Thursday, December 6, 2012

Investigation on massive web attacks which happen on Nov 2012 in Tanzania

This is private initiative which calls for the investigation on cyber security incident which affected several businesses government websites in Tanzania on Nov 2012. The incident targeted various websites which include government and private companies’ websites and caused damage and several hours to days of unavailability. The hacking attack incident left several websites with burners and message from the attacker.
While we understand such attack may happened and normal attack phenomena, but we have decided to look on other side of the coin as well and make it broad by associate it with business related kind of attack which may have hidden agenda.
It is our purpose to conduct a simple investigation on the incident to unveil among others where it was originated, what was the purpose of the attacker, why it was possible to attack all group of websites at same time, where was the weak control points, could it be possible that attacker was funded?  There are so many questions which need to be answered.
Kindly if you think you can be of help, please volunteer to work with us by sending me your email summary of experience on security related and I will add you to our project page soon.
N:B This project is for the public interest, and therefore don’t expected to gain monetary amount out of it. We are doing so to protect interest of majority and to ensure our cyber space can be trusted a relied on throughout.
 My email address is sebamarondo[at]yahoo.com
looking forward to work together soon.

Cyber Security in Tanzania ( web attack Nov 2012)

Cyber attack has been increasing significantly over the recently years. While it is taking new approach on with more sophisticate technology, it is now used as weapon to distract another nation’s resources and information in a war which is termed as “Cyber War”[1]. Recently we have witnessed some cyber security taking political flavor as some nations have been alleged over attacking each others. For example, Iran got major attack on it nuclear plant through malware which had intention of destructing and slowing down major operations of nuclear production.  Israel and United states got massive web attacks which are alleged to be coming from Iran and were targeting Israel government’s websites and Bank’s website in United States which affected revenue of various financial institutions[2].The trend rapidly increasing across other countries including developing countries like Tanzania, this is due to interconnectivity behind cyber space[3][4][5].
In Tanzania cyber crime incidents started hitting around various public, private organizations, and government institutions.  From Jan to Nov 2012 Tanzania has been experience cyber crime which includes massive web attacks such as that happened on Nov 2012 where some of government websites and private company’s website were massive attacked. Such website include, Chemi & Cotex Industries Ltd, Tanzania Olympic website , Open University website , Tanzania commission for University few to mention

Saturday, August 25, 2012

CISA,CISM free 10 hours consultations


Are you seating for CISA or CISM on December 2012? If so then don’t miss a free 10 hours consultation and discussion on how you can pass your exams. I obtained my CISA and CISM certificate through self studies and I would like to share with you my experience and knowledge to pass these exams.
This is my personal initiative as means of giving back to the community what I have gained. These 10 hours will be distributed in 2 hours per day for 5 days (Monday to Friday) for candidates who are taking ISACA exams this year. The objective is to empower candidates who are going to seat for the exams through sharing knowledge and skills for ISACA exams.  
The candidate who attends this free discussion will be able to learn techniques for preparation and answering the exams and will be able to ask questions and clear their doubt before the exams. Also I will be able to answer some technical questions and even lecture some parts in the topic which seem to be grey area for the candidates.
All candidates are invited subject to confirmations through email to sebamarondo@yahoo.com with subject: CISA, CISM free discussion
Targeted date: 24th-28th September 2012
Venue: will be in Dar es Salaam
Time: 5pm to 7pm

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Understanding the Human Threats to Mobile-Accessible Information....If your mobile device is lost, what's likely to happen to it? http://ping.fm/XB4dz

Thursday, November 10, 2011

"Education is based on the flow of information, but how can you afford to provide computer access to everyone, everywhere? Educators face budget cuts, few or outdated PCs, limited IT support staff, crowded and hot computer labs, growing student populations, and the desire to integrate e-learning into the classroom. NComputing addresses growing complexity with simplification. With N computing a university or school may reduce license cost, cost to purchase hardware, administration cost etc. We need this service in Tanzanian schools and university and get rid of the old computing technology which is too costly to afford for every student to have computer"

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Factors Influence ICT adoption by SMEs in Tanzania


