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13
Dec 2011 |
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Recently appointed CEO of SA ISP Web Africa Tim Wyatt-Gunning has joined the ranks of industry sceptics on Local Loop Unbundling (LLU), saying: "It's not going to happen".
In an interview with I-Net Bridge/BusinessLIVE, Wyatt-Gunning pointed to his dealings with the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) during his time as co-founder and joint CEO of Storm Telecom, a provider of telephony and internet services, including voice over IP (VoIP).
He said that before the group was sold to JSE-liste... |
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12
Dec 2011 |
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Telecoms operator Telkom SA said yesterday it had entered into a memorandum of understanding relating to a potential strategic venture with South Korean-based KT Corp. In October, Telkom said it had entered into discussions with KT to explore KT potentially acquiring a strategic equity shareholding of 20 percent in the post-issue ordinary share capital of Telkom. The diagnostic review would commence immediately and Telkom said it would update shareholders in six weeks, when the cautionary announcement was... |
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8
Dec 2011 |
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Troubled state-owned telecommunications wholesaler Broadband Infraco has promised to ramp up its spending from next year as it seeks to establish more network points of presence in towns and cities across the country. Newly appointed chief technical officer Kiruben Pillay tells TechCentral the company is reviewing its build programme. From the new financial year, which begins on 1 April, it will accelerate investment in its network dramatically. In this financial year, Infraco is spending R270,6m on its... |
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8
Dec 2011 |
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Vodacom's former CEO Alan Knott-Craig is in talks with SA's third largest cellular operator, Cell C, he confirmed to ITWeb this morning. Cell C has been without a CEO since Lars Reichelt left the company suddenly in the middle of July. Chairman Simon Duffy has been acting in his position since then, and previously indicated the company may go global in its search for a new CEO. Yesterday, rumours were doing the rounds that Knott-Craig may be appointed to fill the position. Reichelt was appointed as Cell C's... |
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5
Dec 2011 |
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TELKOM will today provide to the Competition Tribunal justification for the differential pricing between its customers and the clients of independent value-added network service (Vans) providers in hearings over its alleged market abuse. The partly state-owned company stands accused of anticompetitive behaviour between 1999 and December 2004 and could pay more than R3.5 billion in penalties if found guilty of excessive pricing, refusing access to an essential facility and price discrimination. On Friday, ... |
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5
Dec 2011 |
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Internet service provider MWeb has completed what it calls a "four-phase infrastructure and backbone upgrade" that now means it's running a 10Gbit/s connection between SA's three biggest cities and offering subscribers in Durban a more direct route into its network. The first phase involved upgrading MWeb's link between its data centres in Gauteng and the Western Cape, says CEO Rudi Jansen. He explains that the link will provide improved performance for Cape Town customers who host e-mail with MWeb, which... |
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3
Dec 2011 |
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TELKOM had legal rights to flex its monopolistic muscle against competitors after it discovered that the companies had gone behind its back and sold services Telkom was providing, while they were using facilities it had leased to them in a separate agreement, it argued at the Competition Tribunal yesterday. Anton Klopper, the group executive for legal services at Telkom, was the companys first witness to testify when the case resumed in Pretoria yesterday. Hearings in which the parastatal is accused of ... |
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2
Dec 2011 |
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South Africans will not immediately benefit from being able to get a fixed broadband line without also having to fork out for a voice line, as Telkom provides copper connections at a loss. The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) agrees with Telkom's argument that it subsidises the cost of connections to end-users. As a result, there is no saving in separating voice and data connections, because the copper link still has to be paid for. The industry has been arguing that the two products ... |
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24
Nov 2011 |
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Cellphone network provider Cell C has won its legal tug-of-war with "older" foe Vodacom - the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that a Trevor Noah advert for Cell C flighted earlier this year did not disparage Vodacom's "blue-to-red" advertising campaign. Not long after Vodacom changed its corporate colour from blue to red - bringing it into line with its parent company, the UK's Vodafone - Cell C released an ad in which comedian Noah takes jabs at the rebranding. Vodacom filed a complaint with the... |
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24
Nov 2011 |
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Naspers-owned Internet service provider MWeb has launched a social media campaign in an attempt to pressure Telkom to stop forcing its broadband asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) customers to pay for telephone line rental if they don't have a fixed-line voice service. The company wants Telkom to separate the services and to provide what is colloquially referred to as "naked ADSL". MWeb says consumers are unable to subscribe to an ADSL-only service, where they rent only the ADSL line and pay for data... |
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23
Nov 2011 |
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Telkom released another set of shocking financial results this week, prompting some commentators to wonder if the company is sliding into irrelevance. But behind the dismal numbers is a more positive story. It's one of a management team, under CEO Nombulelo Moholi, starting to capitalise on Telkom's opportunities in a competitive telecommunications industry. For many years, SA's incumbent fixed-line operator has been abused. It's been undermined by bad management decisions, an unstable senior management... |
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23
Nov 2011 |
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Poor-performing Telkom reported a drop in profitability this week, pushing its share price down more than 12 percent for the year. On Monday it reported a 36 percent fall in first-half profit, and its mobile arm, 8ta, expects a loss for the year ending in March of about R2.2-billion. Revenue slipped 3.2 percent to R16.70-billion. A list of Telkom's problems includes a decline in fixed-line voice business, and new competition outside of the traditional telecoms market from internet and software players... |
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22
Nov 2011 |
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TELKOM's mobile network, 8.ta, has increased the number of its subscribers to 1.14million since its launch in October last year. This emerged when the company presented its interim financial results for the six months ending yesterday. Telkom group chief executive Nombulelo Moholi described the South African telecommunications market as one under intense pressure as growth in fixed and mobile voice revenues slows considerably. She said this reflected global trends with the "decline of fixed voice" being ... |
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22
Nov 2011 |
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Telkom is in a very difficult place right now, the group's directors have admitted as much, and so too does its share price reflect its position, down more than 12 percent for the year. On Monday the group reported a 36 percent fall in first half profit, while its mobile arm, 8ta, expects to achieve a loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the year ending March 2012, of approximately R2.2 billion after eliminations and R2.5 billion before eliminations. Telkom's total revenue slipped ... |
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22
Nov 2011 |
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African Prepaid Services Nigeria (APSN), a now-mostly-dormant company in which JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms has an effective 37 percent stake, is claiming USUSD481m, or about R4bn at the prevailing exchange rate, in damages from Multi-Links, Telkoms former Nigerian subsidiary, after Multi-Links walked away from a lucrative, 10-year contract with the company. Multi-Links has filed a counterclaim of USD123,9m. Though Telkom has sold the Multi-Links business - the sale to Hip Oils Topco became effective... |
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