Author: Staff Writer

World Password Day is a reminder of the increase in cyber threats affecting South Africans and the country’s businesses. For example, a recent TransUnion study revealed that 37% of South Africans admitted that they had been targets of COVID-19-related digital fraud. Furthermore, the rate of digital fraud against the country’s businesses went up by 44%,” says Carlo Bolzonello, country lead for Trellix South Africa. “While passwords may be a critical part of everyday life, they aren’t adequately protecting personal and business data against these growing threats. Instead, individuals and organisations should use biometric or phone message multifactor authentication (MFA) wherever…

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and an ongoing semi-conductor shortage, Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) reached a momentous milestone when the plant in Kariega built its 1-millionth Polo for export. The plant has been building Polos since 1996 and began exporting Polo models in 2002. VWSA currently exports the Polo built in Kariega to 38 countries, building this vehicle for all right-hand-drive markets and supplementing production for left-hand-drive markets. The Kariega plant is also the sole manufacturer worldwide of the Polo GTI, and builds the popular Polo Vivo for the local market. By the time the 1-millionth export Polo rolled off…

MTN SA is investing R624 million into the Eastern Cape to drive upgrades and deploy new network infrastructure across the region this year. As part of MTN’s “Modernisation of Network South Africa project” (MONZA) project the investment will expand network reach into rural communities, drive 5G expansion and work to restore vandalised network infrastructure. “We are working across the country to modernise the entire MTN network. Just over 68% has already been completed nationally, and the Eastern Cape is our next focus area. While we have invested in improving data speeds and connections in the short term, this plan is…

Independent mobile payments, insights, loyalty and rewards platform, Zapper, has announced that their merchants will now be able to accept tap-on-phone payments. The new functionality gives them access to virtually all digital payments without the need for any additional point of sale hardware and irrespective of whether consumers have the Zapper app. “After a successful pilot phase, we have rolled out new functionality available to all Zapper merchants which enables them to accept physical card payments as well as mobile wallet payments, such as Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, Garmin Pay and others. The consumer simply taps the physical card or…

FIFA has teamed up with blockchain technology company Algorand to agree a sponsorship and technical partnership deal. The agreement means Algorand will become the official blockchain platform of FIFA and provide the official blockchain-supported wallet solution. As per the sponsorship agreement, Algorand will be a FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Regional Supporter in North America and Europe, and a FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023™ Official Sponsor. Blockchains allow non-editable data to be permanently recorded and distributed on digital networks, while also facilitating innovations and ensuring safe, untampered exchange of value and assets such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and…

Green hydrogen will be one of the largest economic opportunities over the next 30 years. Driven by international actions to combat climate change, it has the potential to revolutionise numerous value chains in the energy industry and across both the mobility and manufacturing sectors. With rapidly improving technology and decreasing costs for fuel cells, green hydrogen is becoming a more appealing fuel alternative in Africa. At the core of green hydrogen production is the availability of renewable energy that is not being utilised for its prime role as electricity supply. For Europe, the lack of spare renewable energy capacity will…

As Vodacom and CIVH approach the regulatory and competition authorities to approve a transaction pooling their fibre network assets, SA’s Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) seeks reassurance that the mobile operator’s historical closed access culture will be swept aside should the deal succeed. ISPA’s 205 Internet Service Provider (ISP) members have, to date, struggled to obtain wholesale offerings from Vodacom for on-selling to consumers. Conversely, Vumatel and DFA have been pivotal in fostering fierce competition amongst ISPs by historically providing wholesale, fibre-based deals. Promised cash injections to advance the rollout of high-speed fibre in South Africa are to be welcomed,…

MetroFibre’s Dr Steve Booysen will hand over the reins of CEO to Jan-Jan Bezuidenhout, the current Deputy CEO of MetroFibre, effective from 1 June 2022. Booysen will step down as CEO and director of MetroFibre on 31 May 2022, and continue to provide support on a consultancy basis to the executive leadership team until the end of August 2022.  “It’s been an incredible 12-year journey as a founder member and provider of seed capital back in 2010, when we founded MetroFibre. I’m extremely proud of what we have achieved, and excited at what is still to come for the business. …

MTN has joined forces with large telcos from Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America to create an alliance develop startups and aid innovation in new telco technologies, such as 5G and Fibre. The alliance is known as Alaian, consisting of global telcos to reach 50 countries and 700 million customers. The members of Alaian are Bouygues Telecom, Cellnex, KPN, MTN, Telefónica and WINDTRE. The alliance is also committed to global open calls to attract companies that are aligned with its strategic innovation priorities. In this context, they are taking the opportunity to announce a global call for start-ups,…

Cybercrime is on the rise globally and Africa is not immune. In fact, South Africa has amongst the top most cybercrime incidents in the world and a lack of sufficient investment in cybersecurity has led to this crisis. This is particularly true for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) who simply don’t have the same human capital, technology assets, and financial resources as larger businesses. What these businesses need is a tailored approach to their cybersecurity needs, so that the necessary solutions can be acquired on a modular basis. This is what the Vodacom Managed Security Services by Vodacom Business and…