Author: Gugu Lourie

By Andy Tattersall Technology’s promise of wonderful things in the future stretches from science fiction to science fact: self-driving cars, virtual reality, smart devices such as Google Glass, and the internet of things are designed to make our lives easier and more productive. Certainly inventions of the past century such as the washing machine and combustion engine have brought leisure time to the masses. But will this trend necessarily continue? On the surface, tech that simplifies hectic modern lives seems a good idea. But we risk spending more of the time freed by these devices designed to free up our…

Computer making giant Dell has established a multi-million rands ICT training academy in South Africa, Johannesburg, in a move that fulfils part of the country’s black economic empowerment (BEE). Located in Bryanston, north of Johannesburg, Dell’s Khulisa Academy is designed to focus on developing leading high performance computing (HPC) skills, complemented by business management and entrepreneurial and life skills. The academy was approved as an equity investment programmes (EEIP) by the department of trade and industry. EEIP is a principle in the BEE codes of good practice which was inserted to accommodate multinationals who cannot facilitate black ownership. Dell joins…

For immediate release 10 April 2015 MTN introduces Samsung S6 and S6 Edge MTN revealed that the much-anticipated Samsung S6 and S6 Edge smartphones are available on its MTN SKY packages for a monthly subscription of R1899 and R1999 respectively as of 10 April 2015. The Samsung S6 and Samsung S6 Edge are available on the MTN network, and the pre-orders of these devices have been satisfactory. Both the 32GB Samsung 6 and 64GB Samsung 6 Edge are available at MTN branded retail stores, MTN Online store and MTN Direct call centres on a number of tariff plans, including on…

By Casper Mabona Vodacom has launched a voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) service in South Africa. The country’s biggest mobile phone company by subscribers claimed it is the first operator to bring such service in the country. The telco said users of VoLTE will experience faster call set up times (the amount of time it takes between dialling a number and the phone ringing at the recipient’s end), better voice quality, and additional capabilities such as being able to continue browsing the web or using apps while simultaneously making a call. VoLTE technology, which enables mobile voice traffic to be carried natively over a…

By Staff writer Cell C will invest R8 billion over the next three years to build its LTE network that will see high-speed broadband technology brought to its customers in targeted areas across the country. “Our LTE strategy will be focused and strategic, targeting metropolitan areas where people work and live. The primary commuting areas that fall outside the major metros will remain covered by HSPA+,” says Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos. South Africa’s third mobile phone operator has signed supply agreements with both Huawei and ZTE, which are it’s primary partners in the rollout of LTE and entails…

By Susan Hopkins & Jenny Ostini  Many of us have a traditional and corporeal perspective on violence. We perceive it as physical threat: the stranger following you home on a dark night; an unprovoked assault in a bar or on an empty train; or the alcohol fuelled brawl that breaks out in the Valley in Brisbane on a Friday night. We may even think about domestic or family violence, particularly now that popular discourse increasingly recognises domestic violence as a national emergency of “epidemic” proportions. But relatively little attention has been paid to what we call “technology violence” and the…

By Ujuh The South African government has changed the tune in its digital migration policy from one that features ‘subsidised’ set top boxes (STBs) for poor households to one that speaks of distribution of five million STBs for ‘free’. The ‘totally free’ language has emerged in recent statements made by the department of communication and its principal Faith Muthambi. In her latest statement on the matter Muthambi said “Government will provide free STBs to more than 5 million poor television household owners instead of a partial subsidy of 70% as previously approved in 2008.” This was upheld by the cabinet.…

Orange Business Services is scouting for potential business customers in Africa, where many markets are experiencing rapid economic growth. Orange Business Services, which is focusing on providing business-to-business (B2B) IT and telecommunications services, is a division of France’s Orange – Europe’s fifth-biggest telecom operator by market value. International companies that are expanding across the African continent mostly use South Africa as a base. They are looking for reliable connectivity that minimises service downtime. Orange Business Services has developed a fully managed, seamless Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and satellite network in 54 African countries, which assists companies seeking to expand navigate…

By Staff writer Nokia remains the single biggest phone brand in the major African markets, but its market share is plummeting fast, according to the Mobile Africa 2015 study, which found that Blackberry continued to be seen as a cool phone. The study was conducted by mobile surveying company GeoPoll and World Wide Worx, which surveyed 3 500 mobile phone users in five of Africa’s major markets, namely South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Uganda. The survey confirms a widely held view that Nokia remains the single biggest phone brand in the major African markets. However, its market share is…

Major XLink Communications shareholder, Vodacom, wants to accelerate growth of this provider of wireless data machine-to-machine (M2M) services. M2M services are also referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT) – a concept of connecting devices – ranging from refrigerators, geysers and smart electricity meters to coffee makers – to the internet. The intent to grow the business comes at a time when South Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator is struggling to find lucrative acquisitions targets on the African continent. In 2007, Vodacom acquired a 35% shareholding in XLink and later upped its stake to 50.1% as a means of…