"In Tanzania there is limited literature explaining factors influencing the adoptions and its challenges. Using online search on Emerald (accessed on 31st July 2011), reveal that out of 17 search results none of them was addressing adoption of ICT in SMEs in Tanzania (The online search was done using phrases “adoption of ICT in SME Tanzania) Probably this shows limited study on adoption of ICT in SMEs in Tanzania.
 Matambalya, 2001, argue that Tanzania firms particularly SMEs are not utilizing available opportunity of ICT in conducting their business. A study of 144 Small Scale enterprises which had consistently plausible data, 28 did not possess information and communication technologies at all. 13 of them however used external phone services. The remaining had invested at various levels in at least one of the ICTs. A number of 39 enterprises only use phones with fixed lines and an additional number of 26 enterprises have mobile phones on top. 5 enterprises have fax machines in addition but no PC based communication technologies. Less than a third (45 enterprises) uses the most advanced ICTs email and Internet.  It was also note that about 56.5% only invested not more than US $ 200 in ICT facilities like phone and computer. Another study by Molony, 2005 argue that, many entrepreneurs in Tanzania rely much on mobile phones for their day to day business. This means other services offered by ICT such as software application like internet browsing, file sharing over internet, email, video conference, and advance software which uses database like enterprise resource planning, customer relation management and Inventory management which could add value to the SMEs in Tanzania are not yet utilized"
I am current undertaking this study in Tanzania, expecting to find more on factors which influence ICT adoption by SMEs in Tanzania, if you have comments or opinion kindly post here under. Thanks

Friday, February 13, 2009

Open source in Tanzania

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is gaining momentum in Africa. A growing group of people is debating the potential benefits of migrating organizations to FOSS and pressure groups are emerging.

Open Source Software movement is built on the premise that better software is produced when everyone is allowed to modify and change the software. So, instead of selling user licenses, the product (source code) is distributed. On the ground however, proprietary software, Closed Source Software (CSS) is still dominant. In spite of the benefits, fear and uncertainty prevails.

We invite FOSS practioners in Tanzania to post information about their work on open source and free software here, and to add themselves to the FOSS Development directory, so that we may build a more strong and stable FOSS-community in Tanzania.

AIf you have done research in FOSS in Tanzania consider a submission of your work to our database of online papers. You can submit working papers, abstracts and related links for posting on this site.
Add yourself to our directory of researchers who are interested in free/open source software. You can have your e-mail address posted along with your FOSS-related interests. Check out the latest announcements or calls for papers.

Finally, consider joining the Tanzania OpenSource Community for announcements and discussions on general issues related to FOSS for Tanzania.
For the more information please visit http://www.tafossa.or.tz/

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Firefox fans celebrate release of new browser - CNN.com

Firefox fans celebrate release of new browser - CNN.com: "NEW YORK (AP) -- The new version of the Firefox Web browser has become available as a free download.

Mozilla has been developing Firefox 3 for nearly three years and has been publicly testing it since November.
Tuesday's release was delayed as visitors checking for the update overloaded Firefox's Web servers.
The site was slow or unreachable for about two hours starting about 12:45 p.m. Eastern time, 15 minutes before the scheduled release time, according to AlertSite, an Internet performance monitoring company.
Performance improved later in the day.
Firefox supporters organized launch parties around the world as they tried to set a world record for most software downloads in a 24-hour period.
The category is new, and Guinness World Records must certify it, a process that could take a week or longer.
Firefox comes from Mozilla, an open-source community in which thousands of people, mostly volunteers, collectively develop free products.
Firefox is the No. 2 Web browser behind Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer.
Don't Miss
CNET: Firefox 3 is a 'worthy upgrade'
Firefox 3 includes enhancements to help users organize their frequently visited Web sites and block access to sites known to distribute viruses and other malicious software.
Users of Yahoo Inc.'s mail service can also use Firefox 3 to send e-mail by clicking a 'mailto' link they might come across clicking on a name or a 'contact us' link on a Web page."

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

SAFARICOM IPO: ONLINE APPLICATION & OVERSUBSCRIPTIONS

Subscribers in the coming Safaricom IPO will now be able to make their applications on-line. This is expected to reduce the work load and queues at the brokers’ offices. But already the site is inaccessible only two days after being launched. Then again with the ‘computer problems’ KNEC has been having over last year KCSE results, I’m really worried with what kind of short comings we should expect from this on-line application system. I hope it works out well.

The IPO is widely expected to be oversubscribed by over 200% with cold tusker even giving a detailed projection of how this could happen. The IPO is expected to atrract over a million applications from all over the world.

As much as retail investors would have wished for the Delivery Versus Payment (DVP) Method to be applied on all subscribers, this will not be possible and they have been left out to run around after their refunds for the next few weeks after the IPO. Luckily, incase of an oversubscription the shares will be allocated pro-rata and if the oversubscription is over 200% some of the share allocated to foreign investors will be ploughed back to the local investors.

