hi, KICTANet invites you to a working lunch to meet with David Souter, who is in kenya to discuss various ways of Telecoms harmonisation in East Africa. lunch will be at Jacaranda on October 8. the meeting will be ideal for representatives from private sector, government, civil society, and academia, to interrogate all attendant issues, please confirm directly with me.....off list, regards becky ____________________________________________________________________________________ Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get online. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting
The main focus of this working lunch will be the harmonization of communications regulation which is envisaged in the East African Community strategic plan. What are your views on the issues surrounding harmonization of regulation in East Africa region? Regional harmonization is particularly concerned with increasing trade within the EAC, so What are the perceptions of this within the Kenyan telecoms business community? What are the best ways in which harmonization might be effected in practice. Rebecca Wanjiku wrote:
hi,
KICTANet invites you to a working lunch to meet with David Souter, who is in kenya to discuss various ways of Telecoms harmonisation in East Africa.
lunch will be at Jacaranda on October 8.
the meeting will be ideal for representatives from private sector, government, civil society, and academia, to interrogate all attendant issues,
please confirm directly with me.....off list,
regards
becky
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search that gives answers <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=48252/*http://mobile.yahoo.com/mobileweb/onesearch?refer=1ONXIC>, not web links.
SA Media is awash with KDN. See below. Ndemo. New SA undersea cable operator Sep 28 2007 09:07 AM Belinda Anderson Johannesburg - JSE-listed Altech, the IT, multimedia and aspirant telco in the Altron stable, will soon own a stake in the prospective East African Submarine System (EASSy), through its acquisition of a controlling stake of Kenya Data Networks (KDN), a lead player in the cable consortium. Altech CEO Craig Venter said this was one of the reasons the acquisition of the Sameer ICT Group in Kenya - which includes 51% of KDN, Swift Global and Infocom - made sense for Altech. He said it believed undersea cables were a critical part of the development of the continent's telecoms infrastructure. Although Venter would not be drawn into the controversial discussion around whether or not EASSy will be allowed to land on South African shores, Altech's potential participation as an additional South African shareholder should further increase the cable's local ownership stakes. The Department of Communications has yet to release official rules for the landing of foreign owned cables on South African shores, but has said that cables should be majority South African owned. EASSy was, up until now, around a quarter South African owned, with other shareholders including Neotel, Telkom and MTN. Venter said the Sameer ICT deal; worth more than R500m, would position Altech as a pre-eminent data network operator and internet service provider (ISP) in East Africa. Broadband player in Central Africa This, coupled with Altech being granted a license to deliver broadband internet services in Rwanda using both WiMax and WiFi technologies, further positions it as a player in this space in the east and central African region. Altech got the license in Rwanda is just six weeks, illustrating that African regulators are moving quickly to facilitate the adoption of new technologies. KDN's network infrastructure includes fibre from Mombasa to Nairobi and to the border of Uganda, 300km of fibre within Nairobi and 150 WiFi hotspots as well as an international gateway license and a stake in the prospective EASSy cable. It also plans to further extend its network to countries including Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Swift Global, meanwhile, is an ISP and provider of corporate virtual private network (VPN) solutions and voice over internet networks (VoIP) in Kenya and Tanzania. Infocom is an ISP and supplier of broadband services in Uganda. The three companies made more than R60m in after tax profits last year. Test WiMax license Back home, Altech also has a test WiMax license, and has been trialling the technology from five sites in Gauteng, in partnership with Samsung Electronics and CityNet Wireless. Venter said WiMax was eight times faster than HSDPA (the upgrade on 3G), and would be a technology of major significance going forward. When regulator Icasa converts existing telecoms licenses into the new ones, in terms of the Electronic Communications Act, it will have to determine which Value Added Network Service Provider (Vans) operators should be granted licenses entitling them to roll out their own infrastructure. These would then be allowed to apply for spectrum (space in the radio waves). Venter said Altech was confident that it would get the spectrum it needed. He said Altech was an independent player that could bring pricing down to the right kind of levels. Although Icasa often comes under criticism, Venter said he believed the regulator was doing a good job, even though it would naturally like to see things move faster. But, Altech had managed to get its test WiMax license quickly, something that he commended Icasa for. Altech generates a significant amount of cash - R341m in the six months to August - and had nearly R1.2bn at the end of the half-year to fund its expansion plans. The group turned over nearly R4bn and made after tax profits of R178m in the six months. The market is waiting in anticipation to see the outcome of what Fin24 sister publication Finweek termed its "treble cautionary tale" (See: What's in the centre Mr Venter?, Finweek August 23 2007), with both parent Altron and fellow subsidiary Bytes also trading under simultaneous, unspecific cautionary announcements. These were renewed recently. belindaa@finweek.co.za
Copy Paste! The story is getting bigger and bigger .. As mentioned, no offer given or received! Kai ----- Original Message ----- From: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> To: <kai.wulff@kdn.co.ke> Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 12:03 Subject: [kictanet] KDN
SA Media is awash with KDN. See below.
