EAST AFRICA TOPS AFRICA FOR INTERNET ACCESS & CONNECTIVITY

Kenya currently leads in African connectivity with the highest bandwidth per person on the continent, the fastest speeds, and some of the lowest internet costs, according to a presentation held by Liquid Telecom Kenya CEO Ben Roberts, at the EastAfrica.com conference in Nairobi.

“Investment in the continent’s connectivity is creating multiple benefits that Kenya demonstrates as a clear example of a virtuous circle, where each investment accelerates the next, with an ever increasing footprint of beneficiaries,” said Roberts.

Following on from the connection of the continent’s most concentrated cluster of undersea cables; the galloping development of the Kenyan Internet Exchange Point; the creation of thousands of Points of Presence by international and national service and content providers – delivering speedier content; and the achievement of the second cheapest internet costs on the continent, Kenya has now emerged in the top position in Africa for internet access.

“Kenya has achieved a confluence of infrastructure and provision that has positioned it with the highest growth in internet take-up compared to income per capita in Africa,” said Mr Roberts. “It has effectively become an outlier in its internet take-up, and seen Nairobi join Johannesburg as one of Africa’s two regional internet hubs.”

Research commissioned by the Internet Society and published in May last year further found that East Africa offers the lowest internet costs on the continent, with Kenya the cheapest in the region.

In its report on ‘Lifting Barriers to Internet Development in Africa”, the Internet Society found that Kenya had outperformed in surmounting a series of infrastructure barriers to arrive at its now emerging internet leadership.

The country has more undersea cables than any other nation on the East African coast, with government support having been directed at increasing access and participation by more carriers. The landing of the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy), The East African Marine System (TEAMS), SEACOM and LION high-capacity submarine cables brought a 20-fold increase in international bandwidth in the country to 20Gbit per second.

AIRTEL TO SELL AFRICA TOWERS TO EATON

Bharti Airtel Limited, India’s largest mobile-phone carrier has agreed to sell more than 3,500 telecommunications towers in Africa to Eaton Towers Limited.

Bharti Airtel will lease back the towers for 10 years, Bloomberg quoted the companies to have said in a statement yesterday.

London-based Eaton bought the assets, located in six African countries, for almost $1 billion, according to a source.

The deal may help Bharti Airtel reduce debt, which stood at 712.5 billion rupees (about $11.8 billion) at the end of June, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. The company agreed in July to sell more than 3,000 towers in four African countries to Helios Towers Africa, offloading infrastructure that can be more expensive to maintain compared with other parts of the world.
After the purchase, Eaton Towers would own 5,000 towers in seven African countries, according to the statement.

The deal does not include Bharti Airtel’s infrastructure in Nigeria, Bloomberg quoted the unnamed source to have said.

Spokesman for Bharti Airtel, Prem Subedi and Eaton Towers’ Chief Executive Officer, Alan Harper declined to comment on the exact purchase price.
Eaton Towers was advised by Moelis & Co. (MC) on the transaction.

THISDAY

FACEBOOK TARGETS ADVERTISERS AS 100 MILLION LOG ON IN AFRICA

One in 10 Africans are logging on to Facebook every month, the world's No.1 online social network said on Monday.

Of those 100 million people, 80 per cent are accessing the platform via mobiles on a continent with very low internet penetration and smartphone ownership, it said.

Facebook's global mobile advertising revenue jumped more than 150 per cent in the second quarter, accounting for about 62 per cent of overall ad revenue.

"There is a fantastic opportunity for business as well if you are local or a global business. Knowing that there is all these people now in Africa that you can connect with, that is exciting as well," said Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook's vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Seven in 10 African consumers access the internet through their mobile phones, compared with 6 per cent who use desktop computers, according to an Ericsson study earlier this year.

Facebook would be pouring more resources into Africa to understand how consumers use its product and was considering opening an office on the continent in 2015, Mendelsohn said, without saying where the office might be.

The company is customising products to fit the needs of individual countries, she added. For example, it can now target users based on their internet speeds.

