Via PR:The African Innovation Foundation (AIF) has announced the call for entries for the 2014 Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) to award to entrepreneurs and innovators who deliver market-oriented solutions for African development.

The prestigious Prize, presented annually since 2012, aims at encouraging innovations that contribute to sustainable development in Africa. The winning submission will be awarded a prize of USD 100’000, with two additional USD 25 000, one for the runner up with an innovation with the best business potential and the other one for the runner up with the innovation with the best social impact.

In an effort to drive African-led development, the IPA invites African entrepreneurs and innovators to propose projects that unlock new African potential under one of five categories which include: 1) agriculture and agribusiness; 2) environment, energy and water; 3) health and wellbeing; 4) ICT applications; and 5) manufacturing and services industries.

“The IPA team believes that the best way to build Africa’s capacity is to invest in local innovation and entrepreneurship.  This prize encourages Africans to develop creative ways to overcome everyday challenges,” said AIF founder Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais.

The IPA 2013 was awarded to South Africa’s AgriProtein for its innovative approach to nutrient recycling – a method that uses waste and fly larvae to produce natural animal feed.  The 2013 prize also recognized two additional winners for their contributions to African innovation.

In the business potential category, Hassine Labaied and Anis Aouini from Saphon Energy (Tunisia) received USD 25 000 for creating a bladeless wind convertor.

Social impact category, Sanoussi Diakite (Senegal) received USD 25 000 for developing and distributing a thermal powered machine that husks 5 kilograms of fonio – an important and healthy West African cereal – in just 8 minutes.  This innovation increases accessibility to a nutritious African staple food source and addresses challenges associated with its consumption.

With more than 1350 applications received to date, the IPA aims to support Africans’ efforts to develop new products, increase efficiency and drive cost-savings on the continent. The IPA also provides a platform for African innovators to showcase their solutions to potential investors and seek partners to scale up their marketable concepts. Only innovations by Africans and for Africans are eligible to enter. Africans in the Diaspora can also apply if their innovations are of significance to Africa.

The registration deadline for the 2014 prize has been set for 31 October 2013. For detailed information of competition categories, conditions of entry, and submission procedures, please visit www.innovationprizeforafrica.org and review the detailed call for application prior to applying.

Connect Africa has officially opened office in Lusaka; this has created a platform for a roll-out services across the region. Connect Africa is Zambia’s pioneering rural telecommunications equipment and Solutions Company.

Connect Africa has chosen Zambia as its hub, which it plans to use as the facilitator from which to launch its low-cost entrepreneur-driven information and communications technology (ICT) services to rural communities across southern Africa.

“Connect Africa is pioneering a new model of service delivery that puts rural people in control of their communications needs,” explained Connect Africa Special Projects Director Dion Jerling. “We see Zambia as the leading example of how state-of-the art technology can be harnessed to connect remote communities to the mobile phone network, empowering them to develop their livelihoods as a result.”

Connect Africa links Africa’s entrepreneurial spirit and recent innovations in GSM technology infrastructure to enable rural people and rural communities across Africa to improve their quality of life and economic well-being.

With education, agriculture and health services and other services given by both public and private sector to rural communities, will boosted by the new connectivity. This, combined with the Connect Africa Service Centre concept, will create jobs and enhance rural communities as well as providing a tool for government to gather feedback on the effectiveness of its services.

The strategy is part of Connect Africa’s “impact enterprise” model that aims to influence innovative communication technologies for socio-economic development across Africa and beyond.

The crucial elements to the model are service centers at each base station, run by local entrepreneurs who are able to provide services such as internet access, phone charging and business services to the community.

The low-cost base stations also keep capital costs to a minimum, enabling construction to be funded through a revenue-sharing model based on income generation.

Safaricom, Kenya’s leading mobile service provider will have to pay KSH 2.36 billion (USD27million) for operating license renewal which is to take them for 10 years, as their current 15 year license is set to expire on June 2014.

The communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) declared that the renewal will depend on the operator paying the renewal fee upfront and meeting the set minimum quality of service standards by June 2014.

The CCK Director General Francis Wangusi explained that the new license would come with a set of new license terms and conditions which will be negotiated between the regulator and the mobile operator.

“The license renewal fee of US$27 million is based on the bid price offered for the third GSM mobile license by the latest entrant to the mobile telecoms market in Kenya -Econet Wireless Kenya Ltd (now Essar Telecom Kenya Ltd),” said Mr. Wangusi.

Wangusi also said that while Safaricom has significantly contributed to the economy, developed innovative products and services and met most of its license obligations, the mobile operator needs to up its game with regards to meeting the set quality of service standards.

‘‘We have  considered the fact that whereas Safaricom has met most of its license obligations, its continued failure to meet the set Quality of Service standards remains a concern that needs to be addressed,’’ said Wangusi.

He continued to say that the three other mobile operators would pay the same amount when renewing their licenses for a further term of 10 years to ensure parity and a level playing ground for all service providers in the sector.

At the same time, the Director General said the spectrum assigned to the four mobile operators will be subjected to an auction after the expiry of the 10-year renewal term. 

World Remit money transfer will now be accessible all over the world using Teleclm’s Zaan service mobile banking.

The manager, World Remit Country, Ms Suad Yusuf Odowa confirmed this saying that the amount that one could send ranged between USD 1- 2500.

“We are very pleased to announce that it is now possible for our clients in the various countries of the world to send $1-$2,500 directly from their homes, offices etc. to recipients in somaliland” Said Odowa

The manage believed that the new direct online money transfer service will be a direct method to users of the Telesom Company operated Zaad mobile money Service and shall be made through the HomeSend platform operated by Telesome company through its agreement with eServGlobal.

Suad Odowa further stated that her company was inspired into this venture after realizing that most recipients were based in rural areas and waste time in travelling to towns to collect remittance.

While the HomeSend service is available in over 100 countries thus 100 different currencies in Use the world Remit and Zaad Service have made arrangements for the ease of conversion of these diverse currencies at the standing rates of the day of transfer.

The Somaliland Zaad Service Mobile money Transfer (Gsm) service which is acknowledge as among the best in the world works similar with MPESA-Kenya, Gcash –Philippines, Smart-Philippines, Easy paisa –Pakistan,Eco Cash-Zimbabwe and Mtn-Ghana.

On its part the World Bank’s Global Financial Inclusion Database (Findex) which identified Somaliland as one of the most attractive mobile money markets with 26% of the population reported using mobiles to pay bills, which is the highest rate in the world, and 32% to send and receive money says that Most of this mobile money activity has been driven by Telesom ZAAD.

South Africans will now be paying an assessed amount of R5.2 billion to government’s smart ID card roll-out. In accordance to the latest statistics, there are 52.98 million people in south Africa  of which 29.2 percent are 15 years of age and younger, this means that the country has 37.5 million  with an ID.EACH OF them will have to pay R140 to apply for a new smart card.

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) said that 16-years-olds who are first time applicants will get their smart ID’s for free, while all other applicants will be expected to pay R140. The communication deputy, DG Vusi Mkhize, said that this amount is equivalent to the old green ID book.

Earlier in May, home affairs minister Naledi Pandor said in her budget vote that the smart ID card will form part of an overall IT modernization programme, for which more than R348 million had been allocated in this financial year, up from the R214 million for last year.

Later on, The DHA granted a R40 million deal to Altech Card Solutions to provide the Government Printing Works with card personalization equipment, while a contract estimated to be worth R199 million was awarded to Gemalto Southern Africa to supply pre-printed polycarbonate cards, containing a contactless microchip.

Manny de Freitas, DA shadow minister of home affairs asserts government should be distributing the first smart ID cards for free to all South Africans, seeing as this is an entirely new system and having an ID document is mandatory, but notes that there has been a budget limitation that cannot favor his preference.

