[Kictanet] Interesting trend with African-led ICT investments

Mon Jan 15 18:30:26 EAT 2007

Whao!

this is likely to turn out to be quite an explosive
development within the ICT industry; It has the right
ingredients (the regular suspects ;-)) executing their
specialised roles.

I will definately be watching this space....

walu.
--- Brian Longwe <brian at pure-id.com> wrote:

> I am extremely impressed and encouraged to see Wananchi
> online's bid  
> to takeover African Lakes and all their holdings which
> include all of  
> Africa Online's branches as well as a number of
> infrastructure and  
> internet licenses across the continent. Could this be the
> emergence  
> of a truly African Mega-ISP?
> 
> Considering the attrition that the ISP industry is facing
> continent- 
> wide, which was very aptly commented on by Russell
> Southwood in his  
> article "The African ISP is dead - Long live the African
> ISP" where  
> he spoke of the encroachment of the mobile operators into
> internet  
> services and the threat that this posed to the ISP as we
> know it  
> today. In this article he clearly indicated some of the
> survival  
> strategies that ISPs would have to consider, including
> consolidation,  
> divestiture into other revenue generating areas e.g.
> content  
> production and regional expansion. It is interesting to
> note that  
> Wananchi seem to have taken the prescription wholesale
> and are aiming  
> to act on almost all of these areas.
> 
> For me on a personal basis I am very happy to see an
> indigenous  
> African-led transaction of such magnitude in the ICT
> sector - which  
> has in the past been dominated by "foreigners" who didn't
> really  
> understand african markets. I can't wait to see what else
> Wananchi  
> have up their sleeves!
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Brian
> 
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> > From: Joseph Mucheru <mucheru at wananchi.com>
> > Date: January 15, 2007 9:23:47 AM GMT+03:00
> > To: "brian at inhand.co.ke" <brian at inhand.co.ke>
> > Subject: FW: Press Announcement
> >
> > From: Wananchi Online Ltd <announcements at wananchi.com>
> > Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2007 00:42:06 +0300
> > To: <All_Wananchi_Online_Ltd_Customers at wananchi.com>
> > Subject: Press Announcement
> >
> >
> > Wananchi Online creates a new Group Structure
> >
> > On 28th December 2006, Wananchi Online together with a
> group of  
> > Kenyan,
> > British and American investors announced its intention
> to acquire the
> > entire issued and to be issued share capital of the
> African Lakes
> > Corporation (TALC). TALC is the holding company of
> Africa Online  
> > Limited
> > and UUNET Africa. The success of the acquisition will
> see the creation
> > of Africa's largest consumer broadband company and goes
> a long way in
> > achieving Wananchi's vision of being "Africa's leading
> Internet
> > Communications Provider". The bid is being made through
> a special
> > purpose vehicle registered for this purpose in the UK,
> The African
> > Telecoms Company Limited.
> >
> > The full text of the announcement can be found at this
> url:
> >
> > Short Url:
> > http://urlx.org/londonstockexchange.co.uk/fd1e5
> >
> > Long URL:
> > http://www.londonstockexchange.co.uk/LSECWS/IFSPages/ 
> > MarketNewsPopup.aspx?id
> > =1372930&source=RNS
> >
> > The conclusion of the transaction will see the creation
> of a group
> > holding company of which I shall become Chairman and
> Joseph Mucheru
> > will become Deputy CEO. We will be joined on the board
> by amongst
> > others Mark Schneider, a seasoned American Media
> Entrepreneur who will
> > become Vice Chairman and Richard Bell, a seasoned East
> African ICT
> > Entrepreneur who will become Chief Executive Officer.
> Going forward
> > the company will implement a strategy to create the
> largest wireless
> > ADSL broadband network in Africa delivering consumer
> broadband  
> > services
> > to Wananchi across the continent.
> >
> > As part of this process and in order to allow Joseph to
> focus on this
> > ambitious project, we are restructuring elements of the
> existing  
> > Wananchi
> > Online operations to align them with this strategy. To
> this end I am
> > pleased to announce that with immediate effect Sandeep
> Mangat will be
> > taking over the day to day operations of Wananchi
> Online and Hamish  
> > Govani
> > will be assisting him as Chief Financial Officer.
> >
> > I am also pleased to inform you that Richard Bell has
> been  
> > appointed to
> > the board of Wananchi Online to assist in making sure
> that the  
> > companies
> > strategies are aligned with the bigger picture which I
> have already
> > outlined. Richard is a former director of TALC, founder
> of Swift  
> > Global
> > Kenya and Uganda, founder of Kenya Data Networks,
> founding Chairman of
> > TESPOK, KIXP and KENIC. He is currently the Managing
> Partner of  
> > East Africa
> > Capital Partners a private equity firm which
> specializes in  
> > Technology,
> > Media and Telecoms investments. He became a Sloan
> Fellow of the London
> > Business School in 2005.
> >
> > We are please to tell you that limited broadband
> coverage is already
> > available in parts of Nairobi and Mombassa and we will
> be providing  
> > special
> > offers and a limited amount of free equipment to
> existing customers  
> > when
> > the full rollout begins. So I do encourage you to renew
> your dial- 
> > up and/or
> > email subscriptions now so that you can take advantage
> of these  
> > offers when
> > the time comes. Those whose subscriptions have lapsed
> or who fail to
> > become WOL customers in time will be time barred from
> these special  
> > customer
> > loyalty offers.
> >
> > We will continue to keep you informed as our plans
> develop. For  
> > further
> > information you can contact Sandeep Mangat on 020 329
> 2000 or email
> > sunny.mangat at wananchi.com
> >
> > -- 
> >
> > James Gachui,
> > Chairman
> > Wananchi Online Limited
> >
> >
> 
> > _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at kictanet.or.ke
> http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
> 
> Please unsubscribe or change your options at
http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com

____________________________________________________________________________________
We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love 
(and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list.
http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/265 

____________________________________________________________________________________
Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate 
in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A.
http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545367