HiPipo Money

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…….as Cameroun struggles in the Guinness Football Challenge

East Africa and West Africa battled it out in the third quarter final of the Guinness Football Challenge Pan-African game that saw the red team from Kenya and blue team from Ghana qualify for the semifinals before the last quarter final scheduled for 22^nd May, 2013.

Cameroun were painfully eliminated during a tie breaker after the brawn of the Kenyan team had skillfually sailed their team into the semi-finals after clocking 46seconds in the ‘Obstacle Challenge’, a first in this season leaving Ghana and Cameroun tied on points.

This has left Kenya with two teams in the semifinals, Ghana with two teams and Tanzania and Cameroun with one team each as we await the last pair to close the list of 8 teams that will clash at the next stage of the Guinness Football Challenge.

Contestants stand a chance to win up to 48,000USD, in all the quarter final stages. In the 3^rd quarterfinal played on Wednesday, Jonathan Baan and Desmond Odaano from Ghana made it to the final round – The Money Wall – and managed to walk away with 3000 USD and promised to be back in the semi-finals with even more gusto to increase their winnings in another fete of reaching The Money Wall round.

The Ghanaian team is the third team from West Africa to make it through to the semi final level where contestants stand to win up to a maximum of 64,000 USD. The Guinness Football Challenge gets more exciting every week as contestants display their A-game for an opportunity to win the top prize.

East Africa is represented by Kenya and Tanzania while West Africa is represented by Cameroun and Ghana.

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London/Kampala

British Airways has advised Uganda to expand its aviation infrastructure if it is to measure up to the standards of other international airports. Not only will the expansion of the airport bring in more revenue in terms of increased freight and passenger numbers, the expansion of the airport will support a wide range of direct flight destinations at high frequencies.

“Expanding the airport will help Uganda compete for business investments which will in turn produce economic benefits for the country,” advised George Mawadri the British Airways East and Central Africa Commercial Manager.

Projections show that the East African market is growing fast with a potential of becoming the biggest cargo market in Africa, where British Airways alone is taking out 126 tones weekly. Statistics since 2011 show that the busiest airports in Africa are 16 out of the 54 states on the continent and in East Africa alone Jomo Kenyatta is among the top 10 busiest airports in eastern and central Africa .

The advice to Uganda comes as the EA region experiences the fastest economic growth ever. Over the last 5 years the aviation market has been growing rapidly in Africa at a rate of 6 % which may render the destination hubs of no use if the infrastructure is continuously ignored.

Speaking recently to Ugandan and Kenyan media in a briefing at the British Airways head offices in London at Waterside, Mawadri said, “Nairobi which is currently the 12th largest city in Africa is taking steps in expanding Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Kenya grows a lot of flowers, tea and fruits which are exported to bring in revenue in to the country. When the airport is finally rehabilitated, more airlines will be attracted to land there something Uganda should learn from.”

He added, “If Uganda embarks on expanding Entebbe International Airport, procedures such as check-in, clearance and flight connections will be managed easily which will provide customers with better punctuality and faster baggage clearance. It will also consequently attract more business and investors.”

East Africa looks greener and more promising with future prospects especially with multinational companies setting up base in the region following the discovery of minerals deposits, gas and Oil.

Companies like Pepsi co., IBM, Google, Coca-Cola, and Bharti/Airtel which have set up base in Nairobi will bring about increased investment and expansion of businesses which lead to increased demand of more routes for the industry.

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MTN Uganda has selected JDSU (NASDAQ: JDSU) (TSX: JDU)’s ariesoGEO platform and GEOperformance application as platforms to improve its customers experience and network quality, a statement published on Yahoo news reports.   

This new development is expected to further boost MTN Uganda’s services countrywide as the telecom continues to work to grow its subscribers’ base and further cement its number one/ leading telecom position in the country.

Below is the full statement as published by Yahoo today;

JDSU (NASDAQ: JDSU) (TSX: JDU) today announced that MTN Uganda has selected its ariesoGEO platform and GEOperformance application to improve network quality and customer experience. MTN Uganda operates the country’s largest multi-vendor, multi-technology network.

