Kenya, Malawi and Afghanistan in the Global Mobile headlines round-up this week..

Kenya launches US$2.8 bil. national broadband strategy

The Kenyan government has launched a KES250 billion (US$2.8 billion) National Broadband Strategy (NBS) aimed at transforming the country into a knowledge-based economy by providing reliable, high capacity broadband services to all citizens in the country by 2030. The strategy will involve the development of a countrywide broadband infrastructure, support of national capacity building and awareness as well as content development and innovations. The government will exploit various finance sources including the broadband infrastructure bond and the broadband venture capital. The government also plans to increase its budgetary allocation in the ICT sector from 0.5% to 5% in future. Kenya becomes the second country in Africa after South Africa to launch a detailed national broadband strategy. According to the latest statistics from the regulator, Kenya had 16.2 million Internet users as at end-4Q12, representing a penetration of 41.1%.

Malawi introduces a 16.5% tax on Internet services

The government of Malawi has introduced 16.5% VAT on Internet services which has seen the cost passed on to the consumers by the service providers. The country’s leading mobile operator Airtel Malawi has increased its mobile data tariffs by an average of 16.72% while its rival Telekom Network Malawi (TNM) has increased its tariffs by between 16.5% and 25%. According to Informa Telecoms & Media research, Malawi had 352,000 mobile broadband subscribers as at end-4Q12.

MCIT Afghanistan strikes deal with mobile operators for network expansion

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Communications and IT (MCIT) has entered into an agreement with some of the country’s mobile operators to expand the network to underserved areas, funded by the Telecommunication Development Fund. The deal will see the deployment of 240 new base stations in 34 provinces, covering an estimated half a million people.

Du 2Q13 revenues up by 12% Y-o-Y

UAE operator Du’s 2Q13 revenues rose by 12.05% year-on-year, from AED2.37 billion (US$645 million) to AED2.66 billion (US$724 million). Net profit pre-royalty rose by 19.5% over the same period to AED778 million (US$211.8 million) for 2Q13. Revenue growth was driven by a 13.33% increase in mobile sales to AED2.07 billion, with data revenues rising by 44.81% year-on-year. The company added 14,400 new mobile customers as its mobile subs base increased to 6.65 million. The company’s strategic goals are to look out for market leading products and services, and to maintain cost efficiency measures.

*****************************

Taken from Global Mobile Daily:  

http://www.informatandm.com/newsletters/

*****************************

Global Mobile Daily
Global news from the mobile telecoms industry
*****************************

Headlines for July26, 2013

Global Mobile Daily: ISSN 1099-730X
Copyright 2012 Informa UK Ltd.