Pan African Broadband Plan

Subscribing to broadband Internet services is rising in Africa, but we can go further to connect more people to the web. We can create a Pan African Broadband Plan designed to allow investments in broadband technologies on the continent. A continuing massive investment in broadband infrastructure can result in the increasing availability, lower price, and improved connection of high-speed Internet services in Africa. We need policymakers and new regulations to allow more competition among African broadband providers. The goal is to cut the price and increase the speed of broadband access for the average African household. Broadband can also have a positive impact on the African economy and on employment. Broadband allow businesses to use e-commerce to order, market and distribute their products worldwide. Young African programmers can create new softwares and networks to enhance the online educational experience. To be successful the Pan African Broadband Plan should unite all the cyber resources of the continent with a minimum of governments interference.

How to choose a web hosting provider

Today in the internet information age, for any business to be really successful in Africa, you need to choose a good web hosting company. I know that it may be somewhat confusing to choose the most suitable web hosting provider, but as more businesses are moving online there are many more different options of services today and new web hosting companies emerge every months. How to choose?. The first thing you should compare is the bandwidth for your data transfer possibility. You can drive large amounts of traffic with more bandwidth. It is the same also with your disc space that you need for your website. You can store more files and data at your website with a large volume of disc space. You can also post more videos and images on your website. A reputable web hosting provider should offer you a support 7 days a week and 24 hours per day. The last thing to look is the price. An expensive web host don't necessarily provide you with services of high quality but a cheap web host can provide you with a service of high quality. Ask the web hosting provider for a free test period to see if your website can respond within a reasonable time interval and check how the provider deals with the backup of your website. Think twice before choosing and surf the internet to find a review website that can give you advices concerning the web host industry.

African webmaster and web design

Africa really need more webmasters. There is a huge need for webmasters in Africa to create websites for schools, universities, businesses,cultural centers etc.. But the task of an African webmaster should not be only limited at the technical knowledge of maintaining a website. African web design can also be African art. An African webmaster can also be gifted like an artist to customize all websites to fit the African cultural environment. Just browse the internet, do you see a lot of African Style Web Template?. No, and this is a wake up call for all African web designers. It is time to be more creative. At the moment we mostly use templates that are designed out of Africa, but we can create and provide website templates which are professional, nice looking and can be used for business and personal websites or blogs. They should be available for free for all Africans. If you want to become a successful webmaster, you don't need any formal education at all. No African governments can prevent you from becoming a webmaster. There are numerous options if you need new skills to become a webmaster, or even an experienced webmaster. Africa need your technical skills, become a webmaster to design African websites.

An internet cyber cafe in Kenya

One year ago in Kenya,Wakili Abasi who is one of my friends set up an internet cafe in the town of Nairobi where he grew up. He wanted to promote the use of the internet to residents living in disadvantaged areas of Nairobi. He did not set up an internet cafe with the intention of making money but to bring the information age to his community. For many people in Kenya and the majority of other African countries, internet cafes can provide their first contact with the internet, the web and e-mail. The number of Kenyans online is growing rapidly. He realised that there was very few people in his neighbourhood who had computers. He told me that he was trying to create opportunities for a maximum of people by the use of the internet. He wanted to create a connection between the residents and the rest of the world. The internet cafe is situated near a college and not far from a small shopping centre. They only have nine computers. Customers can browse the internet and check their email. Some connect only to look for a job. Going online is affordable and the money is enough to cover the rent of the business premise. More people should create online community centres and internet cafes to bring the internet to small cities and rural places of Africa.
If you want to open your own internet cafe, start by doing a cybercafe business plan first. Be sure to have the best internet cafe software and a good internet service provider to offers your customers high speed internet access. Networking hardware is not expensive if you use the right type of network. The cost of setting up your internet cyber cafe depends on the number of services and computers you plan to offer to your customers. It is a rewarding business in Africa and you will probably have plenty of loyal customers and friends.

E-commerce in Africa

What is the status of e-commerce in Africa?. Connectivity is now sufficient; Africa is now ready for
e-commerce and there are many excellent African IT companies who provide hardware and software. The leading African countries in
e-commerce are South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya and Senegal. Many others African countries have started initiatives to develop
e-commerce services. The problem with e-commerce in Africa is the lack of online payments. We urgently need to create a common African e-payment system especially adapted to Africa market. This new African e-payment system can be an alternative to debit and credit card payment systems for e-commerce. We need to customize e-commerce to fit the way of life of people living in Africa. Today there is a growing African e-commerce industry. In Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, a Pan-African Alliance on e-Commerce has been launched. Senegal, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, (Ivory Coast), Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Morocco, Ghana, Libya, Kenya and Togo were listed as the 10 countries that have signed with the alliance.

Wireless internet in Rwanda

In Rwanda, Kigali is to become soon the first ‘wireless’ city in Africa. Wireless networking represent the future of Internet connectivity and computer in Africa. Wireless usually refers to radio connection between devices. WiFi is a wireless Ethernet link operating in the 2.4 GHz band and conforming to IEEE 802.11b. It is claimed to have a range of up to 100 m, but this is very dependent on the location. The Government of Rwanda created a new project to provide a network for Internet access called the Kigali Metropolitan Network. After many years of hard work, the Kigali Metropolitan Network (KMN) and the Kigali Wireless Broadband (WiBro) Network have been launched. This WiBro’s infrastructure was built by Korea Telecom (KT), South Korea’s second largest mobile operator and first fixed-line operator. Kigali is now a “hot spot” capital city in Africa. Internet users in this African city will now be able to use voice-over-IP (VoIP) services and high speed connectivity. The Kigali Metropolitan Network is now able to increase broadband availability to several hundreds of Rwandan institutions including health-care centres, schools and government administrative centres. The national fiber-optic backbone is now complete and provide broadband throughout the country.

ADSL in South Africa

In South Africa, 2002 was the year of the launch of asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL). In the past Telkom was ruling on the South African ADSL market, but now MTN, Neotel, Vodacom, iBurst and many other wireless internet service providers in South Africa are very competitive and take market share from Telkom. With more competition in 2010, Telkom is now too expensive and should cut its ADSL prices. Most South Africans consumers don’t compare ADSL internet prices and are just signing up to an ADSL provider. South Africans can't wait and only want ADSL today and now with more connection speed. By doing a bit of research consumers can realise that Web Africa is a cheaper ADSL provider than Telkom in the market. The South African ADSL industry is changing very fast, and Telkom have lost the monopoly that they used to have. In the following years, every South African ISPs can expect more aggressive competition in this industry. This mean that the South African consumers can expect cheaper ADSL prices.