The week in review

AT HOME

COMMUNICATIONS regulator Icasa appointed Stan Mamaregane as its acting chief executive after Jackie Manche resigned on December 22, two months after she resumed her duties following a ten-month suspension on allegations of violating the Public Finance Management Act. She left before the disciplinary hearing could be finalised. Mamaregane will be at the helm until a new chief executive was appointed. - Business Report

THE DISPOSAL by Johnnic Communications of its 38% stake in M-Net/SuperSport could result in a cash outlay of more than R300 million. This will happen if all the executives and employees who hold share options accept the early-exercise offer that would allow them to cash in their options before the television stake is sold to Naspers. - Business Report

AIRPORTS Company South Africa (Acsa) has unveiled self-service check-in kiosks - Flightcheck - at SA`s four major airports, OR Tambo, Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. Acsa said that 36 kiosks have been installed and plans are under way to add a further 70, bringing the total investment to around R20-million for the 106 kiosks. The kiosks look much like ATMs and are easy to use with simple touch screen display icons and text instructions for passengers. - I-Net Bridge

ONE OF Europe`s largest Web-hosting companies, PLANT, has opened a Cape Town office, taking its first step into the African market. Specialists in shared hosting, dedicated hosting, co-location and application development, PLANT offers South Africans its data centres in Amsterdam, and a dedicated pipe that runs directly into SAIX.

COMPUTER Corporation, the franchise IT retailer, has announced the official opening of its 25th franchise outlet in Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal, opposite the Gateway shopping centre. The company sells a number of blue chip brands, including Lexmark and Fujitsu Siemens, but its top seller is its own range of PCs and notebooks.

SPESCOM DataFusion, the group`s call centre operation, has achieved Platinum partnership status with the world leader in the call centre industry, Avaya. Platinum status is awarded following a rigorous assessment process in which technical skills proficiency, resources, customer satisfaction and overall success in the marketplace are examined.

LEADING SA Internet portal iafrica.com, independent television Web site TVSA.co.za and community blogging site TashiTagg.com have joined forces in a strategic three-way partnership as of mid-January. Iafrica.com will provide news feeds for TashiTagg.com in a wide variety of categories, while TVSA will provide iafrica.com with exclusive television content.

IT SERVICES and solutions provider Datacentrix has provided conservation and scientific research body SANParks with a wireless network infrastructure at the Skukuza Camp in the Kruger National Park. This will provide wireless network and Internet connectivity to SANParks staff and external researchers in Skukuza.

FRUSTRATED South African consumers, led by the Telecommunications Action Group, published an advert in the national Mail & Guardian newspaper, calling for the reform of the telecoms sector in the country. The advert was paid for by individual consumers who donated between R100 and R1 000 towards the campaign. "What we want to achieve with the advert is to both highlight the exorbitant cost of telecommunications services in SA as well as encourage consumers to stand up and demand change," says Alastair Otter, a founder of the TAG campaign.

REUTERS, the media and information provider that is one of the 100 largest companies listed on the LSE, says Telkom`s continued high telecoms prices and low-quality bandwidth are deterring it from ploughing more money into SA. - Business Day

INTO AFRICA -

AFRICA: Two recent announcements have signalled wider investment in Africa outside of new mobile licences: African Telecom`s contested bid for African Lakes (owners of pan-African ISP Africa Online) and India`s Flag Telecom announcing a global $1.5 billion investment in its international fibre network, part of which will include the Kenya to South Africa one. - Balancing Act

KENYA: The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) should get powers to set maximum limits to what subscribers and mobile operators pay for calls, a firm conducting an industry study has recommended. A draft report released by British firm Analysys Consulting suggested CCK should consider price caps as well as other interventions for retail and interconnection charges. - The East African Standard

NAMIBIA: The Switch mobile phone service offered by fixed-line monopoly Telecom Namibia is legal and introduces lower fees to Namibians. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by the Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit, while compiling its latest policy brief. Entering the telecoms market in November, Switch threw the sector into disarray with questions posed about its legality and the Namibian Communications Commission confusing issues by threatening to revoke the frequency licence it had issued to Telecom. - The Namibian

NAMIBIA: The highest mountain in Namibia, the Brandberg, is to receive a base station for mobile communication to increase the range of cellphone contact for locals and tourists in the area. The Brandberg is over 200m high and was declared a national monument in 1951. It is home to a vast variety of ancient rock art and is internationally famous for the rock painting of the `White Lady`. - The Namibian

NIGERIA: More money from the Middle East is expected to flow into Nigeria, after the federal government offered a unified access service licence to the Mubadala Development Company of the United Arab Emirates. The licence includes a mobile licence and spectrum in the GSM 1800 and 900 MHz bands at a price of $400 million. The terms of the offer specified that Mubadala was to pay the full licence fee on or before January 19. - Vanguard

UGANDA: The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation and Microsoft have jointly announced the launch of a new programme designed to focus on how ICT can be implemented to support the development of micro and small and medium-sized enterprises across rural Uganda.

