Browsing: Vodacom

Stage set for battle over telecoms rates

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The stage is set for a battle of epic proportions at public hearings in Johannesburg next week. That’s when operators will make their arguments for and against proposed cuts in wholesale call termination rates. MTN, for one, has warned of dire consequences for its business and for the entire mobile ecosystem if industry regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa), proceeds with its plans to cut wholesale mobile call termination rates to 65c/minute this year. Other operators have also lodged strong objections

Telkom spills beans on mobile strategy

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Telecommunications group Telkom will leverage its existing customers, offering mobile products to them as it gears up to launch SA’s fourth mobile operator. The company has finally begun to provide some details of its plans in the mobile space, where it is spending R6bn over five years to build a network to rival those operated by Vodacom, MTN

Vodacom chases mass-market Internet access

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Vodacom is introducing a range of low-cost devices, including a US$40 smartphone, in an effort to broaden the market that has access to e-mail and the Web in SA. The smarphone, developed for Vodacom parent Vodafone and meant for use in emerging markets, has a Qwerty keyboard and a basic, 2,2-inch TFT display

Vodacom may walk away from spectrum auction

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JSE-listed cellphone giant Vodacom may abandon plans to bid for wireless broadband spectrum in the 2,6GHz frequency band if the rules of engagement are not changed, TechCentral has learnt exclusively. Group CEO Pieter Uys says the demands on potential bidders made by the Independent Communications

Concern over Neotel as it posts R1,6bn loss

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Telkom rival Neotel reported a net loss of nearly R1,6bn in the 2010 financial year, according to information accompanying Tata Communications’ annual results. It’s the first time that India’s Tata Communications has revealed the extent of the losses being incurred by its SA subsidia

Telkom’s September was a ‘marked man’

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Politics. That may be the real reason Telkom CEO Reuben September’s contract is not being renewed when it expires in November. According to well-placed sources, he’s had a troubled relationship with the ANC under President Jacob Zuma after he oversaw the disposal of Telkom’s 50% stake in Vodacom. To understand the background, one has to go back to May

Beware the hammer

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SA is about to auction off a chunk of radio frequency spectrum that can be used to provide wireless broadband services. Let’s hope our operators don’t do what their European counterparts did a decade ago with 3G spectrum. It’s known as the great telecommunications crash of 2001. Mobile operators in the UK and Germany bid ridiculous amounts — cumulatively, hundreds of billions of rand

Skyrove to take on mobile incumbents

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Skyrove, a specialist wireless hotspot company, plans to launch an audacious bid for national radio frequency spectrum and, if it gets it, it plans to build a network to take on the country’s incumbent mobile operators. The company, run by CEO Henk Kleynhans, plans to participate in an auction for national radio frequency in the 2,6GHz ba