“There is no way the ministry will be able to afford to issue the [smart ID] card to millions of people. That’s the bottom line; they won’t have the budget for it,” says De Freitas.

The home affairs minister also said that a system where citizens can apply for free will be availed as long as they can prove they cannot afford it.

Roll-out to the general public will start with first-time identity document applicants and senior citizens.

The ongoing focus by businesses on security and the integration of systems to better protect resources is driving adoption of biometric technology across the African and Southern African market.

Experienced professionals in this high-growth marketplace suggest as the demand for Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions increase (fuelled by the cost saving element and the replacement of older card-based installations), so too will the opportunities to make volume for service providers – along with the pressure to perform.

Guenter Nerlich, Founder and Managing Director, AWM360 Data Systems, says there is great potential for companies and corporations to save on payroll and other HCM-related costs.

“When we speak of credible biometric solutions, we immediately identify factors such as automation, accuracy, speed and convergence. These are elements that will enhance HCM and workforce management in business. Cost-saving is associated with this technology because of the reduction in pressure on resources, a more streamlined, efficient and more productive way of managing resources. There is opportunity, but service providers will have to know what they are doing,” he says.

AWM360 Data Systems was started in 2010 and is an established business technology partner and solution provider within the Southern African HCM and Workforce Management Solutions markets.

The company is focused on emerging and established businesses that require service and support in order to leverage off innovative and state-of-the-art Access-, Workforce Management- and Enterprise Data Collection solutions.

Guenter and his team compete at the forefront of biometric solution development and implementation, particularly that which effects Time & Attendance and Access Control.

Numerous providers have accepted the challenge to provide hardware and software solutions to these markets and there is a great range of products being introduced in order to secure a portion of the market and capitalise on growth.

“There are a variety of biometric-based solutions available, which cover the entire spectrum of the market – from lower-end, security-minded to the full security-conscious user or company. Most effective and sustainable solutions are of higher quality and allow for deeper integration into existing ERP solutions,” he adds.

AWM360 Data Systems is a provider of such solutions and has implemented successfully in the retail industry as well as in mining

Microsoft Saturday launched a “white spaces” technology pilot project in rural Limpopo in a move aimed at delivering high-speed and affordable broadband to underserved communities.

According to Microsoft, the focus of the pilot will be to prove that TV white spaces can be used to meet the South African government’s goals of providing low-cost access for a majority of South Africans by 2020.

The pilot is a joint effort between Microsoft, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the University of Limpopo and the local network builder Multisource. It will use TV white spaces and solar-powered base stations to provide low-cost wireless broadband access to five secondary schools in remote parts of the Limpopo province.

The project will use the University of Limpopo as a hub for a white space network deployment that will provide nearby schools in local communities with wireless connectivity. The project will also provide each of the five schools with Windows tablets, projectors, teacher laptops and training, education-related content, solar panels for device charging where there is no access to electricity, and other support.

Launching the pilot project at the start of the National Science Week in Polokwane, Microsoft SA managing director Mteto Nyati said the project was initiated as part of Microsoft’s 4Afrika Initiative, which aims to provide access, skills development and innovation opportunities to young people and entrepreneurs across the continent.

“Technology holds enormous potential for many aspects of development, but is particularly key to areas like education and healthcare. Broadband Internet access is therefore crucial to giving learners the 21^st century skills they need to find jobs and participate in the economy,” said Nyati.

“However, affordability remains a formidable barrier to broadband access in many parts of South Africa. Reducing the cost of broadband access will mean millions more South Africans will get online. This will create new opportunities for education, healthcare, commerce and the delivery of government services across the country.”

Microsoft white space pilots in Kenya and Tanzania have proven that white spaces technology is a viable solution for high-speed access in rural areas, even those not attached to the national power grid.

Science and Technology Minister Derek Hanekom welcomed the launch of the pilot, saying global experience showed that access to broadband networks could provide greater economic development and education opportunities in rural areas.

