Author: Gugu Lourie

The Communications and Digital Technologies is planning to develop a super-regulator to regulate various industries including ICT, films and publications, and domain authority. Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams disclosed the government plans at a media conference in Pretoria on Thursday. “The department will develop a model for smart regulation, which will include the amalgamation of Icasa, the FPB and ZADNA and explore new funding mechanisms for the new regulator,” Ndabeni-Abrahams, said on Thursday. za Domain Name Authority (.ZADNA) is a statutory regulator and manager of .ZA – the Internet country code top-level domain for South Africa. It is…

In a move aimed at creating a new state-owned digital infrastructure company, the South African government is planning to merge Broadband Infraco and Sentech. Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams disclosed the government plans at a media conference in Pretoria on Thursday. “The department is currently finalizing the business case and awaiting certification from the State Law Advisor and DPME with regards to repurposing SITA to create a state IT Company, as well as merging Sentech and Broadband Infraco (Infraco) to form the State Digital Infrastructure Company,” Ndabeni-Abrahams, said. The plan to create another state-owned company from the existing…

BMW Group has reached another electromobility milestone and already delivered half a million electrified cars to customers worldwide. The German carmaker announced on Thursday that it is planning to double the number of electrified vehicles by end of 2021. “Half a million vehicles is the best proof: Our broad range of electrified vehicles is meeting exact customer needs. Now, we are stepping up the pace significantly: We aim to have one million electrified vehicles on the roads within two years. This is our contribution towards effective climate protection,” said Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG. The…

German carmaker BMW has announced it will begin making the all-electric iX3 in 2020. The BMW iX3 is produced for the world market by the joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive in Shenyang, China. The iX3, which is based on the X3, will be BMW’s third electric model to reach the market. The new car will achieve a range of more than 440 km with a net-battery size of 74 kWh. The iX3 will also be the first vehicle to sport BMW’s fifth-generation drivetrain technology that will also be used in the i4 and iNext, and feature BMW’s latest battery technology.…

Teleflorist, which allows customers to send flowers across South Africa, has been dealt a severe blow, TechFinancials has reliably learned. The online flower company is shutting down, sources have informed TechFinancials on Wednesday. “The company is under liquidation and has failed to informed its florists’ members that it is closing down,” a source told TechFinancials. TechFinancials was unable to reach Teleflorist for comment as their website was down and customer care phones were off. The phone of Hugo DeKlerk, the owner of Teleflorist, was also off. Teleflorist, which is s an online marketplace that connects people looking to buy fresh…

In what is seen as a major step to protect small, micro, medium and co-operative enterprises (SMMEs) from bullying by big businesses, non-payment of goods and services, predatory, exploitative practices and anticompetitive practice, South African lawmakers are drafting a new law to police big business. During the fifth Parliament, following several grievances from small, micro, medium and co-operative enterprises, the Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development resolved to invite and encourage small enterprises to come forward and table their concerns. Obviously, some did not do so out of fearing reprisals from big or private business. The committee was aware of…

A KwaZulu Natal-based small business is involved in a fierce battle with mobile phone giant Vodacom after settling out of court with Sweden’s telecoms giant Ericsson. Peet and Heidi-Anne Thuynsma, owners and founders of MDPS (Mobile Diesel Power Systems), have been fighting Vodacom for close to three years. The central claim is that Vodacom suspended its services after false claims related to buying diesel for running the mobile phone operators’ generators for its mobile phone towers in KwaZulu Natal. MDPS has never made any admissions to the fraud allegations. The mobile phone operator said it received summons on 28 November.…

A KwaZulu-Natal business couple is suing mobile phone giant Vodacom for close to R100 million in damages, claiming their services were suspended overnight and left with bad debt. Peet and Heidi-Anne Thuynsma, owners and founders of MDPS (Mobile Diesel Power Systems), have been fighting Vodacom for close to three years. The Thuynsma have been in business for 20 years, providing generator services to Vodacom KwaZulu Natal (KZN). Basically, if the power went off due to load-shedding or something else, MDPS would drive with a mobile generator to a site to provide standby power so that the Vodacom network continues to…

