Samsung has taken advantage of the growth telecommunication in West Africa and has joined the electronics competition by introduced several new stores in Nigeria.

The electronics company has made Lagos and Ibadan home to the new direct-to-market retail stores for the first time.

“This move is a demonstration of its commitment to ensuring that leading-edge, global mobile and personal computing devices remained accessible to Nigerians,” said Samsung.

The Samsung Experience Stores, as the company calls them, provide consumers with a way to experience and interact with Samsung smartphones, tablets, IT solutions, digital imaging devices, laptops and accessories.

“This brings the total number of Samsung retail outlets in the country to 13, with six in Lagos alone. Prominent gadgets on display at the stores include the recently launched Galaxy S4 smartphone, Galaxy Note 8.0 and Galaxy Tab 3, all of which come with a 24-month warranty,” the company added in an announcement of product availability to customers.

The Southern Africa country governments, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia are set to speed up mobile broadband in the region which is expected to create 3.2 million jobs for Sub-Saharan Africa by 2020.

Across Sub-Sahara Africa the mobile network today contributes 6.3 percent of GDP and could get to 8.2 percent by 2020 if well invested in. mobile accessibility as well will grow to an expected 93 percent of the region’s population by 2020, bringing mobile access to an additional 300 million citizens.

“The provision of universal broadband access is vital in driving economic growth and improving the quality of life in Botswana and across Southern Africa,” said Botswana’s Minister of Transport and Communication Nonofo E. Molefhi, “With greater coordination between regional governments and between the public and private sectors, mobile broadband can play a critical role in closing the digital divide.”

The ministers agreed to policies when signing a Communique, it included the creation of a mutual task force strengthening regional cooperation to support investment in mobile.

In the past few years, the health landscape across Africa has been embracing technology in terms of patient record management.

This has been a positive move as it has assisted medical practitioners, collect patient data through mobile devices in rural Africa. This means that the medical healthcare service is reaching those previously unreached.

This year’s InformationWeek 500 has recognized one such organization in Ghana, Sanford Health.

Sanford Health was recognized this year because of the development and implementation of electronic medical records (EMRs) at its clinic locations in Ghana, Africa.

Before the implementation of electronic medical records, existing processes were completely paper-based. The conversion to EMR reduced registration time and improved patient follow up.

“Bringing an EMR to these clinics immediately presented a multitude of technical and social challenges, and resolving these challenges required some creative efforts to assure success,” said Arlyn Broekhuis, Sanford Health’s chief information officer.

“Intensive work and everyone’s willingness made this project an incredible success. While our team is grateful for this recognition, the real winners with the project are our patients in Ghana.”

The annual InformationWeek 500 recognizes companies and organizations that use technology, strategies and investments in the use of information.

Xbox Music service can now work on Apple iOS and Android devices, thanks to the expansion made by the owner, Microsoft. Xbox will also be streaming for free on Xbox Music through the Web around the world. The service offers access to a 30 million-song global catalogue.

 “Xbox Music now, more than ever, powers music experiences between Windows 8, Xbox, Windows Phone, and now iOS, Android and the Web,” says Jerry Johnson, general manager of Xbox Music.

As of now the Xbox Music Pass offers unrestricted access to songs and artists with playback for $ 9.99 per month or $99.99 per year across tablets, PC, phone and Xbox console.

If a user wants to add a song to their collection on Xbox, they will also have that song on their iOS, Android or Windows 8 device.

Over the coming months Xbox will progress, as Microsoft is planning to add Radio to the free Web player.

Xbox Music will also grow on Windows 8 when it adds the anticipated new Web Playlist tool. The tool scans all the artists and music available on a given Web page and creates a custom playlist of all that music. Web Playlist along with Windows 8.1 will be released on Oct. 17.

In the coming months, additional updates for iOS and Android platforms will become available as well, including an offline mode that lets users save music to their device for playback without an Internet or data connection.

MTN Ghana, a provider of mobile network in the country, is running the third edition of its data awareness month which they called “iFest” as part of efforts to encourage the usage of internet.

This event was begun in September 2011 and occurs annually. The main aim for this is to increase awareness of the benefits of data and increasing data usage by subscribers.

This year, the main agenda is to educate customers on what MTN offers in terms of Data and device and also how professional bodies and other organizations can use the internet services to advance their courses.

The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Sereme Taukobong, celebrated MTN as the leading telecom company in the country and also that it has a significant role to play in improving access.

 “It is why we are focused on our new vision to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world to our customers” he said. According to Mr. Taukobong MTN Internet Festival(i-Fest) is critical and this year activities includes the Opera Mini Challenge and an Educational Drive on internet usagefor identifiable professionals such doctors, lawyers, teachers, bankers etc.

