Author: Staff Writer

MTN is rolling out an updated, more affordable range of capped broadband plans today. MTN’s new fixed long-term evolution (FLTE) proposition includes a new promotional price entry point for MyMTN Home of R269 for 120GB. A new 500GB plan is also added at R699 over 24 months, including a Fixed LTE Wi-Fi router. Customers who sign up on selected MyMTN Home packages on a SIM only month-to-month payment plan will get their first month free. To take advantage of this offer the customer needs to purchase a Fixed LTE router from any MTN store from R1999, the offer is valid…

Dimension Data announced on Thursday it has acquired Acacia Cloud Solutions, a market-leading cloud implementation partner with an exceptional AWS (Amazon Web Services) pedigree. The move cements Dimension Data’s commitment to invest in cloud services and solutions that meet the digital transformation and hybrid cloud requirements of organisations in the Middle East and Africa region in an increasingly competitive and digital business operating landscape. The acquisition will expand Dimension Data’s AWS capabilities and provide its clients with innovative cloud managed services solutions that deliver relevant optimisation tools and speed to market. This will see both companies building more capacity and skills…

The National Treasury has chosen to retain the services of Vodacom, awarding the company with a new mobile communication services contract. The RT15 2021 Transversal contract allows all state entities to utilise the contract for mobile communication services, which will further assist with cost containment. In 2016,  Vodacom was appointed as the sole provider of mobile telecommunication services to the government. The contract comes to an end. The new 2021 transversal contract is for sixty (60) months commencing on 01 April 2021 to 31 March 2026. It has been awarded to multiple Service Providers, including Vodacom, MTN, Telkom and Cell C. For more…

The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies will conduct public hearings into the Draft White Paper on Audio-Visual Content Services Policy Framework. Last year, the department gazetted the Draft White Paper on Audio-Visual Content Services for public comment. The Public hearings on the Draft White Paper on Audio-Visual Content Services Policy Framework are set to start in April. The objectives of the Draft White Paper are to solicit inputs from the sector and all affected stakeholders to ensure that it covers all aspects of audio-visual content players, in preparation for the final White Paper. The draft White Paper, among others,…

Telkom has welcomed the National Treasury to its growing list of clients following a competitive pitch process after which the company was added as one of the official service providers. As part of the RT15-2021 Transversal contract, Telkom will provide government institutions with Mobile Communication Services for the period commencing 1 April 2021 and ending 31 March 2026. The Transversal Contract RT15-2021 is a 5-year tender that offers successful mobile service providers the opportunity to serve the South African government with all its mobile and enterprise solutions including hardware and software as well as accessories. “We couldn’t be prouder to…

MTN South Africa announced on Wednesday that MoMo (Mobile Money) subscribers will be able to cash-in and cash-out at 1,647 Pick n Pay stores across the country. Customers should be registered on MoMo app to use the new service. They will require an 8-digit Voucher Number and a PIN number to perform a MoMo transaction at the Pick n Pay point of sale tills. “We’re pleased to extend our relationship with Pick n Pay by offering quick and convenient cash-in and cash-out services to our 2,8 million MoMo subscribers through Pick n Pay stores,” says Felix Kamenga, MTN SA’s Chief…

TymeBank, one of South Africa’s digital banks, has reached the 3 million customer milestone. The digital bank owned by billionaire Patrice Motsepe was launched in February 2019. The bank has no monthly banking fees and in most cases, transaction costs are 30 to 50% lower than what customers would pay at other banks.  TymeBank said this is a compelling proposition for South African consumers, with the bank consistently onboarding between 100 000 and 120 000 customers each month – between 3 000 and 5 000 new customers every day. TymeBank has no branches, and its core banking technology platform is…

Lexus is planning to introduce 10 new electrified vehicles will be introduced by 2025 as part of the luxury lifestyle brand’s ‘Lexus Electrified’ vision. To symbolise the Lexus brand transformation, the Toyota Motors-owned luxury brand today introduced a new concept battery electric vehicle, known as LF-Z Electrified. Drawing from an advanced lithium-ion battery technology, the LF-Z Electrified realises a maximum 600km cruising range [WLTP] on a single charge – combined with 400kW of power, 700Nm of torque and standstill to 100km/h performance in 3.0 seconds. DIRECT4 technology The new four-wheel-drive force control technology, DIRECT4, allows the driving force of the…