Ndemo.
New SA undersea cable operator
Sep 28 2007 09:07 AM
Belinda Anderson
Johannesburg - JSE-listed Altech, the IT, multimedia and aspirant telco in the Altron stable, will soon own a stake in the prospective East African Submarine System (EASSy), through its acquisition of a controlling stake of Kenya Data Networks (KDN), a lead player in the cable consortium. Altech CEO Craig Venter said this was one of the reasons the acquisition of the Sameer ICT Group in Kenya - which includes 51% of KDN, Swift Global and Infocom - made sense for Altech. He said it believed undersea cables were a critical part of the development of the continent's telecoms infrastructure.
Although Venter would not be drawn into the controversial discussion around whether or not EASSy will be allowed to land on South African shores, Altech's potential participation as an additional South African shareholder should further increase the cable's local ownership stakes.
The Department of Communications has yet to release official rules for the landing of foreign owned cables on South African shores, but has said that cables should be majority South African owned. EASSy was, up until now, around a quarter South African owned, with other shareholders including Neotel, Telkom and MTN.
Venter said the Sameer ICT deal; worth more than R500m, would position Altech as a pre-eminent data network operator and internet service provider (ISP) in East Africa.
Broadband player in Central Africa
This, coupled with Altech being granted a license to deliver broadband internet services in Rwanda using both WiMax and WiFi technologies, further positions it as a player in this space in the east and central African region.
Altech got the license in Rwanda is just six weeks, illustrating that African regulators are moving quickly to facilitate the adoption of new technologies.
KDN's network infrastructure includes fibre from Mombasa to Nairobi and to the border of Uganda, 300km of fibre within Nairobi and 150 WiFi hotspots as well as an international gateway license and a stake in the prospective EASSy cable. It also plans to further extend its network to countries including Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Swift Global, meanwhile, is an ISP and provider of corporate virtual private network (VPN) solutions and voice over internet networks (VoIP) in Kenya and Tanzania.
Infocom is an ISP and supplier of broadband services in Uganda.
The three companies made more than R60m in after tax profits last year.
Test WiMax license
Back home, Altech also has a test WiMax license, and has been trialling the technology from five sites in Gauteng, in partnership with Samsung Electronics and CityNet Wireless.
Venter said WiMax was eight times faster than HSDPA (the upgrade on 3G), and would be a technology of major significance going forward.
When regulator Icasa converts existing telecoms licenses into the new ones, in terms of the Electronic Communications Act, it will have to determine which Value Added Network Service Provider (Vans) operators should be granted licenses entitling them to roll out their own infrastructure. These would then be allowed to apply for spectrum (space in the radio waves).
Venter said Altech was confident that it would get the spectrum it needed. He said Altech was an independent player that could bring pricing down to the right kind of levels.
Although Icasa often comes under criticism, Venter said he believed the regulator was doing a good job, even though it would naturally like to see things move faster. But, Altech had managed to get its test WiMax license quickly, something that he commended Icasa for.
Altech generates a significant amount of cash - R341m in the six months to August - and had nearly R1.2bn at the end of the half-year to fund its expansion plans. The group turned over nearly R4bn and made after tax profits of R178m in the six months.
The market is waiting in anticipation to see the outcome of what Fin24 sister publication Finweek termed its "treble cautionary tale" (See: What's in the centre Mr Venter?, Finweek August 23 2007), with both parent Altron and fellow subsidiary Bytes also trading under simultaneous, unspecific cautionary announcements. These were renewed recently.
belindaa@finweek.co.za
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participants (4)
-
alice -
bitange＠jambo.co.ke -
Kai Wulff -
Rebecca Wanjiku