[UgaBYTES] WEEKLY NEWS ROUND UP-AFRICA (WEEK 38)

[Mwathi Francis]

*African nations pledge to bridge the digital divide*

14th September 2009

Countries from across the African continent will join together in national
pavilions to address the overarching theme of bridging the digital divide at
ITU Telecom World 2009 (Geneva, 5-9 October). Pavilions representing
Burundi, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and
the Africa Lusophone countries will unite a broad range of organisations
from the non-profit, private and R&D sectors with the common goal of
reasserting their commitment to ICT and digital development.

In Abuja, Nigeria, ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I. Toure yesterday
joined with pan-regional industry stakeholders at the African Telecom
Development Summit 2009 to discuss how to sustain the gains of telecom
development in Africa over the past ten years. "It has been an extraordinary
decade for Africa," said Dr Toure in his keynote address at the Summit.
"Just ten years ago, virtually nobody in Africa had a mobile phone; today
mobile cellular subscription teledensity has reached 32.6 per cent, and more
than 30 million people in sub-Saharan Africa access the Internet. What is
needed now is a major push forward in broadband access."

http://www.ghanaweb.com/public_agenda/article.php?ID=13852



*East African Community seeks consultants on communications strategy*

14th September 2009

The East African Community (EAC) is working towards achieving greater
visibility through the development and implementation of a five-year
information and communications strategy. The EAC Secretariat is,
consequently, seeking consultants to develop and implement the strategy,
running for a five-year period (2010-2015), with key goals that include
creating wider awareness of the regional organisation and nurturing positive
attitudes towards it in the five partner states of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda,
Uganda and Tanzania. "The broad aims of the Communications Strategy are to
make the EAC more real than abstract; to brand it as a dynamic,
people-centred ideal, identity, process and institution for achieving a
prosperous, secure and united East Africa, and to ensure that all citizens
of the partner states, their legislative representatives and policy makers,
and external (to the region) stakeholders are aware of this brand, have a
positive attitude towards the EAC and are actively engaged in its activities
and processes," said Mr. Owora Richard Othieno, the acting Principal
Information and Public Relations Officer of the EAC.

http://www.busiweek.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2286&Itemid=31



*ITU Declares Nigeria Biggest in Africa Telecom *

15th September 2009

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) declared in Abuja last week
that Nigeria is the largest telecom market in the continent with over a
quarter of all subscriptions in the continent even as the Federal Government
said the telecom revolution witnessed in the country in the past eight years
has given impetus for a new drive to accelerate the expansion of Internet
and broadband across the country. Vice President Goodluck Jonathan who was
represented by the Minister of National Planning, Dr Shamsuddeen Usman, as
the Special Guest of Honour at the maiden edition of the Africa Telecom
Development Summit (ATDS) 2009, said government is committed to encouraging
investment flow into the sector with the aim of attaining 100 per cent
teledensity before the year 2020 in line with Vision 20-2020.The ATDS
focused on Telecom in the Service of Humanity and how ICT can used to cure
deceases and ensure food security.

http://www.independentngonline.com/busi/itte/article03



*Rwanda's National Fibre to Connect Seacom to Burundi, DRC *

15th September 2009

SEACOM, the company that owns the undersea cable that links the East Africa
coast to the rest of the world via the Red Sea will use Rwanda's national
fibre-optic backbone to connect high speed affordable bandwidth to Burundi
and the DRC. This was part of the agreement signed between the company and
government owned Internet Service Provider (ISP) New Artel. The two parties
signed a one year 620 Mbs connection agreement with a possibility of
extending it. SEACOM's capacity is 1.28 Tbps of bandwidth.

http://www.newtimes.co.rw/print.php?issue=14020&print&article=20009



*All systems set for first digital television signal in Kenya*

17th September 2009

Kenya’s shift from analogue to digital television is set commence with the
first transmission expected by the end of this month. Kenya Broadcasting
Corporation (KBC) has set the ball rolling by installing digital
transmitters ahead of the testing period next month. Launching the Digital
Kenya campaign in Nairobi yesterday, Information PS Bitange Ndemo said the
switch would allow more broadcasters to enter the market. "Digital
broadcasting will not only improve the quality of television signals but
also create room for more broadcasters; allowing more content to be
transmitted," said Mr Ndemo.

http://www.eastandard.net/business/InsidePage.php?id=1144024116&cid=14&



*Cameroonian City Council computerises its management systems*

11th September 2009

Dubbed Siged, the system has three sub-systems: geographic information which
is led by the Direction des etudes, urban planning and sustainable
development. The public out put of these sub-systems will be a web site for
the city of Douala (www.developingdouala.com) which will be completed by the
end of the year.  The system has its origins in an audit of the Communautés
urbaines de Douala and de Yaoundé commandé one and a half years ago. 2AC
which was in charge of the study concluded that there was: a lack of
financial information; poor systems for the collection of monies owing; and
an absence of data tools.  Siged was co-financed by the City Council, AIMF
and Coopération française. The system goes live next month and CUD is in the
process of training staff to use it.

http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/current1.html#internet










-- 
Enter our Photo 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