[UgaBYTES] WEEKLY NEWS ROUND UP- AFRICA (WEEK 31)

[Mwathi Francis]

*AU, UNIDO unveil online platform to grow business in Africa*

20th July 2009

 The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the
African Union Commission launched a new Internet-based Monitoring Platform
to map investment flows in Africa and offer investors more information for
analysis and decision making. The new Investment Monitoring Platform
unveiled at a meeting in Addis-Ababa recently will provide data and
information on the characteristics of foreign and domestic investors, as
well as their motivations, actions, perceptions, intentions, and impact.

http://www.technologytimesng.com/post/au--unido-unveil-online-platform-to-grow-business-in-africa



*UNICEF uses text messages to spread the word about polio in Zambia*

20th July 2009

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will be sending text messages to
millions of Zambian parents this week as part of a new initiative to harness
modern technology in the fight to prevent polio. UNICEF has joined forces
with the Zambian Health Ministry and two mobile phone companies, ZAIN and
MTN, to encourage parents to bring their children under the age of five to
the nearest health-care centre for free polio vaccinations. “It is about
time that we used modern technology to ensure child health and this year is
particularly important because of the polio prevention campaign,” said
UNICEF Zambia Representative, Lotta Sylwander.  Ms. Sylwander also expressed
gratitude to MTN and ZAIN for sending SMS texts informing millions of their
subscribers of activities taking place during the prevention campaign
against the crippling disease in 28 districts bordering Angola, Namibia and
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=31517



*SEACOM fibre optic goes regional*

25th July 2009

The first of three under-sea fibre optic cables being laid on the eastern
seaboard of Africa has gone live in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and
South Africa. It is widely believed that the cheap bandwidth that the sea
cable is coming with will open up opportunities for governments and business
community to compete globally and drive economic growth. The US$650 million,
1.28 terabytes per second (Tb/s) 1,700 kilometre cable system links southern
and eastern Africa to global networks via India and Europe. Backhauls
linking Johannesburg, Nairobi and Kampala with the coastal landing stations
have been established and SEACOM is also working with its national partners
to commission the final links to Kigali, Rwanda and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
shortly. Brian Herlihy, the Chief Executive Officer SEACOM said the cable
opens up unprecedented opportunities, at a fraction of the current cost.
Today, one megabyte per second (Mbps) connection per month costs between
$2,500 and $5,000 but SEACOM plans to sell a megabyte at between $50 and
$150.

http://www.busiweek.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1921&Itemid=1



*Nuclear Science &Technology - Africans Evaluate Path Covered*

29th July 2009

A five-day 20th Technical Working Group meeting of the programme opened in
Yaounde on Monday.

The African Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and
Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology (AFRA) is currently
evaluating the path covered in 20 years, their challenges and what could be
done to improve the future. This is in a five-day 20th Technical Working
Group meeting of the programme that is currently going on at the Yaounde
Mont Febe Hotel. Participants drawn from 34-member countries are
deliberating on AFRA policy and programme related matters. The meeting which
also coincides with the programme's 20th anniversary is reviewing AFRA's
draft annual report for 2008, the implementation of the cooperative projects
and AFRA's regional cooperative strategic framework for 2008-2013. They will
also review the activities of regional designated centers based on inputs
provided by focal points as well as look at issues and challenges facing the
project.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200907290604.html



*SMS Media to Reduce Service Charge on Cash Power in Rwanda *

31st July 2009

To ease access to ‘cash power’, SMS media is set to reduce the cost of
sending on a short message when buying electricity. The current charge is
about Rwf 65 which the company is planning to reduce to Rwf 20. According to
Jeff Gasana, the General Manager of ‘SMS Media’, a service provider of Short
Message Service (SMS) content and wireless applications, negotiations have
been finalized with the service provider network (MTN Rwanda) to have the
new rates effective next month.“This will help to increase the number of
people using the service around the country.It is a simple yet effective
mechanism to purchase electricity. Consumers are able to use their cell
phones to purchase electricity every day of the week any where,” he said.He
also indicated that the MTN network coverage is available around the country
at 95 percent.However Rwandatel is also yet to begin providing the service
to its clients.

http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=13973&article=18162

-- 
Enter our blog contest for your chance to win recognition and prizes from
telecentre.org
For more info, please check www.telecentre.org


Francis Mwathi
Support Community Facilitator
UgaBYTES Initiatives (www.ugabytes.org)
Telecentr.org (www.telecentrecommunity.ning.com)
Tel: +256 414 370163
Mob: +256 783 010269
Skype: francis.mwathi
E-Mail: mfrancis at ugabytes.org