Author: Gugu Lourie

Telkom is targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as part of its revenue diversification strategy. Small and medium businesses have the biggest impact on a successful gross domestic product. However, South Africa has one of the highest failure rates for these businesses compared to other developing countries. Telkom Small and Medium Business (SMB) aims to be a go-to place for all small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to connect and to grow. Telkom SMB’s goal is to shift from pure connectivity products to e-commerce and expand to adjacent offerings in IT, procurement, financial services and many more – all delivered through…

MTN has reached a significant milestone by recording 100 million active data users on its networks across Africa and the Middle East, the telco revealed on Thursday. The South Africa-based company has a total base of more than 257 million customers in 21 markets. Growth through scaling data and digital services is central to its strategy. The group is overcoming barriers to greater mobile internet adoption by extending its 3G and 4G coverage, accelerating smartphone adoption and transforming prices. MTN wants to bridge the digital divide by ensuring that rural people in Africa and the Middle East are connected to…

Jaguar Land Rover has partnered with the City of Oslo to launch the world’s first high-powered wireless taxis. In a programme known as ‘ElectriCity’, the global vehicle manufacturer will join Nordic taxi operator Cabonline (NorgesTaxi AS), the region’s largest charge point operator Fortum Recharge, US technology developer Momentum Dynamics and the City of Oslo to build wireless, high-powered charging infrastructure for taxis in the Norwegian capital. The project will be the first wireless high-powered charging system for electric taxis in the world and by providing a charging infrastructure model that can be implemented almost anywhere, it will help the rapid…

The Liberty Fighters Network (LFN) is going to court again today to fight the lockdown restrictions. Earlier this month, LFN launched a court case against the lockdown restrictions in May, arguing they were unlawful and violated South Africa’s Bill of Rights. For more read: Lockdown Makes No Sense – Says South Africa’s Court The high court in Pretoria bought their argument and agreed with them before handing down a ruling that said some of the restrictions were irrational and trampled the rights of citizens. For more read: Court Rules SA’s Lockdown is Invalid. What is the End Goal? Mass Graves… The…

Two weeks ago,  Bryan Habana – World Cup-winning Springbok star – announced the launch of MatchKit.co, an innovative platform that gives athletes a ground-breaking solution towards growing their commercial brands. Habana and his team at the award-winning creative sporting agency, Retroactive, have created a mobile tech play that reinvents the way athletes – of every tier and discipline – monetise their careers in a simple and cost-effective way. “MatchKit has connected with more than 2.1 million fans since its public launch,” Mike Sharman, co-founder of Retroactive, told TechFinancials on Wednesday. To date, the app has had 4,800 views on its…

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has lambasted the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa’s (USAASA) decision to put out a near-identical tender for the provision of television sets to over 111 000 learners. The first tender in this regard (USAF-IDTV/01/2020) was cancelled without being awarded. Nomsa Marchesi, the DA’s Shadow Minister for Basic Education, said this was reported that the original tender could cost up to R160 million. The tender process closes on 2 July 2020, after which the television sets will reportedly be distributed to Grade 12 learners. This process will take approximately two months which means by…

Following a series of COVID-19 tests conducted last Friday, two Kaizer Chiefs players’ results have come back positive from the laboratory, the club announced on Tuesday. According to a statement published on the club’s website, a total of 70 individuals, including players, members of the technical team and other club officials were tested for COVID-19 in preparation for the restart of the 2019/20 season. “At the time of doing these tests, players and officials were screened and monitored by healthcare workers and team doctors. None of the people tested showed any signs or symptoms of COVID-19,” the statement reads. “All…

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) on Tuesday issued a statement on Twitter regarding the R350 COVID-19 Grant, which said ‘nothing at all’. “There is no fixed payment date for the special Covid-19 SRD grant. The applicant will be paid for each month as long as they still meet the qualification criteria. Every month the application will be verified to ensure that the applicant still qualifies for that particular month,” SASSA wrote in its official Twitter. There is no fixed payment date for the special Covid-19 SRD grant. The applicant will be paid for each month as long as they…

Telkom is investing in future technology based on software-defined networks (SDN), which allows for the creation of a framework to support more data-intensive applications like big data and virtualization. “Telkom has enjoyed the benefits of copper over the last 30 years. It has served us well. We are currently investing in technology that will power Telkom for the next 30 years,” Sipho Maseko, Telkom CEO said. Telkom’s capital investments totalled R7.8 billion in the year to end-March 2020, with capital expenditure in the mobile business up 22.1% to R3.7 billion. The company said the accelerated investment in the packet-optical transport…

The successful delivery of broadband-led propositions by Telkom and pushing its mobile business to deliver solid financial results caught our attention. This resulted in Telkom Mobile delivering a 54.4% rise in service revenue from a higher base to R12.6 billion to remain the fastest growing mobile business in the country. One of the things that we found to be of interest is the fastest growth in subscriber numbers for Telkom Mobile. “This was underpinned by our ongoing network investment and successful broadband-led proposition, which continue to resonate well with customers,” said Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko. “Despite ongoing competitive threats with changes…