Browsing: Vodacom

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

The great data roaming rip-off

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“Bill shock” is a growing problem for SA travellers. They go overseas, and, before they know it, they’ve run up a bill of thousands of rand without even making a phone call. The problem is, as with roaming voice charges, the mobile operators impose exorbitant fees for roaming data – in some cases, more than R100 000/GB. And with smartphones, which are constantly polling the network looking for updates to e-mail and other services, consumers can quickly run up monster-sized

Vodacom makes its play for 4G spectrum

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Vodacom is ditching its 24,9% stake in iBurst parent Wireless Business Solutions (WBS) Holdings to increase its chances of being awarded radio frequency spectrum that will allow it to build a fourth-generation (4G) cellphone network. The mobile operator confirmed last week that it would sell WBS so as to be eligible