Burundi carriers form Africa’s first national infrastructure consortium to develop fibre backbone

" One of Africa’s smallest countries is pioneering the use of a carriers’ consortium to develop its national fibre backbone and international links with help from the World Bank. Burundi Backbone Systems will oversee the development of a 1,200 kms backbone and several new international fibre links connecting the country to its neighbours in the next 18 months.

The consortium brings together as shareholders the four main fixed and mobile operators (incumbent Onatel; Leo, formerly U-Com, part of Telecel Globe; Africell, owned by V-Tel and Palestinian Paltel; and Econet) and an ISP (CBI Net). The two main mobile players are Onamob, the incumbent’s mobile subsidiary, with an estimated 600,000 subscribers and Leo with 400,000 subscribers. "

Full Article (Balancing Act)..

Google launches Sub Saharan Africa Maps

" As of today new detailed maps of 30 African cities and towns are accessible on Google Maps through any web browser or via Google Maps for mobile on data enabled handsets.

The new service means that Google Maps users will now be able to search online maps, look up businesses, advertise for free via Google Maps Local Business Centre, create their own maps and even check locations while they're on the move."

Google Press release here .....

Private sector to focus on EA market

" The Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) will carry out a campaign to educate its members on benefits and challenges of the East African common market.

We hope the task will be done by July this year, TPSF executive director Evans Rweikiza told The Citizen in Dar es Salaam. The common market protocol, which seeks to ensure free movement of people, capital, goods and services across Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, is expected to become operational in the month.

The private sector sees the common market as an arrangement that has benefits and challenges.
The benefits include an expanded market of 120 million people as opposed to individual countries."

Full article, The Citizen. Tanzania ....

Bright Continent

" Mention Africa in polite company, and those around you may grimace, shake their heads sadly and profess sympathy. Oh, all those wars! Those diseases! Those dictators!

Naturally, that sympathy infuriates Africans themselves, for the conventional view of Africa as a genocide inside a failed state inside a dictatorship is, in fact, wrong. In the last few years, Africa over all has enjoyed economic growth rates of approximately 5 percent, better than in the United States (although population growth is also higher). Africa has even produced some “tiger cub” economies, like Botswana and Rwanda, that show what the continent is capable of. (A new Web site, See Africa Differently, specifically aims to present a more positive image of the continent.)

The bane of Africa is war, but the number of conflicts tearing apart the continent has dwindled. The murderous old buffoons like Idi Amin are gone, and we’re steadily seeing the rise of highly skilled technocrats, who accept checks on their power and don’t regard the treasury as their private piggy bank. The Rwandan cabinet room is far more high-tech than the White House cabinet room, and when you talk to new leaders like Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia you can’t help wondering about investing your 401(k) in Liberian stocks."

Full Article (New York Times) here .....

Refreshing UNAIDS report a cause for optimism

From Nouse.co.uk, University of York Student Website:

" Whenever we read about the HIV/AIDS epidemic we expect to see more bad news. We read about how it ravages whole countries, how Christian extremists think it is a judgment from God and how it’s mutating into ever more virulent strains.

To some extent, the latest UNAIDS worldwide epidemic update continues that trend. The report documents an increase in the overall number of people living with HIV, and it points out that the epidemic has orphaned 14 million children.

However, if you look behind such headline figures, a more encouraging picture emerges."

Full article here ....

Businesses Predict Growth in Africa in 2010 - africapractice survey results

"

Business leaders maintain a positive outlook for 2010, with 95% of those surveyed expecting to expand their business over the coming year.

Results of africapractice’s annual business survey support the growing belief that Africa is beginning to recover from the financial crisis. 100% of respondents said that they anticipate levels of foreign direct investment to rise in 2010, the majority expected to come from China. This represents a much-improved outlook when compared to last year’s survey, in which 69% of respondents predicted a reduction in FDI flows.

When asked what they thought would be the biggest challenges to their business in 2010, executives were split between access to credit and availability of talent, which received 35% and 30% of votes respectively. This echoes last year’s survey in which 31% of respondents cited talent as the biggest concern. Physical infrastructure and legislative environments were also cited as potential growth limitations.

The future role of the United States prompted a mixed reaction, with only 17% of business leaders expecting the Obama administration to have a positive influence on Africa.

However, there is a consensus of optimism surrounding the impact of the FIFA World Cup, although most (54%) believe that benefits will be felt only in South Africa itself."

Full Africapractice.com report here ....

South Africa Economy Expands 0.9%, Ending Recession

"Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s economy returned to growth in the third quarter, ending the first recession in 17 years, as manufacturing rebounded and the government invested in roads, railways and stadiums for next year’s soccer World Cup.

Gross domestic product rose an annualized 0.9 percent, compared with a contraction of a revised 2.8 percent in the previous quarter, Statistics South Africa said in a report released today in Pretoria, the capital. The rand erased an earlier 1 percent loss after the release of the data.

Manufacturing recovered in the third quarter as the global recession eased and demand for exports improved. Murray & Roberts Holdings Ltd. and other construction companies have also benefited as South Africa spends billions of rand to build a high-speed rail-link and renovate stadiums for next year’s soccer tournament, the world’s most-watched sporting event."

Full article here (Bloomberg)