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ISSUE NO 61 NEWS ROUND-UP & SNIPPETS

US WEB COMPANY SIGNS VOIP AGREEMENT FOR CAMEROON

T3 Communications of Los Angeles California, a web design, web hosting and emerging IP global exchange carrier, (http://www.t3hosting.net)hassigned an exclusive distribution agreement for IPStar/InterStar proucts in Cameroon. These products are made by DSG Technology, a Taiwan based VOIP Technology company, (http://www.dsgtechnology.com) with offices in Walnut, California. IP Star/InterStar/InterPhone products from DSG Technology make possible VOIP communications.

T3 sees Cameroon as the probable entry point for ATT and ATT, and Global Crossing’s (http://www.globalcrossing.com)soon-to-be completed US$2 Billion (Africa One) undersea fiber-optic network circling the African continent, there will be regional access to this over 60 (Gaga-Byte-byte) bandwidth of virtually limitless back-bone access through undersea fiber-optic cable.

EMIRATES TELCO SEEKS TO BECOME MAJORITY SHAREHOLDER IN SUDATEL

Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat) is holding talks with SudaTel to raise its stake from 12 per cent and become the second-largest investor in the telecommunications service provider, Sudanese officials said."Discussions are currently under way," Deputy Consul-General Yousuf Kurdafani said during a press conference on the Investment Opportunities and Development of Transport Services forum to be held in Sudan on June 5-6.

(source: Gulf News 2001 via DigAfrica)

AFFINITY SIGNS UP LIBERTY FOR SERVICE TARGETED AT AGENTS AND BROKERS

Financial services and insurance group Liberty has become the second local client of Affinity, the UK-based provider of branded free Internet access. Liberty says it has distributed more than 11,000 CDs with access software to agents, brokers, staff and business partners.

M-Web, the largest paid-for Internet service provider in South Africa, has lambasted Absa Bank for offering free access to the general public, saying the free model is unstable and damaging. Liberty, however, says it has no plans to offer services to the general public.

"We see the free Internet service as an ideal platform to build brand awareness among our business partners," says Lee Izikowitz, CIO of Liberty. The company has included a "web wizard" tool in its offering, which is aimed at allowing brokers with little Internet-savvy to have their own web sites up and running in a few minutes."The tool will assist advisers to create their own individual Web sites that their clients can access at their leisure and obtain information," says Izikowitz.

Web pages are hosted on free server space, also provided by Affinity. Liberty staffers say the web wizard will only assist brokers in establishing a very basic one-page Web site on the available 10MB.Affinity is on record as saying that several other local companies are interested in its services, and that more clients are expected to join in the near future.
(source http://www.itweb.co.za )

Interprise has announced the Istart e-mail and domain registration service for users of Absa’s free dial-up service.
(source: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2001/0104230744.asp )

UUNET NAMIBIA OFFERS CO-LOCATED HOSTING

UUNet Namibia has unveiled UUhost, its co-located hosting facility and product range. [25 April 2001]

(source: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2001/0104250830.asp )

SOFTWARE PIRACY RATES IN KENYA AND NIGERIA JUST UNDER DOUBLE WORLD RATE

There has been a small decline in the piracy rate in SA from 47% in 1999 to 45% in 2000, according to the Business Software Alliance sixth annual benchmark survey on global software piracy. The survey published on Monday, showed that SA has the lowest piracy rate in Africa while Kenya and Nigeria have the highest rate, both at 67% in 2000.
(source: http://www.boot.co.za/news/may01/piracy21.asp )

Worldwide software piracy grew in 2000 for the first time in more than half a decade and 37 percent of the programs used by businesses worldwide are illegal copies, a trade group of software makers reported.
(source: http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=479828 )

NAMIBIAN CELLCO CHOOSES SOLUTION TO HELP DOUBLE ITS SUBSCRIBER BASE

Mobile Telecommunications is to implement a R7 million enterprise computing solution from Industrial and Financial Systems (IFS) to help it double its GSM subscriber base. [26 April 2001]

(source: http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/enterprise/2001/0104260840.asp )

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