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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday.  ISSUE NO 101 CAMEROON - REGIONAL HUB AND GROWING MID-SCALE MARKET?
Almost every African country likes to describe itself as a regional economic hub. Why can Cameroon claim this more credibly than most? The regional economic and monetary organisation CEMAC offers an engine for economic growth. There is some competition at a political level between Cameroon and Gabon but Cameroon has a better claim. The stock exchange has 30 Cameroonian companies. There is even some evidence of companies shifting their operations from Abidjan to Douala. So why in ICT terms do you think Cameroon is dynamic? Well I’ll give you a point of comparison. Douala alone has 6-8 network wireless providers. Here in Abidjan there is only one. How many dial-up subscribers are there? I can only give you estimates. There’s no ISP Association to collect the figures and no formal co-operation between ISPs. This mistrust in business is cultural but "behind the scenes" many of the operators are friends at a social level. They should create properly documented figures through an Association. Current dial-up subscriptions are around 10,000 but total users via cyber-cafes are probably in the hundreds of thousands and growing fastest. Even my Dad, who is very conservative has an e-mail address. So how many cyber-cafes are there? It’s impossible to estimate but lots. About 25-30% use 2 mb broadband wireless connections. The owners are mostly people who ran communications centres (teleboutiques) and when the internet came along it was a natural add-on. Who are the Cameroonian internet users? The internet is used heavily by the young, students and women. The use by women has been quite an issue. There are worries over prostitution and trafficking. For example, there are internet sites where women look for partners and some agree to marry over the internet. Some find love and it’s not all bad. But you have in the region criminal groups who deal in women and so there are dangers. The Government is trying to see how it can work with embassies worldwide to look at the problem. You’re going to be relaunching your ISP as one offering dial-up subscriptions beyond the corporate market. What’s the ambition? It’s a collaborative effort between ourselves as an ISP and the telco. Our ambitions are huge. One of the main objectives is to have universal internet access. To achieve this we need to put the infrastructure in place and keep prices low. There are two GSM providers in Cameroon and ultimately the whole country will be converted to GSM. Two to three years ago getting a phone line could take anything from to months to never. Now pay-as-you-go has become a driving force. One of the cell phone providers Mobiliss (owned by France Telecom) has around a million users. GSM is perfect for Africa. It’s just right for us and be can be used for the internet. Most of these users will only want e-mail so the bandwidth issues are less of a problem. How many POPs are there? There 10-12 in Douala and 15 in Yaounde. Lots have disappeared. The main ones are: 1)ICCNET (http://www.iccnet2000.com) or (http://www.iccnet.cm ) 2)WAGNE (http://www.wagnet.net ) 3) CYBERKOKI (http://www.cyberkoki.net ) 4) GCNET (http://www.gcnet.cm ) 5) CAMNET (http://www.camnet.cm ) 6) NEWTECH (http://www.newtech.cm ) 7) ADSNET (http://www.adsnet.cm) 8) AFRIPA TELECOM 9)ATLAS TELECOM 10) VOICESAT (http://www.voicesat.net ) You offered free internet when you last launched. What was demand like? We had 2000 subscribers and could have had more but we had to control demand. When we started to charge, subscriptions halved. We want to offer unlimited dial-up access for 50,000 CFAs per month. What are cyber-cafes charging? Between 500-1000 CFAs per hour. The difference in price depends on the bandwidth available and the locality. There are some areas with fierce competition, mainly in Douala and Yaounde. One guy has a dedicated VSAT connection with 12 machines and the service is very good. What are the main obstacles you face? The major obstacle is the regulatory environment. There are a series of laws and these could not be described as "light-touch". The regulator, the Telecoms Regulatory Board, was created in 1998 and the transition to a regulated framework has not been easy. There are difficulties on a number of fronts. Firstly, we don’t know how they calculate the licence fees. First there’s a "texte application" from the Minister and then there’s a decree that spells out the detail. However the decree has not yet been issued. Secondly, they have given out quite a few licences and you have to be careful when dealing with frequencies. Lastly, they have to regulate all your equipment. If you import equipment, you have to get a licence. Then you have to get a licence to install. If your’re going to do a network, the regulator has to see the design of the network. When you modify the network, they have to see the modified plans. It’s an awful lot of paper work. Not everyone is following the law. It was written by the bureaucrats but there no longer any sacred cows like Camtel and the industry is open to everyone. To be fair to he regulators, they do listen and they do gather information. How did Douala1.com start? It’s a complicated story. In 1994 George Fon Tuma and Paolo Bosco started North South Technologies in New York that offered Callback to Africa. They created a local company - FPV Communications - offering this service to a mainly corporate base of customers. In August 1996 it became the first company to provide commercial internet access in Cameroon. The SITA connection it used proved to be inadequate and service problems escalated forcing FPV Communications to pull the plug on the service in early 1997. It continued to keep and attract new telephone customers and acquired its own VSAT dish. In late 1998 it decided to use its existing infrastructure to launch Douala1.com. I joined it as COO in late 1999 to prepare the company for eventual commercialisation and separate incorporation. We’ve now installed a local wireless loop in Douala and will roll out in Yaounde shortly. The company was separated from FPV in June 2000 and I became Director General and George Fon Tuma is the Chairman. THe company is jointly owned by Cameroonians and Americans.
