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5
Feb 2009 |
Impatience new provider's worst enemy, moves to alter time.
Perhaps we were just too impatient? Perhaps we expected too much too soon. On the surface, Neotel's arrival in the country hasn't heralded too much in terms of change. Sure, the mere presence of a competitor in the market has provided some pressure to drive prices down (especially in the enterprise space). Also, its consumer offering hasn't taken off quite according to plan. |
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4
Feb 2009 |
Days feel like months as cable dips toes into water.
The countdown to cheap and freely available broadband has begun. This is according to Seacom president Brian Herlihy, who said the first portions of a deepwater cable had been laid. The Africa-owned undersea, fibre-optic cable will provide high capacity bandwidth linking business and communities in Southern and Eastern Africa, Europe and Asia by June. "We are delighted to have |
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4
Feb 2009 |
Son of a bitch small font ruins trip to cell shop.
A recent iPhone 3G advertisement, stating that “leave an iStore smiling. Get an iPhone 3G on a Vodacom contract….for only R105 per month”, proved to be too good to be true. Gavin Dale lodged a consumer complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) against the email advertisement that he received from The Core Computer Business promoting the iPhone. Dale |
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4
Feb 2009 |
Get bucks back for blabbering.
A new supplier of SIP accounts and SIP phones, Wozacom, promises to offer businesses and consumers the best rates on VoIP telephony products. “What makes our VoIP telephony product special is that we are the most competitive over the longer-term because our business model works differently,” says Wozacom CEO Pierre du Randt. “For all existing iBurst subscribers with desktop modems |
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4
Feb 2009 |
Movie pirates lining up their torrents all across the country.
SEACOM today announced that the first portions of deepwater cable are now resting on the seabed of the Indian Ocean and Red Sea. The cable has been laid from the edge of the South African waters to Mozambique and cable laying is also proceeding in the Red Sea from Egypt towards the coast of Yemen. A third ship is currently being loaded with the remainder of SEACOM’s deepwater cable |
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3
Feb 2009 |
No amount of praying brings relief for prepaid users however.
CELLPHONE users will soon be able to switch between networks without giving up their contracts, if proposed new telecommunications regulations are passed. This could soon be a reality following Independent Communications Authority of SA hearings, scheduled for later this month. Between February 18 and 19, Icasa will be taking comment and submissions from the industry regarding |
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3
Feb 2009 |
Municipal network slaps Telkom around a bit with faster & cheaper offerings.
Durban businesses will now be able to reap the benefits of significantly faster, higher capacity Internet connectivity with the opening of the eThekwini Municipality network to service providers. MWEB Business is one of the first ISPs to offer connectivity to customers in the eThekwini Metropolitan area as a result of a resale agreement with the municipality. Unlike traditional |
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3
Feb 2009 |
Samsung joins the fight.
Samsung Networking, a Neotel approved distributor, has launched a business phone service, offering SMEs a telephony cost saving of more than 20 percent on average. Its business solution, NeoFlex Voice, offers SMEs substantial savings; excellent voice quality and hassle free installation. Using Neotel's Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, Samsung Networking is able to |
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3
Feb 2009 |
Bigwigs liven things up, play musical chairs.
Telkom has confirmed it is reviewing its organisational structure. However, it has denied insider claims of management lay-offs. This follows an internal e-mail circulated to staff, which has apparently caused concern among some staff members. The memo allegedly details Telkom's future staffing strategy. The telecoms behemoth says it is gearing towards streamlining its efficiency |
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3
Feb 2009 |
Not free as in free, but free as in faux-free.
iBurst today sent out a press release saying that that consumers signing up for a 24-month iBurst HSDPA contract between February and April 2009 will receive “a free HSDPA USB modem, 2 months free subscription and free SIM and connection valued at R202.” “With phenomenally fast HSDPA speeds and up to 10 gigabytes of data included in our HSDPA packages, it’s a very compelling |
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3
Feb 2009 |
Technology sapped financially for all it's worth, gets the chop.
Rumours recently emerged that Telkom was looking at phasing out its Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) services. And from Telkom’s official feedback its looks as if the rumours are true. ISDN is a telecoms service which integrates voice and data on the same lines, a big advantage when compared to standard telephone lines, and is still used extensively throughout the South |
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3
Feb 2009 |
Fizzle for your buck could turn into bang for your buck.
Over the past six years ADSL has shown consistent growth, remaining a very popular broadband choice among consumers. There are currently over 500 000 ADSL subscribers in South Africa, and this figure looks set to rise significantly in 2009. MWEB CEO Rudi Jansen said that the company anticipated strong growth in the ADSL market, but that this could also be negatively impacted by |
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2
Feb 2009 |
Full pay for no work to continue in a stroke of luck like no other.
Telkom's promised deadline around the sale of Telkom Media has come and gone, with the potential buyer of the broadcaster remaining a mystery. In a media release last month, Telkom promised to announce the details, including the name of the potential buyer of Telkom Media, by the end of January. However, Telkom Media says it still has no idea who the buyer will be. The hamstrung |
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2
Feb 2009 |
Small piece of cancer to be removed, bigger doughnut-scoffing piece remains.
Political infighting, coupled with the department's disappointing overall performance, has resulted in rising speculation that Department of Communications (DOC) director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole could be on her way out. Over the weekend, ITWeb was told by high-placed sources that Shope-Mafole had been “fired” due to her inability to galvanise the DOC to meet its objectives. |
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2
Feb 2009 |
Orange-coated installers falling over each other to expand coverage.
Neotel recently launched its NeoFlex voice service aimed at small and medium sized businesses. The service compliments its NeoFlex multi-user data offering which was launched earlier this year. Neotel offers per-second billing from the first second and reduced on-net calls, but is that enough to ensure a monthly saving? The table below gives a pricing comparison between Telkom |
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