“We see a truly connected future in which all of South Africa’s major cities, towns and villages will be connected to affordable internet, thereby facilitating the country’s mass entry into the knowledge and information economy,” said Minister Hanekom.

Nyati said that through a combination of connected classrooms, devices and relevant services, “anywhere, anytime” learning would provide a range of benefits for students, teachers and administration of education, including:

·        The development of 21st century skills for employability;

·        Improved education outcomes through better access to resources and learning opportunities;

·        Personalised learning for learners;

·        Teacher professional development opportunities and access to other teachers across South Africa and globally, and

·        Improved administration and management of education.

Microsoft’s efforts to increase access to affordable broadband services using white space technology have spanned the globe, including pilots completed or underway in Kenya, Tanzania, the UK, Singapore and in the Philippines. In addition to these on-the-ground deployments, Microsoft is advocating for laws and regulations that promote more efficient and effective spectrum utilisation as a member of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, a global organisation launched in Singapore last month.

The core goal of the 4Afrika Initiative is to accelerate economic development for Africa, and the value combination of access plus devices and services is core to Microsoft’s white spaces efforts in Africa. It is this combination which the company believes will create real value for the communities in which this technology is deployed.

“Microsoft has always been driven by the promise to help democratise access to technology for the world, and our work on white spaces is one way we’re delivering on that promise for people in even the most remote locations,” said Paul Garnett, director at Microsoft’s Technology Policy Group. “This creates opportunities to partner with governments throughout the world to address the needs of underserved communities through innovative technologies and adopt forward-looking regulation that allows for more efficient use of spectrum, and for the benefit of all.”

South African music lovers are in for great times ahead after South African music retailer Look & Listen announced it will re-launch its digital music store five months after it halted online purchases on the platform.
Look& Listen new service will be launched in partnership with Mondia Media, a technology solution provider and music content aggregator.

Look&Listen February this year said it would no longer offer the option to purchase online. However, its recent collaboration with Mondia Media to re-launch their digital music store that will offer SA Music fans the best of local and international hits, as well as a vast choice for independent music and back catalogue tracks”.
Howard Lazarus, Chairman of Look & Listen said, “Look & Listen is proud to announce it is working with Mondia Media in a joint venture to bring a new digital music solution to South Africa.”
“The solution is based on Mondia’s innovative approach and international support network that will allow South Africans to legally download high quality MP3’s as well as full albums directly to their mobile phones.”
And in 2012 Mondia launched an ad-funded music service for Samsung in SA, Kenya and Nigeria. It also collaborated with the launch of Mxit Music.
Mondia Media also noted that it has engaged with over 700 artists, aggregators and labels, “building one of the largest catalogues of high quality digital music products in Africa”.

Oracle Database 12c is the next-generation database designed to meet and transform business and improve organizations’ overall operational agility and effectiveness.

By plugging into the cloud with Oracle Database 12c, customers can improve the quality and performance of applications, save time with maximum availability architecture and storage management and simplify database consolidation by managing hundreds of databases as one.

“The innovations in Oracle Database 12c were developed with our customers’ cloud requirements very much in mind,” said Andrew Mendelson, the senior vice president, database server technologies, Oracle.

Oracle Database 12 introduces a new multitenant architecture that simplifies the process of consolidating databases onto the cloud; enable customers to manage many databases as one- without changing their applications.

“The new multitenant architecture makes it easier for customers to consolidate their databases and securely manage many as one. It also offers customers other capabilities for cloud computing such as simplified provisioning, cloning and resource prioritization without resorting to major application changing,” added Mendelsohn.

The database can greatly benefit customers deploying private database clouds and software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors looking for the power of Oracle Database in secure multitenant model.

It introduces 500 additional features and is the result of 2500 person-years of development and 1.2 million hours of testing, plus an extensive beta program with Oracle’s customers and partners.

The multitenant architecture provides virtually instantaneous provisioning and cloning of database test and development clouds.

Oracle database 12c includes more security innovations than any other previous Oracle database release; helping customers address evolving threats and stringent privacy regulations.

