AirtelTelecom giant Bharti Airtel has launched its 3.75G service in Zambia. The new technology will offer users high speed internet access enabling them to make video calls, stream and download music as well as watch live television on their mobile handset.

According to company reports, Fayaz King, Managing Director, Airtel Zambia, has said that the 3.75G technology will give their customers the opportunity to interact with data in a different way and that this is why Airtel doesn’t see 3.75G as a product but a platform that enables the community to expand its social and commercial horizons, alongside the rest of the world.

Further, as per the company, the latest technology will offer speeds up to 21 Mbps for its users including the business and youth segment and is similar to the technology being rolled out in Europe and USA. King also said that Airtel will be rolling out its data network across all its markets in Africa with the objective of building the largest 3G network across the continent.

King added that their 3.75G platform will allow customers to combine the enormous potential of the internet with the convenience of cellular phones and other devices. It will liberate the potential of the youth through enabling fast access to the internet for learning, sharing, social networking, creating and accessing content like music. Further, for the small and medium business, it will enable the entrepreneur to embrace a highly mobile way of working with high speed access to email and internet and it will allow large companies to increase productivity through vastly enhanced mobile internet speeds and access to record and allow for communication via video calls on handsets.

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India’s leading telecommunications operator Bharti Airtel may be planning to expand its network in South Africa and Cameroon, as learned through industry sources. Airtel is a dominant player in the mobile industry with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa.

Mobile penetration has steadily been increasing in African countries, and with most of the global markets being saturated, emerging markets such as Africa provide mobile operators with new opportunities to increase their subscriber base and enhance their revenue.

Currently Airtel offers services in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. By adding South Africa and Cameroon, two of Africa’s fastest growing mobile economies to the list, Airtel aims to strengthen its position in Africa.

Airtel is the leading mobile operator in India and is well known for its innovative and competitive tariff pricing. The operator’s entry into these new markets is expected to take the mobile industry by storm and introduce an unprecedented level of competition.

Airtel presently offers services in 15 cities in India and with the population of one Indian city being similar to that of one African country, South Africa and Cameroon have the potential to be extremely lucrative for Bharti Airtel.

Further, sources claim that rival operators currently offering services in these economies such as MTN, Vodacom and Orange are already working on strategies to maintain their market share and offer stiff competition to Airtel.

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Bharti Airtel, a leading telecom operator has signed a contract reportedly worth $ 700 million with Nokia Siemens Networks to expand its 2G network and deploy and manage 3G services in Africa.

As per the agreement, Nokia Siemens Networks will manage all network operations as well as provide energy-efficient base stations for Airtel in seven African countries including Madagascar, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Congo Brazzaville. In an attempt to increase its subscriber base, Airtel has been expanding its presence in Africa’s rural regions.

According to reports, Manoj Kohli Airtel’s CEO (International) and Joint Managing Director said that this partnership will further enable them to rapidly expand their network coverage and provide high-speed wireless internet connectivity to their customers. Further, Nokia Siemens Networks, Chief Executive Officer, Rajeev Suri said that they look forward to working closely with Airtel to expand its network rapidly and deliver the right innovative products and services to help meet user demands.

 

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In an effort to target the large base of rural subscribers in Zambia, southern African mobile operator Airtel Zambia has begun infrastructure work in the remote areas of its western province. With this move, Airtel aims to maintain its market share by bringing connectivity to people living in rural areas accessible only by water. As per reports, Airtel Zambia managing director Mr. Fayaz King said that they would first be entering areas such as Mutomena, Lukena, Liuwa, Libonda Palace and Mishulundu in Western Zambia. He further stated that the network expansion comes as part of the initiative taken up by the company over the past 10 months in order to provide services to some of the most remote areas of the country.

According to reports, rural areas covered by Airtel in the last 10 months are in Luapula, Northern, North-Western, Eastern, Southern, Central and some rural parts of the Copperbelt like Lufwanyama, Masaiti, and Mpongwe districts. So far 88 isolated rural areas and communities have been connected by Airtel in Zambia .

 

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Zamtel the mobile network operator based in Zambia has launched its 3G network, in the wake of the network’s $37 million upgrade.

According to Zamtel’s chief commercial officer Amon Jere, the 3G technology will be first switched on along the line of rail and North-western province, Copperbelt province, Lusaka, Choma, Mazabuka and Livingstone.

Jere expects to finish the first phase of service roll out in October while the second phase will see them switch on the services across all provincial capitals.

A 75% stake in Zamtel has been purchased by the Libya based Lap Green Networks in the year gone by for $257 million. In addition, the former had also pledged to invest further $127 million in the company as part of recapitalization and also for upgrading the network.