The CTO is offering The Commonwealth Government and Business Guide to Information and Communication Technology 2001/2002 as free CD-ROM to our readers. It is a unique annual resource of information about ICT in the Commonwealth designed specifically for use by government ministers, regulators, utility heads and leaders of the communications industry throughout the world. To obtain your free CD-ROM, send your name and address to Isabel Stewart, CTO (i.stewart@cto.int)
EGYPTIAN GSM REVENUES TO TRIPLE BY 2006 Egypt’s GSM revenues will almost triple from USD1.3bn in 2001 to USD3.17bn by 2006, according to a new report from the Arab Advisors Group. Telecom Egypt is set to launch the country’s third GSM license in 2003, while a new telecom law will open the door for more private sector investment, it adds. (source: http://www.ameinfo.com/ ) KENYA’S CONSUMER INFORMATION NETWORK UP IN ARMS AT CCOA’S PRICE HIKE The Consumer Information Network called for the reversal of the decision by the Cyber Cafe Operators Association and accused it of behaving like a cartel. "We recognise that even if the prices were to be fixed for any other genuine reason, the unilateral procedure through which it was done amounts to cartel-like behaviour. It was in total disregard of the law and the rights of other stakeholders, particularly the consumers," said watchdog in a statement signed by chief executive Samuel Ochieng’. "There was no adequate consultation and justification as is expected before reaching such a decision," he said. He asked the Communications Commission of Kenya to state its position on the decision and urged operators to seek better terms from the Internet Service Providers and Telkom Kenya in order to make charges affordable. (source: The Nation) MOZAMBIQUE: SECOND MOBILE LICENCE EXPECTED Look for the issue of a second mobile phone operator to compete with Mozambique’s existing provider, M-Cel. An initial tender, launched last year, collapsed when the government said offers fell well below required standards. In an effort to attract higher bids Maputo will issue only one licence in 2002, leaving a two-year gap before a third licence is awarded. In the first year the new operator will be required to set up services in seven cities, two in the south, three in the centre and two in the north. The government is optimistic of a good response, saying that 25 potential bidders have bought tender documents. (source: Business Africa via DigAfrica ) IRIDIUM SELLING IS STAT SYSTEM INTO THE NIGERIAN MARKET The Iridium Satellite LLC, a premier provider of global satellite communications services, has introduced Iridium Satellite system into the Nigerian market. Speaking yesterday in Abuja at the on-going Offshore West Africa Conference and Exhibition (OWA), the executive director of market development, Mr. Ted O’Brien, explained that the satellite system had a wide range of products and services designed to enhance the communications capabilities of businesses and organisations noting that the system required a seamless, globally connected voice and data network. O’Brien said Iridium African service providers have extensive experience in the African market serving more than 35 countries on the continent, including Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola and South Africa. "They provide satellite telephone, paging, e-mail, web access and file transfer at a flat air time rates."The target markets for the Iridium systems are the oil companies, maritime, aviation and rescue teams. "The system leverages the global capabilities of satellite communications to monitor oil and gas pipelines in the remotest areas." he said. (source: http://www.allafrica.com ) MOSAIC PLANS EXPANSION INTO AFRICAN EFT MARKETS Comparex subsidiary Mosaic Software is planning expansion into the African electronic funds transfer (EFT) industry. The company says it intends to capture 50% of Africa’s EFT market, worth an estimated R300 million a year, by the end of 2004. Mosaic, a locally founded software development and implementations company, says it has already made significant inroads into the EFT markets in SA, Australia, Malaysia, the US and the UK. The company’s electronic payment solutions are also due to be implemented soon in banking systems in Kenya and Zambia. Joubert Steyn, Mosaic Software’s MD for Africa, ascribes the company’s rapid expansion to organic growth of its core product, Postilion, into new markets. He says increased technological growth has allowed for the creation of more delivery channels, such as Web-enabled ATMs. Steyn says the company has spent recent years establishing itself on its home ground, currently holding about 25% to 30% market share. "Traditionally, we played in the second-tier banking and point-of-sale market. Our technology has now matured, and we are