JDSU’s customer-centric ariesoGEO solution will support MTN Uganda’s GSM and UMTS networks, and is ready to support the rollout of its LTE network that was launched on April 25, 2013. MTN Uganda has become the first operator in Uganda, and one of the very first in the region to successfully launch its 4G LTE network. ariesoGEO uses location intelligence to transform RAN planning and performance engineering. This increases operational efficiency and improves network performance, enhancing the customer experience.

“We are committed to providing the best service for our customers, whether it is through new innovative products or by constantly improving and enhancing our network. The continuous capital expenditure (CAPEX) investment by MTN is aimed at ensuring consistent and reliable network quality for all existing customers and also to enable many more new customers to enjoy the best of what mobile technology has to offer,” said Rami Farah, CTO of MTN Uganda.

Rami Farah added, “ariesoGEO will enable us to take a proactive approach to customer service, helping us react quickly to issues, while improving the quality of the overall network. As our network continues to grow, so too will customer expectations. JDSU will help us meet those needs.”

“We are delighted to be working with an innovative operator that has such a strong commitment to customer experience and network quality,” said Shirin Dehghan, General Manager of JDSU’s Arieso business unit. “Our GEOperformance application will assist MTN Uganda in identifying specific problem areas in the network, helping to ensure its customers, including VIPs, are getting the best possible experience.”

JDSU acquired Arieso in March 2013, adding the world’s leading intelligent, location aware solutions for mobile network operators to its Communications Test portfolio. Arieso solutions locate, store and analyze data from billions of mobile connection events, giving operators a rich source of intelligence to help boost network performance and enrich user experience. This intelligence transforms the effectiveness of network performance engineering; enables customer-centric self-optimizing networks; creates true understanding of customer experience, and enables monetization of unique insights.

The proven Arieso carrier grade solutions are resilient and highly scalable. Operating on five continents, clients include mobile operator groups such as América Móvil, AT&T, MTN, Telefónica and Vodafone, and leading equipment vendors including Alcatel Lucent and NSN.

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In Picture: MTN CEO, Mazen Mroué hands over a cheque worth 10 Million Ushs. to the Archbishop of the church of Uganda, Stanley Natagali at All Saints Cathedral in Kampala. Extreme Right is the MTN, General Manager Legal and Corporate Affairs, Henry Katamba.

Kampala

MTN Uganda Foundation has joined All Saints Cathedral in a drive to raise money to support the cathedral’s community initiatives as well as build the new church building.

Speaking during a courtesy call on the New Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, the MTN Uganda CEO Mazen Mroué said that MTN is heartened by the noble community activities the church is involved in, saying they resonate with the telecommunication giant’s philosophies on Corporate Social Responsibility

 All Saints Cathedral is one of the oldest churches in Uganda, and is involved in community activities such as Compassion and Hospitality for street kids, orphans and the destitute, counseling and health/healing (HIV/AIDS initiatives), education, Stewardship, Leadership development and a host of other youth programs.

“We are motivated by what All Saints Cathedral stands for because it’s in line with what our MTN foundation believes in. There are many people out there that need a compassionate hand. At MTN, we are not involved in such activities directly, but we are very glad to lend a helping hand to such institutions that drive such noble causes,” said Mazen Mroué’ CEO MTN Uganda.

During the same visit, MTN Uganda contributed shs10 million towards the construction of the new cathedral building, which is intended to create more room for the barging Christian community that throng the church all week. The new building will also create more capacity for it to do more community activities.

The current church was build many years ago with a plan to accommodate 600 people, but this has become very small. The new building is planned to take up to 4500 people.

Mazen called upon every individual and institution to make a contribution towards such causes, whether financially or physically.

“AT MTN, we know the importance of giving back to the communities in which we operate. By this contribution, we hope that we have re-ignited the drive for more people to come and be a part of this support great initiative,” Mroué said.

The Archbishop of the church of Uganda, Stanley Ntagali said that MTN’s support is very timely as the activities of the church are financially demanding and yet there is always need for more.

