Author: Gugu Lourie

The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies plans to reinvest R4.4 billion proceeds of the high-demand spectrum into South Africa’s telecommunications, Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said yesterday.   Ntshavheni made the pronouncement at the Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa Digital Talent Programme Launch and ICT Competition Awards Ceremony in Sandton.   The communications and digital technologies minister said the country’s long-overdue high-demand radio frequency spectrum auction had netted the national fiscus R14.4 billion.   Ntshavheni said her department negotiated with President Cyril Ramaphosa and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to reinvest R4.4 billion in the telecommunications industry.   “The eldership [president and finance minister] believed…

Sigma Connected, which offers ‘white label’ customer contact centre services, will set up a state-of-the-art call centre in Cape Flats, Mitchells Plain. The move will see Sigma become the first Global Business Services (GBS) operation in the Western Cape to provide call centre solutions from Mitchells Plain. The company will create up to 1,000 new jobs in local communities. The call centre will support businesses in the telecommunications, retail, insurance, financial services, government and logistics industries. A total of 320 Digicall staff in Johannesburg and Cape Town will also join Sigma Connected South Africa. As a hugely experienced and South African-owned…

Daniel Mminele, a former Absa CEO, was paid R30 million in other payments in 2021 as part of a separation agreement with the banking group. The banking group said other payments included separation payments, contractual notice payments, and leave payments. Mminele’s total fixed remuneration for 2021 stood at R3 million, which consists of R2.9 million basic salary, R51 466 retirement benefits, and R26 247 in other employee benefits. He stepped down as a director on 20 April 2021 and ceased being an employee on 30 April 2021. “The decision by Absa and former Group Chief Executive, Mminele, to part ways in April…

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday said it was going to file a complaint with the Human Rights Commission against the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) for “a racist attack on the appointment of ABSA’s new CEO, Arrie Rautenbach”. “Last week the PIC suggested that Rautenbach is unsuitable to be the CEO of ABSA, not because he lacks expertise and qualifications, but because he is white,” recounted DA Spokesperson Cilliers Brink. “This statement is racist, and its release an abuse of public power. “The Human Rights Commission complaint is an attempt to call the PIC and its management to account.” Brink said the…

SA’s Telviva, the market leader in cloud-based communications for business, has opted to penetrate European markets through a strategic partner-led approach. Telviva, formerly Connection Telecom, is a market leader in cloud-based communications for business. Seamlessly integrating voice, video and chat in one intelligent platform, Telviva allows you to have better quality conversations with customers, suppliers and staff. Telvivas’ CEO David Meintjes said the attendance at the recent Mobile World Congress marked Telviva’s soft launch into Europe, targeting service providers, IT integrators and Cloud PBX players in Europe. “We were well received and activated the first trial customer within two weeks…

Over the past decade, mobile money has expanded from a niche offering in a handful of markets to a mainstream financial service. Mobile money services is moving millions of households in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from the informal cash economy into a more inclusive digital economy. In 2021, there were more than 1.35 billion registered mobile money accounts worldwide, a tenfold increase from 134 million in 2012. This was revealed in the GSMA’s 10th annual ‘State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money’ published today. “Year-on-year growth in new registrations continues, defying initial expectations that it would taper off,”…

Is the idea of eliminating all animal products from one’s diet about to rapidly become mainstream in South Africa? This article explores if South Africa’s biggest food companies are embracing veganism. People love meat products, dietary change can be challenging, and switching to a vegan diet isn’t always easy given that cultural and socio-economic factors can affect plant-based food accessibility. However, it appears flexitarians, part-time vegetarianism, or veganism, is becoming more and more popular in South Africa. Young South African women – who want a healthy lifestyle – seem to be driving the growth of the vegan movement. Veganism —…

Famous Brands, the owners of Steers, announced today that it has acquired 51% of Lexi’s Healthy Eatery, whose slogan is “Eat more plants”. Lexi’s Healthy Eatery is a mostly vegan, whole-food restaurant. The JSE-listed company said its acquisition of Lexi’s Healthy Eatery is effective 1 April. Lexi’s Healthy Eatery is a casual dining restaurant (CDR) brand, offering a full-service, sit-down, plant-based dining experience across all key day parts: breakfast, lunch and dinner. The acquisition pertains to the franchise and central kitchen operations of the business. The acquisition is aligned with Famous Brands’ three-year strategic roadmap, which includes acquiring brands that…