in a position to move to aggressively target the big four banks." He says Mosaic has also supplied pre-pay solutions to all three South African cellphone providers, as well as to Telkom. Telecommunications is one of the biggest growth industries on the continent, says Steyn, and is therefore a key target market for Mosaic as it enters the rest of Africa. The ATM sector is also experiencing significant growth, as banks extend their physical presence and compete with independent players who are introducing off-premises, privately owned ATMs. As fraud figures continue to escalate, EMV (a new smart card payment standard that introduces new, heightened levels of security) will overtake ATMs and demand greater IT spend, he says. According to Steyn, Mosaic sees the biggest opportunities for growth in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. However, the company does not plan to open other offices in Africa at this stage. "Our approach is to do business from the hub of Johannesburg. However, we will work with local players where necessary. We already have partners in Kenya and Zimbabwe, and are in the process of appointing partners in Nigeria." (source: http://www.itweb.co.za) SENTECH TO TAKE ON DSTV INTERACTIVE Satellite TV provider DSTV, which started rolling out interactive television services this month, is to face competition come May. State-owned broadcasting signal distributor Sentech has big plans for its own Vivid satellite service and is planning its own television-based browsing and e-mail services. A first-generation "t-commerce" shopping application is already available to around 35, 000 users with Vivid decoder boxes. Vivid is a free-to-air satellite service mostly used in rural areas without terrestrial television coverage. It replaces the failed Astrasat, an analogue service launched at about the same time DSTV first entered the market. Vivid carries the three SABC channels and eTV, and has no subscription fee. Like DSTV decoders, the Vivid set-top boxes are able to receive data transmissions on the same downlink used for the television channels. Yesterday Sentech subsidiary Infosat and online shopping site Digitalmall launched a shopping brochure branded Digitalmall.tv, which makes use of the Vivid data channel. Users can access the data channel and browse product information, but must place orders through a Digitalmall call centre. Unlike DSTV, Sentech has no return path in place yet. However, this is to change soon. The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has confirmed that it intends to issue the two licences awarded to Sentech in the recent Telecommunications Amendment to the company in May. One will give Sentech the right to operate an international telecommunications gateway and sell services to the likes of Telkom. The second is for still poorly understood "multimedia services" which government says is intended to promote convergence in the broadcasting sector. Although not directly linked to the licences, Vivid could add a return path at the same time; the set-top boxes can accept an external modem. Once the return path is set up, a number of services become possible, of which normal Internet browsing is only one. (source: http://www.allafrica.com) BIG BLACK BOX DEBUTS IN NAMIBIA Bowline Fulfilment, the Cape Town- and Johannesburg-based company specialising in supply chain management to the IT and music industries, has secured the exclusive Namibian distribution rights for M-Web’s Big Black Box Internet kits.Bowline is distributing the Big Black Box to Namibian computer resellers and retail stores nationwide through its sub-distributor, Windhoek-based Impact Distribution. According to Bowline, the Namibian IT market is relatively small but is growing rapidly."Our first order is for 200 Big Black Box units, but our market research has shown that the demand for IT products in Namibia is growing at a tremendous rate," says Bowline national marketing manager Jonathan Thornhill. (source: http://www.itweb.co.za) IN BRIEF - Hewlett-Packard South Africa (HP SA) introduced local customers and partners to its Always-On Internet Infrastructure (AOII) strategy at conferences held around the country last week. The AOII strategy unifies products and services from all of HP’s enterprise business units to offer customers a single vendor solution that includes everything they need to design an IT infrastructure they can manage seamlessly, optimise dynamically, and evolve intelligently. - India’s sub-US$300 computer, the Simputer has been deployed in the underdeveloped areas of Chhattishgarh state after its "quiet rollout" from the state-owned Bharat Electronics. About 30 units have been delivered. - Tanzania’s Development Gateway has been given US$95,000 by the World Bank’s infoDEV for a planning grant towards its creation.
