| Cell C will begin upgrading its new wireless broadband network to 42Mbit/s within the next six to eight months, CEO Lars Reichelt says. On Friday, Cell C switched on the first leg of its third-generation (3G) cellular network in Port Elizabeth, offering peak speeds of up to 21Mbit/s. It is expected to expand the network to two more cities in September - probably Bloemfontein and Durban. The operator's new network, which it is building in the 900MHz frequency band, can be upgraded through software. The | | Telkom's need of a further eight months to appoint a CEO is ridiculous and likely to create chaos in the organisation, says the Communication Workers Union (CWU). Thabo Mogalane, the CWU's deputy general secretary, says the organisation has had plenty of time to recruit a new CEO and is very disturbed the board needs even more time to replace ex-CEO Reuben September. Last month, Telkom announced September's immediate and abrupt departure from the organisation in order to make way for acting CEO Jeffrey | | South Africa's third cellular network operator Cell C launched its next generation network under the "4Gs" brand in Port Elizabeth on Friday. The new HSPA+ network is scheduled for a phased rollout in 10 cities across the country. Data pricing on the network is likely to spark a local price war in mobile broadband, with Cell C making data available at 5c per MB in bundle with an out-of-bundle rate of 39c. Two packages are available on the new network, both sold at a flat fee that includes a modem and 12 | | The East Africa Submarine System (Eassy) cable has not made the sort of splash on the SA broadband market as many had expected it to. The 10 000km-long submarine fibre cable, which runs along Africa's east coast, is the second new cable to arrive on SA shores in the past year. The first was Seacom, which went live in 2009. SA also has the Sat-3 and Safe system, which is part-managed by Telkom. Eassy, which became available commercially in July, runs along a similar but shorter route to Seacom's cable and | | Arguments that Neotel is under obligation to focus on the consumer segment have been quashed. Instead, licences under which the company operates make no provision for pre-defined consumer reach targets. "Neotel's converted I-ECNS (individual electronic communications network service) and I-ECS (individual electronic communications service) licences do not have split in terms of enterprise, wholesale and retail. "The licensee is entitled to construct, maintain and operate an electronic communications network |
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| Mobile phone operator Safaricom Limited has ruled out any tariff reductions on its voice and short message service (SMS) services, even as shareholders pile pressure on the company to do so to match the competition. "We need a balanced response to the ongoing price war in the mobile phone market to safeguard our revenues, margins and subscriber numbers," Michael Joseph, Safaricom CEO, told the firm's shareholders at the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM), held yesterday at the Bomas of Kenya. Safaricom | | T-Mobile USA said Tuesday afternoon that it will increase the maximum possible data speeds offered on its upgraded 3G network to 42 Mbit/s in 2011. The fourth-ranked mobile operator in the US has been upgrading its GSM-based 3G network with a high-speed packet access plus (HSPA+) software update for months now. Upgraded markets offer a theoretical peak download speed of 21 Mbit/s. The operator has previously said that this translates into average download speeds in the 5-to-8-Mbit/s range using its HSPA+ | | Mobile firm Orange has become the first UK network to use a technology that offers higher quality voice calls. High Definition (HD) voice claims to reduce background noise and the "hisses and crackles" often heard on a normal mobile call. The technology, known as, Adaptive Multi Rate Wideband (AMR-WB) has been adopted as an international standard for 3G mobile networks. Other networks are expected to follow Orange soon, experts said. "It is relatively easy for an operator to introduce - it's just a software | | The Federal Communications Commission reported this week that broadband users see about half the advertised "up to" speeds promised by Internet providers, and similar findings were made earlier this year in the UK. (Keep in mind that some speed problems are outside the control of the ISP, including poor indoor wiring, bad WiFi setups, outdated computer hardware, and Internet congestion.) Given the massive disconnect between the actual and advertised speeds, how is a broadband buyer to know in advance how | | Just hours after iiNet claimed to make history with Australia's first terabyte broadband plans, rival Primus has launched a new 1.1 terabyte offering - upping iiNet's new deal by 111GB per month. Last week, iiNet chief executive Michael Malone said his company didn't see Primus as "particularly relevant, from a competitive point of view", compared with larger rivals such as Telstra, Optus and TPG. But yesterday Primus chief Ravi Bhatia (pictured, above) claimed leadership in the battle to offer Australian |
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| Google could be ready to turn Gmail into a communications hub by adding the ability to make phone calls from the Google Chat interface. CNET has learned that Google is testing a Web-based service within Gmail that will allow users to place phone calls from their in-boxes. It's launched from the Google Chat window on the lower left-hand side of a Gmail page and allows users to place and receive calls from within their contacts through a user interface that strongly resembles the one used in Google Voice. | | Whether Google is liable for damages for secretly intercepting data on open WiFi routers across the United States is to be aired out in a Silicon Valley federal court. Eight proposed class-actions from across the country that seek unspecified monetary damages from Google were consolidated this week and transferred to US District Judge James Ware in San Jose, California. Another five cases are likely to join. The lawsuits allege Google violated federal and state privacy laws in collecting fragments of data | | While LTE starts rolling out from major U.S. carriers in 2011, the WiMAX Forum is hoping to have the so-called WiMAX 2 standard up and ready to go by the start of 2012. Declan Byrne, the marketing director for the WiMAX Forum industry group, says the WiMAX 2 standard, formally known as 802.16m, will be finalized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) this November, with an eye toward certifying devices based on the standard throughout 2011. From there, he expects ISPs to start | | The German government has advised ministers not to use BlackBerry and iPhone devices due to "a dramatic increase of attacks against" its networks. A general ban on the use of smartphones in certain German ministries is also being considered, Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maizire confirmed to the countrys business daily newspaper Handelsblatt yesterday. He said that ministers and senior civil servants had been told to instead use Simko2 gadgets offered by T-Systems, following advice from the German | | Mobile satellite company Inmarsat has announced more details of a plan to expand its mobile broadband network delivered by satellite. In a statement this week, the company said it had agreed to purchase three 702HP Ka-band satellites from Boeing. The new satellites will be used to create the Inmarsat-5 constellation of satellites, which the company says will provide a worldwide high-speed mobile broadband service called Global Xpress. The new service is expected to be up and running by 2014 and will provide |
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