Browsing: MTN

MTN plans R8,1bn empowerment deal

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Africa’s largest mobile phone operator MTN is planning to sell 4% of the company’s equity to black investors in what could prove to be the largest broad-based empowerment deal in SA’s telecommunications industry. MTN’s empowerment deal was expected to happen last year with the unwinding of the Alpine Trust-owned investment company Newshelf 664.

Lowry quits MTN

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Tim Lowry, one of MTN’s top executives, has left the telecommunications group. A former MD of MTN SA, Lowry most recently ran the South and East Africa (Sea) region for the group. MTN spokesman Pearl Majola says no one has been appointed to replace Lowry as vice-president of the Sea region.

The fibre’s coming

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SA will soon be awash in cheap international bandwidth. The challenge is getting that bandwidth into the hands of consumers and companies. So, news this week of the launch of a new fibre operator is encouraging. Eassy. Wacs. Ace. Main One. These are the names of new cable systems that are either in the works or already under construction. Together with the Seacom cable in the east and the Sat-3 system in the west, they promise a flood of cheap international bandwidth.

Will Telkom start a mobile price war?

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With only a few months to go until Telkom becomes SA’s fourth mobile network operator, the question on many people’s lips is whether the fixed-line incumbent will start a price with Vodacom, MTN and Cell C. Telkom hasn’t yet decided on tariffs for its mobile offering. The company’s MD, Nombulelo “Pinky” Moholi, says these must be still be approved by the board

The pressure is on in telecoms

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I’m sometimes asked by investors whether the growth story has gone out of SA telecommunications stocks. A series of regulations, coupled with growing competition and a weak economy, is putting pressure on operators’ margins. Is it time for investors to abandon the sector? Before I attempt to answer that question, it’s worth looking back at how the telecoms sector in SA has developed over the past decade

WBS may build rural 3G mobile network

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Wireless Business Solutions (WBS), the holding company of iBurst, is at advanced stage of discussions about building a mobile cellular network in a sign that infrastructure competition in SA is stepping up another gear, TechCentral has learnt. If it goes ahead with its plans, which one senior source close to the company says appears likely, WBS will become SA’s fifth mobile network operator after Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and the soon-to-be-launched Telkom

Mobile operators accused of hiking rates on the sly

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The cost of communicating on all three of SA’s mobile operators has risen, not fallen, despite the substantial reduction in wholesale mobile termination rates on 1 March, two industry executives have claimed. Howard Sackstein, CEO of telecommunications company Saicom, who has analysed a large range packages – both postpaid and prepaid – offered by