Author: Gugu Lourie
By Casper Mabona If you like Samsung gadgets and appliances, you’ll want to check out new brand stores opening in Cape Town and Durban in April. “As consumer needs continue to evolve, consumers want to experience and engage with a brand and its products and services. The addition of the two new brand stores is a testimony of Samsung’s commitment to be present where our customers are,” says Michelle Potgieter, spokeswoman at Samsung Electronics SA. A Samsung Brand Store is a premium outlet that showcases the full range of Samsung products, including visual display, digital imaging, digital appliances and mobile…
Vodacom, SA’s largest mobile phone operator, shipped over 170, 000 own-branded tablets in the last quarter of 2014, according to a report from global research firm IDC. This has helped the Middle East and Africa (MEA) tablet market to record robust year-on-year growth in the final quarter of 2014, rising 26.1% year on year to total 4.43 million units. “The telco channel experienced its highest ever rate of growth during the final quarter of 2014,” says Victoria Mendes, a research analyst at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. “There are a couple of reasons behind this growth – in South…
In a year when Africa and Middle East biggest mobile phone operator return more than R20bn to its shareholders as a dividend windfall and invested back R26bn in network, the MTN Group’s CEO Sifiso Dabengwa was paid R28m in total compensation in 2014. Dabengwa, who has focused on sweating the assets instead of growing by acquisitions, received R9.3m salary and R13.3m bonus plus R3.5m share gains and other benefits such as retirement, according to the operators’ 2014 integrated annual report. Dabengwa helped the company grew shareholders return by 20.3% to R20bn in 2014 and assisted MTN to post a 20%…
By Gugu Lourie While you’re still processing that email sent by your boss about your annual salary rise, we’d like to take a minute to inform you that Vodacom is increasing its contract tarriff plans from 1 May. “From 1 May Vodacom will be increasing the subscription fees on selected contract price plans. Changes apply to Vodacom Smart, uChoose Smart, uChoose Flexi, Top Up and Mobile Broadband packages,” the company said on Thursday. Vodacom said the price changes are applicable to existing Vodacom customers on these price plans as well as new customers. Below are the details of the changes.…
By Gugu Lourie Vodacom’s smartphones in its network rose by 22% to 8.9m in the quarter to end-December 2014, Vodafone said in its financials on Wednesday. Vodafone added that Vodacom’s data revenue rose 19% attributing the growth to an 86% increase in data volume, with average monthly usage per customer now 445MB. However, Vodafone revealed that Vodacom’s service revenue fell 3.9% with quarterly revenue trends deteriorating further following increased competitive and macroeconomic pressures in South Africa. South African service revenue dropped 5.8%, mainly due to a weakening in prepaid customer voice activity as a result of competitive pressures. Vodacom Group…
Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao on Wednesday revealed that he fancies the Vodacom brand over Vodafone and maybe they could consider rebranding the world’s second biggest mobile operator by subscribers into Vodacom. “If you ask me about the brand, I kind of prefer Vodacom than Vodafone, because Vodacom is more modern. It really talks about what we do. It’s not just a phone. It’s broader. So, maybe one day we will consider doing the opposite, actually the whole thing being called Vodacom including Europe and other countries,” Colao told TechFinancials.co.za, while responding to a question what is a stumbling block…
By Gugu Lourie XLink Communications – a provider of wireless data machine-to-machine (M2M) communication services – has signed a non-exclusive distribution deal with UK-based and London-listed Cyan Holdings, a specialist in smart metering for electricity, gas and water, and lighting control. Under the transaction, XLink will distribute Cyan Holding’s smart energy communication technology, which enables the measurement and control of energy consumption for the metering and lighting markets, helping to increase energy security and reduce costs. The agreement includes an order for Cyan’s smart metering hardware and software, CyLec, for a 100 unit Proof of Concept project in SA. “Given…
By Casper Mabona Short-term insurer Santam has launched its app with the Be Safe tracking device that enables users to request friends and family to virtually track while they are out and about, whether exercising outdoors, road tripping or coming home from a night out. The app is free, and it’s for everyone, not only Santam clients and is available for download on Android and iPhone devices. If you are not a Santam policyholder and you are involved in an accident, you can still email all the relevant information from the app to your own insurer. “It is just another…
By Gugu Lourie Sometimes when one calls a mobile phone or landline operator a voice prompt says: “Please listen carefully as our menu options have changed” – and yet the reality might be that the options haven’t changed in years. You can blame the anomaly on the use of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology. Such technology is usually used by automated customer services for mobile or landline phones. It consists of voice recordings menu, accessible by pressing selected numbers on your device. Although this technology is still being used in the digital era it has resulted in numerous complaints. The…
South African e-commerce sites are popular destinations for Nigerian online shoppers, a trend which points towards great business opportunities. This is established in a survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of PayPal and FNB. The survey captured e-commerce trends in South Africa and said the market was about to explode. The survey found that 30% of Nigerian cross-border shoppers have purchased goods from South Africa in the past 12 months. The research also showed that Nigeria has a higher propensity from its internet users to shop online than South Africa. The survey found that 70% of South African internet users are shopping…