Author: Cyrus

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) ha today announced that the Mobile Termination Rates (MTR) are going to go back to the glide path which was agreed upon. The glide path was suspended in 2011 after Safaricom and Orange Kenya appealed to the President to suspend the implementation of the same. CCK has therefore lowered the MTR to Sh1.44 from the current Sh2.21 and backdated it to July 2012. This means that the operatrs will enjoy only a four month reprieve and not the 16 months which were wasted during the suspension of the MTR glide path. Two mobile operators, Essar Telecom…

Safaricom is planning to further its goal of financial inclusion by launching a mobile money based credit scheme. The mobile services provider will be launching a service called M-Shwari which, from the explanations, look like a replacement to M-Kesho (done in partnership with Equity Bank). According to an insider at Safaricom, “M-Shwari is an enhancement of M-Kesho.” The service  is not only a credit scheme but also a savings scheme according to an insider at Safaricom. The service is a partnership between Safaricom and CBA where users will save a minimum of Ksh 10 to be able to enjoy credit…

Japanese Electronics company Sharp has made an entry into the Kenyan market for the second time by  launching the first commercially available 80-inch LED TV and its latest Double French Refrigerator. Sharp General Manager for Middle East FZE Tagami Yasuharu said these products are targeted at the Kenyan luxury lifestyle market. Sharp which is celebrating 100 years of existence this yea, is launching in the Kenyan market after a lull for some duration. At the launch event, the company revealed that it is looking to grow its electronics market share to 20 percent by 2014 from the current less 5…

9th February started just as every other normal day for me. I had just come from town after visiting one of the editors in a media house and also after attending the Samsung Galaxy Note launch at Crowne Plaza. I hitched a ride to town together with close to 10 other journalists. I had an appointment with David Kobia of Mashada at noon at iHub. I knew that there was going to be a Nokia event at iHub from 2pm to 3pm and so I wanted to go, finish with David and go see one of my clients in Westlands.…

Safaricom today hosted, Hailemariam Desalegn, The Prime Minister of Ethiopia  and showcased its products and services  well as best practices in  the telecommunications sector. The Ethiopian premier’s visit to Safaricom was part of a two day official visit to Kenya where he called on select institutions to gain a first-hand perspective on the operations of leading companies. During the tour of Safaricom the Prime Mister said: “We would like learn and see greater partnerships between Safaricom and Ethiopia as we work to grow our ICT sector. Safaricom’s success especially in the field of innovation and in M-PESA has placed Kenya…

A 16-year old boy from Sierra Leone who created batteries and generators using  acid, soda, and metal parts he scavenged from trash bins is drawing admiration among experts in the U.S. Doe is using his inventions to light-up  his neighbourhood. Kelvin Doe has became “the youngest person in history” to be invited to the “Visiting Practitioner’s Program” at MIT. Doe who calls himself “DJ Focus” has also managed to build a community radio station where he broadcasts news and plays music. He built the generator powering the radio station from an old voltage stabilizer trashed in cans. httpv://youtu.be/XOLOLrUBRBY Kelvin’s engineering prowess was…

India’s Vodafone and ICICI Bank have reportedly entered into an alliance to launch the ground-breaking mobile money transfer service, M-Pesa, in the Asian economic powerhouse by year-end. According to India’s Economic Times publication, “the service will be launched through Mobile Commerce Solutions, a Vodafone India subsidiary, and ICICI Bank. It would comprise a mobile money account with ICICI Bank and a Mobile Wallet issued by MCSL.” The revelations were made by Vodafone India CEO Marten Pieters and ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar. This is the first time the service will be launched in India. The service is being used in Afghanistan. M-Pesa enables subscribers to…

Pan-African satellite pay-TV provider, Multichoice, is expected to launch an internet connected decoder by end of the first quarter of 2013, according to My Broadband. Quoting Aletta Alberts, Head of Content at MultiChoice, the South African online publication reports that the Multichoice honcho was responding to “a panel discussion about whether they are planning to launch an on-demand service or something close to Apple’s iTunes.” Alberts is further quoted as saying that the decoder “will increase capacity for DStv’s “Catch Up” content from 20 hours to 175 hours.”

