Author: Gugu Lourie
Many organisations are now turning to mobile-first strategies that provide more access and encourage employees’ mobility in order to improve productivity and overcome tough economic time. These strategies depend on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions that enable a mobile workforce to stay connected anywhere at any time. By Greg Hatfield, General Manager for Products & Solutions at MTN Business South Africa These solutions, coupled with advances in mobile Internet connectivity such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), enable employees to connect seamlessly and faster via a corporate network or secure Cloud service. One of the biggest headaches for Information Technology (IT)…
When I pulled out the bright red, stylish AG#Hashtag smartphone at my friends’ party in Meyersdal Eco Estate, south of Johannesburg, curious partygoers mistook it for a Samsung Galaxy phone. By Gugu Lourie The bright red colour, which gives the phone a funky edge, attracted more attention especially from ladies, who were quick to declare their love at first sight for the device. The more discerning asked whether I had put a striking red cover on a Samsung phone to give it a bright, beautiful look. I couldn’t help letting the curious and interested know about the true nature of…
Vodacom has pulled the plug on its M-Pesa product in South Africa after admitting that the service doesn’t stand a chance to succeed in the country. By Staff Writer The mobile phone operator, which is owned by Vodafone, said following a thorough review, it will discontinue its M-Pesa product in South Africa with effect from 30 June 2016. “Vodacom’s decision is based on the fact that the business sustainability of M-Pesa is predicated on achieving a critical mass of users. Based on our revised projections and high levels of financial inclusion in South Africa there is little prospect of the…
The competition for the pockets of movie and series binge watchers is hotting up in South Africa. For only R1 a day, you can now binge-watch marathon sessions of your favourite TV series and movies as and when you want, JusFlicks – a new video streaming firm, has entered the South African video streaming market to compete against MTN’s VU, Netflix and ShowMax. The offering will allow customers to sign up for unlimited subscription. To be a user, you don’t require a dish or a decoder and you can cancel your subscription anytime as there are no contracts. There’s no scheduling…
Susan Tarr, a Hoedspruit Vodacom customer, faces a R20 000 data bill on his Samsung tablet after his seven-year-old-son Matthew watched Minecraft tutorial videos on YouTube. According to The Power Report in the Sunday Times, Tarr clocked the staggering data bill despite setting a R50 overdata limit on her MYGIG2 open contract for R319/month. Tarr was advised by SMS of ‘unusually high data usage’ only when Matthew clocked R17 000. “I can only assume it had been my son’s Minecraft tutorial videos on YouTube,” Tarr told The Power Report in the Sunday Times. “We had moved house at the end of July; we’d been staying…
Locomute, a South African mobility start-up, has decided to raise upwards of $5 million (R75 million) in ne equity funding in the Silicon Valley, California, according a media report. The City Press newspaper reported on Sunday that Locomute will be part of a California trip organised by Investec’s En-novate, together with about 20 South African entrepreneurs. Ntando Kubheka, Locomute’s chief financial officer, told the newspaper that the new funding in equity will allow the firm to expand. Locomute currently operates in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban and Ekurhuleni, and is looking to expand into Port Elizabeth and East London. The…
When music CDs appeared in the 1990s, they struck what looked like a fatal blow to vinyl records. Naturally, the consequences were felt on South African marketplace bidorbuy.co.za for years to come. The sales of LPs on the site had dwindled to such an extent that the very existence of a separate category devoted to this “dying” format was called into question. By Staff Writer Then in 2007 the vinyl staged a come-back in the Western world. After some time, the South African market caught on to the trend. “Our figures show that the sales of LP records on the…
Pharmaceutical companies typically develop new drugs with thousands of staff and budgets that run into the billions of dollars. One estimate puts the cost of bringing a new drug to market at $2.6 billion with others suggesting that it could be double that cost at $5 billion. By David Glance One man, Professor Atul Butte director of the University of California Institute of Computational Health Sciences, believes that like other Silicon Valley startups, almost anyone can bring a drug to market from their garage with just a computer, the internet, and freely available data. In a talk given at the Science…
The debate about online privacy versus the battle against crime was given new life this week with an attempt in Brazil to ban the popular messaging application WhatsApp. By Jill Slay A well-known and strict judge in a regional area of Brazil issued a court order banning WhatsApp for 72 hours in the whole country on Monday, because of problems he was having getting information from the company that owns the app. That company is Facebook, which bought the app for US$19 billion in 2014, and it was allegedly not cooperating by handing over data from customers in a drug-running case…
Today, MTN experienced data connectivity issues which started on the afternoon of 05 May 2016, around 2pm. The mobile phone operator said on Thursday afternoon that engineers are still busy investigating the issue and have established some level of stability but the investigations are still ongoing. “The network is busy recovering so services will be restored intermittently. MTN wishes to apologise unreservedly to affected customers for any inconvenience caused,”said MTN South Africa in a statement. MTN and Afrihost subscribers experienced connectivity issues on the operator’s mobile data network.
