Cell C’s plan to sell its network of base stations should be concluded within the next four weeks, says CEO Lars Reichelt. In March, TechCentral broke the news that SA’s smallest mobile operator was considering selling parts of its base station network, and then leasing that infrastructure back from the winning bidder.
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Cell C’s R5bn broadband mobile network will be launched in about three weeks, says its CEO, Lars Reichelt. The third-generation (3G) network, which is capable of theoretical download speeds of up to 21Mbit/s, will be launched in phases across six cities.
Telkom sold its controlling stake in Telkom Media, now Super 5 Media, for just R68m, the JSE-listed telecommunications group’s 2010 annual report has revealed. This means Telkom lost a net R403m from the failed venture. It had loaned the business R471m, which it has now written off, according to the report.
Catching up with the incumbent mobile operators, Cell C will finally begin selling the BlackBerry and its services in a move that will better position SA’s smallest mobile operator in the business market. Until now, the Blackberry devices and the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) have only been available from MTN and Vodacom.
Nearly 85% of all e-mail is spam. That’s one of the findings in a new report published by Internet security specialist Kaspersky Lab. According to Kaspersky’s spam report for the second quarter of 2010, 84,4% of the total volume of e-mail traffic online is unsolicited junk mail.
Paris Mashile, the former chairman of the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa), has been named as chairman of newly created Vunani Technology Ventures, a subsidiary of AltX-listed Vunani Limited. He’s also been appointed as CEO of the company’s consulting arm, Vunani Electronic Communications.
MTN, Africa’s largest mobile operator, has invested R22m to develop a power-generation plant that it says will halve its electricity costs. The new plant, which MTN dubs the “tri-generation plant”, will be driven by methane gas, which is plumbed directly into the plant from a gas pipeline 5km away from its head office in Fairlands, west of Johannesburg.
Just days after Naspers subsidiary MultiChoice launched a streaming television service on Vodacom’s network, the cellular network operator has launched a product of its own. The company at the weekend announced it would offer a video-on-demand service for cellphones, taking aim at MultiChoice and its DStv Mobile offering.
Axed communications director-general Mamodupi Mohlala has acceded to a request by President Jacob Zuma to postpone her legal action against communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda. Contradicting media reports elsewhere on the Web on Friday, Mohlala says she has agreed to the president’s request to postpone her legal application for now and a new court date has been set for 26 August.
Pay-TV incumbent MultiChoice says its new streaming mobile TV offering is not a “stopgap” while it waits for a mobile TV licence. TechCentral broke the news this week that the company will go live with a streaming mobile TV offering at R59/month from 1 August.