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Alpheus Mangale, Cisco SA

Gartner research ranks SA as one of its top 30 software development outsourcing destinations. Greg Vercellotti, executive director at Dariel Solutions, agrees, noting that SA is increasingly becoming a favoured international location for business process outsourcing (BPO) and offshoring. “Information technology (IT) outsourcing is, indeed, a growing business in South Africa,” Vercellotti said. – ITWeb

East London’s Stirling High School has virtualised 80% of its IT environment. The virtualisation project has taken four years to complete due to the school’s budget constraints, but now allows backups of a terabyte of data in half an hour, compared to the nine hours it used to take. The march towards virtualisation is being led by Leonard Brandt, a music teacher and IT manager. – ITWeb

After 30 years with IBM, Mark Harris joins Kagiso Media as CEO from next month, replacing Murphy Morobe, whose resignation was announced last November. Kagiso says in its statement to shareholders that Harris, who has been involved in expanding operations in 18 African countries, has “engaged strategically to consider integrated and converged channels in ICT”. – ITWeb

Cisco SA sees its global financing solutions as a vital pillar to drive growth in the local market, at a time when cash is not readily available for infrastructure investment. Alpheus Mangale, MD of Cisco Systems SA, says the local market is ripe for infrastructure investment, and the company wants every one of its sales to be financed through Cisco Capital. – ITWeb

SA’s last mobile entrant, Telkom Mobile, continues the mobile price war. The company unveiled a new prepaid product, SIM-Sonke, undercutting Cell C’s characteristic 99c by 24c. SIM-Sonke offers prepaid customers on-net calls for 29c per minute, and off-net calls – to all mobile networks and landlines – for 75c per minute, on per-second billing.

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Lee-Anne van Zyl, FNB online banking" />FNB said, despite initial teething problems with its new online banking Web site that was launched in mid July, the system is now performing well. FNB online banking CEO Lee-Anne van Zyl said it has been “a relatively smooth transition for a change of this magnitude”, despite a lot of negative reaction. – ITWeb

Music retailer Look & Listen is set to re-launch its online digital music store in the last quarter of this year, just a few months after it pulled the plug on its online store in February. Mondia Media GM Karen Liebenberg says a re-launch of the digital store has always been in the pipeline, adding that the store’s previous model did not serve the company’s purpose.

Attila Vitai, <a href=

Telkom Mobile" />Handset maker Nokia has announced the appointment of ex-BlackBerry executive Shaun Durandt as its GM for the firm’s South African business. Nokia said in a statement that, as of June 2013, Durandt has been tasked to lead the Nokia business within the South African market. Nokia said Durandt has more than a decade of industry experience.

Less than three years after Telkom unveiled its mobile arm, the company is shelving its original pink and black brand. Attila Vitai, MD of Telkom Mobile – which was officially launched as the company’s new mobile brand in March – says all new products coming from the company’s mobile arm from now on will be launched under the name of Telkom Mobile. – ITWeb

Into Africa

Ugandan prime minister Patrick Amama Mbabazi (@AmamaMbabazi) and Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame (@PaulKagame), are the most conversational world leaders on Twitter, according to a study by public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. The study, dubbed “Twiplomacy”, refers to data taken in July 2013 from the accounts of 505 heads of state and government, foreign ministers and their institutions in 153 countries. – ITWeb Africa

African mobile infrastructure firm IHS Towers has secured $522 million of debt and equity to help it build more than 1 000 build-to-site towers in Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon. The firm says it has just secured debt finance of $280 million led by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC). Meanwhile, additional equity raised by IHS comprises $242 million from investors. – ITWeb Africa

Nigeria’s submarine fibre cable operator, Main One, has expanded to the inland locations in the south-western parts of that country. Bolanle Ogundogba, head of sales for Nigeria, said the company was collaborating with various telcos and national long-distance operators and would now be able to serve enterprise customers in the inland region. – ITWeb Africa

Internet services firm AccessKenya plans to invest over Ksh35 million in its Kenyan network, in a bid to connect more counties in the country to its broadband networks. “AccessKenya Group is committed to delivering localised ICT solutions to every county and elevating the ICT standards of Kenya,” said the firm’s group MD, Jonathan Somen. – ITWeb Africa

Mobile money services from French telecoms operator Orange are set to be sold at Total service stations in 13 African and Middle Eastern countries. The offering to be sold is ‘Orange Money’, a mobile payment and money-transfer service that enables customers to send cash, pay bills and withdraw or deposit money. – ITWeb Africa

South Sudan’s biggest refugee camp is expected to get extended mobile telecommunications coverage to support the humanitarian efforts of United Nations (UN) aid workers. Middle East and African mobile operator Zain Group, together with the Vodafone Foundation Instant Network, announced the extension of coverage to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) refugee camp at Yida, Unity State, South Sudan. – ITWeb Africa

All of Vodacom Group’s 1 149 mobile towers in Tanzania have been sold to infrastructure fi rm Helios Towers Tanzania (HTT), a subsidiary of Helios Towers Africa (HTA). The structure of the cash and shares transaction involves Vodacom acquiring a 24.5% share in HTA. In turn, HTT is set to lease back the infrastructure to Vodacom as part of a long-term contract. – ITWeb Africa

Abroad

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia launched a bigger-screen version of its low-price Lumia smartphone, aiming to close the gap with market leader Samsung, which sells handsets in a wide range of sizes. The new Lumia 625 comes with a 4.7-inch screen and will cost 220 euros before taxes and subsides. The Lumia 620, announced late last year, had a 3.8-inch screen. – Reuters

Printer maker Lexmark International reported better-than-expected quarterly results and said revenue would fall less than anticipated in 2013 due to big contract wins in services and software, sending its shares up 11.5%. The company, which exited its inkjet printer business in August last year to focus on the more lucrative software and services, said it now expected full-year revenue to fall 6% to 7%. – Reuters

Verizon Wireless announced three new phones under its Droid smartphone brand from Google’s Motorola, and said that Motorola would be its exclusive Droid phone vendor going forward. The phones – the Droid Mini, Droid Ultra and Droid Maxx – will go on sale for $99, $199 and $299, respectively, for customers who sign a two-year contract. – Reuters

Google showcased a new-generation, slimmer Nexus 7 tablet, which the Internet search company hopes will expand its presence in consumer hardware, and ensure its online services remain front-and-centre on mobile devices. Sundar Pichai, head of Android and Chrome software, said: “The new Nexus 7 is designed so that it’s profitable for all the people involved. Retailers, us, everyone included.” – Reuters