Author: Gugu Lourie
Vodacom’s broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) credentials may be bolstered by the Public Investment Corporation’s (PIC) plans to sell a sizable portion of its stake in the mobile phone operator to black investors. The Sunday Times reported that the move may be part of Vodacom’s plans to comply with the industry’s regulator Icasa’s regulation to bid for the scare broadband radio frequency spectrum. Mobile operators that want to acquire broadband spectrum will need to prove that 30% of their shares are owned by black investors. On Friday, Mail & Guardian reported that ex-Vodacom executive Romeo Kumalo may be leading a…
It’s not been a good year so far for Australia’s traditional television industry with reports that prime-time audiences are down almost 5% amid competition from internet streaming services. By Marc C-Scott But the decline in the number of Australians watching traditional television has not just occurred since the introduction last year of online streaming services such as Netflix. The trend has been evident for some time now in reports from the audience monitoring company Oztam. The key reason for the change in television viewing habits is the internet, which has led to a large uptake of new screen media devices…
JSE-listed telecoms specialist Blue Label Telecoms continues to hold talks with Cell C on a proposed recapitalisation of SA’s third-largest cellular services provider, the telco informed investors on Friday. By Gugu Lourie Last month, Business Day reported that a empowerment shareholder at debt-laden cellular services group Cell C is looking to disrupt a much-needed recapitalisation exercise initiated by Blue Label Telecoms. The newspaper reported that CellSAf, which holds an effective 25% stake in Cell C, has filed an application in the Gauteng High Court to liquidate 3C Telecommunications, the holding company for Cell C. The liquidation application comes after CellSAf was…
South Africa’s Wireless Application Service Providers’ Association (WASPA) has been looking out for the interests of the country’s mobile consumers since its inception in 2004. An important milestone that has boosted consumer confidence in the local mobile content and applications industry is the alignment of the WASPA Code of Conduct with national legislation such as the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECTA), the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) and the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI). Acting in the interests of consumers to help ensure the long term sustainability of the greater mobile industry also means proactively offering consumers helpful advice.…
The primary function of private hospitals is to provide healthcare services. However, they are effectively a business just like any other large enterprise. They are faced, like any other property owner, with the challenge of having to manage multiple facilities at their premises. By Mark Swemmer, Business Manager, Jasco Property Technology Management One fact that is most frequently overlooked is effective management of the rooftop space of hospital and clinic buildings. Outsourced rooftop management can assist healthcare groups and facilities to simplify the management and associated challenges including health and safety requirements, space management, asset management and effective meter management…
MTN, Africa and Middle East biggest mobile phone operator, reported disappointing Nigeria and South Africa subscriber growth as the company continues to feel the pressure of aggressive competition and stringent regulatory requirements. The mobile phone group reported on Monday a 1.4% decline in the quarter for the period ending March 2016, impacted by the disconnections of subscribers in Nigeria related to the substantial subscriber registration process and compliance exercise. The key market of Nigeria had the biggest drop with a 6.9% decline in subscribers to 57 million customers. MTN attributed the downshift in Nigeria, in part, to the disconnection of…
Having experienced volume-driven web failure themselves, local low-cost airline FlySafair offers a helping hand as the Gauteng Department of Education struggles with #admissions2017. The Gauteng Department of Education had to suspend new online scholar registrations for the 2017 intake again yesterday, after their website crashed under the weight of unprecedented traffic load. Parents took to Twitter to express their increasing frustration as they struggled to complete registrations. MEC for Education in Gauteng, Panyaza Lesufi announced a further delay, giving the department a new deadline of Friday to have the system up and running. Offer to help Low-cost airline FlySafair have…
Following a rigorous selection process, involving more than 700 applicants from 26 countries across Africa, the top three finalists in the MTN Entrepreneurship Challenge powered by Jumia, have been revealed. The challenge, which aims to boost entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as build a stronger and more sustainable business environment on the continent, kicked off in February, and is a joint initiative between MTN, Jumia and the MTN Solution Space based at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. Through the entrepreneurship challenge, students were invited to develop a unique digital application or smart solution to address a…
Over the last few months, ttrumpet has been actively working with the Community Police Forums (CPF) in Pretoria to connect individuals in real-time with their communities, to syndicate information to keep themselves and their families safe. Currently, ttrumpet, along with the CPFs already covers over 700km2 in the Pretoria region, covering an impressive 289 241 households – a number that grows bigger every day as new security channels join the platform. The platform’s security channel is being used to provide updates to the community, report suspicious activity, highlight the real crime hotspots and generate better community awareness and vigilance to assist…
The leak of 11 million confidential documents (in about 2.6 terabytes of data) from the Panamanian law firm Mossack, Fonseca and Co. has been credited by some media outlets to a whistle-blower who wants to remain anonymous. Others have suggested it came from an attack by hackers. By Karuna Pande Joshi If it was a whistle-blower, then like the Snowden leaks, the Manning leaks and even back to the Pentagon Papers leak in 1971, this incident once again underlines the dominance of insiders as the primary source of attacks on organizations’ critical and sensitive data sets. Organizations spend significant resources…