Perhaps the biggest (and certainly the most disappointing) news this week was that the legal wrangle between Telkom and the City of Cape Town could hold up the city's wireless broadband project - possibly for years.
Telkom feels the supply contract was not awarded in a fair manner. A consortium involving MTN Network Services and Cornastone got the nod; Telkom didn't. If the matter goes to court, the process could drag on for some time, experts say.
SAPS to track vehicles
Fleet management technology firm Digicore won a three-year SAPS contract to track 20 000 police vehicles. This is the first of four tenders, which it says carry a combined value of R300 million. Details on the other three are not yet known.
SITA missing hundreds of staffers
The State IT Agency (SITA) admitted this week it has over 300 permanent position vacancies, and 166 unfilled contract positions. Chief of shared services, Fatima Habib, revealed most of these vacancies are within SITA's business operations unit.
The story garnered heated responses from readers.
What if the tribunal says no?
Telkom admitted this week "it would be an uphill battle" to compete in the area of IT services, should the Competition Tribunal block the proposed R2.4 billion takeover of Business Connexion.
One gem of a quote from Telkom exec Hendrik Matthyser read: "It's not easy to join a very competitive market." Sure to spark an ironic laugh here and there.
Home stretch for WiMax race
One gem of a quote from Telkom's Hendrik Matthyser read: "It's not easy to join a very competitive market." Sure to spark an ironic laugh here and there.
Dave Glazier, journalist, ITWeb
On the infrastructure side, Telkom seems to be winning the WiMax race, as it this week began a customer trial of the wireless broadband technology, involving 400 customers in Pretoria and neighbouring Centurion.
Neotel is still to award the construction contract that will relate to its WiMax ambitions and Sentech is still battling to get funding from government. So indications are the start of Telkom's commercial WiMax roll-out, scheduled for May, will be our first taste of the technology.
There's an interesting and lively debate on the forums page at the moment, looking at whether WiMax signals could cause interference with TV broadcasting. Well worth looking at, and (for the more technically minded) participating in.
MTN revenue at R50bn
Confidence and success exuded from MTN Group CEO Phuthuma Nhleko at the cellular operator's results presentation in Roodepoort yesterday. His company has - once again - recorded positive numbers.
Excluding the R6 billion revenue impact from newly-acquired Investcom, the year-on-year growth in revenue would have been 32%.
Total revenue was up an enormous 49%, to R52 billion, compared to the prior 12-month period. There was also a tidy increase in South African subscriber numbers - from 10.2 million to 12.5 million over the past year.
Prophesy to be liquidated?
Finally, the ugly New Dawn saga reared its head again, with news that three former executives (who could well be joined by other ex-staffers) have applied for liquidation of New Dawn's Prophesy division.
The company has dismissed the High Court application as a way of trying to sabotage the business. However, from the comments, e-mails and calls received by ITWeb over the past few months, it appears Prophesy (comprising one-quarter of New Dawn) is in a lot of trouble.
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