Duncan McLeod and Craig Wilson bring you a bumper and controversial edition of the TalkCentral podcast this week, in which we touch on everything from union opposition to Telkom’s proposed deal with Korea’s KT Corp to smartphone apps in banking and why

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) says it is wary of news that KT Corp (formerly Korea Telecom), is in talks with Telkom about acquiring 20% of the company’s equity and is unimpressed that it wasn’t consulted about the discussions. “We are always sceptical

Don’t blame Telkom for using its monopoly to strangle the local Internet sector — the government allowed it to. This seems to be a recurring theme in Telkom’s defence of its rapacious pricing being heard by the Competition Tribunal. The telecommunications giant stands accused

First National Bank, which this week began offering discounted tablets and smartphones to its clients, says ultimately it would like to hand out free phones and tablets to “certain” of its customers. CEO Michael Jordaan says the bank is on a big drive to encourage

Marc Furman of Internet Solutions and Jaap Scholten of eNetworks have been appointed as co-chairs of the Internet Service Providers’ Association (Ispa), an industry body. Mike Silber of Liquid Telecom has been named as treasurer. Other members of the management committee

Telkom’s group executive for communications and brand, Brenda Kali, has resigned, TechCentral has learnt. She had been with the group for the past three years. Kali, who joined Telkom when Reuben September was CEO, says she is leaving to “pursue new interests”

By refusing to sell telecommunications circuits to Dimension Data’s virtual private network (VPN) provider OmniLink, Telkom hindered a planned merger between OmniLink and its Didata stable mate Internet Solutions (IS), the Competition Tribunal

Details began to emerge this week of how Telkom allegedly used its dominant position in the broadband market to prevent its rivals from competing with it. This was during the Competition Tribunal’s hearing into Telkom, where the

First National Bank (FNB) will provide customers with smartphones and tablets at reduced rates. FNB says it will effectively lower the cost of these devices by up to 35%. The bank is promoting electronic banking channels, such as the FNB Banking App, Internet and mobile banking

Considering how many iconic handsets Nokia has in its back catalogue, it’s disconcerting how long it’s been since the Finnish manufacturer last had a must-have device than turned heads. The Nokia N9 could have been that phone, but it won’t be. The biggest problem with the