At Home

South African data centre revenues are expected to grow at a rate of 9.6% per year to reach R4 billion in 2016, up from the R2.3 billion reported in 2010. This is according to research by Frost & Sullivan, which outlines a number of factors that have an impact on the growth rate. The research further found that the financial, government and ICT sectors contributed two-thirds of data centre revenues. – ITWeb

Dimension Data’s e-learning programme has had a 100% pass rate since its inception in 1995. It has been rolled out to 52 schools, which Dimension Data partners with nationwide, and more than 27 500 learners have benefited from it. Originally, Gauteng had only two centres that offered the programme and could accommodate a very limited number of learners. However, in 2006, a cycle of programmes was rolled out to 14 other schools in the province, for more impact and easy access by learners. – ITWeb

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Doug Reed" />The new Ka-band satellite service – the Y1B satellite – is not intended to compete with uncapped ADSL. So says Vox Telecom MD Douglas Reed, who explains that the service offers affordable broadband satellite services to SA’s rural communities where poor Internet access is still holding businesses back. The Y1B satellite, which was successfully launched in Kazakhstan in April, will cover SA with six Ka-band spot beams.

Telecoms software provider OpenCloud has partnered with Altech ISIS, a software development house and systems integrator. Under the deal, Altech ISIS will provide local development knowledge and operational support during the deployment of OpenCloud’s Rhino platform throughout Africa. OpenCloud’s Rhino suite comprises Telecom Application Server, Service Interaction Server (service broker) and Sentinel products. – ITWeb

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Gary Hart" />HP CEO Meg Whitman says the tech giant will make significant financial and technological investments in Africa, with a focus particularly on SA, as well as Kenya and Nigeria. Whitman addressed journalists during the HP Global Influencer Summit 2012, in Shanghai, China, emphasising HP’s commitment to investing in the PC market after previous speculations that the company would spin off its personal computing division. – ITWeb

Vodacom has unveiled a video collaboration solution that allows multiple users to hold video conferences from meeting rooms, desktops or mobile devices. According to the company, the solution is available for any device that has a built-in Web cam, including smartphones and tablets. Gary Hart, executive head for unified communications at Vodacom, says the solution is compatible with a wide range of applications. – ITWeb

Into Africa

France Telecom acquired 94% of Egyptian mobile phone company Mobinil in a tender offer, said Egypt’s stock exchange, giving the French group control of a top sector player in a volatile but lucrative emerging market. France Telecom bought most of the Mobinil shares it did not already own from its local venture partner, Sawiris’s Orascom Telecom Media and Technology. – ITWeb Africa

Telecoms company Airtel plans to invest some $100 million in its operations in Rwanda over the next three years. Airtel’s entrance into the Rwandan market would see the company bringing in partners like IBM and Ericsson to set up and manage world-class facilities in the country. The telecommunications company also plans to roll out other services including its 3G services in the next quarter. – ITWeb Africa

Standard Chartered Bank is rolling out payment of Multi-Choice Zambia subscriptions on its mobile banking system for its customers. The two companies have signed the payment deal that would see customers pay their subscription using mobile phones and provide convenience to customers in their financial activities. Recently, Multi-Choice Zambia partnered with mobile operator MTN to enable customers to pay their DStv subscription using their mobile phones. – ITWeb Africa

Cairo-based Orascom Telecom said an Algerian court had confirmed fines against its Algerian subsidiary but had suspended a jail sentence on a member of the unit’s senior executive team. It said the court of appeal confirmed a judgement against Orasom Telecom Algerie that consisted of fines of 99 billion Algerian dinars, worth about $1.3 billion. – ITWeb Africa

Abroad

Meg Whitman

Hewlett Packard has told staff at Autonomy they have a bright future even after founder Mike Lynch was shown the door recently, joining a long line of top managers to leave the Cambridge-based software maker since HP bought it last year. HP chief executive Meg Whitman said the group was committed to the success of Autonomy. – Reuters

Bharti Airtel, India’s top mobile phone operator, added 2.01 million mobile users in April, taking its total subscribers in the country to 183.3 million, data from an industry body showed. Vodafone’s Indian unit signed up 0.82 million mobile users in April to have a total of 151.3 million, the Cellular Operators Association of India said on its Web site. – Reuters

Mobile network equipment maker Ericsson’s subsidiary in Panama will pay a $1.75 million penalty to the US Department of Commerce for violating US export restrictions on Cuba, a settlement agreement obtained by Reuters showed. The agreement showed that the firm’s Panama branch operated a “scheme” under which it sent broken equipment from Cuba to the US for repair after masking its origin. – Reuters

Patrick Spence, who resigned recently as global head of sales at struggling BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, has been hired as chief commercial officer at wireless home audio company Sonos, several sources with knowledge of his plans said. Sonos is a privately held consumer electronics company based in Santa Barbara, California, with offices in France, Germany, the Netherlands, China and Malaysia. – Reuters