For Celtel’s Mo Ibrahim, the poorest of the poor are his raison d’etre
Mo Ibrahim: Revolutionising communications in Africa. His tool? The mobile phone
For a man who describes himself as a former Marxist???, Mo Ibrahim has clearly made his peace with the forces of capitalism.
The chairman of the fastest-growing mobile phone group in sub-Saharan African, talks with relish of breaking down the Arab business world’s wariness towards his continent, of cellphones making the internet virtually redundant. Few inventions can boast as dramatic an impact on society as the mobile phone in Africa. Embraced there long before it became commonplace in the west, the technology allows Africans to communicate in spite of fraying landlines, and from areas that colonial-era networks never reached.
Mobiles have helped ordinary citizens free themselves from the grip of the state.
The Kenyan farmer who was once obliged to sell his coffee beans in a fug of uncertainty can now check world prices; the small entrepreneur whose business depended on the whims of a government agency can now operate from any kiosk. Mobiles even play a role in the democratic process, as formerly corrupt officials in remote constituencies are confronted by the vigilant election monitor, phone in hand.
No wonder that Africa is the first continent where mobile phones outnumber fixed lines. Yet that revolution is still in its infancy. When we started in 1998 there were two million cellphones on the continent. Now there are over 100 million, but a quarter are in South Africa,??? says Ibrahim. There’s still a huge amount to do.???
Ibrahim, who has British nationality but was born a Sudanese Nubian, had his brainwave in 1969. Rushing to a screening of Charlton Heston’s epic Khartoum, he jumped into a taxi and became intrigued by the cab radio. ‘How are you communicating?’ I asked the driver.
‘How does the signal reach the car without direct line of sight?’???
This question became the focus of several degrees, and Ibrahim then joined BT, where he played a part establishing Britain’s first mobile network, before setting up an international consultancy firm. But Africa remained his passion, and he was appalled at the assumption among potential investors that the continent was a place where contracts would not be respected. We said to ourselves, ‘Who’s afraid of Africa?’ and set out to do something different, to build a European-quality company with the best equipment . . . which said from the outset, ‘We will not pay a single dollar in bribes’.???
Today Celtel has more than seven million customers, employs 3,500 staff and boasts 120,000 points of sale. While dwarfed by Vodacom and MTN, it is the only mobile network to see the poorest of the poor as its raison d’etre. Such figures leave vast room for expansion and may explain why in May the Kuwaiti mobile operator MTC bought Celtel for $3.4bn, yet left the company free to continue operating as a separate entity.
Ibrahim, a pipe-smoking, compact ball of energy, aims to raise market penetration in Celtel’s target areas to 20 per cent by 2015. He enthuses over the opportunities represented by challenging countries such as poverty-stricken Ethiopia and war-scarred Angola. Up till now everyone has focused on the cities, bypassing villages and hamlets. We want to focus on cut-off rural areas, which is why we are looking at solar energy.???
He does not underplay the frustrations of operating in Africa, expressing exasperation at governments’ love of red tape and their preference for trading with former western masters rather than one another, a damaging legacy of colonialism. He recalls how Celtel challenged the absurd system which dictated that calls between Brazzaville and Kinshasa, two capitals facing one another across the Congo River, were routed via France and Belgium, at international rates.
Interestingly, he is sceptical about the other great change that has swept Africa in recent years: the internet. Computers are very expensive and they need power, and that can be a problem in Africa. SMS text messaging is replacing e-mail and, more and more, phones are carrying out the functions of the computer.???
Ibrahim’s success has given him a huge reach. He is finalising plans for a $100m personal foundation to fund development projects in Africa – investment with a heart???, he calls it. For him, Africa’s salvation lies in private sector efforts, rather than the western-funded, more-aid-please approach favoured by Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa. It’s great that Africa is on the agenda and Blair and Brown are interested. But I’m resigned to doing my own little things in my own little way.???
Source- http://www.vanguardngr.com
Safaricom Kenya, MTN Uganda and Vodacom Tanzania in talks to create border-less network
Kenya’s biggest mobile operator, Safaricom, is in talks with MTN Uganda and Vodacom of Tanzania to help it launch borderless services in order to facilitate regional expansion.
