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28
Feb 2011 |
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Wholesale call termination rates come down at midnight tonight, but consumers shouldn't expect retail price cuts from the big mobile operators on the back of the reductions. Both Vodacom and MTN have confirmed to TechCentral that they have no plans to cut retail prices as a result of tonight's reduction in the wholesale rates that operators charge each other to carry calls between their networks. From tomorrow, peak-time termination rates for mobile calls fall from 89c/minute to 73c/minute; off-peak rates... |
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25
Feb 2011 |
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Neotel is taking advantage of the 1 March cut in mobile termination rates to reduce the cost of calls to mobile phones. It's the first operator to announce cuts on the back of the lowering of the rates that mobile providers charge each other and other companies to carry calls onto their networks. The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) is forcing down termination rates on a glide path between now and 2013 in an attempt to foster greater competition in the market and ultimately drive down... |
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25
Feb 2011 |
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From 1 March 2011, Neotel subscribers will be able to call cell phones at the best prices ever - less than a Rand per minute (excluding VAT) to most cell phones, even during peak hours. Neotel offers substantial savings to businesses and consumers alike for calls to any destination - landline or mobile.. At standard rates, it is still cheaper to call a Telkom line from a Neotel phone than from a Telkom phone, and all calls between Neotel subscribers countrywide are free after hours. And now, Neotel is able ... |
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24
Feb 2011 |
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Government acknowledges that Telkom's monopoly on fixed-line internet connections constrains productivity and economic growth. "Telkom's monopoly of the local loop - the last stretch of infrastructure connecting homes or businesses to exchanges - means that fixed-line prices remain high," noted Treasury in its 2011 Budget review. It says that government aims to unbundle the local loop by November this year. It says this will encourage competition and stimulate growth. "An affordable, efficient and widely ... |
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21
Feb 2011 |
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Telkom may pick a Vodacom Group executive as its next chief, the country's Sunday Times newspaper said, without specifying any sources. Romeo Kumalo, head of commercial affairs at Vodacom, has the support of Telkom's newly appointed chairperson, Lazarus Zim, the paper said. No one was immediately available for comment at Telkom or Vodacom. Telkom's acting chief executive, Jeffrey Hedberg, has said he will step down when his contract ends in March. Telkom, Africa's largest fixed-line operator, is struggling... |
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21
Feb 2011 |
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South Africa's newest cellphone operator may have a job making an impact in a perhaps oversaturated market, clever ad campaigns notwithstanding. But size helps. Heita claims to have about 200 000 contract customers already, so it's a force to be reckoned with. And its low-cost offerings have its competitors scrambling. "When Cell C entered the market, with low call rates, it didn't make quite the impact hoped for because it was too small. But with both Heita and Cell C offering a call rate of R1,50 per... |
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21
Feb 2011 |
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Tower sharing should prove a boon for SA Internet service providers wanting to roll out out their own broadband wireless infrastructure later this year. That's the view of Pieter Nel, newly appointed CEO of American Tower Corp (ATC) in SA, which recently purchased the passive (non-radio) components of Cell C's national base station infrastructure in a US$430m deal. The country's larger Internet service providers are expected to participate in an upcoming radio spectrum auction to gain access to spectrum... |
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21
Feb 2011 |
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MTN Business, the business communications division of cellular operator MTN, is stepping up its fight with Telkom and alternative network operators with the introduction this week of UniPresence, a fixed-mobile convergence offering. "We are setting high adoption targets for this product [and] we are talking about a big number. It is true competition to Telkom's fixed voice environment," says MTN Business managing executive Angela Gahagan. UniPresence will allow MTN Business customers to make and receive... |
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21
Feb 2011 |
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Speculation is growing in the telecommunications industry about who will take the top job at Telkom when acting group CEO Jeffrey Hedberg steps down at the end of March. The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that Vodacom commercial director Romeo Kumalo, who the newspaper says is friends with new Telkom chairman Lazarus Zim, is a "shoo-in" for the post. But talk in the industry is that a range of candidates is still being considered, among them former Telkom chief financial officer Peter Nelson and... |
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21
Feb 2011 |
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Voice and data telephony are fast becoming commodity-priced services across the African continent, as price wars create a cutthroat market. But the SA telecoms environment remains overpriced and Internet penetration remains extraordinarily low, prompting director of research at ICT Africa Alison Gillwald to call for a serious ICT policy overhaul in the region. Gillwald points out that, although SA has been an early adopter of many new technologies, its Internet penetration rate remains low and the... |
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18
Feb 2011 |
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A 2009 World Bank research report found that for every 10 percent increase in broadband penetration in emerging markets, the average per capita increase in gross domestic product is 1,2 percent. It's a stunning figure, and yet meaningful broadband penetration in SA remains woeful. That's why announcements from Vodacom and MTN in the past week about new Internet products aimed at getting more South Africans online are so important. It's a pity that both companies have fallen short of delivering to the... |
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17
Feb 2011 |
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AN INTERPRETATION of the Electronic Communications Act - that a cellphone network operator may occupy another's land without regard for that person's rights and without a fair procedure - was unreasonable, the South Gauteng High Court ruled on Tuesday. The ruling means that cellphone network operators who occupy private land should take into account landowners' rights to their property. In this case, the court ordered that MTN remove its base station, including its cellphone tower and all its equipment,... |
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17
Feb 2011 |
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Outgoing Telkom chairman Jeff Molobela has been replaced by Lazarus Zim, who was previously MD of MTN International. Molobela officially retired as chairman of the fixed-line operator's board yesterday, but has been re-appointed as a non-executive director for another three years. Zim, who took over as chairman yesterday, will serve as chairman for a year and a non-executive director for three years. Zim studied at the universities of Fort Hare and Witwatersrand, before obtaining a masters degree in... |
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17
Feb 2011 |
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Polelo Lazarus Zim has been appointed as chairman for a one year period with effect from February 16, and as a non-executive director for a three year period, Telkom said in a statement. Zim will take over from Jeff Molobela who retired as chairman. He has been re-appointed as a non-executive director of the Telkom Board for a period of three years, also with effect from February 16. "Telkom is grateful to Mr Molobela for his leadership, dedication, contribution and service during his tenure as chairman... |
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16
Feb 2011 |
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MTN has unveiled InternetOnTV, a R999 living-room product that connects consumers to the Internet through a television set. The announcement comes just days after Vodacom took the wraps off a similar product of its own, the R749 WebBox. MTN and Vodacom hope the offerings will extend Internet access to poorer South Africans. InternetOnTV and the WebBox are both targeted at consumers who don't already have access to a computer or the Internet at home. Both devices connect to television sets using standard ... |
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