Author: Gugu Lourie
The chairperson of the state-owned Universal Services and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA) and USAF – which both reports to the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services – has resigned. By Gugu Lourie USAASA said in a statement on Thursday that Pumla Radebe last night tendered her resignation to the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Siyabonga Cwele. The organisation didn’t provide reasons for Radebe’s resignation. But Radebe said: “It has been a trying road I have travelled together with my former and current colleagues. We have stood our ground; we have stayed the course to get the entity…
MTN’s old hand Phuthuma Nhleko on Thursday announced a change in the company’s “operating structure with a view to strengthening operational oversight, leadership, governance and regulatory compliance across its 22 country operations in Africa and the Middle East.” By Gugu Lourie So that’s great Nhleko is making sure that new ideas get implemented at MTN. He has resolved to restructure MTN into three regions – namely West and Central Africa, South and East Africa and Middle East and North Africa. To strengthen the group structure, MTN has also made a number of senior appointments. Effective 1 December 2015 Jyoti…
MTN informed investors on Thursday that the Nigerian government has reduced fine imposed on its Nigerian operation to $3.4 billion from $5.2 billion. By Gugu Lourie The South African-based mobile phone operator said it has received a formal letter dated 2 December 2015 from the NCC informing them to pay $3.4 billion by 31 December 2015. The fine relates to the late disconnecting of 5.1 million MTN Nigerian subscribers in August and September 2015. MTN said in a statement it is carefully considering the NCC’s reply, however the executive chairman Phuthuma Nhleko will immediately and urgently re-engage with the Nigerian…
MTN announced on Thursday that its Nigerian CEO, Michael Ikpoki, has resigned with immediate effect. By Gugu Lourie His resignation follows a $5.2 billion (R71 billion) fine by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over MTN Nigeria’s failure to register customers. The company is still in talks with the Nigerian government regarding the proposed fine. “MTN Nigeria’s CEO Michael Ikpoki and the head of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Akinwale Goodluck have tendered their resignations with immediate effect,” MTN informed investors on Thursday morning. The mobile phone operator said Ikpoki would be replaced by Ferdi Moolman as MTN Nigeria CEO and Amina…
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) on Wednesday announced that it had concluded a settlement agreement with Japanese power company Hitachi into the awarding of the Medupi contract. NewsAgency The AfDB, one of Medupi’s funders, said the deal follows a three-year investigation into allegations of sanctionable practices by Hitachi subsidiaries Hitachi Power Europe and Hitachi Power Africa on the Medupi power station boiler works contract. Eskom awarded the Medupi contract to the consortium of HPE and HPA in October 2007. The contract was for the design, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of six coal-fired steam generator units at its Medupi…
In a startling development in “gene-drive” technology, a team of researchers at the University of California has succeeded in creating genetically modified mosquitoes incapable of spreading the malaria parasite to humans, and which could potentially spread this trait rapidly throughout mosquito populations in the wild. By Jonathan Pugh This success has the potential to be translated into a huge global health benefit. Although global malarial deaths have been in decline over the past decade or so, the WHO estimates that malaria has been responsible for over 400,000 deaths this year alone. The Anopheles genus of mosquito, when infected, transmits…
Vodacom and Mukuru announced on Wednesday that they have teamed up to enable money to be sent from South Africa directly into any M-Pesa account in Lesotho within minutes. By Staff Writer Vodacom said a user in South Africa in order to send money to Lesotho needs to register with Mukuru. The mobile phone operator said the money transfer can be made at any major retailer such as Checkers, Lewis, Pep Stores, Pick n Pay, Shoprite and Spar. Once payment is received, the money is instantly transferred to the recipient’s M-Pesa account in Lesotho. Vodacom claims that this will…
Italian-based and listed firm Datalogic announced on Wednesday that it has set up an office in Cape Town, South Africa, to be closer to its existing clients and new potential customers. By Staff Writer Datalogic – a global leader in Automatic Data Capture and Industrial Automation markets, and world-class producer of bar code readers, mobile computers, sensors and safety, vision and laser marking systems – said the new office in South Africa reflects the growing strategic significance of the region for Datalogic where it has been building its presence since 2013. Datalogic operates in 30 countries and sells products…
