Africa/Middle East

Hits Telecom, a Kuwait based telecom group, is investing $100 million in Tanzania alone to boost its presence in African telecom market, despite economic problems in the region.  read more »

A new offering by Bharti Airtel has made Zambia the first country in Southern Africa to have a so-called 3.75G data network that will let customers experience high-speed mobile broadband access and video calls as well as allow for mobile TV.  read more »

By providing access to a Web-based community mapping tool and data, World Bank and Google are aiming to improve the ability of African and other developing countries to monitor public services and respond to disasters.  read more »

Google has confirmed as true allegations made on Friday by a Kenyan provider of online business listings, Mocality, that Google staffers attempted to undermine its business by lying to its customers and improperly mining its data.  read more »

Mocality, a Kenyan-based online business directory has accused Google of malpractice and misrepresentation while trying to woe businesses into the Getting Kenyan Businesses Online program (GKBO), a service that Google launched just over three months ago. With GKBO, Google gives businesses free websites and a domain. In an effort to list such businesses, Google has hired agents who call up businesses with the offer of a free webiste.  read more »

Despite the increasing number of imported and highly subsidized Chinese-made mobile handsets, Zimbabwe's only phone manufacturing company, Swav, is gaining ground in the African market.  read more »

Zambia has reversed the sale of Zamtel to sub-Saharan mobile operator Lap Green Networks of Libya, following allegations that the company was fraudulently and irregularly sold by the previous government.  read more »

To demonstrate its commitment to key regulatory and policy changes, the government of Sierra Leone has released a road map for activities leading to the revision of telecom laws and full liberalization of the country's international telecom gateway.  read more »

From 2009, fiber optic cable deployment falling connectivity costs have dominated Africa's tech headlines. This year, the focus shifted from infrastructure to content and value added services to capitalize on investments, as both the public and private sectors provided incentives to developers. Technology is expected to be Africa's growth frontier and government services have been cited as a major driver, providing opportunities for business growth and better citizen participation.  read more »

A rising number of trained engineers and the high prices charged by global brands has led to the growth of Kenyan cloud technology providers as mid-size firms opt for local solutions.  read more »