Author: Gugu Lourie

Telkom today reported less than half the earnings it had in the same quarter a year ago and announced the resignation of its chairman Sello Moloko. The company said headline earnings per share – South Africa’s main profit gauge – dropped by 51.9% to 137.2 cents a share for the six months to end-September 2022. Telkom also reported that group revenue down 0.7% to R 21.2 billion and EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation) down 17.3% to R4.9 billion. The decline in EBIDTA of 17.3%, partially offset by lower finance charges and fair-value movements, resulted in a decline…

Telkom announced today that its chairman Sello Moloko has resigned due to workload reasons. Moloko will step down as chairman of the partially state-owned telco by no later than 31 March 2023. Moloko is also the chairman of Absa. He took the reins on Absa’s board in April from Wendy Lucas-Bull. Moloko was appointed as the chairman of Telkom board on 20 March 2018 and became Chairperson of the Board in June 2019. He served as a Member of the Remuneration Committee and Chairperson of the Nominations Committee. “Sello Moloko has informed the Board of his intention to step down…

JSE-listed low-cost retailer Pepkor announced today that its FinTech business Flash now supports 202 000 traders in the informal market and is immersed in the South African informal market. “The average turnover generated per trader improved by 12% during the year,” said Pepkor. “Flash’s understanding of consumer needs, the technology used and their extensive interconnected network of partners work to better connect the informal and formal market sectors.” Pepkor owns PEP, Bradlows, Ackermans, Capfin, Incredible Connection, Hi-Fi Corp, Rochester, Timbercity and Shoe City. Shop owners can use the Flash devices to increase their business by offering multiple services to attract…

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just a few days away, so Ookla –  which owns and operates the popular speedtest.net Internet speed testing service – wanted to help you navigate those deals with hard data on the fastest 5G popular devices. Ookla used Speedtest Intelligence to look at 5G performance data in the 10 countries with the highest number of connected mobile devices according to GSMA that also had an established 5G market during Q3 2022. As a reminder, Ookla already looked at the newer models in the Apple iPhone 14 and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 earlier this quarter, right after both…

Contro, a South African telehealth start-up that focuses on sexual health and confidence treatment services, has announced the close of their oversubscribed pre-seed funding round, raising a total of R10.1 million. Investment was raised from four international and local VCs, including Plug & Play, iCubed Capital, WZ Capital and the Jozi Angels Network, prominent local and international Angels, and Contro received grant funding from the i3 fund backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Contro launched in June 2021 and currently offers six services including subscription services for birth control, erectile dysfunction treatment and hair loss treatment, as well…

Super app Yassir, the most valuable startup in North Africa, has announced that it will soon be launching its on-demand grocery delivery services in South Africa. Founded in 2017 by Algerian native and Stanford PhD Noureddine Tayebi, the Yassir mobile app has quickly taken the continent by storm, expanding its footprint to six countries and 45 cities where it is used by more than eight million users. ‘Yassir’ means ‘easy’ in Arabic, which speaks directly to the company’s mission to make people’s lives easier, explains Yassir South Africa General Manager Timothy Kiluba. “More than another grocery delivery service, Yassir aims…

Telkom on Monday warned investors that it headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the six months to end-September 2022 will be cut by 55% compared to the prior interim period in 2021. HEPS is South Africa’s main profit gauge. Telkom advised shareholders that reported HEPS and reported basic earnings per share are expected to decrease by between 45% and 55% compared to the prior interim period ended 30 September 2021. Telkom attributed the expected loss mobile postpaid vs prepaid mix changing which had the impact of deferring revenue over 24 – 36 months, as well as the cost base increasing.…

Vodacom announced today that its Financial Services business reported a 19.2% rise in revenue to R4.4 billion fuelled by insurance business, with policies up 19.4% to 2.6 million and a recovery in Airtime Advance revenue growth. The Vodafone-owned company added that normalised M-Pesa revenue growth accelerated to 20.4% in the second quarter, as Tanzania lapped mobile money levies imposed in July 2021 and its new financial services continued to scale. New financial services such as loans and merchant services contributed more than half of M-Pesa revenue growth in the period. The group said Safaricom generated financial services revenue of R7.9…

Vodacom announced today that it has invested over R2 billion in batteries alone to enhance the resilience of our network so that we keep customers connected during extended periods of loadshedding. “At the same time, we continue to work closely with Eskom to find a renewable energy solution for the benefit of our planet and customers, having announced in September 2022 an in-principle agreement with South Africa’s energy utility to pilot a programme that would see Vodacom South Africa source its electricity from renewable independent power producers and contribute this into the national grid,” Shameel Joosub, Vodacom’s CEO informed investors…

The state’s role in terms of what we call regulation should change to be an enabler. This is the view of Andile Ngcaba, the executive chairman and founder of private equity firm Convergence Partners, noting that the telecommunications industry should strive to remove the word regulation in-laws, vocabulary, and terminologies. Ngcaba participated in a roundtable on “Looking Back, Going Forward: How Africa’s Tech History Contains the Roots of its Future” at Africa Tech Fest and AfricaCom 2022 in Cape Town. He was joined by Nic Rudnick – CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Nika Naghavi – Executive director of MNOs at…