Author: Duncan McLeod

The Competition Commission has elected not to refer complaints against pay-television operator MultiChoice and its SuperSport subsidiary to the Competition Tribunal.

Huge Cellular is taking Cell C to court seeking urgent interim relief preventing the mobile operator from suspending services at the end of this month that could cut off the telephone lines of thousands of clients.

In the podcast this week, Duncan McLeod and Regardt van der Berg unpack the soap opera that is the fight between Vodacom and its former employee, Nkosana Makate, over the “please call me” service.

It’s now well known that MTN South Africa patented a “please call me”-type service in the early 2000s, beating rival Vodacom to the punch.

Vodacom cannot pay the “inventor” of the “please call me” service, Nkosana Makate, more money because the outcome of the deadlock-breaking mechanism is legally binding, the company said on Friday.

MTN South Africa said on Thursday that it is cutting out-of-bundle data charges for prepaid customers by as much as 75% and launching a new “double your bundle” promotion.

Vodacom has drawn a line in the sand over demands from protesters that the telecommunications operator pays the “inventor” of its “please call me” service R70-billion.

A small group of protesters descended on Vodacom’s head office on Thursday to demand Vodacom pays Nkosana Makate, the “inventor” of the “please call me service”, R70-billion.

With Vodacom’s head office in Johannesburg set to be the site of protest action on Thursday by people supporting the operator’s ex-employee, Nkosana Makate, hot-headed politicians would be well advised to avoid inflaming tensions for political gain.

EOH Holdings said on Wednesday that it was cleared of involvement over allegations of misconduct at Eskom.