Author: Gugu Lourie

MTN Nigeria mobile subscribers declined by 7.6 million to 68.9 million for the half-year ended 30 June 2021, impacted by the regulatory restrictions on new SIM sales and activations. Last December, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) announced that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) directed the NCC to embark on another audit of the Subscriber Registration Database again. The regulator directed telecoms firms to stop selling SIM cards while it audits compliance with SIM registration rules. For more read: Regulatory Restrictions On New SIM Sales Bite Into MTN Nigeria Subscribers The restrictions were lifted on 19 April 2021.…

London-listed telecom firm Airtel Africa announced today plans to sell $200 million or R2.9 billion stake in the mobile money business, the Airtel Mobile Commerce BV.  Qatar Holding, an affiliate of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), will invest $200 million in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV. AMC BV is the holding company for several of Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations, and ultimately is intended to own and operate the mobile money businesses across all of Airtel Africa’s fourteen operating countries. Airtel Africa is exploring the listing of the mobile money business. For more read: Airtel Africa Mulls Floating The Mobile Money Business “With today’s…

JSE-listed technology group Altron has appointed Nicholas Bofilatos as Group Chief Financial Officer with effect from 29 July 2021. Bofilatos, who takes over from Cedric Miller, joined Altron in 2019 and was Finance Executive: Change Management. He has more than 15 years’ experience in finance leadership positions and was previously Group CFO at Ctrack Holdings. A Chartered Accountant by training, Bofilatos holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Pretoria as well as a Bachelor of Accounting Science (BCompt Hons) and Certificate in Theory of Accountancy from the University of South Africa. “I am delighted to take over…

“I feel now is the right time for me to step aside and make way for a new leader who will take Telkom to even greater heights,” Sipho Maseko, Telkom CEO, said on Friday. Telkom informed investors today that Maseko will leave Telkom next year. “I will stay on until June 2022 to ensure a smooth transition for my successor. I am most thankful to my colleagues across our country, for trusting me to lead Telkom, and for supporting me throughout this journey of transition.” Maseko joined Telkom eight years ago from rival Vodacom at a time when the organisation…

Sipho Maseko is stepping down as CEO of Telkom after nine years in the job. The company informed investors on Friday that Maseko will depart on 30 June 2022. “The process to appoint a successor is well underway and a designate Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) will be announced in the not too distant future. Sipho would, for the remainder of his tenure, ensure the incoming Group Chief Executive Officer designate’s orderly transition into the role,” Telkom said in a statement. Maseko joined Telkom on 1 April 2013 at a time when the organisation faced severe challenges. During his eight-year…

Vodacom today announced financial results for the first quarter ended 30 June 2021. The Vodafone-owned telco recorded a strong revenue of R24.8 billion, which was up 9%, and if the rand did not strengthen normalised growth would have been 14.2%. The rand appreciated by 20% against a basket of our international currencies, impacting reported growth. Vodacom added that its international portfolio delivered normalised service revenue growth of 13.5%, marking a meaningful recovery from the prior financial year. The company said this performance was supported by M-Pesa revenue growth, up 43.2% on a normalised basis, which benefited from the increased customer…

5G– the fifth-generation wireless network – is about astounding speeds and almost zero latency – the lag time between when your phone pings the network and when it responds. MTN South Africa continues to invest in 5G across the country and is switching on the network in various towns. The company announced today that it has switched on the network in Mpumalanga at eMalahleni (previously Witbank) and Polokwane in Limpopo. “MTN is making strides with its 5G technology rollout strategy,” says Kagiso Moncho, MTN General Manager for Northern Region. “We have already activated 5G in greater Polokwane and Witbank, and…

Pick n Pay has rebranded the Bottles app into Pick n Pay ASAP! as the retailer sees a jump in online sales spurred by a pandemic-led digital boom in South Africa. In November 2020, Pick n Pay said it purchased the application system infrastructure and the related intellectual property relating to the Bottles on-demand mobile application for a purchase price of R33 million. The company launched in 2016 as South Africa’s first alcohol on-demand delivery app and partnered with Pick n Pay in 2018.  Its offer was the first of its kind, promising that orders would be fulfilled within 60 minutes. Following the…

