Author: Staff Writer

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) today announced it has received six applications in respect of the International Mobile Telecommunications spectrum licensing process. ICASA said this marks an important and critical step towards the auctioning of high-demand spectrum in March 2022. The following applications were received by the closing date and time, in the order of submission: 1. Cell C 2. MTN 3. Vodacom 4. Telkom 5. Rain Networks 6. Liquid Telecoms In terms of the published timetable for this licensing process, ICASA said it will announce the qualified bidders on 21 February 2022. ICASA said this will…

Carry1st, Africa’s leading mobile games publisher, CrazyLabs, a global top three hyper-casual games developer and publisher with nearly five billion downloads to date, and Jyväskylä Game Industry Hub from Finland are hosting their first-ever hyper-casual game development jam, ‘The Game of Thrones Jam’. Designed to identify top gaming talent from across South Africa and Finland, the hackathon is taking place between February 3rd and 7th 2022 and will pit teams from South Africa and Finland against each other as they aim to design and develop the best hyper-casual mobile game. The three-and-a-half-day online event is supported by the Digi &…

German software company SAP is making a foray into FinTech through the acquisition of US-based provider of working capital management solutions Taulia. Taulia is a FinTech provider of working capital management solutions headquartered in San Francisco, California. Taulia helps companies access value tied up in their payables, receivables and inventory. A network of more than two million businesses use Taulia’s platform to determine when they want to pay and be paid. Having built their presence up since 2009, Taulia is one of the early movers in the area of working capital management and supply chain finance and processes more than…

Bharti Airtel and Google today announced that they will partner on a long-term, multi-year agreement to accelerate the growth of India’s digital ecosystem. Together, they will work to bring best-in-class end-to-end products to serve customer needs, provide quality customer experience, and bring their expertise to solve problems of affordability, access, and digital inclusion. As part of this partnership, Google intends to invest up to $1 billion or R15.4 billion, as part of its Google for India Digitization Fund, which includes equity investment as well as a corpus for potential commercial agreements, to be identified and agreed on mutually agreeable terms…

The Huawei nova Y9a has just launched in South Africa. It comes loaded with a 64MP quad-camera setup, a 6.63-inch FullView Display, 40W Huawei SuperCharge and 8GB + 128GB of storage. The device’s camera includes a 64MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide angle camera, a 2MP depth camera and a 2MP macro camera. Huawei says these four cameras work together to create professional looking photographs with a 34% higher resolution and excellent colour reproduction capabilities. Photos taken on your Huawei nova Y9a can comfortably be printed as large as 3.2m x 2.4m. Low lighting conditions are no match for the…

Acronis, a Swiss cyber protection firm, today launched its Cyber Cloud Data Centre in Johannesburg. The new data centre is one of 111 new data centres being deployed by the company. The centre gives service provider partners access to a full range of cyber protection solutions upon which they can build new services while delivering faster access, constant data availability, and data sovereignty to their clients. Having these capabilities is key for South African service providers today, as cyber threats loom over the business landscape and data accessibility, privacy, and compliance demands grow. “A local presence is a necessity for…

Convergence Partners, owned by ICT industry veteran Andile Ngcaba, has secured $20 million or R305 million in funds from the Mineworkers Provident Fund (MWPF). The investment was done through Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund. Convergence Partners has backing from several international development finance institutions with the aim of accelerating the digital infrastructure rollout critically needed across the African continent to address the problems of availability, quality and cost of digital infrastructure. The allocation from MWPF will be used to fund several types of infrastructure needed to enable Africa’s active participation in the digital economy. These include communication backbone infrastructure such as…

Searches for electric vehicles (EVs) surged by 110% to half a million in 2021. BMW received a whopping eight million more Consumer Advert Views last year. And over 637 million online vehicle searches were conducted last year. These are just some of the trends to emerge in the latest AutoTrader Car Industry Report. The study – which covers January to December 2021 – is entitled #SwitchedOn. “Following a challenging 2020, which saw the automotive market grinding to a virtual halt, 2021 was a year that forced us to evolve and find products and services that met the change car shoppers…

