Author: Duncan McLeod

Vodacom has become the latest operator to debut a low-cost, own-branded smartphone aimed at getting more South Africans connected to the Internet. Following the launch early this year by MTN of the Steppa smartphone, which costs R499 – read TechCentral’s review of it – Vodacom has announced it will also begin selling a

Gijima has moved to fill its crucial sales leadership function, naming IT industry veteran Bill Hoggarth as its new chief sales officer, effective immediately. According to Gijima, Hoggarth has more than 30 years of executive, general management and sales experience in the IT sector. He joins the company, which has had a torrid time

International advertising holding company WPP has acquired a controlling interest in fast-growing marketing agency Quirk, the two companies announced on Tuesday. The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approvals, comes just months after WPP acquired a majority stake in Cerebra, which specialises in communications

Nigeria plans to double investment in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector from US$25bn to $50bn in the next few years, according to the West African nation’s communication technology minister, Omobola Johnson. Johnson said that her ministry and the Nigerian Communications Commission

A court battle could be on the cards after a deal between CZ Electronics and Seemahale Telecoms to design and develop South African-manufactured smartphones and tablets collapsed last week. CZ Electronics, which owns a hi-tech manufacturing facility on Johannesburg’s East Rand, announced on Friday that a company

In the days following this week’s general election – the most interesting since 1994 – the focus will shift to who president Jacob Zuma will name to his new cabinet. Whatever shuffling he decides to do, he should leave the communications portfolio in the hands

We’ve been gone too long, we know. But TechCentral is pleased to announce that its podcast, TalkCentral, is returning from this week with a new voice on the panel, Regardt van der Berg, who joins the editorial team from 1 May. In the first edition of the relaunched show, Van der Berg and co-host Duncan McLeod talk about the snowballing

South Africa’s mobile price war appears to be intensifying, with Vodacom announcing on Friday that it would cut its effective prepaid rate, on a promotional basis, to 50c/minute for customers who buy its new “Chat for 20” product. The new “promotional bundle” offers 20 voice minutes for R10 to call any network

British telecommunications giant BT has named former IBM sub-Saharan Africa GM Oliver Fortuin as its new MD following the resignation of Keith Matthews. Fortuin, who was also a former GM of IBM’s PC Company in Africa, takes the top job at BT with immediate effect. Most recently, Fortuin, who has an MBA from Open University

Vodacom has quietly cut its prepaid call rate to 79c/minute on per-second billing, just weeks after MTN did the same. However, the new Vodacom rate is promotional, and expires on 14 July. If Vodacom makes the new 79c rate permanent – by filing the tariff with communications regulator