South Africa’s CRS HR & Payroll Solutions, a provider of services and solutions to the Human Resources and Payroll markets is set to expand across Africa.

This move was reached at after the firm’s Sales Manager, Ian McAlister was invited to exhibit the company’s products and services at the event and used the opportunity to underline the importance of effective people management within emerging markets across Africa.

According to management at CRS HR & Payroll Solutions, both South Africa and Zimbabwe have HR practitioners who are passionate and serious about HCM. “South Africa is ahead in the use of systems to manage human capital. There is a market in Zimbabwe for an integrated payroll system that will assist companies in making informed compensation decisions and flexible report generation capacity and flexibility like the CRS system.” McAlister explains.

He adds that conferences, such as the one hosted by IPMZ, play a crucial role in facilitating information share and exposure to global best practices.

The company also utilised its participation to renew old acquaintances, present its HR & payroll offering and strengthen its commitment to its country partner, Distinctive Consultancy Services.

“We took advantage of the high-level interaction between companies about best practice and the willingness to share ideas,” McAlister continues. “If more practitioners got involved in the various conferences that regularly take place across the continent, it will add even more value and increase levels of interaction.”

CRS HR & Payroll Solutions believes that the attraction and retention of talented and skilled practitioners drives the market in Africa, but legislation will impact direction and pace of change within various regions.

The leading telecommunications company which supplies wholesale fibre optic, Liquid Telecom Group has today declared its appointment as the official connectivity provider for the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly; which endorses responsible and sustainable tourism.

The assembly being hosted by both the Zambian and the Zimbabwe governments will take place in 24^th to 29^th this month. It will be held in Livingstone, Zambia and Victoria falls, Zimbabwe.

 “We are delighted to have been asked to provide high-speed, high-quality broadband for this very important Assembly. Zambia and Zimbabwe are fabulous tourist destinations. Visitors must have access to reliable communications, as should businesses and the people who live there.   Our fibre network is essential to the success of Africa’s Digital Future.  We believe in the power of connectivity to transform lives and our goal is to connect as many people in Africa as possible,” said Nic Rudnick, CEO of The Liquid Telecom Group.

Liquid Telecom Zimbabwe and CEC Liquid Telecom Zambia have laid new fibre, in preparation for the assembly, to connect all major hotels and international airports in Lusaka, Livingstone and Victoria falls to its present fibre network. The company has installed Wi-Fi as well in the hotels and the airports.

Africa’s largest fibre network, built by Liquid Telecom Group, runs from the north of Uganda to Cape Town on a single thread. Its open access Pan-African fibre network spans over 13,000km across Botswana, DRC, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe entirely. It is the first fibre network to cross country borders and covers Africa’s fastest-growing economies.

The European Union is more likely to postpone the investigation into the issue on whether China’s Huawei and ZTE benefited from unfair state aid until after a major Chinese telecoms tender is awarded.

The commissioner of EU, Karel De Gucht who is widely known to be very careful in following up the case now looks as though he no longer wants to deal with the case further, but only if European vendors are awarded a sizable chunk of Chinese LTE infrastructure contracts.

The EU had stated that they had found evidence that two Chinese companies benefited from state-aid, which is illegal in Europe, there has been serious concerns raised that European vendors could suffer if the Chinese government retaliated against EU sanctions.

Half of mobile network infrastructure sales (an estimate) this year could be awarded by China’s big three mobile networks.

Earlier reports had recommended that Karel De Gucht would lay off the case if European suppliers were granted around a third of the Chinese infrastructure contracts.

Both Huawei and ZTE have denied receiving any state support, although it has been noted that funding from state-owned banks is unusually generous for companies of their size.

An EU report from early 2011 noted that ZTE’s lines of credit now amount to USD25 billion, which is exceptionally high for a company with annual sales of just USD8 billion. The commission believes Huawei also benefited from large credit lines, including a USD 30 billion facility from China Development Bank.

Nelson Mandela African Insitute of Science and Technology in Tanzania, will benefit from a Huawei grant that will aim to build an ICT research institution.

According to the East African Business Week the funds will enable the institution to establish the ICT infrastructure for the next 3 years.

