Author: Gugu Lourie

In the second game of the Telkom DGL Masters series held today at rAge Expo in Cape Town, Flipsid3 Tactics were no match for the fourth seeded Carbon eSport. After only two rounds of a best of three Carbon eSports beat Flipsid3 Tactics 16-6 in two straight games. Team leader Rikus “ZipZipZa” Klue was naturally despondent after the loss. “We have had some recent changes to the team so we are still finding our feet when it comes to roles and responsibilities during a match. These are challenges that we will overcome with time. Hopefully by October we will stand a…

Cell C on Friday revealed new mobile data rates that provide its subscribers with more data and lower prices. South Africa’s third bigegst mobile phone operator has cut the price of its home and office broadband LTE offerings by up to 64%. The telco, which is still in talks with Blue Telecom, reduced the cost of eight of its most popular data offers – six contract and two prepaid options – with discounts ranging between 33% and 64%. On the prepaid side, Cell C will be offering its popular 100GB data deal, which is valid for 1 year for R999…

One decision that will push the rating agencies to downgrade South Africa to “junk status” is the approval of the nuclear procurement programme, according to emerging markets economist Peter Montalto of Nomura. By Matthew le Cordeur South Africa is currently placed one notch above “junk status”, officially known as non-investment grade. The next step down is of huge concern to economists, wary of the resultant increase in inflation and interest rates as well as lower growth and, ultimately, job losses. “Taking on the nuclear build programme contingent liabilities under the Department of Energy (Doe) and the ANCs preferred vendor financing…

New digital museum guide supports personalised, interactive tours of permanent and temporary exhibitions. It will be available free of charge from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store from January 2016 – in seven languages. With the new BMW Museum App, the BMW Museum in Munich is presenting its vision for the future of self-guided, interactive tours through the history of “sheer driving pleasure”. For the first time, this app allows smartphone and tablet users to preview highlights from the history of BMW and its products before they make their trip, while intelligent interactive technology allows them to engage…

South African Airways (SAA) will be expanding the offer of Samsung tablets on board as a way of improving in-flight entertainment to business class customers travelling on regional flights. “Following the launch of this offering in September last year on the Mauritius route, customers have shown a keen interest in this innovation which we are now expanding to our Nairobi, Kenya route as from this week after the successful uptake on Mauritius. We will continue to roll out additional routes after our Nairobi trial, while we continue to monitor customer satisfaction,” says Kim Thipe, SAA Head of Marketing. SAA customer…

With the first event in the Telkom DGL Masters series kicking off shortly at rAge Expo 18-20 March 2016, Cape Town, Telkom DGL has now announced the shoutcasters, or eSports commentators, that will be involved. In order to create the buzz that is required at this type of event Telkom DGL has secured the shoutcasting services of Barry ‘Anthrax’ Louzada and Lewis ‘Vudulew’ Williams, both well known in the eSports community. This is another big addition to the new league, not only building the profiles of the MGO’s in South Africa but also those known for shoutcasting. “We are very happy…

Five new Western Cape businesses have been created that less than six months ago were little more than great ideas, thanks to support from Telkom FutureMakers and Cape Town’s Bandwidth Barn. The businesses have been developed by InnoTech, a Telkom-funded 20-week programme focusing on web and mobile applications development, software development and design, and gaming. The initiative, facilitated by the Bandwidth Barn, aims to stimulate new business creation and support the expansion and growth of existing companies through the uptake of technology and innovation capability. FutureMakers is Telkom’s enterprise and supplier development programme. Fifteen entrepreneurs with concepts or early stage prototypes were included in…

Webafrica said on Thursday that about 80 000 homes on its network are able to access fibre through its partnertship with multiple fibre providers. As part of Webafrica’s fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) rollout strategy, the ISP has partnered with Fibrehoods, Telkom and Vumatel. “Over 80 000 houses in our network can now access fibre”, says Webafrica Product Owner, Greg Wright. “FTTH in South Africa is growing at a rapid speed, and within our network the reach of fibre is growing on a monthly – even weekly – basis. Most recently, we have added 4000 homes in Johannesburg and 2000 homes in Cape Town to…

A small start-up situated in Fourways, Johannesburg, is changing the face of security providers nationwide. Specialising in technical installations across the niche world of business and personal security, Security Brokerz is providing customers around the country with a ‘one-stop-shop’, working with customers to create a quality and reliable security solution customised to individual requirements. “We offer a product agnostic broker service, with a specific focus on the SME landscape, retail, home owners and new developments,” explains Shawn Nicholls, founder and owner, Security Brokerz. What this in effect means, is that it offers security solutions from a wide range of legally…

Dealing in the rand should come with a ‘Government Health Warning’ and I fear the swings we have seen this week will continue, Adam Phillips of Umkhulu Consulting said on Wednesday following confirmation from deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas that the Guptas did offer him Nhlanhla Nene’s job. By Fadia Salie “I should think Zuma, Moyane, the Hawks and the Guptas are more than slightly nervous tonight. The market desperately needs to rid itself of politically fired events and get back to basics. Is that not what Gordhan is trying to do? I think he is,” he told Fin24 in…