ECONET RECORDS RECORD TURNOVER OF Z$2.5 BILLION BUT BELOW INFLATION RATE Zimbabwe’s first technology stock to list on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange - Econet Wireless - has recorded a turnover of Z$2,5 billion in the six months ending December 31 2001. The figure was just Z$300 million short of the annual revenue earned in the full year last year. Operating profit went up by 30 percent to Z$481 million, while profit before tax rose by 84 percent to $281 million. Analysts said the increase in operating profit however, was below the average rate of inflation (about 80 percent) during the period. Announcing the results, Econet chairman, Professor Norman Nyazema, said the increase in turnover was commendable given the tough-operating environment facing the local economy. The environment is characterised by high inflation, shortage of foreign currency and continued depreciation of the local unit on the parallel market.He said Econet had formulated plans to expand the network to enhance quality of service, strengthen national coverage and add more subscriber capacity to consolidate the company’s performance. "Despite the cited operating environment, I am pleased to say that turnover increased by a commendable 99 percent over the comparable period to $2,5 billion in the next six months ended December 31, 2001," he said. Professor Nyazema said the average revenue per user went up by 47 percent to about Z$3 billion compared to about Z$2 billion in the period to June 2001. This was attributed to the value adding services and effective yield management. He said given the constraints, management’s focus was on maintaining Econet’s existing product portfolio to ensure efficient and effective delivery of service, while network expansion was affected by the shortage of foreign credit lines and affordable foreign currency. Econet was, however, able to extend the distribution of pre-paid recharge cards of its popular Buddie product to include street vending, making the product easily accessible to subscribers. The company was also working on the introduction of a variation of the Yourfone brand to ensure increased access to basic telephone services in Zimbabwe and enhance usage levels and profitability. Commenting on the group’s international operations, Professor Nyazema said Econet had made significant progress to expand its operations in Lesotho, Nigeria, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, with prospects of further expansion in the six months to June 2002. Econet Wireless Nigeria’s subscriber base stood at 260,000 as at the beginning of March this year. "While the environment in Nigeria remains competitive, EWN’s management is confident that the company will continue to report strong growth in the foreseeable future," he said. The Econet group would be directly responsible for the launch of the second mobile network in Lesotho, which would be branded Econet Ezi-Cell Lesotho, with operations set to begin in the first half of this year. Professor Nyazema said Econet’s satellite operation, Econet Satellite Services (ESS), had signed contracts worth over US$50 million over the next five years, to provide satellite and broadband services to other telecommunications operators around the world, as well as Econet networks in Africa. He said ESS, which continued to produce the highest amount of revenue per employee in the Econet Wireless Group, was expected to make a significant contribution to group revenue during the year. Econet was also expected to launch commercial operations in New Zealand in the second half of this year. The company had already secured and paid for rights to operate a third cellular network in New Zealand. (source: http://www.allafrica.com) iTOUCH REPORTS STRONG RESULTS ON LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE Mobile communication applications provider iTouch, founded in Cape Town and listed on the London Stock Exchange, has announced strong results for the 12 months to December 31. Revenues are up 260% on 2000, margins are on the increase and cash available is in excess of £36m. Gross profit last year was £8.1m and the gross margin was 54%. "Much of the company’s growth was fuelled organically by strong demand for Voice (formerly referred to as IVR) and (messaging service) SMS, with revenues growing in corporate and consumer businesses, and a particularly strong showing from the SA operation," said founder and CEO, Wayne Pitout. Last year, total revenues were reported at £15m. Group Voice revenues increased 153% to £5m, while Group SMS revenues were up 495% to £6,1m. Other revenues came in at £3,9m, up 236%. "iTouch SA had a strong second half, with rand revenues up 71% on the first half," Pitout said. "Taking into account the depreciation of the rand in the second half of the year, sterling revenues increased 43% half on half." Second-half sterling Voice revenue was up 275% on the first half, helped by iTouch’s role in the Big Brother reality television show. (source: