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15
Sept 2005 |
[Johannesburg, 15 September 2005] - South Africa's imminent telecommunications regulations are facilitating new forms of competition, layers and players in the telecoms market in general, including the possible convergence between fixed and mobile networks, says BMI-TechKnowledge telecoms analyst Richard Hurst.
Speaking at the Microsoft-HP Mobility Day in Johannesburg yesterday, Hurst said new regulations could also drive further convergence between voice and data services in future, facilitated by IP-ba... |
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15
Sept 2005 |
[Cape Town | ITWeb, 15 September 2005] - Telkom could put 4MB connections into homes next year, but it will only be for triple play subscription services and not Internet connectivity.
Telkom's Russell Achterberg told ITWeb during the Brainstorm Cape conference yesterday that the utility is testing the system with a content provider and various technicalities of the triple play offering, including the financial model, still have to be worked out.
Achterberg is responsible for Telkom's IP network and ... |
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15
Sept 2005 |
[Johannesburg, 15 September 2005] - A second colloquium on telecommunications pricing will be held “sometime in October”, says the Department of Communications.
Whereas the first colloquium highlighted the challenges the telecoms sector faces, the second colloquium will look for solutions, says Mthobeli Tengimfene, chief director for Internet access and software development at the Department of Communications.
Tengimfene was speaking at the Internet community's fourth annual iWeek conference, which i... |
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15
Sept 2005 |
[Cape Town | ITWeb, 15 September 2005] - A proposal to rename the Convergence Bill as the Electronic Communications Bill and the resignations of two senior Department of Communications deputy director-generals were announced in Parliament yesterday.
It also emerged yesterday that the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications has not voted to accept the Convergence Bill and has deferred this until it sees the closely related ICASA (Independent Communications Authority of SA) Bill.
Department ... |
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15
Sept 2005 |
The lack of broadband penetration in South Africa will slow the use of online voice services by consumers and means network operators aren’t likely to see lower revenues as a result.
This is the view of BMI-Tech analyst Brian Nielson. He says there needs to be significant broadband penetration before online consumer voice services like Skype will make a big dent.
He uses the example of Australia, which also has low-ish broadband penetration. Neilson says the ratio of residential Voice over IP (VoIP)... |
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15
Sept 2005 |
Johannesburg - Former Telkom boss Sizwe Nxasana has been appointed chief executive of FirstRand, the group announced on Thursday.
It said he would succeed Paul Harris who had been moved up to chief executive of FirstRand Limited.
The bank said current group chief executive Laurie Dippenaar had asked to play a non-executive role.
FirstRand Limited chairperson GT Ferreira said the group was privileged to have attracted Nxasana.
"For the past seven years he has steered Telkom SA through the proc... |
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15
Sept 2005 |
The digital divide between rich and poor is slowly becoming a divide between African countries and the rest of the world, says Rudolph Muller, lecturer at the department of business IT at the University of Johannesburg and founder of the broadband Web site, MyADSL.
Muller was speaking at the fourth annual iWeek conference currently under way in Houghton, Johannesburg.
The state of Internet offerings in SA means South Africans can't use Internet technology properly, and applications like podcasting can... |
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14
Sept 2005 |
[Cape Town | ITWeb, 14 September 2005] - Government is mooting a change in the procedure of the appointment of Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) councillors using an independent committee and doing away with the role of Parliament in the process.
The change would be a key part of the long-awaited ICASA Amendment Bill, which is the legislation that governs the regulator. This Bill is expected to be cleared by the state's legal advisors by the end of the week, but it will be too late for t... |
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14
Sept 2005 |
Third cellular operator Cell C does not believe regulator Icasa should intervene in the retail tariffs charged by the mobile operators.
Writing in its submission to Icasa on its discussion document relating to whether mobile call costs are too high, Cell C said Icasa should first introduce mobile number portability and complete its review of handset subsidies – Cell C believes the subsidies should be removed – and then only study the market properly to determine if there is sufficient competition.
N... |
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14
Sept 2005 |
Johannesburg - Addressing delegates at the eighth Southern Africa Telecommunications Network and Applications Conference (SatNac), Telkom (TKG) CEO Papi Molotsane said the Convergence Bill must enable sector profitability, encourage constant innovation and the ongoing investment required to stay abreast of advancing technology.
The Bill must protect the rights of existing licensees, and their substantial investments in the changeover from existing legislation.
This protection is critical to preservin... |
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14
Sept 2005 |
Johannesburg - Mobile telephone services operator Vodacom has issued a response to the retraction from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) concerning the widely quoted discussion document on mobile prices published in the Government Gazette of 28 July 2005.
In the retraction, the authority, 'regrets the unfortunate errors and any inconvenience caused to operators and interested parties' and refers specifically to comparative tables for countries like Hungary; the Czech Republ... |
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14
Sept 2005 |
Government is mooting a change in the procedure of the appointment of Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) councillors using an independent committee and doing away with the role of Parliament in the process.
The change would be a key part of the long-awaited ICASA Amendment Bill, which is the legislation that governs the regulator. This Bill is expected to be cleared by the state's legal advisors by the end of the week, but it will be too late for the current session of Parliament and will... |
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13
Sept 2005 |
Outgoing Telkom CEO Sizwe Nxasana received a generous going-away present on August 31 – his last day in office – in the form of 29 669 shares in the fixed-line operator. Using that day’s closing share price of R126,14, the shares are valued at R3 742 744.
The company said the shares were awarded to Nxasana as part of the company’s conditional share plan; 17 341 of the shares were due to vest in June 2007, with the rest in June 2008, “on condition that certain individual and company performance targets w... |
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12
Sept 2005 |
[Satnac, Drakensberg | ITWeb, 12 September 2005] - The introduction of convergence legislation must defer to government's policy of managed liberalisation of the telecommunications market, says new Telkom CEO Papi Molotsane.
Molotsane argues that where convergence was imposed before effective liberalisation, market failure was the outcome. He was speaking at the Southern African Telecommunications Networks and Applications Conference (Satnac) at the Champagne Sports Resort in the Drakensberg.
Ready fo... |
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12
Sept 2005 |
[Johannesburg, 12 September 2005] - It will take brave leadership to achieve true convergence, says Telkom COO Reuben September.
September was referring to the world's readiness to embrace true convergence at the opening day of the Southern African Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (Satnac) today. The conference is being held in the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg.
When using the Gartner hype curve, September said, technological developments facilitating convergence are in the “trough ... |
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