Microsoft succumbs

Microsoft`s decision to succumb to the European Commission`s anti-trust rulings dominated the international ICT news arena for the past two weeks. At home, the news regarding Altron and its proposed consolidation of Altech and Bytes Technology Group (BTG) into the parent company, stole much of the local ICT headline space.

* Excellent interim numbers from Alliance Mining (was Alliance Data), with revenue up over 100% and profit up nearly fourfold.
* Good interim numbers from Datatec; and Silverbridge Holdings (revenue up about 15% but profit up nearly 100%).
* Mediocre interim figures from Eureka, with revenue well up but profit well down.
* Positive trading updates from Alliance Mining, SAB&T Ubuntu Holdings and Spescom.
* Altron acquired the shares of Altech and BTG that it does not already own, in a share-swap deal valued at R4.8 billion.
* Dimension Data`s Britehouse division acquired a 75% stake in OneArch, a SAP specialist that employs 80 consultants.
* Saab purchased the outstanding shares in Saab Grintek, owned by Kunene Finance Company, for R250 million.
* Simeka BSG announced that its acquisition of Premium Ideas is now for 100% of the available shares.
* Vodacom short-listed two companies for its BEE deal: Mowana Five Mile Consortium and another that involves Scorpions boss Bulelani Ngcuka.
* Alliance Data changed its name to Alliance Mining.
* Noedine Isaacs-Mpulo was appointed CEO of Lefatshe Technologies; and Idris Suleman was appointed MD of Fujitsu Siemens Computers SA.

* Zain (was Kuwait`s MTC), the second largest Arab telecommunications company, acquired a 75% stake in Western Telesystems, Ghana, for $120 million. The deal was done through its Celtel unit with the shares previously held by the Ghanaian government.
* MWeb Africa bought AFSAT Communications, an African-based satellite ISP. AFSAT is Africa`s largest satellite-based ISP and has a presence in over 26 countries, including operating subsidiaries in Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.
* Lap Green Networks (LGN), Libya, purchased Rwandatel (80%), for $100 million, beating off competition from other bidders such as Celtel and Vodacom. LGN also has a stake in Uganda`s UTL and Mali`s Sahelcom.
* A third 3G licence was awarded in Egypt, to MobiNil; and the first 3G licence was awarded in Kenya, to Safaricom.
* Etisalat, the third-largest Gulf telecom company, raised its stake in Zanzibar Telecom (Zantel) to 51%, from 34%.
* The Beninese government withdrew the operating licence of Telcel Benin, and ceded this licence to Etisalat, one of the major Middle Eastern telecommunications operators.
* Mark Wilson was appointed MD of the Middle East and Africa region for Fujitsu Siemens Computers.

A third 3G licence was awarded in Egypt, to MobiNil; and the first 3G licence was awarded in Kenya, to Safaricom.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Microsoft will not appeal the various European Union anti-trust rulings against the company and intends to acquire up to 20 companies a year to boost its Web 2.0 offerings.
* Nokia Siemens has entered a partnership with Deutsche Telekom, whereby the latter will transfer its Vivento Technical Services unit to the former for a five year period.
* Accenture acquired Gestalt, a defence consulting company.
* Cisco bought Navini Networks, a maker of broadband wireless equipment, for $330 million.
* Fujitsu Consulting purchased Promaintech Novaxa, a Canadian consulting firm specialising in operational strategy, business process transformation and performance optimisation.
* HP acquired Atos Origin Middle East Group (AOME), a systems integrator, broadening its consulting and integration capacity in the region. AOME is not connected to Atos Origin, a French IT services company.
* IBM purchased NovusCG, a storage solutions company.
* Motorola acquired a 50% interest in UIQ Technology, the Symbian user interface developer. This stake was previously owned by Sony Ericsson and is a U-turn by Motorola, which sold its 19% stake in Symbian in 2003.
* Nokia Siemens bought Atrica, a company that focuses on Ethernet technology for city networks, for $100 million.
* Oracle purchased Interlace Systems, a provider of strategic operational planning software.
* SAP bought YASU Technologies, a provider of business rules management systems.
* Satyam Computer Services acquired UK-based Nitor Global Solutions, a provider of infrastructure consulting services.
* Telefonica and a group of Italian companies bought a controlling stake in Telecom Italia, for EUR4.16 billion.
* Microsoft made a $240 million (1.6% stake) investment in Facebook.
* Quarterly losses from AMD, Ariba, Packeteer and Unisys.
* A profit warning from Ericsson.
* Jon Rubenstein was appointed executive chairman of Palm.
* Telecity Group, a data centre operator, reported a successful IPO in London.

* Worldwide PC shipments grew by 15.5% in 3Q07 to 66.85 million, says IDC, with HP and Dell retaining their number one and number two positions respectively, although the latter`s market share slipped from 3Q06. The figures from Gartner were similar, except they showed Acer marginally ahead of Lenovo instead of the other way round.
* The worldwide large-size panel shipments surpassed the 100 million mark for the first time in Q307, according to Displaybank.

* A possible investment in MTN by China Mobile, the largest Chinese telecommunications company. It is listed in Hong Kong, and is only slightly smaller than the BT Group, with over six times the revenue of MTN.

* JSE All share index: Down 1.3%
* Nasdaq: No change
* Top SA share movements: African Cellular Towers (+27.3%), Altech (+14%), Beget Holdings (-28.6%), BTG (+16.2%), ConvergeNet (-12%), Cyberhost (-18.9%), GijimaAst (+15.4%), MTN (+13.6%), SAB&T Ubuntu (+34.4%) and Stella Vista (+40%)

Total Telecom has published its Global 100 telecommunications listing, although I disagree strongly with many of the revenue figures quoted. However, MTN and Telkom SA are at numbers 43 and 44 respectively, the highest positions for any Africa telecommunications outfit. Also in the list are Orascom Telecom at 62, IAM (Morocco) at 79 and Telecom Egypt at 92.