MITSUMI IT Distribution has concluded its GITEX debut which run from October 14 – 18, 2012 at Dubai World Trade Centre. GITEX is the ICT business gateway to the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region. For the very first time, MITSUMI has exhibited its product portfolio from renowned global vendor partners like HP, Dell, Acer, Toshiba, Lenovo, Samsung, Microsoft, Western Digital, BenQ and Tripplite at the prestigious event. GITEX rallying theme for 2012 was “Africa in Focus”. Numerous delegations from Algeria, Kenya, Libya, Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tunisia have visited MITSUMI stand and have…

Kenyan new media focused company, African Laughter, has today unveiled a social media monitoring report service, Repute Daily Report, to enable companies already subscribed to its press release distribution service (PRAlerts) to monitor media reporting and social media comments on any named client or brand. The company aim to help staff charged with building corporate reputations to identify quality control or customer care problems that may sometimes go unnoticed. Ms.Jenny Luesby, Managing Director of African Laughter Ltd said; “The service generates a detailed report of the client’s or brand’s online activity, the sentiment-from positive to negative, the ratio of Facebook…

Huawei Technologies has launched an ICT education program that is hopped to foster ICT development and ICT talent training in Tanzania. This program will be in partnership with the government of Tanzania, and it will work with students starting from primary to university level. The program will be known as “Huawei ICT Star program for Tanzania education”. It will support primary & secondary schools as well as universities, to develop ICT interests, which will contribute to the development of ICT industry in Tanzania For primary and secondary schools, the program will contribute in improving the learning infrastructures that gives a better learning…

Safaricom has tonight presented Kshs 1 million to Gerald Kibugi as the overall winner in the recently concluded Appstar Challenge. Gerald won for his game “Tough Jungle” while Gilbert Rono’s Education App dubbed “Eureka” took the runners-up position. In addition to winning the prize kitty of Shs. 1 million and Shs. 500,000 respectively, the two will present their Apps at the Vodafone Innovation Apps Challenge in South Africa, where they will compete with the developers of the best two Apps from Tanzania, Lesotho, South Africa, Egypt and Qatar. Commenting on the challenge, Safaricom’s Executive Business Analyst Nicholas Mulila said, “Kenya…

Kenya’s daily deals website, Rupu, has sent out an invite to the subscribers on its mailing lists. The invite asks the subscribers to register for the scoop on the launch of Rupushops which will be a virtual shop for computers, shoes, phones and clothes. The Rupushop will have its own URL on www.rupushops.co.ke. Rupu promises to launch the platform soon and also do 24/7 delivery. The payment for the products will be handled by Pesapal. Daily deals business is still nascent in the region and we don’t know how much Rupu makes

Sony has finally decided to give the East and Central Africa market a strong focus. The electronics giant is making Kenya the headquarter of its East and Central Africa as well as some Indian Ocean islands’ operations. The company launched a refreshed series of laptops at an event last night in Nairobi. The new laptops which are from the VAIO S and VAIO E Series are the company’s indication that they are going to be a major player in the local computer market. The two series of laptops can serve both the home and office user as well as provide…

MultiChoice Kenya has announced an offer for DStv subscribers in the wake of the festive season. Effective today, the Pay-TV provider will be offering a 10% special off subscription rates to interested subscribers who make payments before their subscription expires. This means that each month a subscriber pays ahead of the service expiration, they get a 10% rebate on the subsequent month’s payment and this continues as long as the circle is unbroken. For subscribers who take advantage of the special offer, the 10% discount translates to KSh 6,192 from KSh 6,880 (KSh 688 less than the normal rate) for…