The week began with 5 000 pairs of feet stamping through Pretoria on Monday morning. The feet all belonged to outraged Telkom employees who went ahead with the strike they had threatened despite Telkom revising its offer to the unions late last Friday. Then on Tuesday we reported that the fixed-line monopoly had retracted the revised salary offer.
Negotiations between Telkom and the unions continued, but on Thursday morning the talks hit a hurdle when one of the three unions involved, the Communications Workers Union, threatened to take the dispute to the labour court.
It seems the issue may drag on for a while - though one of our readers submitted the arguably valid suggestion of whether anybody will notice any decline in service if a large portion of Telkom workers don`t go to work.
Lack of IT intelligence?
The probe into an e-mail campaign by a suspended National Intelligence Agency (NIA) agent who implied there was a plot within government to rid itself of Zuma supporters was big news this week. A computer expert found inconsistencies with timestamp formats and the use of angled brackets, as well as instances of spurious data, which proved the agent`s e-mails to be false.
Worryingly, the NIA agent`s apparently obvious mistakes arouse little confidence in the competency of the state intelligence organ.
Dave Glazier, junior journalist, ITWeb
On Wednesday a security expert described the suspended NIA member`s e-mail spoofing as "the work of amateurs". The NIA agent`s apparently obvious mistakes (in attempting to fabricate realistic message threads) arouse little confidence in the competency of the state intelligence organ.
Cisco reveals its master plan
On Monday Cisco Systems told delegates at its Networkers 2006 Conference at Sun City of the company`s strategy in emerging markets, saying it sees opportunities to be part of the economic and technological transition of developing countries.
Later that day - as if to follow through on its promise - Cisco added that it is engaged in talks with the SNO about the deployment of affordable broadband models in SA. Though many of the SNO`s plans remain closely guarded secrets, the news that it may have the backing of a company as large as Cisco will be music to the ears of all those fed up with high telecoms charges.
DVB-H landscape takes shape
The emerging mobile TV market was in focus this week, with news on Wednesday that Sentech, as well as Vodacom, have intentions to offer DVB-H - the mobile TV technology undergoing trials behind some firmly closed MultiChoice doors.
A Sentech executive told ITWeb, perhaps rather imprudently, that it would welcome a partnership with Vodacom. This in itself may not be too meaningful, but when one adds Vodacom`s defiant refusal to talk about its DVB-H plans (designed apparently to complement its 3G cellphone TV offerings), some questions begin to emerge.
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