Nigeria has ranked 112th position out of 142 economies according to the 11th edition of the Global Information Technology Report (2012). Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) offices (image: file) The report titled “Living in a Hyper-connected World” was launched on Wednesday by the World Economic Forum. It relies on the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) to assess [...]

Kenya’s mobile service provider Safaricom will double its broadband capacity next week, opening a new battlefront in the data market just after Airtel rolled out its 3G network in February. “The network will run at 42 Mega bits per second (mbps) from the current 21mbs and it will be the fastest network in the whole [...]

The Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited has targeted 40 percent broadband penetration in the country by the year 2015. Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai, the Managing Director and Chief Executive, made this statement in a paper presentation at the Convergence forum in Lagos, on Friday. He lamented the low percentage of broadband access in the country revealing that only [...]

LION2 Set to go live weeks

During the Innovation Africa Digital Summit in Ethiopia, IT News Africa had the opportunity to talk to Dr Bashir Gwandu, Nigeria’s Communications Commission’s Executive Commissioner. Gwandu discussed the future of mobile devices in Nigeria, content creation and the country’s recent efforts to free up spectrum. * Please elaborate on the need to free up spectrum [...]

Gambian internet service provider Netpage has selected American communications technology provider Airspan Networks to rollout their 4G network in Gambia. The network will operate on the 2.3 GHz frequency band, leveraging Airspan’s Air4G flagship macro base station. Air4G allows Netpage to offer customers high-level connectivity, unique features like MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) and advanced antenna techniques. [...]

The partnership between Chad and Cameroon produces results; DRC faces broadband challenges. Chad Fibre optique: Le Cameroun et le Tchad désormais interconnectés (Fibre optics: Cameroon and Chad now interconnected) {La Nouvelle Expression} Last week, Chad celebrated its connection to the SAT3 cable through Cameroon with three ceremonies. One, held in Chad, spoke to the need [...]

Telecom operator Orange Kenya has asked the government for a KES 10 billion ($120 million) bailout, news reports revealed on Wednesday. The move comes as the company continues to incur massive debts following its 2007 buyout by France Telecom. Orange made a record loss of KES 18.2 billion in 2011 and needs to raise KES 5.8 billion [...]

The Oxford Business Group published an economic update on Morroco which, not surprisingly, consists entirely of of telecommunications growth metrics. These days, mobile growth is nearly synonymous with overall economic growth and can be used as as decent macro-economic barometer. Notes from “Maroc: L’Internet mobile a le vent en poupe” (Morocco: Mobile Internet on the [...]

Rwanda on Tuesday said it had officially launched the third phase of their National Information and Communication Infrastructure Policy aimed at increasing the country’s IT infrastructure and offering new services to its citizens which were established during the first two phases. The government’s 2000 national ICT plan was created using the four five-year cycle idea [...]