1. The U.S. Trade Representative says South Africa must open telecom markets
2. South Africa: Internet usage growing rapidly
3. South Africa: Government considers Internet privacy measures

The U.S. Trade Representative says South Africa must open telecom markets

USTR says Mexico, Colombia, Taiwan, South Africa must open telecom markets
WASHINGTON - The U.S. has threatened to take Mexico and Colombia to the WTO
by June if they do not comply with global agreements aimed at opening
national telecommunications services to foreign competition, according to a
report released by the U.S. Trade Representative.

The USTR also warned South Africa and Taiwan that retaliatory measures are
possible later this year.

The moves come as a part of an annual report known as a "Section 1377"
review, which this year targeted 11 countries for possible retaliatory
action.

"Vigorous monitoring and enforcement of these trade agreements is critical
to ensuring competitive opportunities for U.S. operators," said USTR Robert
Zoellick.

"Telecommunications trade agreements, particularly in the World Trade
Organization, have been a driving force in opening up world markets to
high-technology trade and investment."

The USTR said it will decide by June 1 whether to seek consultations with
Mexico in Geneva and by June 25 if it will take action against Colombia.

The USTR did not set a deadline for action against South Africa.

The report said the dominant carrier Telkom's refusal to provide access to
its networks "greatly undermines the ability of [value added service
providers] to operate" in South Africa.

In addition to the four economies, the review named seven countries that the
Bush administration plans to "monitor closely" in the coming year, including
France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom.

The USTR wants Japan to implement its 2000 agreement to reform its
telecommunications regime "expeditiously...and in a pro-competitive
fashion," one trade official told reporters, adding that the Bush
administration is "very concerned that it will not actually have the teeth
that it needs to have in order to be an effective instrument."

In the UK, the USTR expressed concern that British Telecom has not
effectively "unbundled" its local loop services and has acted in
"anti-competitive manner."

"USTR will follow these regualtory developments and continue to encourage
rapid implementation of full local loop unbundling," the report said.

The USTR said American carriers have complained that Spanish dominant
carrier Telefonica has been able to impede competition through
non-transparent regulations.

"These allegations highlight the need to continue to monitor developments in
the Spanish market to support the efforts of new entrants to enter that
market and compete against Telefonica," the report said.

The report said Italian dominant carrier Telecom Italia "has been able to
obtain access to rights of way controlled by state-owned companies on more
favorable terms and conditions than are offered to competitors."

SOURCE: USTR via DigAfrica -- DigAfrica analyzes, informs and updates on
Internet & Telecommunications activities and progress in Africa
as-they-unfold.
© Copyright DigAfrica 2001 -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Internet usage growing rapidly

E-commerce in South Africa takes the forms now in use in most countries
where this electronic medium is beginning to develop. This includes ordering
and payment of conventional products and sale of financial services to the
more developed "storefront" shopping at some sites. Overall, e-commerce is
at an early stage, but the variety of uses will increase as the sector
grows. Banking-sector estimates on the size of retail and business
transactions on the Internet fluctuate widely, but the business-to-business
(B2B) market has been estimated at R2bn-3.9bn, with potential for extensive
growth.

Various electronic enterprises were launched during 2000, like bluebean.com,
and Firstrand (the parent company of First National, a retail bank) launched
its e-commerce portal eBucks.com. Standard Bank is planning retail online
banking for the B2B market place in 2001. IT, vehicle finance and the motor
industry (Dimension Data, Wesbank and RMI) launched a joint automotive B2B
service in 2000, which was extended to consumers in 2001.

South Africa has experienced rapid growth in Internet use. The number of
dial-up subscribers grew by an average annual rate of 80% since 1994,
according to Telkom, and the number of users had surpassed the 1m mark by
1998. According to the EIU's Pyramid Research, the number of dial-up
accounts in South Africa will reach 360,000 by 2002. The Internet
subscribers market in South Africa is already the largest on the African
continent, followed by Egypt, Morocco and Kenya. With the rapid growth in
Internet use forecast in South Africa, the potential for growth in e-
commerce is promising. Furthermore, South Africa now ranks in the world's
top 20 countries in terms of number of Internet sites.