http://www.itweb.co.za) SA’s TELKOM AND ITS INVESTORS THINTANA BEWILDERED BY GOVERNMENT Telkom says it does not understand the direction government is taking with its telecommunications legislation and 30% shareholder Thintana is even more confused about the current situation. "We don’t understand this legislation. We don’t understand the regulation. We don’t know where this industry is going," Telkom COO Tom Barry said at a media briefing today. Barry also represents Thintana, the joint venture between Telekom Malaysia and American operator SBC Communications. He said the regulatory environment in SA is "far more confused than it needs to be" and does not induce confidence in foreign investors. Government needs to articulate its vision for the industry, he said, adding that clarity would be positive even if that vision does not correspond with what Thintana would like to hear. Uncertainty about the future of the local market could play a role in a Thintana selling its Telkom stake as has long been speculated. Barry said the group is still gathering information before any such decision is made, but would not deny the possibility. "A well run business is always evaluating its options," he noted. Telkom is also more likely to hold back on capital expenditure because it has no clear view of the future. Barry said customer premise equipment for digital subscriber line (DSL) services are currently being type-approved, but he noted that a general offer of such services would be beyond the originally envisaged timeframe of June this year. "We have no enthusiasm for big capital expenditure. There will be no big national roll-out [of DSL]; we will probably go for a quiet launch."
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BRIDGES.ORG’S TERESA PETERS ON DIGITAL CITIZENS RIGHTS The drive for increased government efficiency using ICT in Africa raises substantial civil rights issues. Teresa Peters looks at what is at stake. As the ability to store, process and search data becomes easier and faster, governments in developing and developed countries alike are facing the challenges posed by the need to increase government efficiency and protect against crime and terrorism while at the same time protecting citizens’ rights and privacy. The technology to deal with the vast amounts of data that are stored in government records—a pipe dream in George Orwell’s "1984"—is available now, and governments around the world are struggling to balance citizen’s rights and their own responsibilities. In some cases they also have their own agendas for using information technology (IT) to manage public records. Especially in countries where the public has not always had good reason to trust the government, introducing IT into government processes raises a number of issues when it is not done in an open and transparent way. The debate around electronic public records has now reached South Africa with the introduction of a system for digital record-keeping that will test whether the right balance can be achieved. On 18 February the South African Home Affairs Department announced that it has undertaken the development of the Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS). In the first phase of the HANIS project 40 million paper identity records will be converted to digital form. The second phase is to shift from paper-based citizen identity cards to an electronic version through the issuing of smart cards. HANIS will store and match all South Africans’ identity details, photographs and fingerprints. The stated objectives of the new system are to improve the effectiveness of government and to deliver public services more efficiently. The introduction of the smart cards also aims to help combat crime, particularly identity fraud, which is a major problem in South Africa. It is also intended that citizens will benefit through faster processing of pension and welfare payments and the end of the long queues at the Department of Home Affairs. All of this would be good news for South African citizens. Similar initiatives are underway in many other countries around the world, and given the events of September 11th last year any measures to improve security are understandable, particularly through more effective means of identification. But an electronic public records system like HANIS raises a number of critical issues that governments and citizens ignore at their peril. It is important to begin by looking at what the South African Government is trying to achieve, and establish whether the HANIS system will deliver the required results. It seems that the South African Government has good intentions, but a number of valid concerns have been raised. First, there are concerns that the system may go beyond identification information to also be used for collecting and compiling information about citizens’ medical, employment and welfare details, and possibly even movements and spending habits. And there is the suggestion that the information stored on the cards may also be