The Dutch arm of South African internet titan Naspers, Prosus is a step closer to acquiring Just Eat, which is at the centre of a takeover battle with Takeaway. The company, controlled by South African-based Naspers, has cleared the acquisition of Just Eat with the Spanish Markets and Competition Commission under the Spanish Competition Act. “We are pleased to have cleared the competition hurdle which further underlines the certainty and deliverability of our superior cash offer of 740p per share to Just Eat shareholders,” said Bob van Dijk, the Group CEO of Prosus. Prosus said this is an important milestone…

The board of Just Eat, the online food delivery platform, says the revised bid offer by tech giant Prosus undervalues the business. “The Board of Just Eat has now considered the terms of the Prosus offer and continues to believe that it significantly undervalues Just Eat and its attractive assets and prospects both on a standalone basis and as part of the proposed recommended all-share combination with Takeaway.com,” the company’s board informed investors on Tuesday. On Monday, Naspers-owned Prosus sweetened its offer to 740p offer a share. The increased offer is at a 25.6% premium to Just Eat’s closing share…

The battle for control of Just Eat intensified today when Naspers-owned tech giant Prosus raised its offer to R98 billion. Just Eat has rejected a £5bn hostile swoop by Prosus, the Dutch arm of South Africa internet titan Naspers. Its board is instead recommending investors support a planned merger with Takeaway.com that was announced this summer. In October, the Euronext and JSE-listed tech giant made a bid of 4.9 billion pounds ($6.35 billion or R94 billion) or 710 pence a share, in cash for Just Eat. For more read: Naspers’ Prosus Makes R94bn Bid For Just Eat The company has now raised…

South African mobile data network operator rain, which recently launched its intelligent 5G transport network, continues to invest in its 5G network across the country. 5G promises to be much faster than the current fourth-generation 4G and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) networks, meaning that users should be able to download files, transfer data and browse the internet at much faster speeds than what telco services are capable of now. An industry intelligence report by BIS Research titled “Global 5G Infrastructure Market – Analysis and Forecast, 2019-2025” sees the global 5G-infrastructure market growing by more than $42 billion by 2025. Rain, partly…

Digital banking service TymeBank is onboarding about 100 000 customers per month or between 20 000 and 30 000 customers each week. Billionaire Patrice Motsepe, through his investment company African Rainbow Capital Investment, bought a majority stake in TymeBank in 2018. African Rainbow Capital informed investors on Friday TymeBank succeeded in acquiring one million customers by 23 November 2019. “This milestone is slightly ahead of its schedule, as the bank originally expected to achieve this by end of December 2019,” the investment company said. “The bank is now working towards onboarding two million customers by December 2020.” TymeBank was officially…

South Africa, with one of the worst savings rates in the world, has more of a debt culture than a savings one. The latest savings statistics make for grim reading. The South African Savings Institute recently stated that the household savings rate had plunged from an already poor 0.4% of gross domestic product last July to negative 0.5% this year, effectively labelling this country as a nation of dis-savers. Enter Jupiter, a savings based FinTech company with a focus to deliver a frictionless and enjoyable savings process through its app, which allows everyday South Africans to earn stable and positive…

Gotbot AI, Africa’s tech startups, has received a significant investment boost to the value of R2,5-million from venture capital firm Capacitech. The first such investment of its kind for Gotbot AI will mean the company’s co-founders Nick Argyros and Chris Green, along with Chief Operational Officer, Craig McLeod, will be able to accelerate new developments and move the three-year-old start-up into the fast lane. In 2016, Gotbot AI launched an automated social commerce product called Get It, and have since shown steady growth with the development of their flagship product Custom Care. They quickly acquired key clients such as Toyota,…

Teraco announced on Monday that Jan Hnizdo, currently the company’s executive director, has been named as the CEO of Africa’s largest vendor-neutral data centre. The appointment is effective 1 January 2020. Hnizdo will replace Lex Van Wyk, who will step down as CEO. Van Wyk will remain a shareholder in Teraco and will continue to serve on the board in the capacity of non-executive Director. “This transition has been carefully planned over the last few years. The current management team is focused and stays in place with the same goals. Importantly, Jan has been an outstanding part of the leadership…

MTN announced yesterday the launch of its mobile money diaspora service, MTN Homeland. The aim of this service is to facilitate money and airtime transfers from Europe to Africa and parts of the Middle East. The service is powered by Johannesburg-based FinTech startup MFS Africa, the largest digital payments hub on the continent. It connects over 180 million mobile wallets on the continent. Through a single API, MFS Africa connects mobile wallet systems, banks, money transfer operators, and merchants to enable real-time, cross-border and cross-network transactions. With MTN Homeland, remittances can be made from Europe to Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Ghana,…