South Africa also has a large number of ISPs in an increasingly competitive
market. There are over 100 ISPs already operating in the country--the major
ones being Internet Solution, UU Net, GIA, M-web, Intekom and SAIX. UU Net
formed a joint venture in December 2000 with Africa Online, owned by
AfricanLakes, based in the UK. UU Net Africa will focus on countries like
Kenya, Uganda and Zambia, with the ultimate goal of operating in 14
countries. Of the estimated 3m Internet users in Africa, 2m are in South
Africa; with infrastructure development, Africa could become a significant
market.

Acuity Media Africa puts the value of web-based commerce for 2000 at R5.3bn.
Online advertising worth R55m in 2000 is expected to double in 2001. A
BMI-Techknowledge survey puts the percentage of large companies generating
sales from electronic networks at 25%, and for medium-sized firms at 20%.

In some recent e-commerce deals, Johhnic, a media and telecommunications
group, has developed a fully integrated electronic marketplace, TradeWorld,
with I-Netbridge and Rainbow Software International. The project aims to be
the platform for trade on the African continent. The merger of the
technology arms of three parastatals--Denel, Transnet and Eskom--into
Arivia.kom was announced in January 2001.

Deloitte Consulting has predicted that competition between marketplaces will
reach epic proportions in the next two years, but analysts disagree on the
number of potential market places.

The rapid growth in Internet use during 2000 prompted the government to
commission a legal audit from Edward Nathan & Friedland, a major South
African law firm, regarding e-commerce and the law. The South African
Department of Communications prepared a Green Paper on e-commerce policy,
published at the end of 2000.

The paper reflects the state of the debate around e-commerce and provides a
fairly comprehensive overview regarding e-commerce and issues ranging from
tax law and intellectual property law. It formalises the policy questions
under consideration but does not reach a conclusion. Rather than shaping
changes to the law and directing the development of a framework for
regulation, the Green Paper seems in need of a policy direction.
Nonetheless, South Africa is perhaps the most advanced to date on the
African continent concerning developing an e-commerce policy. The many
questions raised in the paper should be addressed by a White Paper in 2001,
leading to proposals for legislation.

SOURCE: Country Commerce via DigAfrica -- DigAfrica analyzes, informs and
updates on Internet & Telecommunications activities and progress in Africa
as-they-unfold.
© Copyright DigAfrica 2001 -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Government considers Internet privacy measures

The issue of privacy is important to the development of e-commerce. Of
particular concern is the end use of personal information given by Internet
users to websites, since it is not known to whom this information will then
be made available. Ways of tackling this problem include government
regulation, industry self-regulation, informed consent and technological
means to protect privacy. It is possible that in South Africa some form of
legislation will be enacted to protect the privacy of Internet users,
particularly users of e-commerce. Issues examined in a Green Paper include
the following:

* specific requirements for database owners and others collecting personal
information;

* the extent of self-regulation standards for privacy protection;

* minimum requirements for notice, choice, access and security practices
concerning data collection;

* penalties for misuse of personal data;

* government bodies responsible for monitoring and enforcing privacy rules;
and

* role of other consumer-protection bodies.

An overriding principle is the intent in South Africa to ensure identical
application between traditional and electronic methods of commerce. As with
copyright and trademark law, there is no new legislation to date that deals
with this issue. There is a host of existing legislation that could be
amended or updated to include provision for protection of privacy for
e-commerce consumers.

The Green Paper raises more questions on policy and principles than it
answers, so the actual defining document will be the White Paper, due to be
issued in the first quarter of 2001.

SOURCE: Country Commerce via DigAfrica -- DigAfrica analyzes, informs and
updates on Internet & Telecommunications activities and progress in Africa
as-they-unfold.
© Copyright DigAfrica 2001 -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica

Digital Digest – DigAfrica´s Technology Alert
April 05, 2001

1. Global: Industry 'could lose battle against computer viruses'
2. Australia: Dial-a-Coke vending machines launched
3. Little Hope For South African Telecoms - Study 04/05/01

---------------------------------------------------------
Industry 'could lose battle against computer viruses'

Experts claim the computer industry could lose the battle against viruses in
2001.

A 200% increase in viruses in government, finance, manufacturing and media
sectors is predicted by MessageLabs.

A sample of 50 million e-mails, by MessageLabs, a global e-mail scanning
company, shows viruses are increasing at a faster rate than the growth in
the use of e-mail.

A 222% increase in viruses hitting government servers, compared to a growth
of only 62% in the number of e-mails passing through government channels,
equates to nearly four new viruses for every new e-mail, revealed
Netimperative .

