MTN, Bharti Airtel talk shop

A number of small acquisitions took place in the international ICT world, and at home, the MTN/Bharti Airtel news dominated the local ICT headline space.

* Very good year-end numbers from DTH, with revenue up 40% and profit up 45%.
* Good year-end figures from African Cellular Towers, with revenue up 55% and profit up over 10%; and ISA, with revenue up 22% and profit up 18%.
* Mixed year-end numbers from Huge Group, with revenue up over 100%, but profit down over 70%.
* Mediocre interim numbers from Stella Vista, with revenue down 35% and profit down 69%.
* Interim losses from Ideco, although revenue up slightly; and Zaptronix.
* A positive trading update from Mix Telematics.
* A negative trading update from TCS.
* The termination of the listing of Celcom.
* DV8 Telecoms has entered the broadband market, through its partnership with Canadian-based broadband-over-powerlines (BPL) technology provider Corinex Communications.
* CRN has been discontinued as a publication.
* Stafford Masie was appointed CEO of Interfile; Stephen Newton was named country manager of Google SA; and Lindikhaya Sipoyo was appointed chairman of TCS (was acting-chairman).

* Mixed quarterly figures from Safaricom, with revenue up, but profit down.
* Mediocre quarterly numbers from Orascom Telecom.

Russia-based Digital Sky Technologies, an Internet investment group, made a $200 million investment in Facebook.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) acquired UK-based IT services and infrastructure solutions firm Anix, a wholly owned subsidiary of Xploite, for $50 million.
* Avaya bought Agile Software NZ, a New Zealand-based software developer.
* EMC purchased Configuresoft, a provider of server configuration, change and compliance management software.
* Ericsson acquired Bizitek, a Turkish systems integrator of business support systems.
* Gemalto, a digital security vendor, bought O3SIS, a German company providing carrier-grade personal data management applications to mobile network operators.
* NTT Communications purchased Pacific Crossing, the operator of the second-largest trans-Pacific subterranean cable system.
* SecureWorks, a privately owned security services company, bought the assets of VeriSign's managed security services business, for $45 million.
* T-Systems acquired Metrolico, a Spanish IT infrastructure management, maintenance and technical support services company.
* VMware made a $20 million (5%) investment in Terremark Worldwide, an IT-infrastructure services firm.
* Russia-based Digital Sky Technologies, an Internet investment group, made a $200 million investment in Facebook.
* Time Warner will separate AOL from its business, to create an independent publicly traded company.
* Microsoft revealed 'Bing', its new decision (search) engine.
* Mediocre quarterly results from Dell.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Novell, with revenue down, but profit up.
* Quarterly losses from QAD and VimpelCom.
* N Chandrasekaran was appointed CEO of Tata Consultancy Services, and Vincent Rouaix was named chairman of GFI Informatique, a French IT services group.

* International:
* The potential $1.62 billion buy-out of Chartered Semiconductor by Singapore state investment company, Temasek Holdings.
* Africa:
* The possible requirement that all telecommunications operators in Uganda could be required to list a given percentage of their shares on the Uganda Securities Exchange, if the outcome of a study commissioned by the Ugandan Communications Commission is accepted.
* The winner of the new licence in Tunisia for which Turkcell is a contender.
* South Africa:
* The outcome of MTN's discussions with Bharti Airtel, with a transaction that would see the latter take a 49% stake in MTN, and MTN and its shareholders a 36% stake in Bharti Airtel. The potential merger deal is worth $23 billion and would create an entity with close to 200 million subscribers, with annual revenue of approximately $20 billion. However, there are several regulatory issues at stake, and from an MTN shareholder perspective, the company is undervalued.

* Worldwide server revenue for Q109 was down, reports IDC.
* Worldwide semiconductor revenue will decline 22% in 2009, to $198 billion, according to Gartner.
* Worldwide mobile payment users will increase 70% in 2009, to 73.4 million, according to Gartner.

* JSE All share index: Up 1.5% (highest weekend close for 2009)
* Nasdaq: Up 4.9% (highest weekend close for 2009)
* Top SA share movements: African Cellular Towers (+15.7%), Alliance Mining (+15.8%), Cape Empowerment Trust (-25%), DTH (-17.6%), Dynamic Cables (-18.5%), FoneWorx (+41.2%), Labat Africa (-33.3%), Mustek (-32%), Telkom SA (-37.9%) and Zaptronix (-33.3%)

BusinessWeek's annual 'Infotech 100' listing is interesting, as five Taiwan companies (Acer, HTC, Inventec, Quanta Computer and Wistron) are in the top 25, and this excludes Asustek, which comes in at number 26. Also, Bharti Airtel is at number six (up from 21); Tencent Holdings is at nine (Naspers a major shareholder); MTN remains at 12; and Dimension Data enters for the first time at 21. Other key changes in the top 25 include Oracle at two, up from 22; Research In Motion at 14, down from three; Apple at 19, down from two; and China Mobile at 23, down from seven.