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Essar Global to invest $500 million in Kenya’s mobile market (Kenya)

  • August 22nd, 2008
  • 8:45 am

Kenya’s Telecommunication market is calling in stiff competition as the latest entrant in the market proclaimed their plans to make the biggest investment in the industry in recent years. India’s Essar Global Ltd. will invest $500 million over two years in Kenya’s newest mobile phone service operator, Econet Wireless Kenya Ltd., to set up a network, among other things, said S. Srinivasa, the East Africa director for the group. Econet Wireless Kenya Ltd. Chief Executive Michael Foley said the investment will also pay for licenses for other telecommunications services and the establishment of a wireless broadband service. Mobile phone network would be running by the end of November, Foley added. Srinivasa said that Essar will make the investment because the company has confidence in the Kenyan economy, following a deal to end postelection violence earlier this year that killed more than 1,000 people. He said, “Kenya is the gateway for Africa for Essar.”

Econet granted two - month extension for it’s network deployment (Kenya)

  • August 19th, 2008
  • 1:56 pm

Econet Wireless has been granted a 2 month extension regarding it’s rollout deadline after it’s petition to the government for more time to deploy its networks.
The company has got an extension till November to launch it’s network commercially.
According to the company, the rollout was hampered by the violence that followed disputed general elections last December.
After the launch, Econet will be competing against Safaricom and Celtel, with more competition soon to be introduced from wireline service provider Telkom Kenya.

   

Econet Wireless on a move to expansion (Zimbabwe)

  • August 11th, 2008
  • 11:29 am

Econet Wireless is now working on its expansion process, it has released  another 220,000 lines to the market. Mobile firm has increased its capacity for its prepaid subscribers. The company has already begin working on the completion of the next phase of its expansion, this will take the subscriber capacity to 1.3 million by the end of November, from around 870,000 currrently.

In an Expansion process, Ericsson is to provide equipment for the expansion of its core network, made up of the switching systems, intelligent network platforms, prepaid systems, as well as new base stations in Harare, Mashonaland and Manicaland. For the southern part of the country ZTE is supplying radio base stations, covering areas such as Bulawayo urban and its environs, Masvingo, Midlands and the Matabeleland provinces. In the remote rural areas, Chinese company will build new sites. With the delay of several months at the time of Zimbabwe elections, two suppliers have begin their work on the expansion plans.

Stiff Competition in Kenya Mobile market, Safaricom shares drop

  • August 7th, 2008
  • 1:43 pm

Cut throat competition in Kenya’s mobile phone market which is going to affect Safaricom’s mobile market share by almost 25 %in the years ahead. The Chief Financial Officer Les Baillie said that Safaricom would fight to continue to keep its paying corporate customers by offering a variety of services, including newly-launched third generation technology. Soon, Kenya mobile market is going to be served by Johannesburg-based Econet Wireless and Telkom Kenya which is anticipated to affect safaricom and Celtel. According to media report, Safaricom has floated on the Nairobi stock exchange in June, Vodafone however leads the group which it has 40 percent stake in the firm.  Price of Safaricom shares 5.70 shillings compared to the previous days 5.80 shillings. Baillie  further said that the new competitors will take time to build up coverage and a distribution network since the company has locked in its own vendors.

Econet Wireless rebranded as Zain in Nigeria (Nigeria)

  • August 5th, 2008
  • 10:23 am

Nigerian’s Telecommunication company which was originally known as Econet Wireless is rebranded as Zain. According to a Analyst, the company wants the recognition in the global market. Zain Nigeria Ltd Chief Executive Officer, CEO Mr Adebayo Ligali, said the decision to rebrand was informed by the company’s determination to establish a global brand which would drive efficiency across their targeted market, create brand equity and improve the shareholders. “The rebranding to Zain underlines our ambition to become a top ten global mobile telecommunications company by 2011, building on our heritage and successes in Africa and the Middle East. A strong, distinctive brand name has always been the prerequisite for any company with global aspiration.

The company aspires to make the Zain brand a top 100 global brand.The brand is part of a process that began when the Zain group bought Celtel in 2005. Since then, we have been developing a new brand and company identity which could apply to all our group markets and which would be relevant and exciting to all our customers regardless of where they live,” he further added.

However, the company is now well positioned to offer the customers more innovative products and services with best network services across Africa and the middle East, adding that the customers will now readily benefit from a respected and recognized global brand that provides them with consistent qualitative service, Ligali, said Plans to expand the comapny to all their operational networks in Africa , this will allow the customers to move across geographical borders without roaming calls surcharge and without having to pay to receive incoming calls, he added.

Kenya’s Mobile Market (Kenya)

  • August 5th, 2008
  • 6:31 am

Kenya is among the rapidly growing mobile markets in Africa. With Mobile Operators like Safricom (Vodafone, Telekom), Zain, Econet Wireless, Safaricom has the largest number of subscribers. This can be attributed to it’s many tarrifs which give Kenyanans the opportunity to select the most convenient tarrif depending on one’s requirement.The continent’s bull market is being driven in part by a growing African middle class seeking new investment opportunities. And with the U.S. economy wobbling, American and European investment funds are taking an increased interest in Africa, buying bargain-priced shares of undiscovered companies. At the end of 2007 there were 280.7 million mobile phone subscribers in Africa, representing a penetration rate of 30.4%. Even more interesting, when you look at the major African markets, is to see the huge growth potential for areas that are already very profitable.

