All public schools in Rwanda are expected to join the information super-highway by the end of next year. Already, half of the primary and secondary schools have embraced the new technology, which has been given priority by the Government under its 2020 vision programme.

Out of 2,300 primary schools, 1,138 have at least one computer each, with 400 secondary schools fully equipped and 39 of them having wireless internet access.

The Rwandese Government has supplied the 400 schools with 4,000 desktop computers and 4,000 power units (UPS), in addition to training 2,000 teachers in basic computing.

– Daily Nation

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The WiMAX Forum, formed in 2001 is an initiative to promote wireless broadband interoperability. The wireless standard in question is a little different from the one you’re probably used to (802.11) which is used for regular Wi-Fi. WiMAX improves upon Wi-Fi’s two most glaring weaknesses – Range & Security.

WiMAX is one of the keys to bringing Africa back into the fold. The biggest barrier to broadband access in developing countries has always been that ‘last kilometre’ – from the telecom’s switching facility to the customers house. The cost of making it work is currently extremely inhibitive, and this is where WiMAX comes in. Ease of installation and deployment costs actually reduce the barriers to entry for smaller players… other than the telecom monopolies. WiMAX base stations are giving good coverage for up to 15KM distances or more which is phenomenal.

Currently, according to Intel’s former CEO and current chairman, WiMAX is undergoing 100 trials worldwide in preparing for its commercialisation.

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Celtel, founded by Sudanese Mohamed Ibrahim has grown to become one of Africa’s biggest mobile phone players. With the launching of their “One Network” in September, they have created the world’s first borderless mobile phone network - that allows customers to move freely across geographic borders without roaming call surcharges and without having to pay to receive incoming calls.

Safaricom feeling the heat, has also just announced its plans to go regional. I have a feeling we’re about to see a lot of interesting things happening in the very near future. Can anyone say ka-ching-ching!

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One look at the statistics is enough to tell you just how much money there is to be made in the African cellular market which is largely untapped:

• Global Mobile Users – 2 Billion
• African Mobile Users – 83 Million (4%)
• Expected 2006 Growth in Africa – 48 Million new subscribers
  (2006 Stats)

AFRICA and the Middle East are the two big new markets being targeted by the world’s cellular operators. Both are largely untapped, so cellular operators are prepared to pay over the odds for a foothold. This was evident in MTN’s past decision to pay a staggering $5,5bn to buy pan-African and Middle East player Investcom, while Celtel bid $1bn bid for a majority stake in Nigeria’s V-Mobile – Business Day (SA).

The race is definitely on.

UPDATE: 10/26/2006
Nigeria, with 140-million people, is the one country where growth appears almost limitless. Nigeria will surpass SA as Africa’s largest cellular market by next year with 43-million users, compared with an expected 39-million in SA. Even then only 32% of Nigerians would have a cell phone… – Business Day (SA).

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You’ve probably already heard of the $100 computer initiative, better known as ‘One Laptop Per Child,’ aimed at world’s poorest children living in the remotest places. The possibilities are limitless – consider this… the technology that has evolved in recent years has allowed third world countries to leap frog decades of development. People in the remotest regions of Africa can now communicate effortlessly via cell phones, and the once inaccessible land lines are now being rejuvinated by voice over IP. It is almost difficult to fathom what new developments internet access will bring for our continent.

As you can imagine, the logistics involved in such a project are scary. That magic number – $100 has been a hard target for its developers. The $100 machine will run the Linux OS on a 500MHz microprocessor from AMD, will be wireless broadband-ready, and contain 128Mb of DRAM and 500Mb of flash memory for storage. The only major component missing will be a big hard disk.

This project has had many critics though, but their argument that consumers in emerging markets want full-fledged computers are baseless because the people these computers are aimed for have never used (let alone seen) a full-featured PC before.

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Currently there are at least 386 versions of linux. On October 20th 2004 (exactly 2 years ago today), Ubuntu a new version was released by South African startup Canonical. Ubuntu, pronounced /ùbúntú/ (oo-BOON-too), is a sub-Saharan African ethic or ideology focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other.

Ubuntu, a free open-source operating system has become extremely popular with enthusiasts. One of its most popular uses has been with the desktop and not the server, as with most other linux distributions. Linux has had a hard time penetrating the desktop market for years because it hasn’t been exactly intuitive with its steep learning curve and somewhat challenging installation. Ubuntu changes all that.

I used Ubuntu desktop and to be perfectly honest, it wasn’t hard to notice its striking resemblance to Apple’s OS X. It is a very beautiful interface. That combined with the tons of open source software out there make for a potential threat to Microsoft and Apple. Ubuntu is not quite ready for the masses but you can count on it being a real thorn in the side to the more established companies.

UPDATE: DistroWatch.org the Linux version tracker ranks Ubuntu as the No. 1 Linux distribution where it has been for a little while now.

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“Kenya has a growing shortage of qualified telecommunication engineers.

Safaricom chief executive officer Michael Joseph said yesterday that the mobile phone operator has been forced to hire additional engineers from the United Kingdom and other parts of the world. Last year, they recruited 59 engineers and 71 others will be recruited this year.”

If you’re involved in Engineering, Telecommunications and Information Technology abroad and are interested in working in Kenya, you can send your resume/CV to kenyansabroad@safaricom.co.ke.

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