Microsoft bringing white space internet, Windows 8 hardware to Tanzania

Microsoft bringing white space internet, Windows 8 hardware to Tanzania

It’s not just Bill Gates who has a benevolent eye turned towards Africa, as Microsoft has launched the second stage of its 4Afrika initiative in Tanzania. Redmond has teamed up with local provider UhuruOne to roll out white space broadband to the University of Dar es Salaam and is working with banks to help students get loans to buy Windows 8 hardware. Microsoft will also employ some students as on-campus support staff, offering training and qualifications to help them in the future. While the press release doesn’t mention the discounted Huawei W1 that Microsoft is offering in Kenya, we can only assume Tanzanians will get the same offer — fair’s fair, after all.

[Original image credit: Alexander Landfair / Wikimedia Commons]

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Huawei heads to Africa with new Windows Phone 8 device

Huawei seems to be an up and coming smartphone manufacturer, where they have had made quite an impression at the recently concluded CES 2013 last month. Well, they do Android and Windows Phone devices, and it is the latter that we will talk about today. Microsoft and Huawei have been working together for some time now, and the culmination of their concerted efforts has resulted in a new Windows Phone device that was specially designed for Africa, which incidentally, is one of the most rapidly-growing technology markets in the world. The phone has been dubbed The Lion King, nay, I jest, but rather, it is called the Huawei 4Afrika, and will be the first in a series of smart devices that are being custom developed for the continent, and will be part of Microsoft’s sweeping new 4Afrika Initiative.

As you know, Africa is not exactly the most prosperous continent on earth, and many people there still live in poverty without gaining access to the basic needs of life such as food, water and shelter. Well, it is nice to know then that the Huawei 4Afrika handset has taken this into consideration, and will be marketed as an affordable option for students, small businesses, developers, and first-time smartphone owners. Expect the Huawei 4Afrika that runs on Windows Phone 8 to debut later this February in seven countries, and they are Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa, where you can pick up this stylish device in blue, red, black, and white colors.

What kind of hardware can we find underneath the hood? For starters, this is a variant of the Ascend W1 just in case you were wondering why it looks similar from certain aspects, carrying a 4-inch display at 480 x 800 resolution, powered by a dual-core 1.2 GHz Snapdragon processor, carry 4GB of internal memory, as well as the customary front and back cameras for you to capture beautiful moments, all crammed into a 10mm thin chassis. Huawei claims that its integrated power saving technology will allow the Huawei 4Afrika to have a whopping 420 hours of standby time, now how about that?

Press Release
[ Huawei heads to Africa with new Windows Phone 8 device copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Microsoft launches 4Afrika initiative with Huawei W1 variant, TV white space broadband project

Microsoft launches 4Afrika initiative with Huawei W1 variant, lowcost wireless broadband

Following the lead of co-founder Bill Gates Microsoft is taking more interest in Africa, announcing its 4Afrika Initiative with a stated aim of improving the continent’s global competitiveness. There are several plans under way as a part of the project, with one of the first being a new Windows Phone 8 device from Microsoft and Huawei. Pictured above, the Huawei 4Afrika phone is a specially tailored version of the existing Ascend W1 meant as an affordable option (no price announced yet) for first time smartphone buyers that also comes preloaded with apps created by African developers for African consumers, and a subsection of the existing Windows Phone Store that will continue to focus on “locally-relevant” apps and content. It will be available in blue, red, black and white when it launches later this month in Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa.

Another part of the push is a pilot project Microsoft is working on with the Kenyan government and Indigo Telecom which combines solar powered base stations using TV white space technology to offer affordable wireless internet access. Meant to bring broadband to places that currently lack even electricity, the deployment is called Mawingu, connecting a healthcare clinic and several schools in its initial test. After several years of pushing the tech, which takes advantage of unused TV broadcast spectrum, Microsoft hopes to convince other nations to make the legal/regulatory changes to start using it as well. There’s a press release after the break with more details, as well as a video and more information available beyond the source links.

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Source: 4Afrika, Windows Phone Blog