Facebook has more than 1.5 million active advertisers and more than 1.3 billion active users globally.

Mendelsohn could not say how much Africa contributes to advertising revenues but said the Europe, Middle East and Africa region makes up 30 per cent of global revenue.

 CNBC AFRICA

QATAR NATIONAL BANK MULLS INCREASED INVESTMENT IN AFRICA

Doha-based Qatar National Bank (QNB) has expressed its preparedness to be the largest financial institution in Africa as well as the Middle East by 2017.

This followed its acquisition of 12.5 per cent stake in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) last week.

QNB acquired a total of 1,767,612,630 ordinary shares and 732,277,056 preference shares in of ETI.

QNB bought the shares from the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), through a deal on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The investment was QNB’s first acquisition in ETI and marked the bank’s first entry into Africa.

The acquisition of the ordinary shares was expected to be completed three days from last Thursday, while that of the preference shares would be subsequently.

QNB expects to be a long term investor in ETI. According to QNB’s website, the bank was established in 1964 as the country's first Qatari-owned commercial bank and has an ownership structure split between the Qatar Investment Authority (50 per cent) and the private sector (50 per cent). It is listed on the Qatar Exchange.

However, Banking Analyst at Renaissance Capital (RenCap), Mr. Adesoji Solanke viewed the transaction as slightly positive for ETI.

“It’s good to see that the group still attracts such strong institutional interest post the corporate governance issues last year and at a modest premium to market,” he said.
Solanke stated that the deal was executed at N20.01, compared to current market price of N17. This implied a premium of 18 per cent.
The transaction also represented a nine per cent premium to the Nedbank conversion price of N18.40 ($0.115).

ANGER MOUNTS AS EBOLA DEATH TOLL TOPS 1,000 IN LIBERIA

Liberian Presiden Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has come under attack over the past few months as the country battles to halt the spread of Ebola.

 When a starving Ebola patient escaped from a treatment centre in Monrovia and staggered through a crowded market in search of food, by standers who scattered in his path voiced their anger not at him but at Liberia's president.

To many in this impoverished West African country, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's government has not done enough to protect them from the deadly virus.

Ebola has killed more than1,000 people in Liberia since its arrival six months ago. Across West Africa, the death toll from the world's worst Ebola outbreak has surpassed 1,900.

Panicked residents said the patient was the fifth to escape in recent weeks from the understaffed ELWA hospital. Dozens watched anxiously as workers in protective clothes bundled the struggling patient into a truck and drove him back.

"The patients are hungry, they are starving. No food, no water," said one terrified woman in the crowd. "The government need to do more. Let Ellen Johnson Sirleaf do more!"

TIME FOR SERIOUS US-AFRICA PARTNERSHIP IS NOW

US President Barack Obama played host to some 50 African heads of state and government from Aug. 4 to Aug. 6 at a historic US-Africa Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. The theme of the summit was “Investing in the Next Generation.” It was the first of its kind between a sitting US President and African leaders. According to the White House, the meeting was built on the President’s trip to Africa in the summer of 2013  and aimed at strengthening ties between the US and one of the world’s most dynamic and fastest-growing regions. That the summit was a testament to the growing relevance of Africa in global geopolitics is not in doubt. It is the “youngest and fastest-growing continent, with young people that are full of dreams and ambition,” President Obama said in an address to delegates. And as the continent’s influence continues to grow, the US intends to make Africa” a good partner, an equal partner, and a partner for the long term,” he added.

Africa offers immense opportunities in terms of abundant natural resources, new technologies, investments, access to potential markets, and new types of consumers. Little wonder why countries such as China, India, Malaysia, Turkey, and Brazil have been increasing their presence and investments in the continent. Although the U.S has been relatively slower to react to these dynamics, hosting the summit is a sign that it can no longer stay on the sidelines. To emphasise this point, President Obama announced a series of steps the U.S. is now taking to boost ties with Africa. First, he called on the US Congress to renew and enhance the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which makes it easier for African countries to export products to the US. He also promised continued partnership with Africa to build the necessary infrastructure for a flourishing economy. In this regard, the Power Africa Initiative, first made public last year to bring electricity to 20 million African homes and businesses, would be doubled to reach 60 million beneficiaries at a cost of $26 billion, he said. Similarly, American corporate giants, including Coca-Cola, Blackstone, GE and the hotel group Marriot, made commitments worth billions of dollars to expand their businesses in Africa.

ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEM LAUNCHED IN GHANA

ICT software development group, Splash Technology, has launched an automatic electronic voting system in Ghana. The system has been dubbed “eVoteMinder”.

The voting system is said to come with a full complement of technical and user support personnel. According to the company, the system can be leased by organisations such as companies, schools, churches and social clubs who seek to conduct elections in a quick and transparent manner. Whether the system could be used in government is still tentative.

Nii Adjetey said: “voters are given a thorough orientation and hands-on demonstration on how to vote via the system, and that, the process is much faster and more cost-effective than the manual voting. There is no need to print and count ballot papers.”

The ICT group provides software development, Websites and Text Messaging services to corporate bodies like KPMG, The Bible Society of Ghana and Elton Oil of The Gambia.

IT NEWS AFRICA

CAPITALISE ON CONVERGED CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE

With African countries such as Nigeria and Kenya developing fast economically, there is an increasing need to provide a modern IT infrastructure that benefits the 21^st Century.

To capitalise on their growing economies and competitiveness, companies in African countries like these need to embrace converged cloud infrastructure because it overcomes these challenges. It offers a complete infrastructure platform which organisations can use for all of their cloud deployments.

Nigel Moulton, chief technology officer for the EMEA region of VCE comments: “A converged cloud infrastructure approach significantly accelerates the time to deploy new services whilst also reducing the risk of downtime. ”With this in mind, he says that it’s important to make the right technology choices, relating to deploying a public, private and hybrid clouds. He adds that the other key challenge that African organisations will face emanates from the need to ensure that a balance exists between business investments, trust and data privacy.

Addressing security

Kenya, for example, is keen to address these issues. In February 2013 the country launched its National Cyber-Security Strategy and Master Plan, which aims to act as a guide for private companies and public sector organisations to establish their approach to cyber-security. The problem has been that most organisations tend to address to this costly and concerning issue on a reactive basis, and so the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Information and Communication, Paul Kukubo, argued that the country needs to move towards adopting a better system to mitigate these threats. This is because he believes that passwords have had their day as a means of security.

Dennis Mbuvi also wrote in his article for CIO East Africa on cyber-security in Kenya that: “Recent security issues include the defacement of 103 government websites and a number of attacks have hit the banking sector.” It is therefore hoped that the plan will offer a governance mechanism for both the Kenyan government and the private sector. This entails creating a national security assets inventory and the establishment of a list of approved cyber-security vendors. Companies in sectors such as water, power infrastructure, banking and payments all use information communications technology (ICT) in some way, and so they are all exposed to cyber-security threats.

Moulton offers his thoughts on the scheme: “Any initiative that addresses the broad threats posed by cyber-criminals is to be welcomed.” He says that there is a need for increased awareness about passwords, and he argues that the public and private sectors alike have to become more vigilant than they have been to date. He believes this is necessary because “confidence in e-commerce will be a significant engine of growth for Kenya, and my advice would be to act quickly to make sure that all sections of Kenyan society are enabled to take advantage of the huge opportunities that internet-based commerce offers.”

AFRICAN COUNTRIES RECORD 20% IMPROVEMENT IN QUALITY PERFORMANCE

The overall quality of government policies and institutions that broadly support growth and reduce poverty in African countries remained steady in 2013, whereas progress was made in a number of former conflict affected countries, according to a new World Bank review.

Countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congo Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Rwanda, saw an improvement in debt policy and management.

The latest Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) Africa report, described the progress made in low-income African countries to strengthen their policies and institutions helped to spur better development outcomes.

This year’s report included two new countries from the Middle East and North Africa region: Djibouti and Yemen.

The CPIA scores countries on a scale of one to six (with 6 as the highest and 1 as the lowest) using 16 indicators in four areas to determine a country’s final score.

