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Thursday, October 29, 2009.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon de Ryhove.

Making headlines today:

South Africa's Competition Commission has recommended that the Competition Tribunal fine telecommunications operator Telkom 10% of its yearly turnover, for the year ended March 2009, for abuse of dominance.

Telkom South Africa contributed 33,6-billion-rand in revenue to the group's total revenue of 35,9-billion-rand for the year ended March 2009, which meant that the group could face a fine in excess of R3-billion.

This came after the Commission investigated the company's operations, following complaints, which were lodged at different times between 2005 and 2007.

A fine of 10% of a company's yearly turnover was the highest fine that could be handed down by the Tribunal, should it find that the company has in fact abused its dominant position in the market.

Africa's largest steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa has confirmed that it is one of two short-listed bidders for the debt-laden Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (Zisco), and that it has also not ruled out a bid for Scaw Metals, which Anglo American announced last week was no longer core to its future.

However, CEO Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita refrained from commenting on, or naming, the group's rival for Zisco, and would also not comment on the value of its bid, nor on how it planned to deal with the estimated 300-million-dollars worth of debt on Zisco's books.

Further, Nyembezi-Heita indicated that it would be premature to say for certain whether or not the group was interested in Scaw, which some analysts value at over 1-billion-rand.

Also making headlines:

South African aviation firm Denel Saab Aerostructures is meeting its A400M targets and is in no danger of penalties.
ArcelorMittal South Africa loses its long-running iron-ore dispute with Kumba Iron Ore.
Growth in demand for credit by South Africa's private sector slowed to 1,49% year-on-year in September.
And, Angola increases its spending by 50% in its 2010 budget.

That's a round up of news making headlines today. For more on these and other stories please visit engineeringnews.co.za.