Author: Gugu Lourie
For many years, New York City has been developing a “free” public Wi-Fi project. Called LinkNYC, it is an ambitious effort to bring wireless Internet access to all of the city’s residents. By Benjamin Dean This is the latest in a longstanding trend in which companies offer ostensibly free Internet-related products and services, such as social network access on Facebook, search and email from Google or the free Wi-Fi now commonly provided in cafes, shopping malls and airports. These free services, however, come at a cost. Use is free on the condition that the companies providing the service can collect, store…
The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) will brief Parliament’s portfolio committee on transport on Tuesday on alternative mechanisms for financing e-tolls. By Genevieve Quintal, NewsAgency Outa was asked to brief the committee on potential consequences of the planned e-toll regulatory amendments, concerns around toll collections, possible collusion in the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP) and lack of court action against this behaviour. Outa has been fighting the e-toll system in Gauteng for a number of years. It all began when the Gauteng freeway improvement project (GFIP) was launched in 2007 and, after several court challenges to halt the project, e-tolls…
Controversial media personality, Gareth Cliff, will go head-to-head with M-Net on Tuesday when the litigants face off in the Johannesburg High Court. By Genevieve Quintal, NewsAgency Cliff will be fighting for his job as an Idols judge, which he lost after he waded into the race debate that exploded after Penny Sparrow called black beachgoers “monkeys”. He is suing M-Net for R25m and wants his job back on the reality singing show after being abruptly fired. Cliff is being represented by Economic Freedom Fighters national chairperson, Advocate Dali Mpofu. The founder of CliffCentral came under fire after he retweeted a poll…
South African credit bureau and software firm Inoxico is eyeing growth opportunities in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) industry in the rest of the continent after security funding from a German-based financier DEG Group. By Gugu Lourie Inoxico, which sells commercial credit, counterparty & market intelligence data, has secured more than R8 million (€500 000) interest free loan from DEG to expand its services. The loan is repayable upon success of supported Inoxico’s activities. DEG, a subsidiary of KfW, is one of the largest European development finance institutions. When asked what would the loan from DEG be utilised for, Paul Ammer, spokesperson of Inoxico, said: “Inoxico is financing marketing…
iROKO, has secured $19 million from French media giant CANAL+, together with existing investor Kinnevik AB, to give the African tech & entertainment firm the platform to scale its operations and expand aggressively across the continent. By Staff Writer iROKO will channel the investment into local content financing and production, as well as its product and engineering teams in Lagos and New York. The company, which is not worried about the arrival of global video-on-demand platform Netflix in Africa, is planning to use the investment to produce at least 300 hours of original content in 2016, with the expectation…
The drought bringing vast farming regions to their knees has highlighted the importance of better management of the country’s scarce water resources. By Kroshlen Moodley, GM: Public Sector and Utilities at SAS While it isn’t possible to combat the El Nino weather pattern, better resource management and more effective water conservation could help prevent communities from running completely dry in future. Averting future water crises is a matter of informed decision-making at local, regional and national level. And in order to make these informed decisions, the authorities must have all the relevant data to hand. With aggregated data and advanced…
Africa’s on-demand home cleaning services startup SweepSouth has R10 million from a clutch of venture capitalists investors, which includes Vumela Fund, as well as from its existing investor, Vinny Lingham and Llew Claasen’s firm, Newtown Partners. By Gugu Lourie The Vumela Fund is capitalised by the First Rand Group and the Jobs Fund and managed by FNB in an alliance relationship with Edge Growth. The Cape-Town-based start-up said the funding will be utilised to fund growth. Pandor, CEO of SweepSouth, explains: “With this major new cash injection from the Vumela Fund, we can further expand our rapidly growing national footprint.”…
South Africa’s Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) has urged the country’s mobile networks to develop new ways to partner and compete with innovative OTT services for the benefit of consumers and to drive the uptake of broadband. By Graham Beneke OTT is the term used for the transmission of voice and data communication by cellular network customers. Because OTT services are finding growing favour with many contract and prepaid mobile users, South Africa’s mobile network operators are concerned about the impact on their revenues. This has resulted in Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services scheduling a meeting this…
M-Net CEO Yolisa Phahle, as part of M-Net’s answering affidavit in the acrimonious court case with Gareth Cliff after firing him as an Idols judge, submitted detailed marketing and social media research showing how he became “poison” for the M-Net andIdols brands. By Thinus Ferreira, NewAgency The public’s sudden negative sentiment against Gareth Cliff after he waded into the racist Penny Sparrow debate, and with his proximity and association with M-Net and Idols, was part of the motivation for the M-Net CEO giving the longtime Idols judge the boot. Gareth Cliff is now suing M-Net for R25 million, wants his judge’s…
To show its support for all over-the-top (OTT) players and their unhindered participation in the South African mobile industry, Cell C is throwing down the gauntlet to rivals, Vodacom and MTN, making WhatsApp Calling free to its customers from Sunday for the remainder of the month. By Staff Writer All contract customers and prepaid customers on the MegaBonus plan will be able to make calls free of charge, with no data costs incurred using the WhatsApp Calling feature. “For two years, Cell C has embraced services like WhatsApp and Facebook by offering customers innovative and very affordable products and services.…