This comes barely two weeks since Celtel, the only operator with a presence in the three East African countries, launched a common service for the region.
“We are not going to sit still and watch. We are in advanced negotiations with our partners in Uganda and Tanzania,” Michael Joseph, the Safaricom chief executive officer, told the Daily Nation last week.
Last month, Celtel unveiled a seamless service called One Network, which allows subscribers in the region to make calls at local rates and receive calls free of charge while in another country in the region. Subscribers can also top up while in any of the three countries.
MTN Uganda’s chief commercial officer, Eric van Veen, said the companies have been in talks for sometime, but did not say when the plans will be implemented.
‘It is true. We have been talking for two months now, even before Celtel launched One Network. We have not finalised the deal, so I am not at liberty to say when it will kick off,” he said.
Safaricom has about 4.7 million subscribers in Kenya, while MTN Uganda has about 1.3 million. Celtel has bigger numbers in Tanzania.
Industry sources said that since the launch of One Network, Celtel has already realised about 10% growth.
Source- http://www.mobileafrica.net
MTNL bids for telecom services in Kenya
MUMBAI: State-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd on Saturday said it has bid for a national telecom operator licence in Kenya for fixed line and cellular services.
“Yes…we have made a bid for telecom operations in Kenya. It is an independent bid,” MTNL Chairman and Managing Director R S P Sinha said.
Kenyan government had invited bids for second national telecom operator to provide fixed and mobile telephone services. The bids are expected to be opened on October 27.
Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Communications has also bid for the licence.
Asked whether MTNL had made the bid jointly with private sector Reliance, Sinha said: “As far as business relationships are concerned, we don’t have any problems with anybody else. But it should benefit MTNL. Today there is no concrete proposal for a joint bid. We have made independent bids for the Kenyan venture and are competing with each other.”
Kenyan Telecom Commission has shortlisted three bids -from MTNL, Reliance and Dubai-based Vtel. The winner of the licence would be able to offer mobile services, an Internet backbone, international voice gateway as well as national and international fixed line services in the African country.
The licence is expected to be awarded by January.
About the submarine cable project with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Sinha said the company would come out with a tender within three months.
“In three months, we will come out with tender and other things for buying cable and lying the bandwidth. Landing stations are yet to be finalised on both the coasts… towards Europe and West Asia and Singapore in the east,” he said.
MTNL, which provides telecom services in Delhi and Mumbai, has floated a 51:49 joint venture with BSNL for a 12,000 km long cable system, which will have a capacity of 2.5 terabits.
The Rs 1,800-crore project is expected to be operational in 18 months.
Source- http://www.dnaindia.com
Kenya: CCK to License Second Operator in Jan 2007
The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) will license the second fixed line operator that will also get a mobile operator’s licence in January next year.
CCK Commissioner General, Mr John Waweru, on Thursday said that about five companies would be licensed to offer mobile services within the next five years.
Waweru said the regulator was waiting for Econet Wireless to pay the required licence fee before giving it the green light to roll out its network.
Econet had promised to pay part of the Sh2.1 billion licence fee through promissory notes but CCK declined.
“We will only accept cash,” Waweru said when he received bids from three companies seeking to be licensed to offer fixed telephone services.
Econet won the third mobile licence in 2003 but is yet to commence operations after it’s partners were embroiled in a dispute, prompting the Government to cancel the licence.
Econet is challenging the cancellation but last month the High Court ruled that CCK had the mandate to regulate the sector without interference and the matter was referred back to the commission.
The second national fixed line operator, to be licensed
by January 30, will compete with Safaricom, Celtel and Telkom Kenya that has also been licensed to offer wireless telephony services.
He said entry of more players in the telecommunications sector would spur competition that will lead to low tariffs.
“It is our belief that competition in fixed and mobile telecommunications market will provide consumers with more choices,” Waweru said.
“We are determined to create a modern and efficient telecommunications infrastructure to position Kenya as a hub of industrial, commercial and financial services in the region.”
The three companies that presented their technical and financial bids include Vitel Corsotium of Dubai, MTNL and Reliance Consortia both of India.
Four companies that had been shortlisted had withdrawn for disclosed reasons.
