At Home

The Western Cape Education Department recently opened the Northpine Technical High School. It is one of five technical high schools in the province. The other four are Delft Technical HS, Oude Molen, Belville and Drostdy Technical High School. Each of these schools specialises in technical subjects such as mechanical technology; electrical technology; civil technology; engineering, graphics and design; and mathematics and science, according to the department. – ITWeb

In a convergence of banking and telecommunications, customers who use First National Bank’s Internet service provider, FNB Connect, now get free access to their voice over IP services and the FNB Banking App. “FNB Connect customers who are registered for their ADSL service will no longer pay for the data component of their VOIP calls,” the bank said. – ITWeb

Western Cape transport and public works minister Robin Carlisle recently launched a new round of Crash Witness CCTV videos. The campaign, SA’s first government viral campaign, garnered nearly 400 000 views online since its inception in December. The videos come from CCTV cameras located across the province and are not for sensitive viewers, or viewers under the age of 18, as the content is graphic. – ITWeb

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Angus Hay, Neotel" src="http://www.iweek.co.za/images/stories/2010/Oct/OnlineOnly/dr_angus_hay.jpg" />In what Neotel says is the first of more to come, the fixed-line operator has dropped off-peak call rates to China and India. Prepaid customers will now pay 25c per minute, and postpaid customers will pay R1 for the first minute, with the next nine minutes free. Dr Angus Hay, Neotel’s head of business development, says further international destinations will be added “in due course”. – ITWeb

Mango has announced a near complete portfolio of its products and services via a new mobi-site and forthcoming tablet applications. Customers will be able to book, pay for flights, choose seating and purchase additional products, all from mobile devices. The existing Flymango.com site will now be able to detect when a user is accessing it from a mobile device and will adjust to the mobi-site automatically. – ITWeb

Vodacom – in partnership with BlackBerry, Google, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, CSIR, mLab, Qualcomm, Technology Innovation Agency and the Innovation Hub – is set to launch SA’s first multi-platform mobile app development workshop. Set to take place from 3 to 5 October, at The Innovation Hub, in Pretoria, the workshop forms part of the Vodacom Developer Programme. – ITWeb

SA’s Western Cape offshoring sector recently attracted three international companies. Two UK-based companies, Serco and Capita, have entered the sector, while an Indian entity – WNS – has also opened up in the Western Cape. Business Process enabling SA (BPeSA) Western Cape CEO, Gareth Pritchard, says these companies currently have fewer than 1 000 seats each, but the potential is there for them to create as many as 6 000 jobs. – ITWeb

South African innovator Ludger Peters has been named a finalist in the International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU’s) Young Innovators’ Competition. The competition focuses on young social entrepreneurs seeking to change the world with technology, according to the ITU. The finalists will head to ITU Telecom World 2012, a global networking and knowledge-sharing event in Dubai, 14-18 October. – ITWeb

Into Africa

Zimbabwe’s mobile operator Telecel has surged to 2.2 million active subscribers. The firm’s CEO, Francis Mawindi, says an intensive network expansion and upgrade programme could boost the company’s network user numbers to 2.67 million by the end of the year. The company has also knocked down the prices of its SIM cards, which cost 50 cents each. – ITWeb Africa

Telecommunications firm MTN Ghana and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have handed over a $100 000 ICT centre to a district in Ghana. The centre is the fourth of ten MTN and UNDP learning centres to have been commissioned across the country in the last year. – ITWeb Africa

Douglas Mboweni, Econet Wireless

Zimbabwean mobile operator Econet Wireless says its subscriber numbers have increased to seven million, entrenching its position as the country’s biggest telco. “We are very pleased to see that the most serious business users are our customers now. We are working hard to ensure that we give them the services they need,” says Douglas Mboweni, CEO of Econet Wireless. – ITWeb Africa

Zambia’s mobile communications company, Zamtel, has partnered with two of that country’s local television stations to offer its subscribers mobile television services. The partnership between the public broadcaster, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC), and a private station, Muvi Television, allows Zamtel customers access to view live streaming television content using Android-powered and 3G-capable mobile handsets. – ITWeb Africa

Zimbabwean state run mobile operator, NetOne, has partnered with pan-African telco giant, MTN, to switch on its roaming services in South Africa. NetOne informed its subscribers they can access roaming services in South Africa using MTN’s network. “NetOne prepaid subscribers can now use their Easycall lines seamlessly across the Limpopo on MTN.” – ITWeb Africa

Abroad

Google will shut down its once-popular China music download service in a sign of how far the fortunes of the world’s biggest search engine have fallen in China. “We have decided to shut down our Google Music Search service in China ... This is part of an ongoing effort across Google to bring greater focus to our portfolio of products,” says a Google spokesman. – Reuters

Amazon.com Lab126 research and design centre has leased new office space in the heart of Silicon Valley, the latest sign that the Internet retailer is stepping up competition with gadget leader Apple. Lab126 leased more than 500 000 square feet of space in Moffett Towers, an office complex in Sunnyvale, California. – Reuters

Microsoft says it has fixed a security bug in Internet Explorer that hackers exploited to attack some customers. Microsoft spokeswoman Yunsun Wee said the vast majority of Internet Explorer users had not been attacked as a result of the security flaw. A Luxembourg-based security researcher identified the vulnerability in Internet Explorer. – Reuters

HTC unveiled two smartphone models running Microsoft Windows Phone 8 software, and says the devices will be available in November through multiple wireless service providers around the world. The two brightly coloured phones – the Windows Phone 8X and the Windows Phone 8S – will pit HTC against key Microsoft partner Nokia, which also launched two colourful Windows phone models. – Reuters

Karen Dykstra, AOL

AOL named Karen Dykstra, a former executive of a hedge fund manager, as its CFO. She succeeds Artie Minson, who was appointed COO in June. The company is still searching for two additional board members, CEO Tim Armstrong says. AOL is looking for directors who are sitting CEOs and have financial and mobile sector experience. – Reuters

Sprint Nextel has sold 1 million phones that support long-term evolution, a high-speed wireless technology it is building into its network. The mobile provider says around 90% of those were the HTC Evo and the Galaxy S III phone from Samsung Electronics. The number does not include any Apple iPhone 5 devices, according to spokesman Bill White. – Reuters

A brawl at a Foxconn factory that disrupted production at Apple’s main China supplier for 24 hours highlights regimented dormitory life and thuggish security as major sources of labour tension in China. While unrest often flares in China as low-paid workers agitate for better pay and conditions, the conflict at Foxconn’s Taiyuan facility in northern China was notable for its scale and severity, even if not directly related to shop-floor conditions. – Reuters