Year-on-year supply and demand for internet accommodation service Airbnb is exploding in South Africa with triple-digit percentage growth. By Gareth van Zyl, NewsAgency This is according to Airbnb general manager for the Middle East and Africa Nicola D’Elia, who is visiting South Africa this week. Airbnb uses internet technology to enable ordinary property owners to rent out rooms and even entire homes to guests from anywhere in the world. The number of South African homes listed on Airbnb has jumped from around 9 000 in July this year to 13 000, said D’Elia. But on a year-on-year basis, he told Fin24 the…
WeChat Africa plans to invest R50 million in tech startups in Africa, to support local entrepreneurs and technology innovations. By Staff Writer WeChat Africa will identify promising tech startups, via an application and selection process, and support their speedy entrance into the market using the WeChat platform. To coordinate the initiative, tech strategy practice firm, Batstone, has been appointed by WeChat Africa to source and coordinate early stage investment opportunities among tech startups in Africa. “Our fund aims to provide financial support to businesses so that they can effectively get on the WeChat platform. This will include technical integration and…
Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company (YOFC), a Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed supplier in the telecoms optical fibre cable industry, is to invest R150 million in South Africa to set up a fibre cable manufacturing plant. By Staff Writer The China-based firm has set up its Yangtze Optical Fibre (Africa) subsidiary in Johannesburg. It is planning to build an optical fibre cable manufacturing plant with warehouse facilities in the Dube Tradeport Special Economic Zone of Durban with an initial investment of approximately R150 million and an annual capacity of up to 1,000,000 FKm (fibre kilometres). The South…
The Jasco group announced on Wednesday that it has recently appointed Craig Unsworth as its new MD of Jasco Electrical Manufacturers. By Staff Writer Unsworth is no stranger to the manufacturing industry. He began his career with Jasco Electrical Manufacturers (formerly Special Cables) in 1997 as an assistant to the Financial Manager, and later in 2007, he was appointed as the Financial Director. Unsworth is tasked with the responsibility of diversifying and growing the business. Jasco Electrical Manufacturers offers an outsourced manufacturing service for a number of industries on an ad-hoc and contract basis. The company also assists with product…
MTN has confirmed its willingness to engage in talks with the FF Plus after the party announced its intention to take complaints against the cellphone company to Parliament. By Mpho Raborife, NewsAgency Corporate Services executive at MTN SA Graham de Vries said although the company had not received any formal communication from the FF Plus, they were ready to meet and discuss the matter. “MTN has not received any formal correspondence from the Freedom Front Plus, but has noted the comments that have been attributed to the party,” he said. “MTN will be engaging the Freedom Front Plus on this matter…
The Video-on-Demand (VoD) platform owned by MTN South Africa, MTN FrontRow, is to be rebranded into VU and pronounced “view you” from today, 1 December 2015. The platform is also slashing its prices to retain and entice more customers. By Gugu Lourie VU, previously known as MTN FrontRow, is VoD service that offers TV series, music and movies to stream through your smart devices. It is available to users on all networks. “We want to share our exciting news with you. We’re making big changes and we want you, our valued MTNFrontrow user, to be the first to know. From…
A widespread scam is targeting prospective buyers on major classifieds sites pretending to sell high value items. Claire Cobbledick, head of Gumtree South Africa marketing, writes for TechFinancials and explains that their customer service desk has received numerous enquiries asking to validate Gumtree holding accounts and invoices – even from users who responded to ads on competitor sites. We have to be 100% clear that Gumtree does not and will not “hold” money on behalf of our buyers or sellers. Sales on the site are concluded directly between the buyer and the seller or through our endorsed safe transacting partners, Shepherd…
South African mobile phone operators – Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Telkom Mobile – are losing millions from the battery theft in some of their base stations across the country. Investing in this batteries and base stations that get vandalised by criminals is becoming a costly exercise for the mobile phone operators. By Gugu Lourie But operators seem to have discovered a solution. South African technology firm Poynting seems to have find a better solution for the operators to deal with this headache costing millions. Poynting is described as a manufacturer and supplier of antenna solutions to the telecommunications,…
Telkom today announced that it will be extending its SmartBroadband Uncapped High Speed Wireless packages focusing on select LTE base stations nationally. By Staff Writer The packages will target 520 sites in the Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Kwa-Zulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and Western Cape. But strangely the Northern Cape is excluded from the Telkom and therefore the operator’s SmartBroadband Uncapped High Speed Wireless packages are not covering the entire population of South Africa. The telco said this is an extension of the original phase and it will be available from 1 December 2015 to 30 June 2016. Customers…
