Author: Staff Writer
After the grand success of the previous edition, the Connected Africa is back, back much bigger stronger and larger than before, themed “Transforming to Telco’s of the Future”. The 3rd Edition of Connected Africa, Africa’s premier Telecom Summit delivering holistic insight into digital infrastructure developments and trends. Organised by The International Center for Strategic Alliances is scheduled for the 25th of July 2023, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Connected Africa is set to unite top executives from telecom carriers, technology vendors, infrastructure providers, and regulatory and government officials for a discussion on the future of the industry. They will be exploring…
Naspers, and its subsidiary businesses, Takealot and Media24, have joined the South African Plastics Pact, an industry collaboration of packaging producers, brand owners, retailers, recyclers, governments and NGOs to tackle plastic packaging waste by creating a circular economy for plastics. The SA Plastics Pact was launched in 2020 as part of The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative. It is managed by green economy non-profit, GreenCape and currently has 44 members representing key organisations across the plastics value chain, including Unilever, Woolworths, Clicks, Food Lovers Market, Spar and Pick n Pay, among others. The SA Plastics Pact aims to…
A group of three African students and graduates recently got the experience of a lifetime when they were invited to attend Mobile World Congress (MWC) as part of Huawei’s Digital Talent Summit. The group, who were part of Huawei’s Seeds for the Future initiative, also got to see how the programme is set to evolve in the near future. The Seeds for the Future alumni joined 37 other students from around the globe to participate in the world’s largest mobile trade show. There they were given the opportunity to discover the latest technologies from Huawei and its industry peers and…
Yolisa Kedama has been appointed as the acting chairperson of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) . Kedama’s appointment is effective from 04 April 2023 to 30 September 2023, or until a chairperson is appointed. “The appointment of the acting chairperson is in terms of section 5(2) of the ICASA Act, which provides that “in the absence of the chairperson, the remaining councillors must, from their number, elect an acting Chairperson, who, while he or she acts, may perform all the functions of the chairperson,” said ICASA. ICASA said Kedama is a specialist in the field of radio…
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is pleased to announce its preliminary revenue collection results for the 2022/2023 financial year, which reflects a significant growth trajectory over the past few years. The revenue collected annually provides 90% of government funding, which indicates SARS’ vital role in providing the resources that government can use for the reconstruction and recovery of the South African economy, as well as contributing to the long-term prosperity of our nation. As at midnight on 31 March 2023, SARS collected a record gross amount of R2067.8 bn. The net collection after payment of R381.1bn in refunds is…
Air France has unveiled its new long-haul Business cabin, elegantly reasserting the French-style art of travel. Constantly striving to offer the highest level of comfort, the airline’s completely redesigned iconic seat features even more enveloping curves and extra comfort. Air France is introducing a new standard dedicated to this travel cabin. Progressively rolled out on 12 Boeing 777-300s, the new cabin will serve South African travellers flying Air France between Paris and Johannesburg. With attentive service, gourmet cuisine designed by French Michelin- starred chefs, a carefully selected wine and champagne list and a wide selection of in-flight entertainment, the journey can begin. A PRESERVED SPACE The 48 spacious seats in the cabin are based on the 3 “F”s: Full Flat, meaning that…
Business communication and managed services provider ICTGlobe is committed to a flexible approach in its interaction with its 900-plus network of channel partners and enterprise clients. “The current business climate means the one-size fits all voice, data and other ICT services model is finished,” says Rad Jankovic, co-CEO ICTGlobe. The Centurion-headquartered firm is one of the country’s leading independent voice providers and believes that industry channel partners are looking to upstream providers to be more flexible in terms of pricing, terms, conditions and more. “The economy means one cannot keep hammering square pegs into round holes and hope to survive…
iStore has opened Africa’s first Apple Premium Partner (APP) store at Eastgate Mall, Johannesburg. Inspired by Apple’s iconic store concept, this store will offer the Apple experience and deliver a completely new level of customer service. This Apple Premium Partner concept store will also offer customers an interactive experience, a full assortment of Apple’s innovative products and ecosystem on display, training workshops with professionally trained Apple experts and a world-class Apple experience for Small and Medium Business (SMB) customers. “First of its kind on the African continent, at iStore Eastgate, customer experience and customer care is our number one priority.…
