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Day 1 of Zimbabwe ICT Africa 2011 (Pictures)
We’re just from the first day of ICT Africa 2011. The first day is dedicated to business and invited guests, though really no one is prevented from attending. We spent most of the day going around the stands and speaking to people about the stuff their tech companies are doing.
After just a day, the Daily News website goes down again
The Daily News website is down. Again. Why they pulled it down is anyone’s guess right now. SW Radio Africa reported yesterday that the editor of the paper, Stanley Gama, had told them the website had been restored online yesterday after a month of downtime. The reason for the downtime given by the editor is that they are “making further developments and modernising in line with modern websites around the world”.
One year later, Africom still sells a Gig for $18
One of the main highlights of last year’s ICT Africa was the launch of Africom mobile broadband services. The service launched with a one month free bandwidth offer. Before Africom’s product came along, mobile broadband in Zimbabwe was only offered by Econet, PowerTel and TelOne. None of the three incumbents offered reliable connectivity so the Africom’s entry was much welcomed.
Econet to provide free unlimited Wi-Fi at ICT Africa 2011
We got notified today by Econet that they will be providing free Wi-Fi internet at this year’s ICT Africa. The free Wi-Fi will be available to everyone at the venue for the entire duration of the exhibition. And it is unlimited! This is set to attract a lot of visitors to the exhibition; Internet connectivity is pretty expensive in Zimbabwe.
ICT Africa 2011 versus Econet’s Experience Expo
A few weeks ago we learnt that some local ISPs were considering not exhibiting at ICT Africa 2011 after finding out that Econet Wireless had snapped up 23 stands for the event, thereby dwarfing every other exhibitor by an epic scale. Things like this happen and are not surprising. However I was very disappointed by yesterday’s supplement featuring companies that are exhibiting at the event.
Website Hacking: HMetro too has been hit
Barely a day after we posted that the NewsDay was down, we got notified on Twitter that HMetro (www.hmetrozim.com) was suffering a similar problem. The website has been hijacked by hackers.
Here’s what you see if you open the H-Metro website right now:
Our ICT Africa 2011 wish list
Later this week, this year’s ICT Africa exhibition and conference will take place. It’ll run from the 5th to the 7th of October. It’s Zimbabwe’s ICT industry flagship event, organized by the Computer Suppliers Association of Zimbabwe (COMSA). This year however (and last year as well actually) there’s great involvement by the Ministry of ICT in organizing the event.
Techzim was down this morning
Soon after we posted that Alpha Media’s Newsday website was down this morning, a friend notified us there was something wrong with our website. We checked and sure enough all the articles were gone. No story at all, like it’s a new blog.
So how much does it cost to use EcoCash?
On Friday last week, Econet launched EcoCash, a mobile money service that so far looks like a game changer. On the local market at least. The concept is a tried and tested one. M-PESA has worked phenomenally well in Kenya, and Econet has read the M-PESA story cover to cover. In fact it is its similarity to M-PESA that gives Econet the game changing potential it has with EcoCash.
Alpha Media’s NewsDay website down. Malware compromise
We received a tip this morning that the NewsDay website, www.newsday.co.zw, may have been hacked. Web browsers currently report that malware (malicious software) has been detected on the site and that visitors are at risk of malware infection if they open the website.