UGANDA: Telecom firms MTN Uganda, Safaricom Kenya and Vodacom Tanzania will launch borderless services in the region this month. This follows the conclusion of talks that will help each of the telecom operators facilitate regional expansion. Erik van Veen, the MTN chief commercial officer, said that the single network would be launched before the end of January. He was, however, hesitant to give details on how the system would work. - New Vision

UGANDA: A new telecom firm, Yo Uganda, is to provide the cheapest international calling services using Voice over Internet Protocol after successful tests. This is the second company that has come up with cheaper international calling rates. Last year, Talk Telecom introduced a calling-card-based solution. - New Vision

ZIMBABWE: Econet Wireless announced plans to install 90 base stations countrywide in a move to boost network efficiency and coverage. Company spokesperson Sure Kamhunga said in a statement the base stations would be in addition to the other 70 that Zimbabwe`s largest mobile cellular network operator had installed since October last year. - The Herald

ZIMBABWE: The public has expressed outrage over the withdrawal of emergency telephone services by the national fixed-phone services provider Tel*One on evenings and weekends. Tel*One has switched off emergency numbers for the fire brigade, ambulance and police hotline at night and over weekends. It appears staff cuts, in a bid to reduce costs, are the reason for the development. - Zimbabwe Independent

ABROAD

SPRINT Nextel has appointed Nokia as its third primary supplier for WiMAX network infrastructure and devices. The Finnish giant joins Motorola and Samsung for a division of Sprint Nextel`s estimated $2.5 billion to $3 billion of WiMAX spoils over the next two years. Under the agreement, Nokia will supply Sprint Nextel with its Flexi WiMAX base stations, WiMAX-enabled mobile devices, and develop with the carrier services and applications and co-marketing strategies. It is Nokia`s first WiMAX deal.

FINNISH company Perlos, which makes mobile phone casings for Nokia, says it will slash its workforce by a third, cutting 4 000 jobs worldwide by the end of the year to return to profitability. - Sapa-AFP

INTELLIGENCE sources are claiming that Google Earth is being used to scout out British army bases in Iraq. According to the claims, raids on the houses of Iraqi insurgents have found printouts from Google Earth of British military bases, with precise longitude and latitude coordinates written on the back. There are also reports that such maps are being sold openly in Basra markets. - vnunet.com

DELL is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company knowingly sold faulty laptops. The suit rests on the contention that the motherboards used in Dell`s Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 and 5160 ranges were "sub-standard". The firm has already settled a similar case in the US concerning the Inspiron 5150. - vnunet.com

DIOR launched its latest collection of rarified jewellery in the virtual reality of Web-based Second Life, a fantasy world peopled by computer-generated residents (http://secondlife.com). Online enthusiasts will need to seek out the fantasy world`s Belladone Island for a peek at the extravagant jewels, worth between 150 000 and 1.2 million, but will be unable to purchase any. "We needed an ultra-contemporary casket" for the collection, said a company source of the first such virtual launch for a French luxury house. - AFP

FEDERAL prosecutors in California scored their first victory in the investigation of Hewlett-Packard`s (HP) ill-fated boardroom spying probe last Friday, when a low-level private investigator pleaded guilty to identity theft and conspiracy charges. As part of the plea deal, Bryan Wagner admitted to obtaining illegally Social Security numbers and other personal information to snoop on the private phone records of journalists, former HP directors and their family members as part of HP`s crusade to ferret out the source of boardroom leaks to the media. - Sapa-AP

THE XBOX 360 bested the Wii and PlayStation 3 (PS3) in US holiday-season sales as Microsoft scored what analysts expected to be a lasting victory in the new-generation video-game-console war. But in a twist, Sony`s prior generation, the PlayStation 2 (PS2), outsold all the freshly launched consoles. Sony sold 1,4 million PS2 consoles in the US in December, compared with only 491 000 of the PS3 model, according to figures from market research firm NPD Group. Meanwhile, buyers snapped up 1,1million Xbox 360s and 604 000 of the family-oriented Wii consoles made by Nintendo. - Sapa-AFP

THE PACE of mergers and acquisitions could accelerate in the first half of this year, driven by private equity firms, according to a survey released by the Association for Corporate Growth and Thomson Financial. Global deals surged 38% to a record $3.8 trillion (R27 trillion) in 2006, Thomson said. The survey said the most targeted industries this year would be technology, healthcare and manufacturing. - Bloomberg

AFTER SIX years of trying to build an online music service, AOL agreed last week to sell its AOL Music Now to Napster. Napster will pay $15 million to add AOL`s 350 000 subscribers to its own 566 000. Meanwhile, this month, the Virgin Group said that it would close its Virgin Digital music service. - The New York Times

GERMAN POLICE have added a new weapon in their fight against child pornography on the Internet - in addition to scouring IP addresses, they`re now collaborating with credit-card companies to search databases for transaction information. Members of a special child-porn squad in the German state of Sachsen-Anhalt have worked with credit card companies to pore over the transactions of more then 22 million customers. The search uncovered 322 people suspected of purchasing child pornography illegally over the Internet. - IDG.Net

A NEW search engine, Cranky.com, hopes to generate cash from targeted ads by filtering data for 50-year-old-plus baby boomers who lack the patience to wade through pages of results.

A GERMAN motorist crashed and blocked a tramline after obeying commands from his satellite navigation unit. The motorist was heading into the German city of Bremen when the "friendly voice from his sat-nav told him to turn left", a spokesman told The Scotsman. "He did what he was ordered to do and turned his Audi left up over the curb and onto the track of a local streetcar line. He tried to back up off the track but got completely stuck." - vnunet.com

TOP INDUSTRY movers and shakers were among the crowds that descended on Las Vegas earlier this month for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. The show was described as the "biggest ever" with almost 3 000 exhibitors and more than 140 000 visitors over the four days. - CRN

MICROSOFT has distributed more than 100 million copies of Internet Explorer 7 since it was launched in October, the company boasted on the IE Blog. The 100 millionth installation was logged on 8 January. Citing data from statistics firm WebSideStory, Microsoft claimed that IE7 currently makes up about 25 per cent of the world`s browsers. This makes IE7 the world`s second most prevalent browser, trailing only behind IE6. - vnunet.com