Duncan McLeod is founder and managing editor of TechCentral. With more than 30 years of experience in technology journalism, he has worked for and contributed to a range of publications, including the Financial Mail, the Sunday Times and the Financial Times.
Business Connexion (BCX) shareholders will next week vote on whether to accept Telkom’s R2,7bn all-cash offer to buy them out. But the deal looks set to pass, with Telkom saying on Tuesday that 80% of shareholders have given their written undertaking to support the proposed deal. The meeting, which will take place on Monday
South Africa’s telecommunications industry has “made too much money for too long” and, as competition intensifies and as government and regulatory scrutiny grows, operators are having to become more cost effective and
Newly licensed pay-television operator Siyaya TV, which hopes to offer consumers a low-cost bouquet using digital terrestrial television transmission, has reportedly secured a R1bn broadcast deal for the rights to broadcast Bafana Bafana football games. According to the City Press newspaper, the deal gives Siyaya the rights
Walk into a mobile retailer today and you’ll be greeted by a wall of phones, many of them black, almost all of them drab slabs of plastic with large touch screens. Before Steve Jobs got onto a stage in San Francisco seven years ago and unveiled Apple’s first iPhone, cellphones came in all sorts of nifty shapes. There were candy bars, sliders
It’s been a busy news week on the technology front. Your hosts Duncan McLeod and Regardt van der Berg tackle some of the bigger developments in this week’s episode of TalkCentral. Items on the agenda this week include Vodacom’s relaunch of
Telecommunications and postal services minister Siyabonga Cwele has missed a self-imposed deadline to publish government’s final policy on digital terrestrial television migration. Cwele said in parliament in mid-July that he would publish the final policy within two weeks. There is no reference to the digital TV policy in this week’s
MTN may be in talks to buy a stake in giant Indian telecommunications operator Tata Teleservices and its associated business Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra). The Hindustan Times quotes unnamed sources with knowledge of the discussions as confirming talks are underway. “It is too early to comment on the level of discussions
Ahmad Farroukh has replaced MTN South Africa CEO Zunaid Bulbulia with immediate effect. Bulbulia has been named chief operating officer of the MTN group, which is the role that Farroukh has filled until now
Will it be a case of second time lucky for Vodacom? The mobile operator has finally relaunched M-Pesa, the mobile payments platform that has proved enormously successful in Kenya and Tanzania, in South Africa, hoping it will
First National Bank is poised to become the first South African financial services institution to launch a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). The bank is at an advanced stage of discussions with Cell C to launch the MVNO, two independent sources with knowledge of the plans have told TechCentral. The news comes just a day after
