When Google chose New Zealand to unveil secret plans for a balloon-driven Wi-Fi network last weekend, it cemented the country’s reputation as a test bed for global technology companies looking to trial their latest innovations, industry experts say. They said New Zealand
Costing just R1 299, the Vodafone-branded Smart II may be cheap. But it has plenty to offer. Often lauded as the solution to get Africa’s unconnected online, budget smartphones are also great for students or the cash-strapped, providing all of the core functionality of far more expensive devices
The Kenyan government is ditching proprietary software in favour of free and open-source software alternatives in a move it hopes will save it money. According to a report in Business Daily, the migration away from proprietary systems will related costs go down by 20% initially but by as much as 80% within three
The resignation last week of Vodacom Group CEO Pieter Uys raises interesting questions about the future of SA’s most powerful mobile phone operator under the UK’s Vodafone, especially as it faces an increasingly fractious and competitive industry. When
In the first year he held the reins at Vodafone Spain, Vodacom Group CEO-designate Shameel Joosub had to contend with a struggling Spanish economy and intense competition that resulted in a sharp fall in profits and margins on his watch. Joosub, formerly MD of Vodacom SA, took the reins
Two of the UK’s biggest mobile operators, Vodafone and O2 (owned by Spain’s Telefonica), have announced they will pool infrastructure in a bid to reduce costs and build a platform for next-generation long-term evolution (LTE) networks in a move that could point the way for SA operators to build their own
There is a certain Darwinian poetry in the fact that Cable & Wireless Worldwide, a remnant of a once mighty telecommunications empire based on telegraph wires and established in the 1850s, looks set to be eaten up by Vodafone, a contemporary telecoms industry giant born only in 1985. Even as late as 1999, C&W (CWW’s predecessor
Another tumultuous year is almost at an end for the SA information and communications technology industry. It was a year of falling telecommunications prices, increasing competition, upheaval in politics and drama in the regulatory environment. Our “Newsmakers of the Year”
Newly appointed Vodacom SA MD Sipho Maseko has been awarded 74 142 shares in the telecommunications group at an average price of R90,37/share, making the allocation worth R6,7m. The shares vest on 25 November 2014. Maseko, who was formerly CEO of BP Southern Africa, took the reins
TechCentral’s business technology podcast, TalkCentral, is back for another bumper show this week. Your hosts Duncan McLeod and Craig Wilson talk about Nokia World, the iPhone 4S coming to SA, the new Samsung Galaxy Note and Ubuntu Linux
