Author: Gugu Lourie
With the December holidays only a few weeks away, many executives, business owners and entrepreneurs will be planning to take their work away with them. Few people can afford to completely disconnect from the office, particularly at a time when businesses of all sizes and across sectors are under pressure. For those travelling abroad, however, staying connected can quickly become a costly – and often complex – exercise. Some travellers opt for local SIM cards, others rely on public and hotel Wi-Fi, and most are unaware of the security and cost implications of each option. So what is the…
Vodacom is in discussions with Neotel and its shareholders to explore a revised transaction structure. By Gugu Lourie The South African biggest mobile phone operator is in a process of buying Neotel for R7 billion from its parent company Tata Communications. The Competition Tribunal was set to hear Vodacom’s application for the acquisition of Neotel between today, 23 November 2015, and 11 December 2015. But the tribunal has agreed on the weekend to postpone a hearing into the proposed R7bn Vodacom-Neotel merger. Vodacom informed investors on Monday that it was in discussions with Neotel and the shareholders of Neotel…
The Competition Tribunal of South Africa agreed on the weekend to postpone a hearing into the proposed R7bn Vodacom-Neotel merger. By Gareth van Zyl, NewsAgency This comes after Vodacom [JSE:VOD] and Neotel brought an application for a postponement of the hearing that was scheduled to start on Monday. Reasons for the postponement were not disclosed by the Competition Tribunal. However, Fin24 understands that the delay has inconvenienced parties opposed to the merger as witnesses have been transported to Gauteng where the hearing is planned to happen in Pretoria. Instead, the Competition Tribunal will hold a private pre-hearing on Monday to discuss…
Telkom on Sunday announced that that it has teamed up with Olympic sprinter, Usain Bolt in a media partnership to promote fibre technology. Bolt is regarded as the fastest person ever and the first man to hold both the 100 metres and 200 metres world records. He is the reigning Olympic champion in these events and the first man to win six gold medals in sprinting. By Staff Writer This alliance is a first of its kind between a South African telecommunications company and an international sprint star. Telkom is currently rolling out an extensive network of fibre technology as…
South Africa’s Telkom’s share price has been on the up again today, buoyed by yesterday’s collapse of the talks with Dubai-Based Oger Telecom to buy Cell C. By Staff Writer On Thursday, Telkom shares jumped after acquisition talks with Oger Telecom to buy its stake in Cell C collapsed, ending concern the local firm would overpay to bulk up its mobile phone assets. Telkom shares traded a 1.52% higher at R68.02 by midday on Friday as investors continue to digest news of the country’s incumbent fixed line operator calling talks off discussions with Oger Telecom to buy the country’s third biggest…
Turnaround plans at the South African Post Office do not include any talk of privatisation, says the state-owned company’s new chief executive officer. By Gareth van Zyl, NewsAgency Cabinet on Thursday approved the appointment of Mark Barnes as the Group Chief Executive Officer of the South African Post Office (Sapo) with his five-year term expected to start on January 15 2016. Barnes is currently the biggest shareholder and executive chairperson in investing and trading solutions company Purple Group. He was also previously an investment banker at Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank (SCMB) and former head of private equity firm Brait. Government…
Project Isizwe, a non-profit organisation which aims to bring Free WiFi to low-income areas across South Africa, was counted amongst the big winners at the 8th Annual Africacom Awards, held yesterday at the Cape Town ICC. Project Isizwe won in two categories: “The Best Connectivity Solution for Africa” for the Tshwane Free WiFi Project and “Best App for Africa” for the Tshwane WiFi Voice Mobile App. Launched in 2013, Tshwane Free WiFi, currently has over 700 live sites and 1 Million Unique Users connected at speeds averaging 15mbps. The people of the City are able to enjoy 500MB…
Cabinet has approved the appointment of Mark Barnes as the Group Chief Executive Officer of the South African Post Office (Sapo) on Thursday. By Gareth van Zyl, NewsAgency Barnes has been appointed for a five-year period, starting from January 15 2016. There is expected to be a handover from Trevor Ndlazi who was appointed as acting group chief executive officer in October. Barnes graduated from UCT with an Honours Degree in Actuarial Science and attended Harvard Business School. He is also the single biggest shareholder and executive chairperson in investing and trading solutions company Purple Group. He also has leadership experience…
Big data has become some sort of celebrity. Everybody talks about it, but it is not clear what it is. To unpack its relevance to society it is important to backtrack a bit to understand why and how it came to be this ubiquitous problem. By Bruce Mellado Big data is about processing large amounts of data. It is associated with multiplicities of data formats stored somewhere, say in a cloud or in distributed computing systems. But the ability to generate data systematically outpaces the ability to store it. The amount of data is becoming so big and is produced so…
Telkom shares jumped after after acquisition talks with Dubai-based Oger Telecom to buy its stake in Cell C collapsed on Thursday, ending concern the local firm would overpay to bulk up its mobile phone assets. By Staff Writer Telkom said on Thursday talks to buy Cell C collapsed after not reaching an agreement with Oger Telecom on how to value Cell C. By “mutual agreement” Telkom and Oger Telecoms said they have ended all discussions related to the potential purchase of Cell C by Telkom. “Through Telkom’s engagement with Oger Telecoms in relation to Cell C, it has become…