South Africa Launches First 5G Commercial Network

Barcelona, Spain, February 26, 2019.

Mr. Paul Harris, Chairman of Rain and Ms. Shi Jilin, President of Huawei Cloud Core Network Products, jointly launching South Africa’s first 5G commercial network .

At 2019 Mobile World Congress (MWC 2019), rain, South Africa’s mobile data-only network operator, announced that it has launched the first 5G commercial network in South Africa in partnership with Huawei, the leading global ICT solutions provider. This move has made South Africa one of the first countries globally to launch 5G. 
With Huawei’s end-to-end 5G solutions, rain has been able to build the 5G network using its 3.6GHz spectrum. In the first phase of roll out, rain has deployed a number of 5G sites in key areas in Johannesburg.  Rain CEO, Willem Roos, says: ” The network will provide fiber-like speeds without the installation complexities, time delays and cost of laying fiber in under-serviced areas.”
Huawei launched full range of 5G end-to-end product solutions, from core network, the bearer network, and base station to terminals in the beginning of 2018. The company already launched 5G phones at MWC 2019. 
Apart from deploying new base stations, Huawei’s solutions enable rain to fully leverage its existing LTE network and allocated spectrum for 5G deployment. This approach of sharing facilities and leveraging existing infrastructure will enable rain to roll out the 5G network in a quick and cost-effective manner.
Shi Jilin, President of Huawei Cloud Core Network Product Line, said: “It is an important step to work with rain in bringing the first 5G network construction in South Africa. With our solutions, we are committed to working with operators with our innovative solutions to build future-oriented networks for smooth evolution and migration for the maximum value out of their investment and the best user experience.”
According to the plan, rain will continue to expand the 5G network to cover all the major metropolitan areas in South Africa with 5G networks to provide ultra-broadband services to homes and enterprises. 
Roos, further notes: “rain is excited to build South Africa’s first large scale 5G network which can provide fast wireless internet to more citizens.  We are supportive of President Ramaphosa’s investment drive in the country and hope to contribute to readying South Africa for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

TALE OF TWO TEACHERS, WAGE DISPARITY CAUSES TEACHER ANXIETY

Nairobi, Kenya

27th February 2019

Teachers in Nairobi County earn up to two times what their counterparts in the rest of the country earn in terms of housing allowance. This was made known in a press conference earlier today by the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers – KUPPET at the Union headquarters along Mombasa road Nairobi.

According to the Union Secretary General Mr. Akelo Misori; a teacher in Job Grade C2 in Nairobi under Teachers Service Commission; the same category as the job group K, takes home Ksh16,500 in house allowance while teachers from the rest of the country take home Ksh7,500. Nairobi Teachers in Job Grade C3, which is the equivalent of the job group L, takes home Ksh35,000 while compatriots in the rest of the country take home Ksh15,400.

KUPPET Secretary General Akelo Misori at a past event. Images Courtesy Standard Media.

The promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 ushered in a new modus operandi in the governance of the country and the creation of the counties shifted the strain in urban areas occasioned by rural-urban migration as people moved also to the newly created counties to seek employment. This has in turn forced up rental and property prices in areas where the same was considered to be relatively low.

Teachers Service Commission CEO. Ms. Nancy Macharia. Images courtesy nation.co.ke

The Union has called for the shelving of the payment of the teacher housing allowance policy arguing that it mocks the basic tenets of sound Human Resource Management and violates Article 27 (3) and Article 43(b) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 which prohibits any form of discrimination.

The Teachers Service Commission has been recently at loggerheads with the Umbrella Teacher Union Kenya National Union of Teachers- KNUT over a delocalization policy.

Who Audits the Auditor General Annual Symopisia Seeks Answers

Nairobi Kenya 20th February 2019

“Who Audits the Auditor General” this is one subject item that will be a topic to be discussed in the 27th Annual Institute of Certified Public Accountants Kenya (K) symposia currently underway at a Nairobi Hotel.

Auditor General Mr. Edward Ouko at a past function. Image Courtesy Standard Media Group

The GDP of Kenya which is expected to expand further in the year 2019/2020, considering the 6.1% rise in the period 2018/2019 and the 4.9 percent in the period 2017/2018 according to the National Treasury Budget Policy Statement for the year 2018 may make or break the objective outlined for the 2019/2020 budget cycle, Key among them President. Uhuru Kenyatta’s “Big Four” Agenda.

National Treasury Kenya Cabinet Secretary. Mr. Henry Rotich. Images Courtesy Nation Media

ICPAK Chairman Mr. Julius Mwatu. Image Courtesy ICPAK

The institute of Certified Public Accountants Kenya (K) in its annual economic symposium will seek to find ways of fulfilling the presidents Big four Agenda (Mass Housing, universal Health, Employment etc), increase the tax bracket and thus taxes collected through levering on technology and find ways of auditing the tax audit boss Mr. Edward Ouko.