Google has introduced a social-gaming app for Android which connects Google Play with Google+. The site lets users shop for games and play games all while socializing this behavior with Google+ friends.

The users of Google+ can look through the games their friends are playing and follow their status achievements within different games, as they share their own play status.

The company first announced the platform at its IO conference earlier this year. The site which was to start yesterday is designed to work hand in hand with Google’s recently launched Google Play Games Services.

While a lot of this functionality was already available inside individual games, the Google Play Games app brings all the social gaming features under a single place and gives its background service a user facing interface.

The app is similar to Apple’s Game Center app and service that also offers similar features. Besides Apple, Amazon also offers a similar service called GameCircle, while Microsoft offers the Xbox Live social gaming services. It can be downloaded via the Google Play Store.

The number of game which are supporting Google’s service is not known but the company said that ‘hundreds’ of games were offering this features and that millions of people were playing these games.

When the service was first announced, Google said that the service would also bring Cloud saves that provide a simple and streamlined storage API to store game saves and settings, to sync game levels and Real-time multiplayer functionality for easy addition of cooperative or competitive game play on Android devices through Google+ Circles. It had made Google Play game services available through an SDK for Android, and a native iOS SDK for iPhone and iPad games.

Owner of the world’s leading search engine, Google Inc. (GOOG) has unveiled a device that sends YouTube and Netflix Inc. (NFLX) videos from phones, tablets and laptops to televisions, bolstering competition with Apple Inc. (AAPL)

The device, which they named Chromecast, looks like a USB stick and costs USD 35. It is plugged into a TV’s HDMI input and it wirelessly syncs video being watched on a customer’s mobile devices and TV. the customer will control online videos without having the remote control.

The Chromecast works with Android devices as well as Apple’s iPhone and also enable users to continue using other phone for other activities while streaming.

Pichai said the device will also work with Pandora Media Inc. (P)’s music-streaming service and other content partners in the future. It goes on sale today through Amazon.com Inc.

“Of course people would want to watch YouTube and Netflix on the device with the biggest screen, but the user experience on the TV has been so difficult,” said Rishi Chandra, a director of product management at the Mountain View, California-based company, in an interview after the event. “If you have to stop using your phone just to watch something on TV, it’s not a viable solution.”

The announcement of Chromecast came after Google introduced an updated Nexus 7 tablet, which has a sharper screen and is being made in partnership with Taiwan’s Asustek Computer Inc. (2357) in tablets, devices running Android software have been gaining share versus Apple’s iPad.

The transformation into televisions was as a result of previous unsuccessful efforts for Google, including a media-streaming device called Q that never shipped due to poor initial feedback, and the Google TV set-top box that has lagged the competition.

Google Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai said in an interview that the company would continue pushing Google TV, which turns TV into an Android device capable of playing apps and other content.

While Africa has 13.4 per cent of the entire world population statistics show it produces only 1.1 per cent of world scientific knowledge and most of them end up working in developed economies because of better pay, greater infrastructure among others.

However, in a move expected to up Africa’s science and technology and innovation the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Wednesday, July 24 approved an African Development Fund (ADF) grant of US $ 45 million to support the creation of a Pan African University (PAU).

The AfDB says the pan African university will have five Pan African Institutes in East, West, Central, North and Southern Africa which will focus mainly on science, technology and innovation.

According to said Agnes Soucat, Director of the Human Development Department, AfDB, “Thousands of students all over Africa will benefit from this project. This is truly an amazing regional effort to help African universities achieve world-class status. It will increase the pool of African scientists and researchers not only to serve the needs of the continent but to help youth become competitive in international labour markets,”

It’s not that there are no universities in Africa but the problem is quality. The best African university ranks 113th globally and of the top 400 universities worldwide, only four are in Africa, an are luckily or unluckily all in the Republic of South Africa.

