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

Mncube replaces Mashile as chair of Icasa

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Stephen Mncube is the new chairman of the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) and will serve a five-year term that will end in mid-2015. Communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda made the announcement at a dinner in Sandton on Wednesday evening to mark the end

WBS may build rural 3G mobile network

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Wireless Business Solutions (WBS), the holding company of iBurst, is at advanced stage of discussions about building a mobile cellular network in a sign that infrastructure competition in SA is stepping up another gear, TechCentral has learnt. If it goes ahead with its plans, which one senior source close to the company says appears likely, WBS will become SA’s fifth mobile network operator after Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and the soon-to-be-launched Telkom

Naspers fends off pay-TV threat, for now

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Pay-TV competition? What pay-TV competition? Naspers-owned MultiChoice grew its SA subscriber base by 450 000 to 2,8m homes in the 2010 financial year. And it added 1,1m new subscribers in other African markets. SA consumers, it would appear, weren’t tempted to put off their purchasing decisions until after the May launch of On Digital Media’s TopTV, the first direct competitor to MultiChoice

MTN says no talks with India’s Loop Telecom

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MTN is not in discussions to acquire a stake in India’s Loop Telecom, the JSE-listed telecommunications group said on Monday. This followed a report in India’s Business Standard newspaper that the two telecoms providers were in talks. The newspaper did not name its sources, merely citing people close to the developments

Vodacom comes out firing at Icasa hearings

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JSE-listed cellular network operator Vodacom has warned of extensive job losses and damage to SA’s mobile industry if its regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa), pushes ahead with plans to cut wholesale mobile termination rates next month. In a presentation at Icasa hearings in Midrand on Monday, it has asked the regulator to implement the first proposed cut in the rates in March 2011, and to extend the end of the glide path period

Battle lines drawn as rates hearings kick off

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The most important public hearings to be held by SA’s telecommunications regulator in years kick off today (Monday) in Midrand, north of Johannesburg. The hearings, on wholesale call termination rates, are set to be a legalistic battleground as top regulatory and legal experts from the incumbent operators fight tooth and nail to lessen the reduction in the rates proposed by the Independent Communications Authority of SA

Uncapped Internet: Telkom goes on the offensive

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Telkom has hit back at the introduction by MWeb and other Internet service providers of uncapped broadband, accusing rivals of “not delivering on their promise”. In a newsletter sent out to Telkom subscribers with their monthly bills this month, the incumbent fixed-line operator climbs into its competitors without naming