The annual “IBM Next Five in Five” is a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next five years:

With valuations of emerging-market phone companies falling, some of the telecom industry’s big players are swooping in to make acquisitions.

ONE of the world’s leading electronics producer, Panasonic, has slashed its annual profit forecast by 90 percent, due to the stronger Japanese yen, unpredictable sales and heavy discounting.

NIGERIAN government is set to host a seminar on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the capital Abuja on Tuesday next week, with a view to improve technology in the less privileged communities.

NIGERIA dreams of achieving a 100 percent tele-density by the year 2020 following massive telephone and mobile communication improvements, which are a major boost in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector.

THE Business Software Alliance (BSA) has intercepted 18 314 auctions selling 45 000 items of pirated software, worth a combined US$22 million.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS innovation in South Africa got a timely boost this week, when President Kgalema Motlanthe signed the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) Bill.

ANALYSTS believe South African based landline services provider Telkom should accept Vodafone’s R22.5 billion bid to acquire a 15 percent stake in Vodacom. “This is an adequate control premium, and Telkom should accept it with alacrity,” said leading market watcher Bulls& Bears.

THE massive growth of internet usage in South Africa will see mobile internet users in South Africa rise to 15 million in the country according to a report released by a leading information and computer technology firm.

Amidst the concerns of the lack of ICT skills across the whole of Africa, there are however a myriad of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) that have entered the market and manage to sustain themselves.

Econet International is working to install a new state of the art billing and customer relationship management system in economically-troubled Zimbabwe where it is the biggest mobile network services provider.