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DFA granted licence to operate in Zimbabwe

By: Natasha Odendaal 5th May 2020 Open-access fibre-connectivity provider DFA has been granted an operating licence in Zimbabwe, enabling the build-out of a nationwide network for the provision of licensed telecommunications services. The Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) awarded the firm an... →

Healthcare virtualisation to improve access, portability and delivery

By: Schalk Burger 5th May 2020 Virtualising the healthcare ecosystem from a paper-heavy to paperless or paper-lite environment will enable healthcare providers to provide virtual healthcare services to their patients and provide greater access, portability, and ease of delivery of healthcare services, says information and... →

Vodacom launches 5G network in South Africa

By: Natasha Odendaal 4th May 2020 Telecommunications giant Vodacom has launched its fifth-generation (5G) network across three South African cities. Twenty 5G sites, 18 in Johannesburg and Pretoria and two in Cape Town, have been switched on, with further sites planned for other parts of the country in due course. →

Comms dept opens up television and film under level 4 lockdown regulations

By: Natasha Odendaal 4th May 2020 The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies has green-lighted the resumption of certain film and television (TV) production operations within the risk-adjusted strategy for the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. Communications and Digital Technologies acting... →

Soar technology needed as more South African businesses digitise

By: Schalk Burger 4th May 2020 The continued digitisation drive by businesses is driving a cybersecurity transformation and businesses that can adapt and leverage the new cybersecurity landscape will be better prepared to grow sustainably in an increasingly digital world, says information and communication technology... →

Pandemic highlights role of digital readiness in mitigating supply-chain risks

By: Schalk Burger 1st May 2020 Covid-19 is disrupting economic and social life, but it is occurring in a time of rapid digitalisation, which, in turn, is helping governments, businesses and consumers in their decision-making to respond and adapt to the situation. However, differences in digital readiness hamper the ability of... →

MTN asks US court to dismiss anti-terrorism case

By: Creamer Media Reporter 30th April 2020 Telecommunications group MTN has asked a US court to terminate the case filed against it in December over a complaint for violation of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The complaint was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on December 27 on behalf of American service members and... →

Competition Commission, MTN formalise data agreement

By: Natasha Odendaal 30th April 2020 The Competition Commission has referred to the Competition Tribunal for confirmation as an order a consent agreement reached with telecommunications group MTN over data prices. The Commission had already reached agreements on data prices with rivals Vodacom, Telkom and Cell C following the... →

US supports free data for Western Cape

By: Natasha Odendaal 30th April 2020 The US Agency for International Development (Usaid) is funding Internet service provider TooMuchWifi’s initiative to offer free data to Western Cape communities to educate residents about ways to reduce Covid-19 infections. The R73 000 initiative is funded from the emergency reserve fund for... →

MTN Ghana achieves first quarter double-digit growth

By: Natasha Odendaal 30th April 2020 Telecommunications group MTN Ghana achieved a 20.4% quarter-on-quarter service revenue spike to GH¢1.4-billion, owing to double-digit growth in voice, data and mobile money (MoMo) revenue during the three months ended March 31. During the quarter under review, voice growth climbed 16.6%, driven... →

WEF launches blockchain supply chain toolkit

By: Schalk Burger 29th April 2020 The World Economic Forum (WEF) has launched a comprehensive toolkit to accelerate the use of responsible blockchain by leaders to tackle supply chain failures exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Resilience of supply chains depends on transparency and integrity, which can be improved through the... →

Openserve to launch its copper-enabled broadband access network in South Africa

By: Natasha Odendaal 29th April 2020 Telecommunications infrastructure provider Openserve is planning to wholesale its copper-broadband access network through its new suite of Openserve Pure Connect products. This followed changes to its wholesale fixed-broadband products across its network earlier this month, with the wholesaling... →

MTN reports solid first quarter performance in Nigeria

By: Natasha Odendaal 29th April 2020 MTN Nigeria has ended the first quarter of the year with double digit growth in service revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda). During the three months ended March 31, service revenue increased by 16.7% to N328.5-billion, driven by voice and data... →

