Convergence came too early

The increasing amount of broadband capacity in Africa has seen some operators begin to offer "triple-play" - that is voice, Internet and broadcast content - giving rise to satellite pay-TV market, which fits into the continent's existing broadcast and media market, says allAfrica.com.

But according to a new report on Africa's broadband, 'African Broadband, Triple Play and Converged Markets', the converged content has come too early to the continent with mobile TV being rolled out in several countries, including Kenya.

With the demand for Internet access continuing to grow at exponential rates in Africa, as well as the increased amount of Internet traffic due to multimedia, Internet service providers are now faced with the challenge of keeping up with demand for network bandwidth.

A prominent family in the Ondo State of Nigeria has petitioned the state Police Command over an alleged trespass by one of the GSM providers in the country, MTN, on its land in the Owo area of the state, reports Zibb.com.

The family, made up of the children and inheritors of Pa Josiah Aderinola, said the GSM operator refused to renew its three-year tenancy agreement since March this year for the lease of 225m² of their property at Aderinola Camp on the Owo-Benin road on which it built its base station six years ago.

In the protest letter signed by their spokesman, Dapo Aderinola, and copied to the police, the family alleged that MTN ignored two letters from its lawyers and proceeded to deploy security guards to patrol its structure on the property.

The National Institute of Artistic Training (INFA) will this week hold a seminar on new information technologies in Luanda, says ioltechnology.co.za.

The five-day meeting aims at promoting and stimulating the use of new information technologies by teachers and people that work in artistic teaching.

During the gathering, IT equipment will be demonstrated and debated.