Africa/Middle East

France Telecom has recorded a major victory in its quest to recover US$300 million from the Kenya government after alleged over payment for Telkom Kenya assets in 2007.  read more »

Rwanda has become the second country in East Africa to eliminate Value Added Tax on mobile handsets, in its latest effort to increase uptake of telecommunications services.  read more »

Reaction has been mixed following announcement of the Uganda government's plan to remove the Value Added Tax on computer software licences, a major thorn in the side of vendors.  read more »

South Africa, Africa's second largest telecommunications market, has become the latest country on the continent to deal with corruption charges regarding technology contracts, moving to cancel deals valued at more than US$552 million.  read more »

Following the completion of Bharti Airtel's deal to acquire 15 of Zain's country operations in Africa, company executives have embarked on a tour of the continent, meeting media and local officials in an effort to promote the mobile telecommunications giant's growth strategy.  read more »

Race and shareholding issues are stirring controversy in South Africa's inaugural spectrum auction, as the country seeks to set the pace in the bandwidth allocation process in Africa.  read more »

The rollout of a regional e-learning program and the need for IT supplies in African schools has led Microsoft, Intel, Cisco and the World Bank Institute to form a consortium that will help build capacity for the governance and integration of ICT across African schools.  read more »

Sierra Leone's international mobile gateway, which has been run as a monopoly to strengthen the national carrier, Sierratel, will be deregulated as the Africa Coast to Europe ACE fiber-optic project enters the implementation phase, according to government officials.  read more »

The Zambia Competition Commission (ZCC) has granted Vodacom Gateway Mauritius, owned by Vodafone U.K., final authorization for the 100 percent takeover of Africonnect Zambia.  read more »

The Africa Network Information Center, the regional Internet registry also known as AfriNIC, is moving ahead on a pilot project designed to give ISPs security measures along with IP address allocations.  read more »