Woolworths reported today a 118% rise in online food sales as the retailer benefited from a pandemic-led digital boom in South Africa. “Online sales grew by 117.9% over the current year, contributing 2.3% to our South African Food sales,” the retailer informed investors today. “This was further supported by the expanded Click-and-Collect offering and the roll out of our on-demand delivery service, Woolies Dash.” The Woolworths Food business grew both market share and volumes during the period despite the high base set in the prior year driven by stockpiling ahead of the first lockdown. Sales for the current year grew…

Revix, a FinTech investment platform, is exploring ways to enable South Africans to invest in popular technology such as artificial intelligence (AI), BioTech, and 5G. The company, led and founded by Sean Sanders, aims to be the first provider in South Africa to launch various themes one can invest in. “South Africans haven’t been able to invest in some of the exciting industries like biotech, AI, and 5G technologies,” Sanders told TechFinancials in an interview today. “We want to be the first player in South Africa to essentially allow people to invest in these areas and enable them to do…

MTN has retained its position as the fastest mobile operator in South Africa, according to new research from credible network speed-testing services. The second-biggest mobile phone operator is ahead of rival Vodacom in terms of the speed available on their respective networks. The reports from Ookla reveals MTN was the fastest mobile operator among top providers in South Africa in Q2 2021 with a Speed Score of 60.44 on modern chipsets. The operator that is led by Godfrey Motsa also came up tops in the highest Consistency Score. Ookla said that in measuring the consistency of each operator’s performance, we found that MTN had the highest Consistency Score in South Africa…

Revix, a FinTech investment platform with offices in Cape Town and London, plans to launch its mobile application in two months. The startup uses some of the R58.5 million it raised from an off-shore capital funding to build its app. “We are launching our mobile app in two months, which is quite exciting,” Sean Sanders, the founder and CEO of Revix, told TechFinancials in an interview. The launch of the mobile app comes at a time when the company’s platform is gaining traction. Sanders said the platform has more than 22 000 customers and is growing fast. Revix was founded…

S outh Africa’s FinTech investment platform Revix aims to expand its operations into Europe and the Middle East. The platform with offices in Cape Town and London is also not discounting setting up operations into the rest of Africa, especially in key markets of Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt. “We would love to grow more into Africa,” Sean Sanders, the founder, and CEO of Revix, told TechFinancials in an interview. “The big conundrum we face in Africa is the regulation side of things.” Sanders said Africa was very slow to adopt cryptocurrencies regulations and introduce new innovative regulations. “As a…

South African-founded Revix is bringing simplicity, trust, and excellent customer service to the crypto investment space. The FinTech investment platform with offices in Cape Town and London enables South Africans to invest in a bundle of the top cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Gold, and more. Revix was founded in 2018 on the principle that everyone should invest their own money and become their wealth manager. The company’s customer growth has mirrored the exponential rise in the cryptocurrency market, which is valued at over $2 trillion or R29 trillion – making the digital asset class more valuable than Apple. Sean Sanders, the founder,…

Swiss Investment Company Crypto Valley Venture Capital will use its new Cape Town office to look for early-stage startups in Africa. More and more blockchain applications are being implemented across the African continent. According to the 2020 Global Crypto Adoption Index, South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria have the highest rates of crypto and blockchain adoption worldwide. It was highlighted that there is a very high understanding of the potential of this technology in South Africa in particular. Crypto Valley Venture Capital’s goal in Africa, together with partners from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the Federal Department of…

In the new 2022 AMG SL Roadster, Mercedes-Benz has designed the touchscreen to be adjusted electrically into a more vertical position. The German carmaker said in a statement that the touchscreen’s portrait format offers clear advantages, especially for navigation, as well as more space ergonomically. The first 300 SL Roadster is one of the most famous automobile icons. It’s minimalist and high-quality interior inspired the designers to create the interior for the new Mercedes-AMG SL. For the new edition of the icon, they created a mix of analogue geometry and digital world – called “hyperanalogue”. A good example of this…

