Author: Gugu Lourie
Former Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko is threatening to walk away from buying a controlling stake of the partially state-owned telco. Sunday Times’ Business Times reported today that Maseko is now looking for opportunities elsewhere and will not revised the offer submitted by his consortium to buy Telkom. The consortium comprises Maseko’s Afrifund, Axian Telecom and the Government Employees Pension Fund, managed by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). “We are definitely walking away. The board has made it clear that they are not willing to engage with us at all,” Maseko told Sunday Times Business Times. He added that the consortium…
“It is our hope that this Huawei Innovation Centre will be a springboard for the launch of new local ICT enterprises that create jobs,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa. Speaking at the opening of the Huawei Innovation Centre at Woodmead in Huawei’s Office Park, Ramaphosa added that government hoped the centre would be a springboard for new business processes that would grow SA ‘s economy and support national development goals. The centre brings together Huawei’s various business units in a hub for collaboration with local partners, app developers and ICT-focused SMEs. He said the opening of the centre is a sign…
William Mzimba, the CEO of Vodacom Business, a subsidiary of JSE-listed Vodacom Group, has resigned. Sources told TechFinancials that Mzimba is leaving Vodacom Business at the end of September 2023. Mzimba joined Vodacom five years ago as chief officer of Vodacom Business to replace Vuyani Jarana. Internally at Vodacom, no one gave him a chance to succeed. They whispered that this man from Accenture couldn’t repeat the great feat achieved by Jarana at Vodacom. In the past five years, Vodacom, Mzimba has delivered enormous value at the Vodafone-owned mobile phone company. He ensured that Vodacom Business continued to fire on…
JSE-listed Telkom Group on Friday announced it has rejected an offer of a constortium led by its former CEO Sipho Maseko. Shareholders are referred to the Telkom announcement published on SENS on Monday, 12 June 2023 relating to an unsolicited non-binding indicative letter from a consortium consisting of Afrifund Investments Proprietary Limited, Axian Telecom and the Government Employees Pension Fund, managed by the Public Investment Corporation (collectively, the Consortium) for the acquisition of a controlling stake in Telkom (the Indicative Proposal). “The Telkom board of directors (the Board) having considered the Indicative Proposal, has decided not to continue discussions with…
The Gauteng government has announced that it wants to work with technology companies and innovators to help fight rising crime. Gauteng recorded 1 556 murders between January and March 2023. Speaking at the Huawei Eco-Connect Sub-Saharan Africa 2023 conference in Sandton on Thursday, Premier Panyaza Lesufi warned: “If we can’t fight crime, it will be the end of us all in this province.” He added: “We must ensure that we use the technology that is available and ensure that we push back crime in our province.” Premier Lesufi implored technology companies to join the Gauteng government in…
The South African government plans to connect 1.7 million households to high-speed internet. The project will be realised through the development of infrastructure that will be used by partner internet service providers (ISPs) to provide fee-based internet services. The Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Mondli Gungubele, said the construction of infrastructure for access has not yet started. In May 2023, the Treasury confirmed access to the allocated funds and the process to finally disburse the funds has started, he said. Gungubele was responding to parliamentary questions from Inkatha Freedom Party MP Zandile Majozi. Majozi wanted to know what progress…
Cape-based ISP Atomic Access now consistently routes content from the NAPAfrica and CINX internet exchange points to fibre networks with latency as low as 300 nanoseconds using fully Open Source software. “We see 50% less latency for packets crossing the Cape Town peering points with 80% less jitter,” says Joe Botha, Atomic co-founder and CTO. “I think we’ve proven that it is indeed possible to route at 100 Gbps speeds with just Linux.” he adds. Founded in 2018, Atomic always had an Open Networking strategy, which includes a strong belief in Open Source, Open Standards and Open Peering. Atomic is…
Local ESG tech platform Reatec, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) product that streamlines an organisation’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) programmes, is seeking local and global expansion to capitalise on the growing ESG industry. The only technology solution for ESG reporting in South Africa says its platform makes ESG reporting a reality and an opportunity as organisations look to create a tangible, practical plan that delivers real results. Hashveer Singh, chartered accountant (CA) and founder and MD of Veers Group, of which Reatec is a part, told TechFinancials that the platform currently works mainly on renewable energy infrastructure projects, helping independent power…
Chinese automotive giant Build Your Dreams (BYD) has officially launched in South Africa after unveiling the fully-electric BYD Atto 3. BYD is a rival to electric car manufacturer Tesla owned by Elon Musk. BYD transformed from a factory making rechargeable batteries to a formidable electric vehicle maker expanding globallly. The carmaker also produces battery and electric vehicle chips. BYD is launching the BYD Atto 3 with a starting price of R768,000 for the Standard range version and R835,000 for the Extended range model. All models come with a standard 5-year warranty and 100,000km maintenance plan. Why expansion into South Africa?…
BMW will be investing R4.2 billion over five years to prepare its manufacturing plant in Rosslyn in Pretoria for the electro mobility era. Fifty years ago, Plant Rosslyn was the BMW Group’s first foreign facility. It has since become a mainstay of the global production network. To mark its silver jubilee, Milan Nedeljković, BMW AG Board Member for Production, has now announced the electrification of Plant Rosslyn. Speaking in South Africa, he said: “From 2024 we will manufacture the BMW X3 as a plug-in hybrid for global export in South Africa. An investment of 4.2 billion rand (over 200 million…