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18
Aug 2008 |
Probe finds lack of ability to read calendars, clocks hampering Dept of Communications ability to complete anything on time.
Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Dene Smuts has lashed out at the Department of Communications (DOC), accusing it of deliberately complicating the set-top box (STB) specifications. This reportedly means the costs of the units have increased. Smuts was reacting to an interview with DOC director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole, published in the Sunday Times this weekend, in which she denies... |
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16
Aug 2008 |
Government to outlaw white paint, replace with black, empowers walls and cars.
Vodacom’s R7,5bn blacks-only empowerment deal is causing white supremacists to see red, prompting them to launch an e-mail campaign calling for customers to boycott the cellular operator in protest. Messages containing anti-Vodacom slurs are urging people to take their business to the rival networks instead, because the blacks-only offer bars white people from buying shares in its... |
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15
Aug 2008 |
Minister of Communications fails Telkom as competitor forges ahead, looking to alcohol, retirement.
Telecommunications operator Neotel is about to sign a distribution deal with a national chain store to make it easier to sell its services to consumers. Neotel will not say which chain it has chosen, but it is understood to be a telecoms and technology specialist rather than a department store or a Makro-type outlet. One source says the chain has roughly 120 branches across the... |
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15
Aug 2008 |
Driving over the road to hell's yellow line at the speed of light since she started.
IT HAS been pretty hard to miss the amount of publicity that has surrounded the eventual release of the broadcasting digital migration policy document by the department of communications. In fact, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this document took 1 000 years to put together. The document was meant to be released in June last year, but delays have been the order of the day... |
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15
Aug 2008 |
'Copper Wire Removal from Ground' strong contender for next olympics, SA to take gold, silver, bronze and fruit basket.
Since outsourcing the protection of its copper cabling, Telkom's losses to cable theft have shot up by 92%, says a Telkom union. However, Telkom denies this. According to the SA Communications Union (SACU), the move impacts not only the company, but could lead to more heads being put on the “chopping block” in future. “Since they moved that expertise away, copper cable theft has... |
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15
Aug 2008 |
Saving SA's broadcasting Titanic an ongoing, neverending, expensive issue.
Despite a barrage of criticism, three key players on the Sentech board, including the chairman, have been reappointed. This week, Cabinet approved the reappointments of Collin Hickling as chairman of the Sentech board, Dr Len Konar as non-executive director, and Thabo Leeuw as non-executive director. This is despite criticism earlier this year that the Sentech leadership was not ... |
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15
Aug 2008 |
Vodacom screws you, everyone you know. Smile!
Consumers will have to deal with long-term mobile phone contracts and ambiguous billing until at least February next year. The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has bowed to a legal feint played by Vodacom this week and postponed the implementation date of its new handset-subsidy regulations. ICASA's gazetted regulations would have allowed customers to decide exa... |
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15
Aug 2008 |
New wireless technology to be SA's next overpriced internet option.
Government wants some of the scarce radio frequency spectrum that will be freed up through SA's impending move from analogue to digital terrestrial television to be made available to telecommunications operators wanting to provide wireless broadband services. Communications department director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole says she expects the spectrum will be used by operators to ... |
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15
Aug 2008 |
Broadcast of final stages of stadium construction in 2010 to rest of world now a reality.
Mauritius-registered private equity venture SEACOM said on Thursday a fibre optic undersea cable linking east Africa to Europe and Asia would be launched in June 2009, in time for the 2010 soccer World Cup. The company said in a statement it would start laying the $650m cable, which is needed to provide high-speed internet access and spur investment, in October this year. The 15 ... |
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15
Aug 2008 |
Another promise from Minister of Communications on its way to the guillotine.
Minister of Communica-tions Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri is expected to issue a policy direction for the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) to license Broadband Infraco to ensure strategic infrastructure investment in the information and communication technology sector. The State-owned broadband infrastructure company will negotiate the licence terms and... |
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14
Aug 2008 |
Operater throws hands in the air, trips over lip, tries to stall consumer protection.
Vodacom has filed an urgent court interdict against the telecoms regulator, which is trying to stop the network provider and its rivals, MTN and Cell C, from milking consumers by locking them into long-term contracts. On Monday Vodacom asked the Johannesburg high court to suspend the regulations on cellphone contracts or handset subsidies. Vodacom claims that the Independent... |
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14
Aug 2008 |
FIFA considers massive monetary loan as Telkom to provide bandwidth for 2010.
SA currently does not have enough bandwidth to meet the 2010 guarantees. However, that should change, as Telkom is due to increase capacity on its undersea cables, says Rosey Sekese, Department of Communications deputy director-general for ICT infrastructure. Sekese addressed yesterday's briefing on the progress being made in getting the country ready for the 2010 Soccer World Cup... |
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14
Aug 2008 |
speed-thirsty supercable takes shape, connecting unknown African countries too.
Venture capital cable company Seacom is ready to start laying its 15 000km 1.28Tbps cable along the African East Coast from next month. It is confident it will meet its self-imposed “go live” deadline of June next year. Seacom president Brian Herlihy says the cable will go into service long before the 2010 FIFA World Cup kicks-off. His team is trying to expedite construction in... |
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14
Aug 2008 |
Country unsure if Communications Minister on drugs or simply too old, senile to make sense.
Telecommunications operators are unhappy over a proposal that could see them pay billions for the subsidisation of government's digital migration. This comes as communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri announced she wants telcos' annual contributions to the Universal Service and Access Fund (USAF) to be increased five-fold, from a current 0.2% of profits, to 1%. The USAF is... |
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14
Aug 2008 |
Company pulling customers through its crack, loses many to non-crack-pulling companies.
As Telkom’s recent price increases begin to take effect, consumers are growing impatient, leaving the operator in droves. Over the past four years, its land-line connections have decreased. In 2006, the company lost nearly 20 000 customers. Last year, more than 60 000 lines were disconnected. The decline was not reflected in the company’s results for the year to March 31. It... |
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