| |
 |
|
15
Nov 2010 |
|
As of Wednesday, Johannesburg and Pretoria will be connected to Cell C's new HSPA+ network, the operator has confirmed. Cell C has been on a nationwide roll-out of its new network since September and has already connected Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town, George, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Richards Bay and Witbank. Mobile broadband users previously voiced concerns that the Gauteng region was so far down on the list of cities to be connected by Cell C. However, CEO Lars Reichelt... |
| |
|
|
14
Nov 2010 |
|
Vodacom's share price this week broke through the R70 barrier for the first time since its listing on the JSE in May last year on the back of strong data growth, with traffic increasing more than 60 percent in SA.
While lower mobile termination rates - the fees charged to terminate calls on competitors' networks - reduced revenues by R800-million in the six months to the end of September, the effect was offset by strong data and mobile broadband growth. CEO Pieter Uys is optimistic about the prospects... |
| |
|
|
12
Nov 2010 |
|
THE government has renewed the contract of Telkom chairman Jeff Molobela for two months to give the Cabinet time to decide whether to retain or replace him. Mr Molobela was appointed in November last year by former communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda, who was fired last month. Through its 39 percent interest in Telkom, the government enjoys special rights that allow it to appoint six board members, including the chairman. But those special rights fall away in March. Communications Minister Roy Padayachie... |
| |
|
|
11
Nov 2010 |
|
MWEB has launched a 3GB data product, aimed at entry-level consumers, for R79 a month. "We believe that South African consumers have a right to have access to the internet and the only way we are going to achieve this will be to offer affordable ADSL to the market," said Carolyn Holgate, General Manager of MWEB Connect. MWEB's package includes value-added extras such as 300 free Wi-Fi minutes when travelling, antivirus and antispam services, a free mail box, FaxMail and technical support. "We are extreme... |
| |
|
|
11
Nov 2010 |
|
A battle for control of Telkom may be on the cards. Communications minister Roy Padayachie has warned that government does not want to lose the control its exercises over the JSE-listed group when special rights it enjoys expire early next year. Padayachie tells TechCentral that government is concerned about the implications of the termination of a special share - the "class A" share - on 5 March 2011. This share, sometimes referred to as government's golden share, gives it a number of rights, including... |
| |
|
|
11
Nov 2010 |
|
Hitting the ground running, newly-appointed communications minister Roy Padayachie has committed to a November 2011 deadline for the unbundling of the local loop. The local loop, or last mile, is the copper link between the end-user and Telkom's network and is currently owned by Telkom. The local loop unbundling (LLU) process includes a number of regulatory interventions aimed at providing new market entrants access to the incumbent's local access network. The rationale behind LLU is to foster competition... |
| |
|
|
11
Nov 2010 |
|
Vodacom Business has two new DSL offerings, with speeds of 8Mbps and 10Mbps. This follows the June introduction of Vodacom's initial business ADLS service, and comes at a time when Telkom is in the process of upgrading its lines to support speeds of 10Mbps. Businesses will pay R4 199 per month (excluding VAT) for the 8Mbps and R6 199 per month (excluding VAT) for the 10Mbps service, according to the company. This includes a Billion 7404 VGOX router (enabled for VOIP, 3G failover and WiFi), but excludes the... |
| |
|
|
10
Nov 2010 |
|
Telkom, SA's largest fixed-operator, expects first-half profit excluding one-time items to fall by as much as 20 percent, hit by the costs from starting up its new mobile business, 8.ta. Telkom, which launched a mobile-phone business last month, said it expects normalised headline earnings per share for the six months to end-September to be as much as 20 percent lower than the 280.6c it reported a year earlier. The company said it was hit by R205m from the start of its mobile-phone business and R144m from... |
| |
|
|
10
Nov 2010 |
|
A Johannesburg advocate is taking Cell C to court for unlawful billing and failing to honour its service provider obligations. Gareth Maritz claims, in court papers, that Cell C has been billing him for calls that he did not make and said he has been overcharged. He also wants Cell C to explain how it charges for interconnect calls. Maritz will return to court next Tuesday to back up his claims that Cell C admitted in various telephone conversations that it had overcharged him but did nothing to reimburse... |
| |
|
|
10
Nov 2010 |
|
State-owned Broadband Infraco, created by government to bring down national telecommunications costs, is finally launching commercial services next week. But the company's mandate has already been fulfilled. It should be privatised immediately. When former public enterprises minister Alec Erwin dreamt up the idea of a state-owned telecoms provider to rival Telkom in providing national fibre-optic communications lines, the prices for such links were exorbitant. Telkom had a virtual monopoly and was using... |
| |
|
|
10
Nov 2010 |
|
Africa's biggest mobile operator, MTN Group said it expects lower mobile termination rates to cut 9 percent from its revenue next year. MTN hopes to compensate for the lost revenue by boosting its market share and data services, Karel Pienaar, MD for MTN South Africa, told Reuters on the sidelines of an African telecoms conference. "We will see an impact; this year we've seen a 9 percent decrease in revenues from MTR (mobile termination rates) and we will see a similar decrease next year," he said... |
| |
|
|
9
Nov 2010 |
|
Vodacom SA is stepping up its focus on mobile data as demand for broadband booms. The company, which is rolling out its own fibre network to connect its base stations, is already talking about upgrading some of its towers to offer theoretical speeds of up to 42Mbit/s. Significantly, data now makes up more than half of all traffic on Vodacom's network. In the past six months, it has added 350 third-generation base stations and is planning another 650 in the second half of the 2011 financial year, which ends... |
| |
|
|
9
Nov 2010 |
|
FibreCo Telecommunications, the country's newest fibre optic network will be an investment of more than R5bn by Cell C, Internet Solutions and Convergence Partners and will lay 12 000 kilometers of fibre starting next year. Equity will be split roughly between the three investors and they are currently engaging in geo-surveys to determine cable-laying routes. The build will be in three phases with the first being a rolling out of a 4 500 kilometer redundant core ring linking Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban... |
| |
|
|
8
Nov 2010 |
|
Broadband is becoming big business for Vodacom. Its interim results for the six months to 30 September, released on Monday, show a surge in data revenues year-on-year of 41,1 percent to R2,9bn. The contribution from SA data users accounted for R2,7bn of its total data revenue in the period. Vodacom says it has enjoyed a boom in demand from SA users and managed to increase its data customers by 1,2m during the half-year. It now has 7,9m data users. Coupled with an increase in data bundle purchases, Vodacom... |
| |
|
|
8
Nov 2010 |
|
Listed cellular company Vodacom lost out on R800 million in revenue in the first half of its financial year, after termination rates were voluntarily cut earlier this year. It will lose out on more revenue over the next two years as rates drop further. Vodacom, SA's largest cellular company, reported revenue up to R29.5 billion, from R28.6 billion, for the six months to September. Headline earnings per share moved up from 219c to 303c, and earnings per share leapt to 300c, from 4c, as last year's figures... |
|
