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9
March 2010 |
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Within days of mobile interconnection rates being cut, SAs two biggest cellphone operators, MTN and Vodacom, have slashed their peak-time prepaid voice tariffs. The two companies have cut prepaid rates between 6am and 8pm on weekdays by as much as 40%. Interconnection rates are the fees the mobile operators charge each other and other operators to carry calls onto their networks. The rate during peak time was cut from R1,25/minute to 89c/minute on 1 March. Now MTN and Vodacom have introduced prepaid |
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9
March 2010 |
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Second national operator Neotel has dropped its peak rates to meet the reduction in mobile termination fees. The company says it will drop its peak rate from R1.20 per minute to 96c per minute to all operators, barring Cell C. "We have always said any reduction in interconnection rates must benefit the consumer and we are happy that even our competitors are beginning to echo this message," says Neotel executive head of corporate communications Wandile Zote. He says the reduction currently excludes the |
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9
March 2010 |
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A failed appeal for exemption from legislation that forces communications companies to register customers could see local Internet service providers (ISPs) pay a R2 million fine, or face a 10-year jail sentence. The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (RICA) got under way in June last year, leaving operators and ISPs with 18 months to collect customer documentation, including proof of residence and ID documents. However, ISPs have been fighting |
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8
March 2010 |
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A private telecommunications line will be set up during the World Cup soccer tournament to connect the international broadcasting centre in southern Johannesburg directly to Europe. Tata Communications will offer this international link in South Africa via the Seacom and SAT3 undersea telecommunications cables. The overland link to Johannesburg will be through the Neotel network, Neotel being Tata Communications' South African subsidiary. But the group needs to enter into a partnership with its local |
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8
March 2010 |
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State-owned telecoms infrastructure provider Broadband Infraco is staffing up in preparation for a trial service on its network in the next few months. Infraco was formed three years ago, when government combined Eskom and Transnet's ICT infrastructure with the aim of launching a backbone that would aid in reducing the costs of communication in SA. CEO David Smith tells ITWeb that the state-owned entity is gearing up to be able to provide services to the telecommunications market. He says there are a |
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7
March 2010 |
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You do not want to live on Omega Street in Pomona, Gauteng, where not a single resident along the dusty stretch of road has a telephone line that works. Some of them are still paying Telkom for the rental of the line every month - although they have not been able to use their phones for up to three years. After thieves stole copper cables in the Pomona, Kempton Park, area at least four times, Telkom simply refused to replace them again, declaring the area "non-viable". The parastatal said that "copper cable |
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5
March 2010 |
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Anger is growing among franchise owners of Cell C stores, who claim the cellular telecommunications firm has not been transparent in its decision to restructure its national stores network. "No real reason has been given to we agents," said an anonymous caller to Fin24.com offices in Johannesburg on Friday. "I am one of the best agents in Gauteng and I have been instructed that the store will be closed and handed over to one person who will be responsible for the whole region." The source spoke under |
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4
March 2010 |
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Cell C is not in a position to comment at this stage, says Cell C CEO Lars Reichelt. Cell C has clammed up on a possible deal to sell its national network of base stations to mitigate crippling debt. Reports indicate the company is discussions with two international businesses: American Tower Corp and Eaton Telecom. However, Cell C will not confirm whether it has decided to sell its infrastructure to generate a financial cushion. "Cell C is not in a position to comment at this stage. Should there be a |
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4
March 2010 |
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The pre-hearing date for the Competition Tribunal case against Telkom has still not been set and is likely to face another delay. The reason for this delay, according to the Competition Tribunal, is that Telkom needs to file its response to the complaint before a date can be set for the hearing. It had until 28 February to file the necessary papers, but failed to do so. "When a complaint is filed against you, you have 20 business days to file a response, but Telkom negotiated with the Competition Commission |
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2
March 2010 |
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Telkom will urgently have to tackle its labour relations problems to ensure that the Soccer World Cup goes off without a hitch, trade union Solidarity said on Tuesday. The trade union said that with only 100 days left to kick-off, the sporting event's success was "on a knife's edge" due to Telkom employees' dissatisfaction. "Employees of all three trade unions in Telkom's largest single unit, Data Advance Services (DAS), are unhappy about salary discrepancies between them and employees of the company's |
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1
March 2010 |
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Phuthuma Nhleko will step down after almost a decade at MTN's helm. Africa's largest cellular operator, MTN, is looking for a new CEO, as Phuthuma Nhleko will step down by March next year, after almost a decade at the helm of the company. Since Nhleko's appointment at the helm of the company in July 2002, it has grown from turning over R19 billion to boasting revenue of R73 billion in the year to December, in the latest full-year figures available. Nhleko was appointed in July 2002, after spending nine |
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26
Feb 2010 |
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Knott-Craig had been pretty vocal at the time on solutions for the interconnection debacle, how to fix the regulator and why broadband costs are so high in South Africa. This angered many in the information, communication and technology sector, who felt that Knott-Craig's pronouncements were hypocritical, and they accused him of masquerading as a consumer champion. At the time Knott-Craig dismissed these criticisms, put to him by the M&G, claiming that either his critics were "mischievous" or that they |
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21
Feb 2010 |
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Directors of cellular company Vodacom told Business Times, a Sunday newspaper, they were not informed about a deal to employ Alan Knott-Craig as a consultant following his retirement from the company. "I feel they should have told us," Business Times quoted one director to have said. "Maybe they had no legal obligation to tell us, but it would have been nice to disclose it to your board," he said. It emerged earlier this month that Knott-Craig, who has also been criticised for handing plumb jobs in Vodacom |
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19
Feb 2010 |
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This morning, MTN would neither confirm nor deny speculation that its group function plans to abandon SA in favour of Dubai, a location closer to its higher revenue earners. ITWeb has learned from several independent sources that the company plans to move its group operations out of the country and eventually delist from the Johannesburg Securities Exchange, leaving the local business as a subsidiary of the company, or even up for sale. MTN already has a business registered in the Middle Eastern country, |
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18
Feb 2010 |
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The Department of Communications made R3.9 billion after Telkom sold Vodacom. The Department of Communications benefited to the tune of R3.9 billion from Telkom's sale of its Vodacom stake. Telkom, SA's fixed-line operator, paid the department "extraordinary" dividends after it sold off its 15% stake in Vodacom last year. Telkom's 15% stake earned it R22.5 billion, of which the bulk was paid out to its majority shareholder, government, which has a 39.8% stake. In the company's annual report for the year |
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