IBM takes on MS in Africa

IBM is rolling out the Smart Work project in Africa to help businesses that cannot afford traditional PCs to use any type of device to connect to the Internet to access low-cost software, regardless of the level of communication infrastructure in the area, reports Business Daily.

Microsoft controls about 80% of Kenya's software, but the move by its rival IBM to stop selling some of its software is likely to tilt the marketplace at a time when executives are looking to cut their operational costs.

Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Canonical, who is partnering with IBM in the initiative, says: “Starting with Africa, we see that this smart client package can help realise our vision of eliminating barriers to computer access for emerging markets.”

The future of Africa's first mobile phone assembling plant, A-Link Technologies in Rwanda, is on the knife-edge after being hit by low sales, forcing management to cut the company's workforce, states Computerworld.

A-Link has been operating for almost two years and is Africa's first mobile phone assembling plant.

The Rwandan government slashed the import duty on mobile phones to 0% from 18% to encourage imported handsets and allow competition. This means locally manufactured handsets have become more expensive than foreign-made handsets.

Botswana is encouraging Chinese companies to set up telecommunications businesses in an effort to turn the country into a strategic hub for telecoms in southern Africa, says Daily News Online.

The Botswana Minister of Communications, Science and Technology, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, appealed to Ambassador Liu Huanxing to lure Chinese telecoms companies to Botswana as a viable location for expanding their businesses.

The minister also revealed that the country was in the process of accessing the undersea optic-fibre cable telecom network from the west and east, which would strengthen its telecoms competence.