Hackers stole more than $600 million or R8.7 billion worth of digital ledger used by players of the popular online game Axie Infinity, making it one of the largest thefts ever in the crypto world. Ronin Network revealed in its newsletter that hackers targeting its blockchain netted 173,600 ether and $25.5 million worth of stablecoin. The Ronin bridge and Katana Dex have been halted, said the company, after it was discovered on March 23rd, Sky Mavis’s Ronin validator nodes and Axie DAO validator nodes had been compromised. The attacker used hacked private keys in order to forge fake withdrawals. “We…

Banking group Absa has selected a company insider to be the next chief executive of the South African lender. Arrie Rautenbach, is currently Absa’s Chief Executive: Retail and Business Banking (RBB), the banking group said. Rautenbach will assume his new role immediately. He replaces Jason Quinn, currently Interim Group CEO, who will resume his role as Financial Director of Absa Group and Absa Bank, effective immediately, and remain an Executive Director on the Boards. Jason held this position from August 2016 to April 2021 after replacing Daniel Mminele. Rautenbach joined Absa in 1997 and has held several senior roles over the…

Telkom will continue to pursue its spectrum lawsuit against the country’s communications watchdog, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA). “Whilst Telkom has been able to secure the much-needed sub 1 GHz in the spectrum auction, we were constrained in our ability to acquire the amount of spectrum that we need to compete effectively,” the company informed investors today. “To secure its ability to compete effectively in the mobile market, Telkom persists with its court application to ensure that the licensing of spectrum promotes effective competition in the mobile market in line with the objective of the Electronic Communications Act.”…

Vodacom Group announced today it has spent R5.3 billion to acquire the much-needed spectrum to be able to deploy 4G and 5G. Vodacom’s contribution to the auction proceeds will significantly assist the government in achieving their objectives to unlock the digital economy, with widespread benefits across our society. Vodacomsaiod in a statement it will pay R5.38 billion for a spectrum portfolio that includes: 2 x 10 MHz in the 700 band MHz, 1 x 80 MHz in the 2600 MHz band and 1 x 10 MHz in the 3500 MHz band. “This is a momentous day for South Africa. We…

South Africa’s communications watchdog announced today that it had successfully concluded the much-anticipated high-demand radio frequency spectrum auction. The auction involved six qualified bidders: Cell C, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, MTN, Rain Networks, Telkom and Vodacom. The revenue collected from this auction totals more than R14.4 billion, which will go to the national fiscus. This is the total amount generated from the Opt-In phase auction, which took place on 8 March 2022, and the main auction stage, which commenced on 10 March 2022 and concluded today, 17 March 2022. The main auction stage comprised 58 rounds of bidding between the six…

Patrice Motsepe-backed African Rainbow Capital (ARC) announced today it has injected millions into TymeBank and TymeGlobal. The company said ARC Financial Services Holdings (ARC FSH) has injected an additional R257 million into TymeBank and TymeGlobal during the period as part of the scheduled capital requirements for the bank. At 31 December 2021, the ARC Fund had an effective interest of 25% in TymeBank, being its 49.9% of the 50.1% interest held by ARC FSH in TymeBank. ARC FSH is 50.1% owned by African Rainbow Capital Proprietary Limited and 49.9% owned by the ARC Fund, which is the vehicle holding the assets…

The days of Netflix password sharing with friends may soon be over. In a blog post titled “Paying to Share Netflix Outside Your Household,” the company announced that it’s testing measures that would charge accounts extra for allowing users to stream outside of a given household. “We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our Standard and Premium plans,” Chengyi Long, Netflix’s Director of Product Innovation, wrote in the blog. “While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when…

JSE-listed tech group EOH is offloading more assets as it continues with its stated strategic intent of improving liquidity and reducing debt. EOH informed investors today that its wholly-owned subsidiary EOH Mthombo has entered into a share purchase agreement to dispose of 100% of its shares in the Information Services companies to Bachique 842 Proprietary Limited. The deal is subject to EOH Shareholder approval. EOH added that this disposal forms part of creating a fit-for-purpose capital structure that is adequately supported by its cashflows. Bachique 842 is a wholly-owned subsidiary of LR Africa Holdings Limited. LR Africa Holdings Limited is…

Nedbank, one of the top banks in the Southern Africa region with over 7 million customers, last September launched an intelligent digital assistant, called Enbi. Nedbank is committed to delivering market-leading solutions to its customers that improve client satisfaction levels. Nedbank announced this week that Enbi, its new artificial intelligence (AI)-driven chatbot, which was launched to meet client expectations for immediate and excellent personal assistance, now answers over 100 000 client enquiries a month. Enbi offers Nedbank’s customers an intelligent, insightful, and friction-free digital banking experience by assisting customers conversationally with their day-to-day banking needs and questions. Customers can find…

