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

Did you know SA is supposed to have a telecommunications museum? Few people do. But according to chapter 13 of the Electronic Communications Act, the department of communications must create and manage a museum that showcases the evolution of the history of communications technology in SA.

Eskom on Thursday defended the pay and bonuses for its executives, including CEO Brian Dames. The public utility said in a statement that Dames’s salary increase was only 10,6% and that his reported 91% increase was due to “performance bonuses” from the previous two years.

Seacom has secured alternative capacity options for its customers, but Internet service providers will be charged a “small premium” to use them. A fault on the Seacom cable between Mumbai in India and Mombasa in Kenya cut off many Internet users on Monday, with repairs expected to take a week or more.

Tim Lowry, one of MTN’s top executives, has left the telecommunications group. A former MD of MTN SA, Lowry most recently ran the South and East Africa (Sea) region for the group. MTN spokesman Pearl Majola says no one has been appointed to replace Lowry as vice-president of the Sea region.

R5m. That’s how much Vodacom paid its former CEO, Alan Knott-Craig, to restrain him from working for or advising competitors in the telecommunications industry. He was paid this money after he retired. Included in the amount, which is disclosed in Vodacom’s 2010 annual financial report, released this week, is payment to Knott-Craig for any advice and assistance requested by his successor, Pieter Uys.

Microsoft will at the end of August announce the names of the black-owned SA companies into which it plans to invest nearly R500m. That’s the word from Microsoft SA spokesman Adrian Wainwright, who says the company has received more than 650 applications from interested IT companies.

Internet service provider MWeb, part of JSE-listed media group Naspers, is urgently seeking an alternative solution for its broadband customers…