Microsoft on Tuesday announced it has helped nearly 300 000 in South Africa gain access to digital skills during COVID-19.  This is why the company is extending its commitment by launching new resources to help job-seekers and 250,000 companies make skills-based hire in 2021. From laid-off factory workers to retail associates and truck drivers, millions of people turned to online learning courses from GitHub, LinkedIn and Microsoft during the pandemic to help prepare for and secure the most in-demand roles, including customer service, project management and data analysis. The announcement builds on the company’s efforts to help people by extending…

MTN SAannounced today that the National Treasury had appointed it as one of the government’s services providers. The RT15 2021 Transversal contract allows all state entities to utilise the contract for mobile communication services, which will further assist with cost containment. In 2016,  Vodacom was appointed as the sole provider of mobile telecommunication services to the government. The contract comes to an end. The new 2021 transversal contract is for sixty (60) months commencing on 01 April 2021 to 31 March 2026. It has been awarded to multiple Service Providers, including Vodacom, MTN, Telkom and Cell C. There are three…

Discovery Bank, which operates a shared-value banking model, today brings its customers Apple Pay, a safer, more secure and private way to pay that helps customers avoid handing their payment card to someone else, touching physical buttons or exchanging cash — and uses the power of iPhone to protect every transaction. Customers simply hold their iPhone or Apple Watch near a payment terminal to make a contactless payment. Every Apple Pay purchase is secure because it is authenticated with Face ID, Touch ID, or device passcode, as well as a one-time unique dynamic security code. Apple Pay is accepted in…

The story behind the solution that assisted an estimated 10 million citizens to apply for COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grants. On 21 April, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the South African nation. He advised that additional social relief would be put in place to address the detrimental economic effects of COVID-19 through the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant. SASSA had the prodigious task of ensuring millions of individuals would be able to access their needed grants and quickly. They were determined to live up to the SASSA slogan – paying the right social grants, at the right time and…

Swedish-Swiss tech company ABB has partnered with cloud computing firm Amazon Web Services (AWS) to jointly develop a cloud-based digital solution for the real-time fleet management of electric vehicles (EVs). The platform will optimize the efficient use of EVs and speed up the electrification of transport fleets, helping operators worldwide maintain 100% business continuity as they transition to fully electric. The new platform, which is planned for roll out in the second half of 2021, will offer a tailored user experience in a single-view platform. From the EV charge point to the fleet data dashboard, it will make EV fleet…

Mercedes-Benz and Siemens plan to cooperate on advancing digitalization and automation in the automotive industry. The carmaker aims to digitize its production processes. Siemens, a leading supplier in the field of automation, industrial software and smart infrastructure, will bring its expertise and technologies to the partnership to develop highly flexible, efficient and sustainable automotive production together with Mercedes-Benz. “Mercedes-Benz takes digitalization to the next level in the global Mercedes-Benz Cars production network,” Jörg Burzer, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz AG, Production and Supply Chain Management, said. “Together with Siemens, we are driving forward the development of sustainable…

Curro Academy Pretoria’s Grade 11 learner, Tsakane Koko and her team made our country proud by finishing in second place at the “Olympics of Technology”, the Imagine Cup Junior Virtual Artificial Intelligence Hackathon, Girls Edition 2021. The Olympics of Technology provides learners with a platform to bring their ideas to life. Sponsored by Microsoft and in partnership with UNESCO, the Hackathon challenge is a live international event where teams (of 2-5 individuals) compete by trying to solve real-world problems using Artificial Intelligence (AI). At the Olympics of Technology, Tsakane’s team competed against 21 other countries, including Egypt, Canada, England, and…

4Sight, a diversified technology group, today announced strong results for its financial year ending 31 December 2020. The group’s revenue rose 6% to R522 million, and a recorded decline of 0,1% in gross profit margin from 53,7% to 53,6% (from continuing operations, i.e. excluding Digitata, which was disposed of during the reporting period). Profit after tax on continuing operations improved by more than 100%, achieving a net profit after tax margin of 5,6% as compared to a loss in the previous reporting period (in USD). The group’s operating expenses for continuing operations for the year decreased by 7.9% compared to…

South African traffic officers will be issued with body cameras to help gather evidence and improve the conviction rate for traffic law violators. Addressing the launch of the Easter Road Safety campaign on Monday on the N4 Bapong Weighbridge in the North West, Deputy Minister of Transport Dikeledi Magadzi said South Africa is ready to issue traffic officers with body cameras. “As the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) rolls out the use of body cameras within the fraternity over the next 3 to 5 years, we aim to improve the levels of service and ensure that this is executed to…

