Google Africa

Africa, which has the world’s highest mobile growth rate and where mobile phone penetration is six times Internet penetration is Googles new centre of light. Extending his service in Africa, Google is announcing Google SMS, a suite of mobile applications which will allow people to access information, via SMS, on a diverse number of topics including health and agriculture tips, news, local weather, sports, and more. The suite also includes Google Trader, a SMS-based “marketplace” application that helps buyers and sellers find each other. People can find, „sell“ or „buy“ any type of product or service, from used cars and mobile phones to crops, livestock and jobs.

Meanwhile, if you’re curious about what Google is doing in Africa, especially in Uganda, learn more at the Google Africa Blog.

Olumide Alabi and Gbenga Sesan are blogging live from the Nigerian Bloggers’ Conference, which is holding at the Banquet Hall of Elomaz Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria. They talk about domain names and about the way, bloggers-to-be become real-bloggers. About the findability of blogs.

In short: you see a Nigerial blogosphere come to life in a very early stage. Highly recommended…

For those, who may be interested, a detailed report of the various roles played by young Nigerians taking advantage of ICT opportunities can be downloaded from www.pin.org.ng/old/downloads/glocal.pdf.  It is a very large file and it may be easier to download through the link at the end of the book summary page (via Gbengasesan).

Thanks to African Loft I learned, that there is a market analysis about China and their business in Africa. Excerpt:

„While America is preoccupied with the war in Iraq (cost: half a trillion dollars and counting), and while think-tank economists continue to spit out papers debating whether vital resources are running out at all, China’s leadership isn’t taking any chances. In just a few years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has become the most aggressive investor-nation in Africa.“

My question: What does Germany, what does Europe do? (I think, they just spent money and hope, the Africans will think good of them.)

(mehr …)

Operator-billed service revenues across the Africa & Middle East region are expected to rise to more than $107 billion in 2013, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

The report found that growth would be driven by mobile data services, fuelled by the greater availability and wider variety of rich-media content coupled with lower browsing costs. However, it noted that regional operator-billed voice revenues were likely to peak in 2011 and would subsequently fall away due to increasingly competitive pricing in that sector.

According to Juniper Research report author Dr Windsor Holden, “While the downward trend in regional ARPU will continue as adoption increases amongst lower-usage customers, we expect the decline in voice ARPU to be partially offset by an increase in data revenues, both amongst 2.5G and 3G customers.”

The report also observed that the region was likely to witness a surge in the growth of mobile financial services, with a raft of operator-led payment initiatives such as M-PESA and mobile banking providers such as WIZZIT having already gained substantial user bases.

Other findings from the Juniper Research report include:
• The Middle East/Africa mobile user base is to grow at an average annual rate of 10.5% between 2008 and 2013
• Mobile data services are expected to contribute 24% of operator-billed service revenues in 2013, against just 9% in 2008.
• Saudi Arabia will provide the largest share of cumulative regional revenues over the forecast period, followed by Nigeria

(mehr …)

The Ajegunle.org project is community-based capacity building project targeting the youths of Ajegunle slum in Lagos. The aims to train some 25 youths each other month, who “will be equipped with ICT and entrepreneurship skills which they will then pass on to other youth, along with starting their own business”, as Africa Loft writes. (mehr …)