Author: Gugu Lourie
by Ylva Rodny-Gumede The year 2016 will go down in history as the year in which fake news really took centre stage. It played a decisive role in major events such as the outcome of the US elections and the British Brexit vote. In South Africa, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, newspaper editors and journalists have become among the most prominent targets for fake news peddlers. The common denominator of fake news – fictional pieces of information or narratives – has been that lies are used to discredit individuals, as well as their viewpoints and agendas. Fake news, misinformation, propaganda and hoaxes…
by Staff Writer The AMG and Benz seem to have declared war on the Audi’s RS 6 Avant with the launch of the new E 63 4MATIC+* Estate and E 63 S 4MATIC+* Estate. The world premiere of the two performance estate models will be at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2017. Sales release is in April 2017, with the market launch scheduled to start in June 2017. We hope it will then grace our shores. From launch, the E 63 S 4MATIC+ Estate will be available as the exclusively configured “Edition 1” for around one year. The paintwork in designo…
by Gugu Lourie South African-based fleet management Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider, Mix Telematics has passed 600 000 subscriber mark for the first time in the business history as more customers see value in its solutions. The R2.2 billion company – which in August 2013 listed on the New York Stock Exchange – on Thursday announced that it has added 20 000 new subscribers in the third quarter to end-December 2016, pushing its total base to above 600 000. Mix Telematics develops its fleet management solutions using a SaaS model in South Africa, where it takes advantage of savings on costs of…
by Staff Writer MTN, Africa and the Middle East biggest mobile-phone operator, agreed to increase its stake in tower group IHS in exchange for a stake in Nigeria Tower InterCo, the parent company of INT Tower, which is the telecom tower operator in Nigeria. The South African-based firm will swap 51% shareholding in Nigeria Tower for an additional stake in IHS Group. This will enable MTN to up its shareholding in IHS Group to about 29% from 15%, enabling the telco to diversify its tower infrastructure exposure. IHS Group is the largest independent tower operator in Africa, Europe and the…
by Staff Writer Vodacom informed investors on Wednesday that its Internet of Things (IoT) customers increased by 29.3% to 2.8 million in the third quarter to end-December 2016. The customers of Vodacom Business, an enterprise division of Vodafone-owned Vodacom, continues to adopt IoT solutions. IoT, previously machine-to-machine, is the remote wireless interchange between two or more predefined devices or a central station without a direct relationship with an end customer, in order to support a specific business process or product. Customer enthusiasm for the IoT is growing across sectors, fueling more than $75 billion in mergers & acquisitions by major…
by Staff Writer South African-based Vodacom’s latest promotions seem to be paying off, as the telco added more than 1.6 million customers in the third quarter ended 31 December 2016. Vodacom, which is owned by British mobile phone giant Vodafone, announced on Wednesday that it added 690 000 new subscribers in South Africa and 876 000 in its International operations, pushing its total active customer base to 65.2 million. To compete aggressively against its rivals – MTN, Cell C, FNB Connect, Telkom and Virgin Mobile, etc – Vodacom has been running a range of promotions to distinguish itself from its competitors. Some…
by Gugu Lourie The crippled South African Post Office (Sapo) is targeting e-commerce and financial services as a way to salvage its declining business. The organisation, which is led by Mark Barnes who assumed the CEO position in January last year, is collaborating with various partners to make its e-commerce plans a reality. Barnes said in a statement on Tuesday that Sapo was focusing on e-commerce in collaboration with the Universal Postal Union, and local and international players to make a case for South Africa being an e-commerce hub for the Southern Africa region. He added that as part of…
by Gugu Lourie Cardtronics, which defines itself as the world’s biggest operator of non-bank ATMs, announced on Tuesday that it would acquire South Africa’s independent ATM provider, Spark ATM Systems. The Nasdaq-listed ATM giant didn’t disclose the amount it would pay for the South African independent ATM provider, which has a growing nationwide network of about 2,600 ATMs. The deal, which is the first for Cardtronics in the African continent, would make South Africa an anchor market in Africa for the US-based operator on non-bank ATMs. Spark ATM Systems is the independent ATM deployer in South Africa, installing and operating…
by Dominique Collett, head of AlphaCode, a Rand Merchant Investments club for fintech startup entrepreneurs From digital banks to mobile-payment solutions, technology is set to change the South African financial services landscape at a pace that will continue to surprise even the most hard-core non-believer. Digital banks On the banking front, 2017 will be the year of the digital bank, both globally and locally. In South Africa, we will see Discovery Bank and CBA Tyme – both digital banks – start operating and it should be interesting to see how the market responds. SME financing Politicians and economists tell us…
by Gugu Lourie ICASA, South Africa’s telephone regulator, is kick-starting a process to review the fees charged by Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Telkom to handle calls from other providers, a move that could hit revenues for phone firms and pave way for cheaper calls. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) said in a statement on Monday that the review is in line with the Electronic Communications Act that governs the sector. The Mobile Call Termination (MTR) regulations were contentious and challenged in court by mobile phone operators. ICASA said on Monday that it is inviting interested stakeholders…