“These funds would be a good source in speeding up the ICT sector in the country. The universities will now have the opportunity to embark more on doing research in the ICT field and its findings would later enable the country make new discoveries in ICT industry,” Minister of Science and Technology Prof. Makame Mbarawa said.

“The ICT development will enable the country to achieve the political, social and economic growth that would also create technological innovation that would play a pivotal role in driving the social and economic development,” Lu Youqing, the Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania said.

The programme is geared to help Masters and PhD students in their work. This will enhance them to conduct accurate research for their thesis and for other projects.

Chris Ghalily’s dream to fly the first Kenyan made drone has faced challenges from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, terming his invention as one that cannot be licensed.

The body said that Ghalily’s invention has not yet be covered in the Kenyan aviation laws and they would not know how to authorize it.

Speaking to Kenya Television Network (KTN) Ghalily said that he is a certified aeronautical engineer and he knows the flight paths to avoid, something the aviation authority was worried about.

The engineer studies aeronautical engineer here in Kenya and also furthered his studies in China and was able to use this knowledge to create the drone.

“What they should do is to give us an altitude on which we should fly the drones,” Ghalily said. “My drone is meant to fly over roofs.”

But this case contradicts what other organizations have been able to do in terms of drone use. Late last year, search engine giant Google launched a programme that would use drones to monitor wildlife in parts of Africa. This programme was funded with a grant from World Wildlife Fund to a tune of US$5 million.

Ghalily, has gotten intense training to manage and fly the drones and he is willing to train others.

As for now, he has to wait for the government approval to fly the drones in the Kenyan airspace.

MTN Uganda has today launched Phone Directory in a move that will see its subscribers have a quick and convenient access to the contact details of thousands of registered individuals, institutions and businesses anywhere, anytime.

The SMS based MTN Phone Directory has over 9,000 contacts for multinational organizations, businesses, traders, media houses and individuals.

According to Ernst Fonternel, MTN Uganda’s Chief Marketing Officer, “The MTN Phone Directory is one of the most convenient solutions for customers and businesses alike. While businesses have a requirement to become more discoverable at a low cost, customers can obtain their contact details hassle free.”

The SMS-based MTN Phone Directory will help firms be found easily by the public which will have access to the registered entities contact details.

To register a contact or to update any contacts details, individuals and business owners can send an email with the contact name or name of the business, address, phone numbers, email address and website to addme@mtn.co.ug and the information will be included or updated free of charge.

To access businesses contact details customers can simply send the contact name to 191 and the contact details will be sent to their phones instantly for only 220/-.

Botswana is in the process of meeting the 2013 SADC and 2015 world deadlines for the television broadcasting digital migrations, as the Vice President Dr. Ponatshego Kedikilwe last week introduced the beginning of digital broadcasting migration in Botswana.

Dr. Kedikilwe said the inauguration of terrestrial television in Botswana included the founding of a joint task force between Japan and Botswana as they facilitate the transition from analogue to digital television broadcasting.

 “Government is very much alive to the fact that technological transformation of this magnitude will not come without significant initial cost and potentially on-going development costs over time,” he said.

The Vice President held that the government was ready to facilitate public private partnerships for the implementation of digital television and related industries in the areas of manufacturing, content generation and human resource development.

Now, the Vice President stated that the government has invested an excess of P160 million (USD18.7million) to aid in the expansion of radio and television transmission network alone.

Minister for Presidential and Public Administration, Mokgweetsi Masisi said that the country had

The Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mokgweetsi Masisi, said Botswana selected the Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting Terrestrial (ISDB-T) standard, developed in Japan after directing thorough tests and trials to determine the most appropriate and beneficial mode for Botswana.

“Botswana remained conscious of the need to derive maximum technological, economic and social benefits for our population, with any of the various digital broadcasting standards,” he stressed.

The Japanese vice minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, Tachibana Keiichiro said his country and Botswana have, through mutual agreement, committed to the Joint Task Force for cooperation in digital broadcasting hence they will assist Botswana with human resources to transfer technology to Botswana.

Botswana’s Minister of Transport and Communications Mr Nonofo Molefhi said in SADC’s some member states proposed the referral of migration dates, something, which he said, signified that the investment was not a small task as it required collaboration, education and partnerships

US president, Barak Obama, has used his power of veto over the US ITC to avoid an import ban on some older Apple iPhones and iPads.

