South African couch potatoes have never had it so good. In the past fortnight, two new video-on-demand offerings have been launched, one using broadband connections to deliver entertainment into
Browsing: Duncan McLeod
Cell C’s leadership team must feel like it’s on a roller coaster ride it can’t get off. One moment it’s shrieking in delight as its regulator, Icasa, gives it a significant price advantage over its bigger rivals; the next it’s crying out
Over the past 20 years, Telkom has been through the wringer. It’s been abused by politicians and by greedy foreign investors, and it’s made spectacular strategic and operational mistakes that have cost it billions. But somehow, through all of this, it’s arrived at a point today under
Icasa is set to crack open South Africa’s free-to-air television industry to more competition. As South Africa moves to digital broadcasting, the communications regulator is planning to license a third terrestrial player to compete head-on with the SABC and e.tv. If it goes ahead, which
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