Almost everyone has a mobile phone, however basic, making it the perfect tool to educate, market to or communicate with consumers. Taking this premise as its starting point, 42-year-old South African Gustav Praekelt started the Praekelt Foundation as a place to create applications and services for basic mobile phones
Author: Craig Wilson
The Kenyan government may have to inject Ksh6bn (R700m) into troubled fixed-line operator Telkom Kenya, according to Kenyan media reports. France’s Orange owns 51% of the company. Telkom Kenya has requested a total of Ksh13,9bn (R1,6bn) from government and Orange, saying it needs the cash to pre-empt a deepening
Google’s planned US$12m (R120m) investment in a US$260m solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant near Kimberley in the Northern Cape is simply a sound investment decision and will generate good publicity for the cash-rich online giant, according to industry analysts. On Thursday, Google announced that
E.tv has signed off on a tender for the conditional access system for the set-top boxes South Africans will need to receive digital terrestrial television signals and now only the SABC board needs to do the same before the country can move forward with long-delayed digital migration. But there’s confusion
Search giant Google is to invest US$12m (R120m) in the Jasper Power Project, a 96MW solar photovoltaic plant in South Africa’s arid Northern Cape province. When completed, Jasper will generate enough electricity to power 30 000 homes and will be one of the largest solar installations in Africa. Google has committed
Musa Phungula, the entrepreneur behind the proposed US$130m TTD cable to connect Mtunzini in KwaZulu-Natal to East London, Port Elizabeth and Yzerfontein near Cape Town, says collaboration between other projects to build submarine fibre along the same route is needed. Phungula’s
Digital agency Native has launched an application for Mxit called Bookly. It turns the mobile social network and instant messaging platform into a pocket-sized e-reader. Though limited to mainstream publishers for now, Native hopes the app will eventually prove useful to the education sector
The Lumia 520 isn’t Nokia’s first budget Windows Phone device. There was the 620, with similar specifications. But the 520 is the most budget-friendly budget Lumia. So, just how much smartphone does R1 899 buy you? If the phone in question is the Lumia 520, the answer is rather a lot. The fifth device in the
Mobile operator MTN said on Wednesday afternoon it has worked closely with the South African Police Service to arrest an individual suspected of stealing airtime vouchers worth about R5m. Reports elsewhere said incorrectly that the thief, who was apprehended on the West Rand in Gauteng, had stolen
A new Kickstarter project from a team of Kenyans wanting to build a piece of ruggedised communications hardware called BRCK has attracted more than 830 backers since it was launched on 5 May. Ushahidi, the company behind BRCK, had hoped to raise US$125 000. It reached this target on Monday night