The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. It’s the phrase that’s launched a thousand editorials, most of them decrying the manifest evils of the insatiable 1%. But a large part of this increased inequality is driven not by greed or manipulation, but by technology
There’s an online land grab of the sort not seen since the dot-com bubble taking place in the global instant messaging (IM) market. WhatsApp Messenger, WeChat (partly owned by South Africa’s Naspers), Hangouts, Skype and BlackBerry Messenger, along with several smaller
Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko has said that he hopes the company will be offering conmsumers a triple-play combination of uncapped Internet access, voice services and video on demand (VOD) for one flat-rate fee within the next 12 months. The JSE-listed telecommunications operator, which is
South Africans could soon find themselves having to wrestle with a new type of electrical plug following the adoption of an apparently much safer standard for plugs and sockets. SANS 164-2 was introduced as the “preferred standard” for electrical plugs and sockets by the South
Telkom has reduced the price of its wholesale IP Connect product, the one Internet service providers use to access its broadband digital subscriber line (DSL) network, by 15%. IP Connect fees have a direct impact on DSL prices in South Africa, which ISPs usually quick to pass
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Defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula says she will not be drawn into public discussion on Project Flute, the name of a secret contract reportedly involving a defence intelligence satellite. “The minister has refused to be drawn into discussing matters of security of the
The East African Submarine System (Eassy), a subsea telecommunications cable along Africa’s eastern shoreline, is set to get a speed boost with supplier Alcatel-Lucent set to deploy the latest 100Gbit/s wavelength technology on the network. The upgrade will allow Eassy ultimately to carry
Cloud-based mobile specialist biNu, which develops a product aimed at feature phone users in emerging markets, has established a presence in Africa for the first time, opening an office in Cape Town. The company’s application, also called biNu, is aimed at Android- and Java-based
Telkom on Wednesday denied speculation in the media that it has received a proposal from a Southeast Asian company or grouping for the sale of its mobile towers business in a deal that reportedly could be valued at as much as US$3bn. On Tuesday, a report on the
