At Home

While the traditional core group of digital banking channel adopters is biased towards male South Africans, statistics from SA’s core banks reveal IT in banking is being taken up by both contingents, virtually equally. SA’s biggest bank by customer number, Absa, says it has seen the “gender gap” in the adoption of digital banking narrowing, according to the Absa Digital Banking unit’s latest analysis of customer behaviour. – ITWeb

Telkom has launched a project that seeks to bring Internet connectivity to a number of rural primary schools for the first time, despite the infrastructure dearth. The telecommunication operator’s social investment arm, the Telkom Foundation, initiated the Connecting Schools project, during the annual Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference, in the Western Cape, at two of the local primary schools, in George. – ITWeb

Rob Gilmour

Local ISP RSAWeb has released its new ADSL product SugarPIPE. The company says: “SuperPIPE works by aggregating multiple ADSL lines into a single fault-tolerant high-speed connection of up to 50Mbps that can be managed as simply as if it was single ADSL connection.” Rob Gilmour, MD of RSAWeb, says fixed-line operator Telkom has been far too slow in rolling out faster speeds for business and consumers. – ITWeb

Global computing giant IBM is starting its Global Entrepreneur Programme this month, and has extended it to next-generation entrepreneurs in SA for the first time. The programme was established in 2010 and is aimed at converting tech start-ups to ‘speed-ups’ by providing coaching and connections to IBM clients and partners. – ITWeb

Of the 30 countries it tracks, SA is one of the leading destinations for offshoring, says research house Gartner. Speaking at the Gartner Symposium, in Cape Town, Partha Iyengar, VP and distinguished analyst, said SA’s offshoring sector expects to add 40 000 jobs by 2014, and there are 120 000 staff in the domestic global insourced sector. He added that offshore contact centre jobs are expected to grow from 8 000 in 2010 to 30 000 in 2015. – ITWeb

The Western Cape Education Department’s (WCED’s) Safe Schools hotline has received a total of 9 890 calls this year, 1 727 of which required further assistance and support, according to the department. Of the 1 727 calls, 496 dealt with reports on burglary and vandalism, 292 on crime-related incidents, 255 on abuse such as bullying, and 219 for counselling and psychological support. – ITWeb

The Gauteng Online Schools Programme (GOSP) has adopted the Computer on Wheels (COW) mobile lab solution to connect the remaining schools in the province. GOSP is a provincial government initiative to construct a province-wide schools’ computer network by installing a computer facility in every public school. The Gauteng Department of Finance, says to date 1 557 schools have been equipped with standardised laboratories. – ITWeb

<a href=

Alan Knott-Craig" src="http://www.iweek.co.za/images/stories/2010/sep12/alan_knott-craig(1).jpg" />Neotel has introduced two consumer WiMax products offering uncapped Internet services. Its recently developed product, NeoFlex WiMax Lite, offers two uncapped data options, both on a 12-month contract. For R499 per month, customers get download speeds of 512Kbps and upload speeds of 288Kbps; and for download speeds of 1Mbps and upload speeds of 576Kbps, the cost is R750 per month. Both products are subject to a fair use policy. – ITWeb

Cell C has reduced call rates to 177 countries – in addition to the 50 countries already on its 99c per minute call rate. Cell C CEO Alan Knott-Craig says this follows extensive negotiations for better termination rates with the operator’s international partners. He notes that termination rates – rates charged by other operators to carry calls on their networks – remain the highest input cost when determining call rates, both locally and abroad. – ITWeb

Into Africa

Entrepreneurs from across Africa and even beyond its borders converge on Kigali, Rwanda for a three-day international conference on technology in education. Rwanda minister of education, Vincent Biruta, says the conference would give the education sector an opportunity “to showcase ICT development in schools.” The participants discussed strategies to help promote technology in education in Africa and even across the world. – ITWeb Africa

Ghana has implemented an electronic system aimed at speeding up the process of acquiring passports and driving licences in that country. National Information Technology Agency (NITA) director of applications, Veronica Boateng, says the Ghana government has spent $30 million to establish the system. The e-system, being undertaken by the NITA with funding from the World Bank, begins in October this year. – ITWeb Africa

Ghana plans to use SMS technology to help verify biometric details of ID card holders before they cast their ballot in the December elections. The project director of Africa Elections, Jerry Sam, says all those who registered could check their information details through the Ghana Electoral Commission’s designed mobile platform through SMS by sending one’s name, ID number, and polling station to a designated database. – ITWeb Africa

Pay-TV provider Multichoice Botswana announces that it has switched off a piracy signal, which was being picked by a Chinese decoder dubbed the “Magic Box”. Multichoice Botswana CEO Billy Sekgororoane says the development comes after the company hired three foreign experts to analyse the “Magic Box”. – ITWeb Africa

Botswana has launched a research, science, technology and innovation policy that is expected to spur
on national investment in research and development in the ICT sector. “The Botswana Government commits to partner with stakeholders to build national capacity for coordinated research, science, technology and innovation development to grow the economy and exploit opportunities in the global markets,” minister of infrastructure, science and technology, Johnie Swartz, says. – ITWeb Africa

Uganda’s University of Makerere prepares to host hundreds of students, who are studying Information Communication Technology (ICT) across the country in a three-day programming workshop slated for mid September. The workshop will focus on extensive training of students of computer science and IT, and it is expected to climax with a hackathon on the last day. – ITWeb Africa

Abroad

Intel will tout a new generation of processors that consume less power, hoping to reinvigorate a stagnant personal computer industry and soothe increasing concerns about its growth. The top chipmaker is banking on Microsoft’s much anticipated launch of its Windows 8 platform in October to help slow the growing numbers of consumers buying smartphones and tablets instead of personal computers. – Reuters

Apple has reduced its orders for memory chips for its new iPhone from its main supplier and competitor Samsung Electronics. Apple has been cutting back its orders from Samsung as it seeks to diversify its memory chip supply lines, although the South Korean firm remains on the list of initial suppliers for the new iPhone. – Reuters

Nokia has slashed prices of its older smartphone models using Microsoft Windows software. The Finnish group, which is struggling to recoup ground lost to its rivals, cut the price of its mid-range Lumia 800 Windows Phone by around 15 % and made smaller reductions on other Windows models. – Reuters

Kindle Fire

Microsoft will hire 1 000 staff in China over the coming year, adding to the 4 500 the company already employs in the country. The move is aimed at strengthening the company’s position in a market it sees as key to future growth, but where software piracy and regulation remain serious hurdles. – Reuters

Amazon has unveiled larger Kindle Fire tablets, challenging Apple dominant iPad with lower prices and a trove of digital content that Amazon hopes will win it a bigger share of the booming tablet market. The tablets come with ads known as “special offers” that appear when screens are locked and in the corner of the home screen, helping Amazon keep prices low. – Reuters