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19
Jan 2012 |
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SA on Thursday became the 24th country to launch Google's free website program aimed at SMEs (Small and medium enterprises). The SA version, dubbed Woza Online enables Google email registered users to create a basic website for their business. Google partnered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Vodacom and the Human Resource Development Council for the program. So far, the three partners will not discuss costs or how much each has contributed. "SA is the 24th country to have this program... |
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18
Jan 2012 |
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Employees at the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) are set to embark on indefinite strike action starting on Friday after negotiations over pay and benefits reached a deadlock earlier this month. The Communication Workers Union and its members are demanding a variety of things from Icasa, including an 11 percent increase across the board, guarantees of job security should the authority undergo restructuring, and a housing allowance of R1 500/month. The strike is only applicable to union... |
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18
Jan 2012 |
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Speculation is growing that former Vodacom Group CEO Alan Knott-Craig will be appointed as Cell C's new CEO, replacing Lars Reichelt, who resigned last year. TechCentral understands from sources close to Cell C that an announcement about his appointment to the top job at the company could come as early as this week. Talk in the industry is that Knott-Craig, who is known to be keen to stage a return to SA's telecommunications industry, is about to make an announcement about his future plans - this after... |
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13
Jan 2012 |
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Telkom's cellular arm 8ta has unveiled a once-off 120GB data bundle, consisting of a 60GB package for anytime use and a 60GB Midnight Surfer bundle for use between 12am and 5am. The mobile broadband promotion, introduced yesterday, follows an announcement made by the operator that it has reduced broadband rates of up to 25 percent for its once-off and postpaid Internet packages. The 120GB Internet bundle is valid for a period of 12 months and costs R1 800. Managing executive of Telkom Mobile Amith Maharaj... |
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13
Jan 2012 |
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MWeb's soon-to-be former CEO, Rudi Jansen, says the advent of uncapped Internet in 2010 was without doubt the highlight of his 15-year career with the country's second-largest Internet service provider (ISP). MWeb announced on Tuesday that Jansen, CEO of the company since 2005, would step down at the end of February to "pursue new business interests outside the ISP sector". Francois Theron, CEO of DSTV Mobile, has been appointed to take the helm. Jansen says that, while it will be a sad day when he walks ... |
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11
Jan 2012 |
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Telkom's consumer mobile operator, 8ta, said on Wednesday it is offering a once-off data bundle consisting of 60GB of data for anytime use and 60GB for use between 12am and 5am. The bundle costs R1 800 and is valid for 12 months. The announcement follows price reductions across 8ta's range of prepaid and postpaid data offerings earlier this week. 8ta has not stipulated how long the promotion will run but says it will give consumers sufficient warning before the promotion ends. Amith Maharaj, managing... |
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10
Jan 2012 |
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Internet service provider (ISP) MWeb said on Tuesday that its group CEO, Rudi Jansen, is stepping down at the end of February after 15 years at the Naspers-owned subsidiary. Jansen has held the position of CEO since 2005. DStv Mobile CEO Francois Theron has been named as Jansen's successor. Jansen hasn't indicated his next move beyond saying that it will likely be outside of the ISP sector. Jansen was one of MWeb's first employees and originally held the position of head of finance. His replacement, Theron,... |
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9
Jan 2012 |
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Consumers can look forward to even cheaper broadband prices, with many new undersea cables set to come online within the next 18 months. It is unclear how much of a decrease is likely, but talk in the industry is of a 10 percent to 20 percent drop in local prices, which are regarded as being among the highest in the world. The Seacom cable may have increased SAs undersea capacity by 380 percent since it was launched in 2009, but several new cables are set to increase broadband capacity by a further 360... |
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5
Jan 2012 |
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MTN's share price fell 3 percent to R139,61 yesterday as investors worried that its Iranian subsidiary, MTN Irancell Telecommunications Services, may face US wrath for sanctions-busting. "I would think it has to do with the investment in Iran and the possibility of US sanctions on companies that invest in Iran," Lindsay Roots, a Cape Town-based investment analyst at BoE Stockbrokers, said yesterday. Six US legislators wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging the State Department to invest... |
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4
Jan 2012 |
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There's been plenty of talk about the need for greater mobile data coverage in rural areas but it's easy to become blas about it when you're ensconced in a coverage-rich metropolis for 350 days of the year. Hit the road and the plight of those who live with abysmal or nonexistent data coverage becomes clear. The problem isn't just the limited coverage in smaller towns or the fact that many offer only the pitifully slow GPRS/Edge rather than 3G - if they offer data coverage at all - but there is almost no ... |
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4
Jan 2012 |
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Despite giant strides in the right direction in the past few years in opening up SA's telecommunications market - making it more competitive and transparent - there are still pockets of monopolistic behaviour. One of these is the application-to-person (A2P) SMS market in SA, which is worth more than R1bn/year in revenue for the mobile network operators. A large portion of these messages are sent by the banking sector and the remaining traffic is carried by wireless application service providers (Wasps).... |
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23
Dec 2011 |
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It is a perversion of SA's broadband sector that wireless players punch above their weight. More than 21m South Africans use a wireless connection to access the Internet - with a tablet, smartphone or dongle - whereas fewer than 800 000 subscribe to an ADSL broadband connection. This is according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which released its latest statistics on broadband this month. This means that for every 100 South Africans there are 1,6 ADSL broadband connections... |
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15
Dec 2011 |
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said yesterday that it had started selling premium mobile applications (apps) in a move that would provide unique apps to its customers. It has more than 5000 premium apps, which will be available at the Vodacom App Store and would sell from R5 to R50. One of the premium apps include the Easy K53ђ app, a locally developed premium app which is available for free until the end of this month. The app will be sold for R30. This app prepares users for their K53 drivers licence test, said Prins Mhlanga, ... |
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15
Dec 2011 |
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The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) hopes SA operators will emulate the Russian model of infrastructure sharing for next-generation mobile broadband networks based on long-term evolution (LTE) technology, TechCentral has learnt. LTE, which will pave the way to fourth-generation (4G) mobile systems, promises speeds well in excess of whats available through current 3G technologies. At a media briefing on Wednesday, Icasa said it would make one "package" of spectrum available, consisting ... |
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14
Dec 2011 |
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The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has begun the process of opening up so-called "high-demand spectrum bands" that will eventually pave the way to the introduction of fourth-generation (4G) mobile broadband networks in SA. The authority has decided to tie spectrum allocations in the 2,6GHz and 800MHz bands and to offer access to frequencies in the lower of the two bands on a wholesale, open-access model, where operators share networks and compete at a retail level. However, in a move... |
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