Author: Gugu Lourie
MTN is investing about R1.2 billion to upgrade its network in Kwa-Zulu Natal, which includes the deployment of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) in the scenic suburb La Lucia. By Staff Writer The deployment of this high speed fibre network in La Lucia marks MTN’s first deployment of FTTH in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal and an extension of MTN’s FTTH footprint outside of Gauteng and Western Cape. Earlier this month, MTN announced that it has begun civil works to deploy FTTH in Fresnaye and Bakoven in the Western Cape and approximately 1 000 homes are expected to be connected to MTN’s…
We all know there are thousands; if not millions of South Africans using WeChat to communicate with their loved ones and friends, and now you can use the app to order and securely pay for food from your favourite restaurant, fast food outlet or corner café without leaving your WeChat platform. By Staff Writer OrderIn, an online food ordering service, has opened an official account on WeChat that lets users easily and securely to order and pay for food using the WeChat app! Launched in 2013 by former Goldman Sachs New York banker Dinesh Patel and former Groupon COO…
Vodacom, the country’s biggest mobile phone operator with more than 33 million customers in South Africa, believes that the much-needed spectrum allocation would enable it to bulk-up mobile broadband in rural areas. By Gugu Lourie Vodacom welcomed the publication of an Information Memorandum by ICASA that provides guidance to prospective applicants regarding the process and criteria to be applied by the Authority in the licensing of the International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) spectrum. The allocation of spectrum will enable telcos to alleviate the current strain on voice services due to the interim measure of re-farming existing spectrum to support data…
Telkom would consider options about whether to bid for a much needed spectrum when the industry watchdog, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) makes it available through auction. By Gugu Lourie ICASA is getting ready to auction the country’s much-needed spectrum for broadband deployment. In a Government Gazette published on Monday Icasa said it is favouring auction process used by Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and the Czech Republic. Telkom, the country’s biggest fixed-line telephone group that is keen on delivering broadband to most South African households, is keeping its options open at the moment on whether…
A global survey of more than 5,500 companies in 26 countries, including South Africa, conducted by Kaspersky Lab in cooperation with B2B International in 2015 showed that the most expensive types of security breaches are employee fraud, cyber espionage, network intrusion and the failure of third party suppliers. By Staff Writer The average budget required to recover from a security breach is $551,000 for enterprises and $38,000 for small and medium businesses. Averaging the variety: A serious breach of IT security systems leads to many business issues. With damage being so diverse, it’s sometimes hard for the victims themselves…
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s capital market participants, such as brokers, traders, market data providers and the carriers can finally enjoy high speed connectivity after Dark Fibre installed direct fibre links to Teraco’s data centre in Sando, Johannesburg. By Gugu Lourie. The route, which spans 32 km, enables the Teraco community to provide capital market participants with solutions for high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity. In real terms, this link offers a sub-500 microsecond round trip and is a virtual extension of the JSE’s ‘meet me room’ into Teraco. Jan Hnizdo, chief financial officer, Teraco, says that the new route is significant for all…
The country’s communications watchdog, Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), is getting ready to auction the country’s much-needed spectrum for broadband deployment. Icasa is favouring auction process used by Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and the Czech Republic. The process is likely to be a messy affair as every operator is keen on putting their hands on this scarce national resource. By Gugu Lourie. Icasa on Monday issued an Information Memorandum that provides guidance to prospective applicants regarding the process and criteria to be applied by the Authority in the licensing of the much-needed spectrum. Applicants will be vying…
IT spending in South Africa is forecast to reach $26.6 billion in 2016, an increase of 5.1 percent from 2015, according to Gartner, Inc. While the IT market is on pace to pick up in 2016, 2015 is proving to be a difficult year for many market segments in South Africa. By Staff Writer “South Africa has suffered currency effects, as did many developing markets this year,” said Will Hahn, principal research analyst at Gartner. “There were also impacts on communications service providers (the largest IT market segment in terms of spending), as they faced regulations that imposed decreased…
