Author: Staff Reporter

MTN South Africa has shut down 53 base stations on a permanent basis due to “severe damage and vandalism”. Thirty-nine of these towers were in Tshwane and 15 in Johannesburg.

You know legacy circuit-switched voice is living on borrowed time when the granddaddy of the technology in South Africa, Telkom, announces it’s wholeheartedly embracing voice over Internet protocol.

The SABC’s acting chief operating officer and its group executive for technology, Craig van Rooyen, has resigned, the public broadcaster said on Monday.

The JSE-listed technology giant is leading a $125-million (R1.9-billion) funding round in Indian “social commerce” marketplace Meesho in a bid to “kick-start e-commerce for the next 500 million online shoppers”.

The Competition Commission plans to engage with Icasa on the planned licensing of 4G/LTE and future 5G spectrum to ensure there is “not only universal coverage but also (affordable) access”.

First National Bank is introducing sweeping changes to its eBucks Rewards programme for business from 1 September, it said on Thursday.

Telkom will terminate fixed-line copper services for prepaid customers with effect from midnight on 31 July 2019. The next step will involve ending copper-based post-paid services, including DSL.

Shoprite Group is launching standalone technology stores called K’nect that will offer consumers access to services such as global money transfers, cellphone purchases, bill payments, tickets and insurance.

Blue Label Telecoms’ Blue Label Ventures has invested in technology start-up Mobii Systems, which provides rugby match analysis to teams and coaches to help them plan their game strategies.

There has been an alarming rise in incidents of battery theft from cellphone towers in South Africa and urgent action is needed to address the situation, MTN said on Monday.