Author: Staff Writer

The fear of incurring an exorbitant bill while travelling internationally will now be a thing of the past for MTN customers following the introduction of affordable roaming bundles for contract, top-up and prepaid customers. The MTN Hello World roaming data bundles are competitively priced from as little as 29c per MB, discounted from the current standard roaming rate and can be used in 21 countries where MTN has operations in Africa and the Middle East, like Botswana, Swaziland, Nigeria and many more. “As the world gets smaller, the demand for data roaming continues to grow, however data roaming services can…

FNB anticipates a 26% increase in eWallet send volumes during the festive season. During last year’s festive season, the Bank’s customers sent over R2.4 billion worth of eWallet funds. FNB Consumer CEO, Christoph Nieuwoudt said; “Over the years, we have seen substantial growth in eWallet volumes during the festive season. eWallet provides our customers with simplicity, convenience and security when sending money. This offering has become top of mind amongst South Africans when looking for easy ways to send money.” For the current year, FNB’s data revealed that consumers in Gauteng are the top senders of eWallet at 47%, followed…

Registry Africa Limited (RA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the ZACR (NPC), has announced that it will be running its popular African gTLD (geographic Top Level Domain) $1.00 Asante Promotion for the month of February 2020. The ‘Asante Sana Promotion’ will see the wholesale price of .africa domains drop to just $1.00 while the price of .joburg, .capetown and .durban city domains will be reduced to R15.00 for the month of February 2020. These prices exclude SA Value-Added Tax (VAT), where applicable. “With the number of registered .africa domains currently at 23 000, we are confident our much-anticipated $1.00 promotion will…

Netstar, a subsidiary of JSE-listed technology company Altron, is using data in a real-life manner to improve road safety at the bus service operator Putco driver training academy. “Netstar has been working with Putco for three years, taking it on a fleet management journey, which kicked off with the installation of telematics systems to provide data on driver and passenger behaviour, with a view to enable Putco to gain a better view of its fleet,” said Shaun Brashaw, Netstar global executive. The relationship has evolved to the point where the data is being mined and used as part of the…

MTN today announced that its mobile money service, MoMo will go live in January 2020, allowing customers to send, receive, save and spend money as well as pay for goods and services using their mobile phones. The announcement comes as MTN finalised its engagements with all the relevant regulatory bodies and authorities including the South African Reserve Bank. MTN welcomes the positive conclusion of these engagements and looks forward to making MoMo available to all consumers via USSD functionality for free as well as via App download in the Google Play store and the Apple App store by 30 January…

The recent emergence of Stage 6 loadshedding on the South African business landscape saw added interest in Cloud services from local firms eager to insulate themselves from the country’s energy fallout. A 2019 Cloud survey earlier this year shed light on Cloud adoption by local businesses and found that 77% of SA businesses are using Cloud services in IT departments. “Having real-time remote access to reliable back-ups is the number one reason for Cloud adoption and we’re certain the number of businesses using Cloud services will eclipse the 80% mark by the new year,” says Riaan van Stryp, General Manager…

Digital money transfer service WorldRemit has partnered with Vodacom Tanzania to enable nine million M-Pesa customers to receive money directly to their M-Pesa wallets from friends and family living abroad. The new service increases convenience for money transfer recipients in urban and rural areas of Tanzania as they can receive international money transfers directly to their phones, without the need for a bank account or internet connection. Using the WorldRemit app, Tanzanians living abroad in over 50 countries, including the US, UK and Canada, can send money home 24/7 in just a few taps. This saves customers time and money as…

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in South Africa were targeted with an unusually large number of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks last month with media reports attributing these cyberattacks to organised criminal syndicates. It’s not all bad news, however, as administrators at South Africa’s Internet Exchanges (INXs) are taking firm and co-ordinated action to join the global fight against DDoS attacks by creating a so-called ‘blackhole’ that will funnel identified DDoS traffic passing through the INXs into oblivion. “The South African Internet will be better protected against DDoS attacks during the course of 2020 as local ISPs peering at JINX,…

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) announced today that it has added Avon Products Inc. to their list of companies “Working for Regulatory Change”. In so doing, Avon joins a very short list of companies recognized for their demonstrated, ongoing commitment to promoting the development, validation and regulatory acceptance of non-animal methods. “We do not believe that animal testing is necessary to substantiate product safety and do not test products on animals anywhere in the world. We will continue to push for greater acceptance of alternatives.  We’re pleased and proud to receive this recognition from PETA.  We appreciate…

The historic Klaasenbosch Winery located in Constantia Upper and dating back to 1790 is looking for a new owner. It is one of the original Cape Dutch buildings which date to the early wine farms in the area and has been converted into a spectacular five-bedroomed homestead featuring one of the most unique interior designs on offer in the Cape, according to Janine Stevenson and Steven Holvec from Seeff Constantia Upper. It is set on a large plot of 2,949sqm with beautiful gardens. Features include traditional barn-doors in the entrance hall, a double-volume living room with a feature wood-burning fireplace,…