Author: Gugu Lourie
A recent New York Times article highlighted the growing integration of technologies and textiles, displaying a photograph of a delicate golden nest of optical fiber. The article reported that this new “functional fabric” has the added quality that it “acts as an optical bar code to identify who is wearing it.” By Daniel N. Rockmore Is this a feature or a bug? This smart material would certainly be a new milestone in the march of technology and the marketplace to erode personal privacy. Would a suit made of this material need to come with a warning label? Just because we have…
The new optical fibre cable manufacturing facility in South Africa is potentially set to become the largest in the country. The company will supply optical fibre cable and FTTH solutions to the local telecommunications market, including industry players, such as Telkom, Neotel, Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Vumatel and Link Africa, amongst others. “We are targeting both the public and private sectors, with the aim of significantly bringing down the cost of optical fibre cable in the country,” said Pieter Viljoen, CEO of Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company (YOFC), which has partnered with JSE-listed Mustek as its…
ShowMax has officially launched internet TV services to 36 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. The company originally launched in August 2015 with the largest subscription video on demand catalogue on the continent. The sub-Saharan service costs US$ 7.99 per month for unlimited viewing. The catalogue includes approximately fifteen thousand TV show episodes and movies, totaling almost ten thousand hours of viewing. The service includes a Kiswahili language section and a Nollywood section, as well as an African Film section that pulls together classic movies from across the continent. Barron Ernst, Chief Product Officer for ShowMax commented: “The speed and cost of connectivity…
Mpho Sefalafala, the dude who conquered prime space within the fraternity of entrepreneurial innovation, wants to become ‘King of Mobility’. By Ujuh Reporter Johannesburg, the metropolitan city of 7 million people, is set to become his launching palace in what could become a global kingdom of mobility. Mobility is big business in the era of smart cities. Think Uber, Lyft, Curb, Sidecar, Locomute, Phuza Patrol etc. Think the power of software behind these operations and you would have figured Sefalafala’s path. Working together with a team of students from the Centre for Entrepreneurship at the Wits Business School, Sefalafala took on…
Vodacom Business’ massive investment in innovative mobile health solutions to enhance healthcare for people living in the Eastern Cape. As the first network to provide an array of mobile health solutions, Vodacom Business is scaling up the country and province’s capacity to provide primary healthcare at a more affordable rate to more citizens using mobile phones, apps and devices all powered by Vodacom‘s fixed and mobile infrastructure. Speaking at the MEC’s Healthcare Summit and Excellence Awards, Vodacom Business chief officer, Vuyani Jarana said, “The use of technology by healthcare professionals is still fairly limited in the province. By building out…
LetGo and Wallapop has merged their US operations to compete with bigger rivals Craigslist and eBay to tackle the fastest growing mobile marketplace for second hand goods. “With this partnership in place, no one is better positioned than letgo to capitalize on the immense opportunity for growth in U.S. classifieds,” said Martin Scheepbouwer, CEO of Naspers Classifieds. As part of the transaction, Wallapop U.S. operations will be absorbed into LetGo. The combined entity will be majority owned and managed by letgo and will operate under the LetGo brand on the l LetGo platform. Existing shareholders will also be injecting $100…
Techcentral broke the news that Allied Mobile is in talks to buy large independent cellular service provider GloCell, according to sources. Two well-placed sources with knowledge of the situation told Techcentral that a number of companies are believed to have expressed an interest in acquiring GloCell, with Allied International Investments, part of the Allied Mobile group of companies, on the verge of securing a controlling stake of roughly 75% of the service provider’s equity. Last November, cellular product distributor Allied Mobile Africa secured $55 million (R800 million) funding deal with the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). The company said the debt funding facility was to…
Phuthuma Nhleko will stay on as interim executive chairman of MTN. He took temporary charge of Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator last year on 9 December after Sifiso Dabengwa resigned over a $5.2 billion (over R74 billion) fine imposed by the Nigerian authorities. “He will stay on until he fulfils his mandate,” Chris Maroleng, MTN’s spokesperson told Reuters. However, the mobile phone giant said in its 2015 integrated annual report that it envisaged the appointment of the new CEO would be made by the end of June. Dabengwa left the mobile phone operator after a $5.2 billion (over R74 billion) fine imposed by…
