobile users in Africa as a whole should benefit from a richer suite of applications available to them.
The project will ride on the back of Mobile Monday chapters and infoDev is looking to have launched the project in four Mobile Monday chapters by the end of this year.
There are two Mobile Monday chapters (Johannesburg and Kampala) in existence on the continent today with a third (Nairobi) due for launch this month.