Foxconn, Softbank have an eventful week

Activities involving Foxconn and Softbank dominated the international ICT market last week.

At home, MTN's first loss was the main local story.

* Very good interim figures from Pinnacle Holdings, with revenue up 46.5% and profit up 42.4%.
* Satisfactory interim numbers from Blue Label Telecoms, with revenue up 2.9% and profit up 53.8%.
* A full year loss from MTN, with revenue up only 0.5%.
* The proposed R2 billion investment by Net1 UEPS Technologies in Cell C.
* The proposed investment (49.6%) by Net1 UEPS Technologies in DNI-4PL Contracts, a distributor of mobile subscriber starter packs for Cell C, and which also distributes prepaid airtime through an extensive network of field operatives and agents.
* Bytes Technology Group has sold a 51% stake in its Bytes Conference Centre business to empowerment group Iyavaya HR Solutions, a 51% black women-owned and managed company that provides specialist services in the fields of black economic empowerment, employment equity, skills development, health and safety, and staffing strategies and solutions.
* A new JSE cautionary from AdaptIT.

* Millicom's interest in Ghana has merged with Bharti Airtel's operation in that country.
* Uganda Telecom has been taken over by the government, after the telco's 61% majority shareholder, Ucom, a subsidiary of LAP Greencom Networks, which itself is a subsidiary of Libya Posts, Telecommunications and IT Company, said it would no longer fund the indebted operator.
* Vodacom plans to raise R2.8 billion when it lists Vodacom Tanzania on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange, for which it has now obtained approval.
* The appointments of Samer Abu Ltaif as Microsoft's president of its MEA region; and Niral Patel as Hitachi Data Systems' GM for sub-Saharan Africa.

MTN's first loss was the main local story.

* Accenture acquired Davies Consulting, an innovative provider of utility asset management, risk management, grid and pipeline network modernisation and emergency management services.
* Cognizant Technology Solutions bought Japan-based Brilliant Service, an intelligent products and solutions company specialising in digital strategy, product design and engineering, the Internet of things and enterprise mobility.
* Equinix bought ICT-Center, Zurich's data centre operating business in Switzerland.
* Genesys purchased Silver Lining Solutions, a provider of employee performance optimisation software.
* Verisk Analytics acquired UK-based Emergent Network Intelligence, an innovator in insurance claims efficiency and fraud detection solutions.
* Verisk Analytics bought Fintellix, a Bangalore-based data solutions company specialising in the development of data management platforms and regulatory reporting solutions for financial institutions.
* Foxconn Electronics' subsidiary Foxconn (Far East) invested $600.6 million (54.4%) in SoftBank Group's subsidiary, SoftBank Group Capital APAC; and Fabrigene, another subsidiary, acquired a 51.2% stake ($25 million) in Sharp Healthcare and Medical Company KY, a joint venture to be established by Sharp and Foxconn Electronics.
* Intelsat and Softbank's OneWeb have entered into a definitive combination agreement pursuant to which Intelsat and OneWeb will merge. In addition, SoftBank will invest $1.7 billion in newly issued common and preferred shares of the combined company.
* Very good quarterly figures from Ambarella and Tactile Systems Technology.
* Good quarterly numbers from CyberOptics, Ebix, Sapiens International and Veeva Systems.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from American Tower, Entravision Communications, MDC Partners (back in the black), Methode Electronics, VimpelCom and XO Group (back in the black).
* Satisfactory year-end figures from Gemalto and Sopra Steria Group.
* Mediocre quarterly results from Opera Software and Perficient.
* Mixed quarterly figures from 3D Systems, with revenue down but back in the black; Broadcom, with revenue up but profit down; Cable One, with revenue up but profit down; Intelsat, with revenue down but back in the black; SBA Communications, with revenue up but profit down; and Sykes Enterprises, with revenue up but profit down.
* Quarterly losses from Autodesk, Box, Everbridge, Frontier Communications, GCI, JD.com, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Marvell Technology Group, Maxwell Technologies, Nutanix, Orbcomm, Palo Alto Networks, Pure Storage, Salesforce.com, Systemax, Tetra Technologies, Windstream Holdings and Workday.
* A full-year loss from Deutsche Telekom.
* The appointments of John Donahoe as president and CEO of ServiceNow; and Leigh Fox as president and CEO of Cincinnati Bell.
* The death of Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.
* A very good IPO on the NYSE by Snap.

EMEA/Africa:
* Middle East and North Africa IT spending is projected to reach $155.8 billion in 2017, a 2.4% year-on-year increase, according to Gartner.

Worldwide:
* Worldwide server revenue declined 1.9% year-on-year in Q416, while shipments fell 0.6%, according to Gartner. In all of 2016, worldwide server shipments grew 0.1%, but server revenue declined 2.7%.
* Worldwide mobility revenue will reach $1.57 trillion in 2017, an increase of 2.6% over 2016, according to IDC. Purchases of mobile hardware, software and services is expected to continue apace over the next several years, achieving a CAGR of 2.1% over the 2015-2020 forecast period, and reaching $1.67 trillion in 2020.
* Vendor revenue in the worldwide server market declined 4.6% year-on-year to $14.6 billion in 4Q16, according to IDC. Worldwide server shipments decreased 3.5% to 2.55 million units year-on-year.
* Worldwide smartphone shipments will rebound in 2017 and beyond, according to IDC. While growth is expected to remain in the low single digits, it predicts shipment volumes to grow 4.2% in 2017 and 4.4% in 2018, with a CAGR of 3.8% over the 2016-2021 forecast period. Shipments are forecast to reach 1.53 billion units in 2017 and grow to 1.77 billion in 2021.
* The worldwide wearables market reached a new all-time high as shipments reached 33.9 million in 4Q16, growing 16.9% year-on-year, according to IDC. Shipments for the entire year grew 25% as new vendors entered the market and previous champions refreshed their product line-ups. The year came to a close with 102.4 million devices shipped.
* Total worldwide enterprise storage systems factory revenue was down 6.7% year-on-year, while reaching $11.1 billion in 4Q16, according to IDC. Total shipments were up 18.3% year-on-year to 52.4 exabytes during the quarter.
* 2016 fintech funding totalled $24.7 billion, a decline from the record-setting $46.7 billion of 2015, according to KPMG's latest survey forecast.

* JSE All share index: Up 0.2%
* FTSE100: Up 0.2% (highest level reached during the week)
* DAX: Up 1.9% (highest weekend close for over two years)
* NYSE (Dow): Up 0.9% (highest level reached during the week)
* S&P 500: Up 0.7% (highest level reached during the week)
* Nasdaq: Up 0.4% (highest level reached during the week)
* Nikkei225: Up 1%
* Hang Seng: Down 1.7%
* Shanghai: Down 1.1%

International:
* Foxconn's bid for Toshiba's chip business.
* SoftBank Group making an investment in US-based office sharing start-up WeWork, which is expected to be worth over $3 billion.
* Toshiba divesting its smart meter group Landis+Gyr.

South Africa:
* Further developments regarding Cell C and its restructuring.

CRN magazine recently published its latest list of '100 Coolest Cloud Security Vendors'. The list included as its top 20:
* Cato Networks
* Check Point Software Technologies
* CipherCloud
* Cisco Security
* Dell Security
* Digital Guardian
* Fortinet
* Gigamon
* Hytrust
* Mimecast
* Netskope
* Palo Alto Networks
* Qualys
* Skyhigh Networks
* Sophos
* Symantec
* Twistlock
* Unisys
* vArmour
* Zscaler

Unfortunately, there will be no column next week as I am travelling extensively. My next column will be published on 20 March, and will cover the two-week period.