Author: Staff Writer

Huawei will introduce the Kunpeng-powered cloud services to African customers by the end of December, the Chinese tech giant announced on Wednesday. The Kunpeng-powered cloud services and Partner Program 2.0 were launched at AfricaCom in Cape Town. The services will offer 15% faster multi-core computing power and a 30% higher performance/price ratio than the industry average, the company said. It added that these cloud services offer an unprecedented capability to meet the ever-shifting requirements of a diverse range of public and private institutions. Speaking at the Huawei Cloud, AI Forum, Rui Houwei, President of HUAWEI CLOUD Africa, noted the significance…

Sentech is introducing its new broadband offering known as Sentech Connect, South Africa’s biggest digital content services provider disclosed on Monday at AfricaCom. The state-owned company said the new broadband service will digitise healthcare, education and government services in underserviced and rural areas, bridging the digital divide with fast reliable broadband connectivity. The company said the broadband offering will range from a bandwidth of 10mbps-100mbps, allowing for the creation of Smart Classrooms; Smart City Services; Smart Clinics and Hospitals; the Internet of Things (IoT), and Public Safety Initiatives. These solutions will make use of various networks ranging from broadband to ultra-narrow…

MTN wants to bridge the digital divide by ensuring that rural people in Africa and the Middle East are connected to the internet through its network, Africa and the Middle East-biggest mobile phone operator disclosed on Tuesday. At AfricaCom, MTN revealed its innovative rural connectivity strategy. The company said it is amongst the Pioneers of OpenRAN – the technology which enables operators to achieve cost-effective deployments allowing for greater connectivity to previously unconnected areas. MTN announced it has deployed over 200 commercial rural sites across its footprint, using OpenRAN technology. The operator added that it is projecting to deploy more…

Vodacom Business is extending its pan-African network to Miami in the United States, the enterprise unit of Vodacom Group said on Tuesday. The company said it is extending its network through the new undersea South Atlantic Cable System (SACS). SACS is the first to directly link the African continent’s southern hemisphere with South America. This new trans-Atlantic route offers a significantly cost-effective and faster way for African-based American multi-national corporations to connect back to the United States, reducing latency by up to 40%. “Vodacom Business is undertaking this investment to shorten the distance between the American and African continents. The…

South African stock exchange A2X Markets launched on 6 October 2017 with three listings and four of the industry’s leading brokers on board. After just two years, A2X boasts a combined market cap of about R2 trillion with nine approved brokers, including five of the six largest brokers in South Africa. It was also recently named best new stock exchange in Africa in the 2019 Global Banking & Finance Awards. “We are very excited about how the business has developed over the past two years. Starting an exchange to compete with an incumbent that has been a monopoly for over…

MTN Group on Tuesday announced that its instant messaging platform, Ayoba has reached 1 million monthly active users. Ayoba is an advanced communications application localised for African and Middle East consumer needs, under an independent Over the Top (OTT) brand with unique features for MTN customers. The app supports many local languages spoken across the MTN markets including isiZulu, isiXhosa, Pidgin, Yoruba, Swahili, Hausa, French and English. MTN, together with its partners, is driven to improve access to affordable communications to ensure that people in its markets can reap the social, economic and developmental dividends of being online. Ayoba underscores…

EVINA is expanding into South Africa to help local telecoms players to protect their end-users from fraud, the French anti-fraud solutions provider said on Tuesday. The company, which is based in Paris and provides services in Ivory Coast, Morocco, Cameroon and Senegal, will provide local telecoms players with solutions to beat mobile fraudsters. Mobile digital marketing has become an eldorado for fraudsters. African telecoms firms are increasingly exploring partnerships with firms like EVINA in order to protect their end-users from fraud. EVINA is now protecting 90% of mobile transaction activities in Ivory Coast, Morocco, Cameroon and Senegal, and is also…

FNB customers have made over R14 billion in ‘tap’ or contactless payments in the twelve months to June 2019, with continued month on month growth. This upward trend points to a growing appetite for the convenience of contactless payments in South Africa’s consumer and business sectors. The bank’s customers processed over 60 million ‘tap’ transactions over the 12 months using their contactless-enabled FNB Credit and Debit Cards. In excess of 46 million transactions were on Debit Cards while Credit Cards accounted for nearly 20 million. “All our customers have contactless-enabled cards, and this contributes significantly to our efforts to empower…

Tomorrow (12 November 2019) marks the 28th birthday of the South African Internet. The year 1988 saw Mike Lawrie lead the Rhodes University team that established the very first South African Internet networking system. While SA’s first Internet Protocol (IP) address was established in 1988, it was on 12 November 1991 that the first local IP connection was made. “With over 10 000 days of Internet excellence under its belt, South Africa stands ready to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). “Mike Lawrie and his colleagues have provided SA with a phenomenal foundation…

The Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has presented President Cyril Ramaphosa with its draft diagnostic report towards the country’s 4IR plan and opportunities available to harness it. The report was presented to President Ramaphosa during a meeting on Thursday. The Commission, which was established earlier this year and chaired by the President with Professor Tshilidzi Marwala as his Deputy chairperson, is tasked with advising the President and government as a whole on relevant policies, strategies and action plan to position South Africa as a smart, connected and competitive global player. The Presidency in a statement said President…