news

16.08.2004 South Africa hopes to issue the empowerment charter for its ICT industry before the end of 2004 even as the fourth draft of the document has been delayed by two months. The working group was caught up in long negotiations and received too many representations from the industry.

16.08.2004 India's space agency and the state government of Kerala are launching a tele-medicine and education project, linking the state’s hospitals with 10 super-specialty health set-ups in the country. Under the $2.6-million project, the Indian Space Research Organisation will provide satellite bandwidth free for five years and also invest funds.

13.08.2004 Edusat, the education satellite India has scheduled to launch in September this year, will transmit educational programmes across the country, especially in remote rural areas.

12.08.2004 United Kingdom’s much-hyped e-university shut down, leaving taxpayers with an estimated loss of £50 million. An investigation is on to find out what went wrong as it becomes clear that creditors, including many British universities, will not be recovering their investments.

12.08.2004 A new report has indicated that West Africa’s telecommunications regulators are open to legalising VoIP telephony. The launch of several legal VoIP calling services in Mauritius in 2004 – the first by any African country – is being seen as a major step that other countries may follow.

12.08.2004 As poor countries starve for funds, schools in the United Kingdom risk losing out approximately £100 million to an August 31 deadline. The schools get this annual fund for e-learning initiatives, but have spent only one-fourth of last year’s budget.

11.08.2004 Timely information and access to the Internet may help traders in Andhra Pradesh, India, do business better. The Campus Wide Network and E-commerce Solution in Vijayawada is backed by new generation optical fibre and video and voice networks, and will provide business information from around the world.