National Wi-Fi hotspot provider Skyrove has inked a deal with US Internet telephony company Skype that will allow consumers to use their Skype credit to buy wireless Internet access. Skyrove MD Henk Kleynhans says
Author: Editor
Blockbuster Video. It’s a great name, isn’t it? For nearly two decades it has ruled the video-store roost, both in the US and around the world. But now, after years of billion-dollar losses and with its share price in tatters, it is filing for bankruptcy. What happened? Well, many things, including corporate bloat (it has more than 6 500 stores), some questionable management decisions, and much stronger competition from cable television. But if we have to pick a villain here, it’s the Internet.
Mobile operator Cell C, which launched its third-generation (3G) mobile network in Cape Town on Thursday, claims it has covered 94% of the city’s population at launch. Cell C CEO Lars Reichelt says the company will cover the 100% of Cape Town by the end of the year with a network delivering average speeds of between 4Mbit/s and 7Mbit/s.
The SA Revenue Service (Sars) alerted taxpayers of possible delays at branch offices around the country on Thursday. This was due to “unexpected IT problems which have affected certain taxpayer services during the course of the morning”, said Sars spokesman Adrian Lackay.
The battle between MTN and Telkom over interconnection fees has been postponed to Saturday. The hearing called by the Independent Communications Authority of SA’s complaints and compliance committee was thrown into dissaray this morning when the two companies’ legal teams butted heads over an affidavit submitted by MTN.
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) will swear-in three new councillors on Friday. Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng will officiate over the swearing-in of Ntombizodwa Ndhlovu, William Currie and Joseph Lebooa at Icasa’s Sandton offices. The nominated candidates will replace three councillors whose terms are ending. The departing councillors are Brenda Ntombela, Robert Nkuna and Jacobus van Rooyen.
South African national Luke McKend, who has worked at Google in London for several years, is the company’s new SA country manager. Google announced his appointment on Thursday, concluding a search that lasted for nearly six months. McKend, who will join Google SA on 1 November, replaces Stephen Newton, who resigned from Google in April to join mobile advertising specialist InMobi.
Former Kelly Group director and deputy CEO Mthunzi Mdwaba will not face a disciplinary hearing. Instead, the group has agreed to take the matter to private arbitration. A source close to Kelly and Mdwaba says the process has been anything but straightforward, adding that the disciplinary hearing, which was supposed to happen yesterday, was cancelled.
High-tech boarding passes introduced by the Airports Company SA (Acsa) and the airlines mean passengers will no longer have to queue for check-in as their seat is assigned at the time of booking. In a statement on Tuesday, Acsa said the system would allow passengers to make online or mobile flight ticket bookings and print their own boarding passes. “The system went live early this month for domestic flights and is working well.”
In the past month, news has emerged of plans to build yet more high-capacity undersea cables to wire up Africa. With the continent about to be awash in bandwidth, attention needs to shift to bringing broadband to consumers.