Author: Gugu Lourie
As thousands of EFF marchers arrived in Sandton on Tuesday afternoon, the party’s leader Julius Malema had harsh words for the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) after a fence was erected at the entrance of its building. By Thomas Hartleb, Lizeka Tandwa and Ahmed Areff, News24 Agency “You are so racist, you do not even belong to South Africa,” he said. “You lock us here [when] we got permission to come here. You treat us like criminals because we are black.” He asked police outside the JSE why they allowed “these whites” to treat them like that when the party had…
The South African Post Office (Sapo) plans to pay its employees the remaining 30% of their salaries on Wednesday October 28. By Gareth van Zyl Sapo revealed last week that its negative financial position meant that it could only pay salaries in two batches: 50% by October 25 2015 and the balance on 31 October 2015. Then on Monday, Sapo said it paid its workers 70% of their salaries last week and planned to pay the outstanding 30% on October 31. Now, Sapo has made another change to its salary payments for the month of October. “As a consequence of around-the-clock…
Wireless ISP, BreedeNet says its business providing high speed Internet to rural areas has been boosted since it joined the 180 member strong community at NAPAfrica, Africa’s largest Internet exchange (IXP), based at Africa’s only vendor neutral data centre, Teraco. By Staff Writer Coert Smit, Network Operations Director, BreedeNet says that as a rural Wireless ISP the company is constantly striving to reduce costs and find creative ways to bring value to its clients. “We are not situated in the metro areas and as a result bandwidth and Internet breakout is always extremely expensive. Our plan was to expand…
The recent introduction by Vodacom of a prepaid data roaming solution could have a significant impact on the machine-to-machine (M2M) market in Africa. By Kees Snijders, MD of Flickswitch While Vodacom is not the first operator to go the prepaid data roaming route, the announcement reflects the need to provide companies who are reliant on M2M solutions, including vehicle telemetry, with a more cost-effective offering. For us, the added benefit is that we can provide our clients with a managed prepaid SIM solution meeting their unique requirements. By virtue of the fact that Vodacom is now the first operator covering…
Innovation was the unspoken theme at the first day of the 10th annual GovTech conference, currently underway at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban. By Staff Writer In his address opening the conference yesterday morning, the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Siyabonga Cwele highlighted government’s efforts to create a digitally-savvy citizenry, to drive South Africa’s transition to a knowledge economy. “We have begun implementing the first phase of the SA Connect policy to rollout broadband infrastructure by conducting pilots in eight rural districts. We are finalising plans and funding options for the second phase, which…
Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services is coming to more than 10 000 Pretoria East homes by end December 2015. By Staff Writer Openserve, the wholesale division of Telkom, announced on Tuesday that FTTH services will be launched in Pretoria East suburbs such as Faerie Glen, Garsfontein, etc. Openserve was launched earlier this month as part of Telkom’s ongoing efforts to strengthen customer focus. “Openserve is committed to Telkom’s goal of reaching one million homes with fibre access by 2018 and already has the largest fibre network in the country,” said Openserve MD Alphonzo Samuels. “We want to significantly impact broadband in South…
DStv Compact and Extra customers will soon have access to DStv’s best entertainment when it’s most convenient to them. By Staff Writer DStv Catch Up allows customers to ‘catch up’ on their favourite series, movies, documentaries and sports events when it suits them. It’s a great way to not miss a single second of entertainment and to discover the great content available on DStv. A selection of the most popular shows – like Isibaya, The Road and Generations, as well as a selection of the best soccer and other sporting highlights is automatically sent to customers’ DStv Exploras – ready and waiting for them to watch whenever they have the time. Up to 150 hours of…
The City of Cape Town is planning to introduce biofuel and electric buses in the future to deal with gas emission in the city. By Staff Writer Currently, 97% of public transport across the world operates on diesel, contributing to pollution and climate change. Worldwide there are 1,3 million deaths due to traffic accidents annually and a further 3,1 million deaths from particle emissions – meaning one out of eight deaths is related to poor air quality. Biofuel, such as biogas or biodiesel, is produced from renewable resources: plant biomass, vegetable oils or treated municipal and industrial waste –…
OTEL, South Africa’s telecoms firm, is opening up regional opportunities for Western Cape entrepreneurs interested in staking their claim in the lucrative telecoms sector. By Staff Writer OTEL is a licensed business-to-business provider of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) solutions that enable corporate voice and data applications such as high-speed broadband Internet, web-enabled office switchboards, Cloud-based back-up solutions, and voice calling applications that cost a fraction of what businesses would outlay to traditional telecoms providers. The company claims that its nationwide dedicated network and cutting-edge technology positions it as one of South Africa’s leading wholesale telecoms providers. “New entrants…
MTN said on Monday its Nigerian division has been hit with a $5.2 billion (R71 billion) fine by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the country’s telecoms watchdog. By Gugu Lourie The mobile phone operator inform investors that the fine relates to the timing of the disconnection of 5.1 million MTN Nigeria subscribers who were disconnected in August and September 2015 and is based on a fine of N200, 000 for each unregistered subscriber. “MTN Nigeria is currently in discussions with the NCC to resolve the matter in recognition of the circumstances that prevailed with regard to these subscribers. We will continue…