The year of 1984 was the starting date for the modern history of telecommunications. It saw the introduction of competition into the US market and privatisation in the UK with the divestiture by AT&T of seven regional Bell operating companies (the Baby Bells), the privatisation of British Telecom as a public limited company and the establishment of the British Regulator, Oftel.1
The same year also saw the publication of the report of the ITU’s Maitland Commission (“The Missing Link”), which firmly established for the first time the link between access to telecommunications and development, and drew attention to the benefits networks could deliver to emergency operations, social services, administration and commerce.
Thus began two decades of parallel and sometimes intersecting work on telecommunications reform and communications for development programmes, culminating in December 2003 with the World Summit on the Information Society held in Geneva. WSIS is a test of whether the telecommunications revolution can meet the twin demands of liberalisation and public service and reconcile the interests of big business, governments and civil society.
This page collects news, information, resources, events, and the names
of organisations working in Telecommunications. Recommended reading will
automatically appear on this page and is marked with a star.
Browse theme by site section (eg news, information,
organisations) Click on a site section from the green bar above.
Browse by theme and country Select the country you want from the
countries list
To leave 'Themes' Click on 'Home' or 'All themes' or click the
site section of your choice twice.
On Telecommunications in the APC Monitor
View all news on Telecommunications
 KENYA: Nokia tackles e-waste 
21/01/2008 (eWasteguide.info) --
Leading mobile phone handset maker, Nokia, has announced it will set up waste dumping centres across East Africa to reprocess old mobile phone waste, including batteries.
|
SOUTH AFRICA: Shuttleworth launches telecoms advocacy focus
04/03/2008 () --
Improving access to telecommunications in South Africa is as much a policy challenge and it is a technical challenge. This is according to The Shuttleworth Foundation’s Steve Song who was speaking at the launch of the foundation’s four new focus areas, one of them being telecoms. Song said there are three key areas of telecommunications focus for the foundation: the democratisation of telecommunications, connected cities and policy issues.
|
KENYA: Infrastructure merchants get go ahead
24/04/2008 (Computerworld Africa) --
Faced with rising infrastructure costs, the Kenyan government is set to issue licences to companies dedicated to building telecom infrastructure. The move is expected to lower the infrastructure costs for telecom operators - especially new entrants.
|
KENYA: Competition could lower mobile costs in Kenya
09/06/2008 (Computerworld Africa) --
Kenyan mobile-phone users are hoping the market entry of a new provider, Econet Wireless, will offer competition and lower the prices of phone calls. The current GSM [Global System for Mobile Communications] service providers, Safaricom and Celtel, are demonstrating duopolistic tendencies, with each refusing to lower cross-network call charges. Calls within the networks remain relatively cheap compared to calls from one network to the other.
|
SOUTH AFRICA: Industry furious after blunder over Telkom
02/07/2008 (mybroadband.co.za) --
Telkom SA has avoided a punishing R3,7 billion fine for anticompetitive behaviour after a high court ruled that the Competition Commission cannot refer a complaint against the operator to the Competition Tribunal.
|
SOUTH AFRICA: Internet providers lose out on licences
07/07/2008 (mybroadband.co.za) --
Technology companies hoping to win a licence to build their own voice and data networks have been snubbed by the regulatory authority - they will still be forced to lease their bandwidth from the incumbent telecoms operators.
|
South Africa: Court rules on free networks
02/09/2008 (The Weekender) --
A landmark ruling set to shake up the telecommunications sector has been issued by a South African high court. The ruling effectively ends the incumbent Telkom’s lingering monopoly by decreeing that technology company Altech has the right to build its own network.
|
South Africa: Mobile penetration increases steadily
17/02/2009 (MyBroadband.co.za) --
Cellphone penetration in South Africa has gone up, but average spending has continued to dwindle as a result of various pressures on consumers. According to the latest figures from the South African Advertising Research Foundation, 67% of adults in the country have cellphones. This was up from the previous survey, which showed that 60.5% of South Africa had cellphones.
|
South Africa: Icasa delays mobile TV policy
26/02/2009 (MyBroadband.co.za) --
The Independent Communications Authority (Icasa) unexpectedly withdrew an invitation to apply for mobile TV licences recently.
|
See all documents on Telecommunications
No information found
South Africa: Life after Vodacom
03/03/2009 --
What does the future hold for Telkom once it sheds its stake in Vodacom? Business Day's Leslie Stones investigates.
|
Telkom competitors now have licences, but will they compete?
03/03/2009 --
After months of legal wrangling and delays, over 400 value added network service providers (VANS) now have electronic communications network service licences in hand. This means these companies have virtually the same rights as incumbent Telkom: they can build networks as they choose. The irony is that VANS effectively now have the same rights as Neotel, which paid R100m for its licence. But will they compete?
|
South Africa: Local telecom costs slammed again
24/07/2008 --
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently released its African Economic Outlook report, and it is not particularly complimentary towards the South African telecoms market or Telkom.
|
|
APC.org
> ICT policy
> Africa
> Country/Theme Home
The Africa ICT Policy Monitor is an initiative of the 
and
