Namibia’s largest mobile network, MTC, says it will cover 45% of the desert nation with a fourth-generation long-term evolution (4G/LTE) mobile network by the end of 2013. The company also intends extending its fibre-optic network to offer direct fibre services to businesses and, eventually, to households. MTC is installing rings of fibre in and around capital city Windhoek. The company is adopting growth strategies from shareholder Portugal Telecom. Source: The Namibian

Cable cuts cost Ghana R46m
In the first nine months of 2012, telecommunications operators in Ghana have spent more than ₵10m (R46m) on repairs to damaged cables. This is without factoring in the loss of potential revenue from the more than 600 incidents that have incurred. The bulk of the incidents are on account of road works and related construction. Some operators have gone as far as rewarding clients with free airtime in the hopes of keeping their custom in the face of disruptions. Source: Ghana News Agency

Kenya gets satellite broadband
British Internet service provider (ISP) Avanti Communications will soon begin selling wholesale satellite broadband capacity to Kenyan companies and ISPs. Avanti plans to offer packages for small ISPs and start-ups to encourage competition in the sector and increase the number of Internet connections in the East African country. It intends expanding its offering to Nigeria in coming months and other African countries thereafter. It already has an office in Johannesburg. Source: The Standard

Prepaid DSL from Zim’s TelOne
Subscribers to Zimbabwean fixed-line operator TelOne’s basic digital subscriber line (DSL) package, which offers 10GB of data for US$30/month, have until now enjoyed an uncapped service. It’s now changed that and is moving to a prepaid model where customers will have to pay for their usage upfront and will be cut off if they exhaust their data allocation before the end of a calendar month. TelOne is state owned and is Zimbabwe’s only fixed-line operator. Source: Techzim

Uganda to block fake phones in 2013
The Uganda Communications Commission is set to block fake handsets from connecting to any Ugandan mobile network next year. The commission has yet to fix a date for the switch-off, which was originally meant to take place this month. The move comes after various stakeholders deemed the original deadline too ambitious. A fake phone is one whose unique IMEI number isn’t recognised by databases of genuine mobile phone manufacturers. The move is aimed at protecting subscribers from counterfeits while also supporting handset manufacturers’ businesses. Source: The Monitor