Charter process nears end

Last week, the international ICT arena was dominated by the bidding for MCI that has now gone in Verizon Communications` favour. Locally, the finalisation of the ICT charter and the allocation of the PIC shareholding in Telkom SA took pride of place.

* Verizon finally won the bid for MCI. The revised $26 a share offer ($8.45 billion in total) is favoured by the MCI board, which is recommending acceptance of this deal, as opposed to the slightly higher one from Qwest Communications. Shareholder approval is still needed, as is approval from the regulators and other relevant authorities.
* The finalisation of the ICT empowerment charter. The document will shortly be submitted to the communications minister. It is expected that the charter will be in operation in the second half of 2005.
* The result of the Telkom restructured empowerment deal that involved the Public Investment Corporation with a 15% shareholding. The 15.1% is now shared by Elephant Consortium (6.73%) headed by Andile Ngcaba (Lion consortium) and Wiphold (Buffalo consortium) and split equally; PIC (5%) and a broad-based empowerment grouping (3.33%).

* Satisfactory full-year figures from Infowave, with revenue and profit both slightly up.
* Mediocre annual numbers from Altech with attributable earnings down, although revenue well up.
* The voluntary liquidation of Elexir SA, a subsidiary of Elexir Technology Holdings.
* Grintek`s shares were suspended, following its acquisition by Saab AB.
* The formal de-listing of Siltek (at long last) from the JSE. However, there are still many others that also need the same treatment!
* BTG SA purchased Business Connexion`s interest in Digital Healthcare Solutions.
* ITWeb launched iWeek, its new weekly magazine.
* EOH Manufacturing Systems, a division of EOH, was established.
* Kunene Solutions & Services sold off an 8% stake to sales manager, Dennis Naidoo, raising the company`s black empowerment shareholding to 36%.

* The further investment by Orascom in its subsidiaries in Algeria (Djezzy) and Tunisia (Tunisiana).
* The announcement of significant job cuts at Telkom Kenya.
* French-based ATDI suspended its telecommunications activities in Liberia.

The final ICT empowerment charter document will shortly be submitted to the communications minister.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Tietoenator acquired UK-based Attentiv Systems Group, an IT services company, following a battle with Microgen for control.
* Lenovo re-purchased some of its shares originally destined for IBM following the IBM PC deal. This results in a diluted IBM stake in Lenovo: 13.4% instead of 18.9%.
* American Tower`s $3.1 billion acquisition of SpectraSite.
* France Telecom sold off most of its stake in Germany`s MobilCom.
* The re-naming of Network Inference as Cerebra.
* The appointments of Erez Antebi as CEO of Gilat Network Systems, Eugene Fife as president and CEO of Eclipsys, Clark Hickock as COO of Axesstel, Paul Lovell as CEO of Star Bridge Systems, William Merritt as president and CEO of InterDigital, and Mark Tolliver as CEO and president of Palamida.
* The resignation of Paul Ruflin, CEO and president of Eclipsys.
* Analyst upgrades for Alltel, Alvarion, Amkor Technology, CDI, CommScope, Digimarc, Electronic Arts, Google, Integrated Device Technology, Intevac, iPayment, Macromedia, Marvell Technology Group, McAfee, MCI, MicroStrategy, Per-Se Technologies, Qwest Communications, Satyam Computer Services, SBA Communications, SPSS, SunCom Wireless, Tektronix, Terayon Communications Systems, Unova and WebEx Communications.
* Analyst downgrades for Agile Software, Aspen Technology, Brocade Communications, InterDigital Communications, Intrado, Overland Storage, Pixar, S1, SBC Communications, Triton PCS and Verizon Communications.
* A positive results announcement from Blue Coat Systems.
* Negative result warnings from Agile Software, Getronics, IBM, Pomeroy IT Solutions and SeaChange International.
* Stock repurchase announcements from Avocent, CT Communications, EarthLink, Open Text and SeeBeyond.
* Job loss announcements from Capgemini, Ericsson, IBM, Kyocera, Marconi and Tietoenator.
* Private funding obtained for CebaTech, a developer of communications protocols in silicon; Compellent Technologies, a storage area network company; iSECUREtrac, a provider of monitoring solutions; Mindjet, a software start-up; Orchestria, a developer of software for managing corporate security; Software Innovation, a project collaboration software start-up; and Worksoft, a software testing vendor.
* A stock offering announcement by SBA Communications.
* Share split announcements from Logitech (2:1) and SRA International (2:1).
* Planned IPOs on London`s AIM from New Zealand`s Endace, a provider of circuit boards and software; and Ubiquity Software, a developer of application server technology for IP telephone networks.
* A satisfactory IPO on Nasdaq by China Techfaith Wireless, a mobile handset designer.
* A planned IPO in New York by ArcSight, a management software vendor.

* A possible bid by Belgacom SA for Versatel Telecom International NV.
* Elexir`s fate following the recent revelations.

* PDA shipments in Q1 2005 rose to 3.4 million units, a 25% rise over the equivalent period last year. The top three vendors were RIM (BlackBerry), palmOne and HP with 20.8%, 18% and 17.6% of shipments respectively, according to Gartner.

* JSE All share index: Up 3.1%
* Nasdaq: Up 2.4%
* Top SA share movements: DataPro (-8.3%), Elexir (+100%), Gijima AST (-8%), Infowave (+8.6%), Labat Africa (-9.5%), Metrofile (-20%), Synergy (+50%), Trematon (+8.6%), UCS (+8%) and Zaptronix (+15.4%).
* Top international share movements: Blue Coat Systems (+31%), DA Consulting Group (-50%), Digital Lightwave (-40.9%), MCT (+52.6%), Mondas (+31.3%), NetScout Systems (+34.3%), Primus Telecommunications (-47%), SEMX (-30%), Tarantella (+70%) and Ultimate Electronics (+68.8%).

The MTN/Celtel situation has gone quiet. We should hear more by the end of the month, but it is not looking good for MTN as things stand at present.