MTN’s group president and CEO Sifiso Dabengwa and group chief financial officer Brett Goschen sat down with journalists following publication of the mobile operator’s interim 2014 financial results for the six months to end-June. In this edited extract from the press conference, listen as Dabengwa and Goschen
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MTN’s South African operation has again borne the brunt of the price war in the mobile industry, with its revenue in the six months to June slumping by 7% and its profit margin, measured before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, sliding by 1,5 percentage points. The poor numbers were exacerbated by steep cuts earlier this
Overall, Vodacom and Telkom Mobile have South Africa’s best post-paid mobile plans, new data from telecommunications research firm Tarifica claims to show. Virgin Mobile scored bottom of the list, coming in in fifth place overall behind Cell C and MTN, but MTN failed to emerge as the winner in even a single category. The Tarifica scores
Vodacom launched the first US$50 smartphone on its network this week and, although the Smart Kicka, which retails for R549, is aimed at the low-end of the market that until now hasn’t been able to afford anything beyond a basic feature phone, it’s a surprisingly good device. The Smart Kicka may not look like much at first. But for
Telkom, for many years shunned by both institutional and retail investors, appears to have shed its poor image in the investment community, with the market rushing to snap up its shares on the expectation of a significant turnaround in its fortunes. The share price was trading up by more than 6% in lunchtime trading on the JSE on Tuesday
Vodacom has taken the wraps off a new, low-cost smartphone that it hopes will propel adoption of smart devices and Internet use among consumers who haven’t been able to afford a smart device until now. The new Smart Kicka, which is the first Vodacom-branded device, has gone on sale at a prepaid retail price of R549
Mxit chief product officer Vincent Maher has left the social network, where he spearheaded the transition from feature phones to smartphones, and has been named as chief innovation officer at Kagiso Media. Maher, who co-founded Motribe with Nic Haralambous – the business was later sold to Mxit – will look after the development
There’s a revolution under way, and this one’s not being agitated by the working class, although they certainly have their part to play. It is being waged by banks, cellphone providers and entrepreneurs hoping to capitalise on a mobile commercial market that is estimated will be worth more than US$800bn by 2016 and have more than 400m users
It’s been a busy news week on the technology front. Your hosts Duncan McLeod and Regardt van der Berg tackle some of the bigger developments in this week’s episode of TalkCentral. Items on the agenda this week include Vodacom’s relaunch of
MTN may be in talks to buy a stake in giant Indian telecommunications operator Tata Teleservices and its associated business Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra). The Hindustan Times quotes unnamed sources with knowledge of the discussions as confirming talks are underway. “It is too early to comment on the level of discussions