Broadband satellite connects inland, rural Africa

Satellite services continues to fulfil an important role in providing the telecommunications infrastructure for Africa's inland and remote rural areas, while the dozens of optic fibre cable networks now reaching the continent's shores will - at least initially - have limited penetration inland. 24 May 2012 10:01

[Netprophet 2011] African ecommerce market has a long way to go

[Herman Manson: @marklives] A billion Africans and 50 million bank accounts. In South Africa, credit cards are used by only 16.5% of the population (2008). No African country comes close to 1% of total retail spend spent online - the magic figure which constitutes the tipping point for digital retail growth (in SA, ecommerce has a 0.4% share of the retail market, while in countries such as Egypt and Nigeria, the figure stands at 0.01%). No wonder, then, that the ecommerce market in Africa hasn't bloomed. 12 May 2011 18:55

Social media, popular revolt: cure against African dictators?

[Issa Sikiti da Silva: @sikitimedia] The events and developments of the past six months in Africa have demonstrated that the rise of social media has not only revolutionised the business environment, but also redefined the political scene by shaking the foundation of dictatorship, lack of service delivery and corruption for the first time since the dawn of independences. 5 Jul 2011 10:14

2011 Maputo International Ad Festival set for May

The sixth Maputo International Advertising Festival will take place from 25-27 May 2011, AMEP - the Mozambican Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations Association announced yesterday. The festival recognises advertising agencies, producers and communications companies worldwide especially from Africa and the Indian Ocean regions. 23 Feb 2011 07:22

Neo@Ogilvy global CEO talks up role of emerging markets, mobile

[Herman Manson: @marklives] Neo@Ogilvy's global CEO, New-York based Nasreen Madhany, has been visiting South Africa for a corporate summit, where she talked up the role emerging markets will play in the future profitability of her company. 5 Jul 2011 13:30

Google+ launch puts pressure on Facebook

As two technology giants in Google and Facebook position themselves to dominate the social networking space, an information and communications technology expert has warned against complacency, in particular from market leader Facebook. 8 Jul 2011 10:01

HTT awarded 'Africa Loans Deal of the Year' by The Banker

Helios Towers Tanzania (HTT), a subsidiary of Helios Towers Africa (HTA) and reportedly the first tower company in Tanzania, has been awarded 'Africa Loans Deal of the Year' by The Banker magazine. The award follows the completion in December 2011 of HTT's US$85 million equivalent deal. 3 May 2012 14:03

EAC ministers push for fast digital broadcasting migration

[Walter Wafula] Ministers responsible for communication in the five East African Community (EAC) partner states have called for the swift creation of policies that will enable the region to migrate to digital broadcasting from analogue on schedule. 21 Nov 2011 12:40

Are you the world's most networked person?

[Issa Sikiti da Silva: @sikitimedia] Western Union, the multinational company specialised in money transfer, is celebrating its 160th anniversary by launching a global online network - a Facebook-linked platform meant to hunt for the most networked person in the world. The South African launch took place yesterday, Thursday 4 August 2011, in Rosebank simultaneously with Ghana, Kenya and Morocco. 5 Aug 2011 12:05

Carat Media hosts internal conference, launches blog

CAPE TOWN: Aegis Media's agency, Carat Media will be hosting an internal conference for its African representatives from 27-30 June 2011 in Durban. The Carat Media Training Conference, which will also be attended by digital agency Trigger/ Isobar, aims to provide a platform for representatives to share learnings, insights, trends and experiences that have taken place within their media and digital agencies. 27 Jun 2011 11:12

UNESCO supports open learning centres in Tanzania

DAR ES SALAAM: Under the endorsement of UNESCO, the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) organised a two-day workshop from 16 to 17 June 2011. Policy-makers, international and local experts discussed the impact of the adoption of open source technologies and open content within common e-learning models, and the higher education system in Tanzania. 27 Jun 2011 07:53

Significant shifts in South Africa, Africa's mobile patterns

[Issa Sikiti da Silva] A global study conducted by TNS Research Surveys shows that South Africans' unconditional love for handsets - more than content as it is in developed markets - is beginning to change and will even shift faster as bandwidth improves, and as cheaper smartphones appear on the market - probably from China. 21 Apr 2011 09:37

Intelsat wins new contracts

LUXEMBOURG: Intelsat SA, one of the world's leading providers of fixed satellite services, recently announced a series of new contracts with media customers using the company's leading video neighbourhoods. 14 Apr 2011 10:56