Browsing: Duncan McLeod

Expect high drama in South Africa’s mobile industry in coming weeks as Icasa readies new regulations governing call termination rates. What the communications regulator decides will have a big impact not only on the financial health of the

As the debate over network neutrality rages in the US, South African Internet service providers, through their industry association, have urged communications regulator Icasa to steer clear of crafting regulations dealing with the contentious issue — at least for now. But what’s

How is this for ambitious? Vodacom in South Africa is hoping to sign up 10m subscribers to its M-Pesa mobile banking and payments platform within the next five years. To put that in context, the cellular operator managed to

Walk into a mobile retailer today and you’ll be greeted by a wall of phones, many of them black, almost all of them drab slabs of plastic with large touch screens. Before Steve Jobs got onto a stage in San Francisco seven years ago and unveiled Apple’s first iPhone, cellphones came in all sorts of nifty shapes. There were candy bars, sliders

Imagine your phone popping up an alert whenever your blood pressure is elevated, or if your blood-glucose level is problematic. Imagine receiving a warning about an impending major health issue like a heart attack and being told to get

“There is no confusion in the ANC.” Those are the words telecommunications and postal services minister Siyabonga Cwele used in parliament this week to deflect criticism that President Jacob Zuma’s post-election decision to

Samsung warned this week that its earnings in its most recent financial quarter were likely to have tumbled by as much as 26,5% – the third straight quarter of decline – in part because of a glut of unsold smartphones and growing competition from Chinese manufacturers. These must be troubling times for the

South Africans love to complain about Telkom. It’s been a national pastime for years. The customer service problems associated with the fixed-line operator are the stuff of legend – and nightmare. So, when Telkom’s CEO, Sipho Maseko, steps up to the plate and promises to fix these deep-seated

South Africa’s cellular operators have been trying for years to crack the mobile commerce code, but haven’t been able to repeat the successes they’ve had in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. MTN, working with Pick n Pay, may just have found the key to success at

It’s been more than six weeks since the election and nearly a month since President Jacob Zuma stunned the information and communications technology industry by dumping his hardworking communications minister, Yunus Carrim, and splitting the communications portfolio in two. Since then, there has been