Author: Gugu Lourie

MTN’s share price continued its downward trend on Tuesday as news emerged that the Nigerian authorities would not reduce the $5.2bn fine. By Duncan Alfreds, NewsAgency The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) slapped the hefty fine on Africa’s biggest mobile operator after MTN failed to register 5.1 million SIM cards. The NCC however cut MTN some slack by extending the November 16 deadline for payment to an undisclosed date. The $5.2bn (over R74bn) fine is based on a charge of 200 000 naira ($1 005) for each unregistered customer. According to data from INET BFA, MTN’s share price dropped as much as…

 Higher speed long term evolution (LTE) networks are set to drive a massive increase in data consumption in sub-Saharan Africa, said a new report. By Duncan Alfreds, NewsAgency According to the Ericsson Mobility Report released at the AfricaCom tech conference under way in Cape Town, data traffic is expected to grow 15 times between 2015 and 2021, reaching 2 200 Petabytes. “In sub-Saharan Africa, the dividends of connecting the unconnected through mobile broadband access and driving new services cannot be overlooked as it allows business and society to fulfil their potential and create a more sustainable future,” said Fredrik Jejdling, regional…

From 17 November, the highly acclaimed series Breaking Bad is coming to ShowMax. Breaking Bad, which debuted in 2008, tells the story of high-school chemistry teacher Walter White who branches out into the manufacture and sale of illegal drugs after learning that he has terminal cancer. Over five seasons and 62 episodes in total, the tale of Walter’s desperate bid to make money for his family in the time he has left unfolds. Speaking about bringing Breaking Bad to ShowMax, head of content Victor Eckard said: “Breaking Bad is simply epic. It’s one of the most witty, clever, dark and…

We are still in the early stages of a new era in sport: the era of big data. Most sports fans love statistics.  Goals, points, runs, saves. They are the tools of the trade. But it’s only recently that we started paying attention to advance data, or analytics, which was strange and controversial just 15 years ago. By Brett Parker, MD at SAP Africa Let me tell you a story about a major sporting event that happened in Europe. Fans traveled hundreds of kilometres to be there. There were no hotel rooms available, so they pitched tents and slept outside. Before the…

If pre-Christmas searches are anything to go by, this festive season many visitors to South Africa’s online marketplace bidorbuy would like Santa to bring them – a drone. By Staff Writer “The term drone is now among the ten most frequent searches on the site, shoulder-to-shoulder with watches, smartphones, laptops, tablets, consoles, games, toys and hobbies”, says bidorbuy CEO Jaco Jonker. The most sought after watch seems to be Rolex, although that search probably belongs in the domain of wishful thinking, as the pricing on bidorbuy starts from R5000 for a small second-hand ladies’ watch to half a million rands…

Fixed line revenues are tumbling but mobile has helped spur a jump in earnings at Telkom, the company said in its interim results statement on Monday. By Duncan Alfreds, NewsAgency Telkom’s group net revenue increased 1.2% year-on-year for the six months ended September 2015 from R13.29bn to R13.45bn. A key challenge for the company has included its fixed-line voice usage revenue which decreased 14.1% to R3.1bn. The number of Telkom fixed lines in South Africa also continued to fall from 3.5 million in September 2014 to 3.3 million in September 2015.But revenue from mobile service and subscriptions increased 41% to R1.2bn…

Nigerian regulators’ decision to extend a November 16 deadline to fine MTN R74.8bn suggests discussions are making headway, says an analyst. By Gareth van Zyl, NewsAgency The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) issued a R74.8bn fine to MTN last month for failing to disconnect five million unregistered SIM cards in a timely manner. The NCC then set a deadline of November 16 for MTN to pay the fine. But MTN, which has 62 million subscribers in Nigeria, said in a market update on Monday that “Nigerian authorities have, without prejudice, agreed that the imposed fine will not be payable until the negotiations…

Cellular product distributor Allied Mobile Africa has secured $55 million (R800 million) funding deal with the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). By Staff Writer The debt funding facility is to drive the company’s growth in South Africa as well as their expansion on the rest of the African continent. From its inception in 2003 Allied Mobile has grown to be the dominant, cellular product distributor and 3rd-party logistics provider to the mobile telecommunications industry in Africa. Allied Group owns a substantive share of Virgin Mobile South Africa. Leveraging its leadership position in South Africa and other existing markets, Allied Mobile…

MTN has advised investors on Monday morning that the Nigerian Communications Commission has agreed not to impose a $5.2 billion fine on Africa’s largest mobile phone operator until talks have beeen completed. By Staff Writer MTN Nigeria, which was fined for failing to deactivate SIM cards that were not complying with Nigerian laws, is still in talks with that country’s government. The deadline set for the payment of the fine was today, November 16. “Although the Nigerian Communications Commission set a deadline for payment of the fine by Monday, 16 November 2015, shareholders are advised that the Nigerian authorities have,…

From Cape Town to Thohoyandou, more than 3 000 public health facilites span South Africa. In rural areas, the distance between health facilities can span hundreds of kilometres often covered via poor roads. In places like these, the difference between a health care worker having cellphone reception or seeing the familiar “no service” on a cellphone screen can be a matter of life or death. By Dr Adam Asghar, Dr Indira Govender, Dr Desmond Kegakilwe and Dr Garrick Barber Linda* is a rural community service doctor. While on call one night earlier this year, she receives word to brace herself for…