MTN Uganda Reviews Last Year's Network Upgrades:

MTN Uganda says that during last year, it deployed a total of 115 new coverage sites and upgraded the capacity of another 406 base stations. This was part of the 2013 investment plan worth US$70 million and brings the total number of MTN sites up to 1,220.

In addition, MTN has upgraded almost all its Network sites in Kampala from 2G to 3G and all the planned new 3G locations out of Kampala have been completed bringing the total number of 3G locations to more than 400 sites.

"MTN Uganda is ahead of target on its rollout plans and nearly all of the planned 406 sites earmarked for upgrade by end of 2013 have been completed," reiterated Rami Farah, MTN Uganda's Chief Technical Officer.

In 2012 and 2013 alone, its CAPEX investments exceeded USD 150 million. This investment was mainly in expanding the network infrastructure to support the mobile subscriber growth.

"In terms of Network Infrastructure, by the end of 2012 MTN Uganda had deployed 2,800km of fibre backbones achieved with multiple layers and rings to protect customer experience across all national regions and provide dedicated business solutions to SMEs and Corporate Enterprises. Another 350km of fibre is currently deployed between Mutundwe in Kampala and Kyenjojo district through Fort portal) in Western Uganda," said Farah.

Zambian Networks Face Possible Criminal Charges over QoS Failures:

Zambia's telecoms regulator has threatened to seek criminal proceedings against the mobile networks if they do not improve the quality of their service.

The regulator, ZICTA has already sued the mobile networks for breaches of their regulatory obligations, but says that the failures could be considered criminal as well as they exploit the subscribers.

ZICTA confirmed that it has sent a report to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) to be studied for possible action.

The country has three mobile networks, MTN, Zamtel and Airtel.

Govt, Lagos, telcos strike deal:

The Federal Ministry of Communications Technology has ended the stand-off between the Lagos State government and the telcos, acting under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON).

 The deal will remove all the constraints to installation, rollout and deployment of base transmission stations (BTS) and fibre optic cable (OFC) in the state.

The Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson and the Governor of Lagos State Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) with some officials of ALTON struck a deal to end the long standing feud existing between them over spurious charges, levies, multiple taxation, harassment and forceful closure of BTS.

After a closed door meeting at the State House over the weekend, the issues of multiple taxes, levies, decommissioned BTS and Right of Way (RoW) fees, factors which the operators say have been mitigating against quality of service in the state addressed dispassionately.

Also in attendance at the meeting were Commissioner of Science and Technology, Mr Biyi Mabadeje, Commissioner of Works, Mr Obafemi Hamzat and officials from Etisalat, Main One, MTN and Globacom.

According to a statement signed by the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister, Efem Nkanga, ATCON members expressed concerns over the issue of decommissioned sites and others, arguing that these issues were making it difficult for operators to rollout the much needed ICT infrastructure in Lagos state.

In his response, Governor Fashola said infrastructure rollout and deployment was in the best interest of residents of Lagos State, adding that it is not the wish of the state to prevent operators from rolling out.

Nigeria grows subscribers to 121m:

Nigeria’s mobile phone subscriber base has grown to 121 million, with internet user numbers up from 45 million two years ago, to 48 million. This is according to President Goodluck Jonathan, whose message was delivered in Bangkok this week at the opening of Nigeria’s Pavilion at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom World 2013.years ago, to 48 million.

The president said the telecoms sector had brought over $25billion to the economy in foreign direct investment (FDI), while operators have displayed commitment to invest another $6 billion in the sector in the future.

The president, who was represented by the Minister of Communications Technology, Omobola Johnson, lamented that while the national economy was growing, “Challenges still persist with poverty reduction,” adding however that income distribution was improving while the “consumer class” is expanding.

“As at September this year, there were over 121 million active SIM (subscriber identity module) cards in the country,” the president said, adding that there is a high occurrence of multiple ownership of SIM cards, estimated at about two to three per subscriber, which he said meant that there were tremendous opportunities for growth in the sector.

“Opportunities also exist in the data and Internet markets. Internet users in Nigeria have risen from 45 million in December 2011, to 48 million in June 2012. That is three million new users in just six months.

“Figures we have from the four major operators (MTN, GLO, Airtel and Etisalat) show that between June 2012 March 2013 an additional 9 million new mobile Internet subscribers; that is equivalent to one million new subscribers per month,” President Jonathan said.

He recalled that at last year’s Telecom World forum in Dubai, Nigeria communicated its commitment to create enabling environment for the ubiquitous roll-out of broadband across its territory.  To achieve this, he said he had just inaugurated a multi-stakeholder committee to develop a roadmap to achieve a five-fold deployment and increase of broadband penetration by 2018.

“Since that time, this Broadband Committee has completed its work and its output, National Broadband Roadmap, is galvanising investment in the ICT sector.  A Broadband Council has also been inaugurated to track the implementation of this Roadmap; and important agreements and collaborations have been established between government at all levels and telecom operators,” the president said.

