[UgaBYTES] WEEKLY NEWS ROUND UP-AFRICA (WEEK 17)

Fri Apr 24 13:49:59 GMT 2009

*Africa–India satellite links to expand*

21st April 2009

An ambitious project to link up African Union countries with Indian
hospitals and universities via satellite will accelerate this year after a
pilot project in Ethiopia proved successful. Ethiopia was the first country
to participate in the Indian taxpayer-funded project, called the Pan-African
e-Network, and Nigeria is scheduled to go online in June. The project,
costing more than US$100 million, aims to connect universities and hospitals
of all 53 countries of the African Union with Indian counterparts for
telemedicine and tele-education activities. It uses video conferencing and
Voice over Internet Protocol services such as Skype for communication.

Students and teachers at Addis Ababa University and Haramaya University in
Alemaya, Ethiopia, have been working via satellite with the New Delhi-based
Indira Gandhi National Open University since Ethiopia's US$2.12 million
pilot project was launched in Addis Ababa in July 2007. The first intake of
distance learning students will graduate in June.

http://www.scidev.net/en/new-technologies/news/africa-india-satellite-links-to-expand.html

* *

*Internet Cafes Planned for Zimpost Rural Depots in Zambia*

21st April 2009

Government will soon introduce Internet services in rural areas through a
number of Zimpost outlets dotted around the country, a cabinet minister has
said. Information Communication Technology Minister Nelson Chamisa said last
week communications played a critical role in the development of a country.
"Internet cafes will be put up at every Zimpost depot in rural areas," he
said, adding consultations with Zimpost were well advanced. Chamisa said
rural areas constituted a larger percentage of the country's population than
the urban sector, hence the need to link them with the latter. "As long as
rural areas are not modernised in terms of communication, we are not going
to improve," he said.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200904210070.html

*Zimbabwe ranked low in ICT*

22nd April 2009

The Global Information Technology report of 2008-2009 has ranked Zimbabwe’s
Information and Communication Technology sector at 132 out of 134 countries
on the network readiness index list, ahead of East Timor and Chad.  The
Network Readiness Index (NRI) measures the capacity of countries to exploit
the opportunities offered by the ever-changing Information and
Communications Technology sector. The NRI comprise of three components: the
environment for ICT offered by a given country or community, the readiness
of the community’s key stakeholders to use ICT’ s, and the usage of the ICT
amongst these stakeholders.  Zimbabwe recorded very poor figures of about
2.5 fixed lines per 100 inhabitants, 6.5 mobile lines per 100 and less than
9.5 internet users per 100.

Currently Zimbabwe has three mobile networks that are characterised by
congestion and only one is in the process of enabling 3G services. The
internet remains accessible to a privileged few and access is mostly
affected by power outages and the ‘broken down’ fixed landline system.

http://www.misazim.co.zw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=498

* *

*Dana Air emerges best Nigerian ICT-driven airline for 2009*

21st April 2009

Dana Air has been emerged the best ICT-driven airline of the year at the
National ICT Merit Award (NIMA) held in Lagos. NIMA is an annual ICT award
organised by Technology Africa in recognition of individuals and
organisations at the forefront of technology deployment and adoption in the
country.

Managing Consultant of Technology Africa, Mr. Don Pedro Aganbi, said the
airline was chosen because of its early deployment of ICT solutions. He
said:  “Dana Air was chosen as the recipient of the Best ICT Driven Airline
award, despite being a new entrant in the aviation industry, because of its
early deployment of ICT solutions.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/34007/49/

*Italy Supports E-Government program in Mozambique*

17th April 2009

The Italian government has pledged to grant five million Euros (about 6.7
million US dollars) to finance the third phase of the Mozambican
government's Electronic Network programme that began in 2004.

This extension phase will start this year, and should be completed by 2012.
The funding was announced by Italian Ambassador Carlo do Cascio, speaking to
reporters shortly after the opening session of a Maputo workshop held to
draw up a balance sheet of the implementation of the second phase, which
ended last month. "The Italian government has been financing this programme
since 2004", said do Cascio. "We are very happy with the programme, because
it has created a stronger link between the citizens and the public
administration". Italy contributed 1.4 million Euros to the implementation
of the e-government programme for three years between 2006 and March 2009
and, because of the good progress, the Italian government decided to
continue its support.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200904170747.html

-- 
Francis Mwathi
Support Community Facilitator
UgaBYTES Initiatives (www.ugabytes.org)
Telecentr.org (www.telecentrecommunity.ning.com)
Tel: +256 414 370163
Mob: +256 752 995063
Skype: francis.mwathi
E-Mail: mfrancis at ugabytes.org