My caution goes to anyone hoping to buy into the IPO using a bank loan, which most banks are more than willing to give out. CCsf had a very appealing Safaricom IPO leverage product last year, but I’m unsure if they still have it on offer this time.

working with oracle partner in africa

I am working with oracle partners in africa, i am sure i will gain broad knowledge in business development, especiall oracle E-business suite , and technology based on oracle implimentations and any kind of ERP system. I hope due to this explosure i will be able to excell in business direction having enough understanding on organasation and business company structure and how to map their requirement with the technology. My responsibility is to study user business enviroment and to map the requirement to the software based framework.User will receive a complite solution of software with single installation on single mashine they can manage their whole enterprise, and employee can work any where in the world.
I am looking forward to archive oracle certification for business development.Hope the knowledge i am going to adopt will contribute something on my country Tanzania.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

working hard with RIA

RIA stand for Research ICT Africa, in few days ago i was conducting research for access of ICT in Africa. I travelled to various part of Tanzania. It took long time to fullfill the trip under supervision and coordination of various people, in short we had been working day and night for 21 days.
we moved to various places as most of Tanzania place still is difficult to get there lack of infrastructure.
To view the report please follow this link to download the pdf document on Household Survey Methodology and Fieldwork 2008

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Am back with appologies

Long time without hear me on this blog, in fact i was very busy day and night working at one of the project at Arusha. i was there as IT consultant and project manager on implimentation of physical computer networks at MS TCDC compus ( www.mstcdc.or.tz). I am sorry i had no time for my blog but now you shall keep hearing from me day to day.
I will bring to you soon the photos as well as text concerning the project that i have been doing there. This is sign and spirit of love to my country.
Once again i appologies. Keep in touch with latest technological news

Friday, November 16, 2007

High-speed web boost for Africa



The World Bank hopes the funding will boost business in the regionKenya, Burundi and Madagascar have secured $164.5m (£83.3m) from the World Bank to help roll-out high-speed internet networks.
The World Bank said the money was being made available to boost business competitiveness in the region.
Eastern and much of southern Africa is the only region in the world not connected to the global broadband infrastructure, the World Bank said.
Kenya will take the lion's share of the funding, with a $114.4m loan.
Madagascar is due to receive a $30m loan, while Burundi will receive a grant worth $20.1m, the World Bank said.
Plugged-in
Low-cost, high-quality communications is essential for economic competitiveness
Paul Wolfowitz, World Bank president
The Washington-based lender said businesses in the three countries were being held back because of the lack of high-speed internet networks.
"University students suffer because they cannot access the internet, and government agencies cannot communicate effectively with each other and their citizens because they are not connected," the bank added.
Currently, the region relies on satellite services for connectivity, with costs among the highest in the world.
But World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz said Africa was becoming increasingly "plugged-in".
"Improving broadband connectivity will add tremendous public value for Africa," he said. "Low-cost, high-quality communications is essential for economic competitiveness."
The boss of Kenyan outsourcing firm KenCall backed the World Bank's move.
"It is absolutely imperative that something be done right now to make bandwidth affordable," said Nicholas Nesbitt, the firm's chief executive.
"Otherwise, we're going to miss a huge opportunity and people are simply going to say that Africa is not ready for these kinds of jobs, is not ready for business."

Africa waiting for net revolution




More than a third of Africa's citizens should have access to broadband internet by 2012, a conference of technology leaders is set to hear.
Fewer than four out of 100 Africans currently use the internet, and broadband penetration is below 1%.
The barriers to broadband access are key talking points at the Connect Africa meeting in Kigali, in Rwanda.
Dr Hamadoun Toure, head of the International Telecommunication Union has called for "immediate action". The conference features representations from organisations such as the World Bank, World Health Organization and United Nations, as well as high-profile technology leaders such as Intel's chairman Craig Barrett.
The attendees were all invited to make financial commitments to improving technology and telecoms in the continent. More than $3bn has been pledged so far.
Dr Toure said that despite the bleak picture of access issues in Africa there was plenty of opportunity.
He told the BBC News website: "If you have just 1% of broadband access today you have 99% of opportunity.The good news is that Africa has had the highest growth in mobile use globally - twice the global average over the past three years.
"For the first time economic indicators are positive from Africa."
In Rwanda, access to the net is limited and high-speed connections are rare, the BBC's Digital Planet programme was told by officials and users in the country.
"Not many students are able to connect to the internet at the same time," said Marie-Josee Ufitamahoro, a student at Kigali institute of technology.
"For example, a class of 40 students requires each pupil to be connected, so what we need is bigger bandwidth so we can share ideas with other students in other parts of the world."
Albert Butare, Rwanda's state minister for telecommunications and energy, said the issue of bandwidth was critical.