WD, a Western Digital company and leader in hard drives, has announced the expansion of its WD Black line of performance hard drives up to 6 TB capacity. The 3.5-inch, 7200 RPM drive is the perfect solution for gamers and professionals in need of high-performance desktop systems and workstations. By Staff Writer WD Black hard drives combine 7200 Revolutions Per Minute (RPM) spin speed, 128 MB cache, dual stage actuator technology, SATA 6 Gigabits per second (Gb/s) interface, and an integrated dual processor to deliver ultimate performance in a maximum-capacity drive. The WD Black 6 TB is up to 29% faster…
Vodacom Business Africa enjoys good traction on adoption of cloud and hosting services in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and most populous country. By Gugu Lourie They say the early bird catches the worm – this is true of Vodacom, which is ripping the benefits of moving early into Nigeria, where it is providing much needed services. The South African-based enterprise arm of Vodacom, a cellphone operator owned by British mobile giant Vodafone, was the first telco to launch cloud and hosting services in West Africa from a certified TierIII approved data centre. In 2013, Vodacom Business partnered with Jagal Group…
Vodacom, South Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator, has launched a new ad and this time is using soccer legends Lucas Radebe, Mark Fish, Edward “Magents” Motale, Eric Tinkler and Cyril Nzama to introduce the “Game Changers” ad. By Gugu Lourie This ad, which also features ex-Isidingo actor Leslie Fong, is a follow-up to “Change The Game” ad that featured seasoned performer and comedian Tumi Morake. Watch the new Vodacom #GameChangers #TrevorTT advert below: Email TechFinancials.co.za at [email protected]
Two American firms – Apple and Massmart – are teaming-up to conquer the smart device market in South Africa, which is presently dominated by three top brands: Nokia, Samsung and Blackberry. By Gugu Lourie Although Nokia and BlackBerry’s share of the global mobile market is diminishing, these brands remain popular in South Africa. This was also confirmed in the Mobile Africa 2015 study conducted recently by GeoPoll and World Wide Worx, which surveyed 3 500 mobile phone users in five of Africa’s major markets, namely South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Uganda. According to the study, 36% of participants…
Total South Africa has ramped up its convenience service offering to include free Wi-Fi at its services stations. By Staff Writer All Total service stations with a branded food offering are now equipped with the free Wi Fi service offering! Pulling up at a Total service station to fill up with fuel, have a quick car wash, or grab a snack, Total customers can now conveniently check email messages even find directions to the next stop by accessing its free Wi-Fi service. In partnership with Telkom, Total has expanded its customer experience and now offers its customers 30mins…
Sipho Maseko, Telkom’s boss, appears to be stepping up the tempo as competition intensifies in the telecoms space. By Gugu Lourie Telkom – South Africa’s biggest fixed-line telephone group valued at R33 billion – is reinventing itself as a competitive entity as part of its turnaround strategy. Telkom CEO Maseko and his team have so far done a sterling job to deal with internal challenges that were negatively impacting on the performance of the telco. However, Telkom, which is pursuing its turnaround strategy, has done little work in attending to external challenges that are hampering the business from growing. This is…
Naspers, South Africa’s media and ecommerce group, has rejigged management to help position the company ahead of competition for video entertainment in South Africa and other markets. By Staff Writer The firm, which is valued at more than R699 billion, said on Friday it has promoted Imtiaz Patel to the CEO of Video Entertainment. He is replacing Jim Volkwyn, who will remain a director of MultiChopice. The company didn’t specify when will Patel assume his new role. He is currently the CEO of MultiChoice South Africa. Naspers said a search for a new Group CEO for the MultiChoice South Africa…
It’s every employee’s responsibility to embrace transformation. Despite continuous discussion around women empowerment, women are still a minority in the top positions of South African organisations. By Vanessa Olver, Deputy CEO of Business Connexion This harsh reality was revealed in the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa’s annual Women in Leadership Census. According to the census, only 34 of the 293 companies measured met the criteria to be classified as a top company. With many various reasons cited for the lack of women leadership, the authors believe that women’s empowerment should be part of an organisation’s DNA and that there should be…
MTN subscribers are in for an entertainment treat following the announcement by MTN that it has zero rated the data usage for streaming content on FrontRow. By Staff Writer The decision to zero rate data usage means that MTN customers who are subscribed to FrontRow can watch thousands of their favourite movies and TV series available on the FrontRow bouquet without incurring any data costs. The zero rating of FrontRow gives its subscribers access to over 2 300 hours of premium content, including TV series such as The Office, Sherlock, 30 Rock and Mad Men, movies, music videos, kids…
