[UgaBYTES] WEEKLY NEWS ROUND UP-AFRICA (WEEK 43)

[Mwathi Francis]

* “Information economy report 2009” presented in Tunisia*

22nd October 2009

As in New York, Manchester, Helsinki and Bangkok, the International Press
Center in Tunis held this morning, a press conference on “Information
Economy Report 2009” issued every year by the United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Mr. Haj Klai, Minister of communication
technologies explained that Tunisa will witness, during the next five years,
a radical and essential shift in terms of information and communication
technologies thanks to President Ben Ali’s Electoral Program.

By 2014, Internet capacity will raise from15 GB to 100 GB. This development
will be allowed to increase the number of subscribers to 1 million and 300
thousand.

http://www.tunisiaonlinenews.com/?p=27030

* *

*Tanzania first to lower Internet rates in East Africa*

19th October 2009

Tanzania Telecommunication Company Ltd customers will from this month enjoy
a 50 per cent cut in Internet charges, making Tanzania the first East
African country to lower Internet charges.

TTCL chief executive officer Said Amour Said, told The EastAfrican that the
lowering of charges follows the firm’s connecting to the Seacom submarine
fibre optic cable. “TTCL has reduced its Internet prices effective from
October 1, in order to pass on this cost saving benefit to the end users,
and the high customer expectations of reduced costs on Internet services
have finally been met,” he said. The new prices will see high volume
Internet users including banks, large businesses and corporations,
government agencies and other institutions enjoying a substantial Internet
bandwidth cost reduction as customers will get the same capacity of
bandwidth at a third the current prices.

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/-/2560/673508/-/5gaindz/-/index.html



*Adama University, Ethiopia Instigates Elearning *

18th October 2009

Adama University (AU), formerly known as Nazareth College of Technical
Teachers Education, on Thursday declared that it instigates the first
self-developed, campus-wide eLearning environment in the university. The
eLearning program, said the first of its kind for a higher education
institution here in Ethiopia, where all of the learning materials have been
developed in cooperation with the Adama eTeaching Competence Centre,
lecturers and professors from the university, is also planed to be widely
exported to other universities in the country. The program is developed in
cooperation between the university and Engineering Capacity Building
programme (ecbp). According to officials, there are 7 courses currently
offered in the eLeaming format, with more to be added in the future.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200910210685.html

* *

*Workshop on Teleworking Centers held in Tunisia*

22nd October 2009

A workshop on the ways of  developing the network  of teleworking centers
was held on Wednesday October 21, 2009 in Gafsa, with the participation of
many investors, young entrepreneurs and representatives of Tunisian and
foreign companies operating in the ICT sector. The meeting was an
opportunity to showcase investment opportunities in regional Teleworking
centers namely in call centers and remote services, information technology
and multimedia. Chairing the meeting Mr. El Hadj Gley, Minister of
Communication Technology, stressed the opportunities Teleworking centers
offer in strengthening investment and employment in innovative sectors.

http://www.tunisiaonlinenews.com/?p=27004



*Minister explains national ICT project *

18th October 2009

THE second phase of the National Data backbone Project will not begin until
the first phase repairs are completed, the information and communication
technology (ICT) Minister has said.  Aggrey Awori rubbished allegations of
controversy in the appointments to the National IT Authority board of
directors.

He was responding to MP Ishaa Otoo’s allegations in an earlier press
conference, where he (Otoo) also said there was corruption at the ICT
ministry.  “Otto cannot allege that the Ministry of ICT is corrupt without
providing evidence. The Auditor General is carrying out a forensic audit on
the National backbone Project and the report will be provided,” he said. The
Project includes the establishment of the E-Government infrastructure and
the National Data Transmission Backbone infrastructure.

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/698300




-- 
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