Author: Gugu Lourie
By Ujuh ICT giant, IBM, seems to be positioning itself to leverage its first mover advantage in rolling out the equity equivalence requirement in South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) programme. IBM executives expressed an ambition to help other multinationals to meet the special BEE dispensation, equity equivalence. The equity equivalence principle is a special BEE dispensation designed for multinationals which have a global policy that precludes them from selling equity for BEE purposes. Such firms are allowed to come up with alternative socio-economic development investments that will add up to an equivalent of 25% equity. IBM’s ambition to help…
By Ujuh The South African office of ICT giant, IBM, has established an online ideas incubation platform that will collect, harness and harvest innovative ideas from young South Africans as part of a broad Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) initiative. The initiative is tagged as a Portal for Aspirant Entrepreneurs. Unveiling the online platform last week, IBMSA COO Ziaad Suleman spoke of a far reaching platform than what is common. The group is looking beyond the start-up stage and aims to tap into ideas that exist outside formal arrangements. He said innovative ideas that can develop into the next big thing do…
By Gugu Lourie Jasco, a JSE-listed electronics group, announced on Thursday that it has revived talks to sell its shareholding in Malesela Taihan Electric Cable (M-Tec). The process to sell the stake in underperforming M-Tec hit a snag in December 2014 due to an unexpected executive management changes at Taihan. Korean Taihan is another shareholder in M-Tec. At the time Jasco was in talks with Taihan to offload the shareholding to them. On Thursday Jasco said “Shareholders are hereby advised that the company is currently in the advanced stages of negotiations with a related party regarding the disinvestment by Jasco…
By Staff Writer The luxury 18K solid gold Apple watch diamond ecstasy exotic comes in a solid precious metal and diamond encrusted face, buckle, crown and button with a range of exotic animal skin straps. The new Apple Watch in either 18K solid gold, rose gold or platinum watch face and bracelet and encrusted with diamonds and comes with a range of luxurious exotic animal skin straps retails at $45,064.44 (R555, 904.88). Goldgenie says The Apple Watch is unlike no other. It can it tell the time and a lot more. By syncing with your calendar, your notes, and your…
By Simon Torrance “M&A is not enough to support a new wave of sustainable growth for telecoms operators – the most powerful business models in the digital economy are platform-based.” Telecoms groups tend to base their growth strategies on ‘product’-based business models, but platforms will be the key to success in the digital economy. This article identifies the business model problem faced by most telcos and discusses the potential solution to this problem. Telcos must fundamentally re-appraise their growth strategies A few weeks ago, I was running a workshop on new growth strategy and digital disruption for the Board of a…
By Staff Writer Mobile services aggregator Integrat is now InTarget after completing a rebranding exercise that will see it better-positioned to explore opportunities as a diversified mobile advertising and related solutions provider. As one of South Africa’s most established WASPs (Wireless Application Service Providers) with a 15-year pedigree, Integrat provided mobile aggregation, premium SMS, mobile billing and bulk SMS services across the African continent. It last year launched InTarget after securing mobile advertising tenders from MTN and Airtel which called for the commercialisation of mobile advertising platforms in 32 African countries and Iran. After successfully completing the first ten mobile…
By Staff Writer Independent telecommunications provider OTEL says the liberalisation of the telecoms industry means managing agents responsible for administering Gauteng’s business parks have a unique opportunity to add broadband and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) offerings to their bundle of revenue-generating services. “With South Africa’s GDP growth expected to come in well under the 2% percent mark again this year, managing agents need to think of creative ways to diversify their revenue streams. The days of relying solely on administration fees and levies are long gone for any managing agent wanting to expand their business,” said Rad Jankovic, OTEL…
MTN brings connectivity to Gautrain By Staff Writer Starting from today, frustrated commuters using the Gautrain will be able to have access to seamless voice and data services following MTN’s installation of a high speed network. Until now, commuters using the Gautrain could not use their mobile devices due to unavailability of connectivity on this rapid transit railway system. At the launch on 3 July, the MTN network will be live at the Park Station, Sandton and Rosebank stations. The other stations will be covered by existing infrastructure. MTN also announced that it will be further deploying its network…
Vodacom extends coverage underground By Staff Writer Since launching in 2010, the Gautrain has proven increasingly popular with commuters and holiday travellers alike. A drawback has been that mobile coverage didn’t extend to Gautrain’s underground stations, making it impossible to continue calls or keep up with work emails while waiting for the next train to arrive. From today, that’s set to change for Vodacom customers. Over the past three months Vodacom, in partnership with the Department of Roads and Transport, the Gautrain Management Agency, Bombela Concession Company and the Strategic Partners Group, have been busy implementing a communication solution…
By Staff Writer The FNB Banking App scooped international awards, placing it at the top in the category of banking apps, the app has just been ranked 4th best globally by MyPrivateBanking Research in the category of Mobile Apps for Wealth Management 2015, and 6th best globally by the UX Alliance for usability and ease of use. This follows a recent accolade after the app was voted best banking app in Internet Banking SITEisfaction Survey, which measures internet banking quality and user experience in South Africa. FNB’s banking app has a base of over 1.5 million active devices and it…