Author: Cyrus

The International Telecommunication Union has announced that  South Sudan has joined ITU to become its 193rd Member State, effective from 3 October 2011.  The country which gained its independence on 9 July, 2011 was recently awarded country code 211 which also went live on 28 September 2011.  This was possible after the country was recently recognised by the UN general assembly. “We are delighted to be able to welcome South Sudan as an ITU member state so soon after attaining full nationhood. The government of South Sudan clearly recognizes the importance of information and communication technology (ICT) as an engine of social…

CCK has released its quarterly report which among other figures details that more than 25 million people in Kenya are connected to mobile telecommunications services. Again according to CCK, communications penetration is at over 25.7 Million representing 64.2% of the total population. Pre-paid subscriptions stand at 99% of the total mobile subscriptions, with Safaricom and Telkom Kenya registering positive gains in new subscriptions as Airtel and YU recorded a decline in subscriptions. Mobile Money services subscribers declined from 17.4 Million to 17.3 million at the end of June 2011, with a total of Kshs 48billion deposits made through the service. Some Kshs104billion…

All the rumour-mongers can now cross check if they got it right or all wrong. The iPhone 4S has finally landed and it does not disappoint. The device packs a dual-core A5 processor, will support both CDMA and GSM and has Siri-enabled voice control. You can buy the phone in black or white as from October 14th. The device will be coming in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB configurations for $199, $299 and $399, respectively. Full press release; Apple Launches iPhone 4S, iOS 5 & iCloud iPhone 4S Features Dual-Core A5 Chip, All New Camera, Full 1080p HD Video Recording &…

Nigerian press was awash with reports that two BPO services providers to Airtel Nigeria had shut down their operations and sent over 4,000 workers home. The story was not adding up but vanguard and Business Week swallowed the bait. Now Spanco and Tech Mahindra who were the subjects of the messages being shared in the social media and Vanguard and Business Week report have come out to deny the allegations. The two companies have said they are working on a business model which will see them engage even more employees. Tech Mahindra and Spanco say that the contract between the…

Samsung looks to cement its relationship with African mobile application developers. The mobile phone manufacturer is inviting all mobile app developers to take part in this month’s Tech4Africa conference in Johannesburg and has made available 50 discounted tickets, representing a R4000 saving each, to facilitate their participation. Samsung is the Tech4Africa Ignite partner and has extended this offer in a bid to attract and help grow the local developer community, a key part of Samsung’s mobile business strategy. Ignite is an initiative that will allow African startups to pitch their products to a panel of angel investors, mentors and business…

I have just been sent some info about a “Kenyan Tablet Computer” and I thought, wow!! So I tried to get more info about the tablet including specs and everything and I am further impressed. So two Kenyans, Kelvin Jayanoris and Nicole Wambere, who are the brains behind Noris Technologies sat together more than one year ago and decided to do a tablet computer. So with the funding of their parents to the tune of Ksh 1.5 Million, the young man and woman have come up with Noris Kaboo tablet computer. The Kaboo tabled has been designed by Noris technologies…

KDN top management including those from the mother company, Altech, other Shareholders and local managers were out in full swing to re-assure key stakeholders and members of the public that all are alright at the major data carrier. The company has recently been in the news with rumours of mismanagement and a court case from a partner, Soliton Telemec. On Monday, KDN opened a new headquarter at Sameer Business Park along Mombasa Road. The new ultra-modern facility within the Sameer Business Park campus offers bigger working space which is more comfortable, eco-friendly and ready for future expansions. The top management…

Microsoft is reported to be planning a relaunch of Hotmail email service later today. The software is reported by WinRumours as planning to reveal the new look and features at two events, one in San Fransisco and the other in New York, today. Microsoft is said to be planning to reveal how the new Hotmail beats the competition. Microsoft has improved Hotmail considerably in the last year even blocking the use of common passwords by users. The company also introduced keyboard shortcuts and Yahoo and Gmail shortcuts to its mail service.

Garage48 has been running for the last two days which are almost coming to an end. In Nairobi, 10 startups have impressed and we are just waiting for the final announcements at 5pm today. Garage48 is a marathon 2 days forum where between 30 and 40 startups are chosen to pitch their ideas and improve them. The idea started in Estonia and has spread all over. Uganda and Ghana startups had their chance recently and this weekend Kenyans are having their chance. Every team or individual behind an idea is given a chance to put the idea on a wall…

A key Nokia East and Southern Africa has jumped ship and joined Google. Dorothy who has been both the face of the drive-by Nokia to fully conquer Kenyan market, as well as the face of Nokia’s blatant theft of young Kenyans’ innovation, is joining Google. Dorothy is said to be joining Google with his new assignment at the Google Kenya office commencing on Monday, 3rd October. Dorothy is joining Google as the Communication Manager, East Africa, which has been vacant for some time. The post which has been promptly removed from Google job portal had this job description. It was widely…

Mobile phone services operator Safaricom has announced an increase in voice call charges. The company has announced an increase of Ksh 1 on top of the current charges meaning than on-net calls will be charged at Ksh 4 and off-net will be at Ksh 5. There will be no increase on SMS, M-Pesa transfer rates and data but international calls will see an increase. Safaricom CEO, Bob Collymore,has said that though the mobile phone giant regrets the move, the development could not be postponed further because of inflation, increase in fuel cost and the Kenya shillings loosing value in the…

This post is by Hebron Mwakalinga of  Business Information Services  (www.bis.co.tz) I keep on remembering the old and the new adages that “In the past two things were certain in life, tax and death” the new adage is “three things are certain in life, internet, tax and death”. Despite all the odds I narrated sometime back about over dependency on digital there is no way we can escape from it. So I am back again. I had been experiencing difficulties sending out money and after several attempts I checked with few agents, three of them said it is a problem…

Woooo!!! The managers of the troubled KDN can now breathe easy. The Court of Appeal judges (Justices Githinji, Onyango Otieno and Visram) has suspended the Winding up case proceedings until when the Court of Appeal will hear and determine KDN’s application for stay of orders. This means that the High Court will not mention the case on 5th October as granted to Soliton. KDN is facing a few challenges including the rumours of sacking of entire senior management team and also this court case where it had been ordered to deposit Ksh 400 Million in a joint account with Soliton…

There are media reports that Altech had fired 8 senior management at KDN including the CEO. It seems that the media organisations picked the news from Moneyweb Online publication which quoted Altech CEO as saying that they will have a new CEO in Kenya by October 15th. Well, I have just spoken with Tim Ellis who is Altech who is Altech Group Executive in-charge of Converged Services. Tim says “Altech has not fired anyone in its East African regional operations or Kenya for that matter”. Tim says that the company is only reconstituting its management both in South Africa and…

Barclays Bank of Kenya has launched a new interface on its ATMs to deliver video. The new capabilities will see the bank deliver relevant promotions through its ATM network. If you visit any Barclays ATM now, you will see the dancing ATM which is just one such promotion. All the 230 plus ATM machines in the Barclays network have been upgraded to this capability. Nuru Mugambi, Barclays Kenya’s head of Corporate Communication says “This is basically like a move from DOS to Windows for the Banking Sector and Barclays clients should expect more” Techies in Kenya have complained that the…