Growth rate in Africa has been remarkable over the last couple of years and is forecasted to continue for the next 3-5 years. Major drivers include:
* Pre-paid offerings
* Continued liberalization of the telcom sector
* Low penetration rates
* Expected uptake of 3G services

Growth inhibitors include:

* Taxation - especially in East Africa
* Low income across the continent hampers growth
* Widespread illiteracy decreases the growth of value added services, even SMS
* Unreliable electricity supplies
* Corruption

Interesting Facts

* Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt are the fastest growing markets
* Africa has become the fastest growing mobile market in the world with mobile penetration in the region ranging from 100% to 30%
* Pre-paid subscriptions account for nearly 95 percent of total mobile subscriptions in the region
* Most of the mobile operators are home-grown. In 2005, the continent’s seven largest investors controlled 53% of the African mobile market
* Across most of Africa, SMS is likely to be the only non-voice value-added service to gain mass market popularity in the immediate future
* East Africans pay taxes of between 25% and 30% on mobile phone services, compared with an average of 17% across Africa
* African states with less than 600,000 subscribers and includes Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros (Union of the), Djibouti, Equitorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gambia (The), Lesotho, Liberia, Mayotte, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Somalia, Swaziland and Rwanda.

Econet recieves 2.5G and 3G approval (Zimbabwe)

  • July 25th, 2008
  • 2:16 pm

Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe, has received long-awaited approval from regulatory authorities to launch commercial 2.5G and 3G services. It is noted that the cellco rolled out a 900MHz/1800MHz GPRS platform in the middle of 2007 but failed to announce a full commercial launch, whilst it was also ready to roll out a W-CDMA network by the end of the year. Econet’s officials confirmed that GPRS had been installed for a year but had been awaiting approval from regulator POTRAZ for the usage of frequencies. Econet will now launch commercial GPRS services within the next four to eight weeks, whilst 3G could be introduced in the first quarter of next year.

   

Essar buys stake in Kenya’s Econet (India)

  • January 14th, 2008
  • 6:10 am

Econet Wireless Kenya has received a new lease of life following the buy-out of the majority share holder by Indian mobile telecommunication Essar Communication, a subsidiary of Essar Global.

Essar has recently bought 49% of Econet Wireless International, which has 70% controlling shares in the third mobile operator in Kenya.

Econet which is yet to roll out its services, despite being issued with the frequency and licence, has been scouting for a suitable financier since the Communications Commission of Kenya cleared it in September .

By buying into the Econet parent company, Essar intends to inject capital for the roll out of the local third mobile network operator.

According to law firm Anjarwalla and Khanna Advocates, who advised on the deal between Essar Communications and Econet Wireless International, Essar Communication will provide close to “half a billion dollars for the roll out. ”

Essar also intends to bring in a new model which is similar to those used in places like Indonesia, Philippines, India and Pakistan, which will offer competitive pricing and aggressive network roll out” said the firm, noting that the deal would not affect the current ownership structure since shareholding would remain the same.

   

 

Safaricom awarded 3G licence ( Kenya)

  • October 22nd, 2007
  • 7:03 am

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has awarded a 3G licence to former monopoly operator Safaricom, for a payment of USD25 million. The regulator has assured Safaricom’s rivals, Celtel Kenya and Econet Wireless International Kenya that there is enough spectrum available if they wish to apply for a concession of their own. ‘By rolling out 3G, Safaricom shall now be able to extend its range of services to include high speed data communications such as mobile internet access, mobile video conferencing and videophone,’ said John Waweru, CCK’s head honcho. Safaricom executive Michael Joseph said that he expects some UMTS services to be launched as soon as next month.

Safaricom is 60%-owned by the state, and 40%-owned by holding company Vodafone Kenya. The UK’s Vodafone Group holds 87.5% of Vodafone Kenya, giving it a 35% indirect stake in Safaricom, with 12.5% of Vodafone Kenya held by mysterious Guernsey-registered firm Mobitelea Ventures. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database it is the market leader by a country mile, with close to seven million subscribers at the end of June this year, a 75% market share. Kuwaiti-owned Celtel has the remainder; Econet has yet to launch services, having only been cleared by the CCK to operate in July 2007, and is planning to do so early next year.

   
 

Econet’s growth plans on hold

  • July 30th, 2007
  • 3:01 pm

Econet Wireless has suspended plans to increase its subscriber base as it awaits the outcome of its current lobby to the Post and Telecommunications Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) to review mobile call tariffs. Businessdigest reports that the company has decided to stop connecting new numbers until POTRAZ and the cabinet’s Taskforce on Price Monitoring and Stabilisation approves a tariff review. The country’s three mobile network operators – Econet, NetOne and Telecel – were forced to reduce their tariffs drastically early this month following a government decision aimed at tackling hyperinflation (which reached 4,500% in May). Econet slashed its rates from between ZWD7,000 and ZWD10,000 per minute to between ZWD500 and ZWD800 a minute. The company has since informed POTRAZ that the changes threatened the viability of its network. Econet’s subscriber base was 634,414 at the end of March, up from 457,228 a year earlier.