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15
Nov 2000 |
Having a toll free number that's a household symbol can have its downside. PG Autoglass' 0800 03 03 03 seems to be the first number that South Africa's lonely, bored or just weird think of when wanting to make a crank call.
Every year the autoglass replacement company has had to set aside a large sum of money to pay for the crank calls it receives.
"Our toll free number has a 90 percent awareness among the public," says call centre manager Neermal Singh.
About 50 percent of all calls
received we... |
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15
Nov 2000 |
The telecommunications market had overreacted to the decision by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) to temporarily refuse MTN and Vodacom, the cellular operators, access to the GSM 1800 frequency spectrum, an analyst said yesterday.
But the decision formed part of a combination of factors triggering the "ups and downs of telecommunications stocks on the JSE". These included a selloff on the Nasdaq, he said.
M-Cell, MTN's holding company, recouped 65c to close at R22,30 y... |
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15
Nov 2000 |
As the world economy takes off into cyberspace, Africa, the perennial laggard, is in danger of missing the launch.
Africa is still critically short of the basic infrastructure, technology, systems and computer skills required to support electronic commerce and "the new economy", analysts and businessmen say.
The world's poorest continent has by far the lowest telephone densities in the world, the least computers and the most expensive telecommunication charges.
Mike Jensen, a Cape Town-based Intern... |
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13
Nov 2000 |
The planned second network operator (SNO) in the telecommunications sector would have to list to finance the required infrastructural roll-out investment, estimated at about R10 billion, Sango Ntsaluba, the chairman of Transtel, the state-owned telecommunications company, said on Friday.
The government, which is investigating the merger of three telecommunications parastatals, has set aside a stake for parastatals in the SNO.
If the government decided to merge Transtel with Esi-Tel, the telecommunic... |
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9
Nov 2000 |
Brian Sokutu, the communications adviser to Ivy MatsepeCaseburri, the minister of communications, tendered his resignation last week. This move may not be entirely unconnected with the questions about the lack of due process associated with the award of 3 percent of Telkom shares to Ucingo (SeTswati for "telephone").
Sokutu, it appears, was finding it more and more difficult to come up with plausible answers for the minister on a number of facts. In circumstances reminiscent of the the third cellular lic... |
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9
Nov 2000 |
Brian Sokutu, who at the weekend resigned his position as the spokesman for Ivy MatsepeCasaburri, the minister of telecommunications, has blamed "strains of the job" caused by having had to deal with the controversy around the bid for the third cellular licence as among the reasons he left.
Sokutu said yesterday he submitted his letter of resignation on Friday last week, after speaking to Andile Ngcaba, the director-general of the department of telecommunications.
"It was not an easy job and the decis... |
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7
Nov 2000 |
Talking isn't cheap - it's expensive, as is surfing the Internet in South Africa. These two simple truths enable me to make two predictions about economic life here on the southern tip of Africa.
First, while big international and local merchant banks are trying their level best to get the deal to help with Telkom's listing next year, talking South Africans are going to pay for the money flowing in.
The second prediction is that Telkom's listing next year will not help South Africans join the new econ... |
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6
Nov 2000 |
About half the country's population would be hooked up to cellphones in five years, Allan Knott-Craig, the chief executive of the Vodacom Group, said at the weekend.
Knott-Craig disclosed details of a Stellenbosch University study which showed the number of cellular telephone subscribers across the country would rise to 21 million by 2006.
The market, shared by Vodacom and MTN, is estimated to grow to 8 million by the end of this year. Vodacom's share of the market is estimated to reach 4,6 million by... |
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6
Nov 2000 |
There is little coincidence in the timing of Vodacom's release of a planning exercise showing massive potential growth in the cellphone industry and a decision by the telecommunications regulator to deny access to the spectrum the network operators need to grow their market.
A study by the University of Stellenbosch has shown that the number of cellular telephone customers is expected to rise to 21 million by 2006 - a roll-out of services to about half the population. By Vodacom's measure, that will give... |
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3
Nov 2000 |
NATIONAL telecommunications utility Telkom has lashed cellular operators MTN and Vodacom for what it calls "price discrimination", saying this could have a significant impact on Telkom's proposed rate increases next year.
Chief operating officer Tom Barry said Telkom's rates for services on which it had a monopoly were expected to rise by 5,4% on average next year, but this could be less if the company succeeded in renegotiating its seven-year-old interconnect agreement with MTN and Vodacom.
Telkom ... |
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3
Nov 2000 |
What is most extraordinary about this company, in line to receive 3 percent of Telkom as part of an empowerment exercise, is how few people are prepared to speak about it.
The company, which is expected to be funded by the Industrial Development Corporation, became a preferred candidate to receive its estimated R600 million stake in March.
Yet no one other than the directors of the company wants to shed any light on the circumstances that led to the choice of the company. Or discuss how the allocatio... |
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3
Nov 2000 |
Ucingo Investments, a special-purpose vehicle created to secure an empowerment stake in Telkom, was the "preferred and exclusive" applicant for the allocation of 3 percent of Telkom stock, expected to be worth more than R600 million, it said yesterday.
John Makhane, Ucingo's chairman, said the company was still securing funding. It was negotiating on an exclusive basis with the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to raise an as yet unspecified amount. Ucingo Investments was established i... |
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2
Nov 2000 |
BY PHILLIP DE WET, ITWEB NEWS EDITOR
[Johannesburg, 2 November 2000] - Telkom yesterday filed an application with the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) that seeks to raise its tariffs by the maximum percentage allowed by the regulator.
Services that Telkom has the exclusive right to operate, including all interactive voice calls, are capped at an annual increase of 1.5% below the consumer price index (CPI). With government projecting a CPI of 6.9% for January 2001, Telkom says its b... |
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1
Nov 2000 |
A palindrome is a number or word that can be read from left to right or right to left, such as the date 24/1/42.
Like a palindrome, the story of empowerment group Ucingo appears to end where it began. Ucingo was selected to acquire a 3 percent stake in Telkom, the state-owned telecommunications enterprise. It represents 2 million people and has African Merchant Bank as a corporate adviser. Other empowerment stakes are earmarked for Telkom staff and the National Empowerment Fund.
The deal, which was t... |
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30
Oct 2000 |
The corporate rule of underpromising and overdelivering should be ringing in the ears of anyone involved in the initial public offering (IPO) of Telkom.
The sale of a further 20 percent of the partially privatised telecommunications utility is one of the largest investment events on the country's economic horizon.
Its success will determine whether interest in this dynamic sector will be the trigger for economic growth and foreign direct investment that many expect it to be.
The government, the u... |
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