All Africa TV channel will bank on mobile technology: by next summer, Africa could well have its own 24 hour news channel thanks to the phenomenal growth of mobile phone ownership and the rapid advances in telecom technology. Anver Versi reports.

Salim Amin, son of the legendary media personality Mohamed Amin, is confident that by the summer of 2008, Africa will have its own independent 24 hour news channel. Salim now heads the Camerapix media empire headquartered in Nairobi.

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His father Mohamed Amin, who died tragically when a hijacked plane from Ethiopia crashed into the Indian Ocean off the Mombasa coast, built Camerapix into one of the most important TV and stills agency in the world, covering practically all the major news events in Africa, the sub-continent and the Middle East for world TV broadcasters.

Salim Amin told me he had become tired of the staple of negative news stories that dominated, and still dominate, coverage of Africa in Western broadcasts, even if these broadcasts were aimed at the continent."

"There was nothing positive as far as Africa was concerned. The African voice, the African perspective was conspicuous by its absence. I have always wanted to tell the other side of the story, African business, sports, culture, politics, solid achievements, heroic dimensions. The stories are all there but they never reach the world."

At international media conferences, he says, "Africa was always on the agenda but Africans themselves were absent. It was all about European and American media talking about how to cover Africa. We Africans were, and still are, relegated to the role of mere spectators without a voice; our stories are told by outsiders."

Then, in 2004, he attended a media conference in Portugal where a whole session was set aside for the Arab media. This was because channels like Al Jazeera, Al Arabia and so on were already having a huge impact on how the Middle East was being covered. "Here was a strong Arab voice presenting and interpreting news from an Arab perspective. It changed everything."

He says this was when it became crystal clear to him that the only continent in the world that did not have its own news channel and therefore lacked a voice in the global media output was Africa. This set the seal on his growing determination to create a dedicated news and features service for the continent.

In 2005, he organized a meeting of "75 of the best TV minds in Africa." The upshot of the meeting was A24 Media--a stand alone TV channel that would broadcast news every hour on the hour and also run features on all aspects of African life.

Right time, right place.

Africans have chaffed at the one-sided representation of the continent for decades and have often complained bitterly to international broadcasters about the negative portrayal of the continent but lacked the muscle to do anything about it. There have been a few attempts to provide Africa with its own channel but most have ended in failure.

"Now," Amin believes, "the technology is here." A24 (Africa 24) will rely mainly on the internet and mobile handsets to disseminate its content. "We will of course provide national broadcasters with free to air content in order to reach as wide a public as possible and the channel will also be available on satellite but our main thrust will be on mobile phones that can receive video images and the internet."

I asked Amin if the A24 Media channel will require 3G equipment or if it can be received by the type of equipment mostly in use in Africa today.

"You will need 3G or equivalent," he replied. "However, the new generation of handsets, even the cheaper varieties, will have the capacity to receive our broadcasts."

China, according to industry insiders, is already working on a new generation of handsets that will have 3G capability and yet be very competitively priced. These could provide the breakthrough Africa needs.

The cost of setting up and operating A24 is estimated at $25m. "This will take us through the first five years," Amin says. "It will be cash positive in year six."

Once the channel is up and running, it will have 42 news bureaux scattered over the continent and be bilingual in English and French to start with. It will also purchase footage from African and international news and features agencies.

Revenues will come from advertising, sale of content to other broadcasters and programmes sponsored by organisations such as the Gates Foundation, the Global Fund, the UN and big business.

A number of investors, including some of Africa's largest media houses, internet providers and mobile providers have already committed themselves to the project. "We should have the shareholding structure in place by November," says Amin. "Training and recruiting will begin immediately after and the channel should become operational in the spring/summer of 2008."

A dedicated pan-African TV channel has been the dream of most media professionals in Africa but until now, it seemed it would remain little more than a dream. A24 could well see the dream come true: the demand is there and at last, the technology is also there.