Telkom’s new initiative to encourage individuals, companies, universities and others to come up with innovative ways it can increase the uptake of fixed-line broadband sends a peculiar message. On one hand, it shows that Telkom acknowledges the importance of increasing broadband
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As technology has continued to evolve, from the dawn of mainframe computers in the 1930s and PCs in the 1960s, to the predominance of smart end-devices and the growth of machine-to-machine technology today, so has the complexity of the networks that enable these computing paradigms
Talk of consolidation in the telecommunications industry is rife, with speculation growing that a number of operators are either in play or may soon be. But how might a flurry of mergers and acquisitions play out? At the centre of current speculation is Neotel. Licensed
The price war in South Africa’s mobile industry is starting to take its toll, evidenced this week by the declining subscriber numbers at MTN, which conceded that it had been too slow in cutting its rates to match its rivals. But behind the scenes a much more interesting battle is brewing
I know sections of the media and the IT industry have reservations about me. Ja, okay, the guy works hard and has been in politics for a while, but what does he really know about ICT, they say. And, of course, the Democratic Alliance and
Rarely are the kings of one era the kings of the next. Just as Nokia and BlackBerry were the kings of the pre-smartphone era, so they were eclipsed by Apple and its fast-follower, Samsung. The same is true of Palm, which reigned in the preceding age of the personal digital assistant
In the wake of another set of poor quarterly results tied to weak consumer demand for its new smartphones, BlackBerry on Monday announced that it was exploring “strategic options”, including the possibility of selling the business. But who would want to buy
Electromagnetic spectrum is the crude oil of last-mile connectivity, especially in Africa where more traditional kinds of last-mile communications infrastructure are not especially well developed. As in the oil business, anyone who has gained control of spectrum in the last 10 or 20 years
New communications minister Yunus Carrim is set to face his first big test. How he responds will set the tone for his tenure and define his approach to Telkom and to competition in the sector. A decision by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) this week to publish
Has the country’s foremost value-destroying monopolist finally seen the error of its ways? On the surface, that seems to be the case. In mid-July, Telkom meekly agreed to pay a R200m fine for anticompetitive abuses committed between 2005 and 2007, and to split its wholesale and retail businesses. TechCentral reported