Browsing: News

All the latest technology news from South Africa and around the world.

As South Africa inches slowly towards migrating from analogue to digital terrestrial television, communications regulator Icasa has provisionally granted licences to five new pay-TV operators following an exhaustive hearings process that took place in 2013. The companies and consortia that have bid for the licences

A fortnight after rival MTN announced it was cutting its prepaid rates to 79c/minute, Cell C has introduced four new prepaid vouchers – on a promotional basis – to its product line-up. To be launched on 1 May and available until 31 July, the new Supacharge vouchers give consumers “free” rand value and flexibility

Eskom on Sunday defended its proposed upgrades to Megawatt Park, its head office in Johannesburg, as a necessity despite the utility being under financial constraints. “This are essential, they aren’t lavish upgrades,” spokesman Andrew Etzinger said. He said the upgrades were necessary for the health and safety of staff, data

A solar-powered lamp, which doubles as a cellphone charger and as a fully fledged Wi-Fi hotspot, could soon bring safe lighting to poor users in South Africa and elsewhere on the continent. The next model, also due for release soon, will offer wireless broadband. The “solar jar” project is the

The Democratic Alliance has launched DemocraCITY, a strategy game on social media platform Mxit, which it describes as a hybrid between SimCity and Tamagotchi, in an effort to convince voters to make their mark for the party in the upcoming general election. In a statement, the DA says each game runs for 72 hours, with players being

The South African Reserve Bank has introduced new security features on the Mandela bank notes, it said on Friday. “Enhancing features on banknotes is an ongoing process to maintain the highest level of quality and security,” Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus said in a statement. “This is in line with international best practice

Eskom’s cash flow situation is “very stable”, the power utility said on Friday. “Eskom would like to reassure the nation at large that its cash flow situation is very stable,” the company said in a statement. The power utility managed its cash flow in a responsible manner, and always made sure it had sufficient liquidity. The company had stated

MTN has moved to make permanent its 79c/minute prepaid call tariff, greasing the wheels toward a possible price war in South Africa’s mobile industry and piling the pressure on debt-laden Cell C. “MTN South Africa has lodged the required paperwork with [communications regulator] Icasa to permanise [sic] its

A meeting of Strategic Integrated Project (SIP) 15, the communications technology component of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission, took place on Thursday, with communications minister Yunus Carrim urging government to “move with speed” to ensure broadband goals are achieved. In a media statement, the

South Africa’s web.za second-level domain is being relaunched and will soon be available to the public following “sunrise” and “land-rush” phases where the rights of intellectual property holders will be prioritised and premium names delegated. This is according to the ZA Domain Name Authority (Zadna), which has now provided details regarding