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­Starcomms is a CDMA network operator based in Nigeria. In an announcement, it said that Maher Qubain, its CEO/Managing Director is set to vacate his position in the company. Logan Pather who had come on board the company as Chief Operating Officer in February 2011, is also named by Starcomms as its Acting CEO and Managing Director.

According to Chairman Chief Maan Lababidi, Maher had joined Starcomms as early as 2002 when the company was still in its initial stages of development. The company was then operating as a fixed wireless operator in Lagos with 2,500 subscribers and 4 base stations. Since then the company has grown into a national telecommunication operator with a presence in 22 states, 31 cities, 175 towns, over 900 base stations and 1.6 million active subscribers.

On the other hand, Logan Pather, the Acting CEO had also held leadership positions since 1994, in the African telecoms market. He had rendered 5 years of service to Telkom South Africa, 3 years at Vodacom South Africa as Regional Manager. Eventually, he had joined MTN Cameroon as General Manager in 2001; later to become the CEO of Telecel in Zambia in 2004. In addition, he had served as Managing Director of Roamware Africa for the last 5 years.

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­WiMAX networks are managed by Augere Holdings under the umbrella of the Qubee brand. Former Vodafone Ghana CEO, David Venn has been named its new chief executive officer. Previously, Sanjiv Ahuja was the CEO of the operator.

Sanjiv Ahuja keeps the executive chairman of Augere position. His primary role will now be chairman and CEO LightSquared, the LTE network based in the USA though.

David had also carried out responsibilities as CEO of Celtel Zambia prior to being appointed CEO of Vodafone Ghana.

Harbinger Capital, France Telecom, New Silk Route and Vedanta Opportunity Fund as well as its founder, Sanjiv Ahuja constitute the principal shareholders of Augere.

At the moment Augere holds spectrum access in Pakistan, Bangladesh, the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in India, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania while aggressively going after spectrum in Africa and Asia.

Under the Qubee brand, Augere had launched its first commercial wireless network in Pakistan in July 2009. Then the Bangladesh network had followed in October 2009. As of mid 2011, Augere operates widely reaching wireless networks. Its network is powered by more than 650 radio base stations and serves more than 100,000 broadband customers.

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UCell, which operates in Uzbekistan, has introduced a new night internet package called ‘Internet Mega Boom’.

The new package will be charged at US$0.05 per MB between 1am and 8am, while th­e daily fee will be US$0.10. Activation of th­e tariff is free.

The company has also announced that it has signed bilateral roaming agreements with KPN in th­e Neth­erlands (for GPRS and 3G) and Celtel in Zambia. Furth­ermore, prepaid UCell customers can use Wataniya Telecom’s network in Kuwait.

 

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Niger government has confirmed a deal with Libya’s LAP Green Network for a ten-year majority share in state telecommunications firm Sonitel and its mobile arm, Sahel Com.

As per the deal, Green Network – part of the Libyan African Investment Portfolio (LAP) – will pay $65.86 million for a 51% share in a ten year license for the communications firms, which will be fused into one. The investment comes in spite of Green Network being hit by United Nations sanctions targeting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, with Zambia in March saying it was freezing Green’s assets there.

Sonitel was previously controlled by a Chinese-Libyan consortium, Dataport, but the deal was scrapped by Niger’s government in 2009, partly due to the lack of investment.

A union spokesman complained that the new deal would be no better and called for an international tender for the contract.

The new deal was first agreed by the country’s military government in January. The uranium-exporting West African nation is now headed by Mahamadou Issoufou, who came to power after winning an election in March.

A spokesman for the main telecommunications union immediately rejected the deal, stating that Green’s investment would be no better than the previous one, which brought together China’s ZTE and the Libyan Arab African Investment Company.

According to Adam Amoumoum, spokesman for a collection of unions covering the telecommunications sector, whether it is LAAICO or the Green Network, it is the same thing – it is Libya. As before, they will not respect their promises and Sonitel will not be made profitable. We call for an international tender (for the contract)..

LAP is Libya’s flagship Africa investment vehicle, which was launched in 2006, and the Green Network operates in a number of African countries.

 

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AfriConnect Zambia has introduced a new, low-cost, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) wireless broadband service.

According to MD Mark Bennett, the move came in line with the company’s effort to increase internet access in the country. He added that for the past five years AfriConnect has offered its high-speed iConnect broadband service through fixed monthly subscriptions, with highly priced equipment needed for multi-computer and demanding environments.

He added that the new facility is based on powerful long-distance Wi-Fi equipment and will be accessible to clients in Lusaka, with plans to expand to other districts in a few months.

The service enables people to pay for what they use and “surf-time” will be available from as low as US$2.1. A plus for this service is that customers can use the same voucher purchased for home throughout the network of over a 150 iSpot WiFi hotspots and get free surfing between 00:01 and 03:00 hrs.

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