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.
Communications minister Yunus Carrim demonstrated in parliament this week that government may finally be dealing decisively with the impasse over digital terrestrial television that is undermining efforts to get more South Africans connected to broadband. Carrim’s remarks to
As consumers increasingly turn to WhatsApp, WeChat, BlackBerry Messenger and other free applications for instant messaging, South African operators may finally be gearing up to fight back over SMS volumes they have lost to IM players
Long-serving Datacentrix director Gary Morolo is stepping down as chairman and board member of the JSE-listed technology services company “with immediate effect”. Morolo, who joined Datacentrix 15 years ago and who served as its CEO, is leaving following news at the end of last month that the
Zero. Zip. Nada. That’s how much interference a television white-spaces trial in Cape Town by Google and a number of technology partners has caused since it kicked off in March. News of the success of the project, which involved providing wireless Internet access to 10 schools using
In an effort clearly designed at getting South Africans to try its wireless broadband network, Telkom Mobile is offering what it’s calling “first-time Internet users” the opportunity to get online for a year for a R49 once-off fee. For that price, South Africa’s
HTC’s newly appointed distributor, Ingram Micro Mobility, has admitted that the smartphone brand has to go “back to basics” in South Africa after HTC failed to live up to promises to expand its presence here in 2013. Last month, TechCentral revealed that HTC
Web- and smartphone-based restaurant listing and review service Zomato has raised US$37m (about R370m) in fresh investment from Sequoia Capital and existing investor Info Edge as it eyes expansion in South Africa and other emerging markets
Government has not reached a final decision on whether to include an encryption system in state-subsidised digital television set-top boxes, despite a recent statement by the SABC that it no longer supports proposals, advanced by rival e.tv, that the boxes should include such a system
Microsoft is following US rival Google by launching a South African Web portal that offers small and medium enterprises (SMEs) access to free Web domains, hosting and other services. The Microsoft offering, called Biz4Afrika, offers a range of free
The Internet Service Providers’ Association (Ispa), which represents many of South Africa’s ISPs, has slammed comments made by Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko over local-loop unbundling (LLU), saying they “cannot remain unchallenged”. The association’s criticism of Maseko
