Author: Gugu Lourie
By Staff Writer The South African government said on Wednesday it has sold its 13.91 per cent stake in Vodacom to the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) to help to finance the R23 billion allocation to Eskom. The National Treasury in a statement said: “In arriving at a decision to dispose of its stake in Vodacom to the PIC, “government undertook a market sounding exercise where numerous organisations presented proposals for raising the funding to be allocated to Eskom.” It added: “Government considered a wide range of options including the sale of listed shareholdings it holds directly, the disposal of listed stakes…
Telkom reduces Fixed DSL and FTTH data bundle prices By Staff Writer Telkom on Wednesday announced price adjustments to a range of its current data products, including Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) and Do bundles on Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), with some bundles slashed by more than 15%. This comes on the back of significant price reductions for other Telkom products, including prepaid mobile data, LTE and LTE A deals for home offices and enhanced value for voice bundles. The new Do Bundle prices start at R399 a month (reduced from R408 previously) for the Do Basic Bundle, which includes up to 2Mbps…
Mobile adoption is fueling a retail revolution By Quinton Pienaar According to Gartner the world is on the brink of ‘hyper-connectivity’ with predictions that by 2020 there will be 26 billion connected devices. This represents an almost 30-fold increase from 2009, when there were just 0.9 billion. Living a hyper-connected life and fully embracing the digital economy is rapidly becoming a reality. According to The Guardian’s report entitled ‘In the Digital Economy, Reinvention is the Word’, more than 2 billion people worldwide are walking around with sophisticated mobile devices in their pockets. Approximately 90% of the world’s data has been…
By Gugu Lourie A provider of wireless data machine-to-machine (M2M) services wants to help municipalities and big corporates to detect water leaks, cope with power outages and improve other efficiencies as it aims to make R1bn a year in the process. XLink Communications CEO Anton Leal said the firm is looking at acquisitions, forming business partnerships, assisting start-ups and providing smart services as part of its growth strategy. XLink, which was founded in 2004, provides smart solutions that help municipalities and other big corporates save resources, optimise their budget spend and reduce inefficiencies. Municipalities can use the company’s M2M services to instantly detect water leaks and unauthorised use. XLink is also operating on the rest of the continent where…
By Ujuh MTN Zakhele has got a new chairperson in form of high profiled businesswoman, Sindisiwe Ntombenhle Mabaso-Koyana who took over from Thulani Gcabashe. MTN Zakhele unveiled the new independent non-executive director, Mabaso-Koyana. A Chartered Accountant, Mabaso-Koyana is currently the executive Chairperson of Advanced Capital and a non- executive director of AWCA Investment Holdings, Toyota SA, Adcorp Holdings Limited and Altech Limited. She is the former Group Chief Financial Officer of transport giants, Transnet and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA). She was an Executive Partner at Ernst Young, heading Government and Public Sector across Africa. Prior to…
By Gugu Lourie Naspers announced on Monday that OLX – the world’s leading classifieds platform focused on emerging markets, both mobile and online – has reached 240 million active users worldwide and garnered 34m visits per day on average, a growth of 33% year on year. The company said globally about 54% of traffic comes from mobile and, in some markets, it is more than 80%. OLX operates globally and is present in more than 40 countries. “We stepped up focus on 40 classifieds markets globally, all showing good user and listings growth,” Naspers said on Monday. The South African-based conglomereate…
By Gugu Lourie Naspers, a multinational group of ecommerce and media brands, posted a 30% rise in core headline earnings to R11,2 billion for the year ended-March 2015, thanks to increased earnings contributions from Tencent and profitable ecommerce businesses. The group delivered a 17% rise in revenue to R73 billion. The company, which operates in high growth markets including Africa, China, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, is valued at more than R809 billion. The stock has risen 54% in the past year. The Cape Town-based firm said the video-entertainment business (prevuiously…
By Staff Writer Facebook has opened its first office in Africa to further the company’s commitment to help businesses connect with people and grow locally and regionally. Based in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, Facebook’s newest business office will be headed by Ogilvy veteran, Nunu Ntshingila, the company’s new Head of Africa. Facebook is already an important part of how people and business connect in Africa. This office will support the significant growth in businesses and people using Facebook — Facebook’s active user population in Africa has grown 20% to 120 million in June 2015 from 100 million in September 2014. More than 80% of these people access Facebook…
Chinese manufacturer Technology, Happy, Life (THL) is planning to turn the African smartphone industry upside down through the introduction of its ThL ultraphones in the continent. The ultraphone aims to stop daily charging and bring in more battery power when you need it and THL hopes this will set it apart from current smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung, Apple, Huawei, LG, BlackBerry, etc. The firm is aiming to bring the ultraphone, which promises a 5 day battery life, to the South African market by November 2015. THL is part of the Shenzhen Hongjiayuan Communication Technology Co. Ltd., a high-tech enterprise…
By Staff Writer iSolve Business Solutions, a Microsoft Gold Partner, has acquired Foster Melliar. iSolve’s Learning Solutions division has merged with Foster Melliar. Both companies are subsidiaries of the Morvest Group. The newly formed ‘Foster Melliar Learning Solutions’, will provide end-to-end solutions within the IT sector, with a specific focus on skills development and knowledge transfer. The new company, a certified Microsoft Gold training partner, will also offer consulting across IT business processes, methodologies, assessments, governance and risk management. Peter Clark, MD of Foster Melliar Learning Solutions says the merger of these two companies has resulted in a unique training and…