Africa's internet users are among the minorityMore than a third of Africa's citizens should have access to broadband internet by 2012, a conference of technology leaders is set to hear.
Fewer than four out of 100 Africans currently use the internet, and broadband penetration is below 1%.
The barriers to broadband access are key talking points at the Connect Africa meeting in Kigali, in Rwanda.
Dr Hamadoun Toure, head of the International Telecommunication Union has called for "immediate action".

The conference features representations from organisations such as the World Bank, World Health Organization and United Nations, as well as high-profile technology leaders such as Intel's chairman Craig Barrett.
The attendees were all invited to make financial commitments to improving technology and telecoms in the continent. More than $3bn has been pledged so far.
Dr Toure said that despite the bleak picture of access issues in Africa there was plenty of opportunity.
He told the BBC News website: "If you have just 1% of broadband access today you have 99% of opportunity.

Mobile phone use is growing dramatically in Africa"The good news is that Africa has had the highest growth in mobile use globally - twice the global average over the past three years.
"For the first time economic indicators are positive from Africa."
In Rwanda, access to the net is limited and high-speed connections are rare, the BBC's Digital Planet programme was told by officials and users in the country.
"Not many students are able to connect to the internet at the same time," said Marie-Josee Ufitamahoro, a student at Kigali institute of technology.
"For example, a class of 40 students requires each pupil to be connected, so what we need is bigger bandwidth so we can share ideas with other students in other parts of the world."
Albert Butare, Rwanda's state minister for telecommunications and energy, said the issue of bandwidth was critical.
HAVE YOUR SAY
In Africa we tend to look at services as something for the rich and powerful only. That mentality needs to change
Eziokwu Bu Ndu, Nigeria
Send us your comments "It's what governs the speed of the internet, the quality of the connection, whether or not you can do video conferencing," he said.
"If you are talking about telemedicine or distance learning, you need images and clear audio."
Dr Toure said the conference needed to take action on regulatory issues in some African countries, which often tie down the roll-out of net access. "The heads of state present will give assurances to the private sector on the availability of competition and the creation of a proper regulatory environment for them in which to evolve," he said. "The private sector from outside Africa and inside will make fruitful partnerships." One of the biggest problems facing internet development in Africa is a lack of interconnectivity. More than 70% of internet traffic within Africa is routed outside the continent, driving up costs for business and consumers.
"This is a serious problem and will be discussed," said Dr Toure.
But he said Africa should not be looking for special treatment from the technology private sector.
"Africa has to create the opportunities; Africa doesn't need charity," he said.
"We need to make sure we have a good environment that will attract private sector investment. There's nothing wrong with making profits in Africa."
The International Telecommunications Union says more than $8bn was invested in telecommunications infrastructure across Africa in 2005.
Dr Toure said the challenge for the ITU, technology leaders and companies was to help Africa meet its Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
In the technology sphere, that means easy access to information and communication technology for more than half of the continent's population within eight years.

Africa: Broadband Blockage

CONFIRMATION of financial backing for Seacom's 15000km undersea cable linking Africa to India and Europe comes in the nick of time, not only to ensure SA has enough bandwidth to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup, but to prevent the country from falling too far behind the developed world technologically.
With local investment company Venfin now on board with a 25% stake worth $75m, black-owned groups Shanduka and Investment Partners securing 12,5% each, and Neotel, SA's second network operator, providing the vital telecoms licence that allows the cable to dock here, there is nothing preventing the project from going ahead. Indeed, more than $10m has already been spent on a marine survey and engineering of the cable, and actual production of the fibreoptic components and undersea facilities starts next week.