available to banks and other financial institutions. It is not clear that such extended uses would improve government efficiency, but wider use certainly raises serious concerns about the protection of individuals’ civil rights, especially the right to privacy. The Government should establish how the stored information would help to achieve its desired goals, and ensure that the uses of the HANIS system are narrowly tailored to stay within the defined objectives. Second, there are concerns about the level of security and management that such a complex system will require. It is critical in these kinds of "trusted systems" that people have confidence in the trust entity (in this case the government) and its ability to conduct proper maintenance and enforce controls. Adequate security for an electronic public records system must be considered in a larger context of hardware, software, networks and people: computers are by nature complicated, unstable and prone to failure, and with all of this information available to such a diverse and unknown number of people, there is a huge potential for abuse. No smart card or database system is (or ever will be) 100% secure, so it is absolutely essential to have multiple layers of controls, safeguards and checks in a system such as this. In his book Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World, security expert Bruce Schneier says, "Security is not a product; it itself is a process. It involves preventative technologies, but also detection and reaction processes, and an entire forensics system to hunt down and prosecute the guilty." Finally, there are concerns about what effect the HANIS system will have on citizens’ rights to privacy and protection of personal data. Thought should be given to the types of data that can be legally accessed, by whom and under what conditions, and rules should be set out as part of the fundamental system design and implementation. Citizens should have clear rights to find out what information is stored about them and who has access to it, and they must have mechanisms for correcting it. Moreover, the system may solve some problems while creating new ones and citizens should be aware of the implications that the use of electronic records may have for their lives. For example, while HANIS may prevent identity fraud that results from stolen or forged paper documents, it is recognized that identity theft gets easier and more profitable as more systems become electronic. Governments need to think about what security, access control, and audit mechanisms can be put in place to prevent the abuse of electronic public record systems and ensure that individual’s rights to privacy are maintained. Given the huge amount of data that will be available, and the wide range of government departments, law enforcement agencies and other state offices that will contribute to and access these systems around the world, it is critical that governments ensure that only those who have a right to access particular data get access. Effective infrastructure must be put in place to secure the cards, and training is needed to ensure proper use. Technology should be used to catch those who abuse the system, and there must be appropriate penalties. These are not new questions. They have been asked, and addressed, in a number of countries around the world already. At the international level, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has set out guidelines on privacy, security and cryptography to help shape government policies in these areas. For example, in Finland, citizens have smart cards, but access to certain information held on the card is strictly controlled, and there is confidence in the system and its administration. The technology for electronic management of access control and audit procedures is sophisticated and readily available. Implementing similar measures to protect citizen’s rights in South Africa would be easy—and cheap—to build into the system now, before the HANIS architecture becomes too advanced. If the Government—whether in South Africa or elsewhere—wants its citizens to embrace a system of electronic public records, and have confidence that their privacy and civil rights are not going to be infringed, then it needs to start early to build trust by addressing the issues of access and audit and telling the public how these concerns will be dealt with. Governments must also put in place appropriate legislation to outlaw abuse of the electronic public records system and deal with those who break the law. The adoption of effective data protection laws, the regulation of access controls, and the setting up of a trustworthy Data Protection Commission would go a long way towards setting citizen’s minds at rest. In implementing the HANIS system, the South African Government has an opportunity to set an example for other countries that will face these challenges in the future as they look to improve efficiency and introduce e-government for the benefit of their citizens.
