Parliament’s portfolio committee on communications, chaired by ANC MP Ismail Vadi, has summoned the boards of the SABC and Sentech to answer questions about problems affecting both organisations. The committee on Thursday said it had “decided to invite the full board of the SABC to appear before it on 24 August 2010”.
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Could an electronic “potato” rescue Africa from poorly developed and expensive communications infrastructure? Steve Song, telecommunications fellow at the Shuttleworth Foundation, thinks it could go a long way in helping. Song is involved in a project that is developing an innovative open-source project called the Mesh Potato, a sub-US$100 device that he says will bring cheap communications access to the continent.
Government’s telecommunications infrastructure business Broadband Infraco will be ready for commercial launch in a few weeks, says CEO Dave Smith. Smith says that after years of putting together a national fibre network, testing with the other telecoms providers has begun.
Zimbabwe’s largest mobile operator, Econet Wireless, has secured a US$60m loan facility from Swedish export credit agency EKN to expand its infrastructure, the firm said Wednesday. The loan would see Swedish telecommunications equipment supplier Ericsson installing additional equipment to expand Econet’s infrastructure in the capital Harare, the company’s largest subscriber base.
Public protector Thulisile Madonsela has cleared communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda of any misconduct. This followed two investigations into tenders awarded to a company Nyanda is allegedly linked to. “It is our hope that these findings put to rest the string of continued malicious allegations made against the minister by opposition parties with regard to what was perceived to be conflict of interest,” Nyanda’s spokesman Tiyani Rikhotso said on Wednesday evening.
Axed communications department director-general Mamodupi Mohlala has hit back at remarks made by her replacement, Harold Wesso, who alleged in parliament on Tuesday that he had inherited a “sinking ship”. Wesso, who has been installed as acting director-general until a permanent replacement can be found, reportedly told parliamentarians that staff morale at the department had collapsed.
Telecommunications company Neotel has unveiled its first prepaid offering, announcing on Wednesday that it would charge 20c/minute for ad-hoc prepaid data and 50c/minute for calls to Telkom and other Neotel numbers. Neotel is “soft launching” its first prepaid product this month in the hope of improving its poor performance in the retail consumer market, where it has signed up fewer than 50 000 paying customers.
International security company Kaspersky Lab says the first SMS Trojan Horse for the popular mobile operating system Android has been identified. Kaspersky says the Trojan, known as Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a, has already infected a number of mobile devices.
JSE-listed technology services group Gijima is still in talks with government to resolve a dispute over the validity of the R2,5bn “Who Am I Online” contract. However, the company may head to court if discussions remain deadlocked.
JSE-listed technology group Altech is putting its muscle behind its Internet business, Technology Concepts, with plans to turn it into a tier-one service provider. Altech bought Technology Concepts last April, before it signed a deal with undersea cable Seacom. The move led many in industry to believe Altech would become a champion of local Internet provision.