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| A f r i c a Network |
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| Eskadenia
Wins NOW contract |
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| Jordanian
software firm Eskadenia has announced that
it has won a contract from Sudanese wireless
network operator, Network of the World (NOW)
for the deployment of its billing and customer
relationship management system.
NOW is currently in the process of rolling
out a GSM network in Southern Sudan, which
is due to go live in the final quarter of
2008 under the Vivacell brand. It expects
to extend network coverage to all Southern
Sudanese states.
Nigeria
Drives MTN's 1H 2008 results
South African-based
cellco MTN reported subscriber numbers increased
53% year-on-year to 74.1 million at 30 June
2008. Subscriber numbers in the group's key
market, Nigeria increased 12% to 18.6 million,
but its market share dropped to 43% from 44%
due to competition from the arrival of Kuwait's
Zain Telecom. MTN's new venture in Iran, Irancell,
increased its subscriber base by 93% to 11.6
million.
Group revenue rose 35% to ZAR46.1 billion
(USD5.9 billion) in the first half of 2008
compared to twelve months previously. The
increase in revenue was mainly driven by Nigeria,
which increased revenue by 39% to ZAR13.4
billion, and South Africa, which increased
revenue by 18% to ZAR15.4 billion. Syria,
Ghana and Iran (MTN's share of 49% only) generated
revenues of ZAR2.9 billion, ZAR2.8 billion
and ZAR1.9 billion respectively.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation
and amortization (EBITDA) for the group were
up 29% at ZAR19.6 billion. EBITDA margin fell
by 1.8 percentage points to 42.6%.
The group depreciation and amortization charge
increased by ZAR1.4 billion to ZAR5.7 billion
for the period ended 30 June 2008. ZAR0.5
billion of this amount is attributable to
additional capital expenditure for network
expansion in Nigeria, while increased investment
in South Africa, Iran and Sudan accounted
for ZAR0.3 billion of the increase. Group
profit after tax increased by 11% to ZAR7
billion compared to ZAR6.3 billion for the
six months to 30 June 2007.
Guinea
Seeks New Partner For Sotelgui
Reuters has reported
that the government of the West African
state of Guinea will seek a new partner
for telecoms company Societe des Telecommunications
de Guinee (Sotelgui), after Telekom Malaysia
International (TMI) returned its 60% stake
on 1 September 2008.
“The government's option is to open
up Sotelgui's capital, and seek a partner
with sufficient financial and technical
capacity that will allow the company to
face an increasingly competitive environment,”
Minister for Communications and New Information
Technology, Tibou Kamara told Reuters in
an interview.
Kamara said the exit negotiations with Telekom
Malaysia had been 'bitter and long'. The
Malaysian company reported earlier this
month it had booked an MYR82 million (USD24.3
million) foreign exchange loss after relinquishing
its entire Sotelgui stake, but said this
had no impact on its cash flow.
According to TeleGeography's GlobalComms
database, Telekom Malaysia paid USD45 million
for the 60% stake in 1995. Ten years later,
in January 2005, it announced plans to exit
Guinea as part of a broader strategy aimed
at focusing on investments closer to its
domestic market.
In December 2005 Telekom Malaysia took a
further step back by handing back all operational
and managerial control of Sotelgui to the
government, although it remained on the
board of shareholders. Sotelgui has a monopoly
on fixed line telephony in Guinea, but faces
intense competition in the wireless sector
from Areeba, Orange, Cellcom Guinea and
Intercel.
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Telecom
Namibia Tasks Regulator On interconnection charges
Telecom Namibia has called on the Namibia
Communications Commission (NCC) to 'bring sanity' to interconnection
charges by reducing them to a competitive cost-based level,
reports news service Informante.
In a statement the telco said that while it recognizes the NCC
cannot impose rates on companies, it should do more to set standards
or issue guidelines for determining rates through negotiations
between operators. Telecom Namibia claims that mobile operator
MTC is unfairly charging exorbitant interconnection fees from
its network to fixed lines.
MTC has strongly refuted Telecom Namibia's allegations, saying
that it was Telecom Namibia that actually proposed the current
arrangement in 2003, with the parties revisiting the deal in
March 2007 and reaching consensus agreement.
International Gateway
Boost For Sierratel
A report by IDG News Service said
Sierratel's exclusive right to operate the country's international
gateway has been extended for another five years. The company's
managing director, Alpha Sesay, revealed that operating the
international gateway was crucial to Sierratel's fortunes.
“Towards the end of 2006, we were given the exclusivity
to the international gateway. That is, we are responsible for
the channeling of all international calls in and out of the
country. We are able to generate money through this service
to sustain the company,” Sesay said.
“We've been finding it very difficult to compete favourably
with GSM operators in the country. A lot of our infrastructures
were damaged during the war, and we haven't gotten a replacement.”
