Tshimologong Precinct may not ring any bells for most people, but if Barry Dwolatzky has his way, anyone in South Africa’s technology sector will know it as Johannesburg’s innovation hub and the shining light in Braamfontein within the year. With big companies, start-ups, and even
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At a recent breakfast briefing on cybersecurity hosted by Neotel and the Mail & Guardian, information security consultant Beza Belayneh referred to cybercrime in South Africa as a “crisis”, and called on the government to make it a national security concern. He said the state needs
First it was self-driving cars, then Google Glass, and now with Project Loon, Google is turning its attention to … balloons. The company has begun a pilot project in New Zealand using high-pressure balloons in the stratosphere to provide Internet connectivity “at 3G speeds” and, if it goes well, Google wants to encircle
Telkom has agreed to pay a R200m penalty, to functionally separate its retail and wholesale divisions, to adhere to pricing commitments for the next five years, and to allow its future conduct to be monitored. This all forms part of a settlement with the Competition Commission over anticompetitive abuses
Orange is expanding its presence in South Africa after signing a deal with Nashua Mobile in terms of which the French telecommunications giant will establish a brand presence in the independent cellular service provider’s retail stores. The move comes six months after Orange made
Internet billionaire and Ubuntu Linux founder Mark Shuttleworth is engaged in a high-profile court battle with the South African Reserve Bank in an effort to have the country’s exchange control system declared unconstitutional. TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod asked Shuttleworth
The largest of the current online platforms, both on mobile and PC, is iRoking – part of iRoko Partners, which also runs a Nollywood film platform in parallel. It received investment from US private equity fund Tiger Global and has been expanding its reach and recently opened a South African office
Much has been made about green industry being a new vehicle for industrial development in South Africa. It is part of the industrial policy action plan. For now, the focus is mainly on increasing the local content of components, which fall under the renewable energy independent producers’ procurement programme
South Africa’s first wind farm was built outside Darling, up the coast from Cape Town. Its four turbines sit on a hill, looking towards the ocean. At peak capacity, they generate 5,2MW, enough to power 700 houses. The only sound they make is a soft whoosh as their giant white blades rotate
Demand for low-cost handsets, regional diversity and differences between developed and underdeveloped areas all mean older, second-generation (2G) mobile technology is set to remain the dominant form of connectivity in Africa for the rest of the decade. This is according to the