The week in review

AT HOME

TECHNOLOGY group Datatec has made the first move to spend some of the 13.9 million it raised through a secondary listing in London, spending 6 million on a UK company. The target is CSF Solutions, which provides technology hardware, software and services to large businesses. As CSF specialises in IBM and HP technologies, the deal should improve Datatec`s relationships with these computer giants. - Business Day

SOFTWARE company IFCA Technologies won approval to list on the AltX board, and debuted last Friday. The company develops custom-made software for companies of all sizes and sells technology hardware for business and educational use. The directors hoped to raise R5 million through a private placement of 10 million shares, or 10% of its issued share capital. - Business Day

TWO SMALL-CAP technology companies reported dismal figures last week, with Zaptronix and Set Point plunging from profit into loss over the past financial year. - Business Day

SA HAS WON the bid to host the third laboratory site for the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Science and Technology Minister Mosibudi Mangena said last weekend. Government is to invest R40 million in the site, at the University of Cape Town.

COMPUTER manufacturer Mustek has raised R184 million in five-year loans from the capital markets at a fixed rate of 9.7%. The debt was secured by issuing zaAA-rated promissory notes to investors and should meet its planned funding requirements for the next few years, the company said last Friday. - Business Day

VODACOM has announced a deal to acquire 26% of G-Mobile Holdings, its second small-technology acquisition in a fortnight. G-Mobile is the holding company of WirelessG, a local provider of broadband Internet access.

IT FIRM Business Connexion (BCX) would lose business if it pursued a lengthy takeover bid by Telkom, which is a key concern as it decides whether to drop its suitor, its chief executive said. But Peter Watt, the CE of BCX, said major shareholders had not pushed to axe the R2.43 billion takeover, despite a competition commission ruling against it and worries that a long battle could destroy value. - Reuters

SOFTWARE developer UCS has clinched a deal to supply its products to India`s Satyam Computer Services, a technology services and consulting company listed on the NYSE. UCS will begin producing programs for Satyam at its newly-built software factory in Centurion. - Business Day

TECHNOLOGY group Simeka expects its headline earings to be 245% to 255% higher for the six months to November than they were for the comparable period last year. The goup said its revenues should be 105% to 115% higher, with headline earnings a share 60% to 70% higher. - Business Day

INTO AFRICA

BOTSWANA: Fifty-seven hectares of land has been reserved for the proposed Botswana Innovation Hub in Gaborone`s Block Eight, said the Minister of Lands and Housing, Ramadeluka Seretse. The land, which nearby the airport, is enough to allow for future expansion, he said. - Mmegi/The Reporter

BOTSWANA: The Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) has increased its profit to a record 138.9 million Pula, representing a 17.7% revenue growth from 118.1 million Pula the previous year. - Mmegi/The Reporter

KENYA: Kenya will benefit from a fibre optic link by August next year. Tenders for laying the cable to Mt Kenya and Moyale areas will be opened in January, and the work will start immediately. Information permanent secretary Bitange Ndemo told participants at a conference on wireless technology that the laying of Nairobi-Malaba cable had already begun. - The Nation

KENYA: The Egyptian Telephone Company beat five bidders to clinch joint ownership of Gilgil Telecommunications Industries (GTI), Telkom Kenya`s loss-making handsets division. The company plans to invest $24 million in GTI, but wants 70% of it, leaving the rest to Telkom. However, Telkom MD Sammy Kirui said that the two parties would discuss how to split the shareholding. - The Nation

NAMIBIA: Africa`s biggest IT company, Dimension Data, has won a $17 million contract to upgrade the network of Namibia`s fixed-line phone operator, Telecom Namibia. Didata said it would build and maintain a next-generation, Internet-based network for the state-owned company which would eventually become the country`s main fixed-line backbone. - Reuters

SADC: Ambassadors and High commissioners of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) are concerned about Internet e-security and cyber crime issues seeing that users of IT have become more prevalent in Africa and that more people are becoming dependent on it. - Highway Africa News Agency

UGANDA: The Dhabi Group is seeking a licence to start a new mobile phone company in Uganda. - New Vision

ZAMBIA`S parliament needs about a million US dollars to complete the process of creating a virtual parliament which will enable Zambians to participate in development matters of the country. This was revealed at the just-ended Training on Information Society Issues, Skills for Ambassadors and High Commissioners of SADC Countries organised by the Economic Commission for Africa. - Highway Africa News Agency

ZIMBABWE faces the risk of a television and radio signal blackout if a preemptive measure to replace obsolete transmission equipment is not devised as a matter of urgency. So said Transmedia Corporation CEO Alfred Mandere, in his appeal for US$64 million to government for the purchase of new transmission equipment from China, SA and Europe. - Zimbabwe Independent

ABROAD

MORE THAN HALF of firms are planning to adopt Web 2.0 technologies next year, but many are still failing to offer a consistent customer experience across online and offline channels, according to new research by internet marketing specialist E-consultancy. The 2007 Customer Engagement Report found that although most firms surveyed are planning to use technologies like blogs, podcasts, videocasts and user-generated content in their Web sites, nearly two-thirds lack any advanced tools for monitoring customer experiences. - IT Week

EMI GROUP, the world`s third-largest music company, is piloting a new e-mail service offering free trial plays of music in an attempt to lift digital revenue as piracy erodes sales of CDs. eListeningPost, which started last week, would provide artists with a secure version of their track or video that could be e-mailed to fans, said co-founder Greg Holloway. - Bloomberg

APPLE has filed a patent application which seems to hint not only at the future of the much-anticipated iPhone, but at the possibility of a WiFi capable iPod. The patent application addresses devices that would be "encased in a tube-like main body that is extruded in its entirety with the ceramic material". The main purpose of the design would be to allow for wireless communications to be transmitted with minimal interference. - vnunet.com

KEY international and regional organizations invoIved in the fight against spam gathered on December 8 at the ITU Telecom World 2006, in Hong Kong, China, to discuss greater collaborative efforts to combat spam and related threats

ERICSSON has partnered with Intel Corporation to accelerate the market uptake of mobile broadband and multimedia services usage, through a more convenient and attractive experience for consumers and enterprises. Powered by Ericsson`s mobile broadband and IMS solutions and Intel Core Microarchitecture for mobile clients and servers, the companies will work together on integrating solutions for mobile operators.

DELL has signed a deal with Gem Distribution and SouthCoast Distributions to bundle gaming, `edutainment` and leisure software titles with PCs sold in Europe. - vnunet.com

SYMANTEC is declaring 2006 as the year that fraud grew up. In a report provided to vnunet.com, the company said that online fraud and in particularly phishing became much more sophisticated in 2006. The security firm observed more than 7 million phishing attempts each day with more than 900 unique messages per day over the first six months of this year. This is an 80% increase over the second half of 2005.