All the latest technology news from South Africa and around the world.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has questioned figures that the presidency has released detailing the number of calls received and resolved by the presidential hotline since it was established. The department of performance monitoring and evaluation in the presidency says President Jacob Zuma’s complaints hotline has received a total of 72 000 calls since it started.
JSE-listed technology services group Gijima appears to be no closer to resolving its dispute with the department of home affairs over the validity of the R2,5bn “Who Am I Online” contract. The group has advised shareholders that it is still seeking a “commercial resolution” of the dispute in a bid to avoid taking legal action.
Nic Haralambous and Vincent Maher plan to take on the global market with Motribe, an ambitious social networking offering for the mobile Web.The product, which will go live on Tuesday, is a platform that enables “users, brands and agencies to build and manage their own social networks on their mobile phones”.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has slammed the Cabinet’s decision to approve the department of science & technology’s proposed acquisition of a share of between 55% and 60% of local commercial satellite manufacturer, Sunspace.
Governments around the world increasingly expect Internet service providers (ISPs) to take responsibility for every bit of data that passes through their systems, says David McClure, the president and CEO of the US Internet Industry Association.
In a bid to curb its financial woes, state-owned signal distributor Sentech will start cutting off customers that don’t pay on time. Last week, TechCentral learnt Sentech was battling to get government institutions and community broadcast customers that owe it money to pay up. It is now owed a total of R30m.
Android, Google’s mobile operating system, is set to contest the top spot in market share from Symbian within the next four years, says international technology research firm Gartner. Android was launched in late 2007 and has climbed steadily towards being the most popular operating system since.
Mobile operator Cell C has made a further move to restructure its crippling debt. The company, which accrued the debt rolling out its second-generation voice network over the past decade, said on Friday it had offered to purchase for cash its outstanding €400m “first priority senior secured notes” due 2012.
Nokia is replacing its CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, with a top Microsoft executive, Stephen Elop, as the Finnish handset manufacturer seeks to make up for ground it has lost in recent years to rivals such as iPhone-maker Apple and BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion. But already a senior Gartner analyst is questioning the move. “I’m in two minds about this,” says Gartner vice-president Nick Jones.
MultiChoice, which operates the DStv service, has been awarded a digital mobile television broadcasting licence by default after the other bidder, Super 5 Media, withdrew its application. The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) announced on Friday morning that MultiChoice would become the second mobile TV broadcaster after e.tv was awarded a licence earlier this year.
