And here they are. TechCentral’s top five newsmakers of 2011. Our “Newsmakers of the Year” award is presented to individuals we believe had the biggest impact on SA’s technology sector in the past 12 months. For the most part, they’re also the the people who made the headlines during the
Another tumultuous year is almost at an end for the SA information and communications technology industry. It was a year of falling telecommunications prices, increasing competition, upheaval in politics and drama in the regulatory environment. Our “Newsmakers of the Year”
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has begun the process of opening up so-called “high-demand spectrum bands” that will eventually pave the way to the introduction of fourth-generation (4G) mobile broadband networks in SA. The authority has decided to tie
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has finally moved to open up access to the “high demand” spectrum bands that can be used for next-generation mobile broadband services. The way it’s approaching it could help foster more
Absa on Tuesday said it is trialling near-field communications (NFC) payments with 500 of its employees. The trial will be fully underway by the end of January, and the bank intends rolling out the service to consumers shortly thereafter. Some of the initial partners for the programme
The telecommunications regulator is under fire from industry players after it published a framework for local-loop unbundling (LLU) on Wednesday, with one senior regulatory executive accusing it of having “failed to meet its mandate”, “kicking everything into touch” and being
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) plans a phased introduction to local-loop unbundling, whereby Telkom’s rivals will be given access to the fixed-line operator’s “last mile” of copper-cable infrastructure into homes and businesses
It is getting easier and easier for consumers to transfer money anywhere in the world as new technologies come to market using cellphones and payment networks. In the past week, Visa and MTN announced a payment platform that allows cross-border transactions, FNB opened up its
Mobile phones are the most widely used technology in the world. At the end of this year, there will be 5,8bn people with mobile devices, meaning there are twice as many mobile users as Internet users. Consequently, there are myriad opportunities to make a
Details are emerging of plans for the construction of yet another high-capacity submarine telecommunications cable to serve the African continent. The Wasace cable, which will connect Africa, including SA, with South America, North America and Europe, and which will cost
