Author: Gugu Lourie
Consumers are the big winners in the High Court’s judgment against Vodacom’s acquisition of Neotel licenses. By Jose Dos Santos,Cell C CEO It is hard to paint a rosy picture of telecommunications in South Africa. The environment is dominated by two players and policed by a regulator that does not always meet its mandate. In the end all that grief is passed onto South African mobile and internet users, who carry the brunt of some of the highest telecommunications costs in the world. The only true solution to this impasse is an open and competitive market, made possible by a level…
Standard Bank Research said the “rand sacrificed most of the gains it had made since the end of January”, which analysts on Monday said was due to a boiling point in politics involving President Jacob Zuma and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. By Matthew le Cordeur, NewsAgency Zuma said on Friday that he will not interfere with a SA Revenue Service (Sars) commissioned investigation by the Hawks into a ‘rogue unit’ that allegedly operated while Gordhan was commissioner at Sars. The current Sars commissioner, Tom Moyane, is at loggerheads with Gordhan over restructuring plans that will undo the well-oiled Sars machine that…
Teraco, which is regarded as Sub-Saharan Africa’s top “vendor neutral” data centre operator, is investing more money to develop Africa’s biggest data centre at its Isando headquarters in Johannesburg. By Gugu Lourie The data centre market, which is one of the fastest-growing industries, is buoyed by increased internet usage and proliferation of smart devices in Africa as well as the rise in data centre outsourcing. The industry in SA is also growing rapidly – a development that has benefitted Teraco, which was founded in 2008. As part of its growth strategy, Teraco announced on Monday that it has started adding a…
The last few years have seen numerous studies pointing to a bleak future with technology-induced unemployment on the rise. For example, a pivotal 2013 study by researchers at the University of Oxford found that of 702 unique job types in the United States economy, around 47% were at high risk of computerisation. By Stefan Hajkowicz This was backed up by similar findings in Australia suggesting 44% of occupations – representing more than five million jobs – were at risk over the coming 10 to 15 years. Is the situation really so dire? Are we heading towards mass unemployment as computers and…
Tech giant Apple is standing firm behind its decision to refuse a US court order to help the FBI gain access to the iPhone used by one of the shooters in last year’s mass killing in California. By Georg Thomas Fourteen people were killed and 22 seriously injured in a shooting in San Bernardino, on December 2, 2015. The incident was declared an act of terrorism. The FBI has an iPhone 5C belonging to one of the shooters, but it does not have the necessary security code set by the user to unlock the phone. It wants Apple to create and…
Telephone giant Telkom says it has not retrenched close to 600 workers as reported by the Solidarity union. The firm, which continues to seek ways to cut costs, said only about 300 workers at its corporate centre may be affected by the latest job cuts. By Staff Writer Telkom was earlier reported that it was seeking to retrench 554 workers. The South African-based telco, which is valued at more than R28 billion, on Thursday informed unions of its intention to pursue a Section 189 process, within its corporate centre, which may impact approximately 300 people. The firm advised that in…
Telkom, Africa’s biggest fixed-line telephone group, is planning to retrench 554 workers as part of its exercise to cut costs in the business and make it more profitable in order to compete aggressively in the market. By Staff Writer Trade union Solidarity announced in a statement on Friday that Telkom had issued a notice of retrenchment to trade union on Thursday. “In the retrenchment notice Telkom states that around 300 jobs at its Corporate Office will be affected by the process. It is also intended to transfer 254 employees to another company in compliance with section 197 of the Labour…
The CEO and Chairman of NET1 (Net1 UEPS Technologies), a JSE and Nasdaq-listed tech firm, Serge Belamant has a questionable Ph.D. Degree. Quoth Raven in a blog titled Is UEPS’ CEO touting a sham PHD Degree, says major questions loom about the integrity of Belamant’s Ph.D. Degree, which seems to have come from a ‘distance learning’ University that has since disappeared. By Staff Writer In the blog post, Raven says this after other research reports called out questionable statements the CEO has made about his company’s highly scrutinized business practices. “UEPS has been a company under much controversy – the next question…
This week Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan highlighted during the Budget Speech that partnership between government and businesses is a central priority of the National Development Plan (NDP) and key to rapid development for economic growth. MTN Business welcomes the budget speech and the recent call by the president for the public and private sectors to work together by mobilising the resources and capacity for quality delivery of services. In fact, David Mphelo, General Manager for Public Sector at MTN Business South Africa says the recent positive overtures by the Presidency regarding a more open relationship with business is serious…
The #Hack.Jozi Challenge, which is organised by the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and Wits University through the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE), is back again for its second year. This year, the total prize remains at R5 million. By Staff Writer The overall winner will receive R1 million for a great digital idea that can transform their community. The two runners up will get R350 000 and top 100 idea makers wil get a chance to go into a a boot camp. The #Hack.Jozi Challenge is a boot camp for startup entrepreneurs and aims to contribute towards fostering skills, innovation and entrepreneurship…