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17
July 2008 |
Customers scramble to find out what the word 'free' means.
iBurst announced that their iCall subscribers, iBurst’s VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service, will now receive R50 worth of free calls every month. “iBurst’s 50Worldwide offer will enable iBurst subscribers to make R50 worth of free calls every month to any destination in the world while simultaneously offering a respite from rising prices on most other goods and services... |
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17
July 2008 |
Money machine removes egg timers from internet hardware.
Consumers have long criticised Telkom for its daily ADSL resets, complaining about broken downloads and a general irritation with service interruptions. This culminated in ICASA’s ADSL Regulations stipulating that “Telkom, SNO and ISPs shall not periodically reset the ADSL service”. This practice however continued for some time, but recent developments mean that Telkom no longer... |
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17
July 2008 |
Lawyers around the country receiving Please Call Me's all day.
A former employee who is suing Vodacom may have a claim worth millions of rands against the cellular operator, but lawyers believe he will have a tough time proving his case. Nkosana Kenneth Makate is suing Vodacom for not giving him financial compensation for developing the hugely successful Please Call Me innovation. He has no written agreement to back up his claim, although he... |
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17
July 2008 |
Paying 5c per sent Please Call Me to Nkosana seems like a good idea to us.
For a company that has to be innovative to stay ahead of its game, the dispute between Vodacom and former employee Nkosana Makate over intellectual property rights bodes ill for innovation. Rewarding employees can either be in the form of financial compensation, depending on the agreements and contract of employment, or recognition through an award or certificate. The pending court... |
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17
July 2008 |
If Telkom were the only medical institution we'd all be dead.
Many people have been victims of poor customer support from Telkom (JSE:TKG). One often hears horror stories about ADSL subscribers having to wait days or even weeks for a broken service to be fixed, and the event usually involves numerous calls to helpdesk. Telkom appears to be well aware of its poor service levels: "Our service levels are definitely not what they ought to be a... |
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17
July 2008 |
Skating around the ice rink of obviousness.
Telephone penetration in South Africa was over 90%, however, internet penetration, lagging far behind at 10,6%, was where South Africa, and Africa in general, had not been successful, said Vodacom CEO Alan Knott-Craig on Wednesday. “I think that it is incumbent upon us, to press to get an internet penetration at the same kind of levels that we have managed to achieve with the... |
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17
July 2008 |
Used crystal ball reveals faster data speeds in future, pawn shop refuses to refund purchaser.
MOBILE data communication offers the best potential for widespread internet connectivity in SA and the rest of Africa because so many people use mobile phones. In addition, 3G-capable handsets have come down in price to about R800 and can be expected to become even more affordable, says Kutty Kanagaratnam, director of radio access sales at Ericsson. He says a major plus for mobile... |
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17
July 2008 |
The long wait is over. Hello Stress, my old friend.
MTN Network Solutions (MTN NS) has been awarded its biggest government tender yet – a South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) contract worth R166 million over three years. In terms of the tender, which was first published in February last year, MTN NS will provide virtual private network services to Sassa nationally. MTN NS CEO Mike Brierley describes the deal as significant... |
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17
July 2008 |
Almost eight years later Communications Minister still a fish out of water.
The Department of Communications is proposing a policy asking national electronic communications network services licensees to deploy satellite infrastructure to provide the network. Communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri gazetted the proposal this month, saying satellite technology could promote connectivity: “Limited availability of frequencies in many metropolitan areas... |
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17
July 2008 |
Retrenchment-targeted staff to stay, workplace to be made unbearable for each. Method found on first page of book.
South African trade union Solidarity has accepted an average wage increase of 10.5% for all its members in phone group Telkom. Solidarity, which represents 4 000 employees in Africa's largest fixed-line network operator Telkom, said on Thursday the increase would be backdated to April 1. The union added that its members would receive an increase of between R852.26 and R1 671.50 ... |
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17
July 2008 |
ICASA = as useful as a waterproof sponge.
THE telecoms sector would fare better if the industry regulators stayed at home and relaxed rather than went to work each day, the outgoing CEO of Vodacom, Alan Knott-Craig, said yesterday. At the very least, the regulator should be staffed with experienced and successful industry executives, so it would regulate with common sense and not with the mentality of government officials... |
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17
July 2008 |
Fixed line operator's much touted, bragged about 64k leased lines won't cut it.
For many years SA businesses have relied on limited-speed leased lines for their wide area communication, but this is changing as fixed-line and mobile operators bury fibre cables in the ground or mount them overhead. Leased lines are based on copper cable and their maximum speed is limited to multiples of 2 megabits per second, says Elia Tsouros, sales director at Verizon Business... |
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16
July 2008 |
Hot air to be bottled and sold to balloon companies, increase in profits eyed.
Telkom was still in discussions with a Vodafone unit that wanted to buy part of its stake in cellphone operator Vodacom, the firm said yesterday. Telkom was also still holding talks with a consortium led by Mvelaphanda for the acquisition of its entire share capital without the Vodacom stake. Shareholders were advised to continue exercising caution when dealing in Telkom shares... |
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16
July 2008 |
Seeing a profitable friend off at the coast is heartbreaking, time consuming.
A CONVOLUTED two-part deal for Telkom to shed its 50% stake in Vodacom and sell everything else it owns to a black empowerment group is taking a while to negotiate, prompting Telkom to buy itself more time. Telkom has updated a cautionary notice first published on June 2, saying the discussions were continuing. That comes as no surprise since the proposed deals involve cleaving... |
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16
July 2008 |
Bandwidth beating bargains bring boundless broadband bliss.
South Africa is often associated with high telecoms costs, but there are a few deals available which can help cash-strapped consumers save a few Rands on their monthly telecommunications bill. Here are a few of the better Internet deals on the market. It should be noted that this is by no means an exhaustive, well-researched list, but rather a short summary of a few deals which... |
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