The ban had been ordered by the US ITC after finding out that the Apple products had trespassed on the copyrights of Samsung.

The sanction could have applied to older iPhone 4 and iPad 2 3G models that run on networks operated by AT&T and T-Mobile, as well as two regional networks in Texas and Alaska.

Micheal Froman, White house official, outlined the decision in a letter to overrule the US ITC’s decision. The main argument the main argument is that the copyrights cited by Samsung in the dispute are also considered to be “standards essential” and are supposed to be licensed on fair terms.

Although Samsung won the legal argument, the White House can reject that decision if it feels it would cause determinate damage to the US economy or consumers.

“We are disappointed that the U.S. trade representative has decided to set aside the exclusion order issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission. The ITC’s decision correctly recognized that Samsung has been negotiating in good faith and that Apple remains unwilling to take a license,” said Samsung, responding to the decision.

Apple was pleased and said that Samsung was wrong to abuse that patent system in that way. However, Samsung can still pursue other legal remedies against Apple, other than seeking an import ban.

The last time a US ITC decision was overturned in this way was back in 1987.

Google has made it official that it is working on a new website that will allow users to locate their lost Android Smartphone.

They intend to make the Android Device Manager (ADM) accessible late this month. The ADM will either track a mobile phone’s location on a mapping service or cause the phone to ring loudly if you lost it in your own home.

The service will be available on devices running Android 2.2 or above and in order to use it, users also will need to be signed into their Google Account.

There will also be an Android app to allow users to easily find and manage their devices including the ability to remotely wipe handset data if the phone is stolen.

Apple and Windows Phone based devices have had a similar “location” facility for lost and stolen phones, and that has often lead to news articles about thieves being arrested after the iPhone was tracked to their home.

Researchers from Rice University in the United States have come up with two prototype solar sterilizers that will enable medical institution in remote areas sterilize medical equipment.

The new devices consist of a vessel containing water and gold nanoparticles that is placed in sunshine collected using a solar dish. The nanoparticles absorb the sunlight and this heat produces steam.

The usual method of sterilizing medical equipment includes steam, which consumes power and water. Some of the medical facilities in rural Africa are not connected to the national power grid and this might not be favorable.

“Although steam-based sterilization is the primary method of choice for the processing of medical waste in the developed world, the large energy requirement for operation is the fundamental limitation for its adoption in developing countries, with limited or nonexistent access to sources of electricity sufficient to power such systems,” the study says.

The temperatures of the two prototypes are between 115 and 132 degrees Celsius for the time period sufficient to sterilize the contents of a 14.2 liter volume. This is in accordance with the US Food and Drug Administration sterilization guidelines.

“Some consideration should be given to a method of ensuring the items to be sterilised stay at or above the required temperature for the required time without having to watch the process,” Tony Collins, managing director of UK-based autoclave manufacturer Priorclave said.

The use of the gold nanoparticles have raised question of the possible price of the items and if poor communities can afford the technology. The prototypes have not yet been field tested and as soon as they are, it will be clear what value they would add to rural medical institutions.

Refugee body, UNHCR has adopted a new barcode technology to aid it in distributing food in their camps, cutting distribution time from 10 days to 4 days.

This new barcode technology will be embedded in a card given to all the families in the camp and they can have it scanned as they receive their food rations.

“Previously, staff had to refer to a printed list of all families living in the camp, a lengthy process and one which inevitably led to mistakes, at the Yida settlement in northern South Sudan, which is home to more than 70,000 refugees,” the body said.

The technology helps generate valuable data on how many people are receiving the rations. Other data captured include their gender and their biometrics.

“If a card is determined to be invalid, its owner has the opportunity to argue his or her case at a desk set up to arbitrate disputes within the distribution centre,” UNHCR said.

“The simple technology that we are using allows us to make the monthly distribution of rations easier for the refugees and for UNHCR and our partners. It saves time and manpower and allows us to reduce fraud resulting from lost or stolen ration cards,” Tunzaw Oo, an Associate Registration Officer with the UN refugee agency.

Samaritan Purse another aid organization is also using the same barcode technology to distribute food and get information on malnutrition in camps.

The UNHCR team in Yida is also examining the possibility of installing wireless internet technology in the camp that would link two distributions sites and allow data to be entered and accessed from different locations.