Thirsty Rock

Google Inc. plans to sell Android powered mobile phones directly to consumers. Nokia , Research in Motion , Apple and others have been put on notice. Google recently launched a free GPS service for mobile phones. This service, packaged with Google Earth , has unsettled the GPS market. Add the Nexus One phone to this potent mix and you have a formidable foe in Google. It should be interesting to see how incumbents respond. Or is resistance futile?

In the midst of the worst global recession for seventy years mobile phone operators continue to post impressive subscriber growth numbers. MTN , the largest mobile operator by subscription in Africa, has enjoyed an upward tick in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) in Nigeria and Ghana. According to the ITU, teledensity remains low in most emerging markets but markedly so in sub-saharan Africa. New accounts appear to drive further demand through word of mouth (WOM) and simply because mobile phones are a coveted status symbol. This is a clear testimony of supply creating demand, says Say.

What you need to get started: Console – must have a Wi-Fi adapter Wireless Access Point (AP) – with an Ethernet port available Laptop – Wi-Fi ready with a free Ethernet port. Hotspot coverage Windows OS – with Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) Our environment: Console: My son's PSP 3000 Access point: TRENDnet TEW-432BRP wireless router Laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad T500 Windows OS: Vista SP 1 Step 1: Configure access point Disable DHCP service on the AP. Assign 192.168.0.x to the AP LAN address where x is any number greater than 10. ICS will set LAN address on the laptop to 192.168.0.1 – more on this later. We set our AP LAN address to 192.168.0.100. Step 2: Configure console IP address: 192.168.0.n (set n to any number other than 1, we set our PSP IP address to 192.168.0.7) Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 Gateway address: 192.168.0.1 Do not assign addresses to DNS and DHCP servers Step 3: Configure laptop Enable internet sharing on the wireless adapter (not the

Tito Mboweni, head of the Reserve Bank of South Africa, is a very angry man. Despite presiding over a 350 basis point reduction in the repo rate (the rate at which the central bank lends to banks) he does not see this benefit passed on to the consumer. The spread between the repo rate and the prime (base) rate is a consistent 3.5% across the board. It seems that all the banks' models use the same algorithm to compute risk. Tito wants the banks to revisit that algorithm. Last week the reserve bank invited top bank executives to dinner. Although little is known about the content of the discussions, the rate at which banks lend to individuals must have focused many minds. You must wonder how much control Tito has over the matter since banks draw less than 1% of operating funds from their lender of last resort. As things stand, Tito is playing snooker with a string for a cue stick. As the central bank cuts the repo rate the banks pretend to cut the onward lending rate. This gives