New Undersea
Cable For West Africa
A group of African telcos have
signed an agreement to cooperate on the deployment of a USD400
million undersea cable along the western coast of Africa. Participants
in the deal include South African operators such as Telkom,
Vodacom, MTN and Neotel.
The new cable, which has still to be named, would be used alongside
existing international links such as SAT-3 to boost international
connectivity for countries along Africa's west coast. |
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Glo
Gateway, Largest Footprint In West Africa’ |
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Globacom
has ‘explained the emergence of its international services
arm, Glo Gateway, as the biggest voice and data carrier in the
West African sub-region.
In a press statement released by Globacom in Lagos, the national
telecom operator said its multi-billion dollar infrastructure,
footprint and manpower have made Glo Gateway a major force in
international telecom business.
Globacom made history in 2004 as the first operator in Africa
to launch gateway switches outside the continent to carry international
voice and data traffic. The international switches in the United
Kingdom, United States and Africa strategically position the
network as a major player in the global telecommunication industry.
“The international switches enable our network to
directly interconnect other leading international carriers and
originate and terminate voice traffic to over 240 destinations
worldwide,” Charles Odiase, Head of Glo Gateway, said.
He added that the company's direct interconnectivity arrangement
with leading international carriers has led to a significant
improvement in traffic aggregation for the West African telecoms
market.
Globacom as a major player in the Nigerian telecommunication
sector has over 300 roaming partners in 170 countries worldwide
and this includes all major commercial hubs such as UK, USA,
France, Germany, UAE, Belgium, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Brazil,
India and China.
Odiase recalled that Glo is the pioneer of Prepaid Roaming and
GPRS Roaming Services in Nigeria. Glo's Prepaid Roaming footprint
has spread to include UK, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, Algeria,
Belgium and Ukraine.
Also worthy of note is Glo's GPRS roaming footprint which is
the strongest available in Nigeria. It extends to over 70 countries
worldwide including many major commercial hubs. Globacom also
offers International SMS services to over 700 destinations including
many CDMA networks.
Continuing, Odiase said Glo Gateway builds strong customer relationships,
loyalty and satisfaction by passing the cost savings to the
customers. “We have in place infrastructure and manpower
to maintain quality of voice and data traffic being transmitted.
Our vision is to deliver the highest quality, comprehensive
and affordable international communications services in Africa
by deploying state of the art infrastructure and ensuring best
business practices.
“We have a very aggressive
business strategy, with an aim to eventually dominate the international
carrier business in Africa,” he concluded. |
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Zain
plans more African acquisitions |
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Leading
mobile phone Company in Africa and the Middle East, Zain, is
finalising several acquisition deals in Africa, its chief executive
for the continent has said.
“We are currently
actively looking at several acquisitions in the African market
block. Some are very close to coming to fruition, said Zain
Group Africa CEO, Chris Gabriel, who addressed the World Telecoms
Africa 2008 conference, in Cape Town, but declined to give details.
The company is planning to have them completed by 2011 and he
said he would like to see “Cape to Cairo” coverage
for Zain's One Network, which allows subscribers to roam freely
in any country where the company operates a network.
Zain operates in 22 countries: including 16 African nations
and six Middle East states. It has invested more than $12-billion
in network expansion in Africa since 2005, Gabriel said.
The announcement comes amid aggressive network expansion in
Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania and in a number of other African
countries where Zain operates. In Nigeria in particular, the
company has taken its drive for more customers to the rural
areas where it has introduced the first rural entrepreneurship
programme which gives countryside dwellers a greater stake in
the running of infrastructure located in their locality.
Internationally, Zain Group says it is looking to list on a
European stock exchange next year. The company does not plan
other flotations in Africa following the listing of Celtel Zambia
in June.
“In terms of specific African countries
where there is a requirement under the licence regimes, we will
look to list a certain portion of the company. But that is in
relation to the specific licence and usually not more than 20
percent of the organisation in the region,” he said.
He said two-thirds of the firm's 50-million customers across
Africa and the Middle East were in Africa. The firm plans to
achieve 110-million subscribers by 2011.
He also told the conference that other international cellular
operators from Europe and Asia were increasingly looking towards
Africa for investment opportunities, but that this was expected
to bring about consolidation.
“There are a number
of cash cows looking at Africa and they are looking at what
opportunities exist… However, I see consolidation happening
among the big players, but there will be opportunities opening
up for the smaller niche operators.”
He said the firm's “One Network” product that scraps
roaming charges for customers in countries that have Zain networks,
is expected to be the key engine for growth on the continent.
The service is currently available in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Sudan.
“We
aim to roll One Network out over all of our operations progressively
... we may expand the One Network concept beyond Zain entities
and that is something we are looking at as we speak,”
he said without elaborating. |
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