Francis Mwathi's Page

Cellphone operators need to get savvy to thrive in Africa
11th November 2009
African cellular network operators need to sharpen up their acts to make a profit in countries where already poor consumers are trying to cut back their spending even further. Operators must begin sharing infrastructure to cut costs, lobby governments for relief from arbitrary taxes, argue against politically imposed rate cuts and offer locally developed data content to keep consumers interested. That list of cru… Continue

Fibre optic cable carriers are incurring millions of shillings lately as additional cost for security and monitoring off their lines as cases of vandalism are worryingly on a rise in East Africa.

Industry insiders say cable vandalism is fast emerging as avenues of unnecessary expenses and if this continues, operators may even be forced to to pass on the additional costs to the consumers. Companies now have to incur expenses in hiring guards to man the cables with some even being forced to intro… Continue

KASHWESHA Community Resource Centre is a civil society organization committed to promoting the rights of the slum dwellers in a low cost residential area in Nairobi, Kenya. It begun in the year 2001 as a community based organization that focused on the well being of its members through capacity building, by ensuring that its members who mainly consisted of the slum dwellers got the available resources and support. The telecentre serves community members from the adjacent Korogocho slums, KCC slu… Continue

Mobile subscription rate fastest in Africa
27th October 2009
Since 2003, mobile phone subscription has grown faster in Africa than in any other region of the world, a new Information Economy Report has revealed. Dubbed, "Trends and Outlook in Turbulent Times," and released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the report, indicates that there are now more than 10 times as many mobile subscriptions as fixed lines in Africa and more tha… Continue

“Information economy report 2009” presented in Tunisia
22nd October 2009
As in New York, Manchester, Helsinki and Bangkok, the International Press Center in Tunis held this morning, a press conference on “Information Economy Report 2009” issued every year by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Mr. Haj Klai, Minister of communication technologies explained that Tunisa will witness, during the next five years, a radical and essential shift in terms of informatio… Continue