LTE comes to Angola, Namibia

TechCentral wraps up the major technology news from around the African continent. Compiled by Duncan McLeod and Craig Wilson.

Added by Duncan McLeod on 29 August 2012.
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Huawei says it has won contracts to provide new backhaul networks for Movicel in Angola and MTC in Namibia, both of which plan to launch among the continent’s first commercial long-term evolution (LTE) networks.

The company has already been instrumental in the roll-out of Africa’s first commercial time-division (TD) LTE network in Nigeria. TD-LTE is the standard commonly used in Asia.

Huawei also supplies backhaul infrastructure to operators in Germany, Austria and Saudi Arabia. Source: Telecompaper

Online retail boom in Nigeria
As Internet penetration in Nigeria grows, so, too, is the country’s online retail sector. According to a recent report by global research firm Euromonitor International, online retail in Nigeria grew by 25% last year and is now valued at 62,4bn naira (about R3,3bn).

Investors, both foreign and local, are developing online retail platforms selling a variety of items from books, mobile phones and electronics to toys and beauty products.

The growth comes as a result of a maturing Internet user base that is more trusting of online purchases and is eager to save money by comparing prices between physical and online stores, particularly for high-end products. Source: Business Day

Kenyan bill to tackle ‘hate speech’
Kenya will soon table a bill in its parliament that will give that country’s information ministry powers to monitor all Internet communications. If enacted, the bill will criminalise hate speech online.

According to a report in the Daily Nation, quoting National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) chairman Mzalendo Kibunjia, the Communications Commission of Kenya, mobile operator Safaricom and the NCIC would “regulate language use on the Internet”.

Kibunjia said phone messages and Internet messages, especially those sent in bulk, would be monitored. Source: Daily Nation

Uganda to get new fibre network
The National IT Authority of Uganda has announced that the construction of a new Internet cable will start in November, providing an alternative link to the landlocked country.

The authority’s director of technical services, Peter Kahigi, said the construction of an alternative cable through Tanzania would start in November with funding from the government and other financiers, according to a report in Uganda’s Daily Monitor.

“This will help widen the broadband Internet transmission throughout the country and ensure Internet reliability,” Kahigi said. Source: Daily Monitor

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