Author: Duncan McLeod

Gustav Praekelt, founder of the non-profit behind the department of health’s wildly successful Covid-19 WhatsApp platform, joins the podcast to talk about the service, and how it ratcheted up more than two million users in short order.

Financially distressed mobile operator Cell C said the second half of its 2019 financial year showed a solid turnaround in its fortunes, with a R1-billion improvement in Ebitda.

Vumatel said on Friday it will boost line speeds for customers for free until the end of May to help cope with the high demand for work-from-home solutions amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

MTN South Africa has become the second mobile operator in South Africa, after Vodacom, to announce plans to cut prices for data services following a Competition Commission investigation into the market.

Telkom is introducing new versions of its popular data-led FreeMe contract and prepaid mobile plans with effect from Friday. Unfortunately for consumers, the new plans offer less value than before.

African Rainbow Capital Investments has attached a remarkable R13.1-billion valuation to Rain, giving it a value 40% above Telkom’s current market capitalisation.

Massmart-owned electronics retailer DionWired is gone. The troubled Walmart-owned retail group said on Thursday that all DionWired stores will cease trading at 6pm on 19 March.

Ster-Kinekor, South Africa’s largest cinema chain, is suspending morning and evening movie screenings until further notice in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

Communications regulator Icasa is “engaging the sector on possible ways of radio frequency spectrum relief” during the national state of disaster declared by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The contribution to Remgro’s headline earnings from CIVH – the parent company of Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa – amounted to a loss of R197-million in the six months ended 31 December 2019.