Troubled Cell C has once again pushed back against efforts by Telkom to buy it, as its board sent a letter bluntly telling the South African telco it’s not interested in the offer. “Telkom has received written notice from the Cell C board of directors rejecting its non-binding proposal,” Telkom informed investors on Friday. “The Telkom Board continues to believe the offer is a compelling proposition that would have created significant value for all stakeholders including Telkom’s shareholders. “As the offer has been rejected by Cell C’s board of directors, Telkom shareholders are advised that they are no longer required…

Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub is to join Vodafone executive committee. British mobile phone giant Vodafone is a majority shareholder of Vodacom, South Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator. Vodafone will simplify its management structure with the removal of the rest of world regional organisation, from the beginning of full-year 20/21, Vodacom spokesperson told TechFinancials in an email. Vodacom was responding to TechFinancials query that Joosub will be joining Vodafone as its head of Africa operations. For more read: Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub ‘Quits’ to Head Vodafone Africa “Following this reorganisation, Shameel Joosub, the Chief Executive of Vodacom Group, will be joining…

There are some unconfirmed rumours swirling around long-serving Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub, who recently was sent on study leave at Harvard Business School. For more read: Vodacom CEO on ‘Study Leave’, Vuyani Jarana ‘May’ Rejoin the Operator The alleged imminent departure of Joosub follows the resignation of chief financial officer Till Streichert and chief technology officer, Andries Delport. However, in an internal communique seen by TechCentral, Joosub assured his team early on Thursday morning that “contrary to what may be speculated, there is nothing sinister about this and no link to Andries’s announcement”. But, Joosub might have been trying to…

The performance of the share price of Welkom Yizani, the black economic empowerment (BEE) shares of Media24, continues to disappoint investors. Investors paid in a subscription of R10.00 per share at the establishment of the scheme in 2006. In the past 12 months, the share price has reached a low of R6.51 per share and at the same time shot up to a high of R13.00 per share. The stock on Tuesday was trading at R7.52 per share and yesterday was at R7.50 per share. This is way below the subscription price of R10.00 per share. Investors of Welkom Yizani…

Vodacom Group CFO Till Streichert will leave the company in June 2020 to pursue an external opportunity outside of Vodacom. The Vodafone-owned telco said Streichert will step down from his role on the Vodacom Group board at around the same time or at an earlier mutually agreed date. Streichert departure follows the resignation on Monday of Vodacom’s chief technology officer, Andries Delport. For more read: Vodacom Says CTO Andries Delport Leaves the Company Streichert was seconded to Vodacom from Vodafone in February 2014. During his tenure at Vodacom, he evolved the finance team into a successful intelligence unit focused on…

The listing on the JSE of MTN Zakhele Futhi, the black economic empowerment scheme of MTN Group, disappoints investors. The shares of MTN Zakhele Futhi debuted on Monday on the JSE. Yesterday, the stock opened at R6 and peaked at R9,20 to close at R4,80. By 1153, the stock was trading at R5.50 a share. Investors of MTN Zakhele Futhi are disappointed as this implies the stock has lost close to 90% of its value. The shares are trading way below its net asset value which was more than R22 in September 2018. Black investor spent R20 each, with a…

SA Taxi, a vertically integrated minibus taxi platform, wants to use technology to modernize the South African minibus taxi industry and make travelling safe. The company announced on Tuesday is using its telematics and other data accumulated from its rewards programmes to proactively drive behavioural changes in the minibus taxi industry. The company said using telematics and data in the taxi industry would have a positive social impact and enhance commuter safety. SA Taxi will expand its tailored rewards programmes within the minibus taxi ecosystem. “Ultimately, the division intends to leverage its telematics and rewards programmes data to connect to…

Vodacom Group said on Tuesday Chief Technology Officer Andries Delport was leaving the company. The Vodafone-owned mobile phone operator said Delport will pursue external interests with effect from May 2020. Vodacom will announce a successor for the Group CTO position in due course. “Andries has been a key member of the Vodacom family for the past 23 years and his contribution to the Group has been immeasurable. I would like to thank Andries for his leadership in building world-class networks and his commitment to transforming our technology capability across the group,” said Vodacom Group Chief Executive Officer, Shameel Joosub. “Andries…