“The church depends on contributions of its members as well as well-intentioned companies like MTN Uganda. We would like to encourage more people to borrow a leaf from MTN and come in to support the church,” he said.

The MTN Uganda Foundation is a not-for-profit legal entity that was inaugurated in July 2007 as a vehicle through which MTN Uganda implements its’ Corporate Social Investments (CSI). The Foundation strives to improve the quality of life in communities where MTN Uganda operates in a sustainable way. Over the past five years since its launch, the MTN Foundation has supported a number of initiatives in the areas of Education, Health, Arts and Culture, Environment, Community Development and Low cost housing.

The MTN Uganda Foundation partners with both public and non-profit credible organizations to execute sustainable projects in each of the chosen focus areas. The Foundation is committed to ensuring that the selection and approval of its projects are conducted in a manner that is transparent, systematic, efficient, and effective while promoting its mission.

In 2013 and onwards, the MTN Foundation will focus on three key areas so as to leverage scale to achieve significant development impact. The three sectors will be Education, Health and National Priority Areas.

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Before MTN launched their services and products in Uganda, Celtel had such a supernormal monopoly that it was common for so many Ugandans to refer to the few available mobile handsets as Celtel.

Even when Celtel was overly expensive and only affordable to the wealthy, it enjoyed an obvious monopoly that it was hard to imagine another telecom service provider ever stepping in and taking over the market.

When Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) entered the Ugandan market, not only did they revolutionize the entire telecom landscape but also went ahead to become the market leaders.

With innovation after innovation, affordable services and customer centered packages, MTN has since become the comfortable market leader with the biggest number of subscribers at about 7.9 million.

It is MTN’s affordability and customer centeredness that probably inspired Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL)’s Mango brand, which focused more on University students and other low income earners at the time. However, not even the existence of Mango prevented MTN from strengthening their position at the top.

MTN came in with amazing promotions that are part of the reasons that aided their rise to the top of the market. Such promotions as MTN Zone, a service that allows subscribers to make cheap calls depending on traffic in their location, have enabled so many subscribers to make affordable calls. MTN Zone is just to mention one out of so many other promotions and packages that have created affordability of telecom services over the years.

There was a time when telecom services had become affordable, but handsets were still expensive.

That is when MTN introduced the cheapest phones in the market called Kabiriti. You must remember Kabiriti, a promotion that was spear headed by Bobi Wine. This was a clear statement that MTN were here for a real revolution. The campaign promotion saw thousands own phones at affordable rates for the first time. With the success of Kabiriti, other telecoms followed suit, bringing on market cheaper promotional headsets.

MTN took the revolution a notch higher into the financial sphere when they introduced MTN Mobile Money, the game changer. In about four years, MTN Mobile Money has become a huge brand in itself. It has become a strong part of people’s day to day lives as it enables financial transactions of individuals, companies and other businesses.

To go a notch higher, MTN Mobile Money went abroad after a partnership with Western Union. With the new partnership, MTN Mobile Money subscribers can now send and receive money from any part of the world where Western Union operates.

In the internet world, MTN has had a number of innovative packages as well. They were the first to introduce MTN Broadband Internet, where Orange came in as a stronger competitor.

MTN then introduced the amazingly fast 3G internet and has recently introduced the 4G LTE super fast internet, the first of its kind in the region. MTN serves the biggest market of Mobile Internet users, with charges from as low as 500 Uganda Shillings.

MTN introduced the MTN Data Center which provides companies with such services as network collocation as well as a range of hosting or management services. This has helped reduce their clients’ operating expenses and lowered the risks associated with the same.

When it comes to social-corporate responsibility and giving back to the community, MTN has obviously led in the field, with the MTN Marathon being one of their most prominent ventures.

The MTN Marathon directly impacts the people, since all proceeds there from are pumped into projects that directly benefit needy communities.

The story of MTN is therefore that of a service provider that not only eliminated monopoly but went ahead to become the best; the story of a revolutionary market leader.