Tanzania: Mobile Phones Benefit Fishing Community

Tanzanian fishermen have benefited a great deal from the use of mobile phones in doing business with local communities.
A study conducted by two students from Upsalla University, Sweden, in collaboration with the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT), has concluded that the use of mobile phones has improved the livelihood of the fishermen who had hitherto no reliable means of communicationThe two students, Jonas Myhr and Lars Nordstrom, presented their findings at the ongoing 5th International Conference in Open Access, being held in the Tanzanian town of Bagamoyo.
According to the study, the fishermen, used to spending long hours away from family and friends now find it easier to stay in touch as they venture into the sea.
Those still at home can now call colleagues already in the sea to find out about the weather and the tidal movements. The researchers say that the fishermen no longer rely on the weather forecast by the Meteorological Department which in most cases is inaccurate.
The fisherfolk also communicate with one another, giving tips on where to get the best catch.
Mobile phones also come in handy during cases of emergency.
Fishermen caught in the middle of a storm will no longer scream to call for help, which does not help in most cases. But now fishermen can simply dial the emergency numbers on their cell phones or simply call their friends.
Most of all, fishermen are now using mobile phones to gather market information and co-ordinate pickup for their catch, known to be a highly perishable commodity.
Customers willing to buy fish simply call the fishermen to place their orders. With this empowerment, the supply chain has now improved.
But it has not been smooth sailing either. Loss of a phone consequently means loss of business.
The researchers also suggest that number portability, which allows subscribers to retain their phone numbers across the networks, could alleviate this problem.
Most of the fisherfolk are also still unbanked, and hence the need for more affordable banking services to protect them against unfavourable conditions.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Web training at MSTCDC Arusha Tanzania


From Monday 8/10/2007 i have been conducting website tranning to 12 web masters from various organasations with websites which uses Joomla contents management. I have been developing website for sometime and i am familiar with some of website content managemt (CMS) including joomla-www.joomla.org ,typo3-www.typo3.com and others. the tranning will help webmasters for the paricular organasation to manage their website day to day.It is 3 days training.I will post some photos for the training i am current doing. This is a part of my effort for IT For Changes in Tanzania MSTCDC is a Training centre is at Arusha tanzania http://www.mstcdc.or.tz/ and is part of MS dermark


webmasters in the class during the course at MSTCDC among the organasation who sent the representatives include haki elimu, Taphgo,TMWDO, envirocare,TRC,legal human rights centre, and ACT

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Kenya: Nokia Moves to Counter Fake Batteries

Kui Kinyanjui
Mobile phone maker Nokia has announced plans to launch branded batteries to curb the use of counterfeits.
The move comes after the company's long struggle with consumer dissatisfaction caused by use of counterfeit in its devices.Beginning next year, Nokia batteries will bear a hologram and unique 10 digit alpha-numeric code to help consumers identify genuine products.Last month, the company lost billions of shillings in a consumer level recall of 46 million batteries affected by a manufacturing glitch.
Nokia issued a product advisory for branded BL-5C batteries manufactured by Matsushita Battery Industrial of Japan between December 2005 and November 2006. Affected batteries were said to overheat and "dislodge" during charging, exposing users to danger.
Ms Dorothy Ooko, the Nokia communications manager for East and South Africa, said the recall was ongoing and is expect to be complete by end of the year. To facilitate the recall, Nokia established call centres to handle the return and replacement programme. So far, more than 90 calls have been made to the phone manufacturers local call centre regarding the battery recalls.
Locally, the company beefed up its presence in 1,046 out of the total 1,212 mobile phone retail outlets and established a customer care line to facilitate the process. There are more than 300 million BL-5C batteries installed in phones around the world, 46 million of which were manufactured by Matsushita.
Yesterday, Nokia launched a range of new models for the Kenyan market, hoping to extend its market lead with a mix of high and low end devices.
The products - have unique cutting edge features and applications specifically designed for the entry market.
Nokia said a clearer understating of the Kenyan market had enabled it to launch its 1200, 1208, 1650, 2630 and 2760 models, which are all classified as entry level phones and cost between Sh3,000 and Sh7,000."We put this understanding into practice by developing products and applications that are relevant, easy-to-use and simple to understand, which is especially important for first-time users," said , Piotr Labuszewski, Nokia's area manger for East Africa.
Local research conducted by Informa Telecoms into phone ownership trends in the country have revealed that most Kenyans without a phone have access to and regularly use mobile phones.
The study conducted in Kenya and Nigeria found that 85 per cent of people who do not own a phone nonetheless use them to call or make transactions, indicating an emerging market for devices that allow users to

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Africa: ICT Updates From Around the Continent


Africa, with only 3% of world internet users and some 14% of the world's population, is still the least connected continent. But it is also the one with the fastest growth rate in connectivity. The number of internet users has increased more than 7 times the number in the year 2000, to almost 34 million.
[For these and related statistics, see http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm]With such rapid growth, the opportunities for creative use of information and communications technology (ICT) as well as for business ventures in the sector, are also rapidly expanding.
This issue of AfricaFocus Bulletin contains several recent updates covering ventures as diverse as e-agriculture for Togolese farmers to wireless access in Egyptian tourist destinations. The updates are selected from Highway Africa News Agency (http://hana.ru.ac.za/) and Balancing Act News Updates (http://www.balancingact-africa.com/). Along with the Association of Progressive Communications (http://www.apc.org/), these sites are ones that AfricaFocus regularly relies on for updates in this field.

