Month: February 2012

The fourth of April this year is a red-letter day on SA’s investment calendar. It is the date on which international board members of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope will meet to decide whether the core site for the giant instrument will be built in SA or in Australia. Science & technology director-general

In closing arguments on Wednesday at the Competition Tribunal’s hearings into Telkom’s alleged anticompetitive practices, Competition Commission legal counsel Adv Martin Brassey said Telkom had fought the case at every opportunity and deserved a severe penalty. Brassey said the tribunal should

Muhammed Yunus, a 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Grameen Bank, sparked a movement with the simple question: “If you are a socially conscious person, why don’t you run your business in a way that will help achieve social objectives?” Today’s young tech entrepreneurs have inherited Yunus’s vision

Telkom came out guns blazing at Competition Tribunal hearings this week, warning that if it were fined the maximum allowed for alleged anticompetitive behaviour last decade, its business could be put in jeopardy. Does the fixed-line operator have a point or is it all just grandstanding? In its closing

Gugu Duda has been appointed as the new chief financial officer of the SABC, communications minister Dina Pule announced on Wednesday. “Ms Duda has the relevant qualifications, skills, capabilities and experience required for the position,” the communications ministry said in a statement. She would take up the

Tim Cook, Apple’s new CEO, gave a small “State of the Apple” address on Tuesday, touching on the recent accusations of poor working conditions in the factories that make Apple products. He also laid out what the iPhone has done for Apple and why cheap tablets just aren’t worth it. The conversation started

Apple has the best kind of problem: US$90bn in cash burning a hole in its pocket. At the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference on Tuesday, CEO Tim Cook was asked why the company has not taken the usual moves of buying back stock or issuing a dividend to shareholders. Investors, while happy with the epic stock price

American Tower Corporation (ATC), the company that acquired Cell C’s base station infrastructure last year in a R430m deal, has begun building its own mobile telecommunications towers from scratch in areas where operators have poor coverage. ATC SA CEO Pieter Nel says the company has just completed

After an 11-year partnership, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) has completed it acquisition of data centre company Shoden Data Systems. Shoden’s management team will remain unchanged and it will retain autonomy in terms of strategy and decision making. HDS hopes the deal will give it a foothold in Africa

First National Bank (FNB) has become the first SA bank to allow personal financial management start-up 22seven access to its customers’ accounts, albeit on a limited basis. The move stands in stark contrast to FNB rival Absa, which has blocked 22seven — specifically its US technology partner Yodlee