ITU postpones Digital World 2020

By: Natasha Odendaal 28th April 2020 The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Viet Nam Ministry of Information and Communications have postponed the ITU Digital World 2020 as Covid-19 continues to spread across the world. The global technology event for government, industry and small- and medium-sized enterprises will... →

Morai to use emergency radio frequency spectrum to communicate Covid-19 messages to rural areas

By: Natasha Odendaal 28th April 2020 JSE-listed Allied Electronics- (Altron-) incubated enterprise Morai Solutions is preparing to deploy its allocated television white spaces (TVWS) spectrum in the Eastern Cape. This follows the assignment by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) of temporary radio... →

Openserve temporarily upgrades broadband speeds

By: Natasha Odendaal 24th April 2020 Open-access infrastructure provider Openserve is upgrading its fibre and digital subscriber line (DSL) data speeds for its customers for a three month period from May 1. This comes as high-speed Internet connectivity demand increases with communities, businesses and governments leverage... →

Data can help reduce supply-chain friction in retail

By: Schalk Burger 24th April 2020 Retail and fast-moving consumer goods companies can reduce friction points in their supply chains in response to the current Covid-19 outbreak by analysing dataflows and reshaping their supply chains to meet new needs, says information technology logistics solutions company MACmobile commercial... →

NEC XON appoints new COO to lead market growth

By: Schalk Burger 22nd April 2020 Local system integrator NEC XON has appointed Viven Bhowani as COO to oversee the organisation’s transition as it increasingly digitises services, integrates solutions to exponentially multiply business outcomes and explores growth into broader markets. Bhowani was formerly the solutions director... →

Huawei opens Quick Apps to drive down data use for South Africans

By: Natasha Odendaal 22nd April 2020 Information and communications technology giant Huawei has expanded its mobile service platform to bring on board more mobile applications (apps) from major South African brands. Some of these applications within the Huawei AppGallery are “Quick Apps”, an app ecosystem that houses a new type of... →

New mobile app developed to track health status

By: Natasha Odendaal 21st April 2020 Corporate venture builder The Delta and the University of Cape Town (UCT) have teamed up to develop a new mobile application to track potential Covid-19 cases without infringing on privacy rights. The Covi-ID mobile app uses QR code scanning to track and trace citizens’ health status, operating... →

EOH sells CCS, LCD interests for R239m

By: Schalk Burger 21st April 2020 Information and communication technology services firm EOH has sold its remaining 30% stake in Construction Computer Software (CCS) for R143-million and returned the remaining shares of open-source software company LSD, estimated to be worth R96-million, back to the sellers to settle all... →

MultiChoice invests R4.5m in community TV stations

By: Natasha Odendaal 20th April 2020 Broadcaster MultiChoice is injecting funding of R4.5-million into three South African community television (TV) stations. Bay TV, Soweto TV and Tshwane TV stations will each receive R1.5 million to create fresh, new content. →

South Africa-born XinaBox chips in sub-zero Antarctica, space

By: Tracy Hancock 20th April 2020 From collecting data in sub-zero Antarctica to rapid circuit prototyping on the International Space Station (ISS), South African modular “xChip” manufacturer XinaBox, pronounced "X-in-a-box", claims to be reinventing the way in which the Internet of Things (IoT) is approached while inspiring... →

Power of IoT unlocked by intelligent platform, automation

By: Schalk Burger 17th April 2020 The benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT) are only fully realised if the data from IoT devices are integrated on an intelligent platform that allows for the information to be analysed and used to automate and improve processes, says information and communication technology service provider and... →

Icasa assigns temporary spectrum

By: Natasha Odendaal 17th April 2020 The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) on April 17 assigned temporary spectrum to qualifying operators. Earlier this month, Icasa invited operators to apply for temporary radio frequency spectrum assignments in the 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 2 300 MHz, 2 600 MHz and 3 500 MHz... →