South Africans can rest assured; they are still alone. This follows speculation about an Unidentified Flying Object [UFO] “crashing” in Sandton, north of Johannesburg. By Lizeka Tandwa, NewsAgency Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar told News24 that an advertisement was being filmed in Sandton for a milk drink. He said the advert included a spaceship that crashed on the side of the road. “The advert storyline involves a spaceship and that has got the entire city in a frenzy,” Minnaar said. “It’s creating a lot of chaos in the roads. Traffic has been backed up from Republic Road moving towards…
Financial services company Discovery said it is giving away Apple Watch wearable devices – but at an exercising cost. By Gareth van Zyl, NewsAgency The company – which sells health insurance services – announced on Tuesday that it will fund Apple Watch devices in full for Vitality Active Rewards members, if they meet all their weekly fitness goals for 24 months. Discovery on Tuesday also launched its Apple Watch app, which leverages the device’s capabilities to measure movement and heart rate to track members’ activities and points regarding their weekly fitness goals. The app also taps QR code features of the…
Technology provider Vox Telecom on Tuesday launched an uncapped voice product aimed at reducing the telephony costs of small to medium businesses. By Staff Writer Uncapped voice for business enables unlimited calls to mobile, national and local fixed line and select international destinations. Three contract options have been created for the uncapped voice offering, starting at R1495 per month for five outbound channels, R4990 per month for 10 outbound channels and R8985 per month for 15 outbound channels. Vox Telecom will match outbound channels, with the equivalent inbound channels. Customers will be required to port to Vox Telecom, and…
The FF Plus has invited people who have unresolved billing and administrative problems with cellphone company MTN to come forward so they can ask Parliament and the Consumer Protection Commission for help. By Jenni Evans, NewsAgency FF Plus parliamentary spokesperson on communications Anton Alberts said they had received numerous complaints about unresolved billing and administrative problems at MTN and decided to help. The complaints range from excessive data charges to unexplained amounts billed on dormant accounts. “For example, a woman working in Saudi Arabia received a bill for thousands on an account that was dormant,” said Alberts. They say they were approached after the…
Struggling technology firm Allied Electronics Corporation (Altron) announced on Monday plans to sell Powertech’s systems engineering business PTSI to Capitalworks for R140 million. By Staff Writer The firm, which is exploring strategic equity and technology partnerships with global industry players in other areas of the business to revamp the company, said it has entered into a binding written offer with Capitalworks Altron added that the disposal will exclude the businesses of Powertech QuadPro SA and Technology Integrated Solutions. The firm said PTSI was no longer a core asset for the Altron group. For the six months ended 31 August 2015, PTSI generated…
China plans to create a credit reporting system that ranks people on trustworthiness using a all kinds of data, from finances to Facebook. Sound far-fetched? It’s happening in the US too. By Caren Morrison China has a problem. No, not Donald Trump trying to savage it any time he comes within three feet of a microphone. It’s that enormous social shifts in recent years – like the forcible relocation of 250 million people from rural areas to urban environments – have transformed the country, in the words of its Academy of Social Sciences, from “a society of acquaintances into a…
Everyone knows that the cloud is growing as a market. However, many companies still struggle with the concept or the reasons why it can benefit their business. This is a great opportunity for resellers – not only to increase revenue, but also to be seen as trusted a partner that can help your customer’s business to grow. By Gary de Menezes, Country Manager Southern Africa, NetApp For resellers, there are five key areas to consider when discussing the possibility of cloud solutions with customers. How does cost impact your customers’ decision making process? For customers, most conversations around cloud technology…
Telkom will be putting its fibre technology to the test in the Telkom Unlimited Movie Marathon Guinness World Records™ attempt. Using Telkom’s Boltspeed fibre to stream over 122 hours of movies, selected participants will attempt to break the current world record for longest marathon watching films, which currently stands at 120 hours 23 minutes (about five days). By Staff Writer An accomplished endurance record breaker, Suresh Joachim, will fly in from Canada for the event to try to attempt to break the record. He will however be competing against ten local South Africans who will also be attempting to achieve…