Author: Gugu Lourie

Herotel, South Africa’s junior fibre network operator, on Monday announced the milestone of reaching 100 000 subscribers with its fibre and fixed wireless networks. Founded in 2014 with the stated goal of providing a single national fibre and wireless broadband provider that can better service South Africa’s growing internet connectivity needs, Herotel acquired around 39 owner-operated businesses and 45 000 customers over a four-year period. Operating in over 400 towns, Herotel is at the forefront of building, selling and maintaining its own next-generation fibre and fixed-wireless networks across the country, which requires servicing areas that many other industry players have not…

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) announced today that it had approved the amendment of the ICT COVID-19 National State of Disaster Regulations to extend the validity period of the temporary assignment of the radio frequency spectrum. In April, ICASA assigned a temporary emergency spectrum to telecommunications operators to ensure connectivity for all during the National State of Disaster period. The regulator has extended the temporary emergency spectrum to telecommunications to no later than 31 March 2021. The initial date within which the temporary spectrum was supposed to be returned to the Authority was 30 November 2020. “The…

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) has selected Vodacom as partner to provide in-car streaming services. The new streaming service will be available to Toyota Connect and Lexus Connect. In August 2019, Toyota South Africa teamed up with Altron and Vodacom Business, to roll-out connectivity features and in-car Wi-Fi on all new Toyota and Lexus models. Known as Toyota Connect, the new connectivity hub will be housed within the MyToyota App which was launched in 2014. The technology allows Toyota owners access to a myriad of convenience, connectivity and safety benefits. Through its subsidiary, Netstar, Altron jointly designed and developed the…

The outgoing boss of Etion, Teddy Daka, has been appointed as the non-executive chairman of the struggling JSE-listed company. The appointment is effective from 1 February 2021. The diversified digital technology company announced earlier this month that Daka has resigned as CEO of the group. His resignation is effective from 31 January 2021. Daka replaces Dr Snowy Khoza, the chairman of the group, who will resign on 31 December 2020 from the diversified digital technology company. The company also announced the appointment of Nerishini Naidoo as the Group Chief Financial Officer with effect from 1 February 2021. The JSE-listed firm…

The latest data released today by MTN shows the value of MTN MoMo (mobile money) transactions was $61,2 billion (R926 billion) in the first half of 2020. Africa’s largest mobile phone group said in the first half of 2020 processed 11 752 MoMo transactions a minute across its markets, up 28% from 9 193 transactions a minute in 2019. The group said it remains committed to leveraging its technology to enable a cashless Africa. By the end of September 2020, nearly 42 million people were regularly transacting on MTN MoMo across 16 markets. This compares to 38 million active users at the end…

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has published new research proposing how should FinTechs handle non-traditional (alternative) data on the provision of financial services in South Africa. There’s currently no protection for South Africans who exposes their alternative data to FinTechs, and the use of these non-traditional data is not regulated. Alternative data has grown in prominence in South Africa and is increasingly being used by FinTechs and traditional financial institutions in serving customers. FinTechs are making use of external data like social site postings, search engine keywords, online transactions, photo albums, and group chats to gather insights about consumers’…

M-Pesa has become the first mobile money provider in Africa to join the Financial Taskforce established by United for Wildlife, a coalition of charities that works to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. United for Wildlife was created in 2012 by The Royal Foundation, led by Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge. It has brought together conservation organisations, governments and global corporations to protect endangered species like elephants, rhinos, tigers and pangolins so they can share our world with future generations. Organised crime has become one of the greatest threats to animals in Africa and other continents. The illegal wildlife trade…

Vodacom – which generates less than 2 metric tons of carbon per terabyte of data a year – says it plans to halve its carbon footprint in South Africa by 2025.   “We have, for many years now, been working on reducing our carbon footprint,” says Shameel Joosub, Vodacom CEO.    “We have made meaningful progress over the last decade. For example, in South Africa in 2012, we generated 27.6 metric tons of carbon outside per terabyte of data.”     “Today, we are consuming less than 2 metric tons of carbon dioxide per terabyte of data. While we are pleased with…

MTN, Africa’s largest mobile phone group, has increased its shareholding in mobile-micro-insurance firm aYo through acquisition of additional shares. In 2017, South Africa’s third-biggest insurer Momentum Metropolitan and MTN launched aYo, a micro-insurance joint venture. “The share of start-up losses has declined following the strategic decision to reduce our shareholding from 50% to 25%, with MTN’s shareholding increasing to 75%,” Momentum informed investors on Tuesday. “The change in shareholding is still subject to certain conditions precedent.” The insurer also disclosed that aYo has 10 million registered policyholders in October 2020 with over 50% active. The company also operates in Ghana and…

The traditional lay-by system has long represented an enormous headache for merchants and retailers, marked by high administrative costs and high non-completion rates. But through utilising new technologies, South African digital disruptor LayUp seeks to improve finalisation rates up to 60% for businesses, while opening access to South Africa’s untapped low-income market. Latest Experian statistics indicate that there are currently 20.3 million credit-active consumers in South Africa with a staggering R1.4 trillion in outstanding local consumer debt, while 17.9% of loans are four months or more in arrears. Pointing to these figures, LayUp founder and CEO Andrew Katzwinkel notes that…