The Ivorian minister of communication, Affoussiata Bamba-Lamine, told a press conference, at the close of council of ministers held on February 2, 2016, that a call to tenders would be launched in May 2016 for the issuing of operating licences for private commercial television. “In May 2016, the call to tenders will be launched, followed by other steps related to the authorization process to...

Diamond Mining Company (DMC) announced it was going to sue the government of Zimbabwe for breaching their contract as it ordered all diamond mining activities stopped, a company official said. DMC, a 50-50 joint-venture between Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and Pure Diamonds, said its contract stipulated that government’s mining arm was the one to renew licence. It...

5G could come online faster than expected. This was revealed by Nokia’s Chief Executive Rajeev Suri at the Mobile World Congress which is ending today in Barcelona, Spain. According to Rajeev Suri, cited by zdnet.fr, things are happening faster than expected in terms of standardization. Various public-private partnerships are being signed to improve technological research, telecom...

American giant Mars has recalled its chocolate bars sold in Morocco. The recall which is directed to 55 countries was launched last Tuesday after a “small piece of plastic” was found in one of its snack. The recall which will be carried out by Dislog, Mars’ distributor in the Christian kingdom, involves Snickers and Mars bars made between December 4, 2015 and January 8, 2016. A source...

Port-Louis is the best African city to live in worldwide, according to Mercer’s 2016 Quality of Living Survey. Mauritius’ capital which ranked 83rd worldwide out of 230 cities, is followed, in Africa, by South African cities Durban (85th worldwide), Cape Town (92nd) and Johannesburg (95th). Closing the top 10 of best African cities to live in are Victoria (97th worldwide), Tunis (113rd),...

Central Bank of Egypt (CEB) has made new changes to its policy that forces importers to provide 100% cash coverage on letter of credit. Indeed, controls now adds computers, spare parts, and assembly parts to the list of excluded products which already included dairy and pharmaceutical products, and industrial fertilizers. With Arab Springs, revenues in currencies derived from tourism and...

Curro Holdings, South African private schools operator, announced in a release published on Feb 23 it was going to raise R1bn ($66m) to fund investments and increase capital. The increase in capital planned for May will be reserved for existing shareholders who will have the right to buy one share at 33 rand for every 11 share held. Curro Holdings, who with no avail tried to buy rival Advtech...

In Angola, Sonangol, has announced that its arrears to foreign oil companies had risen to $7.8 billion in 2015, an annual increase of 41%. Covering unsettled investment and operational costs, Sonangol’s growing arrears problem is comes at a period of dropping revenues. The company’s 2015 income dropped by 54% caused by cheap oil prices. Due to this, Sonangol said this year will be a...

Sudan oil minister, Mohamed Zayed Awad (photo), held talks with Chinese officials to construct the first gas pipeline in Sudan and means of developing the gas industry. The oil minister said he conversed with officials from China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) on how to develop oil crude and natural gas extraction systems in Sudan so as to boost national production. He also discussed the...

Nigeria is heading towards another phase of fuel shortages as the drop in oil prices the country with less options for importing fuel. Traders and sources have cautioned that new gasoline reservations have reduced as importers are unable to get the dollars required to purchase and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has been unable able to sign deals quickly to exchange crude oil for...