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ISSUE NO 56 NEWS ROUND-UP & SNIPPETS

ANGOLA GETS FIRST PRIVATE CELLPHONE OPERATOR

The launch of the country’s first private cellphone operator, Unitel, in early April marks the end of the country’s state telecoms monopoly. Portugal Telecom and state energy group Sonangol each hold 25% of the shares in Unitel, which has invested US$68m in the first phase of the project. Initially, it will serve 50,000 people in Luanda and Benguela, but the firm hopes to treble subscriber numbers within a year.

(source: Business Africa via DigAfrica)

SA’S TELKOM TARGETS FRAUD

Telkom has joined forces with 11 other South African companies in an initiative aimed at reducing financial losses suffered by businesses as a result of fraudulent activity.Launched this week, the South African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) is a non-profit organisation that aims to eradicate fraudulent financial transactions and applications for goods and services by allowing member organisations to exchange details of suspected fraud via a central database, which is accessible to SAFPS members only.

Each of SAFPS’s founding members have shown their commitment to fighting fraud in South Africa by paying a founding membership fee of R150,000. The twelve companies involved are Telkom, Standard Bank, Nedcor, ABSA, First National Bank, BOE, African Bank, Relyant Retail, Lewis, BMW Financial Services, Edcon and Truworths.

Simply put, when a member organisation identifies a suspected act of fraud, a warning is placed on the SAFPS database. This warning does not suggest that the relevant party has actually committed fraud, it simply means that extra precautions should be taken to ensure the validity of the application or transaction that has prompted the check. In this way, extra care will be taken when checking personal details and credentials. SAFPS members are required to keep names confidential and to ensure that none of the information is misused in any way.

(source:Telkom)

ECONET CONSORTIUM STILL IN THE RUNNING FOR TELKOM KENYA

A consortium led by Zimbabwe’s Econet Wireless said on Thursday that it was maintaining its a bid for a 49% stake in Telkom Kenya. The Mount Kenya Communication consortium was the highest bidder for the stake when it was first advertised last year but the government rejected their offer as too low. he Mount Kenya Consortium says that it will not increase its US$305m bid for a 49% stake in Telkom Kenya. The government is seeking up to US$350m for the stake, because this was the estimate included in the 2000-01 budget.

(source: Boot http://www.boot.co.za/news/apr01/econet19.asp )

SA’S BRAIN DRAIN WILL BE HALTED IF CRIME IS CUT

PricewaterhouseCoopers says delegates at the Technology, Communications and Entertainment Summit held recently in Sandton, concluded that the most important action needed to stop the IT brain drain was to reduce crime.

(source: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/monitor/2001/0104190818.asp )

B2BAFRICA TAKES OVER CONTENT PRODUCTION FOR IAFRICA.COM

First there were iafrica’s Communications and Technical Newsletters. Then these were merged to produce the Commtech Newsletter. Now B2Bafrica (http://www.b2bafrica.com), will be taking over the production of this newsletter. B2Bafrica.com is offering free e-mail addresses, an HTML version of the newsletter and site content personalisation.

SIGN OF THE TIMES: ERICSSON CLOSES ERICA PROGRAMME FOR 2001

Following massive job cutbacks, Ericsson has also closed its global corporate philanthropy initiative, the ERICA Programme. Those involved in ERICA were promoting the availability of this year’s prize (prizes of US$100,000 U.S. each that would have been awarded to five nonprofits worldwide) to nonprofits in Africa. Applications were due in by 5 June. However Helen Simpson, the ERICA Programme Manager at Ericsson recently wrote to applicants:"As a result of the current global economic environment and recent restructuring at our company, we have made the very difficult decision to put the 2001 ERICA Awards program on hold. We will no longer be accepting applications for the awards, nor will we judge the applications that have already been submitted".

"This decision does not affect our commitment to delivering the projects for the ERICA 2000 winners. We recognize and appreciate the time and effort our applicants put into their entries and hope that the ideas already inspired by the ERICA program will one day become a reality. Ericsson continues to believe in the power of using the Internet to make the world a better place".

TV-BASED INTERNET HITS SOUTH AFRICA

Television-based Internet has finally arrived in SA. It has been officially launched as Sansui’s Mentacom WebTV, which has been designed to allow viewers to send and receive e-mail, surf the Web or to conduct banking transactions - while watching television. An exclusive alliance with Netactive will allow users to subscribe and receive full Internet access for R85 a month. The contract ties the user into a 12-month subscription.

(source: http://www.digitalplanet.co.za/dp/news/red.asp?ID=11430 )

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