Author: Gugu Lourie
By Ujuh The agreement between MTN and Lonehill Residents Association (LRA) to roll out fibre in the leafy suburb of Northern Johannesburg entrenches a remarkable business model in the emerging wave of fibre to the home (FTTH). The parties announced that MTN will provide the infrastructure at its own cost and will maintain it during the lifespan of the technology. MTN has also set up a dedicated 24-hour FTTH centre to provide support services to its customers. The alternative would have been too costly even for this leafy suburb. The LRA would have to bear the massive capital expenditure of…
By Casper Mabona Telkom faces “revolt” over outsourcing process as its call centres workers engage in illegal strikes in the form of “go-slows”, with incidents of staff intimidation and walk-outs reported. But the telephone company is unfazed and announced on Monday that it is going ahead with the automatic transfer of staff from its call centre, supply chain and IT environments to new employers on 31 March. Telkom said the unions failed to secure a majority consensus on an additional offer from the company. “Our service levels have been under severe pressure for a number of weeks. We would like…
By Ron Steinfeld When checking your email over a secure connection, or making a purchase from an online retailer, have you ever wondered how your private information or credit card data is kept secure? Our information is kept away from prying eyes thanks to cryptographic algorithms, which scramble the message so no-one else can read it but its intended recipient. But what are these algorithms, how did they come to be widely used, and how secure really are they? Coded messages The first cryptographic methods actually go back thousands of years to the time of ancient Greece. Indeed, the word…
By staff writer OPENTENDERS, SA’s business social network connecting entrepreneurs with procurement opportunities, has reacted positively to the prospective launch of Government’s e-tender portal, as stated in the Budget Speech last month. During his speech Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene announced that Government would implement a central tender portal from April this year. Minister Nene said: “It will be compulsory that all (public) tenders be advertised on this portal, and all tender documents will be freely available there. Tender advertisements in newspapers and the government gazette will be phased out.” “We are excited about this new Government portal as it makes…
By Marian Shinn The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on the Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi, to appear before Parliament to account for the dubious last minute substantive edits to the Broadcast Digital Migration (BDM) policy that was gazetted last night and is markedly different from the BDM policy that was approved by Cabinet in 2013. The DA is concerned about the revisions in definitions by Minister Muthambi at the eleventh hour. Her ill-intentioned decision will stifle competition in the free-to-air market and has the potential to put eTV out of business while entrenching MultiChoice’s monopoly in the pay TV market…
By Tony De Sousa As more and more citizens gain access to mobile internet and embrace digitalization, citizens are also expecting government to follow suit. As in the private sector, government also need to deliver digital services and enable access to such services anytime anywhere to its customers – citizens. This requires government to shift the focus from implementing systems, processes and policies for its own ends, to that of a “citizen centric” approach. In most instances, government departmental systems are designed to serve a specific department’s needs and often in isolation of other departments, which results in disparate systems…
By Casper Mabona The Lonehill Residents Association (LRA) is working in collaboration with MTN to deploy fibre to the home (FTTH) and fibre to the business (FTTB) to more than 3000 homes in the northern Johannesburg suburb. The connections will be done in a phased approach and will be funded by MTN. John Siddall, Chairman of the LRA, says the high speed will have immense benefits for the residents and businesses in Lonehill. “Fibre to the home will transform how we work and play. This fibre network will ensure that businesses can improve their efficiency and optimally use technologies such…
By Vula Mthimkhulu My soft spot for drones can be taken care at any time from this moment by a product called Sky Walker offered by Drone Force. Tagged as the world’s smallest quadcopter, Sky Walker could be just what I needed to join the fascinating drone world. The price of R395.00 means that nothing stands between me and the drone purchase. But then the miser in me is delaying the click of the buy button with a question: What’s the catch. A part of me says this might not be the real thing. If the Sky Walker can fit…
By Michael Cowling Nary a week goes by that doesn’t see a new mainstream media story on the dangers of technology use. Just the other day I spotted one talking about how smartphones are making us dumber. Yet the original study cited in the news story is actually more about how mobile phones help us to be more intuitive than analytical, and stop us from “overthinking”. But it’s particularly interesting that this study, like many others, gets framed up as a “fear of technology”. It makes me wonder why many people appear to be so afraid of technology? To answer…
The share price of Welkom Yizani, the black economic empowerment (BEE) shares of Media24, has shot up over the past few days to hit a high of R25.00 per share. The share has since eased back somewhat to trade around R19.50 but is still far above the R10.00 level at which it was trapped for a long time. By Ujuh The upward movement will be a huge relieve to the multitudes of initial investors in the BEE scheme. However many had already lost patience and exited the investment at a loss. Welkom Yizani shares had been trapped at R10.00 per share…