Broadband

Oct282016 by Alex ReeceNo Comments

Eutelsat sign multi-year capacity agreement for African Broadband Programme

Eutelsat Communications (Paris:ETL) and Yahsat, the Abu Dhabi-based international satellite operator, have signed a multi-year capacity agreement giving Broadband for Africa, Eutelsat’s African broadband venture, access to high-performance commercial Ka-band capacity for broadband services across Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the terms of the agreement Broadband for Africa will use capacity on up to 16 Ka-band spotbeams on the Yahsat 1B satellite in order to roll out broadband services during the first half of 2017. Further expansion will be supported later in the year using capacity on 18 spotbeams on Yahsat’s Al Yah 3 satellite, scheduled for launch in early 2017. Both Yahsat 1B and Al Yah 3 are equipped with high power spotbeams with Sub-Saharan African coverage, ideal for communi

Oct182016 by Alex ReeceNo Comments

South African Government ICT white paper under fire

Broadband, Governance, Internet

South Africa's Government’s radical plan to shake up the way radio frequency spectrum is allocated has been met with universal derision by ICT analysts and experts. Telecommunications & postal service minister Siyabonga Cwele this week took the wraps off the long-awaited national integrated ICT policy white paper, which proposes sweeping changes to the way the sector is governed and regulated. Although some aspects of the policy have been welcomed – such as a chapter that will make it quicker for operators to deploy infrastructure by removing red tape – government’s plan for a wireless wholesale open-access network, to which all new spectrum will be allocated, has drawn intense fire. Not only does government not want to license any more “exclusive-use” spectrum to the mobile o

Oct102016 by editorNo Comments

Liquid Telecom Kenya warns of looming IPv4 Shortage in Africa

Broadband, Internet

Internet service provider Liquid Telecom Kenya has warned that Africa is set to run out of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses as early as next year, potentially slowing down digital growth in the continent. The IP addresses are the website’s equivalent of telephone numbers. They are used behind the scenes anytime data moves online, for example, when a laptop requests a Web page or a smartphone posts an Instagram photo. Africa is currently on the older IPv4 addresses, while the world is migrating to the new Internet Protocol, the IPv6. Africa is the last continent with available IPv4 addresses, according to Liquid Telecom, but it is now also running short. “We are almost eating into the last block of 16 million addresses of the IPv4 space that the regional Internet regist

Oct42016 by Lynn WandiaNo Comments

#DataMustFall: Zimbabwe’s mobile data prices third highest in Africa

Broadband, Internet, Mobile

As the #DataMustFall campaign gains traction in South Africa, data costs in neighbouring Zimbabwe are unlikely to drop - despite the country having the third most expensive mobile data in Africa. According to a Research ICT Africa report on the state of prepared market - cost of communication, Zimbabwe's cheapest monthly 1GB data package is set at US$30. The two most expensive monthly bundles in Africa were from South Sudan (US$90.83) and Swaziland (US$30.33) said Chenai Chair Researcher/Communications & Evaluations Officer for Research ICT Africa. The cheapest 1GB of data is available in Tanzania (US$0.89), Egypt (US$2.82) and Mozambique (US$2.87). At US$5.27 South Africa was placed in 16th position out of the 47 countries recorded. The report made quarterly comparisons on...

Sep302016 by Alex ReeceNo Comments

BlackBerry kills its phone manufacturing business

Broadband, Mobile

It's official. BlackBerry Ltd, the Canadian company that invented the smartphone and addicted legions of road warriors to the "CrackBerry", has stopped making its iconic handsets. Finally conceding defeat in a battle lost long ago to Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, BlackBerry is handing over production of the phones to overseas partners and turning its full attention to the more profitable and growing software business. It's the formalization of a move in the making since Chief Executive Officer John Chen took over nearly three years ago and outsourced some manufacturing to Foxconn Technology Group. Getting the money-losing smartphone business off BlackBerry's books will also make it easier for the company to consistently hit profitability. "This is the completion of thei...