Fresh Projects, a South African online business platform tailor made for built environment professionals, is planning to extend its platform to the United Kingdom to target SME client base. By Staff Writer The firm will partner with the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) in the United Kingdom. The collaboration will provide ACE’s UK members with a lightweight ERP solution as opposed to using larger and more costly solutions that are out of reach of most SMEs. ACE is the equivalent to South Africa’s Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA). Simon Berry, director of Fresh Projects, says that the challenges faced by…
The Internet of Things (IoT) will, as it grows, automate and inform an increasing number of operations, applications and processes. By Eckart Zollner, Head of Business Development the Jasco Group With no dedicated infrastructure in place for IoT – i.e., to send, receive or transport IoT signals – it is critical that first movers in South Africa begin to more fully explore the possibilities. The decisions they make now may well impact the cost and longevity of the solutions they are developing, and help determine the robustness of the foundations the country puts in place for IoT. In South Africa, IoT…
MTN continues to make strides in achieving its sustainability vision of protecting and creating economic value for the company and its stakeholders, through responsible environmental and social core business practices. The Group has released its annual Sustainability Report for 2015, which details how MTN is delivering on the three sustainability focus areas of creating sustainable economic value, reducing its environmental impact and delivering societal value in a sustainable and ethical manner. “Like all businesses, we face challenges from time to time. However, we are not deterred in our sustainability journey. As a major ICT role-player in emerging markets, we are…
No South African has to tolerate hate. This basic tenet of civilised society is applicable now more than ever as the country explores ways to battle racism, xenophobia and other forms of hate speech. In the online environment, we have a useful tool in the take-down procedure of South Africa’s Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA). “It is pertinent to remind South Africans of this valuable tool as government prepares to introduce hate crimes legislation into Parliament, which will include a specific focus on hate speech,” said ISPA chair, Graham Beneke. Hate speech is usually defined as speech that offends, threatens,…
HP unveiled a new Pavilion PC portfolio in a bold color palette featuring new convertibles and notebooks with sleek designs and more power ideal for students, millennials and families. The company said in a statement that the new portfolio lets customers reflect their sense of style and delivers the power they need to be productive and entertained at a price that delivers value. “Some customers want thin and light PCs for on-the-go while other customers want power and performance to create and store,” said Louis Perrin, director, consumer products, Personal Systems EMEA, HP Inc. “HP’s redesigned Pavilion PCs offer affordability…
African countries are sitting on up to $5 billion (R75 billion) of value in potential 4G spectrum sales, according to a new report released by research firm Xalam Analytics. The report, “The Africa 4G Spectrum Value Report: 4G Spectrum Valuation, Outlook, and Business Models in African Markets” examined 60 transactions in African markets over the past ten years, covering more than 1000 MHz of 3G and 4G spectrum. The report also provides projected value ranges for upcoming and/or anticipated 4G spectrum auctions, including for markets such as Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Senegal. “Surprisingly, buyers and sellers of African spectrum…
WeThinkCode_, a newly established tech institution officially launched their campus on Wednesday and announced the 120 coders who will be the first to complete their two-year course. By Staff Writer 70 000 jobs in South Africa remain vacant due to a skills shortage of coders. WeThinkCode_ in a joint venture between founders Arlene Mulder, Camille Agon, Justinus Adriaanse and Yossi Hasson, was opened in response to this demand. “We aim to equip students with the skills to become world class digital problem solvers. And so tonight, we are pleased to reveal the most talented coders who partook in an intense…
Nigeria’s telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is in the process of auctioning spectrum in the 2.6GHz band. 2.6GHz is a so-called 4G band, allowing the winning bidder to roll-out 4G next generation mobile networks across the country. Telecoms research firm Xalam Analytics recently issued a report titled The Complicated Dynamics of Nigeria’s 2.6 GHz Auction. The research firm argued that there “is much riding on this auction; we find the probability for disappointment in the returns from this auction to be fairly high – but this is not merely a matter of value”. The 2.6 GHz auction is the…
