Tigo
Posted inConnectivity

Africa’s Telecoms Titans: Millicom International Cellular

Tigo Africa is a part of Millicom International Cellular S.A. The company was founded by the Swedish conglomerate, AB Kinnevik and became one of the pioneers of mobile telephony. It began setting up its first network in 1979 in Sweden and went on to become one of the founding members of Vodafone. Over the last two decades, Millicom has evolved into an emerging markets telecoms operator with core interests in Africa, Central America and South America.
Posted inConnectivity

Samsung shows the world how to win in Africa

Whether you’re watching ZBC or Supersport the message is the same. Samsung, the Korean consumer electronics and white label goods giant is on a mission to become the top electronics brand across Africa. From the towering Ivorian colossus that is Chelsea’s Didier Drogba to positive images of young Africans marketing their products, Samsung is paying attention to the needs of the world’s last frontier.
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Posted inConnectivity

Zimbo Jam celebrates 3rd birthday

In November 2008 Fungai Tichawangana set up the Zimbo Jam website (www.zimbojam.com) from his study at home. It is now Zimbabwe’s biggest website covering lifestyle, arts and entertainment with up to 3 million page views and over 100,000 unique visitors every month. The site’s Facebook page has over 5,600 fans and videos posted on its YouTube channel have been known to get up to 5,000 views in a matter of days.
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Posted inStartups

Are women afraid of venturing into ICTs

We came across a lively young lady after yesterday’s Breakfast Briefing on Cloud Computing. While the event was a success, this young lady touched on a few details that could make such events even better. The highlight of her feedback was that there were only four women in attendance at the event and that promoting a more balanced atmosphere is good for the sector.
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Posted inConnectivity

No, the Zimbabwe government and Apple are not in iPad joint venture

Yesterday’s Newsday reported that the Ministry of Education will be working in conjunction with Apple to introduce solar powered iPads for rural schools. Just reading through the article, it doesn’t take much to see this is not factually correct. The article stems from a post made by Education Minister David Coltart on his Facebook wall after he met officials from the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) in Dublin. Here’s the full text of the post.
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Posted inConnectivity

A snap summary of EMC Corporation

Next Tuesday, we will be hosting EMC at a cloud computing breakfast briefing in conjunction with Utande. In preparation for the event, we've put together the visual below such to provide a better understanding of the company.
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Posted inConnectivity

Cloud Computing event slated for 1 November

On the 1st of November; Techzim events will be hosting a Breakfast Briefing on Cloud Computing. The event is being held in conjunction with EMC SADC and Utande. It will allow the two partners to inform attendees about their cloud based solutions and also empower IT managers, directors and executives with industry trends and localisation strategies. Along with an increase in mobile connectivity, Cloud computing has become one of the most significant technologies to happen in the last decade and presents significant cost and efficiency advantages.
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Posted inConnectivity

Understanding Telecel Zimbabwe: The past, present and future (Infographic)

The Russian led Vimpelcom Group took over Orascom Telecom not too long ago, thereby resulting in an indirect majority shareholding in Telecel Zimbabwe. We believe the Vimpelcom deal was the best thing that could ever happen to the company. The global telecoms sector is undergoing a period of consolidation in which larger operators are able to pass on economies of scale and cost advantages to consumers. Africa has witnessed its fair share of consolidation resulting in the emergence of pan-African operators we have profiled here in a Techzim series known as Africa’s Telecoms Titans.
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Posted inBroadband Connectivity

Copied work: The Econet Broadband ad campaign

A very striking similarity between Econet Broadband ads and those Allen Solly (a retail chain in India) recently came to our attention. The Econet campaign was created by Young and Rubicam Johannesburg, which since last year has listed Econet Wireless as one of its major accounts.
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Posted inConnectivity

Africa’s Telecoms Titans: Etisalat

Etisalat is a global telecommunications company that was founded in 1976 as a parastatal owned by British investors and the federal government of the United Arab Emirates. The company has grown to become one of the biggest full service telecommunications operators in the world with a footprint across MENA (Middle East & North Africa, West Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and Asia. Its services span internet provision, mobile, content, fixed line and infrastructure solutions.
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Posted inConnectivity Startups

Matchio boldly attempts to conquer the world’s colleges

We first met Tatenda Furusa on the sidelines of Zimbabwe’s inaugural BarCamp early this year. While he briefly mentioned his startup at the event, it only required taking a look at the product to understand just what he is up to. Matchio the kind of product that just feels right, it was after all built in the land that birthed Silicon Valley and a plethora of the world’s greatest internet platforms.
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Posted inConnectivity

On second thoughts, Africa’s tablet computing boom is inevitable

The proliferation of mobile based internet access and the evolution of traditional broadband services from niched to mainstream products, is transforming developing economies and their place in the knowledge economy. In the developed world, the death of the consumer PC segment is now almost complete.
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Posted inBroadband

ICT Africa 2011 versus Econet’s Experience Expo

A few weeks ago we learnt that some local ISPs were considering not exhibiting at ICT Africa 2011 after finding out that Econet Wireless had snapped up 23 stands for the event, thereby dwarfing every other exhibitor by an epic scale. Things like this happen and are not surprising. However I was very disappointed by yesterday’s supplement featuring companies that are exhibiting at the event.
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Posted inMobile Money

The EcoCash launch event

Last night, we attended the official launch for Econet’s EcoCash mobile money service. Even though the event started some 40 minutes late, there was a series of polished presentations, the highlight being the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank Governor’s participation as guest of honour.
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Posted inConnectivity

Umuntu Media plans to conquer Zim & other Southern African markets

Umuntu Media, an online content provider based in South Africa recently raised $1 million series A funding from Netherlands based E Ventures Africa Fund (EVA). It launched iZambia.co.zm in January, followed this up with iNambia.co.na earlier this year and also plans to roll out similar portals for Angola. Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe very soon.
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Posted inConnectivity Startups

World of Avatar acquires MXit

World of Avatar (WOA) has just acquired 90% of the legendary South African mobile social network and chat application, MXit. According to Memeburn the deal is valued at a reputed R500m(USD $71 million) and also involves Craig Knott Jnr taking over as CEO of MXit.
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Posted inBroadband

Africa’s Telecoms Titans: Globalcom

Having begun in 2005, Globacom is one of the youngest operators on the African continent today, it is also the fastest growing. In Nigeria the firm went from being a Greenfield player to overtaking established incumbents like Airtel where mobile is concerned. The company is a full service telecoms player in the Nigerian market as it was granted an SNO (Second National Operator) license that covers the full spectrum of telecoms services. It operates a fixed line business, mobile networks, data services and was the first operator in the world to single handedly build its own undersea cable (GLO 1) stretching from London and covering West Africa’s coast.
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Posted inConnectivity Startups

Gikko.net strikes new deals

Gikko, a start-up we featured here not too long ago has continued to gain ground with its offline & online thrust. The start-up recently concluded a nationwide deal with OK Supermarkets and has begun running a competition across most stores. It has also sealed an extended partnership with TM which will see its flagship till slip advertising having a presence across retail outlets owned by the retailer. The last time we sat down with Winston Taylor of Till Roll Ads (the company behind gikko.net), he ran us through his company’s holistic presence on the web, mobile and offline.
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Posted inConnectivity Startups

Double Standards: Why Facebook should be locked out of China

For those who don’t know it yet, China is now the second hottest hub for startups and internet based enterprises in the world ( after Silicon Valley). Investors and entrepreneurs everywhere you think of are cracking their heads to figure out a way to be a part of the world’s biggest market by internet users and most other metrics.
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