JSE-listed Altech aims to double revenue within the next five years and is targeting areas such as smart set-top boxes, which are fully IP-enabled, and in-car infotainment in a bid to reach its target.
Altech has identified four areas of growth, which will deliver about 65% of its additional R10 billion turnover target. These areas will not require heavy capital spend, but will be supported through continuous research and development (R&D) investment, says CEO Craig Venter.
Venter says the bulk of the additional revenue will come from technology innovations in areas such as set-top boxes, cloud computing and telematics. The move up the technology ladder will lead to in-car WiFi and homes connected through decoders, he explains.
Altech’s R20 billion revenue target, in the next five years, is not cast in stone, but it has sufficient planning in place to make sure it gets close, says Venter. Yesterday, Altech reported R9.97 billion in revenue for the year to February. Adding back inter-company sales, it moved past R10 billion.
Smart devices
Venter explains that vehicle tracking is moving beyond simple recovery and is shifting to infotainment with full in-car WiFi capability. This will allow services such as traffic information and concierge offerings, enabling drivers to book restaurant reservations through the device.
In addition, cellphones will be able to connect to networks through the telematics system, says Venter. CTO Willie Oosthuysen adds Netstar is moving to value-added products, such as insurance telematics, which captures driver behaviour and influences premiums.
In the house, set-top boxes are set to become network hubs and will connect all devices to the Internet, says Venter. This will open up the possibility of downloading applications onto televisions, he adds.
Altech has already produced pilot set-top boxes that are fully IP-enabled. Decoders should be in the market within the next six to 12 months, Venter adds.
In-house development
Altech’s growth plans will not require much in the way of capital investment, says Venter. He says the group will pull from its current capabilities while continuing to invest in R&D.
Currently, Altech spends about R100 million a year on R&D at its set-top box manufacturer, UEC, while another R20 million is spent at Netstar. Total R&D spending is expected to come in at between 6% and 7% of revenue in future, says Venter.
Venter notes that Intel is collaborating with Altech to develop chips that can be used in decoders and vehicle tracking devices.
Last June, global chipmaker Intel said it would invest $5 million, or R34.3 million, in Altech to explore collaboration opportunities in the telecoms, multimedia and IT sectors in Africa. Venter says this amount is set to be increased.
Oosthuysen says Altech has a five- to seven-year growth horizon and is currently putting platforms in place.
The controversial Gauteng e-tolling project, which on Thursday was postponed for a month, has hit another speed bump as the South African Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) has been stopped from collecting tolls.This morning, Judge Bill Prinsloo gave his verdict on an urgent application that was lodged by the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (OUTA), which argued that the SA Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) was not ready to implement the system.
The official opposition, the Democratic Alliance, says in a statement that it “is delighted with today’s ruling by Judge Prinsloo that an interdict against Sanral implementing the hugely unpopular Gauteng tolls, should be granted”.
Further review
“Although only a prima face case has been proved and much work still lies ahead for the OUTA team, this ruling at least opens the door for stopping this inexplicably costly toll collection system,” it says.
DA is optimistic that given all the facts, the review court will find that the most cost effective method of paying for the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) and other urban tolling projects, is via a dedicated fuel levy as the DA has contended all along.
The Justice Project of South Africa (JPSA) this afternoon tweeted that OUTA had been victorious. The JPSA has previously found several flaws within the proposed tolling system.
Yusuf Amramjee, chairman of the national press club, tweeted that Sanral had been restrained from collecting tolls. An order as to costs was reserved, he noted.
Last Wednesday, the judge ruled that the matter was urgent, as the controversial project was set to kick in on Monday.
Arguments on the merits of the case continued on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday and a ruling was handed down this afternoon after the Pretoria High Court reconvened this morning for the judgement.
Hold off
On Thursday, the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the ruling African National Congress (ANC) agreed to ask the stake to put off the implementation by a month.
Department of Transport DG George Mahlalela said implementation of the e-tolling would be put off until 30 May to “finalise regulations following input on regulatory and administrative issues from the public and interested stakeholders,” according to a statement.
Cosatu and the ANC’s joint statement said they had collectively agreed to ask government to postpone the implementation of the e-toll collection system by a month. This will give the task team more time to explore alternative funding mechanisms.
Punitive fees?
Sanral’s proposed fee structure has come under fire as “alternate users” of the e-toll system were set to pay significantly higher tariffs determined at three times the standard tariff.
This information was detailed in Government Gazette Volume 562, no 35263, earlier this month, and the Democratic Alliance (DA) said the concept of an “alternate user” is introduced for the first time.
In the gazette, Sanral describes five different types of e-toll users, where previously users were only outlined as those with and those without e-tags.
The first type of user is the one that has an e-tag and is registered for e-tolling, the second is a user who has an e-tag, but has not registered for the system, and the third is a vehicle licence number (VLN) user who registers for the system, but does not have an e-tag.
The fourth type of user is the one who does not qualify for any other category. Also, e-tag and VLN users are qualified as alternate if there aren’t sufficient funds in their accounts at the time of the transaction.
The fifth type is a day-pass user. The tariffs for the day pass are R30 for motorcycles, R50 for standard vehicles, R125 for class B medium vehicles and R250 for heavy vehicles.
The gazette says an alternate user who pays within the grace period of seven days is entitled to a discount.
So if the user falls within the e-tag or VLN categories, but does not meet the criteria at the time of the e-toll transaction due to insufficient funds, they will pay the normal fee for their category if they pay within the grace period.