SOURCE: ANANOVA via DigAfrica
--------------------------------------------------------

Dial-a-Coke vending machines launched

A drinks machine has been installed at an Australian train station that
allows people to charge coke to their mobile phones.

The Coca-Cola Company and Telstra, Australia's largest telecommunications
carrier, have launched the pilot service called Dial a Coke.

Thirsty customers call a telephone number on the drinks machine, situated at
Sydney's Central Station, using their mobile phone and choose the drink they
want.

The phone call is free and the cost of the drink AUS$2 (around 70p) will
show on mobile phone bills.

The trial will involve 17 Coca-cola vending machines at the station and will
run until May 3.

Michelle Allen of Coca-Cola says: "How many times have you stood in front of
a machine and not had the right change?"

Greg Day of Telstra says: "This initiative is a precursor to people being
able to use their mobile handsets for functions such as micro payments for
parking, ticketing and bookings."

SOURCE: ANANOVA via DigAfrica
----------------------------------------------------------

Little Hope For South African Telecoms - Study 04/05/01

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, 2001 APR 5 (NB) -- By Phillip de Wet,
ITWeb. Consulting firm Bain & Company has a grim view of the future for
telecommunications in South Africa, but it is one the company says is
founded on past international experience and economic fundamentals.

As the telecommunications policy process slowly grinds on, Bain is among the
few supporters that feel the government has chosen the best path it could
through the maze that is the future of telecoms.

Among Bain's most surprising findings is that the market for basic telephony
may already be close to saturation point. Presenting the findings, Vice
President Tim Hough said only about 9 million individuals, or
about 20 percent of the population, has the financial means to use telephone
services, which is close to the number of lines already in the country if
cellphones are included. The other 34 million citizens are excluded because
of unemployment, a very low disposable income, and geographic positioning,
which makes it economically unviable to provide service to them.

Although massive cross-subsidization may make it possible to provide access
to a broader segment, Hough says it is likely only to provide services to
those who cannot afford to use them, causing a full loss on the capital
invested.

The study also found that high prices, the main reason for introducing
competition, have not slowed down the growth of telecommunications in
SA. According to Bain's figures, South African growth in both voice and data
services, measured either by revenue or by the number of lines, continues to
comfortably outstrip growth in Western Europe.

The fact is that as a corporation you may not like the high prices Telkom
charges you, but that doesn't stop you from using a data network where
you need one, says Hough.

Yet liberalization, even the managed and slow process proposed by
government, will cause an overall reduction in prices. That could be
disastrous as South African operators suffer from the same revenue
decline the European market has experienced. While income drops, cost stays
almost stable, causing a painful margin squeeze.

Telkom will find it especially difficult to cut its costs, as labor
represent about 40 percent of its expenses. The only way you get costs down
is by shedding jobs big time, says Hough. How politically acceptable will
that be?

And while margins are being squeezed, Bain expects the industry to spend
between R30 billion and R40 billion on infrastructure within the next five
years, with the second national operator (SNO) likely to shell out more than
R16 billion. Yet it is unlikely that it will see a return that beats the
cost of its capital.

Hough says the 350 largest companies in the country represent more than R10
billion in telecoms revenue, more than half what all other business and
residential customers combined are worth. That makes it likely that a price
war will ensue around these large companies, a war in which the incumbent
player with its massive cash flow is the clear favorite.

But possibly the most damaging aspect of liberalization could be the hundred
billion rand value destruction gap that Bain foresees. The R177 billion
estimated current value of MTN, Vodacom and Telkom could be changed into a
R72 billion value for those three companies plus the SNO and Cell C within
three years, Bain says, even at a price to earnings ratio of 25, if price
wars lead to a 20 percent price reduction year on year.

You could easily take a hundred billion out of the telecoms sector, without
a significant increase for new players, says Hough. It is not difficult to
do and it is happening even in supposedly well-regulated markets in Europe.

Hough believes government got it right by introducing only one fixed and one
cellular player, saying the market will barely sustain these and that there
certainly is no room for new licenses in the foreseeable future. He also
believes forcing the SNO to use the existing Transtel and Eskom
infrastructure is necessary, in order to keep the capital spent on a new
network down to the minimum.

