Republic of the Congo's internet messaging access nearly doubles

A new service is bringing email and online chat to people in even the most rural parts of the Central African state of Republic of the Congo via SMS-enabled mobile phones - nearly doubling the population's access to internet messaging.

Warid Congo is transforming its 450,000+ mobile phone subscribers' handsets into virtual smartphones with its new Warid messenger service. The service, provided by ForgetMeNot Africa, enables all Warid Congo's subscribers to send and receive mobile email and online chat messages on any SMS-enabled handset without needing to be connected to the Internet.

Congo's highly literate population - UNICEF figures show that adult literacy was at 87 per cent in 2008 - struggles to access vital information such as healthcare, travel and educational resources. One reason is that only 6.6 per cent of its 3.68 million population use the Internet, according to the latest figures from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Internet connectivity in Congo is still extremely low, even in comparison to the rest of Africa. However, mobile phone subscriptions in the country are booming. ITU figures show 2.17 million Congolese people had a mobile phone subscription in 2009, compared to just 383,700 in 2004. The country now has 89 mobile phone subscriptions to every single fixed telephone line.


Michel Elame, CEO of Warid Congo, said: "Deploying ForgetMeNot Africa software is a clear sign that Warid Congo intends to be the most innovative mobile phone network in Congo. Warid messenger opens up a world of internet messaging to the highly literate Congolese people. They can now send and receive emails and have chat conversations with friends and family from all over the world anytime they like, be it from their armchair, while in the park with their friends or even while doing their shopping. This is a unique innovative offering for Congolese consumers."


Jeremy George, Chief Operating Officer for ForgetMeNot Africa, explained the launch also created the opportunity to roll out the company's technology to millions of French speaking Africans. "Our development work means that ForgetMeNot Africa technology can now serve the 115 million Francophones on the continent," he said. "The launch of Warid messenger expands our footprint across Africa, with our first venture into central Africa following previous launches in east, west and southern Africa.


"Our cloud computing approach is turning even more basic handsets into virtual messaging smartphones. We are giving millions of Africans access to internet messaging which otherwise, for both economic and technical reasons, would be unavailable to them due to a severe lack of internet connectivity and language support."

Glo Mobile service rockets Nigeria's access to mobile email and online chat

The digital divide in Nigeria, Africa's highest populated country with 150 million people, is being bridged to give Nigerians with any SMS-capable mobile phone handset access to pay-as-you-go two-way internet messaging services.


Glo Mobile, part of the award-winning Globacom, Nigeria's largest independent mobile phone network, is rolling out the new low-cost GloMessenger service to its entire 25 million subscriber base using ForgetMeNot Africa's Message Optimiser mobile technology. The service converts emails into SMS format and vice-versa, enabling users to send and receive emails and online chat messages using any standard SMS-capable mobile phone handset.


GloMessenger rockets the country's access to the Internet. ITU figures show before the launch of GloMessenger only 24 million Nigerians (16 per cent of the population) had access to the Internet.


ForgetMeNot Africa's Chief Operating Officer, Jeremy George, said: "Glo Mobile is putting another brick in the bridge across the digital divide in Nigeria, using ForgetMeNot Africa's technology to offer widespread, cheap-to-use mobile email to millions of Nigerians. Only 5 per cent of Nigerian households have a computer and the lack of cable access to the Internet makes accessing broadband difficult for the vast majority of Nigerians. Now they can keep in touch with their friends and family via email and online chat on basic handsets without any downloads."


Internet use across Africa remains low in comparison to Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific so the market potential for Message Optimiser in Africa is huge. By the end of 2008, 246 million Africans had mobile subscriptions, yet only 13 per cent (32 million) had access to the Internet due to poor quality fixed telephone lines. Mobile phones may be the only way for the vast majority of Africans to ever access the Internet.


GloMessenger is particularly attractive to young "early adopters" because it gives them a considerably cheaper and more convenient way of accessing two-way email and online chat compared to a standard Internet connection. What's more, the service incorporates popular chat services such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Windows Live and Gtalk so that users can send and receive messages, update their status and continue to chat online while on the go with no PC or internet access.


Globacom's Head of Valued Added Services, Samson Isa, said: "Deploying ForgetMeNot Africa software for millions of Nigerians is another step in Globacom becoming the biggest and best telecommunications provider in Africa. It follows our continuing investment in Nigeria's telecoms infrastructure. GloMessenger gives all Nigerian people a chance to enjoy cheap Internet services and keep in touch with their friends and family both in Nigeria and abroad through two-way email and online chat."

Kenya’s Mobile Phone Revolution Brings Mobile Email and Online Chat to One In Three Kenyans

Safaricom launches mobile online chat and two-way email to their entire mobile customer base with ForgetMeNot Africa


Over 15 million mobile phone subscribers in Kenya – over a third of the country’s population - will now be able to access email and online chat regardless of the make and model of their mobile phone. All standard phones with the ability to SMS are being transformed with the new Kipokezi service bringing low-cost email and chat within the reach of millions of Kenyans, improving communications with their friends and families, both at home and abroad.


Kenya has seen blistering growth in mobile phone subscriptions. From just over 125,000 in 2000, latest figures from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) show there are now more than 17 million Kenyans with a mobile phone subscription.


The new Kipokezi service is being rolled out by Kenya’s largest telecoms operator, Safaricom, suppliers of mobile phone connectivity for almost 9 in 10 Kenyan mobile phone subscribers. The service will be available to Safaricom’s entire subscriber base and is provided by ForgetMeNot Africa, a specialist in unified messaging systems for telecommunications operators.


The most recent figures from the ITU, collected in 2008 and prior to the launch of Kipokezi in Kenya, show that fewer than one in ten resident Kenyans had accessed the Internet. Now over a third of Kenya’s population will be able to exchange email messages and online chat messages wherever they are and whenever they wish.
Safaricom CEO, Michael Joseph, said: “This service packs great value to our customers. They will be able to handle their business online, check mail, find information, chat and keep in touch from wherever they are in a fast and cost-efficient manner. The price of internet-ready phones has kept many Kenyans off the web, a trend we are determined to change. This innovation is also at one with our constant strategy of increasing the utility of the mobile phone and expanding the reach of our data product.”


Safaricom’s consumer data services, backed by the country’s only and widest 3G network has been well-received with latest statistics showing that at least 3.5 million out of the 5 million Kenyans who regularly access the internet do so through the Safaricom network.
Kipokezi enables Safaricom to place low-cost email and chat within the reach of millions of Kenyans but especially serves the technically-literate youth of Kenya, who are already very familiar with email and chat. Kipokezi is particularly attractive to young “early adopters” because it gives them a considerably cheaper and more convenient way of accessing email and chat compared to a standard Internet connection and without the need for data plans or handset upgrades.

What’s more, the service incorporates popular chat services such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Windows Live and Gtalk so that users can send and receive messages and invitations globally. ForgetMeNot Africa’s unique Handset Initiation (HI) technology bypasses the need for Internet access and the latest handsets to offer an email service to all mobile phone users, even those in the remotest of areas.


ForgetMeNot Africa’s Chief Operating Officer, Jeremy George, said, “Almost four years ago, Safaricom revolutionised money transfer and storage in Kenya with the launch of its mobile money service enabling users to send, store and receive money through their mobile phones. Today they are giving all Kenyans the opportunity to bridge the rural-urban digital divide by giving them cheap access to chat and email services on standard mobile phones, without the need for an Internet connection, data plans or expensive handsets.”