Facebook sets more records

The formal IPO filing by Facebook was the highlight of the international ICT world last week.

At home, the news of a possible investigation into MTN and its Iranian contract, and the resignation of the CEO of On Digital Media (TopTV), were the local stories under the spotlight.

Vino Govender resigned as CEO of On Digital Media.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Positive trading updates from Metrofile Holdings and Poynting Antennas.
* EOH acquired Airborne Consulting, a company specialising in software development, management consulting, infrastructure and managed services.
* MICROmega bought a controlling interest in MIS Consulting, a provider of a fully integrated platform of communication between business and its customers.
* RDB Consulting bought the shares (50%) held in it by The Webcom Group.
* MTN faces Turkcell bribery allegations regarding its GSM licence in Iran.
* Rectron has been appointed as an authorised distributor of Canon products in southern Africa.
* Vino Govender resigned as CEO of On Digital Media, the holding company of TopTV.

* Rwandatel's administration said LAP Green has withdrawn from the bidding for the sale of that company.
* The resignation of Olga Arara-Kimani, Google's country manager in Kenya.

* BMC Software bought Numara Software, a software company that helps IT organisations improve service to their end-users.
* Hutchison Whampoa acquired Orange Austria, which was owned by France Telecom (35%) and Mid Europa Partners (65%), a private equity firm. The deal was worth $1.71 billion.
* IBM purchased Emptoris, a provider of tools that help companies manage supply chain and purchasing.
* IBM acquired Worklight, an Israeli mobile software player.
* AU Optronics has formed a strategic alliance with Idemitsu to develop next-generation flat screen technology.
* Hitachi will reorganise into five new business groups, ie, infrastructure, IT, power systems, construction machinery and high-functional materials.
* Good quarterly numbers from ARM Holdings, CACI International, Open Text, Qualcomm and Seagate Technology.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from Amdocs, Anixter International, Arrow Electronics, BMC Software, Fiserv and Websense.
* Mediocre quarterly results from AOL, Broadcom, Lexmark, LG Electronics but back in the black, Novellus Systems, SK Telecom and Unisys.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Amazon, with revenue up but profit down; BT Group, with revenue down but profit up; CommVault, with revenue up but profit down; Hitachi, with revenue up but profit down; Infineon Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; L-3 Communications, with revenue down but profit up; MicroStrategy, with revenue up but profit down; Plantronics, with revenue up but profit down; and Softbank, with revenue up but profit down.
* Quarterly losses from Elpida Memory, Fujitsu, Hynix Semiconductor, Imation, JDA Software, JDS Uniphase, NetSuite, Panasonic, Philips Electronics, Sharp, Sony, Tellabs and Toshiba.
* The appointments of Kazuo Hirai as president and CEO of Sony; and Fujio Mitarai as president of Canon (he is already chairman and CEO).
* The resignations of Howard Stringer, president and CEO of Sony (stays on as chairman); and Chang Wen-yi, chairman of Sintek Photronic.
* Steve Appleton, CEO of Micron Technology, died in a plane crash.
* A disappointing IPO on the NYSE by AVG Technologies, an anti-virus software provider.
* An IPO filing from Facebook in a move that is likely to raise $5 billion and thus make the company's valuation at about $80 billion. This is likely to be the largest-ever Internet IPO and one of the biggest US stock market debuts of all time.
* A possible IPO by Palo Alto Networks, a network security provider.

* International:
* A possible tie-up between either Panasonic or Samsung Electronics and Olympus.

* Africa:
* The sale by Etisalat of its mobile phone towers in Africa.

* South Africa:
* Further developments regarding MTN and the Iranian deal.

* Worldwide telecommunications service provider revenue grew 7% in 2011 to $1.96 trillion, according to Ovum. However, it forecasts only a CAGR of 2.9% going forward to 2017.
* The worldwide mobile phone market grew 6.1% in Q4 2011 to 427.4 million shipments, with Nokia just holding on to its lead over Samsung, despite a drop in the former's numbers, according to IDC. Apple stole third place from LG Electronics, which just managed to head off ZTE.
* Platform as a service is on the cusp of several years of strategic growth, according to Gartner.
* There are six trends that will drive the evolution of identity and access management and privacy management in 2012, according to Gartner. They include tactical identity, identity assurance and authorisation.

* JSE All share index: Up 1.5% (highest-ever weekend close)
* Nasdaq: Up 3.2% (highest-ever close for over 10 years)
* Top SA share movements: African Cellular Towers (+25%), CompuClearing (-18.6%), Morvest (-8.7%), SecureData (-18.6%), Stella Vista (+50%), TCS (-50%), Vodacom (+8.7%) and Zaptronix (-33.3%)

The Africa Report has published its 2012 listing of the Top 500 African Companies. As in previous years, there are still no IT companies from outside SA in this listing, although there are a number of telecommunications companies included. The following highlights some of the key entries:

4: MTN Group (five last year)
9: Vodacom Group (same as last year)
27: Telkom (17 last year)
28: Naspers (34 last year)
38: Datatec (35 last year)
42: Maroc Telecom (33 last year)
43: Orascom Telecom (18 last year)
46: Altron (47 last year)

In for the first time are Orange Ivory Coast at 270; Econet Wireless at 271; MTC (Namibia) at 487; and Gabon Telecom at 489.