Robotics and automation technologies present new opportunities for South African organisations to vitalise and even completely redefine their Business Process Services (BPS) functions. By Rajesh Sehgal, Global Head of Quality & Process Excellence, Wipro BPS and Gavin Holme, Country Head, Africa, Wipro Technologies With robotics at the centre, organisations are able to scale faster, enter new markets or industries and become more fluid and responsive to customer needs. Robotics is driving what we could succinctly refer to as an evolution from ‘efficiency’ to ‘effectiveness’ What does this mean? Firstly, robotics offers far greater value than just simplifying and automating what were…
Improving productivity continues to be a priority for many organisations and as such, IT transformation is top of the agenda when it comes to boosting business performance. A recent study commissioned by Riverbed Technology found that companies are increasingly leveraging cloud computing, with 96% of executives using cloud-based enterprise apps at work today. However, moving to this environment is simultaneously causing a growing number of issues. By Wimpie van Rensburg, Country Manager for Sub Saharan Africa at Riverbed Technology The underlying concern comes down to poor application performance, ultimately brought about by organisations’ migration to the cloud. 89 per cent…
The rest of the world has long believed that Africa can’t produce its own scientific inventions. This myth can be traced back to the time of slavery and colonialism – systems that led even Africans themselves to think that nothing good could come from the continent. By Stewart Maganga The myth is cemented by history books. These are replete with stories of scientific innovators from the developed world. I am not suggesting that the role these people played should be dismissed altogether. They contributed enormously to the modern world. There must, however, also be room to celebrate African innovators who have…
South African-based Naspers on Wednesday announced its first investment targeting the Education Technology (EdTech) market. Through its Naspers Ventures division, the company led a $15 million Series B investment in social learning network, Brainly. Naspers also announces opening of San Francisco office – aimed at tapping U.S. technology companies for strong global growth. “Over 60 million students in 35 countries interact with Brainly every month.” said Michal Borkowski, CEO of Brainly. “We are convinced that our partnership with Naspers will allow us to accelerate this exciting growth globally, and double down on our focus in the United States.” Naspers is…
40 lucky MTN subscribers stand a chance to walk away with R100 000 over a period of 13 weeks with MTN’s Wish It! Love It! Win It! Competition. Through this campaign, MTN will select three lucky subscribers a week who will each pocket a R100 000 cash prize. The competition runs from 1 May until 31 July 2016 and is open to new and existing MTN PayAsYouGo and Contract subscribers. To qualify for the MTN Wish It! Love It! Win It! weekly draw competition, subscribers need to either purchase a PayAsYouGo device with a minimum value of R200, recharge…
Telkom on Wednesday unveiled a partnership with Eastern Cape business incubation centre Propella FutureMakers Hub in Port Elizabeth. This is the second business incubation centre to be unveiled under FutureMakers, Telkom’s enterprise development programme, after the Bandwidth Barn in Cape Town. “The heart of the FutureMakers mission is to enable, empower and inspire entrepreneurs, particularly within technology, by providing ongoing support and coaching, in order to grow young, small businesses into big businesses,” said Ian Russell, Telkom’s chief administration officer. “Ultimately, by supporting innovation throughout the technology sector, we can create jobs, improve digital access and develop a stable and…
Envestnet | Yodlee – a New York Stock Exchange-listed data aggregation and data analytics platform powering dynamic, cloud-based innovation for digital financial services – has clinched a strategic partnership with AlphaCode, a collaborative club for next generation financial services entrepreneurs in South Africa. By Staff Writer The strategic partnership between Envestnet | Yodlee and AlphaCode aims to improve the quality of financial tools available to the African startup economy working on creating powerful financial solutions. Mobile payments have grown enormously over the years in Africa. In 2014, the market generated US$656 million and is expected to double to US$1.3 billion…
MTN Group today announced the appointment of Babak Fouladi as Group Executive: Technology and Information Systems. In this role, Fouladi will lead the delivery of MTN’s network and information technology strategy across the Group. On joining MTN, he will temporarily assume responsibility for the vacant Chief Technology Officer role in MTN South Africa, until a permanent appointment is finalised. Fouladi is a senior executive with global experience in the telecommunications, media and ICT sectors. He is highly skilled at building and leading strong teams to drive and implement strategic concepts and deliver networks, complex systems and applications. He joins MTN…
