ADSL pricing row dominates

The local ICT market was dominated last week by the row between ICASA and Telkom SA over ADSL pricing. Internationally, it was comparatively quiet, with Oracle`s latest acquisition stealing pride of place.

* The break-up of the partnership between Altech and Econet Wireless. This deal, originally worth $70 million was, in my opinion, doomed from the start since the cultures of the two organisations are very different. Each party has potential conflicting interests within Africa and a fall-out was a matter of time, but it needed an activation trigger, which now seems to have been initiated. Unfortunately, there is now an ugly legal battle surrounding this fall-out that could drag on for several months.
* The appointment of Dean Brazier as CEO of JSE-listed ERP.com. Brazier was a co-founder of ERP.com, and is already a director and MD of SecureData, one of its operating units.
* The superb IPO on Nasdaq by search engine company, Baidu.com, an organisation cited as China`s answer to Google. By the end of the trading on its first day, the shares had nearly quadrupled and Baidu.com was the best stock debut since software company Selectica listed in March 2000.
* The EUR2.25 billion acquisition of Auna`s cable assets, the Spanish fixed-line and broadband services operator, by Ono and a consortium of private equity partners.
* Oracle bought a majority interest in India`s i-flex Solutions, a provider of banking software and services, for $900 million.

* A positive trading update from ERP.com.8
* A negative trading update from Idion.
* The successful listing on Nasdaq of SA-based UEPS (ex-Aplitec).
* JD Group announced its intention to buy the Connection Group for about R500 million. The latter would then be de-listed from the JSE and become a JDA subsidiary.
* Synergy to become a cash shell. A consortium has acquired 83% of the company and its only operating unit, Prime Support, is being sold to two of its directors.
* Lenova opened a local office that will be headed up by Rashid Wally.
* According to BMI-TechKnowledge, the local IT market is expected to grow 6.5% annually to reach R62.9 billion by 2009, with this year`s growth expected to be 7.4%.

* The Malawi leader gave the nod for the sale of Malawi`s fixed telecommunications company, Malawi Telecommunications.

A second national operator announcement is now well overdue.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* IBM disposed of its Deskside Support Services unit to Germany`s Bechtle AG, a services and hardware company, and bought customer data integration vendor, DWL.
* Time Warner set aside $3 billion to settle various outstanding lawsuits re its disastrous merger with AOL.
* TT Electronics sold its Houchin Aerospace subsidiary to a trade buyer.
* The appointments of Monty Bannerman as CEO of Verso Technologies, Joseph Caffarelli as CEO of CorVu, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo as president and COO of Nokia and then CEO of Nokia, Bill Nuti as president and CEO of NCR, and Jeffrey Stibel as CEO of Interland.
* The resignations of Justin MacIntosh as founder and CEO of CorVu, Bill Nuti as president and CEO of Symbol Technologies, Steven Odom as CEO of Verso Technologies (stays on as chairman), and Jorma Ollila as president and CEO of Nokia.
* The death of Robert Noyce, CEO of Sematech. He was regarded as the 'Father of Silicon Valley`, having co-founded both Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel.
* Analyst upgrades for Asyst Technologies, ATI Technologies, BEA Systems, BMC Software, Buckeye Technologies, Chordiant Software, CommScope, Crown Castle International, eBay, Electronic Arts, FEI, Hutchison Technology, Micron Technologies, Nam Tai Electronics, Photon Dynamics, Powerwave Technologies, Quanta Services, Qwest Communications, Serena Software and Unova.
* Analyst downgrades for ACS, Alltel, Brocade Communications, CNET Networks, Cree, Deltathree, Epcos AG, Interchange, Lattice Semiconductor, Motorola, National Semiconductor, NetIQ, Network Appliance, Nvidia, Overland Storage, SBA Communications, TDK, Tech Data, TiVo, Trident Microsystems and Univision Communications.
* Positive results announcements from TDC.
* Negative result warnings from Analog Devices, Brocade Communications, Image Entertainment, Network Appliance, Plato Learning, Tech Data and Tier Technologies.
* Stock repurchase announcements from Diebold and DST Systems.
* Job loss announcements from Altiris and Western Wireless.
* Private funding obtained for Data Domain, a data compression start-up; Digital Harbor, a software provider for building and using composite applications; Nujira, a developer of power amplifier technology; Serus, a developer of software designed to help companies to manage their outsourced manufacturing operations; Silver Creek Systems, a provider of data integration solutions; TrueDemand Software, a start-up in the RFID application space; and WideRay, a wireless content download start-up.
* A private placing of stock by WorldGate Communications.
* Stock offering announcements by Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan`s state-owned former monopoly, and Intelli-Check and Track Data.
* Share split announcement from NeoMagic (Reverse 1:5).
* Good IPOs from Advanced Analogic Technologies, a supplier of power-management semiconductors, and Unica, provider of enterprise marketing management software.
* A disappointing IPO from Eschelon Telecom.
* A withdrawn IPO by ArcSoft, a digital imaging and graphics company.
* MatrixOne to re-state its results from 1999.

* Portugal Telecom`s possible acquisition of Novabase SA.
* Deutsche Telekom`s acquisition of Austria`s Tele.ring for EUR1.3 billion.

* Worldwide semiconductor sales up by 6.5% to $109 billion for the first six months of 2005, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.
* Worldwide PDA shipments up 32% for Q205, compared to Q204, according to Gartner.
* According to Gartner, ATM/Debit card fraud resulted in $2.75 billion in losses for the past year.

* JSE All share index: Up 2.1% (highest ever weekend close)
* Nasdaq: Down 0.3% (however, hit a 2005 high during the week)
* Top SA share movements: Alliance Data (+23.5%), Cape Empowerment Trust (+23.3%), Connection Group (+11.9%), Control (+11.9%), Elexir (-50%), ISA (-23.9%), Spescom (+15.4%), Stella Vista (-20%), Synergy (+30.8%) and Trematon (+18.4%)
* Top international share movements: Cosine Communications (+32.2%), DDD Group (+29.9%), FiberMark (+65%), Formjet (-48.1%), Harrier Group (+28%), Poly Information (+26.8%), SGI (+31%), Ultimate Electronics (+32.4%), Winland Electronics (+37.4%) and Yoomedia (+90%)

A second national operator announcement is now well overdue. Let`s hope it is forthcoming shortly and that some competition to Telkom is put in place and operating before the long summer break at the end of the year. We have been waiting far too long for this development.

There now seems to be a difference of opinion between government ministers about the sale of Transnet`s and Eskom`s telecommunications assets that is causing yet another delay.