Author: Gugu Lourie
From near death, Telkom – the country’s fixed-line telephone giant that was on life support for years – finally seems to have recovered enough to be ready to call its main shareholder and others to inform them that it is raring to go. By Gugu Lourie Sounds ridiculous … right? In the past three years market pundits claimed that Telkom being a partially state-owned entity would always be subject to SA Government interference. The sentiments persisted even after Sipho Maseko was appointed Telkom boss in 2013. But since then Maseko has bucked the trend and confounded Telkom’s critics and put the…
In 2006, Huffington Post columnist Danny Miller stated that “gays are the new Jews”. He asked if our ability to accept people who are different from ourselves had plummeted to dangerous levels. By Charles King The world since then has altered substantially: for better, there was the historic Supreme Court decision to legalise same-sex marriage across the US last year. For worse, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex (LGBTI) persons are facing new, unprecedented legal and social challenges in Russia. Furthermore, Amnesty International maintains that “the continued criminalisation of consensual same-sex conduct in 38 African countries is a serious cause for concern…
Investors gave thumbs up to the completion of the three year turnaround at South Africa’s Telkom, with the stock surging on Monday early trade after the company published a good sets of 2016 full year financial results. The stock surge 7.07% at R64.24 by 10:07am on Monday, pushing the company’s market value to R32 billion on the Johannesburg bourse. The shares have risen 298% in the past three years since the company started its turnaround plan in 2013. The South African-based telco reported on Monday morning that operating revenue rose by 14% to R37 billion in the year to end-March…
Telkom announced today that it is the official Olympic sponsor of the South African Olympic and Paralympics teams. The multi-million rand sponsorship will allow SASCOC to expand Team SA, including more qualifying athletes, giving our local talent and opportunity to compete on the world’s greatest sporting stage. Telkom will also be adding R4 million to the medal incentive pot, to be shared between both our Olympic and Paralympic stars. Earlier this year Telkom indicated its intention to support local athletes. In fact, Telkom has a long history of supporting the Olympics, having sponsored teams attending the Athens and Beijing Olympics…
The former CEO of tech firm Altech was paid R15 million in his final year of employment after quitting JSE-listed Altron – a business started by his father Bill Venter, making his one of the top separation payments in the country’s telecommunications industry and closer to the R23.7 million paid to ex-MTN CEO Sifiso Dabengwa. By Gugu Lourie Craig Venter has been working for Altron for 27 years and resigned on 31 July 2015. Altron on Wednesday reported that Craig Venter would receive a base pay of R2.6 million, a R327 000 defined contribution pension payments, R310 000 integration special…
You may have seen the headlines over the weekend, reporting on a new study that’s supposedly found a link between mobile phones and cancer. But all is not quite as it seems. And much of the alarm raised by the study is misplaced. By Rodney Croft First, a bit of background. The study was set up by the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) in response to concerns about the potential health effects of radiofrequency (RF) emissions from mobile telecommunications devices. It was set to determine whether chronic RF exposure caused cancer in mice and rats. This was a large, well-funded study,…
Smartphones can be compromised when charged using a standard USB connection connected to a computer, Kaspersky Lab experts have discovered in a proof-of-concept experiment. The researchers are now evaluating what the impact of such an incident might be. Have you ever wondered how safe your smartphone and data are when you connect the device to freely available charging points at airports, cafes, parks and public transport? Do you know what, and how much data your mobile device is exchanging with these points while it’s charging? Kaspersky Lab researchers became curious and conducted research to find the answers to these questions.…
No one buys technology just for the sake of technology. If that were the case, we might all have pockets full of silicon chips instead of smartphones. To have value, technology has to help people achieve more. It has to make life easier. By Neil Cameron, General Manager, Johnson Controls Building Efficiency Building Management Systems (BMS), such as Metasys by Johnson Controls, do just that. They help facility managers control multiple systems and conditions using one tool, making management of the facility far easier and ensuring the buildings are more efficient. And while they’re doing all that, they’re also gathering enormous…
Mobile phones have become ubiquitous in Africa. Among younger users, basic phones are most common. But more pupils are accessing smartphones that can connect to the internet – and taking them along to school. By Gina Porter Phones are often used in school whether they’re allowed or not. Although they can enable valuable access to information, they also bring new responsibilities and dangers. It’s remarkably common for classes to be interrupted by both pupils’ and teachers’ phones. Access to pornography as well as bullying and harassment through phones is widely reported. We have conducted a study of young people’s mobile phone…
Depending where you live, maybe you follow your local transportation department on Twitter for construction updates. Or maybe you watch Periscope videos of city council sessions, or read live blogs of public school board meetings. By James Toscano Around the world, governments and citizens are engaging on social media. For instance, the town government in Jun, Spain has famously ditched its traditional approach to municipal customer service and replaced it with Twitter interactions. And Twitter extended the reach of emergency management agencies in the U.S. Northeast after 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, providing a “lifeline” to residents who needed critical information but lacked…