A new study shows that Zambia has the lowest cost of electricity in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, with a rate of less than US$0,40/kWh. Namibia, meanwhile, charges as much as $7,83/kWh. According to the report, Malawi and SA have roughly the same end-user tariff of $4,47/kWh and
The date for analogue switch-off in Kenya’s move to digital terrestrial television broadcasting remains unknown because, according to the Communications Commission of Kenya, countrywide infrastructure is still not in place. Government had originally intended to have the process completed by mid-June 2012
MTN Uganda has uncovered what it calls “irregular payments” totalling US$3,8m and has reported the matter to local police. The payments pertain to invoices for equipment the network never actually received. Uganda’s The Monitor newspaper reported at the weekend that MTN Uganda had been defrauded to the tune
The Kenyan government is ditching proprietary software in favour of free and open-source software alternatives in a move it hopes will save it money. According to a report in Business Daily, the migration away from proprietary systems will related costs go down by 20% initially but by as much as 80% within three
Attacks claimed by Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram targeting mobile phone towers in recent days have also left 15 people dead and buildings burnt, including two schools, officials said Friday. More than two dozen mobile phone towers for various providers have been destroyed in cities across northern Nigeria this week
A radical Islamist sect that has attacked mosques, churches, schools and government buildings at will in Nigeria appears to have added a new target for its violence: mobile phone towers. Attacks in the last day have damaged more than 30 towers operated by all the major providers in the country, further
Huawei says it has won contracts to provide new backhaul networks for Movicel in Angola and MTC in Namibia, both of which plan to launch among the continent’s first commercial long-term evolution (LTE) networks. The Chinese company has already been instrumental in the
After switching off interconnection with state-owned mobile operator NetOne, Zimbabwe’s largest mobile operator, Econet Wireless, has been forced to reverse its decision by the Southern African country’s high court. Econet claims it is owed US$20m by its rival. Econet cut links with its rival last Thursday, claiming NetOne had
Zimbabwe is to be hooked up to the high-capacity West Africa Cable System (Wacs), the submarine telecommunications pipe that extends from SA to London along Africa’s west coast, thanks to a deal its incumbent fixed-line operator has concluded with its Namibia counterpart. The announcement was made
There are fears that Nigeria is being left behind in information and communications technology (ICT) development after US computer services giant IBM elected to build its first research laboratory in Kenya rather than in the more populous West African state. “When IBM, the US$230bn American IT
