BUSHMAIL

BUSHMAIL

News and General Information:

Country Information:
Sector information:

Mozambique:

South Africans will no longer require visa’s to enter Mozambique. It is foreseen that this will have a positive impact on Tourism Development. Bushmail has been branching out on the Islands along the coast and especially in Pemba.

Note that Northern Mozambique is really opening up with the new roads being build. Hunting and farming subcultures are growing.

Botswana:

The high flood waters have not impacted very negatively on the tourism experience during the recent season. The weak Dollar has impeded tourism growth. Film Crews and Wilderness Safari’s are doing well and it seems as if Kgori Safari’s has gone through the critical mass barrier.

The BTA ISP license has been granted and the issue sorted.

Zimbabwe:

Tourism and farming has relocated to Zambia. Livingstone has hit the map big time. Zimbo’s are the new pioneers in SADC countries and are very sought after. They love Bushmail, and Bushmail loves them. Ex Zimbo’s are taking all the prizes for best tobacco farming in Zambia and elsewhere. Nothing happening in Zim any longer, fastest shrinking economy in the world. No tourism, no farming left in Zim, boon to Botswana and Zambia, Mozambique.

DRC Congo:

As before de-mining and NGO operations continue. Mining is also set for a long term boom, as is lumber. Bushmail is very focused on being part of the revival of agriculture, mining and lumber when river and lake trade resume. We are currently engaged in a process of pre positioning for Dealers, Agents and Representatives. If you are a commercially active in the DRC contact us.

Zambia:

The tourism sector rocks and sensible politics have put agriculture on a growth path. It is hoped that when the DRC opens up and Lake Trade improves Zambia will play a more central regional role. Hunting appears to be stable and development on the Angola border can only be good. Recent satellite services turned out to have hidden costs-good for Rest houses and Cyber Cafe’s that wish to provide Internet to travellers. Fishing Lodges appear to be doing well. Note that Mvuu Lodge is for sale.

Tanzania:

11 348.6 USB has been activated in Dar es Salaam and we hope to add a 5 MHz server shortly. Tourism, mining and hunting continue to do well, although the recovery in Kenya is sure to suck a lot of the action North of the border. Pioneer users in Tanzania continue to become commercially active and it appears that that the economy is growing faster than infrastructure. Note that Bushmail is very keen on regional trade along the Lake and that we are looking for agents in this area.

Kenya:

The strong Rand has impeded Southern African Tourism and a combination of good prices, improved service and a perception of lower risk has stimulated Kenyan Tourism. It is hoped that the general marketing trend continue and that this important regional hub will regain it former lustre. Sudan appears to be very much in the news and we hope that the attention on the region bring money, stability and growth.

South Africa:

The deregulation of the Telecommunication Industry has been widely welcomed and is set to boost service and prices. Bad rainfall and unfriendly politics continue to push agriculture to higher yield areas closer to the Central Convergence Zone. The strong Rand has muted Tourism growth although the sector is vibrant and focused and well positioned for a weakening currency. South Africa is the cornerstone of the regional tourism circuit and improvements in Airport Infrastructure are widely welcomed. The key issue remain the rand.

Angola:

Mining has not recovered. Travel has greatly increased but the loss of the commercial and middle class has lead to a vacuum and slow growth outside oil, diamond and city areas. We hope that agriculture will improve and are looking for agents all over Angola.

Brazzaville Congo:

The bad news continues. We hope that the resumption of travel on the river will stimulate serious trade, lumber and agriculture in the long term.

Madagascar:

The stable political situation has caused most NGO’s to scale down their operations. It appears that pioneer projects are picking up and we are very keen to have more agents in this area.

Sierra Leone:

The peace is proving harder to win commercially and we hope to have more commercial users in pioneer areas. NGO’s remain important.

Sector information:

Bushmail has moved its focus from Tourism to Agriculture. The main reason for this is that the tourism market has entered a period if sideway growth due to 9/11 and exchange rate impediments. Key segments are individual pioneer farmers in Northern Mozambique “darkest Africa” realities. Coffee, Tobacco and cattle seem to be important as well as macadamia’s, maize and sugar. We also service a lot of Tobacco Out grower Companies. A key reason for the change is that farmers are long term lost cost low traffic customers. Unlike the tourism Industry they have low management staff turnover. Their monthly cash flow is not strong although annual capital expenditure is possible. Strong customer loyalty and interpersonal relationships are in the order of the day.
The introduction of various Mini Vsat services have been welcomed and tried out by various Lodges, with varying degrees of success. It appears that the younger the Management Couple, the bigger the need for Satellite. The smaller the marketing operation, the bigger the need for Satellite. It is with a hearty chuckle we note the return of Satellite customers to Bushmail who discovered the true installation, ISP, Satellite bandwidth, Cap and support costs and the limitation of line of sight in remote areas. It turns out that the extra surfing ability is not as important for tourism bookings as mission critical daily emails. The lengthy downtime during technical problems seemed to have settled the issue. We note that the biggest Tourism Companies have IT managers for the First World and Bushmail in all the camps. Wilderness Safari’s has 50 camps on Bushmail.
Mining appears to be in a phase where little new exploration and development is being done due to the volatile macro conditions. This has meant that low cost high yield communication has been vital at various mothballed, high risk and remote projects. We see mining as a growth Industry and continue to expand our customer base. It appears that the old hands are branching out and finding real value.
Lumber: the fact that Bushmail work so well under the jungle canopy on the move has made it a reliable resource for the lumber Industry. We are very keen on saw mills and wood depots and would like more agents in this Industry, especially if it is linked to transport or River transport.
De mining: Continues to do well. The need for communication on the move and error free daily rapports have won the day for Bushmail.
NGO’s: It appears that the mining is slowly drying up and that the Middle East and Sudan are playing a major role. This budget cuts has been good for Bushmail and we continue to get additional orders from long time NGO customers. Reliability at medium and long term projects is our focus and we have moved away from short term disaster communication. Bushmail is not interested in a 90- days window dressing exercise. We prefer low budget long term clinics and development training projects.
Trade: This is a most under developed sector and Bushmail is extremely interested in Lake and River Trade.
Transport: We continue to provide excellent service to remote depots with daily reports of departure and arrivals and cargo.
Rail: Note that Bushmail is very keen to branch into this sector and is looking for agents and contacts at remote railway stations.
Flying Schedule’s: How and through which medium do you think the camps in the Delta in Botswana get their daily flying Schedules.
Bush Pilot: Please contact Jim@bushmail.co.za if you are a Pilot that frequent remote locations and have an interest in Bushmail.
Missionaries: Active and communicating a lot. Seems Missions work is communication work.
Conservation: Doing very well, especially in Northern Mozambique. We hope to increase our stations in Ghana and Angola.
Potential Users might also want to see the segment “What Bushmail is good for”.