Takeover Rumours are Back in South Africa:

Rumours of consolidation in the South African mobile market refuse to go away, with talk of a deal between MTN and Telkom returning.

Telkom set up a mobile network subsidiary in 2010, initially branded as 8ta, but the loss making division has struggled to sign up customers, even after it signed a national roaming agreement with MTN.

Now MTN is reported to be in talks with Telkom that could see it buying the struggling mobile network, which has around 1.6 million customers.

The move has been prompted in part by consolidation elsewhere that saw rival Vodacom start exclusive talks to buy Telkom rival, Neotel.

An MTN spokesperson said that "accordance with good governance MTN does not comment on market rumour and speculation,"

Swaziland's SPTC to Relaunch Modified Version of Wireless Service:

Swaziland's monopoly landline operator, the SPTC says that it will switch on a fixed wireless service.

In order to get around the dispute with MTN which had seen the previous mobile service disabled last September as it broke MTN's mobile monopoly, the wireless receivers will have to be adapted to ensure they can only work in a fixed location.

SPTC's acting Managing Director Petros Dlamini made the announcement at a press event.

"I would like to assure the thousands of customers who bought our fixed phones and thousands of customers who bought our wireless dongles that their service will be re-provisioned for the wireless local loop service," the Times of Swaziland reports Dlamini as saying.

South Africa's MTN set up a mobile network in Swaziland in 1998, which is actually a joint-venture with SPTC and was granted a monopoly on mobile services. When SPTC started its own mobile service in 2011, MTN took the matter to court and after a series of disputes, won the case.

"The modified fixed phones will be relaunched before the end of the second quarter or sooner," Dlamini added.

Etisalat SmartHub Selected To Bolster MTN's Reach:

Etisalat, leading Telecom operator in the middle East and Africa today announced its partnership with MTN Group to extend their regional network reach via Etisalat  SmartHub. MTN Group, a leading emerging markets telecommunications provider, will connect through Etisalat’s SmartHub at Fujairah CLS to expand its advanced data network capabilities.

The South Africa-based multinational company operates in African, European and Middle Eastern countries.

Etisalat’s SmartHub provides advanced content, IPX, IX and high speed data services for its customers in the UAE and the region. The new partnership will also enable MTN Group to connect via a new route to Europe, beneficial to its large customer base in the Middle East.

Etisalat’s SmartHub is a global communications hub facilitating direct routing of traffic between the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe.

Ali Amiri, Executive Vice President, Carrier & Wholesale Services, Etisalat, said: “We are delighted to have such a prestigious telecom group as MTN join the SmartHub community of operators and content providers. SmartHub is designed to provide our partners with a one stop shop for connectivity to the region.

“This partnership with MTN Group showcases the importance of the SmartHub as well as puts UAE in the limelight as the regional hub for telecom services. We look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship and enhancing customer experience.”

Zambian Networks Face Criminal Charges for Quality of Service Failings:

Zambia's telecoms regulator says that it has instituted criminal proceedings against all three mobile phone service providers namely Airtel, MTN and Zamtel, for what it says are a failure to meet minimum standards of quality of service.

The Authority (ZICTA) said that the deteriorating levels of Quality of Service has made communication difficult and resulted in increased public outcry and negative impact on ease of doing business in Zambia.

Under the published Quality of Service Guidelines, ZICTA has an option to invoke either administrative or criminal sanctions arising from the failure to adhere to the set parameters relating to quality of service.

As a consequence, the Board of the Authority, on June 27, 2013 authorized Management's decision to prosecute all the three mobile service providers for offering poor quality of service to the public.

The Authority, on July 4, 2013, instituted criminal proceedings against the mobile service providers on two counts of failure to meet minimum standards of quality of service as specified and published by the Authority contrary to Section 67 of the Information and Communication Technologies Act No. 15 of 2009, and one count of failure to comply with a provision of the Quality of Service Guidelines issued by the Authority contrary to Section 79(1) of the Information and Communication Technologies Act No. 15 of 2009 respectively.

Vodacom in Exclusive Talks to Buy South African Landline Network:

South Africa's Vodacom is reported to have entered into exclusive talks to buy the country's second landline network operator, Neotel from its Indian owners.

Vodacom had previous been said to be the last company running its eye over Neotel's accounts after rival MTN dropped out of bidding.

The advantage for Vodacom apart from Neotel's own newish LTE network and radio spectrum would be access to a much larger landline network for backhaul and to cross sell to corporate users.

A deal to buy Neotel is expected to be worth around US$500 million, according to Bloomberg News, who cited an unnamed person familiar with the talks.

Neotel is majority owned by India based Tata Communications, who bought their initial stake in 2008 and have slowly built it up to 67.3% as of this March.

Vodacom is 65% owned by the UK based Vodafone, with the rest of its shares listed locally.