Africa Tech News Roundup 1.06.09

side street language, via Meg Rorison's photostream

Ads | The Google SA Certification Controversy [IT Web South Africa, 1/3]
http://is.gd/eK8d
"Google South Africa set the cat among the pigeons when country manager Stafford Masie revealed intentions to moderate SA's search industry, saying some e-marketing companies were committing "fraud" against customers."

mBanking | Big Banks in Plot to Kill M-Pesa [Nairobi Star 12/23]
http://is.gd/dc9g
"The unexpected M-PESA probe ordered last week by acting Finance minister John Michuki may have been influenced by an informal cartel of local banks unhappy with the threat posed by Safaricom's mobile money transfer service poses to their business."

Infrastructure | Ericsson Parters With 21st Century Technologies (On Fibre-to-the-Home) [IT News Africa, 1/6]
http://is.gd/eK7Y
"Apart from bringing the much needed Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to the West African nation, the Ericsson-21st Century Technologies partnership will also see Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) networks being put in place."

Innovation | ngBot.com - Nigeria's First Real Mobile Community [StartupsNigeria.com, 1/6]
http://is.gd/eK7W
"A Nigerian mobile 2.0 community for mobile downloads (mp3s/ringtones, videos, apps, games)and discussions about anything mobile, ngBot...is a user powered community where anyone can contribute to every part of the site..."

Politics | Opposition Leader Declared Winner of Ghana's Presidential Election [NYT, 1/3]
http://is.gd/eK8k
"John Atta Mills of the opposition National Democratic Congress party narrowly won a runoff vote for the presidency of Ghana, one of Africa's most stable and prosperous democracies, electoral officials announced Saturday. " At this time last year, Kenya was smoldering. Its gratifying to see a peaceful transfer of power in Ghana.