Vodacom has surprised the market by launching commercial fourth-generation (4G) services based on long-term evolution (LTE) technology. The service is available immediately in selected parts of Johannesburg, with other cities to follow in the “near future”, the operator says in a statement. The company’s
Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) CEO Themba Dlamini has moved to explain the decision by the auditor-general once again to submit a qualified audit of the telecommunications and broadcasting regulator’s annual financial statements. The authority has asked for “condonation” from government in an
The Cape Town TV community station has lost over 600 000 viewers because its frequency was changed to accommodate digital terrestrial television trials, it said on Friday. Station manager Karen Thorne said the free-to-air channel was relocated from channel 38 to channel 67
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has acknowledged that it faces a variety of obstacles it must overcome if it is to be effective, achieve its goals and improve the state of SA’s communications landscape. These include keeping abreast of developments
The first step towards unbundling Telkom’s local loop of copper cables into homes and businesses, is meant to happen in November. But given the terms agreed between the fixed-line operator and the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa), it’s not clear whether this deadline will be met. With
Vodacom is considering whether or not it should conclude another black economic empowerment deal, says newly appointed group CEO Shameel Joosub. However, no decisions are imminent. Joosub says Vodacom wants “harmonisation” between requirements set out in the Electronic Communications Act
Communications minister Dina Pule on Wednesday told journalists that cabinet will finalise its decision regarding the future of Telkom either this week or by the “beginning of October”. Pule, who was speaking at the Classic FM Business
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has published its definition of what exactly constitutes an underserviced area. The definition is important because government has set universal service targets and obligations that operators are legally bound to meet. An underserviced
Free-to-air broadcaster e.tv has filed papers in the high court in Johannesburg against communications minister Dina Pule, accusing of her acting unlawfully in appointing Sentech to manage the control system that will be used in the set-top boxes that are needed for consumers to receive digital terrestrial television signals
Terrestrial television offers remarkably little choice to SA consumers, who are limited to three SABC channels and commercial free-to-air channel e.tv. Not much has changed in the past decade, except that e.tv has eaten into the SABC’s viewership while DStv, owned by Naspers’s MultiChoice, has grown steadily more dominant as