Vodacom reports network use surge during lockdown

By: Natasha Odendaal 16th April 2020 As network traffic increases significantly during South Africa’s Covid-19 lockdown, telecommunications giant Vodacom is working to avoid any disruptions. The group has noted a 40% surge in data traffic on the network compared with pre-lock down levels, attributed to employees working from home,... →

Huawei donates cloud and AI solutions to boost South Africa’s Covid-19 fight

By: Natasha Odendaal 16th April 2020 Information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider Huawei has donated four Huawei Artificial Intelligence (AI) Cloud diagnostic systems and four thermal scanning systems to boost the Department of Health’s fight against Covid-19. The AI Cloud solution allows for fast, highly... →

Teraco assists schools with broadband initiative

By: Marleny Arnoldi 15th April 2020 Data centre provider Teraco has announced it will provide a support grant valued at R7.5-million to the South African Broadband Education Networks (Saben) through the Teraco Connect Foundation. Teraco will partner with Saben to support the national drive to end bandwidth poverty in South... →

EOH undertakes technology partnership with Solidarity Fund

By: Donna Slater 15th April 2020 Information and communication technology company EOH, and its subsidiary iOCO, mobilised its teams and built a Web presence for the Solidarity Fund in under 48 hours following a call from government. The project was undertaken on a pro bono basis as part of the group’s ongoing support and... →

Vodacom to inject R500m into networks over two months

By: Natasha Odendaal 15th April 2020 Telecommunications group Vodacom South Africa plans to accelerate its network spend over the next two months. Over R500 million has been set aside to add network capacity and increase network resilience during South Africa’s lockdown period and to help cope with any possible loadshedding. →

MTN unveils R250m relief package for Covid-19 fight across its markets

By: Natasha Odendaal 15th April 2020 Telecommunications giant MTN Group will deploy a R250-million relief package across its operations in an effort to aid the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The group will customise its response, with the package focused on five key intervention initiatives, namely for its employees, customers... →

National State of Disaster brings complex privacy limitations – Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr

By: Donna Slater 14th April 2020 The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in many countries adopting extraordinary, and sometimes unprecedented, measures in an effort to contain, or at least slow the spread of the virus. In many instances, peoples' movement has been severely restricted and even monitored, resulting in new privacy... →

Cell C, Telkom ink agreements with Competition Commission

By: Natasha Odendaal 14th April 2020 Telecommunications groups Telkom and Cell C have signed agreements with the Competition Commission over IP Connect’s pricing and data prices respectively. Telkom agreed to a significant reduction of wholesale broadband access costs in order to remove excessive pricing concerns in respect of IP... →

Icasa receives 35 spectrum applications

By: Natasha Odendaal 14th April 2020 The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has received 35 applications for the emergency spectrum it intends temporarily releasing during South Africa’s state of disaster. Icasa last week said it would temporarily release the high-demand International Mobile... →

Vodacom directs R40m phone, data donation to Health Dept for Covid-19 fight

By: Natasha Odendaal 9th April 2020 Telecommunications giant Vodacom has committed to donating 20 000 smartphones, 100 Tb of data and 10-million voice call minutes to the Department of Health for frontline use in the battle against the Covid-19 crisis. The donation, valued at R40-million, will enable frontline health workers... →

Facebook launches Covid-19 information centres in 17 African countries

By: Natasha Odendaal 9th April 2020 Social media platform Facebook has expanded its Covid-19 Information Centre to include another 17 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. The firm’s information centres aim to provide the latest news and trusted information on Covid-19 at the top of the social media network’s news feed as the virus... →

Trusted smart homes need legal privacy safeguards

By: Schalk Burger 9th April 2020 Smart home systems must have legal safeguards in place to ensure that data generated and transmitted does not threaten the safety and privacy of individuals, says law firm Werksmans Attorneys director and Data Privacy Practice Group head Ahmore Burger-Smidt. "Privacy is an articulated concept,... →

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