The Africa Institute-for the ‘environmentally sound management of hazardous and other wastes programme officer, Dr. Koebu Khalema said that addressing electronic waste, e-waste, problems in South Africa could be the next money minting industry for the country.

In the Doctor’s research paper labeled “e-Waste South Africa’s next gold rush?”, he said that the increased production and consumption of electronic equipment has led to a rapid growth in e-waste in the country.

Improper disposal of this waste produces could mean an increased health risk and toxic environmental pollution from lead, mercury and other toxic compounds found in most computers and monitors, he has written.

However, he has told ITWeb Africa that South Africa’s e-waste need not be a problem but that it instead presents business opportunities for industry players, especially manufacturers and distributors.

“The industry in South Africa is actually very keen to make sure that they can actually reclaim all the material because of its value,” Dr. Khalema has told ITWeb Africa.“There are other players who would like to set up recycling facilities right here in South Africa, all the role players believe this is the way to go,”

According to Dr. Khalema reclaiming means that e-waste products are reprocessed by industry players instead of ending up in municipal landfills.

More than 60% of electronics disposed of can be reused, refurbished and resold, said Dr. Khalema.

 “We need facilities to actually process all these components and not only certain parts but the overall processing of the components – that’s what we hope it will actually come down to,” he explained.

He also said that such a process need not be specific to South Africa, as other countries in the southern African region could develop similar systems when dealing with e-waste.

Khalema said government and industry players plan to meet in November to discuss the business of reclaiming the country’s e-waste.

Kenya’s largest private data carrier, Kenya Data Networks (KDN) has said it will charge internet subscribers based on what they use as a measure to fight back market share in a competitive environment.

The company, just like the other players in the industry has been leasing internet capacity to customers but will now issue meters to their users.

This move is set it recover lost ground in the data market where other players such as AccessKenya have made inroads and framed out KDN as the top player.

The model, the foreign-majority-owned firm says, will help manage its communication budgets based on actual usage as opposed to the size of the bandwidth.

KDN’s CEO Shahab Meshaki said that some of the measure to take back its market and expand its product portfolio to include video and voice and upgrading its switches to improve the quality of its network.

“I am confident about our current shareholders’ vision and where they want to take this company. Since Liquid came on board they have spent approximately $10 million which has helped us sort the network challenges we had,” said Meshaki.

The CEO added that the firm was still working on the technical aspect of the new billing model, focusing on how they will calculate the usage and also that the new billing system will provide smaller Internet service providers (ISPs).

According to the latest data from the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK), KDN’s market share dropped to 23.4 percent which holds 21,377 clients in the year to March from 30.2 per cent which holds 24,094 clients in the previous year. This put them in the second position after Wananchi.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has partnered with Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung to launch internet.org, n a move to make internet accessible to the next 5 billion people.

Internet.org is to make internet access available to the 5 billion who are not yet connected, and to bring the same opportunities to everyone that the connected third of the world has today.

“Everything Facebook has done has been about giving all people around the world the power to connect,” Zuckerberg said. “There are huge barriers in developing countries to connecting and joining the knowledge economy. Internet.org brings together a global partnership that will work to overcome these challenges, including making internet access available to those who cannot currently afford it.”

Facebook, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung — will develop joint projects, share knowledge, and mobilize industry and governments to bring the world online. Internet.org is influenced by the successful Open Compute Project, an industry-wide initiative that has lowered the costs of cloud computing by making hardware designs more efficient and innovative.

Internet.org will focus on making and adopting technologies that make mobile connectivity more affordable and decrease the cost of delivering data to people worldwide such as lower-cost, higher-quality smartphones and partnerships to more broadly deploy internet access in underserved communities. Reduce the amount of data required to use most apps and internet experiences and supporting news models that lead to increased access so as mobile operators, device manufacturers, developers and other businesses provide more affordable access than has previously been possible.

Nokia is deeply passionate about connecting people – to one another and the world around them said Nokia President and CEO Stephen Elop. “Over the years, Nokia has connected well over a billion people. Our industry is now at an exciting inflection point where Internet connectivity is becoming more affordable and efficient for consumers while still offering them great experiences. Universal internet access will be the next great industrial revolution.”

“This new initiative has big potential to help accelerate access to the Internet for everyone,” said JK Shin, CEO and President of the IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. “We’re focused on delivering high quality mobile devices to ensure that the next five billion people have great mobile Internet experiences.”

The Internet.org website launches today and provides an overview of the mission and goals, as well as a full list of the partners. In the coming weeks, it will feature interviews with technology leaders and experts, along with the latest news on Internet.org activities.

Taking advantage of the growing popularity of OTT messaging, China Telecom in a joint venture with NetEase have developed a new App to join in the market.

The messaging app,YiChat is a proprietary social instant messaging application for Smartphones.

The companies said that YiChat is very different from other social instant messaging application through the integration of various technologies. They pointed out that with YiChat, users can enjoy sending free text and voice messages to any mobile phone or free voice messages to fixed lines, without the need for YiChat to be installed on the receiving devices.

In addition, all China Telecom users can enjoy additional free data promotional packages with their use of YiChat.

“The joint venture with NetEase and the launch of YiChat is a crucial step in China Telecom’s strategic transformation,” said Jie Yang, President and COO of China Telecom. “Aiming to make YiChat one of the most popular social instant messaging applications for young people in China, China Telecom will work towards the success of the joint venture and YiChat with the most sincere determination.”

A Canadian company, WeWi Telecommunications, will next week launch a solar-powered laptop that may soon find its way to North America.

WeWi Telecommunications has built an uneven and submersible laptop that’s designed to handle severe environments and quickly charge up on solar power that will cost only USD 350.

“We traveled to Africa and we saw the need,” said Snir, who noted a frustrating inability to get electricity when working in that country.

SOL will also be released in North America by the end of the year and its specs and capabilities may find appeal in the U.S. market.

The solar-powered SOL laptop could come to the U.S. later this year. It weighs about five pounds, and is about 2 inches thick at its highest point. But that’s part of the trade-off for having solar panels.

The four solar panels are little smaller than the 13.3-in. LCD display and open up in butterfly fashion. The panels are protected by the clamshell cover.

In sunlight, the solar panels can charge the replaceable battery in about two hours, however, in cloudy conditions; a full charge might take up to three hours. The battery can be used for eight to 10 hours, said Snir. The solar panels can be detached from the notebook and, connected by wire, placed in a sunny area to charge the unit while a user works at a desk or under a shady tree.

The system has been tested with Ubuntu Linux, which is being installed on it. But other operating systems are possible. In North America, Chromebook is one of the possibilities.

Chromebooks require an Internet connection, which is not a necessity in some regions of the world. For North America, “we are absolutely considering coming out with a version using Chrome,” said Snir.

The computer system is rugged, its shell made of fiber-reinforced polymers, the internal electronics has shock absorbers to help protect the system from falls. For USD 50 more, there’s a version that is submersible.

The system will support 3G and 4G networks, along with Wi-Fi, and it has SIM card support. There is an Intel Atom chip, and a 320GB hard disk drive. The SOL can support 2GB to 4GB of memory.

“We really want to get Africa connected and we really want to help developing countries,” he said. “We’re not out to make a huge amount for money from our laptops.”