Adding to the celebratory comment of the CEO, the Chief Marketing Officer of the company, Rahul De, had this to say: “MTN is committed to offering simple, customer friendly data services and accessible devices to drive data penetration in the country. We are also committed to also encouraging data usage to increase productivity in all spheres of economic development throughout the iFest month celebration”.

iFest month is expected to last for the whole of September alongside lot of exciting packages for subscribers.

Internet penetration in Ghana is growing rapidly; it is currently at 17.11 percent in 2012 up from 14.11 percent. The growth rate of internet growth in the country sounds impressive, however, indications for the improvement in the increase in broadband penetration and data usage.

LTE will be active in Morocco by 2015, announced the new ANRT director  Azdine EL Mountassir Billar.

“The auction process would begin before the end of 2013, so that the license winners would be known for the start of the next year,” he said.

Earlier on in May, Mountassir Billar had addressed the subject saying that the auction process is unknown, because if it was to be followed it would  mean that the LTE roll out will be delayed. what’s more, IT experts believe that the LTE will help push the country forward and into the Internet age for all Moroccans and not only those in larger cities.

The mobile penetration in the country currently has surpassed the 100 percent mark and the demand for band width continues to increase.

International electronics manufacturing company, Sony has announced a new version of their handheld gaming system, the PlayStation Vita.

The company also pronounced that the new Wi-Fi only model, which they intend to make it available first in Japan by 10 October this year then spread around the world. The PlayStation Vista will be 15 percent lighter as it will weigh 219g, 20 percent thinner than what is already there and will feature an upgraded battery pack that will allow an extra one hour of battery life, meaning, it will have a total of six hours play-time.

The device will also have a MicroUSB charger and as well as 1GB onboard memory, and will be made available in yellow, pink, white, and grey, lime green and light blue colors. Moving with the technology times, Sony opted to change the Vita’s screen from LCD to a much more efficient OLED.

Sony revealed that users will now be able to buy a new storage size, a 64GB unit, which should retails for around $105

Sony announced a number of weeks ago that the Vita would receive a price drop on the current version, and should retain for around $199, while the 4GB memory cards are falling from $19.99 to $14.99; the 8GB from $29.99 to $19.99; the 16GB from $59.99 to $39.99; and the 32GB from $99.99 to $79.99.

In addition to the price drops on the current model, Sony also revealed that the current PS Vita model will be shipped with a new Play! Game Pack, which comes pre-installed with games and a memory card, as well as 90 days of PS Plus for free.

Vodafone Egypt has preferred Ericsson to install Ericsson Mobile Broadband Charging (MBC), a service that will grant up to 10 million users with an immense display of data options and more flexible on-demand subscriptions.

The MBC will allow mobile users to personalize both prepaid and postpaid data usage plans in real time. This solution, which is being integrated into the operator’s existing Ericsson Charging System, gives users the flexibility to utilize the best plan for their needs at any time. Already fully implemented for all Vodafone Egypt’s prepaid data users, the system will soon be rolled out for postpaid subscribers, with an estimated subscriber total of more than 10 million data users in 2014, and presents a model that may be of interest to mobile providers across the continent

The Head of Department at Vodafone Egypt, Abdelfattah Mabrouk said: “We always aim to provide our customers with innovative services that are personalized. Ericsson’s MBC allows us to do that on a whole new level, and provides superior capabilities for data charging. Mobile users do not want to be left without access to mobile data after they unknowingly reach their data limits. Ericsson’s innovative solution gives us the flexibility to offer consumers immediate top-ups without penalties.”

Egypt has an estimated 35.6 percent internet penetration, this means that, with a population of more than 80 million, about 29 million are active internet users.  

With the new business support solution (BSS), subscribers can buy daily service packages or data plans and to set up automatic bundle renewal upon exhaustion of an assigned quota or time. MBC provides an alert feature, which allows users to see the percentage of the current data plan that has been consumed, allowing them time to buy more data.

“Technology is now integrated into almost every aspect of our lives. In the transition to what we call the Networked Society, where everything is connected in real time, consumers are rapidly adopting smartphones and relying on them for everyday activities. MBC helps these subscribers to utilize data plans that suit their needs,” said Anders Lindblad, President of Ericsson, Region Middle East.

Frequency coordination discussions have finally agreed to setting up the mechanism to install digital television in 47 Sub-Saharan African countries.

The consolidation of national plans to implement the digital switchover in the African region is in agreement with the deadlines of June 2015 for UHF and June 2020 for VHF in 33 countries which is set in 2006 by ITU’s Regional Radiocommunication Conference (RRC-06), which adopted the GE06 TV Plan.

