Author: Cyrus

Tanzania mobile network operator, Vodacom has today introduced an offer that will see all M-pesa registered subscribers get free airtime for every M-pesa transaction, whether they are sending or receiving money. Vodacom Managing Director, Rene Meza announced a TShs 50 airtime bonus to both the sender and the receiver for every M-pesa transaction, adding that customers will be able to use the bonus airtime to make phone calls within the Vodacom network and send sms to any network nationally. Vodacom  launched the M-Pesa service in 2008, just a year after Kenyan launch but the client base stands at around 3…

According to South African auto magazine, CAR, Optimal Energy has announced that it will be shutting down its operations. The company which created Africa’s first electric car, Joule, and tested it in early 2011 has reportedly been suffering from lack of funding. The statement from the company reads: “Over the last few months, Optimal Energy Management and the Board, together with the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) and the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) have been working toward a revised strategy for Optimal Energy. This strategy would make use of existing intellectual property developed by Optimal Energy for the…

A former MTN Uganda official has sued the company over wrongful dismissal. Through the High Court in Kampala, Richard Mwami who formerly headed MTN Uganda’s Public Access and Mobile Money division, has attained summons requiring MTN Uganda to appear before the court and explain why he was dismissed. MTN Uganda sacked Richard in April over theft of up to $3.5 million (Ush 9 Billion) by manipulating of the mobile money suspense account. MTN accused Mwami of being “negligent in executing his functions, resulting in the loss of billions of shillings through a mobile money scam.” The fraud was detected by MTN’s business…

Safaricom has migrated its 3G billing to a Huawei Online Charging System (OCS). The company which formerly used a PCRF system has now deployed the Huawei system which brings with it few changes in the 3G pre-paid billing. The system will now allow Safaricom clients to buy multiple data bundles if they so wish. like when you buy a 25MB daily bundle and exhaust it before the day is over. You will not have to wait till the next day to make a buy. The system will also allow subscribers to renew bundles through services like Okoa jahazi and Bonga…

Apple seems to have availed the latest iPad to Kenyans. Both Personal Systems and Elite Digital (Apple product resellers in Nairobi) have sent out alerts today indicating that they have the new iPad in stock. The device is almost 100 USD expensive than if bought in USA with the cheapest version going for $585 against $499 in USA. The device will retail as follows New iPad Wi-Fi Only 16GB – $585 32GB – $700 64GB – $820 New iPad with 3G and Wi-Fi 16GB – $750 32GB – $850 64GB – $999 Contacts for Apple resellers in Nairobi and Mombasa …

During the 2012 Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the company will be rolling out its popular App Store to 32 additional countries, making the store available to a total of 155 countries. Apple has now activated the 32 additional countries in iTunes store country-selection page. Most of the 32 new countries are in Apple’s African and Asian markets, with the exception of Albania and Ukraine in Europe. The 32 countries activated today are: Albania, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Fiji, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Federated…

Vodacom Tanzania has announced new data bundles which will retail from as little as 250/- per day. Through a campaign dubbed Wajanja Internet Campaign, Vodacom will also look to have Facebook and Twitter freely available to data clients. According to the new data tariff, Vodacom internet consumers will get unlimited internet access for seven days at only Tsh 10,000 or 30 days at Tsh 30,000 at full speed. To purchase the bundles, one has to dial 14901# and to get the full listing of the internet services one should SMS the word Vodacom internet to 15300 for free.

Hong Kong-based mobile vendor Tecno Mobile is looking to assemble one of its smartphone units in Ethiopia. The mobile manufacturer is looking to assemble the upcoming Tecno T3 in Addis Ababa. The phone will be in shops by end of July and will retail at around $350. Speaking to Dephna who is the Tecno representative in Kenya, she said that the company has an assembly plant in Ethiopia and will look to assemble some of the units in the country after the T3. Tecno mobile entered Ethiopia in September 2011 and already has several phone models in the Ethiopian market, all…

An online payment solutions provider, 3G Direct Pay Ltd, has launched a recurrent payment solution in the Kenyan market. The new recurrent payment module is an addition to the company’s existing array of web-based e-commerce solution and end-to-end payments platforms. The module is targeted at merchants who wish to collect online payments directly from the customer debit/credit and/or pre paid card. Merchants like airlines will be able to collect payments from frequent flyers, internet service providers to collect monthly subscription fees and by any other merchant looking for easier ways to collect online recurrent payments.

Safaricom has started selling the Huawei Ascend Y100 in Nairobi. The IDEOS U8150 replacement goes for Ksh 8,449 and is bundled with a Ksh 1,000 in airtime, 7 days unlimited SMS and 1.5GB of free data bundle. The phone is available exclusively to Safaricom which is  has customised it with its UI and SIM-Locked it to the network. The device was launched in UK by O2 network in May. The phone comes with Android 2.3 GingerBread but is upgradeable to Android 4.0 ICS and has full access to the Google Play store. With an 800MHz processor, I see an upgrade…

Korean Air is suppose to launch flights to Nairobi from Thursday 21st June. The airline started by running adverts on TV and on web. One of the print advert, also available on the web, did not go down well with Kenyans. The advert called on prospective clients to take up the offer so that they could sample the “African Savannah, Safari Tour and indigenous people full of primitive energy.” Now this drew the wrath of Kenyans who have all morning vented their anger on this prompting the airline to apologize on Twitter. The Offending Advert Apology “Regarding our recent promotional…

After KBC through Signet announced that Nairobi is now well covered by the DVB-T2 signals, PanAfrican network trading as StarTimes Media has launched the second DVB-T2 signal. You know that the Kenyan pay TV market is very exploitative with South African owned Multichoice network charging as much as $100 for no unique offering but football and cartoons. Zuku entered the market in 2011 and is gaining the East African market. So last week, StartTimes launched its Kenyan operations. The digital TV provider which used to operate in 9 African countries made Kenya its 10th market. The company claims to have…

We heard the issue of Datalex. If you have not heard, Datalex was a Premium Rate Services Provider (PRSP) registered under Safaricom. Different networks have the service and can register providers. Datalex registered the 3839 short-code to provide job alert services through Safaricom. Network operators gain a lot from premium rate services. The revenue is always better than what they would get from SMS and other services. That is why network operators rarely control the premium rate services unless in situations like political messages which might ignite ethnic tensions and mass murder. The providers of the premium rate services always…

After posting the email from the former KDN employee, I sought the response of Altech Group CEO, Craig Venter. I got a response from Tim Ellis who is the Head of Converged Service and in-charge of Altech East Africa. Below is the email he sent to me. Dear Robert, In response to your request of 30 May for Altech to respond to the article on www.CIO.co.ke, we provided you with the Altech KDN (KDN) press statement of 30 May 2012. Subsequent to that you posted an unverified and unsigned letter, from a so-called KDN employee, on your blogsite, without providing…

A new legislation passed last month in Ethiopia outlaws Skype calls. The crime can now attract up to 15 years in jail according to Aljazeera. The law went unnoticed last month because of the restrictions the regime has on media and foreign correspondents. The authority in Ethiopia argue that the law is meant to enforce national security and harmony as well as protect the interests of the state corporation. Ethiopia has only one state-run and owned ISP, Ethio Telecom. The regime has a tight control over the internet with blogs and news outlets constantly filtered. Ethiopia’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has been…