The week in review

Wednesday, 17 November 2010 00:00 Written by Staff Reporter

Robert GumedeRobert Gumede

AT HOME

THE SA Post Office (SAPO) will issue tenders to the value of R249 million before the end of the financial year in March 2011, to upgrade its IT network infrastructure. The tenders are part of the state-owned entity's plans to diversify its business streams in the face of difficult economic times. IT now makes up 52% of the Post Office's annual capital expenditure of R500 million. - ITWeb

TELKOM has lashed out at MWeb`s unilateral decision to cut its transit links to local operators. It says the consumer Internet service provider (ISP) is attempting to portion off the Internet at the expense of the local Internet user. MWeb said it would no longer pay a cent for local transit links and that any local ISP wanting to connect with them would have to pair with them directly. -  ITWeb

Herman HeunisHerman Heunis

GIJIMA CHAIRMAN has accused the Mail & Guardian of a harassment campaign, after the newspaper ran a story claiming he had bribed a former executive. The investigative paper this morning reported that Gumede instructed his ex-wife to pay a former Telkom executive R100 000 to secure a tender. Gumede`s ex-wife, Zongi Gumede, told the publication that she transferred money to a company owned by the former Telkom executive`s wife. - ITWeb

INTERNET Solutions (IS) has partnered with mobile operator to offer mobile broadband deals on the operator`s new 3.74G HSPA network. Cell C is in the process of a city-by-city nationwide roll-out of its new network, creating a stir along the way with some competitive mobile broadband pricing. Through the partnership, IS will offer 12-month packages of 2Gb or 5Gb data service, with a rent-to-own hardware option. - ITWeb

MXIT has launched an applications programmers` interface (API) that is also a software developers` kit (SDK), which it hopes will stimulate independent programmers to develop applications for it. CEO unis says the idea of creating the API took root about 15 months ago when it introduced a wireless application providers` gateway. proposes that application developers develop and host their applications and then use the gateway to access Mxit`s millions of subscribers. - ITWeb

A CASE AGAINST the Independent Communications Authority of SA () by Black Earth Communications (BEC) was dismissed by the South Gauteng High Court. In September 2007, BEC was one of 18 companies that had initially applied for pay-TV licences. However, ICASA only awarded licences to five companies - Walking on Water, , e-SAT, Telkom Media and Africa. BEC did not receive a licence and applied for a judicial review of the authority`s decision. -  ITWeb

THE GAUTENG Department of Education handed out BlackBerry cellphones to 2 200 school principals last month. The Government Communication and Information System says the phones, donated by , would allow cheaper and more reliable two-way communication between the head office, district offices and public schools on key matters. Gauteng education MEC Barbara Creecy handed over the phones at an ICT programme that is meant to improve communication and efficiency in schools. - ITWeb

INTO AFRICA

SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL, a human rights organisation focusing on indigenous tribal people, says it recently experienced a "massive" cyber attack, which knocked its Web site offline. The organisation believes the attack is likely to originate from the Botswana or Indonesian authorities, or their allies, reacting to its campaign work. The government of Botswana has refuted these accusations. It says this is another plot by Survival International to tarnish its image. - ITWeb

TAKING IT Global, a non-governmental organisation, recently laid the foundation stone of an Information Technology Centre at Babylon Village in the West Coast Region of Gambia. The centre is projected to cost $150 000 upon completion. - The Daily Observer

NIGERIAN IT firm Computer Warehouse Group has established operations in Uganda, its designated regional hub, with an eye on emerging opportunities in the oil and gas, banking and telecommunications sector. - Daily Nation

ABROAD

A CONSORTIUM, New Generation Network, has failed to meet the deadline given by the Bureau for Public Enterprises to pay $750 million, being 30% of , to buy Nigeria Telecommunication (NITEL). The consortium in February this year emerged as the preferred bidder, with a bid of $2.5 billion. - Leadership

A RECENT STUDY found no risk of exposure to radiation on any of MTC`s base stations around Windhoek. The study found the level of radiation to be 100 000 times less than the international minimum security levels considered risky. - New Era

GOOGLE will begin blocking Facebook and other Web services from accessing its users` information, highlighting an intensifying rivalry between the two Internet giants. Google will no longer let other services automatically import its users` e-mail contact data for their own purposes, unless the information flows both ways. It accused Facebook in particular of siphoning up Google contact data, without allowing for the automatic import and export of Facebook users` information. - Reuters

MICROSOFT CEO sold $1.3 billion worth of shares in the company, cutting his stake by about 12%, but said his first stock sale in seven years should not be taken as a lack of confidence in the world`s largest software firm. Ballmer said he will sell more shares by the end of the year, in a move to diversify his investments and plan for taxes, but the company sought to allay talk that the 54-year-old executive, who has been CEO since 2000, may be preparing an exit from the company. - Reuters

A WORKER has committed suicide at Foxconn Technology Group`s south China manufacturing complex, the company said on Friday, the latest in a string of young migrant workers who have died at its factories this year. A key manufacturer of iPhones and s for Apple and computer gadgets for other global brands like Hewlett-Packard and Dell, the company said the 23-year-old male employee was found dead outside a dormitory. - Reuters

GERMANY`S AG has agreed to pay $120 million to Oracle Corp in return for a promise by the US company not to seek punitive damages in its suit against SAP for software theft, according to sources familiar with the agreement. - Reuters

 



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