MTN, the R255bn Johannesburg-listed cellphone giant, is in danger of being whacked with sanctions by the US for its telecommunication activities in Iran and Syria. US President Barack Obama issued an executive order this week that allows American authorities for the first time to impose sanctions on individuals or entities found to have
Browsing: MTN
Communications minister Dina Pule hopes government will have a draft policy direction on spectrum ready sometime next month. She says her department has not rushed the process because “whatever process we undertake must benefit all South Africans”. “We don’t want to rush things.” Telecommunications operators
The release last week of Research ICT Africa’s report on mobile phone pricing in Africa has provoked a little controversy. The facts are quite damning. SA has some of the highest mobile costs on the continent. This is odd given the country’s comparative wealth and infrastructural advantages. By rights, SA ought to have the cheapest phone
Next month, the gigantic West African Cable System (Wacs) will come online, bringing around 400Gbit/s of submarine fibre capacity to SA at launch. But what does this increase in capacity mean for SA consumers and Internet service providers? Sean Nourse, executive for connectivity at Internet Solutions, says that although the effects of Wacs
MTN’s Turkish rival, Turkcell, which is suing the Johannesburg-based cellphone giant for US$4,2bn, is embroiled in a bitter internal battle as shareholders square up for control of the company. Turkcell, listed in New York and Istanbul, has a market capitalisation of $11bn. In court papers filed in the US recently, Turkcell accused
A new research study has found that SA has some of the least affordable prepaid mobile tariffs on the continent and is falling behind many of its neighbours because of high wholesale call rates between operators. The findings are contained in a Research ICT Africa policy brief, with research conducted over the past year
MTN has again gone on the attack, accusing rival Turkcell of making “ludicrous” allegations that the SA-based operator influenced SA foreign policy on Iran in order to win an operating licence in the Middle Eastern country. In a statement, MTN Group CEO Sifiso Dabengwa says MTN “did not cause
MTN is facing a storm over claims that it helped the Iranian government to spy on local subscribers and assisted the regime in its brutal crackdown on protesters in 2009 and 2010. In court papers lodged in the US last week, rival mobile operator Turkcell alleged that MTN told its Iranian military-linked partners it
Telkom has embarked on a multibillion-rand refresh of its access network into homes and businesses. Investors will probably decry the cost of taking fibre-optic infrastructure closer to and even into homes, but group CEO Nombulelo Moholi is at least leading the fixed-line operator in the right direction
The Democratic Alliance will submit a request in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act for access to copies of records relating to cellphone operator MTN’s business activities in Iran. Party MP David Maynier said on Wednesday allegations