For decades, it was cash, cards and checks, but the way we pay has evolved massively in recent years. Internet shopping brought the high street into our homes, mobile payments put power in our pockets, and contactless cards make transactions as simple as ‘tap and go’. By Carey van Vlaanderen, ESET CEO What’s next? It probably comes as no surprise that we expect the smartphone will continue to replace the wallet through apps like SnapScan , but other more out-there payment methods are emerging too. Here are a few trends that could take hold in the years ahead. Biometrics We can already use our fingerprints…
VIDI, South Africa’s first video on demand (VOD) streaming service, is offering anyone who registers on its website the chance to enter a competition to win a 2015 Ferrari 458 Spider worth more than R5 million rand. By Staff Writer The sports car is regarded as one of the most magnificent machines on the road and anyone who registers on www.vidi.co.za can stand a chance of winning what Top Gear described as “a supermodel in the very truest sense of the word”. They will also receive comprehensive insurance for a year as well as a seven-year maintenance plan. The…
MTN customers, like me, who received a call from a courier company offering to deliver a new SIM card can rest assured that this is a genuine offer from the mobile phone operator and not a scam. By Gugu Lourie Initially, I thought was being scammed by a fake courier company asking to deliver a new LTE free SIM card. “I informed the courier consultant that I was not interested in a free new LTE sim card as I was already using one and didn’t see a need to change it.” But, I decided to call MTN to verify the…
isabelo is a smart bench that is Wi-Fi enabled and aims to bridge the technology divide by providing free Wi-Fi in public spaces in African cities. It also brings clients closer to their consumer markets through tailored research which is conducted off the Wi-Fi hotspot. By Gugu Lourie A first for the continent, the bench launched at The Grove Square in Braamfontein, is designed as a stand-alone entirely solar powered, free Wi-Fi hotspot, complete with USB charging points and easy seating that can help attract and bring life back into public spaces. The innovative bench is already proving a popular…
Most of us would like to think scientific debate does not operate like the comments section of online news articles. These are frequently characterised by inflexibility, truculence and expostulation. Scientists are generally a little more civil, but sometimes not much so! By Jonathan Keith There is a more fundamental issue here than politeness, though. Science has a reputation as an arbiter of fact above and beyond just personal opinion or bias. The term “scientific method” suggests there exists an agreed upon procedure for processing evidence which, while not infallible, is at least impartial. So when even the most respected scientists can…
The Western Cape schools will have free high-speed internet access by the end of 2016, to support teaching and learning, said Premier Helen Zille on Tuesday at the launch of eLearning “Game-Changer” at the province’s Legislature building in Cape Town. By Staff Writer The Western Cape Government is investing R3.8 billion over the next 10 years to bring high-speed broadband to all residents of the Western Cape. Over the next decade, R2 billion of the total investment will be on connectivity at schools. The broadband system will provide a Wide Area Network (WAN). A total of 581km of fibre optic cable will…
Following global trends, we are investing in the modernisation of research and development infrastructure, and in particular, new instruments and facilities (like the Centre for High Performance Computing, and SKA) as key components in the drive to ensure that we have the capacity to generate new knowledge. By Naledi Pandor, Minister of Science and Technology Africa is the second-fastest growing region in the world, with seven of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world. This growth can only be sustained through innovation and ensuring that innovation addresses the global challenges Africa faces. As Africans, we must develop solutions to address…
Smile Telecoms Holdings – the operator that offers mobile wireless 4G LTE broadband networks – has raised $365 million (R5.1 billion) of funding to help fuel its expansion in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. By Gugu Lourie One of Africa’s best kept-secret telecoms firms, Smile Telecoms based in Johannesburg has received a $365 million (R5.1 billion) cash injection from South Africa’s biggest pension fund manager, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), and African Export-Import bank – a Cairo-based pan-African financial institution. The money will be used to expand the company’s mobile wireless 4G LTE broadband networks across…