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24
Aug 2010 |
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With just four months to go before the end-of-year deadline for Rica registration, cellphone operators have lobbied the government to extend the deadline as there is a strong chance that millions of prepaid customers may be disconnected. But Cheryl Mulder, the managing executive of product management at Vodacom, advises consumers to register as soon as possible to avoid being disconnected at the end of December. "We are putting in an enormous effort to make sure our customers are registered before the dea... |
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24
Aug 2010 |
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Telkom is looking to restart talks with AT&T Inc about its Africa partnership, which has so far brought little new business, the acting chief executive of South Africa's largest fixed-line operator said on Tuesday. Jeffrey Hedberg also told Reuters on the sidelines of the company's annual shareholder meeting that Telkom was not looking for new acquisitions now. Telkom agreed in April 2009 to work with AT&T to provide IT and telecom services in Africa in a bid to win business from foreign firms expanding... |
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24
Aug 2010 |
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Telkom shareholders have accused the group of poor corporate governance at the company's annual general meeting held on Tuesday, arguing the firm does not have enough independent directors. Concerns were raised over Telkom's failure to comply with the King III corporate governance framework, specifically with regards to the constitution of the Telkom board. Shareholder activist Theo Botha said King III principles should have been adhered to since March 31 when it came into effect, adding Telkom had also... |
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23
Aug 2010 |
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Broadband Infraco, the state-owned infrastructure provider that is expected to launch commercial services within the next few weeks, pumped R407m into its network in the 2010 financial year, up from R373m in 2009. The increase was mainly due to the cost of network operations, maintenance and repairs, the company says in its latest annual report. The higher spending pushed Infraco into the red, with it reporting a post-tax loss of R28,3m from a small profit in 2009. Earnings before interest, tax,... |
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23
Aug 2010 |
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Shareholders of MTN Group, the largest cellular services provider in Africa, approved the companys R8.1 billion broad-based black empowerment (BEE) scheme by a majority vote at a general meeting on Friday. The deal comes 16 years into MTNҒs history and months before group chief executive Phuthuma Nhleko retires in March next year. Shareholders passed the scheme with 99 percent of the vote but some felt MTN could have offered the broad-based BEE deal much earlier. David Mazoek, who bought shares in the... |
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23
Aug 2010 |
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State-owned telecommunications infrastructure provider Broadband Infraco has used its latest annual report to criticise a decision not to grant it a service licence under the Electronic Communications Act. It says the decision, taken by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) and backed by communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda, undermines financially its investment in a new undersea cable system. "Broadband Infraco has assessed the impact of not being awarded the [service] licence and we... |
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19
Aug 2010 |
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Converged telecoms operator Neotel recently unveiled its prepaid offering, specifically aimed at consumers, but industry analyst have criticised it for being too expensive, lacking choice and being late to market. The company's prepaid offering sets the voice tariff at 50c per minute for Neotel-to-Neotel calls and Neotel to other fixed-line operators. The rate for calls from Neotel to mobile operators is R1.50 per minute for peak time calls and R1.20 for off-peak calls. National SMS rates are 20c per SMS... |
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19
Aug 2010 |
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Africa's largest cellular operator, MTN, has revised is predictions of local subscriber growth for 2010 upwards. The company had initially expected to add a net 800 000 subscribers to its South African base because of the effects of the SIM card registration Act. However, it has now added a further million new users to this figure, saying it has found its registration "rhythm". South African cellular companies were hard hit by the implementation of the Regulation of Interception of Communications and... |
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19
Aug 2010 |
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The MTN Group delivered a sound operational performance for the six months ended June 30, 2010, increasing subscribers by 11.4 percent to 129.2 million. In its results released on Thursday, it said adjusted headline earnings per share were up 20.6 percent to 438.6 cents, while an interim dividend of 151 cents per share had been declared. Various initiatives had gained momentum and had assisted the various operations in maintaining or improving market share, increasing brand awareness and leveraging... |
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18
Aug 2010 |
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Trade union Solidarity has accused Telkom of using race and gender as criteria for awarding voluntary severance packages, adding that it could obtain a Labour Court interdict against the group. The union noted that Telkom had indicated its intention to offer severance packages to employees "soon" and that affirmative action would be a major consideration in awarding those packages. It pointed to an agreement reached in 2009 between various trade unions and Telkom in terms of which employees' job security... |
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18
Aug 2010 |
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Last night, Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys tweeted that the iPhone 4 will be available in SA at the end of September. The iPhone 4 was set for release in the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan on 24 June 2010. However, delays had customers in these countries waiting until 14 July to get their hands on the gadget. International release for a few select countries occurred in the last week of July. At the time, Apple promised rollout to an additional 88 countries at the end of September, but did not specify which... |
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18
Aug 2010 |
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Third mobile operator Cell C's new logo has been provisionally rejected by the Registrar of Trademarks and legal experts are pointing to the prevalence of the copyright symbol in the new logo as a possible cause. According to Cell C's trademark application form, on Cipro's Online IP services, the provisional refusal was made on 2 August. Despite this, the operator nonetheless rolled out its campaign on 4 August. However, Cell C says that statements saying "the application for the registration of the new... |
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18
Aug 2010 |
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A plan by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) to cut wholesale call termination rates may be delayed until next year, parties close to the process say. The rates, which were supposed to be cut last month as a first step on a two-year "glide path" of reductions, are the fees the operators charge each other to carry calls onto their networks. High termination rates, especially those charged by mobile operators, have been blamed for keeping retail tariffs higher than they might otherwise... |
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17
Aug 2010 |
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MWEB has announced that its 10Mbps uncapped ADSL service will be available as from September. The company has explained that the delay is due to Telkom's slow and hesitant upgrades of MWEB's IPC platform, which is the bandwidth-provision portion that connects MWEB customers to Telkom's ADSL network. While a number of 4Mbps ADSL subscribers have already been upgraded to 10Mbps in certain areas, some in cities such as Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth are only reporting speeds in ... |
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17
Aug 2010 |
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Trade Union Solidarity on Tuesday accused fixed line telecommunications operator Telkom of using race and gender as criteria for awarding voluntary severance packages, adding that it could obtain a Labour Court interdict against the group. "If Telkom continues to use race and gender as criteria for awarding voluntary severance packages, Solidarity will obtain an interdict against the company from the Labour Court," Solidarity said. The union noted that Telkom had indicated its intention to offer severance... |
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