Datatec announced on Wednesday that former chief financial officer (CFO), Ivan Dittrich will re-assumed his responsibilities as CFO of the Chief Executive Officer of the global tech firm. Dittrich left the Johannesburg-based firm in 2012 to join mobile phone group Vodacom as CFO and returns for his second stint at Datatec. Dittrich, previously worked in a number of roles across Datatec including as CFO from March 2008 to May 2012. “I am delighted to welcome Ivan back as our CFO. He has a very strong track record with us and has benefited from his recent experience outside the Group,” said…
Online real estate start-up Property Fox who recently launched their online sales platform has made their first sale, saving their seller almost R100, 000 in fees. By Staff Writer Aiming to tackle “archaic” property selling methods and make residential sales happen at, in some cases, over 80% less than traditional estate agent commissions, founders of Property Fox Crispin Inglis and Ashley James launched with a bang to the market earlier this month and now have their first successful sale under their belts. “We listed Mrs Kruger’s home in Pretoria for sale two weeks ago. As soon as it went live on…
As of 1 May 2016 all Connect subscribers have been able to use WhatsApp messaging for free on any FNB Connect SIM. The growing demand for data usage and a large portion of Connect customers using the WhatsApp service on a daily basis has prompted FNB Connect to provide the service for free as an added benefit to all customers. Additionally, FNB Connect sees this as a valuable addition for customers who also benefit from up to 40% back in eBucks on their Connect SIM spend. The free WhatsApp promotion runs until the 31st of July 2016. During this period…
The world of tomorrow has arrived, and it’s already radically changing our lives. It’s called the Internet of Things (IoT). Imagine your refrigerator sensing that you’re low on milk, and telling your car to remind you to buy some on the way home – or simply knowing which groceries you prefer, and ordering them automatically from a food retailer. Or your car booking itself in for a service, because it’s time. Or your clothes detecting that you’re about to have a major health issue and calling for help. Or your house knowing your daily routine so well that your shower…
INTRODUCTION It is an honour to present Budget Vote 32 on Telecommunications and Postal Services worth R2.4 billion for policy debate and approval by Parliament. This year calls upon our nation to celebrate historic events which have contributed to the democracy we enjoy today. A 100 years ago, the University of Fort Hare was established and has been instrumental in educating many of our leaders who fought for our liberation. We celebrate 60 years since the heroic women’s march to the Union Buildings in protest against the unjust pass laws. We commemorate and salute the bravery of the young…
Econet Wireless, the parent of Liquid Telecom, and Seacom are in talks to buy Neotel, South Africa’s second biggest fixed-line telephone group, according to a media report. MyBroadband said that industry sources have revealed that Seacom and Econet Wireless are among those courting the company. The online publication added that both companies have sent delegations to International Telecoms Week in Chicago, where Neotel’s majority shareholder, Tata Communications, is a headline sponsor. “Neotel has no comment on this matter at this time,” the company’s board said in a statement. “Neotel prefers not to comment on market speculation.” Seacom and Econet subsidiary Liquid Telecom…
Blockchain technology is not just useful for creating digital currencies such as Bitcoin or developing new financial technologies. By Mark Staples Blockchains can be used for a wide variety of applications, such as tracking ownership or the provenance of documents, digital assets, physical assets or voting rights. Blockchain technology was popularised by the Bitcoin digital currency system. But, essentially, a blockchain is just a special kind of database. The Bitcoin blockchain stores cryptographically signed records of financial transfers, but blockchain systems can store any kind of data. Blockchains can also store and run computer code called “smart contracts”. What makes a…
Openserve, the wholesale division of Telkom, has taken another step in its efforts to reduce the cost of communication in South Africa with further planned price reductions to its IP Connect (IPC) and South African Internet eXchange (SAIX) Dedicated Access services. The company said in a statement that these reductions will become effective on 1 June 2016. “This new pricing augurs well to further drive the democratisation of broadband and live our purpose, that together, we enable a connected future for South Africa,” said Prenesh Padayachee, Chief of Sales and Marketing at Openserve. Openserve strives to better enable its clients…
South African start-up ThisIsMe, which has innovation that is “giving a heartbeat to your identity” is stepping up its international expansion after securing $2.5 million (R37.4 million) in funding from private investors. Conceptualised in 2013 and formally established in 2014, ThisIsMe verifies an individual’s identity to other individuals, businesses, financial institutions and regulators. It does so using links to Home Affairs and the major banks. With a focus on compliance related to the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) and the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) in the financial space, the business has attracted substantial interest from South African corporate…