Author: Gugu Lourie

MTN’s old hand Phuthuma Nhleko on Thursday announced a change in the company’s “operating structure with a view to strengthening operational oversight, leadership, governance and regulatory compliance across its 22 country operations in Africa and the Middle East.” By Gugu Lourie So that’s great Nhleko is making sure that new ideas get implemented at MTN. He has resolved to restructure MTN into three regions – namely West and Central Africa, South and East Africa and Middle East and North Africa. To strengthen the group structure, MTN has also made a number of senior appointments. Effective 1 December 2015 Jyoti…

MTN informed investors on Thursday that the Nigerian government has reduced fine imposed on its Nigerian operation to $3.4 billion from $5.2 billion. By Gugu Lourie The South African-based mobile phone operator said it has received a formal letter dated 2 December 2015 from the NCC informing them to pay $3.4 billion by 31 December 2015. The fine relates to the late disconnecting of 5.1 million MTN Nigerian subscribers in August and September 2015. MTN said in a statement it is carefully considering the NCC’s reply, however the executive chairman Phuthuma Nhleko will immediately and urgently re-engage with the Nigerian…

MTN announced on Thursday that its Nigerian CEO, Michael Ikpoki, has resigned with immediate effect. By Gugu Lourie His resignation follows a $5.2 billion (R71 billion) fine by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over MTN Nigeria’s failure to register customers. The company is still in talks with the Nigerian government regarding the proposed fine. “MTN Nigeria’s CEO Michael Ikpoki and the head of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Akinwale Goodluck have tendered their resignations with immediate effect,” MTN informed investors on Thursday morning. The mobile phone operator said Ikpoki would be replaced by Ferdi Moolman as MTN Nigeria CEO and Amina…

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) on Wednesday announced that it had concluded a settlement agreement with Japanese power company Hitachi into the awarding of the Medupi  contract. NewsAgency The AfDB, one of Medupi’s funders, said the deal follows a three-year investigation into allegations of sanctionable practices by Hitachi subsidiaries Hitachi Power Europe and Hitachi Power Africa on the Medupi power station boiler works contract. Eskom awarded the Medupi contract to the consortium of HPE and HPA in October 2007. The contract was for the design, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of six coal-fired steam generator units at its Medupi…

In a startling development in “gene-drive” technology, a team of researchers at the University of California has succeeded in creating genetically modified mosquitoes incapable of spreading the malaria parasite to humans, and which could potentially spread this trait rapidly throughout mosquito populations in the wild. By Jonathan Pugh  This success has the potential to be translated into a huge global health benefit. Although global malarial deaths have been in decline over the past decade or so, the WHO estimates that malaria has been responsible for over 400,000 deaths this year alone. The Anopheles genus of mosquito, when infected, transmits…

Vodacom and Mukuru announced on Wednesday that they have teamed up to enable money to be sent from South Africa directly into any M-Pesa account in Lesotho within minutes. By Staff Writer Vodacom said a user in South Africa in order to send money to Lesotho needs to register with Mukuru. The mobile phone operator said the money transfer can be made at any major retailer such as Checkers,  Lewis, Pep  Stores, Pick n Pay, Shoprite and Spar. Once payment is received, the money is instantly transferred to the recipient’s M-Pesa account in Lesotho. Vodacom claims that this will…

Italian-based and listed firm Datalogic  announced on Wednesday that it has set up an office in Cape Town, South Africa, to be closer to its existing clients and new potential customers. By Staff Writer Datalogic – a global leader in Automatic Data Capture and Industrial Automation markets, and world-class producer of bar code readers, mobile computers, sensors and safety, vision and laser marking systems – said the new office in South Africa reflects the growing strategic significance of the region for Datalogic where it has been building its presence since 2013. Datalogic operates in 30 countries and sells products…

Year-on-year supply and demand for internet accommodation service Airbnb is exploding in South Africa with triple-digit percentage growth. By Gareth van Zyl, NewsAgency This is according to Airbnb general manager for the Middle East and Africa Nicola D’Elia, who is visiting South Africa this week. Airbnb uses internet technology to enable ordinary property owners to rent out rooms and even entire homes to guests from anywhere in the world. The number of South African homes listed on Airbnb has jumped from around 9 000 in July this year to 13 000, said D’Elia. But on a year-on-year basis, he told Fin24 the…

WeChat Africa plans to invest R50 million in tech startups in Africa, to support local entrepreneurs and technology innovations. By Staff Writer WeChat Africa will identify promising tech startups, via an application and selection process, and support their speedy entrance into the market using the WeChat platform. To coordinate the initiative, tech strategy practice firm, Batstone, has been appointed by WeChat Africa to source and coordinate early stage investment opportunities among tech startups in Africa. “Our fund aims to provide financial support to businesses so that they can effectively get on the WeChat platform.  This will include technical integration and…

Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company (YOFC), a Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed supplier in the telecoms optical fibre cable industry, is to invest R150 million in South Africa to set up a fibre cable manufacturing plant. By Staff Writer The China-based firm has set up its Yangtze Optical Fibre (Africa) subsidiary in Johannesburg. It is planning to build an optical fibre cable manufacturing plant with warehouse facilities in the Dube Tradeport Special Economic Zone of Durban with an initial investment of approximately R150 million and an annual capacity of up to 1,000,000 FKm (fibre kilometres). The South…