At Home

Annette Lovemore, DA

The value of goods sold by online retail in SA is expected to exceed R4 billion for the first time, in 2013. Unlike many other industries, people working in the e-commerce space should be smiling because they have a potential customer base that is growing constantly, said Luke Mckend, country director for Google SA, during his keynote address at the South African eCommerce Conference in Sandton. – ITWeb

Matric papers could be marked electronically from next year. This was mentioned by Dr Rufus Poliah, chief director at the Department of Basic Education (DBE), in Parliament, recently. Democratic Alliance shadow minister of education Annette Lovemore confirmed Poliah mentioned the possibility of e-marking, and says the department is looking to start piloting it next year. However, no further information is available as yet. – ITWeb

MTN has clarified that a press statement it sent out recently, which claimed “lowest international call rates to key African destinations” had been introduced for cash-strapped consumers contending with “financially strenuous times”. MTN said its new “lowest” rates started from 75c per minute. The new rates only apply to MTN prepaid and hybrid (top-up) customers and do not apply to contract customers. – ITWeb

Facebook has become SA’s biggest social network, seeing its strongest growth yet in the past year – and overtaking Mxit for the first time. This was one of the key findings of the SA Social Media Landscape 2013 research study, released recently by World Wide Worx and Fuseware. The study shows Facebook has 9.4 million active users in SA - up from 6.8 million a year ago. – ITWeb

MTN has become the victim of extensive vandalism by what the company believes to be a syndicate of criminals. Eddie Moyce, chief customer experience officer at MTN, says the perpetrators have broken through electric fences at various cellphone tower sites and stolen batteries. Moyce says mast vandalism and the siphoning of fuel could have a “devastating” effect on MTN’s network. – ITWeb

Gemalto has expanded its LinqUs Facebook for SIM software application to include Facebook Messenger, bringing the popular and fast-growing messaging service to the much wider group of all mobile subscribers with any type of handset. Gemalto’s SIM-based Facebook Messenger is set to help mobile operators tap the tremendous potential of enabling Facebook services for non-smartphone users.

David Willetts, UK minister of state for universities and science

UK minister of state for universities and science David Willetts visited the site of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in the Karoo, where the 64-dish MeerKAT radio telescope is being built. Willetts was accompanied by senior government officials from the UK and SA, as well as SKA SA project staff. The UK is planning to invest R305 million in the design phase of the project. – ITWeb

The Fast IDentity Online (FIDO) Alliance announced that BlackBerry has joined the Alliance and been appointed to the Board of Directors. “We welcome BlackBerry to the FIDO Alliance board as one of the world’s leading mobile platforms and mobile device providers,” said Michael Barrett, FIDO Alliance president.

Rubric, a global language service provider (LSP), has donated its translation services to make Mozilla’s Firefox Web browser available in isiXhosa – South Africa’s second most spoken language. Françoise Henderson, CEO of Rubric, says the company completed the translation of 30 000 words into isiXhosa, and will continue to support Mozilla in the interests of broadening mother-tongue access to information.

Into Africa

East African nation Rwanda plans to roll-out e-government services to boost service delivery in the country, says its Ministry of Youth and ICT (MYICT). According to Rwanda’s MYICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, the country has so far achieved a lot in the ICT sector and can continue doing so in government. “Our aim is to provide facilities to the citizens in Rwanda to access services without travelling vast distances.” – ITWeb Africa

Zimbabwe may be late to the game but it is finally set to get its very first technology hub. Harare is set to join this growing list with the November launch of its first tech hub called ‘Hypercube’. Founders of the hub said in a statement that they intend to focus on the ‘four dimensions of technology’: community, co-learning, co-working and co-innovation. – ITWeb Africa

Nigeria’s police force has finalised plans to change its motor registration system from analogue to digital as part of efforts to curb crime in that country. Police public relations officer Frank Mba has said the new system is part of efforts to reposition the police force and enable it deal with “rampant” crime. He said the new system is capable of capturing 20 million fingerprints per second. – ITWeb Africa

A Robert Mugabe loyalist with no ICT experience: this is how experts are describing Zimbabwe’s new minister for information and communications technology, Webster Shamu. Following an overwhelming election victory for Zanu-PF earlier this year, one of the party’s old guard, Shamu, has replaced Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) stalwart Nelson Chamisa. – ITWeb Africa

A Zimbabwean internet service provider, Valley Technologies, has lost its operating licence with the country’s telecoms industry regulator saying it had failed to meet statutory requirements. The Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe said in a note that Valley Technologies’ operating licence had been cancelled earlier in September for failing to make licence and spectrum fee payments. – ITWeb Africa

Senate lawmakers in Nigeria have approved a bill enabling security agencies to intercept communications deemed harmful to national security. When finally passed into law, the bill is expected to allow security agencies to monitor communications such as telephonic calls, e-mail messages and other electronic exchanges such as text messages and multimedia applications. Lawmakers say it could enhance national security, prevent crime and facilitate criminal investigations. – ITWeb Africa

Pan-African ICT provider Seacom is set to be the first reseller of the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) East Africa exchange point in Mombasa, Kenya, which is planned to go live mid-November. An Internet exchange (IX) or Internet exchange point (IXP) allows service providers to connect directly rather than through one or more third-party networks. – ITWeb Africa

Networking firm Cisco has announced the promotion of David Meads to the role of its vice president for Africa, as well as new general manager appointments. Meads is going to be responsible for the sales operations and go-to-market model across the continent, said Cisco in a statement. Meads has 29 years experience in the information technology industry. – ITWeb Africa

Mobile base station company Africa Mobile Networks (AMN) plans to invest $550 million in rural network infrastructure upgrades throughout sub-Saharan Africa over the next three years. The UK-based company, which builds and operates mobile network base stations for licensed operators in rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa, says it plans to build 5,000 base stations across 12 countries. – ITWeb Africa

Abroad

Sprint and T-Mobile US confirmed they will not participate in Canada’s upcoming auction of prized wireless spectrum, joining larger rival Verizon Communications Inc in shunning the market. The decision by the big US wireless operators helped lift shares of BCE, Rogers Communications, and Telus, which together control about 90 percent of the Canadian mobile market. – Reuters

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Stephen Elop, Nokia" />The Canadian government hopes BlackBerry will be able to make it on its own, Industry Minister James Moore said. His remarks come amid a backdrop of dwindling market share for the once-successful Canadian company, plans for a possible sale of the company and a recent report that it may shed a sizable number of its staff. “I want BlackBerry to do well,” he said. – Reuters

Former Nokia boss Stephen Elop stands to receive around 18.8 million euros ($25 million) in “termination payments” if the company’s shareholders agree to sell its handset business to Microsoft, Nokia said. The Finnish firm said the money would be due to Elop following his agreement to immediately stand down alongside the announcement of the deal, and that Microsoft would pay approximately 70 percent of the total. – Reuters