TechCentral

It’s official! PayPal is coming to SA

First National Bank has finally confirmed what SA Internet users have long suspected. The banking group is partnering with online payments specialist PayPal, a subsidiary of online auctions giant eBay, to allow South Africans to use the US company’s full suite of products for the first time. FNB on Wednesday invited journalists to a press briefing [...]

MTN investing R1,5bn in undersea cables

JSE-listed cellphone group MTN plans to spend almost US$200m (R1,5bn) in total on high-capacity undersea cables serving markets in Africa and the Middle East. That’s the word from outgoing MTN president and CEO Phuthuma Nhleko, who says the group has already spent tens of millions of dollars of the committed amount, with more to come in [...]

Nigeria, Iran growth helps offset SA troubles for MTN

Listed cellphone operator MTN is “struggling” with its operations in SA, consultancy Frost & Sullivan said on Thursday. Earlier, MTN reported a fall in group profit due as it released its results for the year ended 31 December 2009. It said adjusted headline earnings per share were down 16,6% to R7,54 in spite of a 28% [...]

Gov’t moves ahead on broadband, spectrum policies

A special inter-ministerial committee is to be set up to finalise government’s broadband policy, government spokesman Themba Maseko said on Thursday. Briefing the media following cabinet’s regular meeting on Wednesday, he said the draft national broadband policy had been tabled and discussed at the meeting. “The policy seeks to, among other things, address availability, accessibility, and affordability [...]

Don’t repeat copyright mistakes

In a recent interview with TechCentral, Owen Dean of specialist intellectual property lawfirm Spoor & Fisher urges that SA should ratify a treaty that requires anti-circumvention provisions meant to stop copyright infringement

Billing snafu, Rica hit MTN hard

MTN SA continued to lose market share in the second half of 2009, shedding 6,4% of its subscriber base during the year, as significant IT and billing system problems, coupled with new regulations and the recession, hit the cellular network operator hard. Gross connections fell as a result of the Regulation of Interception of Communications Act [...]

Telecoms prices take a tumble

SA consumers, used to high prices for telecommunications, must be rubbing their hands in glee. The cost of broadband and voice telephony has begun falling, in some cases dramatically, as competition finally begins to take effect

Survey shows how S Africans use their cellphones

Most South Africans cannot live without their cellphones, with many worried they might miss something if they turn them off, a survey has found. The highest dependency was among people aged from 25 to 34, at 91%, followed by those aged 16 to 24, and then the over 50s, said market research company Synovate. “With the never-ceasing [...]

Kalahari pips Exclusive to the post with e-book store

Online retailer, Naspers-owned Kalahari.net, has pipped rival, Avusa subsidiary Exclusive Books, to the post to be the first SA company to offer electronic book downloads. Kalahari has 60 000 titles available for digital download, says CEO Gary Hadfield (pictured). The offering includes best-selling fiction titles as well as books in a range of genres. “We’ll be growing [...]

Faritec creditors may lose their shirts

Companies owed money by Faritec will have to opt for shares in the troubled JSE-listed IT group, or risk losing the money they’re owed. The group, which is fighting to stave off closure, plans a fresh R60m rights offer to raise the cash it needs to continue trading. Faritec’s largest shareholder, Shoden Data Systems, and “certain members [...]