Using established academic networks of already existing post-graduate and research institutions the PAU will offer Basic sciences, technology and innovation in East Africa,    Earth and life sciences including health and agriculture in West Africa, Governance, humanities and social sciences in Central Africa,  Water and energy sciences including climate change in North Africa and Space sciences in Southern Africa.

The university will aid in capacity building, value addition of the continents natural resources and enhance competitiveness and youth employment.

Its other  major step towards establishing the African Higher Education and Research Space by contributing to efficient regional higher education governance system; improved quality of higher education at the regional level creating strong links with the labour market;  equitable access to quality higher education in science, technology and engineering fields; and increased number of institutions achieving world-class status.

With a governance structure for both central and country level management, AfDB says the first three three PAU thematic institutes will be based in Kenya, Nigeria and Cameroon:

1.         PAU Institute for Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation (Kenya)

2.         PAU Institute for Life and Earth Sciences (Nigeria)

3.         PAU Institute for Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences (Cameroon).

Pan-African integrated payments firm Interswitch Transnational has been awarded the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS), the highest global security certification, for the third year in a row.

The award is the globally accepted set of policies and procedures intended to optimize the security of credit, debit and prepaid card transactions and protect cardholders against misuse of their personal information.

According to Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Interswitch Transnational: “We are delighted to have achieved PCIDSS for the third year in a row. At Interswitch we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of security for our customers and are continually looking for ways to strengthen our fraud management strategy. So successful have we been that our transaction to fraud ratio is now less than 0.1%.”

At the moment, Interswitch is the only company in West Africa to have achieved PCIDSS and is using its experience to assist its partner banks to also achieve PCIDSS.

The award of PCIDSS is carried out independently by an external qualified security assessor (QSA) and by an approved scanning vendor (ASV) who test for vulnerability.

The transaction to fraud ratio is the number of transactions divided by the number that are fraudulent expressed as a percentage. The global best practice average for the fraud to transaction ratio is between 1 – 3.99%.

Interswitch has operations in Nigeria and a growing presence in West and East Africa.

Thousands of Stanford students, professors and staff woke up Thursday to a warning to change their passwords, after hackers apparently broke into the school’s computer system and stole sensitive data.

The Stanford Daily reports Stanford is working with security consultants and law enforcement agencies to determine the extent of the attack. A notice on the university’s login page asks people to change their password as a “precautionary measure.”

In a school-wide letter, Stanford Vice President of Business Affairs Randy Livingston said it doesn’t appear the hackers were able to access Social Security numbers, health records or financial data.

“Stanford treats information security with the utmost seriousness and is continually upgrading its defenses against cyberattacks,” Livington wrote. “Like many institutions, it repels millions of attempted attacks on its information systems each day.”

Earlier this month, the New York Times reported the nation’s research universities get hammered by hackers every day. Many of those attacks are believed to originate in China.

Source:BizJournals

Ster-Kinekor, a South African film chain today announced that it has started converting all 438 of its cinemas to the latest digital technology.

Ster Kinekor was founded in 1969 when 20th Century Fox sold its South African theatre business to Sanlam, an insurance company.

Sanlam merged the 2oth Century Fox into its Ster Theatres and Ster Films which it operated under the Ster brand.

Throughout the 1970s Kinekor embarked on a program of opening new cinemas across South Africa. However, due to the introduction of television in 1976, cinema attendances dropped. Because of this, the South African government at the time, allowed Sanlam to merge its two theatres divisions, creating Ster-Kinekor.

According to the film distributor, this means that audiences can now enjoy the release of a new international title together with the rest of the world.

“South Africans can now participate first-hand in the hype of a new blockbuster release, and be a part of the global conversation as it trends across the world,” Ster-Kinekor further revealed.

The company also noted, “A new era in cinema viewing is now a reality.”

And the full digital conversion of Ster-Kinekor’s Irene Mall and Sterland sites has been completed.

“With these latest technological advancements, the entire cinema experience is set to undergo a profound change,” said Ster-Kinekor. “The picture quality is heightened while the state-of-the-art surround sound greatly enhances the overall viewing experience, as each cinema now comes standard with the very latest digital technology and superior equipment.”