As of today, MTN prepaid customers will pay only R299 for 30GB for monthly data (down from R349) and R199 for 21GB weekly (down from R249) when purchasing MTN EverydayGigs. MTN has also introduced a new EverydayGig 3-day offer of 1.5GB for R39, a 7-day offer of 3.5GB for R55 and a monthly offer of 15GB for only R179. “We believe in choice and flexible data solutions for all customers. With continuing work and lifestyle changes, and difficulties still faced by many, this is becoming more and more important. We hope that our revised Everyday Gigs pricing will empower more…

With the global pandemic roiling labour markets across the world for the past two years, the recruitment industry has a particularly vital role to play in getting people back to work and helping employers find the talent they need quickly and efficiently.  One of the most important drivers of South Africa’s economic recovery is for industry to have the right people in the right jobs. This is one of the factors driving the escalating development and uptake of RecTech, new tools and applications that are disrupting and improving conventional recruitment processes and practices. Job Crystal, a women-led, South African recruitment…

The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) has released today a new MeerKAT telescope image of the centre of our Galaxy, showing radio emission from the region with unprecedented clarity and depth. The international team behind the work is publishing the initial science highlights from this image in The Astrophysical Journal. The image captures radio emission from numerous phenomena, including outbursting stars, stellar nurseries, and the chaotic region around the 4 million solar mass supermassive black hole that lurks in the centre of our Galaxy, 25,000 light-years from Earth. Radio waves penetrate the intervening dust that obscures the view of this…

TallOrder, a South African developer of advanced cloud-based point of sale (POS) solutions for the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) market, has announced that it has raised R47 million in additional Series A funding. The funds will be used to accelerate growth and product development. They were raised from existing investors, including Investec Private Capital, as well as a consortium led by Africa-focused fintech investment firm Nurture Investment Management (“Nurture”). Nurture’s consortium consists of family offices and high net worth individuals, including Valentine Chitalu, an experienced pan-African investor. “Developing a robust, feature-rich and widely adaptable cloud POS solution takes a…

South Africa’s largest classifieds site Gumtree has partnered with credit information bureau XDS solutions (part of the EOH Information Services Group) to launch Profile Verification on their platform. This innovation will allow both buyers and sellers to verify their SA ID number with XDS. Facial recognition software used during the process will ensure that stolen ID documents cannot be used. Claire Cobbledick, GM of Gumtree South Africa, states that this is one of many steps the platform is taking to make the process of buying and selling online safer for all. “Part of the appeal of social media and classifieds…

Disney+ is coming to South Africa to compete with rivals Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Showmax and DStv Now. The streaming service from The Walt Disney Company, confirmed that this winter it will launch in 42 countries and 11 new territories*. New countries include South Africa, Turkey, Poland and the United Arab Emirates. With exclusive original content and thousands of episodes and movies from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and general entertainment from Star, Disney+ is the streaming home for some of the world’s most beloved stories.  Full list of countries (in alphabetical order) that Disney+ will launch this…

Klein Vision, a Slovakian startup company, has achieved its first airworthiness certification for its flying car, AirCar. The Slovak Transport Authority issued the certification following the successful completion of 70 hours of rigorous flight testing compatible with European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) standards, with over 200 takeoffs and landings. The challenging flight tests included the full range of flight and performance manoeuvres and demonstrated an astonishing static and dynamic stability in the aircraft mode. The takeoff and landing procedures were achieved even without the pilot’s need to touch the flight controls. It took a team of 8 highly skilled specialists and…

Israeli auto data startup Otonomo today announced Audi AG as a vehicle data platform partner. With access to rich, actionable vehicle data, Audi’s customers and business partners can create consumer offerings that enhance the user experience for Audi vehicle owners, ranging from pay-as-you-drive and insurance services, to general vehicle status, to first notification of loss. “Otonomo’s mobility intelligence platform unlocks the value of connected vehicle data while maintaining GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliance,” said Thomas Geiger, Project Manager Extended Vehicle Audi AG.“We see the enabling of services for multi-brand solutions through Otonomo’s customers, from start-ups to major corporates in…

The highly anticipated Volvo XC40 P8 Recharge has been spotted on South African roads, marking the local arrival of the Swedish firm’s first all-electric vehicle (EV). A mere four days after Volvo opened the order books for the battery-powered XC40 in May 2021, all initial slots were sold out. Now the first example has made local landfall, being handed over to its excited new owner at the Tom Campher Volvo Cars dealership in Johannesburg. In order to meet growing local demand, Volvo Car South Africa has secured an additional allocation of units, with orders now being taken and deliveries expected…

