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
Browsing: Opinion
In the past couple of years, start-ups — especially in the technology sector – have at long last been given a bit more time in the spotlight. This has mostly coincided with endeavours like Silicon Cape and the passion of a handful of individuals — entrepreneurs, investors and geeks – to create more of an
Whenever mankind makes a great technological leap forward, we expect utopia will soon follow. But even the greatest invention in history, the Internet, is subject to the gravitational forces of reality. When the Internet entered the mainstream in the
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
Think BitTorrent and most people think piracy – an easy way to get music, movies and software on the Internet using the peer-to-peer protocol, which was founded in 2004 by San Francisco’s BitTorrent Inc. But BitTorrent is a hugely useful
At TechCentral, we get called on average at least once a week – sometimes far more often – by a friendly sounding Indian national warning us that our Windows computer is infected with a virus. The call, which originates from a call
For more than a century, science-fiction writers have been dreaming of robots intelligent and adaptable enough to pass as human. And the mechanical creatures that inhabit books and movies may finally become reality — and within our lifetimes. This isn’t a result of a single massive
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
A new Internet service in the remote north of Uganda and the roll-out of 4G in Ghana — neither involved a traditional mobile operator but both have set the new pattern for Africa’s new broadband deployments. In Uganda, Zoom Wireless was set up by long-time Kenyan Internet
The Internet is full of get-rich-quick schemes. Just like the secrets to magical weight loss, these schemes are exactly what they appear to be – too good to be true. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for ordinary people to make money via the Internet. Two local start-ups are betting they can