The firms are France Telecom, Telkom South Africa
and Etisalat, a consortium led by Swedtel. Thirteen companies had expressed interest, including Portugal Telecom, Saskatel of Canada and Detecon of Germany.
Industry officials said the response by international firms was good because the Government was offering a unified license for an array of services that include mobile, Internet backbone, international voice gateway and provision of long-distance voice and data.
Fixed line subscribers are about 300,000 but Waweru says there is potential for two million customers.
Source- http://allafrica.com/stories
Celtel to introduce one network in Ghana
Celtel International, a telecommunications group based in the Netherlands, has declared its intention to invest in Ghana, as well the as likelihood of introducing its mobile phone system that networks countries and eliminates roaming charges.
It is currently undertaking investment studies in the country, which will become the sixth West African country it will be operating in and the sixteenth in Africa.
Once operational in the country, the company will study the network system in other West African countries and decide on when to introduce its unique “One Network” service.
The service, which is currently in use in East Africa (Tanzanian, Uganda and Kenya) makes it possible for a user of a Celtel mobile phone to use the same number in another networked country without paying for roaming surcharges.
The “One Network” is automatically activated once a customer crosses over into the geographic border of any other networked countries without prior registration or new cellular phone chip. The customer can also place calls to any of the networked countries without any restriction.
Dave Hagedorn, Business Development Manager of Celtel, and Khaled Al-Anjiri, Mergers and Acquisitions Specialist from Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC), the parent company of Celtel, headquartered in Kuwait, are in the country this week to hold talks with investment partners.
Without mentioning the amount to be invested, Mr. Hagedorn told the Times “we are looking at the opportunities and we will be investing substantially.
“We are hopeful that we will start operations in the coming month that Ghana will be the next country for the group,” Mr. Hagedorn added.
He indicated the expansion of their operations to Ghana was in line with their vision to cover the entire continent. Celtel is also operating in Burkina Faso, Chad, DR Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Congo, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Sudan.
The company intends covering the entire Africa with the “One Network” service by implementing it on a regional basis, he said.
Mr. Al-Anjiri, for his part, said the MTC was committed to investing in infrastructure to offer improved services for customers and also taking advantage of opportunities that could be used to remove barriers between populations and make life better.
Source- http://www.andnetwork.com
Pumpkin power dawns for African mobile phone networks
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Palm and pumpkin seed oil could soon be generating electricity to help power mobile phone networks across Africa under a plan to replace fossil fuels with sustainable biofuels made from crops grown by local farmers.
Swedish telecoms networks group Ericsson and South African cellphone operator MTN said on Wednesday they want to start replacing diesel with biofuels in electricity generating stations powering mobile phone base stations in rural Africa.
Supported by the GSM Association’s development fund, they will start with a project in Nigeria to use biofuels for power generators supplying mobile base stations located beyond the reach of the electricity grid.
“We’re planning to replicate this in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya. India and Bangladesh have also expressed interest,” said Ben Soppitt, program manager emerging markets at the GSM Association (GSMA).
Starting in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, fuel will be processed from palm, groundnut, pumpkin seeds and jatropha.
The crops to generate the biofuel will be cultivated close to the base stations, helping local farmers, cutting dependency on fossil fuels and reducing fuel transportation needs. The cost of fuel, including security to protect transport and storage, can be 80 percent of the cost of a rural phone network.
MTN operates in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East and had 31 million subscribers, while Ericsson is the world’s biggest mobile phone networks company with around 30 percent market share.
AFRICA TAKES THE LEAD
“The early adoption of biofuel-powered mobile networks would place Africa at the forefront of a new wave of innovation,” said Karel Pienaar, chief technology officer at MTN.
Soppitt said the mobile industry could be the world’s first to put alternative energy at the core of its operations.
“Ericsson has been working on this for a while, and with their significant market share the entire market will move with them,” he said.
Rural areas in emerging economies where most new mobile phone subscribers come from are often not connected to the electricity grid, which means that the base stations to connect mobile phone users to the network are powered by generators.
In Nigeria, 75 percent of the country is not grid-connected.
Fuel consumption by these base stations can be significant. Ericsson estimates 25,000 liters of fuel are needed every year to power a base station. The same amount would power close to 20 cars, each driving 20,000 kilometers, for a year.