President Kagame calls for harmonized East African ICT Policy


Opening an East African broadband workshop at Serena Hotel in Kigali this week, President Paul Kagame noted that there is great need to adopt a harmonized East African ICT policy that would create free extension of inter-regional ICT connections. Kagame's appeal comes days after the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat announced a date on which to formally admit Rwanda to full membership status in the EAC regional bloc, where only Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are the only members of the EAC.Kagame told ICT minister from the region that for East Africa to benefit from ICTs, true regionalism has to take root. "We must maximize the benefits of holding this meeting here today, and come up with a coherent regional interconnectivity framework which will enable us to draw-in consistent investment on a much larger scale than we would achieve as individual countries," Kagame said.

"In that context, we have to think of the supply side-constraints, especially regional infrastructures, such as roads, rail, air, sea, and endeavor to modernise them alongside ICTs. Only then can we meaningfully engage in the regional and global markets," he added.

If the regional countries are not able to reach consensus on such fundamental investments that would make outstanding transformations, Kagame observed that, there is no doubt that the East African region as well as the entire African continent would remain poverty-stricken in a vibrant global economy.

The workshop was partly organized by the United States government, through its Digital Freedom Initiative (DFI), together with Rwandan government. The two parties opened a forum with the ministers of communication from the East African regional countries to discuss ICT policies that will encourage the expansion of broadband connectivity in the region.

The DFI was launched in 2003 at the White House, where the governments of Senegal and the United States agreed to pilot it. Since 2003 the DFI has grown to encompass programs in many countries using ICTs to help spur economic growth and policy reform.

The presence of high level ministerial delegations in Kigali, according to the Rwandan President is testimony to the fact that the East African region attaches great importance to ICTs.

"I trust that the post-San Francisco period (the last ICT meeting) has accorded all our countries time to develop stronger strategies of the development of ICT sector, as well as the type and scale of investment required to render this sector more effective," he said.

However, Kagame said that it is imperative for member countries that include Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya and Tanzania to modernise agriculture along the ICT industry. According to the US Coordinator for international communication and information policy, Ambassador David Gross, the region has experienced tremendous growth in ICT over the past ten years.

Gross said the transformation has translated into higher rates of economic growth and foreign investments. But, as regional countries work to create open and competitive ICT markets and to facilitate continued growth, the Ambassador said, many key issues remain for policy makers to address in order to expand connectivity including: interconnection, and cross- border pricing as well as ensuring competitive and non-discriminatory access.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Senegal invites third mobile operator


The Senegalese government has invited tenders for a third mobile operator, in addition to the country's two mobile operators, Orange and Tigo. The successful bidder will be given the rights to launch the second private mobile service provider after Tigo, formerly called Sentel.The concession will also give the winner rights to provide fixed line and internet access services head-to-head with France Telecom-backed existing monopoly Sonatel.The regulator of Senegalese telecoms, Agence de Regulation des Telecoms et Postes (ARTP), has set 31 August 2007 as the deadline for offers. In the case of more than one bidder being received, a second round of bidding will take place. Over the years, Senegalese mobile market has recorded a sharp increase in mobile phone business.In March 2007, the number of mobile users in Senegal was estimated at over 3.37 million, compared to 1.94 and 1.73 millions in 1996 and 1995, respectively.In December 2006, the total number of residential and business provided by Sonatel reached 282,573. Orange, a subsidiary of the national telecommunications company, has the highest number of mobile subscribers in the country.Until last year when it jointly adopted Orange with its Sonatel office in Mali, the national mobile service provider had been using trading its products in the name of Alizé.Orange is lent from Sonatel's main shareholder, France Télécom, the Director General of Sonatel, Cheikh Tidiane Mbaye, said. Meanwhile, with effect from 7 October this year, all telephone lines in Senegal will have two more digits added for dialing up. Telecommunication officials said 33, 77 and 76 will be added to fix, Orange and Tigo lines, respectively.