These areas included economic management, structural policies, policies for social inclusion and equity, and public sector management and institutions.

RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECT COMMENCING IN WEST AFRICA

Sierra Leone has won the first call for proposals for the International Renewable Energy Agency/Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (IRENA/ADFD) financing facility; and have signed the 6MW Freetown Solar Park project, which will target urban and western rural districts around the capital, Freetown. This is a landmark Renewable Energy Project in West Africa, adding valuable and needed clean electricity to the grid.

“Pursuant to actualising the vision of H.E. President Dr Ernest Bai Koroma, we wish on behalf of the Government of Sierra Leone to thank Mr. Siray Timbo, Special Envoy of H.E. The President and Ambassador to the UAE; the Ministry of Energy; Mr Bahige Annan, The Consul General of Sierra Leone in Dubai and Mr. Filip Matwin, General Manager of Advanced Science and Innovation Company (ASIC) LLC / OGI, for coordinating and putting together the winning bid. ASIC/OGI will facilitate co-financing and management of the project in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy,” said Dr Kaifala Marah, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

The USD 18 million clean energy project includes institutional and critical human resource arrangements for sustainable management of the facility. We would like to extend our gratitude to IRENA for coordinating the selection process, the ADFD for extending USD 9 million as part funding to the Government of Sierra Leone and ASIC/OGI that will coordinate additional USD 9 million as private equity.  The project will place Sierra Leone on the global map of Renewable Energy; and further strengthen the existing cordial relationship between the Governments of Sierra Leone and the United Arab Emirates.

IT News Africa

MICROSOFT AFRICA APPOINTS NEW MD

Microsoft is in the process of shuffling its key leadership representatives.

Mteto Nyati, who has been at the forefront of operations since September 2008, has been promoted to GM of emerging regions within Africa and the Middle East. Zoaib Hoosen, Microsoft South Africa Chief Operating Officer, will be taking over Nyati’s former role.

Nyati’s new role involves working with leadership teams across Africa and the Middle East in order to develop and implement growth strategies for the emerging markets in the region. While Nyati will travel extensively, he will however still be based in South Africa.

Before joining Microsoft, Hoosen spent nearly 21 years at IBM, where he started as an IT graduate in 1989 and rose through the ranks to hold several leadership positions. In his final assignment at IBM, he headed up the company’s Middle East and Africa Public Sector Business.

Hoosen joined Microsoft SA in 2010 as Enterprise and Partner Group director, before being promoted by Nyati to COO last year. He has BSc and MBA degrees from the University of Durban-Westville and Open University in the UK respectively.

IT News Africa

TELECOMS FEES IMPACT BROADBAND AND DIGITISATION IN AFRICA

Internet penetration in Africa at 15.6 percent is about half the world average. While some may see this as cause for concern, it is not a true reflection of the level of access on the continent where individuals may not own terminals but access the internet at cybercafés. Additionally, individuals will soon have greater access to the internet as a result of digitisation (the migration from analogue to digital technology), which will further help to bridge the digital divide between emerging and developed markets, says KPMG.

Digitisation directly impacts both telecommunications and the broadcasting sectors. The successful completion of the digitisation process will result in a complete closure of analogue transmission and would act as an enabler for growth in both sectors. However, for these sectors to add value and to increase profit points will largely be dependent on easier, wide-spread and more cost effective access on the continent.

“In fact, it is estimated that digitisation will bring about a further drop in telecommunications carriage fees, and drive growth in ARPUs (average revenue per users), thereby increasing profitability and allowing content producers to focus on better material,” says Joseph Tegbe, Partner in Management Consulting Advisory, West Africa Lead – Technology, Media and Telecommunications at KPMG Nigeria. “Digitisation will not only impact the telecommunication industry but also the film industry, financial service, agriculture, healthcare, consumer market, and education sectors.”

Digitisation bringing about change

According to KPMG Research, digitisation also impacts unemployment rates, GDP growth, as well as the literacy levels of countries thus narrowing the gap between developing and developed economies.