Wireless Federation

Monopoly network provider reaches the 10 millionth customer mark (Ethiopia)

On 07.11.11, In Mobile, By Editor

The monopoly mobile network provider in Ethiopia, Ethio Telecom has acknowledged to have crossed the 10 million subscribers mark. Interestingly, a good number of customers have subscribed in the past weeks.

By the end of June 2010, the state-owned network provider had about 3.85 million subscribers, according to sources.

In comparison, the overall customer number that includes fixed line and internet subscribers now stand at 11.3 million.

The operator is also looking to give its tariffs and prepay card duration an overhaul. In addition, the company had announced the introduction of lower value voucher cards on popular demand while higher value voucher cards for data services.

France Telecom is known to have signed a two-year contract to uphold the network and is due to expire in 2012.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Ethiopia • France • operator

Omnitel start handset recycling with Greenfone (Lithuania)

On 06.07.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Omnitel which operates in Lithuania, in cooperation with the company Greenfone, has introduced the ‘Handset For Other’ project.

The project allows customers to sell unused handsets online, using a special portal. The handsets will either be repaired and sold in third countries, or recycled.

The collected phones will travel to Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Ethiopia, Pakistan, China and Singapore, as well as t other Eastern European countries. Omnitel and Greenfone “project” to another phone will ensure that none of the collected phones from entering the landfill.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: China • Ethiopia • Ghana • Lithuania • Niger • Nigeria • operator • Pakistan • Singapore • Togo

STC rolls-out offer for international calls (Saudi Arabia)

On 05.09.11, In Mobile, By Editor

STC has introduced Sawa International, offering international calls to selected countries from US$0.14 per minute.

The company claims this is the cheapest international fare for prepaid cards in the country.

Under the new offer, STC customers can make discounted calls to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt and Philippines for US$0.14 per minute, while calls to Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Libya, Lebanon and Nepal cost US$0.18 per minute.

Calls to Kuwait and UAE cost US$0.23 per minute. The discounted rate for calls to Morocco, Algeria, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Eritrea is 102 halls per minute and calls to Somalia are US$0.34 per minute.

STC announced that this offer is available to all Sawa and Lana customers for one month starting 13 May.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Afghanistan • Algeria • Bangladesh • Egypt • Eritrea • Ethiopia • India • Indonesia • Jordan • Kuwait • Lebanon • Libya • Mali • Morocco • Nepal • operator • Pakistan • Philippines • Saudi Arabia • Somalia • Sri Lanka • Sudan • Syria • Turkey • Yemen

Apple’s IPad an overwhelming favorite among U.S. minority population

On 02.25.11, In Mobile, By Editor

13% of first-generation immigrants currently own a tablet device, representing approximately five million Americans, according to a survey by mobile VoIP network, Rebtel.

According to a survey, the iPad reigns supreme as the preferred tablet device, with two-thirds of tablet owners choosing the device. French Americans claim the highest percentage of tablet owners (17%), followed by Mexican-Americans (15%), Nigerian-Americans, and Ghana-Americans at 14% respectively rounded out by Ethiopian-Americans at 8% and Cuban-Americans at 7%.

Among the different demographics, there were some wide disparities concerning whether or not they would buy a tablet in the near future. Ghanese (62%) and Indian Americans (58%) topped the list among immigrant populations looking to buy a tablet device, while Ethiopian (31%) and French Americans (34%) ranked last.

In terms of brand preference broken down by ethnicity of users, Apple’s iPad has a particularly strong foothold among Cuban-Americans, Indian-Americans and Nigerian-Americans, which account for the highest affinity marked by 83%, 80%, and 75% respectively.

Concerning the highest percentage of respondents who said that they would most likely buy an iPad in the near future, a whopping 87% of Kenyans claimed they would do so, with French immigrants coming in second at 81%. The Kindle was a popular second choice as a tablet device, with 9% of the overall population saying they are most likely to buy it, with Ethiopian immigrants leading the way at 24%.

Out of the immigrants in the study hailing from Cuba, Ethiopia, France, Ghana, India, Israel, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines and UK currently residing in the US, all segments ranked the iPad as their tablet of choice.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Apple • Apple iPad • Cuba • Cuban-Americans • Ethiopia • Ethiopian-Americans • first-generation immigrants • France • French Americans • Ghana • Ghana-Americans • India • Indian Americans • iPad • Israel • Kenya • Mexico • Mobile • mobile VoIP network • Niger • Nigeria • Nigerian-Americans • Philippines • Rebtel • tablet device • U.S • UK

African Union plans for single standardized SIM card

On 02.01.11, In Mobile, By Editor

The African Union (AU) has unveiled its plans for a single standardized SIM card for all African mobile phone operators.

According to AU Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, Elham Ibrahim, a study on the introduction of a single African SIM card has been underway and is expected to be completed within a month. The Commission would then hold a validation workshop with the key industry players in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to agree on the technical details for the SIM card, which it hopes would reduce the cost of roaming phone services.

