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Mobile telecommunications giant- MTN has announced the launch of
its 3.5 G service in Ghana.

The service, which uses high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) technology, was announced at an impressive ceremony at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons in Accra.

Speaking at the launching themed
“Go Beyond, Experience our better life today”, Chief Executive Officer, MTN Ghana, Brett Goshen said, “We are very pleased with the significant progress we have made in building an extensive 3.5G network and making it available to a large number of our valued customers”.

“We are launching our 3.5G network with more than 7 times the number of 3.5G base stations than the next competitor. In addition, we are launching with the widest and best connection in Accra, Tema and Kumasi and will be expanding aggressively to all major cities in the months to come.”

MTN currently has the largest market share in the Ghanaian mobile communications industry, and just as chief marketing officer, George Kojo Andah said in an earlier announcement in February;

this new 3.5G service is meant to enhance the overall network experience for its customers, and provide more efficient systems for the transmission of existing voice, text and data services.

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The development will pitch MTN against rival Zain, which launched its 3.5 service in December 2008 and both operators will also soon face competition from Globacom, which bought a 3G licence for Ghana in mid-2008, and is expected to start services soon.

The HSDPA based 3G service, offers several advantages over the existing circuit-switched techniques used for carrying mobile voice, and utilizes a number of techniques in parallel to increase the efficiency and reduce the latency.

This allows higher call volumes and support for new and exciting multimedia data applications such as broadband access to the internet, emailing, mobile TV, video telephony and video conferencing from a mobile phone, PDA, or laptop.

The company also plans to host a carnival and demo fair in Kumasi, on saturday, 9th may, which is meant to further expose its customers to the service.

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The Tramigo T22- a Personal Asset Tracking Device is set for its official launch in Ghana later today. Tramigo T22 is “the world’s first truly plug and play portable tracking device available for all the GSM markets”.

Tramigo T22 can be used for hundreds of different purposes and in as many ways; when ever you need to know where your loved ones or your assets are and what is their current status.

According to Mr. High K. Aryee, Chief Executive Officer of Proffworld Link Consult (PLC)- local partners of Tramigo 22;

Tramigo T22, the best selling GSM/GPS tracker in the world, would assist security agencies, corporate bodies and individuals in protecting their life and property.

The T22 can be used with text messaging, and has inbuilt map of your area with thousands of landmarks- allowing you to add your own landmarks such as home, office and friends. You can simply check the location of your important assets and loved ones with user-friendly SMS commands.

How It Works

Tramigo T22 car tracking device combines the GPS (Global Positioning System), GSM (mobile network) and geographical information (TLD Tramigo Landmark Data) into one device.

Furthermore, Tramigo T22 needs only a normal SIM card (prepaid or postpaid) of any operator and is ready for use, there are NO other charges than the text messages sent or calls made from Tramigo T22 to your phones.::

It uses the GPS satellites to position itself getting very accurate positioning, then it finds the closest TLD landmark to that point from its internal memory and sends the information across to any authorized mobile phone as a text message using the GSM network.

Tramigo is commanded with simple text message commands; sending word Find or letter F to your Tramigo T22 you will get the actual location of your Tramigo tracking device back to your phone as a message. Simple, intelligent and very secure.

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Tramigo Landmark Data (TLD)

TLD includes commonly known local landmarks that are carefully selected and updated to provide best possible local understanding for T22 use.

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T22 TLD Landmarks- Image from Tramigo.net

It includes: All cities, towns and villages + plenty of information-rich points of interest data, such as hotels, schools, hospitals, post offices, churches, shopping malls, passenger terminals, major interchanges, gasoline stations, government services, tourist attractions, toll gates, sport arenas, etc.

T22 user can also add own landmarks, up to 500 points, to complete TLD for best possible personal and community usage.

The introduction of the T22 into the Ghanaian market is expected to curb the crime rate and reduce the spate of accidents in the country. “At this time when crime has become so sophisticated and the increase of accidents on our roads, the introduction of the Tramigo T22 therefore into the Ghanaian market is timely,” Mr Aryee added.

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After reviewing Global IT Trends For 2009, it became quite evident that despite the global economic down turn, the future of the IT industry still remains extremely bright. As a matter of fact, forecasts from industry leaders project that IT specialist would be pivotal to the success of businesses this Year.

According to the Baseline magazine;

… Many of the hottest roles and skills address issues specific to survival, such as productivity, efficiency and process improvement. Most relevant are those experts who can use technology to help drive profit ….. quoting David Foote- chief research officer for Foote Partners.