Worldwide, tens of thousands of new base stations are erected every year, most of them in rural areas as operators aim to expand the coverage of their networks. There are currently close to 2.5 billion mobile phone users on the planet.
The GSMA hopes that the introduction of biofuels will be significantly cheaper than using diesel, and hopes for total cost reductions of 30 percent or more.
“You need to achieve a 30 percent improvement to create sufficient momentum for change,” Soppitt said.
Ericsson estimates around 0.5 square kilometers of palm oil crops are needed to generate the fuel for 20 base stations, the equivalent of 83 football fields.
The crops will be processed into fuel at local facilities.
Ericsson will control farming methods, making sure crops are not genetically manipulated, are grown sustainably and do not require fresh clearing of land by cutting forests.
Solar and wind energy are also being investigated as alternative power sources for remote base stations.
Source- http://us.rd.yahoo.com
Nokia and Plan Give a Voice to Africa’s Youth
ESPOO, Finland, October 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Nokia (Nachrichten/Aktienkurs) and international children’s organisation, Plan, have joined forces to use modern communications technologies in Africa to raise children’s awareness of their rights and opportunities. Nokia has provided an initial donation of 1 million Euros for 2006. The first stage of this new joint effort will see Nokia focus on supporting Plan’s existing media and communications technology projects for Africa’s children and youth.
“We believe that we can have a positive impact through mobile technology as it is used to enable young people to realise their full potential. The aim of our cooperation with Plan is to fight poverty by empowering African youth and giving them a voice through the use of technology. Plan has a good existing network, positive track record and extensive experience in using technology for youth development in Africa and was therefore, a very good value fit for Nokia,” said Veli Sundback, Executive Vice President, Corporate Relations and Responsibility, Nokia.
“Plan is committed to working in partnerships, not only with local groups or governments in the countries where we work, but also with like-minded corporate organisations like Nokia. I believe that this cooperation will deliver long-term sustainable benefits for hundreds of communities in the developing world,” said Tom Miller, Plan CEO.
Access to and use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) such as radio, the internet, mobile devices and television is a vital element in helping to tackle poverty and improve the respect, fulfilment and protection of children’s rights. In this cooperation, ICT becomes an important tool for children and youth to make their voice heard and to learn about issues that are relevant for them.
Involving children in digital media production either on the radio, in video productions or in music helps introduce the potential of ICT to communities affected by poverty in a non-threatening way and links remote communities to a much wider national audience. Producing their own digital media is often revolutionary for many children, providing them with the chance to gain self-confidence and further influence their own future.
About Plan
Plan is a humanitarian child-centred organization working in 46 developing countries, with families and their communities. Founded almost 70 years ago, Plan has no religious, political or governmental affiliation. Plan has 64 child media projects running in 31 countries at present. These projects include radio programs on child rights in West Africa; video projects in India, Kenya and Tanzania; radio and newspaper projects in Central America; TV production in Vietnam; internet projects for teenagers in Burkina Faso; and radio programs in Thailand, the Philippines and Malawi.
About Nokia
Nokia has a positive impact on society that extends beyond the advanced technology, products and services the company creates. Through its cooperation with non-profit and governmental organizations, the company prepares young people to embrace opportunities created by the global economy and new technological advancements. The company has been an active regional contributor to youth and education causes for many years, with Nokia employees making their own contributions as volunteers in a range of programs throughout the world.
Source- http://www.finanznachrichten.de
Africa: Multinational Mobile Operators Increase Stake in Continent
Jonah Iboma examines the increasing penetration of Africa by global players and its impact on competition Mobile telephony sector in Africa has increasingly witnessed acquisitions. This had led to the emergence of multinational and pan-regional players dominating the sector and increasing their ability to compete in the market with other global players.
The latest is the purchase of controlling stake in Vmobile Nigeria by Celtel International and MTN’s acquisition of Investcom International, a telecoms group with operations in six African countries besides its coverage in the Middle East.
Also, Vodacom has operations in five countries- Mozambique, Madagascar, South Africa Tanzania and Lesotho. Though the number of countries it operates in may seem small compared to Celtel and MTN, Vodacom has not hidden its intention to find an entry into the Nigerian market after the failed acquisition bid for the then Econet Wireless Nigeria.
