| |
 |
|
19
July 2011 |
|
South Africa's mobile network operator, Vodacom, is taking drastic steps to make broadband more accessible and affordable to the majority of people in the country. During an interview with ITNewsAfrica, Vodacom Executive Head for Media Relations Richard Boorman confirmed that the company plans to make mobile data services more affordable and accessible for the average consumer. Boorman says Vodacom plans will boost economic growth as well as create jobs. "We are already hard at work making access to mobile... |
| |
|
|
18
July 2011 |
|
From today, Telkom home and small business customers will be able to test the operator's fixed-line broadband in a free three-month trial. According to Telkom, the offer comes "with no strings attached" and is not conditional to any contract subscriptions pre or post the trial period. "Available from 18 July and valid until 15 September, residential customers and small to medium businesses will be granted free subscription to Telkom's Fast Internet with up to 1 024kbps ADSL access for three consecutive... |
| |
|
|
18
July 2011 |
|
South Africa's four primary cellular network operators and two fixed-line providers will have new customer contracts that are compliant with the Consumer Protection Act in place within the next three months, according to Business Report on Monday. This came as national consumer commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala prepared to sign consent order agreements this week with each of the companies. These agreements were legally binding and a fine of R1-million or 10 percent of annual turnover could be imposed if they... |
| |
|
|
17
July 2011 |
|
Lars Reichelt was at the helm of Cell C for just over two-and-a-half years, but in that short time he shook up the lucrative but comfortable sector so much that the best praise they could give him was to say "we are glad he is gone". Reichelt injected his enigmatic, yet energetic personality into a company that could be best described previously as a leaking ship drifting in the doldrums. Cell C, which began operations in 2001, was supposed to have brought a new sense of competition into the mobile... |
| |
|
|
15
July 2011 |
|
MTN said yesterday it would pilot the next generation of high-speed wireless network called long-term evolution (LTE) in selected Gauteng areas, as it prepares for a commercial launch within three years. Customers selected for the pilot can expect double the download speeds offered by local cellphone networks wireless internet access offerings. MTN said the new technology will help smartphones and tablets become more popular. Kanagaratnam Lambotharan, MTN SAҒs chief technology officer, said the pilot... |
| |
|
|
14
July 2011 |
|
Mobile operator MTN this morning initiated a long-term evolution (LTE) pilot test in five areas around Gauteng, in a move that it says is set to transform the provision of broadband services in SA. In collaboration with Huawei and Ericsson, MTN selected customers with provisioned dongles to participate in the pilot. These subscribers received the benefits of surfing on an ultra-high-speed network that offers speeds of up to 70Mbps, across over 100 sites. MTN's pilot network covers over 100 LTE sites in... |
| |
|
|
13
July 2011 |
|
Lars Reichelt is leaving the company today, citing personal reasons, says SA's third largest cellular operator, Cell C. Reichelt was appointed as Cell C's CEO in March 2009, taking over running the company from Jeffrey Hedberg, who left to head Telkom's Multi-Links operations. Hedberg later became Telkom's acting CEO, before leaving the company at the end of March. Reichelt, who has agreed to stay on with Cell C in an advisory capacity, has 18 years' experience in the wireless industry, leading companies ... |
| |
|
|
13
July 2011 |
|
The great broadband price wars of 2011 are hotting up. Barely a week goes by without a mobile operator or Internet service provider announcing lower tariffs or a new special offer on bandwidth. Arguably, though, they're just getting started. Arguably, the latest downward pressure on bandwidth prices, especially in mobile, had its beginnings at Cell C in the third quarter of 2009. The operator had just switched on its new, multibillion-rand mobile broadband network and was keen to take the fight to, and... |
| |
|
|
11
July 2011 |
|
Telkom, through the Competition Tribunal, has summonsed more than 57 key telecommunications personalities as it attempts to stave off charges that it abused its market dominance during the early part of the last decade.
his has been labelled as another attempt by Telkom to delay or muddy the charges against it by some of those who have been called to appear. Should Telkom be found guilty of the charge, it could be fined up to 10% of its turnover. For 2011, Telkom posted a drop in operating revenue of 5.2... |
| |
|
|
11
July 2011 |
|
Vodacom's Airtime Advance programme has seemingly netted the company about R1m in the month since its launch. The mobile provider launched the programme at the end of May and over a million subscribers have made use of the service. "We very much believe in developing practical products and services that solve everyday problems," said Portia Maurice, Vodacom chief officer of corporate affairs. Users are allowed to take R10 airtime in advance and the company debits the amount from their following recharge... |
| |
|
|
11
July 2011 |
|
Mobile operators' refusal to comply with the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) costs contract subscribers a "huge" amount of money as unused voice and data bundles expire after a few months. However, a consumer protection body created by the CPA is ready to force mobile operators to allow SA's 10 million subscribers to carry over minutes and data bundles for three years, getting rid of the current "use-it-or-lose it" policy. The National Consumer Commission (NCC) says the Act's provision... |
| |
|
|
7
July 2011 |
|
The country has no systems in place to reel in cellphone users who are in possession of Rica-registered SIM cards even if their personal information - including identity numbers and proof of residence - has not been entered into the network database as required by law. The users, estimated to number in the hundreds of thousands countrywide, have bought them from traders in the year or so that they have been available. The Pretoria News revealed this week that unscrupulous traders had sold Rica-registered... |
| |
|
|
6
July 2011 |
|
Cellphone users should not be tempted to buy pre-registered SIM cards from traders because they contravene Rica legislation, warns the department of communications. "It's illegal to buy any SIM card and get connected on any network without being requested to produce the required documentation, which is the proof of residence and identity document," said spokesman Tiyani Rikhotso. "To my knowledge, no criminal case has been opened so far," he said, adding that the department had learned of the crime through... |
| |
|
|
5
July 2011 |
|
South African mobile operator gives disconnected prepaid users six months to unlock SIMs; pledges to improve network redundancy after outage. Vodacom has revealed that it disconnected just fewer than 1 million customers who missed last week's deadline to register their SIM cards in order to comply with the South African government's RICA law. RICA, which stands for the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act, came into effect in July 2009, and... |
| |
|
|
4
July 2011 |
|
MWeb has teamed up with MTN to offer consumers two product bundles that include both fixed digital subscriber line (DSL) and 3G broadband access for a single, monthly fee. The company has created two bundles. The first consists of a 384kbit/s DSL data package with a 2GB cap and a 2GB MTN 3G package and costs R199/month. The second, aimed at the higher end of the market, includes an uncapped 384kbit/s data package and an "Uncapped Lite" MTN 3G package for R499/month. MTNs "Uncapped Lite" allows users 3GB ... |
|