Time of day and frequent user discounts also apply to alternate users who pay within that period. However, the cap of R550 for standard vehicles does not apply to alternate users.
South African fixed and mobile operators all meet the Independent Communications Authority of SA’s (ICASA’s) minimum requirements for service availability and call failure rates, despite consumers’ perceptions to the contrary.
However, the networks did not meet ICASA’s targets for clearing faults within the required time, with Vodacom, MTN and Telkom all missing the target. Neotel met ICASA’s requirements, and Cell C argued it did not experience any faults as defined in the regulations.
The network uptime and call connection rate findings are contrary to consumers’ own experiences, judging by the amount of complaints on consumer forums such as Hellopeter and micro-blogging site Twitter.
The authority has released compliance reports for telecommunication licence holders covering the period between April 2010 and March 2011. ICASA launched the end-user and subscriber service charter in the middle of 2009 and today published the second set of reports since its regulations came into affect.
In terms of ICASA’s charter, operators must provide ICASA with reports every six months, showing networks are available more than 95% of the time, less than 3% of calls fail, and 90% of faults are cleared within three days. If they do not meet these requirements, they face fines.
Network uptime
According to ICASA’s compliance reports, SA’s largest mobile operator, Vodacom, achieved almost 100% network availability for voice, data and SMS services. Vodacom also achieved 99.51% service availability in the first six months of the year, and 100% in the second half.
Vodacom’s connectivity failure rate did not exceed 3%, says the compliance report. However, the company’s fault clearance rate fell below ICASA’s 90% target in the first six months of the year, although this figure improved to 94% in the second half.
MTN, SA’s second-largest network operator, had an average network service availability of almost 100% for the year covered in the report. The operator also achieved almost 100% service availability.
MTN’s connectivity failure rate on voice calls does not exceed an average of 1% of all connections, which meets ICASA’s target.
However, its fault clearance rate does not meet ICASA’s 90% standard, as, in the first six months of the year, the company only cleared 87.5% of faults in three days, and 86% in the second half. The remainder of the faults are cleared within six days.
Cell C also had almost 100% network and service availability. More than 97% of all installation and activation requests were activated within 30 days, according to the compliance report.
The operator also met ICASA’s target for connectivity, with a 0.6% failure rate in the first six months of the year, and 1.37% in the second half. Cell C says it did not experience any “faults” as defined by the regulations.
Fault issues
Fixed-line operator Telkom met most of ICASA’s requirements, with network and service availability of almost 100% during the compliance report period. Its connectivity failure rate is also below ICASA’s 3% target.
However, Telkom only cleared just over 70% of faults within three days, missing ICASA’s 90% target. It also did not clear the balance of the problems within six days.
Neotel, SA’s second national operator, had an average network availability of 95% in the first half of the year, and 99.97% in the second six months. The company’s service availability also met ICASA’s targets.
Neotel’s connectivity failure rate also met the authority’s minimum requirements and it cleared faults within the stipulated time.
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says he is not surprised that the operators met ICASA’s requirements as people perceive network performance to be lower than it is. He explains consumers remember when calls are dropped, or do not connect, but not when networks function successfully.
Gartner predicts 118.9 million tablets will be sold this year, a significant 98% increase on the 60 million units sold in 2011.According to Gartner, Apple will maintain its dominance in the tablet space over the coming years. “Despite the arrival of Microsoft-based devices to this market, and the expected international rollout of the Kindle Fire, Apple will continue to be the market leader through the forecast period,” says Gartner.
While the iPad will continue to dominate the market, its competitors are expected to begin closing the gap in market share. Apple is expected to account for 61.4% of tablet sales this year, while that figure is expected to drop to 45% by 2016.
By comparison, Android is expected to grow to 37% in the same period (Android is expected to take 32% in 2012), with Windows accounting for 12% by 2016. According to Gartner, the core issue with Android tablets has been the lack of dedicated applications that leverage the capabilities of tablets.
The IDC previously predicted that Android will overtake Apple in market share as soon as 2015, as a result of its lower-cost offerings. IDC did, however, predict Apple would remain the market leader in revenue through 2016.
According to a new survey conducted by Sophos on employee usage behaviour, a staggering 96% of respondents (IT professionals) do not trust their end-users to make sound IT security decisions.The survey results highlight the need to educate employees on IT security issues and best practices. In line with this requirement, Sophos has developed a free IT Security DOs and DON’Ts training tool for IT professionals.
In the survey, Sophos asked IT professionals from around the globe several questions about employee IT usage behaviour. Additional highlights include:
* 48% of respondents fix security issues caused by end-user negligence at least once a week * 26% of respondents say senior management commits the worst IT security offences * 19% of respondents say IT commits the worst IT security offences
These results underscore the impact that a lack of understanding of security policies and best practices — in every department and at all levels of an organisation — can have on an IT infrastructure.
In its ongoing commitment to aid IT departments in educating employees, Sophos’ programme aims to assist IT professionals in teaching their colleagues about security. The IT Security DOs and DON’Ts kit includes materials such as:
* A launch guide with quick tips for IT professionals to begin an educational programme * IT Security DOs and DON’Ts posters and a handbook for end-users with top 10 tips * Bite-sized reminder e-mail templates * A password DOs and DON’Ts one-pager to help end-users create strong passwords * A PowerPoint presentation for IT professionals to use for training
“Sophos has transformed its security expertise into a range of educational tools that will both inform and entertain,” adds Brett Myroff, CEO of Sophos distributor, NetXactics.
For additional information on the programme, please visit www.sophos.com/staysafe.