The Volkswagen (VW) Group has unveiled a  bold new auto business strategy that aims to transform the group into a software-driven mobility company with a strong focus on its powerful brands and global technology platforms, providing synergies and scale as well as opening up new profit pools. Herbert Diess, the CEO of VW, laid out the strategy on Tuesday stating that VW is setting new priorities to leverage the opportunities arising from the electric and digital era of mobility, with sustainability and decarbonization as integral parts of its new strategy. “We set ourselves a strategic target to become global market leader…

The country’s communications watchdog said on Tuesday that it had received reports of vandalism of communications infrastructure, including 113 network towers. The attacks have resulted in the disruption of communication services, closure of some community radio stations and vandalism of network facilities. “We call on the communities to assist in guarding and protecting this critical infrastructure, and to exercise the highest levels of patriotism in this regard. Any disruption of communication services could prove disastrous and result in increased mortality as emergency calls may be directly affected,” said Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) chairperson Keabetswe Modimoeng. The community can…

President Cyril Ramaphosa will today address the nation on government’s response to persistent public violence in parts of the country. The exact time of the President’s address will be announced in due course, the Presidency said in a statement. The address follows the announcement by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) that it has commenced with pre-deployment processes and procedures in line with a request for assistance received from the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS). The request entails SANDF support for police operations in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. “In terms of Section 201(2)(a) of the Constitution,…

Virgin Galactic, a vertically integrated aerospace and space travel company, announced that the flight window for the next rocket-powered test flight of its SpaceShipTwo Unity opens July 11, pending weather and technical checks. The vehicle will set off for the 1.5-hour mission above New Mexico at about 4 pm local time. For the first time, Virgin Galactic will share a global livestream of the spaceflight. Audiences around the world are invited to participate virtually in the Unity 22 test flight and see first-hand the extraordinary experience Virgin Galactic.com is creating for future astronauts. The livestream will be available to watch…

Coca-Cola is planning to open a digital delivery centre in Johannesburg and will be recruiting people in data analytics and software engineering roles. Two months ago, Coca-Cola established a new digital hub in Dublin to help accelerate its digital transformation, creating 40 jobs in its first phase. The Dublin hub is one of six worldwide and will create jobs for data engineers, software developers, data analysts and technical experts. Recruitment is already underway. Johannesburg rounds out the list and serves as the latest example of Coca-Cola’s savvy investment in its global digital network. Like other service centres, this teams’ efforts…

Cape Town or the Mother City has been named as one of the best cities for remote working in the Work-from-Anywhere Index. The index, which attempts to quantify the characteristics that make a city-friendly to remote work, is published by the Berlin-headquartered accommodation rental platform Nestpick. The study compares and analyzes 75 cities according to 16 diverse factors to create a final ranking based on a total score. The cities were selected from a list of global locations renowned as popular destinations for relocation and livability, including those who have demonstrated willingness to encourage foreign-employed workers to move there. The…

Pick n Pay said today it had opened additional capacity in response to the high demand in online shopping on its scheduled delivery platform www.pnp.co.za. In Gauteng particularly, where the third wave is resulting in more people distancing and isolating, the retailer has increased delivery slots by 65% on the platform. “We have moved quickly to add delivery slots – particularly in Gauteng – to make sure that we respond to increased demand for online shopping during this time,” says John Bradshaw, retail executive: Omnichannel at Pick n Pay. The retailer says that certain areas in Cape Town experiencing high…

Mercedes-Benz announced today that it has sold a total of 121,500 plug-in-hybrids and all-electric cars worldwide in the first half of 2021. Deliveries of plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars more than quadrupled in just six months, reaching 121,500 units, reflecting a 305% increase compared to the same period last year. The German carmaker said in a statement that in total, the xEVs made up 10.3% of total Mercedes-Benz Cars sales in the first half of 2021. Around 39,000 all-electric vehicles were delivered from January to June showing a 291.4% rise versus the corresponding period in 2020, including more than 19,000…

China has ordered ride-hailing service provider DiDi Chuxing off the country’s app stores until future approval after correction and review. South China Morning Post reported that the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a short statement on Sunday that Didi’s app, often referred to as the Uber of China, has seriously violated the country’s laws and regulations by illegally collecting users’ personal data. As such, the agency has told China’s app stores to remove the app indefinitely, one of the harshest punishments for an internet company. It has also ordered DiDi to take corrective measures and comply with regulations,…