Subscription numbers increasing 18%
At the end of the quarter, Africa accounted for 10 per cent of the world’s mobile subscriptions and was one of the world’s fastest-growing regions – with subscription numbers increasing 18 per cent over the year to September – as a result of the still low mobile penetration rate on the continent as well as demand for new services, such as mobile internet access, that increase the need for telecoms connectivity.

We would like to wish MTN congratulations for winning best marketing campaign for their Ayoba World Cup campaign.

Unconfirmed reports from Moneycontrol.com revealed that Anil Ambani from Reliance will be visiting Johannesburg to meet the top brass of MTN on Monday.

Economic Times also reports that the South African government on Wednesday said any merger deal between MTN and any other global telecom company would have to clear its regulatory processes. “We have business people keen on MTN and as long as they comply with regulatory approval it is fine,” South African Minister for Trade and Industry Rob Davis said when asked about the reports of Reliance Communications’ renewed interest in MTN.

Meanwhile, R-Comm is still in talks with Abu Dhabi’s Etisalat for selling a 26% stake.

The license will be granted when market conditions permit, said the regulator, who indicated sales by the third operator, Millicom’s Tigo, as a reference point.

Rwanda’s telecom regulator has already secured the spectrum and numbering sources for the new operator, according to Global Business Telecoms.
The regulator also said that it would wait for Tigo to cover at least 500 000 subscribers before it awarded another license to a fourth operator.

Millicom Rwanda secured its license in December 2008 and started operations in November last year under the Tigo brand.
Rwanda currently has three mobile operators, Rwandatel, MTN and Tigo.

According to research company Frost & Sullivan, African mobile operators must look at data services to register continued growth, beyond basic phone calls and SMS texting, writes Kenya’s Daily Nation.

Silvia Venter, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan, explained that the need for data was obvious in sub-Saharan Africa, where mobile phones start replacing personal computers, as PCs can be quite expensive.

In the recent results issued by MTN Group, around 15% of the oprator’s revenue came from data, an indication of the growing trend of enabling data services.

In Kenya, Safaricom announced value added and data services for its subscribers, investing about Sh7.5 billion in cross-section technologies, while Telkom Kenya boosted its fixed line capacity to accommodate more data.

Zain Kenya went further in expanding international roaming coverage for data services, establishing agreements with 45 telecoms operators worldwide.

MTN Uganda, Grameen Foundation and Google Search, who recently launched a suite of mobile phone applications to provide instant information previously unavailable to Uganda’s remote communities were upbeat that the partnership would be successful.

Officials said the mobile phone-based information service is expected to greatly empower rural communities by providing access to vital data and advice on issues ranging from business, agriculture, health, environment, weather etc.

These new services in Uganda can be accessed by existing Village Phone Operators (VPOs) who extend services to people without mobile phones as well as by people who have their own phones. VPOs and other trusted intermediaries serve as a bridge between communities who lack access to essential information and the sources that can provide it.

Read full article