Due to huge customer demand, Pick n Pay today launched its new Vehicle Licence Disc Renewal Service nationally. Customers will now be able to renew their licence disc in over 500 Pick n Pay stores, across South Africa, at an amended service fee of R250. Customers can visit any Pick n Pay supermarket or hypermarket to renew their vehicle licence disc. The retailer hopes to roll out the service to all Pick n Pay Liquor and Clothing stores soon too. “Renewing your car licence disc is now as easy as adding it to your grocery shopping list. Our network of…

South Africa’s leading telecommunication operators, including MTN SA, Vodacom, Telkom SA, Cell C and Liquid Intelligent Technologies have joined forces to establish a non-profit organisation, the Communication Risk Information Centre (COMRiC), which seeks to better protect their network investments and advance the country’s participation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. COMRiC will primarily focus on the sector’s collective identification, mitigation and prevention of the common risk issues within the industry with a key focus for 2022 centred on critical infrastructure network vandalism, commercial crimes and cyber security. Vernall Muller, COMRiC’s Chief Executive Officer, says, “The formation of COMRiC has enabled formal…

Data Specialist company PBT Group today that its ordinary shares will be traded on A2X with effect from 1 February 2022. PBT Group informed investors that it will retain its primary listing on the JSE and its issued share capital will be unaffected by the secondary listing on A2X. PBT Group’s ordinary shares will be available to be traded on the JSE and A2X from the A2X listing date, the company said. A2X is a licensed stock exchange authorised to provide a secondary listing venue for companies and is regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and Prudential Authority, South…

MTN Group’s commitment to improve our environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance has led to a significant upgrade in the Group’s ESG rating by FTSE Russell, and the inclusion of MTN in the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Top 30 Index. Noting an improvement across each of the ESG pillars, FTSE upgraded MTN’s overall rating to 4.3 at the end-December 2021 from 2.9 previously. The ratings are scored out of 5.0. In the telecoms sector, MTN moved from the 34th percentile in December 2019 – the last time such a ranking was performed – to the 97th percentile in December 2021. MTN…

Wamly, the one-way video interview software startup has secured a second round investment from South African venture capital firm, Knife Capital. The deal sees Davey Gant, Knife Capital partner based in UK, joining the Wamly board of directors. Wamly is one-way video interview software that connects great companies to talented people and helps the world hire better people faster. It allows companies to recruit vacant positions without the need for one-on-one interviews, allowing them to interview more people and better candidates, faster. The software allows them to filter through applications quicker, review in their own time, and shortlist the best…

Huawei South Africa’s Seeds for the Future class of 2021 has been placed in the top ten of the organisation’s global Tech4Good programme competition, winning recognition for their project aimed at protecting the country’s endangered rhino population from ongoing poaching. The South African project, called “SA-Tech – South Africa’s Intrusion Detection System”, beat out entries from 79 other countries around the globe and placed in the top 10 alongside those from Argentina, Thailand, Brazil, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Poland, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. Additionally, it was placed in the top three in the Tech4Good’s Audience Award, which is voted for by social…

Keeping kids safe online is one of the greatest anxieties of modern parenting.  Trying to create limits, impose restrictions and constantly monitor your child roaming free across the uncontrolled, and often dangerous digital landscape is fraught, time-consuming and exhausting.  Yet, it must be done in the name of responsible parenting.  It’s not enough to apply a parental control app and make a few rules about screen time limits. Online or offline, parents have the same responsibility to keep their children safe.  From being groomed by sex predators and easily connecting with drug sellers to being victimised through cyberbullying or coming…

Huawei has earned its place as a Top Employer in South Africa, for a fifth year running, as determined by the Top Employers Institute, the global authority on excellence in people practices. At the Top Employer Awards Ceremony held this week, Huawei also received accreditation as Continental HQ Top Employer for 2022 in Sub Saharan Africa. In addition to South Africa, Huawei also received the prestigious award in Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, Botswana, Mauritius and Uganda. Through the Top Employers Institute certification programme, participating companies are annually assessed, surveyed, and accredited as leading employers in respect of their Human…