Mobile &Video »

Maputo, Mozambique, May 16, 2012 – On May 15, 2012, Viettel announced the official launch of Movitel – the group’s first mobile network in Africa to join its already flourishing networks in Asia and Latin America.

In just over a year since being licensed on January 10, 2011, Viettel has built 12,600 kilometres of fiber optic cable and 1,800 mobile stations in Mozambique. This network represents 70% of the total Mozambique’s fiber optic cable network and 50% of the country’s mobile stations. The system has helped triple the density of Mozambique’s telecom infrastructure (increasing the length of fiber optic cable network and number of mobile stations per one million inhabitants in Mozambique by 2-3 times), making it one of the world’s fastest growing telecommunications networks and placing the country among the top three nations in Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of fiber optic cable systems.

With the country’s largest network right at the launch date, Viettel’s Movitel network is the first mobile network operator in Mozambique to have doubled the network coverage level committed in its proposal for the license. In addition to expanding the network, Viettel also recruits one to two local people to provide services door-to-door in their own localities.

At the launch ceremony, Viettel also officially announced its project of connecting and providing free internet for 4,200 schools as part of the group’s pledge to the Mozambican Government. At present, more than 500 schools have been connected thanks to this project.

“The Mozambican Government highly appreciates Viettel’s serious investment and commitment to social responsibility. This is the first time many areas will have had access to telecom services, so the company has made a major contribution to the implementation of Mozambique’s socio-economic development and poverty reduction strategy,” said Mozambican President Armano Emilio Guebuza.

Viettel has successfully developed and popularised telecom services in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Haiti, Mozambique and Peru.

“Mozambique is Viettel’s first market in Africa. Viettel is seeking for new opportunities to expand its investment in other African countries.” a Viettel representative stressed.

On entering new markets Viettel companies have consistently become the leading telecommunications player within just two years, contributing from 1-2% to a country’s national GDP; increasing national telecom network coverage by between 50% to 80% and jointly increasing telecom network density by 3 to 3.5 times more than the international average. Most local residents now have the opportunity to access telecom services, including 95% of people living in rural areas. Tens of thousands of jobs have been generated for rural people through the Viettel sales network. Free internet services are provided in all schools.

These efforts have helped narrow the digital gap between rural and urban areas, and rich and poor.

Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of Viettel Group.

Mobile »

Omnitele Ltd., www.omnitele.com, johanna.hurmerinta@omnitele.com
Helsinki, Finland, May 15th, 2012

Independent tests in Dar Es Salaam’s mobile networks have shown significant differences in QoS between Tanzanian mobile operators. Omnitele, a Finnish telecommunications engineering and consulting company, conducted city wide service benchmark tests on Zantel, Tigo, Vodacom and Airtel mobile networks in March 2012.

The main purpose of the benchmark testing was to provide Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) with an understanding of capital’s mobile networks service quality among local competition and against international standards.

The Omnitele tests covered both voice and data QoS measurements in Dar Es Salaam in all four networks. All networks were measured simultaneously.

Omnitele tests showed that there are significant differences between operators. For example call setup success rate varied from best being 97,2 % and worst being only 86,5 %. In average data download throughput speeds, the variation was from 543 kbit/s to 1322 kbit/s, i.e. the best network offers more than double the speed compared to the slowest network.

The results suggest that KPI requirements set by TCRA are not fully met by all operators. Although the QoS in general is on an acceptable level in Dar Es Salaam networks, TCRA will continue monitoring the development of QoS and take corrective actions when required.

TCRA Director General, Professor John S. Nkoma stated that the research gives TCRA real data with numbers about the QoS in the networks and will form a good basis for TCRA to start monitoring the operators performance continuously.

For more information, please contact:

Johanna Hurmerinta, Marketing and Communications Manager, Omnitele Ltd., tel. +358 44 767 1387, email: johanna.hurmerinta@omnitele.com

John S. Nkoma, Director General, TCRA, tel. +255 22 2199760 – 8, email: dg@tcra.go.tz

Broadband »

Millions of Africans are one step closer to being connected to the global Internet following the May 11th launch of the 14,000km long West Africa Cable System (WACS) in Cape Town, South Africa. Consumers likely won’t see immediate benefits from the cable, but its operation is a landmark event in the chronicles of African connectivity.

WACS Map {WACSCable.com}

It’s as though we are no longer penned in.” – Wessel van der Vyver, managing director for international services at Telecom Namibia

It will be capable of carrying the equivalent traffic of Seacom, Eassy and SAT-3/WASC/SAFE cable systems combined. Wacs will meet the demand for capacity well into the first quarter of the 21st century.” – Neotel CTO and co-chairman of the Wacs management committee, Angus Hay

It’s unclear exactly if any ISPs are immediately utilizing the new capacity, but the launch is over three years (and US$650 million) in the making. Activation of the cable comes over a year since the cable first landed in South Africa. WACS is also the first direct submarine cable to link Europe, West Africa, and South Africa in over ten years. Political stability and economic planning have certainly come a long way since the SAT-3 cable last connected many West African nations, but what does WACS bring to Africa’s broadband environment?

Perhaps little in the next few months, but great things in the next couple of years:

• 500 Gb/s initial capacity upgradable to 5.12 Tb/s – the most of any undersea cable landing in Africa to date. Which is actually too much capacity for coastal areas with direct access. Infrastructure providers will hopefully rush to bring capacity inland, however.
• In most of the nations served by the WACS cable, mobile broadband will become a reality. 4G and LTE will truly be possible. Still, as Vodacom CTO Andries Delport reminds us, “international connectivity is actually a pretty small part of the overall cost of delivering a megabyte of data via mobile.”
• Nations like Namibia, Angola, DRC, Congo, and Togo will have direct international access for the first time. Soon these countries will be able to sell extra capacity to neighboring nations.
• Open access policy will boost international broadband competition which will benefit the consumer. For example, smaller operators in large markets like Nigeria can acquire direct capacity instead of securing it through larger operators.
• South Africa’s government, as a pioneering partner on WACS through Broadband Infraco, can hopefully fulfill a 2020 vision of broadband for all.
• Reduced broadband delivery costs: TEAMs and EASSy have partially contributed to 50% lower costs in parts of East Africa.
• In the long term: lower prices will mean greater local content to address poverty and unemployment. Improved e-agriculture, e-commerce, e-learning, m-banking, and m-health will result indirectly from WACS.
• Challenges remain around terrestrial connectivity, competition in respective markets, and wholesale pricing and consumer access.
• Also, political roadblocks exist in at least the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Although the DRC’s link to Monhoul Beach, the nation’s landing station for WACS, could be completed in less than two months it appears unlikely that the project will receive the go-ahead anytime soon.

When do you expect to see benefits from WACS? We’d be curious to know of any traceroutes that prove WACS operation in any of the respective countries.

WACS is operated by a consortium of 14 companies: Angola Cables, Broadband Infraco, Cable & Wireless, Congo Telecom, MTN, Office Congolais des Postes et Télécommunications, Portugal Telecom/Cabo Verde Telecom, Neotel, Telecom Namibia, Internet Solutions (IS), Telkom SA, Togo Telecom and Vodacom. The cable has landing stations in Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Cape Verde, the Canary Islands, Portugal and the United Kingdom.