Along with the conversion to digital, Sterland now also has one cinema that supports 3D projection, Ster-Kinekor concluded.

The first democratic elections in South Africa of 1994 also introduced a free market, allowing Ster-Kinekor to expand into foreign markets. Three company directors moved their base of operations to the United Kingdom and set up trading as Ster Century.

Its head office is in the Ster-Kinekor Office Park in Sandton, City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.

Nairobi is no doubt Africa’s Silicon Savannah with geeks working around the clock in various innovation hubs to unveil the next big thing with impact (not users) greater than Facebook’s.

Epson, in recognition of the great tech talent (read hunger or passion) has launched cloud-based printers so as the innovators can print their stuff on the go and from their mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

The Epson L355 and Epson L550 launched in East African market allows iPrint and e-mail print functionalities and can as well fax, copy, scan and print.

Not from Nairobi? No big deal,  all Epson Workforce Pro printers being launched globally have mobile and cloud printing capabilities.

Epson iPrint application  runs on iOS- and Android-based devices and runs on wi-fi-enabled printers and allows users to print loads from photos and documents to recipes, coupons, and web pages.

These guys will also be able to email Print by simply sending an email from their smartphones or other mobile device to an enabled Epson printer at their workplaces, offices or home.

 Epson’s Regional Sales Manager for East Africa Mukesh Bector told TechMoran,””We recognized some time ago that mobile printing wasn’t just a novel idea, it was a necessary requirement for both sharing memories and mobile productivity in a rapidly changing digital marketplace. As smartphone momentum continues to grow, Epson will continue to lead the development of various innovative mobile digital imaging solutions,” he added.

Other Epson products in the market that support iPrint functionalities include Epson Stylus PX730WD and Epson Stylus BX635FWD.

“The widespread use of these devices has also increased demand for printing services for people on the go who want to print documents when they are outside the office or the home,” he said.

Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder  has launched ‘Wikileaks Party’ in his bid for an Australian senate seat.

Speaking via a videolink from the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he has been granted asylum over rape charges in Sweden, Mr Assange said he hopes to vie for a post for a senate seat in Victoria later this year.

Nigerian-based mobile telecommunications infrastructure provider for Africa and the Middle East, IHS Towers has raised $522 million in debt and equity to fuel its growth.

The funding round was led by new and IHS Towers existing lenders and shareholders putting the firm’s total money raised to over $1 billion in just one year.

From the $522 million of new capital raised $280 million is in debt while $242 million is in equity. The new debt finance of $280 million was led by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The new equity finance of  $100 million was from new investors led by a leading Asian sovereign wealth fund while the rest, $142 million, was raised from IHS Towers existing investors.

The investment represents Africa’s largest capital expansion initiatives in the past 12 months. Europe’s leading investors, Wendel completed an investment into the company earlier in the year and also participated in the round.

According to IHS, the cash will be used to construct more than 1,000 build-to-suit (BTS) towers in Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon, invest in solar and energy efficiency solutions, and to fund further expansion into new markets.

Issam Darwish, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, IHS Towers, said, ” We are now uniquely positioned to expand into new markets whilst supporting our current operations in Nigeria, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire. Over the last two years we have tripled our towers under management across Africa to 8,500. This new financing round is critical to our aim to increase the portfolio to 20,000 towers under management, and will underpin our value creation strategy in the years to come.”

Zimbabwe’s biggest telco Econet Wireless has switched off  its interconnection with Telecel Zimbabwe citing Telecel is not a duly licensed telecom operator.

The switch-off means Telecel Zimbabwe subscribers cannot call Econet Wireless subscribers.

Econet Wireless on July 10 this year renewed its operators licence for 20 years following the expiry of the 15-year licence issued in 1998. According to the firm the new 20 year licence places certain strict conditions on its  operations under its Clause 5.2.2, which requires it to interconnect only with licensed operators.