ICT industry veteran Andile Ngcaba‘s inq. has appointed Dr. Christian Wirtz as its new Group CEO from 1 April 2021. Dr Wirtz, currently an Executive in Group Enterprise at MTN, will be taking over from founding Group CEO Geoff Hardwick who has stepped down from the role. Dr Wirtz is an industry veteran with a wealth of telco and enterprise business experience having worked for more than two decades in the ICT sector across Africa and Europe.  “We are excited to have Christian joining us. He has traversed industry-leading organisations such as McKinsey, Vodafone, Vodacom and most recently MTN,” inq.’s…

Liquid Intelligent Technologies (Liquid) South Africa announced on Monday the launch of the two key digital corridors – NLD5 and NLD6 connecting Durban to Cape Town via the inland route. The completion of this fibre network will support the surging demand for high-speed internet as an increasing number of local businesses continue their digital transformation journeys. Liquid South Africa is part of the pan-African technology group Liquid Intelligent Technology Increased access to high-speed fibre connectivity is critical to improving not just telecommunication services for millions of South Africans in the country. The digital; corridors will also bring substantial social and…

Global cloud communications company Infobip has announced its full Communications Platform-as-a-Service offering is now available on Microsoft Azure, thereby extending the enterprise customer base globally for Infobip – particularly in the finance, eCommerce and retail sectors, and allow it to expand its core market footprint. The Azure deployment is the latest step in Infobip’s technology collaboration with Microsoft that sees Infobip adding its omnichannel capability to Microsoft’s platforms for the benefit of all enterprise and B2B customers seeking easy to scale customer engagement and customer service solutions that span contact centre, marketing, security and authentication services. As the company edges…

ICASA, the country’s communications watchdog, is extending the temporary radio frequency spectrum assignments for licensees. Last April, ICASA released the emergence high-demand spectrum to meet the spike in broadband services demand due to COVID-19. Today, ICASA said it has resolved to review the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) COVID-19 National Disaster Regulations (The Regulations) and extend the temporary radio frequency spectrum assignments issued to licensees for another two months (from 1 April 2021 to 31 May 2021). The temporary release of high demand spectrum (HDS) to licensees aimed to mitigate the impact of the national state of disaster following the…

In 2020, Vodacom became the first telco globally to zero-rate the lifesaving addressing technology, What3words, for its 43 million subscribers across South Africa. Fast forward 10 months and the system has been used by over 14,000 Vodacom subscribers. Today, Vodacom is highlighting some of the real-life callers from the Western Cape area who have used the technology in an emergency, and who were able to receive fast medical help thanks to the accurate address. Dr Shaheem de Vries Medical Director WCGH Emergency Medical Services Western Cape Government Health ‘A construction worker in Salt River fell on duty, knocked unconscious…

Liquid Intelligent Technologies (Liquid), a pan-African technology group, has appointed Sandile Ntsele as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for its South Africa operations, effective 15 April 2021. Sandile has extensive experience working in senior finance roles, most recently as the CFO for MTN South Africa. He will be instrumental in overseeing Liquid South Africa’s corporate and financial strategy as the organisation repositions itself and optimise its network and technological capabilities to deliver on its corporate vision of enabling a digitally connected future that leaves no African behind. “We are delighted to welcome Sandile to Liquid. His in-depth understanding of the industry…

The consultancy agreement between Explore AI, a Cape Town-based technology consulting company, and British water utility Thames Water has been extended. Explore-AI has been confirmed as a prefered Data Science partner. In 2019, Explore AI, the consulting division within the Explore Group (which also houses the Explore Data Science Academy), was tasked with delivering the analytics involved in monitoring the water flow within Thames Water’s vast distribution piping network. One initiative built an app to help Thames Water’s leakage technician identify which pipes are most likely to have leaks, enabling them to improve their productivity. The project has been an…

Discovery Bank today released a special report which shows South Africans take up to 29 years to change their bank accounts – that’s roughly 70% longer than the British and double the time of Americans. Titled “The application of shared value banking: A focus on interest rates and the potential benefits for South Africans,” the report showed that younger clients, and those who are digitally engaged, are 20% more likely to change their banks than the average banking client in South Africa. The bank’s research highlighted the impact of three major financial trends which are having a positive effect to…