The most important thing now, he says, is to ensure that the telecoms
regulator is strong and knowledgeable enough to protect the new players and
the industry in general, from what Hough and his company see as the very
difficult times ahead for all operators.

Reported by ITWeb via DigAfrica -- DigAfrica analyzes, informs and updates
on Internet & Telecommunications activities and progress in Africa
as-they-unfold.
© Copyright DigAfrica 2001 -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica

Digital Digest – DigAfrica´s Technology Alert
April 08, 2001

1. Egypt drops ban on Internet long distant telephone calls
2. North Africa: Intel sees big potential in emerging markets
3. Global: IE6 beta bug can blank out email

Egypt drops ban on Internet long distant telephone calls

08-Apr-01
The Egyptian Ministry of Communication and Information is planning to lift a
ban on making Internet-based telephone calls. On April 7, the ministry will
allow Telecom Egypt, the national monopoly to provide voice over Internet
protocol (VoIP) services.

Egypt Telecom is already offering the service on its web site, and users can
download the software and instruction manual from the corporate site. Other
companies will continue to be banned from offering the service, despite the
difficulty in enforcing the ban.

The Egyptian government has been losing revenue to private companies that
offer the service, which can be installed on home computers.

"I think that's the best way to do it: if you can't beat them, join them,"
said Ahmad Nassif, Egypt's minister of communication and information
technology.

State-owned telecommunication companies have been fighting a losing battle
to stop the increasing use of home computers to make long distance calls.
Egypt Telecom relies heavily on the revenue that long distance phone calls
bring into the company, close to $2.5 billion a year.

In the United States the introduction of VoIP has forced phone companies to
lower their international long distance rates significantly to compete. Even
then VoIP is still much cheaper than using traditional phones.

Despite Telecom Egypt's monopoly on VoIP services it will still be easy for
Egyptians to use services offered by other international companies.

The U.S.-based company Go2Call launched worldwide Internet calling in more
than 100 countries in early January. Users not only can call landlines, but
can also reach mobile phones. Go2Call claims that users can save up to 95%
on regular calls. It takes only minutes to set up the program and to begin
making calls.

Anyone with Internet access, a multimedia computer, speakers and a
microphone can use the service. However, the company suggests that for best
quality calls a 28k or greater Internet connection speed is recommended,
which is almost non-existent for people in Egypt using a dial up connection.

In early March, over 1000 telecom executives and regulators met in Geneva at
the World Telecommunication Policy Forum on Internet Protocol Telephony. The
gathering, hosted by the World Telecommunication Union (ITU), looked at ways
to cope with the growing use of VoIP.

According to the ITU, voice data transmission is increasing at an
exponential rate, which is overloading telecommunication companies' existing
infrastructure. "It is growing very fast and is creaming off some of the
most profitable revenues that public telecommunications operators currently
have," said Tim Kelly, head of ITU strategy and policy, at a news conference
at the end of the forum.

Despite the uncomfortable position that some telecommunication companies
find themselves in, the international trend is clearly leaning towards
increased VoIP networks. Gartner Group, an international research company,
sees the VoIP market growing from $443 million in 1999 to $19 billion in
2004.

According to ESSL Technologies, by 2006, 35 percent of all long distance
calls will be handled by Internet telephony, and that figure will grow to 50
percent by 2010.

The government's decision to introduce VoIP through Egypt Telecom should
give the large monopoly some breathing room as it develops a strategy to
remain competitive in a rapidly converging technology sector.

Tariq Hassan-Gordon Middle East Times staff

SOURCE: METIMES via DigAafrica

----------------------------------------------------------

North Africa: Intel sees big potential in emerging markets

Cairo, April 8 - U.S. computer chip maker Intel is looking to emerging
markets to boost its business and is keen on expansion in the Middle East
despite regional political turmoil, a company official said.

Intel Regional Sales Manager Nadim Garoudi told Reuters in an interview that
despite a global economic slowdown, business in the Middle East was booming
thanks to solid oil prices and widespread demand.

He said that despite a deadlock in Middle East peace efforts, a Palestinian
uprising against Israeli occupation and an Israeli blockade of Palestinian
areas, Intel's turnover in the Middle East doubled in 2000 compared to 1999,
Garoudi said.

Intel does not publish regional results.

"The plan for this year may not (be to) double (turnover), but definitely
something very close," he said at the weekend on the sidelines of the Cairo
Gitex 2001 information technology trade fair.

