Microsoft climbs even higher

The international world of ICT was dominated last week by the quarterly results emanating from many of the major players. In some cases, figures such as those from Microsoft and Motorola took the market by surprise. On the home front, Telkom SA announced it had been approached by Oger Telecom, the major shareholder of Cell C.

* Excellent interim numbers from Simeka, with revenue up 44% and profit up over 50%.
* Telkom SA announced that Oger Telecom has expressed an interest in the company. Oger Telecom is the major shareholder of Cell C and has just had a 35% investment made in it by Saudi Telecommunications.
* Graham Braum was appointed SA country manager for Acer, and Gary Broomberg was appointed SA country manager for MicroStrategy.
* Reginald Berkowitz, chairman of Business Connexion, resigned.
* Cyberhost proposed to change its name to Queensgate Hotel and Leisure, reflecting the change in the company's focus and signalling its end as an ICT firm.
* Drive Control Corporation was appointed the distribution partner in SA for ViewSonic.

* Very good Q4 revenue figures from Maroc Telecom.
* Frode Haugen was appointed CEO of Cell One (Namibia).

AT&T has taken over from NTT as the world's largest telecommunications company.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Microsoft's quarterly results were announced on Friday. They revealed that the company's second fiscal quarter ushered in record revenue of $16.37 billion, an increase of more than $2 billion over the last record. Profit was up 81% from the same quarter last year.
* Accenture acquired Maxamine and Memetrics, companies that provide testing and optimisation services to help companies improve the marketing effectiveness and financial returns from their Web sites and other digital marketing investments.
* IBM purchased AptSoft, a provider of a business event processing software portfolio; and Net Integration Technologies, a company that offers Linux-based server software.
* Microsoft bought Calista Technologies, a start-up that develops technology to improve the end-user experience for virtual desktops and applications.
* Satyam Computer Services acquired US-based Bridge Strategy Group, a management consultancy company.
* Saudi Telecommunications, the Gulf's largest telecoms operator by market value and with annual revenue of over $8 billion, made a $2.5 billion (35%) investment in Oger Telecom, the major shareholder of Cell C.
* Sanyo Electric's mobile phone business was sold off to Kyocera for $467 million.
* Excellent quarterly results from AT&T, Satyam Computer Services (India) and Western Digital.
* Very good quarterly figures from Apple, Avnet, Juniper Networks, Microsoft and Nokia.
* Good quarterly numbers from Broadcom, CDW, Citrix Systems, Qualcomm, Software AG, Sybase, Symantec and Xerox.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from Amdocs, Philips Electronics, Plantronics, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments.
* Mediocre quarterly results from Compuware and STMicroelectronics NV.
* Very poor quarterly numbers from Motorola and Sanmina-SCI.
* Quarterly losses from LSI, Quantum, Qimonda AG and Spansion.
* John Donahoe was appointed CEO of eBay as Meg Whitman retired.

* Fujitsu's spin-off of its semiconductor business.
* A possible IPO by India's largest telecommunications company, BSNL, which could raise $100 billion.

* The number of mobile workers will reach 1 billion by 2011, according to IDC.

* JSE All share index: Down 0.6%
* Nasdaq: Down 0.6%
* Top SA share movements: Cape Empowerment Trust (-14.7%), Faritec (-22.7%), Ifca Technologies (-16.7%), MICROmega (-11.6%), SAB&T Ubuntu (-11.8%), TeliMatrix (-10.6%) and Zaptronix (+14.3%)

AT&T has taken over from NTT as the world's largest telecommunications company, by revenue, with the announcement of its 2007 numbers that saw its revenue reach almost $119 billion. It is also now the largest ICT company, pushing HP and IBM into the number two and three slots respectively.