Obviously, the operations of these firms on the African continent have concentrated market share in the hands of a few players. With its entry into Nigeria, Celtel now has presence in 14 African countries, besides Sudan where it is called MTC. MTN also has presence in 21 African countries.
In terms of subscriber base, Celtel’s acquisition of Vmobile has increased its subscriber base from about 10m to well over 15m. These three firms – Celtel, Vodacom and MTN – with their combined subscriber number of about 72m users-account for over 55 per cent of Africa’s 125m mobile phone subscribers.
The Chief Executive Officer, of Celtel, Mr. Marten Pieters, in August gave indication of a continuation of its acquisition spree, saying during a tour of its operations in Tanzania that it would seek entry into more African countries soon. And with MTN maintaining its lead on the continent, one should certainly see further competition from both Vodacom and Celtel in the coming months and years. A major point of competition for these three operators is the Nigerian market as it has proven to be the preferred bride that each of them has sought how to either enter, or consolidate its position. With Celtel having joined MTN in Nigeria, Vodacom remains the biggest loser in this aspect as its failure to enter Nigeria has made it lose ground to MTN.
But while there is fear that the current situation could lead to lack of competition, these big players are actually beginning to use their might as a marketing tool. For instance, Celtel, according to Pieters, is considering establishing what he called, the One Network concept whereby any of its subscribers can use the same phone line across all its operations in Africa. This means that roaming would be available almost free of charge for its pre-paid subscribers.
The firm has done this in East Africa where Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania have all been connected in the One Network arrangement.
Pieters said, “We are operating in these countries under the same brand-Celtel because we are working to build a real Pan-African mobile network. That means that we are also building a Pan-African brand and we have put a lot of energy in that, in the last two to three years.” MTN Nigeria has also introduced a billing arrangement that allows its subscribers to pay rates considerably less that others whenever calls are made to its network across the continent and in the Middle East.
The Chief Executive Officer, of MTN Nigeria, Mr. Ahmad Farroukh, said the firm was also introducing a service whereby calls within any of the countries it is operating in, will attract lower charges compared to other networks.
Besides, there is a rash of valued added services that these operators are introducing to their subscribers. For instance, Vodacom and MTN were the first firms to introduce 3G services in South Africa. Similarly, in Nigeria both Celtel and MTN have also completed tests for 3G roll outs.
With current developments, it appears that more competition is still ahead in the days to come. Currently, the dominance of these multinational operators has not impacted negatively on the growth of individual operators on the continent.
The phenomenon appears to be global, as more multinationals have appeared in the mobile sector establishing dominance in the industry. Even Celtel’s presence in Africa has changed from it being a dominant player to being part of a bigger firm as it had been bought by MTC of Kuwait.
Source- http://allafrica.com
Rural Africa new frontier for mobile phone boom
Lucy Mhlapo had noticed people in the nearby town chattering into tiny metal boxes pressed to their ears, but she never dreamed she’d use one of the devices herself.
Then, in August last year, a 45-metre (148-ft) tower of red and white steel appeared on the hill behind Mhlapo’s dusty village in South Africa’s north-east. The neighbours said it would make cell phones work here in Kgautswane.
Mhlapo’s daughter scraped together enough cash for a second-hand cell phone and some airtime, and in January this year, at the age of 60, Mhlapo made her first call.
“I was so happy, I called my brother in Johannesburg and asked him to bring some mealie pap,” she laughed.
Mobile operators are scrambling to gain a foothold in Africa, where cell phone penetration hovers at just 15 percent and growth is ripe for those with a stomach for risk.
A decade after mobile technology took off on the continent, most affluent city dwellers have phones, making poor rural areas like Kgautswane the new battleground for operators seeking growth.
Raging Demand
South African operators Vodacom – jointly owned by Telkom and Vodafone – and rival MTN make serious money in areas like this in South Africa.
As demand rages among rural folk, Vodacom, which erected the Kgautswane mast, now has to kit out rural base stations with the same level of equipment as base stations in the city. Still, it made back the R1.25-million ($164,800) outlay for the Kgautswane mast in less than 6 months.
People living in the area around the base station – which covers a roughly 30-km (19-mile) radius – make between 20,000 and 30,000 calls a day, just over a year after coverage went live, according to Vodacom.