Huawei on Friday announced the appointment of Meng Wanzhou (Sabrina Meng) as rotating chairman of its board of directors after the Chinese tech giant reported stable business in 2022 with revenue of CNY642.3 billion and net profit of CNY35.6 billion. “According to the rotating chairman system of the company, Ms Meng Wanzhou will be the on-duty rotating chairwoman from April 1,2023 to September 30,2023,” the company said in a statement. Thereafter, Hu Houkun will serve as the rotating chairperson until 31 March 2024, and from 1 April 2024, Xu Zhijun will hold the position until 30 September 2024. Huawei continues…
With persistent loadshedding and a rise in vandalism and theft aggravating SA’s fragile economic recovery and impacting service delivery, MTN SA is accelerating its network resilience drive with an investment of R1.5 billion into the programme. CEO at MTN South Africa, Charles Molapisi says the nationwide programme is aimed at warding off the negative impact and frustration caused by power cuts, theft and vandalism and will help enhance network availability and stability over the long-term. “At MTN we are doing all we can to contribute meaningfully to helping alleviate the adverse impact of this crisis on the nation, its people…
Huawei launched its MEGA ICT infrastructure package solution for the African banking market, at Huawei Intelligent Finance Summit for Africa 2023 in Cape Town. The solution aims to ensure that banks and other financial service companies across the continent are positioned to embrace a digital-first approach that will be critical to their ability to remain competitive. Standing for “Multi-domain collaboration, End-to-end experience, Green, and Autonomous”, the MEGA package is designed to help banks meet their ICT requirements in order to achieve full digitalisation. As such, the solutions bundled in with MEGA include ones that help reshape the computing power, storage,…
Clinix Health Group, a black-owned medical provider of quality healthcare services in Soweto, has performed the first orthopaedic knee surgery using the state-of-the-art CORI robotic surgical system at one of its facilities. Dr Shilly Peter Maelane, a renowned orthopaedic surgeon, performed the surgery at the Dr SK Matseke Memorial Hospital in January 2023, using the all-new and advanced CORI robotic surgical system by Smith+Nephew. The use of robotic surgical equipment highlights the future-facing vision that young and inspired doctors have for innovative solutions. Thanks to the technology, a substantial number of patients will enjoy reduced adverse effects compared to traditional…
BozaRide, a local e-hailing platform, has launched in Gauteng, South Africa today and offers the ride-hailing industry safe, convenient and affordable services for both drivers and riders. South Africans who use e-hailing for part-time or full time income, leisure or business travel can look forward to these dynamic and compelling services in the market. BozaRide announced their official entry into the South African market during the launch, which was held in Greenpark, Sandton. The launch was attended by e-hailing drivers, riders, the media and key stakeholders. “We are thrilled to officially introduce ourselves as well as our cutting-edge services for…
JSE-listed 4Sight reported 35.4% rise in full year headline earnings per share (HEPS) to 2, 379cents a share for the year to end-December 2022. HEPS is SA’s main profit gauge. 4Sight informed investors today that revenue rose 20.7%, gross profit increased 10.1%, and operating profit grew by 93.9% due to the increased revenue, coupled with improved productivity, governance and control processes. Eric van der Merwe, Group CFO at 4Sight Holdings, said despite a R16-million share buy-back, the company grew cash balance by 20.1% in 2022 from the strong growth in revenue. The company’s channel continued to experience strong revenue growth,…
If banks want to remain competitive in the face of neo-bank and fintech upstarts, they’ll have to fundamentally change the way they do business to be digital first. And if they’re going to achieve that goal, then working with technology partners to ensure that they have the right infrastructure in place will be crucial. That was the overriding message from the speakers at a media roundtable event hosted during the Huawei Intelligent Finance Summit, in Cape Town, South Africa. Through the course of the session, it also became apparent that if traditional banks are to survive in the changing financial…
Hot on the heels of its announcement that its customers have experienced Zero card fraud, Bank Zero is today announcing a second “Zero milestone”. In the 18 months since its launch, not one of its customers has fallen prey to the phishing scams that are taking in people and businesses all around the world. Kaspersky, a leading security software company, says that phishing attempts more than doubled to over 500 million in 2022, as compared with 2021. According to Fortinet, South Africa was one of the top 20 countries in terms of phishing attacks in 2022. This figure is supported…
Huawei has launched its Huawei Cloud’s all-scenario smart finance solution to Africa. The solution, announced at the Huawei Intelligent Finance Summit for Africa 2023, will effectively drive the digitisation and leapfrogging development of African’s financial and banking sector. In his keynote, which was titled “Choose HUAWEI CLOUD to Move towards All-Scenario Smart Finance”, Harrison Li, CTO of Huawei Cloud, Southern Africa Region explained how the new solution will help African banks act as pioneers in the in the financial sector. As Li pointed out, with the deepening of digital transformation in the financial and banking sectors worldwide, the “all-round cloudification”…