Section 61 of the Act states that a licensed operator can interconnect with another licensed operator.  According to Section 2 of the Act, a licensee as a holder of a valid licence issued in terms of section 37 of the Act. The act puts licensees under no obligation to interconnect with a provider of telecommunications services that is not validly licensed.

According to Econet Wireless’ statement, “Telecel Zimbabwe is not a holder of a valid licence issued in terms of Section 37 of the Act.  Telecel Zimbabwe was announced as the winner of a tender to operate a mobile telecommunications service in 1996.  The award of the licence to Telecel Zimbabwe was declared to be invalid by a High Court judgment handed down on 31 December 1997.  Telecel Zimbabwe appealed to the Supreme Court, but the appeal was never pursued.  The High Court granted leave for the execution of its judgment pending appeal.  That leave was never challenged in the Supreme Court.  If Telecel Zimbabwe was subsequently issued with a licence, the issue of such a licence was in violation of the High Court Judgment, and of the Telecommunications legislation that applied at the time.”

Though Telecel Zimbabwe acquired a licence in whichever means, the licence subsequently expired on 2 June 2013 and no new licence has been issued in its place.

” Therefore, as matters stand, Telecel is not a holder of a valid telecommunications licence issued in terms of section 37 of the Act,” said Econet Wireless.

Though Econet Wireless is wholly right according to the law to do so, sources in the country say Telecel Zimbabwe has been pushing Econet Wireless agressively and recently launched a promotion which would allow its subscribers to call Econet Wireless subscribers very cheaply, then eventually pushed it to all networks. To a critical eye, there is likely a kind of sabotage even if the move is legally justified.

Another point to note is that Econet Wireless, in renewing its licence was put  through hugely burdensome financial obligations, in contrast Telecel has not been subjected to any such financial obligations. This distorts the level playing field there should be and therefore the switch-off.

ITU Telecom World 2013 Young Innovators’ Competition today announced an international panel of experts dubbed “Challenge Partners” to coach applicants, select finalists amongst 600 entries from 88 countries.

ITU selected the  experts or“Challenge Partners” from industry, international organizations, NGOs and academia.

The experts include Carrefour Enterprise Foundation, Ooredoo, Dupont Sustainable Solutions, the International Labour Organization, World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization to select and coach the best applicants from some 600 entries for the ITU Telecom World 2013 Young Innovators’ competition.

The ITU Young Innovators competition recently closed its deadline for submissions, reached out to social technopreneurs across the globe aged between 18 and 26 with the aim of identifying projects with demonstrable potential for meaningful impact in addressing one of six crucial Global Challenges.

The Challenge Partners will use their expertise, prominence and experience on the ground to work with the best applicants in each challenge to refine their applications and ensure their innovative solutions are well adapted to meeting specific real-world issues.

At the end of a two-month mentoring period, the Challenge Partners will join the competition Selection Committee in announcing the ten winning finalists on 1 October. Challenge Partners will provide the finalists, who will travel to Bangkok to attend ITU Telecom World 2013, with qualified and informed mentoring before, during and after the event. Winning entries will be showcased during ITU Telecom World 2013 and finalists will also participate in networking, mentoring and pitching sessions, and win up to USD 10,000 in seed funding for their projects.

The Challenge Partners supporting each Global Challenge are:

• International Labour Organization (ILO), International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Ooredoo working to improve employment opportunities for young people and migrant workers
• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),  Young Professionals’ Platform for Agricultural Research Development (YPARD) and Carrefour Enterprise Foundation working to reduce food and water wastage at individual and retail levels
• G3ict, the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies and Aging 2.0 working to facilitate access to public services for the elderly
• DuPont Sustainable Solutions, Microsoft Lync, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) working to improve natural disaster prediction and response
• World Health Organization (WHO), heading the UN Decade for Road Safety, working to improve road safety for both drivers and pedestrians
• ITU IMPACT working to protect sensitive personal data and inspire the creation of local digital content.