22seven is no longer in beta. It will offer users a 30-day free trial, after which the service will cost R70/month. There is no contractual commitment and users can opt out at any time. CEO Christo Davel says mobile applications are inevitable, but won’t commit to a timeline for their launch

Cell C, now headed by former Vodacom Group CEO Alan Knott-Craig, is hiring a number of past and present Vodacom executives to flesh out its management team. Three of Cell C’s top positions are to be filled in coming months. Cell C has lured Vodacom Mozambique

Relations between Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer ZTE and local partner ZTE Mzanzi appear to have broken down irretrievably. TechCentral has established that ZTE has cancelled its partnership agreement with Mzanzi, in which it has a 40% stake, prompting the latter to file a court papers

First National Bank has outlined in detail its new geo-payment service Geopay after news of the feature in its smartphone app leaked on Monday. It allows consumers to make payment to anyone nearby them who has a compatible mobile device, even to customers of other banks. Though the initial focus is on person-to-person

First National Bank this week lifted the lid on a new payment mechanism that uses the GPS feature in modern smartphones. It won’t result in the much-hyped cashless society, but it could greatly reduce South Africans’ reliance on cash over time. The new payment feature, which is included in an update to

Public protector Thuli Madonsela has agreed to consider the DA’s request for a probe into the Gauteng e-tolling contracts, the party said on Wednesday. “Madonsela has responded to my request for an investigation into the Gauteng e-toll contracts, including a possible link with arms deal corruption

The African leg of a new submarine telecommunications system that will serve markets in the North and South Atlantic will be ready for service in the first quarter of 2014. The cable will offer high-speed global connectivity to SA, Angola and Nigeria. That’s the word from the Wasace Cable Company, which is building the

Afrihost, reacting to recent reductions in Telkom’s wholesale broadband access rates to Internet service providers, is cutting the cost of its uncapped consumer digital subscriber line (DSL) products, but with a catch for new 4Mbit/s subscribers. All clients with existing 4Mbit/s uncapped accounts

And we’re back! This week, your hosts Duncan McLeod and Craig Wilson for a midweek edition of TechCentral’s TalkCentral podcast. In the show this week, we talk about First National Bank’s new geo-payments facility and consider what it means for the other banks and chat about Craig’s Mango flight to test WirelessG’s

Internet service provider WirelessG, airline Mango and mobile operator Vodacom conducted a test flight on Tuesday to showcase the first in-flight Wi-Fi service in SA. Unfortunately, putting 115 people with multiple devices and the desire to test the service to