Tata to increase SA presence?

Negotiations are taking place with several entities that may invest in Eskom`s telecoms infrastructure, said government this week. Talks may also take place regarding the sale of a stake in InfraCo to the Indian group Tata (famous in SA for its SNO shareholding).

InfraCo was set up by the state to house the telecoms infrastructure installed on the country`s power lines that was initially intended to be transferred from Eskom to the SNO. Tata - it is said - may invest up to $60 million. We will wait and see.

Members of SA`s small and vocal broadband activist community seemed, in general, to be quite unhappy with ICASA`s new broadband regulations, which appear to have no effect on the high costs of the Telkom service.

On Monday, ICASA chairman Paris Mashile defended the regulator`s decision, stating that from a process point of view, the right procedures were followed, and the correct decision was made based on the evidence.

The world`s best-known search engine, Google, said earlier in the week it will try to stop people from using its name as a generic verb in phrases (such as "I googled myself"). This comes after 'google` was introduced as a verb in the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster`s Collegiate Dictionary.

Has anyone thought that this move is perhaps a clever way of further raising the company`s profile and gaining some additional publicity over the issue? Is Google really objecting to having its brand name so well integrated into common speech?

Is Google really objecting to having its brand name so well integrated into common speech?

Dave Glazier, journalist, ITWeb

The introduction of number portability (set to come into effect four weeks from now) could have a detrimental impact on the least-cost routing (LCR) industry, said an industry executive this week. Orion`s Jacques du Toit expects the industry to suffer to the tune of R200 million.

Quite frankly, I wonder why any of us should care if the LCR industry suffers. The customer should definitely see the benefits of better service and competitive rates as it becomes easier to switch networks - and this is surely the most important thing.

As the spotlight falls on digital TV migration in an upcoming conference next week, a senior Gartner analyst has highlighted the importance of government policy in creating the right local environment for the transition to occur.

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications is methodically whittling down the number of candidates that will be considered for the five vacant ICASA councillor positions. There are now only 20 left in the running (from the original 58 nominees submitted by the public).

The ICASA councillor short-listing process caused heated debate in Parliament on Wednesday, when opposition parliamentarians voiced objections to the inclusion of Department of Communications functionaries on the candidate list.

SA`s smallest cellular operator released its results on Wednesday, and the boss isn`t happy. CEO Jeffrey Hedberg told guests and media he is less than pleased with Cell C`s performance over the first half of 2006, adding it must improve its focus, speed and efficiency. Subscriber numbers were up only 7%, and revenue increased by 22% - although questions over profit margins were averted.