This, no doubt, is in line with the increasing interest in the adaptation and use of Social Media for market development, not to mention the increase in the deployment and use of Web 2.0 applications, Web/Video conferencing, and Telepresence systems.

Below is an excerpt from a chart in a report by ‘David White, JISC funded ‘SPIRE’ project 2007’, representing trends in Web 2.0 usage;

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Though the current job market is brutal, it is quite evident that some IT specializations remain in high demand. According to Foote, Executives are interested in keeping their customers, getting new customers, making acquisitions and anything to keep the revenue channel going.

Here is a list of “hot” IT jobs for 2009 à la The Baseline Mag;

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Brace Yourself ……..

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• Business intelligence Experts
  BI experts can help organizations “In a lot of decisions having to do with how the customer base is changing, market differentiation, pricing and services.” Foote says

• Resiliency Services Professionals
  while many larger enterprises may be slimming down, some of their already mature business continuity practices, resiliency services are big in the mid-market. Many of these jobs will be through outsource services firms.

• Vendor Procurement Specialists
  “It’s pretty clear that in this next year, companies are going to be renegotiating contracts like crazy,” Foote says. A savvy vendor procurement specialist is critical to getting the upper hand in these negotiations.

• Outsourcing and Vendor Managers
  Slightly different than a procurement specialist, vendor and outsourcing managers are project management specialists who act as liaisons and enforce SLAs once the ink dries on the contract.

• Enterprise Architects
  Forrester Research voted this one as “Very Hot” last August in an internal survery of analysts. Since the economy tanked, the role’s importance has grown as IT is called to automate and streamline processes and infrastructure.

• ITIL Managers
  Governance and standardization are keys to getting automation efforts off the ground in an orderly fashion, and companies will be paying a premium for ITIL and business process experts in 2009.

• Virtualization Gurus
  HR gurus with the job site Dice.com are reporting that even though IT job listings went down 12 percent last year, virtualization postings went up 37 percent.

• Security Architects
  IT security is staffing up, and some of the highest demand is for architects who can understand the complexities of various IT ecosystems and emerging risks from technology like virtualization.

• AJAX Developers
  Businesses will continue to leverage Web 2.o technology to differentiate themselves, so it’s clear that AJAX and XML skills remain in high demand.

• Storage Directors
  Another hot role per Forrester, this one is critical as organizations hope to coordinate for better storage utilization rates, slimming down on hardware purchase costs in the process.

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The Mobile industry is not left out! According to a report titled “Mobile Internet 2010,”- there are more than 4 billion wireless subscribers globally and many of these will be using their handset as the main Internet terminal.

In order for that potential to be achieved however, the report said carriers need to boost their networks, and handsets makers need to do a better job of incorporating Web services into a phone’s user interface.

It goes without saying that Mobile application developers would also be in huge demand this year.We just have to wait and see how it all unfolds.

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This just in, Sony Ericsson’s has just released the new W715- the mobile device which is “all — and only — about Vodafone”.

The new and “exclusive to Vodafone” slider boasts a 3.2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, aGPS, WiFi, DLNA certified, 120MB memory, quad-band GSM, 900 / 2100 HSDPA, ………

News of its release has been making the rounds all over the net, with several blogs, online news sources, etc. posting numerous articles commenting on the new and unique features of the Walkman.

Anyway, the most interesting (not to mention amusing-) aspects of its features, from an African perspective that is- is its purported ability to;

“enable quick access to its navigation services through among others a dedicated key.”

You may be wondering why this is so “amusing”.

Ever heard of Google Maps? Sure you have! “Play” with this (useful) navigation tool for a while, and you would begin to see the amusement in all of this. Try navigating to Ghana for instance at a zoom level of 25, and see what it tells you.

Hint: Click the link- Ghana’s Google map, and “navigate” to the bottom of the page for quick access.

According to the IT News Africa website;

Aside from turn-by-turn pedestrian or driving navigation available using Vodafone Find&Go, customers will be able to find their nearest restaurants, hotels or shopping centers all within a few clicks on their new mobile phone, the company said. (Company here referring to Sony Ericsson of course).

It beats the imagination how finding any kind of useful information on the Walkman would be possible in some parts of Africa, where even getting street names and postal codes is a “tug-of-war”.

Anyway, not to discourage any potential shoppers, the w715 Walkman is still good for many other things. Quoting IT News Africa again;

“On the top of premium music experience with crystal clear sound, the W715 includes popular Walkman features such as the music recognition application TrackID, SensMe for matching your mood to the music, and Shake Control to change tracks with the flick of a wrist. All this provides for a premium Music experience, fully integrated with Vodafone Music, allowing easy access to single and album downloads,” said Sony Ericsson.