This landmark also makes Africa the first region to be in a position in 2015 to allocate bandwidth freed up by the transition to digital television – the so-called ‘digital dividend’ – to the mobile service for both the 700 MHz and 800 MHz bands. Decisions of the World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 (WRC-12) to facilitate availability of the digital dividend to the mobile service will be effective with some technical refinements immediately after the next World Radiocommunication Conference in 2015 (WRC-15).

ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré appreciated the high level of cooperation that had been shown to the process by African Telecommunications Union (ATU) and its Secretary-General, Mr Abdoulkarim Soumaila.

Mr François Rancy, Director of ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau, announced that sub-Saharan African countries have begun submitting official modifications to the GE06 Plan following the final frequency coordination meeting held in Nairobi, 17-19 July 2013 and the deadline of 31 August set for notifications.

“The objective was to enable African countries to allocate the digital dividend to mobile services in the band 694-862 MHz, as a regionally harmonized implementation of the decisions taken at the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2012,” Rancy said. “This objective was reached by re-planning the spectrum requirements of television broadcasting in the 470-694 MHz frequency band.”

The meeting in Nairobi organized jointly by ITU and the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) and hosted by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), attracted 124 participants from 35 Member States. It was the third and last overall coordination meeting of African countries, after similar meetings in Bamako (March 2011) and Kampala (April 2011) and a number of other bilateral and multilateral meetings held in 2011 and 2012.

The CSIR Meraka Institute in South Africa has launched a mobile application that allows users to receive information regarding the prediction, detection, monitoring and assessment of wild fires across Southern Africa.

This introduction was cartecy of the institute in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Environmental Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the South African National Space Agency. It is the mobile version of the CSIR’s Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS) and is available for both Apple iOS and Android devices.

 Research group leader for apps, Philip Frost, says the app provides fire managers, farmers and disaster personnel with a tool on their smart devices to receive information regarding wild fires in their areas.

 “Some of the main features include [showing] current wildfire locations detected by satellite, a five-day fire danger forecast for any location, and [showing] the number of days since the last fire at any location,” he said. 

The application shows very detailed information about detected fires, some of them including, intensity and time of detection is shown, as well as statistics such as fire count, frequency and time since last burn. It also allows for geo-tagged photo uploads of fires across the region and fire alert push notifications.

AFIS is a satellite-based fire information tool that provides near real-time fire information to users across the globe. The system utilizes information from various sources, including earth observation satellites and numerical weather prediction models to assist in fire management.

The CSIR first developed AFIS in partnership with Eskom, to allow the power utility’s management to respond quickly to fires under transmission lines, which could reduce damage and disruption to the power supply.

Fires cause approximately 20% of transmission line faults. Any fire that occurs within 5km from a transmission line in SA is automatically reported via SMS to Eskom’s national control centre and the relevant field staff in that region of the fire.

The mobile app is available free to all users with Apple iPhones and iPads and also Android devices.

Management at national managed ICT services provider Integr8 consider supporting business solutions integrator Business Connexion (BCX) in the roll-out of Citrix infrastructure to clients, as an ideal position.

Integr8IT’s technical service division was acquired by BCX in a landmark deal early in 2013.

BCX is a registered Citrix Systems integrator, which is part of the Citrix Solution Advisor network and the highest level a Citrix partner can achieve. Integr8 also has a proven track record in the integration and support of Citrix infrastructure, the partnership is expected to add measurable value to the market.

Citrix has also recently awarded Business Connexion with the exclusive status of Citrix Cloud Advisor.

Business Connexion has a team of highly skilled and experienced Citrix engineers and consultants, with more than a decade’s experience in designing, implementing and supporting enterprise Citrix environments.

Business Connexion has been honored with the Best Citrix Technical Competency for 2012 and as of now completing certification of an additional 40 engineers up to Citrix Certified Integration Architect (CCIA), the highest level of Citrix Certification. BCX Engineers are certified across all Citrix products.

Integr8 is the initiator and operator of the only South African based Nerve Centre®, a hub of technology, skill and process that is used to support and regulate the ICT environment of many of the country’s leading organizations.

Skills and the provision of access to Nerve Centre® is a value proposition that is exciting and adds practical value to BCX’s strategy to market explains

“There is certainly an increase in levels of adoption of this technology in the market,” says Robert Sussman, joint CEO of Integr8. “In addition to skills sets, Integr8 and BCX share a passion for the application of technology that makes a difference to businesses and helps decision makers derive value from investment in solutions to leverage off the cloud, off other key trends such as big data, big data analytics and data centre development and migration.”

The Integr8/ Business Connexion partnership is expected to meet an increasing market requirement for secure, reliable and quick service and support on Citrix infrastructure.