“We can’t put these things up fast enough,” said Vodacom’s Clive Wilson, supervisor of operations for the chunk of South Africa north of the capital Pretoria. “People here may not spend much but there are so many of them that it makes these areas more than viable – they are very profitable.”
Huddled under a spiky tree next to the new cellular mast, Mhlapo interrupts a family meeting to check an SMS and deftly fires off a reply.
“Now I can contact my children. Before we had to wait months for them to come,” she said in a mix of Sotho and Afrikaans, tucking her prized phone away inside a striped dress.
Mhlapo says she spends as much as R200 on airtime some months. Margaret Chinhete, a Zimbabwean woman who lives down the gravel road says she spends about R100 a month on her new phone, but easily covers that with the extra cash she makes from selling crafts now she can contact customers by phone.
“When I bought this I had never made a phone call. Now I use it to call business contacts. It saves me from walking kilometres every day and I have doubled my monthly earnings,” Chinhete told Reuters, as she hauled home her wares.
“Don’t igmore rural Africa”
Some customers in rural areas spend next to nothing on airtime. But they do receive calls, and Vodacom Chief Operating Officer Pieter Uys says extending coverage even in poor areas makes sense as long as costs are kept in check.
“Any positive return that is more than putting your money in a bank is worthwhile,” he said in a telephone interview. “A customer will start off receiving calls, but then they will try making calls, their friends will see them and it snowballs.”
Rural areas are even more crucial for operators in the rest of Africa, where vast populations live in rustic homesteads, relying on home-grown maize for survival.
Experts say operators need to keep hunting for niftier ways to make calls affordable and to turn poor country dwellers into makers of calls as well as receivers.
“Rural areas are the main areas in Africa – we need to make sure the network is available for these people,” Peter Arina, chief operating officer at Kenya’s top operator Safaricom, told Reuters in a recent interview.
Some operators tout a tool that allows richer customers in the city to transfer airtime to poorer relatives, while others offer free ‘please call me’ text message services.
Most operators sell airtime in tiny denominations for people who live from hand to mouth, while handset makers have launched a range of low-cost phones aimed at emerging markets.
South African firms have also built thousands of shared pay phones to meet licence conditions and experts say operators wanting to reach Africa’s rural poor need to copy their example.
While few people in rural areas can afford to splash out $30 for a handset, they may be willing to spend a dollar or two to make important calls on a shared mobile phone.
“Community pay phones will remove the next barrier (to mobile phones) because they get rid of the upfront cost,” said independent telecoms analyst Paul Hamilton
Source- http://www.ioltechnology.co.za
Kenya: State Locked in Safaricom Sale Talks
The Government is yet to conclude talks on the sale of Telkom Kenya’s nine per cent stake in Safaricom to Vodafone.
Information and Communication minister, Mr Mutahi Kagwe, yesterday said negotiations on the sale were still on.
We have not finalised the talks,” he said.
Kagwe led a delegation that met Vodafone officials in London last week.
He declined to disclose the price the Government considered good for the stake.
“Kenyans should be confident that we will get a good deal,” he said
Vodafone had initially offered the Government Sh7.3 billion ($100 million) for a 11 per cent stake in the mobile phone firm.
The Government, through Telkom Kenya owns 60 per cent of Safaricom while Vodafone holds 40 per cent of the shares.
Kagwe spoke to reporters after after opening a two-day African Business Process Outsourcing workshop at the Panari Centre in Nairobi.
He told participants that the Government was committed to develop a reservoir of skilled workers that the country needs to attract and retain international outsourcing business.
The minister also announced the Government has established a Special Purpose Vehicle, which it will use to lay an alternative undersea fibre optic cable.
Information and Communication minister, Mr Mutahi Kagwe, said the SPV would be used to implement the East African Marine Systems that will involve the public and private sector.
Source- http://allafrica.com/stories
Technorati : Kenya, Mobile, Safaricom, Vodafone
Ice Rocket : Kenya, Mobile, Safaricom, Vodafone
Technorati : Kenya, Mobile, Safaricom, Vodafone
Ice Rocket : Kenya, Mobile, Safaricom, Vodafone
