Author: Gugu Lourie

AG Mobile, a local cell phone brand, is embarking on an expansion drive into Africa’s biggest economy – Nigeria – after being successful in Botswana, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. By Gugu Lourie CEO Anthony Goodman, who founded the company 10 years ago and has grown it to provide feature phones and smart phones in most parts of southern Africa, outlines the expansion plans. AG Mobile supplies mobile phone operators and retailers such as Ackerman, Pep Stores and Edgars with feature phones, smartphones and tables. The company recently teamed-up with South African hip-hop artist Cassper Nyovest to sponsor his recent Fill Up…

MTN Group CEO Sifiso Dabengwa is in discussions with the Nigerian Authorities over the $5.2 billion (R71 billion) fine by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the country’s telecoms watchdog. By Staff Writer The proposed fine by the NCC relates to the timing of the disconnection of 5.1 million MTN Nigeria subscribers who were disconnected in August and September 2015 and is based on a fine of 200, 000 Naira (R14 000) for each unregistered subscriber. “The Group CEO is engaging with the Nigerian authorities on the regulatory aspects of this matter,” MTN informed investors on Friday morning. MTN’s licence in Nigeria expires…

The ongoing fibre deployment across South Africa, mostly in affluent areas, leaves out the poor. By Gugu Lourie As South Africa races to provide faster and more reliable broadband, companies involved are more likely to deploy fibre where there are real possibilities of returns – this simply means poor areas are not a priority. Giants Telkom, Vodacom, MTN and Neotel plus smaller niche players such as VumaTel, M-WEB, Vox Telecom and Dark Fibre are rolling out fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and wiring South Africa’s formerly white suburbs to the their fibre networks. Fibre is being rolled out in suburbs such…

Earlier this month, the US Broadband Opportunity Council declared that broadband is “taking its place alongside water, sewer and electricity as essential infrastructure for communities”. By Catherine Middleton Descriptors like “very fast” (Australia), “superfast” (UK), “ultra-fast” (New Zealand) or “ultra-high speed” (Singapore) reinforce the message that speed is an essential component of good broadband. But what would a genuinely 21st century broadband infrastructure look like? And can the National Broadband Network (NBN) under the stewardship of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull fit the bill? High bar Around the world there are broadband projects that give us a taste of what…

Workers themselves, especially millennials, are increasingly unwilling to accept traditional roles as cogs in the corporate machinery being told what to do. Today, 34% of the US workforce freelances, a figure that is estimated to reach 50% by 2020. That’s up from the 31% estimated by the Government Accountability Office in a 2006 study. By Bernhard Resch Uber suffered a legal blow this week when a California judge granted class action status to a lawsuit claiming the car-hailing service treats its drivers like employees, without providing the necessary benefits. Up to 160,000 Uber chauffeurs are now eligible to join the…

Warren Olivier, regional manager of Veeam Southern Africa, examines the importance of business continuity in this environment. Mobile applications have become an integral component of the Always-On business. Whether it is accessing back-end corporate data or creating sales forecasts in the field, the connected worker has come to rely on these solutions. We live in a world where the app is king. Born in the cloud, they are deeply integrated into all aspects of our business and personal lives. And thanks to the consumerisation of technology, many people only care that it works with very little thought given to the…

There is nothing that trumps the ease-of-doing-business in an “overcrowded” and “hyper-competitive” technology distribution industry such as the one in South Africa, which is characterised by price wars. That’s the word of Miles Crisp, the chief executive officer of Tarsus Technology Group (Tarsus), formerly known as MB Technologies – which delisted on the JSE in 2002 when a management consortium paid more than half a billion rand to buy out minorities. Crisp says Tarsus has not discounted winning market share. “If you measure performance in terms of rand value, you are in an industry where costs of items are coming…

by Gugu Lourie South African-based Investec Bank has introduced fingerprint authentication, using Apple’s Touch ID biometrics technology. The move comes after the financial institution introduced voice biometrics verification system on the 25 February 2015 in SA as a tool to improve security. Designed and released by Apple Inc, Touch ID is a fingerprint recognition feature currently available on the iPhone 5S, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Investec clients with an iPhone device will now be able to use Touch ID to log into their Investec App with a single, secure touch, as an alternative to their Investec Online…

By Staff Writer Tarsus Cloud On Demand, a South African Cloud Vendor, will be offering customers the ability to tap into on-premise, off-premise as well as hybrid cloud features of the full Windows Azure Pack offering. The company, which is owned by MB Technologies, said as part of its initial investment into the platform, Cloud On Demand is investing in over R2 million credits for customers to make use of. This will allow them to use the service at a discounted rate, deploy effective proof of concepts for their business as well as truly experience the value of the cloud without…

02 March 2015 MTN launches fortnight and weekly data bundles Today, MTN launched a fortnightly data bundle that is tailored for customers who want to consume a stipulated amount of data within a shorter time frame, without having to commit to a monthly period that does not match their usage requirements. The fortnightly data bundle is valued at R79 for 1GB of data. Alongside the fortnightly data bundle, MTN has introduced weekly data bundles that have a range of denominations. The weekly bundles are priced at R7 for 50MB, R12 for 100MB, R29 for 300MB, R39 for 500MB and R59…

MTN launches fortnight and weekly data bundles Today, MTN launched a fortnightly data bundle that is tailored for customers who want to consume a stipulated amount of data within a shorter time frame, without having to commit to a monthly period that does not match their usage requirements. The fortnightly data bundle is valued at R79 for 1GB of data. Alongside the fortnightly data bundle, MTN has introduced weekly data bundles that have a range of denominations. The weekly bundles are priced at R7 for 50MB, R12 for 100MB, R29 for 300MB, R39 for 500MB and R59 for 1GB. These…