SOUTH AFRICA - ONLINE JOB WEB SITES FIGHT OVER COPYRIGHT Legal talks are underway between online recruitment agencies CareerJunction and Jobfood.com, over alleged breach of copyright relating to recruitment advertisements.The talks relate to claims that Jobfood.com "scraped" recruitment advertisements from the CareerJunction Web site in breach of copyright, posting them on its own site to boost job numbers. Jobfood.com recently embarked on an extensive advertising campaign to improve public awareness of the site. It said in a recent release that it had over 2 200 jobs advertised, with more than double the number of new CVs and page views in the first week of March rocketing by 125%. CareerJunction MD Kris Jarzebowski says: "We all know that Jobfood is currently spending an enormous amount on advertising. Without job content on their site, they would have many unhappy jobseekers." CareerJunction’s lawyers demanded that all jobs copied from CareerJunction be removed and all résumé responses to the ads be sent to CareerJunction. The move reportedly made CareerJunction the first South African company to take legal action related to the copying of content from its Web site. CareerJunction said that jobs placed on its site were being reproduced on Jobfood.com using the exact wording produced by CareerJunction’s own copywriters - even down to typographical errors. Jarzebowski says: "We discovered that Jobfood.com had somehow copied hundreds of job listings from CareerJunction and placed the same job content into their own job database. We can only assume that a process was written or done manually to ‘scrape’ the screen of data and place it somewhere into another database." Jarzebowski adds that the advertisements were placed under the banner of Jobfood.com, with no reference of the advertiser or telephone number. The only way for job-seekers to respond to the "copied" ads is via a generic Jobfood e-mail address. This, he says, misrepresented the true size of Jobfood.com’s CV database to jobseekers. Jobfood.com MD Ephan Bosman says 1 800 advertisements were removed from Jobfood.com’s listings in response to CareerJunction’s action. However, he says this was done as a gesture of goodwill to avoid public "mudslinging", and is not necessarily an admission of wrongdoing. Bosman says he cannot comment further on the matter as a legal process is underway. However, he says: "Not a single position on the Jobfood.com site bears any relationship to a position carried on CareerJunction." Bosman says he is optimistic that a satisfactory settlement will be reached in the matter. (source: http://www.itwebco.za) AFRICAN UNION WEB-SITE LAUNCHED The Organization of African Unity (OAU) launched the African Union web-site last week at the premises of the OAU.The Web-site, both in English and French, will provide services of interactive country map, information about the African Union (AU), document distribution including the office of the Secretary General, AU news, discussions, calendar of events, and links, according to the organizers of the event. Ms. Shalon Simom, President of the Global Internet Studios and developer of the Web-site, made a power point presentation to attendants of the launching ceremony who were mainly from embassies, organizations, top government officials including Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin. The web-site, www.africa.union.org or www.union.afrique.org, was demonstrated to the participants with 10 currently available computer terminals. There would be more computer terminals and additional languages soon, organizers said. (source: http://www.allafrica.com) GROWTH OF SA’S INTERNET FINANCIAL SECTOR A hybrid model is evolving in SA’s Internet space argues Alec Hogg. An illustration of this is PSG Investment Service’s reverse takeover of Tradek. The Internet did not take over the world, but its growth is undeniable. (source: http://m1.mny.co.za/MNBTalk.nsf/Current/C2256A2A002030F EAST AFRICAN COFFEE COMPANIES SET TO OFFER INTERNET COFFEE AUCTION Kenyan company Africanlion.com has developed the platform on which the auction will be held. "The qualified bidders will look at results, and we will send them samples as well before the 24-hr auction date," Titus Gitau said. He revealed they are already 8 prospective buyers, including 4 companies from the USA, 2 from Japan and 2 from Europe. The auction will be broadcast on the net and results posted immediately on the Africalioin and EAFCA website. (source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200203200174.html ) MATHEMATICS OVER THE WEB South Africa’s Mathematics Web Association is a Non Profit Organisation aiming to collect, provide and make available, free maths resources for teachers students and parents via the medium of the Internet. It is a community project and teachers, students and parents volunteer their time and effort to put worksheet with answersheets, tests and exams and lots more, online for free use and distribution. There is an extension area for maths fun, riddles and games as well as a restricted teachers area where teachers can download and share tests and exams. its web address is www.easymaths.org
