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22
Dec 2009 |
Titanic of SA Telecoms gets some business.
State-owned Sentech will use its telecommunications licence to land a new, high-capacity international cable system in SA. A consortium comprising 25 investors, led by France Telecom/Orange, will pay for the construction of the 14 000km system, known as the Africa Coast to Europe (Ace) cable. The Ace system will have a design capacity of 1,9Tbit/s and is expected to be ready for service sometime in 2011. It will run along Africa's west coast. Ace is one of three new cables that are planned for the... |
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22
Dec 2009 |
Moaning at a real living breathing human now possible.
The opening of the Neotel store in Cedar Square is the first the stores scheduled to roll out in the metropolitan regions of Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town over the next few months. Opening earlier this month, the 120 square metre is designed to exude a progressive look, epitomising the movement of technology into the future. "The intention behind the design was to create a technologically advanced environment where consumers can engage with our technology, demo the products, and chat to our consultants... |
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21
Dec 2009 |
No guaranteed wallet-gouging for operator.
South Africa's fixed-line phone group Telkom's plan to launch a new mobile phone business next year is not expected to boost profit significantly, an analyst said on Tuesday. Telkom, which sold its stake in Vodacom -- its main earnings driver -- plans to spend 6 billion rand over five years to launch a mobile phone business to help offset falling profit. "To be targeting the retail market in that industry, I think it will be suicide for Telkom," Jan Meintjes, an analyst at Gryphon Asset Management said.... |
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21
Dec 2009 |
...according to the cellphone operators of course.
South Africa's biggest cellphone operator Vodacom said on Tuesday a dramatic reduction of cellphone charges would be disruptive to the country's economy and communications sector. The South African government is holding public hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of plans to push mobile and telecom operators to reduce interconnection fees, in an attempt to lower telecoms costs that have impacted the country's growth. "A dramatic reduction of charges is likely to have a negative impact on government ... |
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15
Dec 2009 |
Oh, the irony.
Telkom on Tuesday warned the public to beware of scams and fraudsters. Telkom's group executive for enterprise risk management, Thokozani Mvelase, said Telkom wanted to remind its customers and the broader public to be "extremely vigilant and wary" because a spate of scams had recently re-surfaced. In one scam a fraudster pretending to be Telkom's CEO phoned customers to tell them that Telkom's banking details had changed. "Customers are asked to deposit their account payments into an alternative bank... |
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15
Dec 2009 |
To 4G or not to 4G, that is the question.
Cell C CEO Lars Reichelt has kept a low profile since his appointment in March, declining interviews and not speaking publicly about the company's strategy. But last week he unveiled plans to spend billions of rand on a wireless broadband network. Cell C's decision to build SA's most advanced third generation (3G) broadband cellular network is a brave move. The cellular operator, SA's smallest with about 8m subscribers, has long been criticised for not offering 3G services to compete with MTN and Vodacom.... |
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11
Dec 2009 |
Apathy strikes again.
The Department of Communications (DOC) is leaving the approval of a proposed glide path for lower interconnect up to the regulator. This follows the revelation of a letter from MTN to local alternative telecommunications company ECN, which proposes a glide path for the interconnect rate that may not reach the levels announced by the department to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications. The department says it has received no formal communication on the planned agreement and the rest of the... |
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10
Dec 2009 |
Win a few million by giving your details to a Nigerian street dealer.
Mobile operators are pulling out all the stops to get subscribers to register their SIM cards, with millions being given away in prizes. The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (RICA), which came into effect mid-year, has put pressure on operators' subscriber numbers. Both MTN and Vodacom have said the registration process is trimming the amount of additions to their networks. MTN said in October that its South African subscriber base was... |
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9
Dec 2009 |
Hearts all around SA pumping lumpy custard.
Vodacom, Cell C and MTN will together lose R1 billion a year in revenue once the new peak interconnection rate is implemented by March next year while Telkom will save R1 billion annually in costs. The peak mobile interconnection rate will be reduced from R1.25 cents per minute to 89 cents per minute after intervention by the minister of communications Siphiwe Nyanda. The reduction is expected to stimulate competition as it was anticipated that operators will introduce innovative products at an affordable... |
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9
Dec 2009 |
GPRS doesn't cut it anymore, surprisingly.
SAs smallest mobile operator, Cell C, plans to spend as much as R5bn in 2010 on new network infrastructure. Much of this money is expected to be used to construct a 3G network capable of delivering broadband at speeds of up to 21Mbit/s. The companyҒs move comes at the same time that fixed-line operator Telkom is also building a 3G network. Telkom has said it will spend about R6bn over five years building its mobile network, which much of this investment to happen in the next two years. "We are going to... |
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8
Dec 2009 |
Cellphone mafia strikes again.
All signs are pointing to a deal that stonewalls the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) and allows Vodacom, MTN and Cell C to maintain interconnection rates - the fees the mobile operators charge each other and other network providers to carry calls on their networks - at relatively high levels. TechCentral has had sight of an MTN letter that suggests the mobile operators have agreed to a glide path that will result in peak-time interconnection rates being reduced from 89c/minute in March... |
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7
Dec 2009 |
Telkom's Joseph Goebbels returns.
Steven Hayward, described by many during his time at the operator as Telkom's "propaganda minister" has joined Vodacom to take control of its struggling Vodacom Business unit in the country. Hayward was part of the exodus of senior management from the fixed-line operator in June 2007, before abruptly withdrawing his resignation. His appointment as executive director: Vodacom Business was confirmed by Vodacom on Friday, but was made public (albeit in a buried way) as part of a share allocation statement ... |
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7
Dec 2009 |
Smells as fishy as I&J factory.
VODACOMS corporate BEE partner Indicom IT has claimed that the MTN tender for the R30-million mobile and data services for the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality should have been disqualified at the start because it did not meet BEE requirements. A senior Indicom official also claimed that municipal officials had received "expensive gifts" from MTN before the announcement naming the preferred bidder was made. "The municipality has a supply chain policy that states that any tenders above R5-million should be... |
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7
Dec 2009 |
Overseas, yes.
Broadband's big prediction for 2009 was that you'd see true, high-speed internet this year. In some ways, our connectivity has improved, but there remain bottle-necks. Let's revisit our predictions made a year ago and, for a change, we got almost all correct... 1. After the unbundling of Vodacom, Telkom will surprise everyone with a key appointment to its mobile division. Using its marketing muscle (what's a few million between friends?) it will aggressively capture a decent portion of the market. It can... |
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4
Dec 2009 |
Even if it looks like a cut, smells like a cut, it doesn't mean it's a cut.
Vodacom, MTN and Cell C will all soon have introduced reduced call rate prices. However, World Wide Worx Strategy MD Steven Ambrose is sceptical as to whether these will mean real savings for consumers. Earlier this week, Vodacom announced it would cut all peak hour on-net calls by 15% for prepaid and postpaid subscribers. In September, Cell C announced an effective 47% reduction to all its calls, across all networks, to a flat rate of 150c per minute. MTN, which will announce details of its latest offer... |
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