However, this number was still below the average for developing countries of 77 per 100 persons.

Rapid development in mobile phone usage
The figures, contained in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Information Economy report 2011, show the rapid development in mobile phone usage in Zimbabwe in recent years. In 2005, only 5% of Zimbabweans had access to mobile phones, however, the dramatic rise has lead to an increase in opportunities for small and medium scale entrepreneurship opportunities in the country.

Service still needs improvement
However, some in the country have pointed to the fact that although usage may have increased, the quality of the service still needs improvement. The report also notes that a gender gap in mobile phone ownership still remains with 300 million fewer women than men owning mobile devices worldwide.

Facebook, email and online chat access using SMS
Africa’s premier telecoms award gala has shortlisted ForgetMeNot Africa for the deployment of its Message Optimiser technology with Econet Wireless Zimbabwe’s eTXT service, which provides Facebook, email and online chat access using SMS to all of Econet’s 5 million subscribers.

47.5 million people access to Facebook via SMS
The Message Optimiser technology has been implemented by six operators in five countries across east, west, southern and central Africa, giving 47.5 million people access to Facebook via SMS in February 2011, in addition to email and online chat.

Transforms the most basic SMS-enabled device
Message Optimiser bypasses the need for fixed telephone line Internet access, PCs, expensive subscriptions, smartphones, Java downloads and data connections to provide email, online chat, instant messaging and social networking to even the most rural communities in Africa. It transforms even the most basic SMS-enabled device into a virtual smartphone.

AfricaCom Awards
The AfricaCom Awards – now in its 4th year – is supported by Orange, Gateway Communications and ComViva. The ceremony, which recognises and rewards excellence in the African telecommunications market, will be held at the Waterfront Lookout, in Cape Town, South Africa on 9th November 2011. For more information visit: http://www.africacomawards.com/

For more information on ForgetMeNot Africa call +44 207 408 4730 or visit www.fmnafrica.com

eTXT, which launched in Zimbabwe earlier this year has already had a great impact in bridging the rural-urban digital divide in the country, and it is hoped that the promotion can do more to increase internet usage in the country.

The promotion requires users to post to the eTXT from Econet Facebook page using eTXT saying why they like the product. Entrants are then rewarded with free airtime and entry into a prize draw, and early winners have already been announced.

If approved, the ICT Bill will put in place a new strategic ICT plan for the country, launched in February.

According to SciDev.Net, Nelson Chamisa, Zaimbabwe’s ICT Minister, said the Bill’s five-year plan would unify ICT strategies in the country, aim to develop further the ICT infrastructure and enhance the capacity to produce hardware and software locally.

The Bill also addresses e-business, e-government, cyber security and ICT investments issues, promising to change the face of ICT industry in Zimbabwe.

However, a report by Technology Strategies International, a technology market analyst, released in March, noted the poor fixed line infrastructure and low penetration of mobile usage in the country.

According to ‘Investment opportunities in the ICT sector in Zimbabwe: 2010′ report, state-owned operator Telcel has grown its fixed telephone lines by just 3% since 2005, reaching only 365,400 subscribers by the end of 2009, from a total population of 11 million people. Furthermore, only 3.9 million Zimbabweans are mobile subscribers, a few over 30%.

According to Chamisa, the Bill can only succeed if governments is engaging with ICT providers and other stake holders, through private-public partnerships.

He said that 75% of the plan’s success lies in government’s hands, while 25% makes the resources and finance needed.

Zimbabwean analysts and Internet consultants are welcoming the Bill’s strategic plans, which would entail faster access to online resources, but condemn the lack of interest in the current skills shortage in the country’s ICT sector.

According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Zain Nigeria was founded as Econet Wireless Nigeria (EWN) in 2001, named after the South African holding company Econet Wireless International (EWI) which held a 5% stake and a contract to run the cellco. Following a takeover attempt by Vodacom of South Africa in 2003, a protracted boardroom dispute ensued, with EWI unwilling to relinquish its stake or its management control. Eventually in 2004 EWN was renamed Vee Networks and its brand name changed to Vodacom. Barely six weeks after taking over the cellco, Vodacom pulled out of its contract and walked away from Vee Networks, citing ‘irregularities’ in the payment of the brokerage fees. Management of the company was handed to Dr Gamaliel Onosode, of the Delta State Ministry of Finance, and services were rebranded again, this time under the V-Mobile banner. Celtel International, a division of Zain, purchased 65% of the company in May 2006. EWI has since surfaced to try and gain a court ruling to overturn the sale to Celtel, claiming its pre-emption rights were breached when its predominantly Nigerian partners decided to sell their shares in V-Mobile to Zain in 2006.

Source: TeleGeography

Strive Masiyiwa

As founder and chief executive of Econet Wireless he has pursued his ambition of creating a truly African multinational business, spinning a web that spans seven countries, more than 25 million customers and generates an estimated $3bn (£1.8bn) in annual revenues. He has fought his way through Africa’s often tangled legal jungle and had the security forces on his tail – more often than not sitting outside his house.

Next week his legal team will enter a courtroom in the Netherlands to mount the next challenge: throwing a spanner in the works of what could potentially be one of the biggest deals in African history, the $10bn sale of rival mobile-phone operation Zain.

Read the rest on the Guardian website…

Source: Guardian