PAYPAL OFFERS E-COMMERCE BUDDIES DEVELOPER TOOLKIT Having just completed a $70.2 million initial public offering (IPO), online payment network PayPal is looking to dig its heels into a variety of e-commerce sites through the launch last week of the PayPal e-Commerce Toolkit and developer network. (source: http://click.idg.email-publisher.com/maaai1gaaRxOua9n2s7b/ ) STAROFFICE GOES COMMERCIAL AND STAYS OPEN-SOURCE StarOffice 6.0 will come with enhanced features and added support, but at a price, as Sun aims to attract a wider audience towards the office-productivity software suite. A less sophisticated version of the product will still be available for free download. (source: http://click.idg.email-publisher.com/maaai1gaaRxOva9n2s7b/ ) CTIA: PALM BRUSHES UP BLUETOOTH An expansion card that adds Bluetooth wireless networking capability to a Palm PDA is now widely available, Palm said last week. (source: http://click.idg.email-publisher.com/maaaiXiaaRwXNa9tMcOb/ ) CELL PHONE VIRUSES NEXT? For malicious computer hackers and virus writers, the next frontier in mischief is the mobile phone. (source: http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/ptech/03/10/
* In an interview with Concord Times’ Sulaiman Momodu in Freetown, Christophe Vicic, President and Chief Executive Officer, FORA Telecom (Russia) and MIC Africa talked about the cell phobe service it had started last May in what was war-torn Sierre Leone. It claims 15,000 customers and plans to expand up-country. Reason for visit? "Part of our visit with my colleagues is to visit some ministers to explain the need to give a fair playing field, to put laws in place, meet with authorities who will help everybody; Sierratel, semi-private operators, private operators,to operate with the aim of giving better services at a better price. We don’t want favours for millicom. We want laws to be established that everybody can operate within. We want a good legal environment for the telecommunication industry and this include Sierratel and our competitors". The recent embezzlement problem? "It is all resolved. It was one individual and this has been dealt with. It is now a new team and it is doing extremely well". In Africa Millicom operates in Sierra Leone, Senegal, Ghana, Tanzania and Mauritius. * Uganda Investment Authority’s executive director, Dr. Margaret Kigozi, told an ICT stakeholders’ workshop at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel last week:"Uganda could develop into a regional ICT hub and a major source of software products that could be exported to other countries in the region. Ugandans should take advantage of the country’s Uganda’s lead in the communications sector to capture the regional market," Kigozi told particpants that ICT had been listed among the Government’s eight priority areas for development as leading exports for the country. Participants at the workshop however, complained that heavy taxes levied on computer based technology made it difficult and expensive to develop viable ventures in the sector. They said Government should treat computers and computer based technology as tools of production and not luxuries. The Financial Controller Celtel Uganda, David Serunjogi, revealed that an agreement would soon be reached amongst the telecommunications companies on site sharing to reduce the costs of communication in the country. * Tim Clarke, Vice President of the US computer publishing company International Data Group (IDG), will be visiting Nigeria as part of a tour of countries in which IDG’s magazines are published. PC World West Africa, formerly PC World Nigeria, was first published in Nigeria, in January 2001 and presently publishes thirty thousand copies available in eight West African countries. * On opening an office in Nigeria HP’s Gilbert Farina said:"We have seen great stability in Nigeria’s economic and political climate over the past three years. We’ve also seen our business with companies of all sizes increase in the region ­ in fact, Nigeria is one of the fastest growing countries in Africa for HP. However, most of this business has been managed by our partners in Lagos and by our sales teams based in Morocco and South Africa. By opening a sales and support office in Lagos ­ not an agency but a direct regional representative presence ­ we’ll be able to work more closely with our customers - and we’ll be able to do so in a timely manner". * CS Holdings has appointed Adam Davenport, vice-president operations for the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region for Netherlands-based Getronics NV, to its main board. This follows the acquisition of Getronics SA by CS Holdings for shares to the value of R43 million, in October 2001. * Oracle Territory Manager East & Central Africa, Allen Citta told businessmen and information technology professionals at the Grand Regency Hotel in Nairobi last week that its Oracle9i database had yet to be broken into by any hacker. Karim Bennani, Oracle African Operations Marketing Manager points out that global research groups such as MetaGroup, Gartner and IDC have found that while security is an area of concern for companies, less than 25% of global IT organisations have comprehensive enterprise-wide business continuity or disaster recovery plans in place. This means that security built into operational software is a must to ensure corporate data security.
* Study over the Internet to develop your career in Education and International Development. Use your first degree and experience of working in a developing country. Students make a critical and analytical review of education and international development. It is the core module of the MA degrees in Education and International Development, or can be used as a stand-alone module. Study from October 2002 to March 2003. The module is assessed by written coursework. To find out more contact the registry: E-mail: fpd.enquiries@ioe.ac.uk
OR: m.broderick@ioe.ac.uk
(Course Administrator). |
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