For the modern farmer, machinery is critical in delivering the agricultural output needed to be successful at scale. This is why Titan Global Wheel – providers of the Goodyear Agricultural brand of tyres and rims – has announced a range of Goodyear Lubricants, to further improve the operation and lifespan of this machinery. According to company MD, Theo von Bardeleben, the organisation has adopted a constant focus on innovation and on improving technologies that have been around for decades. Titan Global Wheel also works closely with almost all the major manufacturers, each of which places a strong focus on research…
The outlook for the global economy took a positive turn in the first half of 2023 as inflationary pressures began to ease, but ongoing geopolitical tensions and domestic challenges in key markets are slowing any return to sustained growth, according to the latest forecast from KPMG. According to KPMG’s latest Global Economic Outlook report, global energy prices returning to levels last seen prior to the invasion of Ukraine, combined with easing commodity and food prices, have helped put further downward pressure on inflation for the rest of 2023. Despite the positive news, major economies throughout the world – most recently…
Huawei today unveiled several new solutions aimed at improving operations and maintenance (O&M) for enterprise clients at the Huawei Enterprise O&M Summit 2023. Currently underway in Cape Town, the summit is being run under the theme, “Towards Intelligent Operation” and has seen Huawei bring together more than 40 technical experts, O&M executives, chief technical officers (CTOs), and chief information officers (CIOs) to discuss the latest advances in O&M as well as future opportunities brought about by ongoing digital transformation. During the keynote speech at the summit, Guo Guoqing, President of Huawei Southern Africa Enterprise, pointed out that Huawei’s long history…
As the world marks World Water Day and National Water Week in South Africa from March 20th to 26th, Procter & Gamble (P&G) stands in solidarity with the United Nations and the South African government in highlighting the fundamental human right to accessible clean and safe drinking water. This year’s World Water Day theme, “Accelerating Change to Solve the Water and Sanitation Crisis,” is particularly significant to P&G’s long-standing commitment to improving access to safe drinking water through the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme. In the late 1990s, P&G scientists invented the P&G Purifier of Water technology while attempting to…
Huawei today announced its ‘Non Stop Banking’ initiative. Unveiled at the Huawei Intelligent Finance Summit for Africa 2023, the initiative calls for hand-in-hand collaboration between the ICT and banking industries and facilitate a digital future of ‘non-stop’ services, ‘non-stop’ development, and ‘non-stop’ innovation. In a keynote speech announcing the initiative, Leo Chen, president of Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa Region spoke about why going digital has become such a major imperative for the banking industry. Not only does it make it easier for banks to broaden their customer base, he said, it also saves operational costs, allows them to develop new products,…
On the evening of 15 February, NAPAfrica, the African continent’s largest Internet exchange point (IXP), reached the 3Tbps traffic threshold. This peak in Internet traffic was experienced globally on the back of some significant new gaming releases and software updates. This increase in NAPAfrica’s average traffic throughput has continued and peaked at 3.44Tbps on 19 March. The continued surge in data traffic is largely thanks to a dynamic African Internet community who have embraced the value of peering, the increasing use of data-intensive applications, enterprises continuing to move into the cloud, and ever-increasing demand for video, content, and gaming delivery…
Liquid Intelligent Technologies announced on Tuesday that it has acquired Cysiv MEA, a technology company that was formerly SecureMisr, headquartered in Cairo. The business specialises in providing enterprise cloud and cyber security services to some of Egypt’s leading companies, particularly in the financial services sector. The acquisition allows the London-based group with operations in Africa, UK, the US and Latin America, to bring some of the best global cloud and cyber security products to the Egyptian market. Liquid is a recognised integrator on behalf of some of the biggest technology companies in the world. The organisation will rebrand Cysiv MEA to…
MTN GlobalConnect and BICS today announced the renewal of their partnership to collaborate in international mobility and connectivity for Africa. This partnership will see the complementary strengths of both companies coming together to accelerate the growth of mobile and digital services in Africa. MTN GlobalConnect, a pan-African digital wholesale and infrastructure services company, and BICS, an international digital communications platform business, through this partnership, will extend affordable international communication across Africa. With expertise in innovation and digitalization, African operators & service providers will benefit from a Next-Gen technology-powered bouquet of services. “It’s important that we form strong partnerships to provide…