Today in Johannesburg, Uber has launched its first green service and is counting on Joburgers to take a ride towards greneer mobility in the city of gold. The pilot-project, dubbed uberGREEN, offers 100% electric rides with the BMW i3 and Nissan LEAF, at uberX prices. According to a statement from Uber today, Top Uber riders and WRewards members will have access to UberGREEN from Wednesday 4th May to Sunday 8th May. It will then open up to everyone in Johannesburg from Monday 9th May to Friday 3rd June. UberGREEN will only be available between 7:00AM to 7:00PM every day. “As UberGREEN is still a…
Consumers are installing apps on their devices, without being aware of the potential consequences, they simply go through the motions of clicking ‘next’ and ‘agree’, without understanding what they could be signing up to, Kaspersky Lab has discovered. A shocking 63% of consumers globally neglect to read the license agreement carefully before installing a new app on their phone and one-in-five (20%) never read messages when installing apps; Kaspersky Lab’s “Are you cyber savvy?” Quiz, which questioned 18,507 consumers globally about their online habits, found that an alarming number of consumers are leaving their privacy – and the data on their…
In another significant move to strengthen customer focus through a more flexible and agile operating model, Telkom Group’s Openserve wholesale and networks division has announced that it is peering at Africa’s largest Internet eXchange Point (IXP), NAPAfrica. By Staff Writer As Africa’s largest IXP, NAPAfrica is four times the combined size of all the continents’ exchanges and regionally services multiple countries included South Africa. Its rapid growth has proven that peering exchanges are a much-needed facility in the African Internet ecosystem. Based within Teraco, Africa’s largest vendor-neutral data centre, NAPAfrica is excited to offer Openserve access to its lower cost…
Unlisted tech firm Business Connexion (BCX) has snapped up Relational Database Consulting Group (Pty) Ltd (RDC), a market leader in database and operating system administration, with a strong focus on Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL and PostgreSQL on a variety of operating systems. The deal is effective 1 April 2016 and comes after the Telkom-owned tech firm bought ANCO-IT, a company with a strong focus on Oracle applications which has already strengthened BCX’s existing complementary Oracle capabilities. RDC currently supplies Database, Middleware and Operating System support to Telkom and some of Telkom’s key customers in the datacentre space. “The acquisition of…
There are approximately 447.9 million mobile payment users worldwide, a remarkable evolution from coins being introduced in 700 BC, notes in the 10th century and the introduction of Western Union’s “credit card” in the 20th century. By Charles Pittaway, Managing Director of Sage Pay Now customers can choose from a variety of payments including in-app payments, mobile point of sale, and online payment services such as retail giant Amazon or Paypal that operate a global online payment system. Africa has 52% of mobile payment usage in the world. In the continent alone, mobile payment solutions have revolutionised the way in which business is…
The top ten of the 2016 #Hack.Jozi Challenge has been announced. The varied ideas include ways for parents to reduce screen time for their children, a free pick up and drop off laundry service and an online platform to upload or download building plans for quicker approval by local authorities. By Staff Writer #Hack.Jozi Challenge is a project of the City of Johannesburg and the JCSE (Joburg Centre for Software Engineering) at Wits University. Ravi Naidoo, executive director for Economic Development for the City of Johannesburg, says they were overwhelmed not only by the number of entries to the 2016 #Hack.Jozi Challenge but also by their…
Vox Telecom is partnering with Ionizr, the pioneer in real-time proximity advertising technology in South Africa, integrating the open access digital engagement platform into its Vox AURA managed guest Wi-Fi solution. For the first time, digital agencies will have a level of control of their Wi-Fi-advertising campaigns and messages across multiple customers and multiple venues, through a single interface and in real time. This coupled with the fact that it is a locally developed platform, offering local support, makes it another best of breed ‘must have’ for our Wi-Fi portfolio. The monetisation of Wi-Fi can no longer be…