Nedbank, one of South Africa’s largest banks, announced today that its Money App has attracted more than 400 000 new customers in 2021. The bank said that its Monet app is now actively used by 1, 6 million clients for the year to end-December 2021, up by 38% from 2020. The Money App, which was first launched in September 2019, makes banking more convenient for retail clients. It’s an easy-to-use, on-the-go banking app that enables you to do all your banking on your smartphone or tablet. Nedbank added that transaction volumes on the Money app rose by 54% and transaction values…

MTN digital revenue rose by 22.8% to R3.3 billion in the year to end-December 2021 and the majority of the increase is due to greater uptake of the services of Ayoba, an instant messaging super app. MTN announced today that Ayoba reached 11.6 million monthly active users’ milestone as at 31 December 2021. “This represents an addition of 6.1 million users since December 2020.” MTN launched its instant messaging platform, Ayoba, in March 2019. The app features peer-to-peer private messaging, which is end-to-end encrypted and has been updated to include music, gaming, channels and money transfer services Ayoba users can…

MTN, Africa’s largest mobile phone company, reported it had 56.8 million mobile money (MoMo) customers as of the end of December 2021. The company said it added 10.4 million new MoMo users, reflecting a 22.6% rise compared to 2020. MTN said MoMo is generating a monthly Average Revenue Per User of $1.3. MTN added that the value of MoMo transactions was up by 56.8% to $239.4 billion or R3.6 trillion and 10 billion transactions were processed, up 41.1% year on year. “There were some reductions in pricing in markets such as Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon due to competitive dynamics, as…

South Africa’s Telkom announced today its board has resolved to postpone a separate listing of Swiftnet on the JSE. Telkom announced last September its plans to float Swifnet, a masts and towers business. “Given the recent global events, current market conditions and the impact on the Capital Markets, the board has resolved to postpone the separate listing of Swiftnet on the JSE,” Telkom informed investors on Wednesday. “The Board remains committed to its value unlock strategy which is premised on Telkom’s market capitalisation not representing its intrinsic value. “Against this backdrop, the board continues to consider all strategic options that…

South Africa’s Telkom wants the High Court in Pretoria to impose a “structural or supervisory” interdict on the country’s communications watchdog, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA). “A structural or supervisory interdict is justified in the circumstances of this case,” Telkom regulatory affairs boss Siyabonga Mahlangu said a filing to the High Court lodged on Monday. Telkom is challenging ICASA’s spectrum auction process, which started today. Earlier last month, Telkom asked the High Court to review and set aside ICASA’s plan to issue a new spectrum via an auction that had been slated for March, citing a number of…

South African startup Credit Builder has secured funding for an innovative pilot to develop Africa’s bespoke financial inclusion solutions.  The startup, which is a Pentech Africa Group Holdings Company, is headed up by Co-Founder and Group CEO, Thomas Ngubane. Ngubane is an ex-divisional director within the Standard Bank Group of companies and ex-key individual of Liberty Life South Africa. Credit Builder has been awarded Top Insurance Innovation 2022 in South Africa through the Insurance Innovation Challenge, funded through the Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (INSETA) and The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), an entity of the Department of Science and…

LinkedIn announced today it had entered into an agreement to acquire Oribi, an Israel-based marketing analytics company. As part of the agreement, LinkedIn will also open a new office in Tel Aviv, Israel expanding its international presence and helping to further scale the value it deliver to members and customers across the globe. “We will not be disclosing the financial terms of the deal,” said LinkedIn. LinkedIn Chief Product Officer, Tomer Cohen, said as the company’s marketing solutions business accelerates to 43% year-over-year in revenue, “we are continuously investing in our technology platform to help our customers achieve maximum value…

Discovery Bank, part of Adrian Gore’s Discovery Group, said on Wednesday that retail deposits grew by 69% to R9.5 billion and advances rose by 10% to R4.1 billion as at 31 December 2021. The bank is powered by the country’s largest medical aid provider, Discovery Health. Described as the world’s first behavioural bank, the fully digital bank promises to help clients bank healthier and leverages Discovery’s shared-value model. The bank, headed by Hylton Kallner as CEO, said customer quality remains excellent with high average levels of non-interest revenue per client and the quality-focused credit strategy was evidenced by the low credit loss…