DRC to get $400m network

Bharti Airtel plans to invest $400 million in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the next three years to improve the central African country's phone network, reports Bloomberg.

By acquiring Zain, Airtel became one of the biggest mobile service providers in the Congo. At the end 2009, Zain had an estimated 45% share of the mobile phone market, according to its 2009 annual report.

“Bharti Airtel plans to extend reach to the most rural areas, ensuring our services touch everyone and bridge the digital divide in the country,” says Antoine Pamboro, Airtel's managing director in the Congo.

Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation has set a target of netting 45 million mobile phone subscribers after it outsourced the company's management function to France Telecom, states Walta Info.

Based on the agreement, the Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation will now be known as Ethio Telecom.

Currently, the company has eight million mobile phone service subscribers across the country. It has set a target of reaching 12 million and 17 million people in 2011 and 2010 respectively.

Experts attending the Open Innovation Africa Summit in Kenya claim that more innovation in developing local content for Africa is needed in order to drive social economic development, says All Africa.com.

Nokia vice-president Erkki Ormala says innovation entrepreneurship in Africa can only exist if it emphasises monitoring, evaluation and learning. He notes that innovation can come through policy changes by the various governments especially in areas such as education.

The change in education policies to harness the development of technology innovation was echoed among various delegates at the summit.