"Despite the political crisis, business is still booming, partly because of
higher oil prices, which means higher revenue for oil exporting countries,"
he said.

Garoudi said many governments in the region -- like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the
UAE and even Jordan -- were focusing on e-business concepts in many sectors.

"There is a conscious effort by leaders in the Middle East to invest a lot
in IT (information technology)," he said.

"Egypt and other emerging markets, like eastern Europe, the Middle East and
Africa...are growing very, very fast (for Intel), much faster than the
traditional mature markets like the United States and western Europe,"
Garoudi added.

POTENTIAL FOR EXPANSION

The rate of growth in personal computer sales in emerging markets ranged
between 22 and 24 percent in 2000 compared to a projected average of 13
percent in developed countries this year, he said, adding Intel expected the
emerging market level to be maintained for several years.

Saturation levels were also much lower in the developing world. In Middle
East homes, for example, the PC penetration rate stood at about 15 percent
of households against 50 percent in western Europe and 70 percent in the
United States, he said.

Garoudi, who is responsible for sales in the Middle East, eastern Europe and
Africa, said these regions still offered potential for expanding business.

"It's very important to us, strategically, to focus on emerging markets," he
said.

Garoudi said Intel had this month opened an office in Cairo as part of a
policy of regional expansion.

Intel opened an office in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, in 1996 and
opened a chip manufacturing plant in Israel about 25 years ago.

Intel is the world's largest chip maker and its processors run about 80
percent of all personal computers in the world.

In October, Intel won government approval for a $500 million project to
build a microchip plant in Egypt. Garoudi said the plan was on ice due to
the global economic downturn.

"These plans right now, not just for Egypt but overall, are not (being
executed) in the immediate future due to the world economic slowdown,"
Garoudi said, adding that Egypt was still a top candidate for such a plant
when conditions improved.

SOURCE: ZAWYA via DigAfrica
---------------------------------------------

IE6 beta bug can blank out email
By: John Leyden
Posted: 08/04/2001 at 13:42 GMT

Early testers of Internet Explorer 6 have come across a bug in the browser
that can result in them receiving emails with no subject line or message
body.

Frustrated users brave enough to try out IE6's public beta have run into
trouble receiving emails via either Outlook 2000 and 98, and to a lesser
extent Outlook Express.

In the worst case, messages collected by Outlook 2000 and 98 which are
encoded with US-ASCII arrive without a subject line and (in the case of a
plain text, non-HTML message) the message itself is also blanked out. With
Outlook Express, it seems only the subject line is blank.

The problem apparently only rears its ugly head when serfers with IE6 beta
installed on their machines receive email sent from clients other than
Outlook or Outlook Express, such as Netscape 4.

So far discussion threads on mailing lists devoted to the subject have
concentrated on workarounds involving sending messages to yourself and
copying over the file Mlang.dll from IE5.5 installations. Whether these work
or not for sure we can't say because no-one in our office has been brave
enough to try using the browser.

That's just as well because we hear that uninstalling the IE6 beta doesn't
solve the problem when a user reverts back to using IE5.

We are talking about beta code here but this strikes us as an enormous
problem to have with such an important piece of software this far into its
development. The idea that the bug doesn't manifest itself in email received
from others using Outlook Express, only messages from other email clients,
is something likely to excite the conspiracy theorists out there.

To a jaundiced eye this looks like a move to tie people more people into its
email client, 'cos after all if everybody used Outlook there wouldn't be a
problem would there?

All that said we've always been keener on the cockup rather than conspiracy
theory and rather than a plan to turn surfers into serfers, we'd be more
inclined to think of this as a shining example of shoddy quality control at
Redmond.

Whichever way you look at it though, IE6 (at least until this problem is
fixed) should come with a very prominent health warning of browser beware...
®

SOURCE: Register via DigAfrica

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-~>
Do you have 128-bit SSL encryption server security?
Get VeriSign's FREE Guide, "Securing Your
Web Site for Business." Get it now!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/2cW4jC/c.WCAA/bT0EAA/CxaWlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->

Title : DigAfrica – “Your ICT gateway to Africa”
Description : E-group at Yahoo. DigAfrica analyzes, informs and updates on Internet activities and progress in Africa as-they-unfold.
URL : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica
Subscribe : [email protected]