According to AU’s Head of Telecommunication Division, Moctar Yedaly, funds for the assessment of the technical requirements to be fulfilled before the launch of the SIM are estimated at US$100,000.

He added that the plan includes an agreement on revenue-sharing and the validity of prepaid airtime if the users of the single SIM card migrate to other operators in the various African countries. The AU is looking at the networks operated by the South African multinational MTN Group, which has operations in over 16 African countries.

The AU is also working on the registration of the domain name dot Africa, which it hopes to register. Yedely noted that a taskforce has been established to work out the modalities of registering the dot Africa internet domain.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: African mobile phone operators • African Union (AU) • Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy • Elham Ibrahim • Ethiopia • Head of Telecommunication Division • Mobile • Moctar Yedaly • MTN • SIM Card • single standardized • South Africa

France telecom to manage Ethiopian telecom

On 12.06.10, In Mobile, By Editor

Ethiopia has signed an agreement with France Telecom to outsource the management of its sole telecoms provider, as it seeks to improve coverage and service.

The agreement marks the first venture by a foreign company into Ethiopia’s state-owned telecoms industry, which remains one of Africa’s few remaining government monopolies in the sector.

According to Ethiopian telecom, the management of Ethio Telecom will be taken over by the France Telecom for two years, in a deal worth US$40.03 million for the French company.

As per the company’s statement, France Telecom will strive to improve and modernize Ethio Telecom’s overall business aspect by implementing a new organizational structure.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Africa • Ethio Telecom • Ethiopia • Ethiopian telecom • France • France Telecom • Mobile

France Telecom & ETC sign management deal

On 04.01.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: European giant France Telecom (FT) has finally got the authority over the management of Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC), Ethiopian state-owned fixed line incumbent. The deal between the two companies was signed a week ago. The deal, however, has yet to be sent to the Council of Ministers for approval.

The control of the telco will go in the hands of the France Telecom on behalf of the Egyptian government for the period of three-year. Annual management fee will be paid by FT, although there are possibilities of revenue sharing from enhanced services.

FT will now be tasked with implementing the government’s ambitious plans to expand telecom services nationwide. According to the state, it wants basic telecom services made available within a radius of five kilometres to 100% of the population by the end of 2010.

USD2 billion has been kept aside by the government over a two-year period to expand the infrastructure, aiming to boost the number of Points of Presence (PoP) it has from 1,900 at end-2006 to 17,000 by end-2010. Increase in the number of fixed line subscribers to four million and mobile customers to 8.5 million is also aimed by ETC.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Africa • Egypt • Ethiopia • Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation • Europe • France • France Telecom

Ethiopia Telecom introduces new services to improve poor revenues

On 07.28.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In order to boost telecoms revenues, the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC) has announced the launch of third generation GPRS service, internet utilising mobile data transfer technology, which can be used to download and exchange digital data. This enables subscribers to locate their vehicle whereabouts and their destination after connecting their GPRS enabled mobile apparatus with another technology, Global Positioning System (GPS).
The corporation said that it will soon embark on more sophisticated services, restoring the interrupted voicemail service and launching a multimedia messaging (MMS) service, which enables users to exchange messages that include multimedia objects, such as videos.

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Ethiopia

ETC launches GPRS service (Ethiopia)

On 07.24.09, In Mobile, By Editor

The Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation (ETC) has reportedly launched its GPRS services across the nation enabling the subscribers to receive as well as send text, visual, and audio-video massages from the Internet using GPRS Enabled Mobile Apparatus.
Subscribers can read, view, and hear messages from the internet using their GPRS enabled mobile apparatus as well as send or download required message from websites using the GPRS technology, Corporate Communication Main Section Manager with the Corporation, Abdurahim Ahmed said.
The new technology enables subscribers to obtain e-mail service through their GPRS enabled mobile apparatus, he said, however, access to GPRS is limited to postpaid mobile subscribers for the time being. The corporation envisages providing similar service to prepaid mobile subscribers in the future.
The charges applied by the operator will be based on the amount of kilobyte a subscriber sends (up-links) or receives (down-links) from the Internet, he said, adding every postpaid mobile subscriber will be charged one cent/kilobyte excluding registration fee of 45 Birr.

Moreover, he said, GPRS subscribers can determine the location of their vehicle(s) after connecting their GPRS enabled mobile apparatus with another technology of Global Positioning System (GPS).

Filed under:Mobile Tagged with: Ethiopia • GPRS Enabled Mobile Apparatus

ETC reveals mobile network expansion, upgrade (Ethiopia)

On 07.06.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Ethiopian Telecommunications Company (ETC), has reportedly revealed that it is undertaking a project to centralise its mobile network, which it also expects to improve the quality of service in the capital. The operator said it expects to increase capacity of its mobile network by around 1.5 million lines as a result of the expansion.

ETC announced that it had actually started work on the upgrades back in March 2009, and it anticipates to complete optimization work in around 400 base stations in the Addis Abbaba region within the next few weeks. In a move to tackle the frequent power outages that have blotted its service, ETC will install generators at 150 of its cell sites, to ensure continued service.