Mobile and Telecoms
South African National Treasury Awards Vodacom New Mobile Services Contract
The South African National Treasury has awarded Vodacom with a new mobile communication services contract. “Truly, we are excited to continue our partnership with government for another five years and we will deliver to accelerate its digitalisation programme through the new RT15-2021 transversal contract,” says Chief Officer for Vodacom Business, William Mzimba. “Through the previous contract, we successfully delivered significant financial benefits in costs savings, expedited and streamlined procurement of services and ushered unprecedented digitalisation of government departments, agencies, State-Owned Entities and municipalities” The RT15 served as a platform for Vodacom Business to support government and amplify their productivity while increasing efficiency. To achieve the expec...
Cell C Appointed as Preferred Service Provider to South African Government
Image sourced from Town Press Cell C has been appointed as one of the preferred service providers to the South African Government for the delivery of mobile communication services. This is for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2026. The mobile communication services contract is known as RT15-2021 and was previously held exclusively by Vodacom for a five-year period. “This award marks a significant milestone for Cell C and is testament to our understanding of the needs of government and tailoring innovative solutions that matter to them, with extra value,” says Douglas Craigie Stevenson, CEO of Cell C. “It reflects the confidence in our brand and the tenacity of the company. I’m extremely proud of the effort our team put into Cell C’s proposal.” In awarding the tender the National Treasur...
MTN South Africa Appointed as Mobile Provider to Government
MTN South Africa has been appointed by the National Treasury as the new mobile provider to the Government. The contract allows for all entities of state to “utilise the contract for mobile communication services, which will further assist with cost containment”. The scale of the government’s requirements is expected to allow MTN to develop systems, innovative pricing and products that will not add value to South Africa and also significantly improve on existing mobile telecommunications service delivery. “We are both humbled and honoured by the faith National Treasury has shown in MTN with this critical partnership over a five-year term. A huge team at MTN spent months analysing the state’s requirements and then developing the very best solutions to not only meet those expectations, but to...
Why Private Cellular Networks are Critical to Trade
Increases in global development and international populations have put bigger demands on trade and in turn, ports and shipping. To manage the boom, ports are improving operations and efficiency with automation, powered by 5G-ready private cellular networks. According to the World Bank, trade represented more than 60% of the global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019. And 90% of the world’s trade is facilitated by the shipping industry, according to the International Chamber of Shipping. The vast importance of future ports to shipping makes them a vital element for the function of the global economy. According to statistics data from the United Nations Conference on Trade Development, of the four main types of shipping vessels (oil, bulk cargo, general cargo, and globally standardised cont...
Liquid Expands Across South Africa with 2 New Fibre Routes
Liquid Intelligent Technologies (Liquid) has announced the successful completion of two key digital corridors – NLD5 and NLD6 connecting Durban to Cape Town via the inland route. The completion of this fibre network is expected to support the surging demand for high-speed internet as an increasing number of local businesses continue their digital transformation journeys. “The completion of these two digital corridors is yet another milestone achieved as part of our on-going investment into the South African economy. Liquid has been instrumental in the fruition of routes 1 through to 8, providing a digital backbone that connects metropolitan cities like Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban to more remote areas like Nelspruit Bloemfontein, Lady Smith, Mthatha,” says Deon Geyser, CEO of Liquid ...
Nokia Joins Forces with Safaricom to Launch the First Commercial 5G Network in East Africa
Nokia and Safaricom have joined forces to launch the first 5G commercial services in East Africa. According to the companies, Nokia’s 5G Single Radio Access Network (SRAN) technology and 5G FastMile gateways will enable ultra-fast Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services to Safaricom’s subscribers across Kisumu and the Western Province of Kenya. 5G technology is expected to enable new applications in areas such as virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence for Safaricom subscribers. It will also benefit enterprises across important energy, healthcare, education, transport and entertainment applications. “We are proud to be the first operator in East Africa to launch 5G services, bringing the benefits of 5G technology to our customers. 5G capabilities will change a lot ...
Paratus Zambia Introduces New Unlimited Internet Deals for Businesses
Image sourced from Patriot Paratus Zambia has introduced a new range of Infinity business deals. The telco says that these packages have been designed to give business customers access to more affordable and unlimited connectivity in Zambia, a market where a quality affordable internet connection is difficult to obtain. “We have created these Paratus Infinity packages because we fully understand how important it is for businesses to have access to quality unlimited connectivity,” says Paratus Zambia Country Manager, Marius van Vuuren. “We do not cap or shape our connectivity solutions because we know that our customers need to be always online to do their business.” The Infinity packages give customers access to uncapped and unthrottled data without dips in service quality or speeds due to...
Best and Worst Mobile Networks in South Africa Revealed
2020 was a tumultuous year for the South African telecommunications sector which saw network providers left to grapple with calls for data price cuts in the face of a pandemic-driven demand for connectivity and digital customer service. From the perspective of consumers, however, the performance of local telcos has left much to be desired. That said, having tracked over two million social media posts about Cell C, MTN, rain, Telkom, and Vodacom throughout the year, BrandsEye’s latest Telco Sentiment Index – conducted in partnership with Deloitte Africa – found that some telcos received significantly more negativity than others. MTN comes out tops while rain gets left in the gutter Newcomer rain ranked last, scoring over 20 percentage points below the industry average. On the other end of t...
MetroFibre’s South African Network Rollout Backed by Investec
Investec has taken charge of arranging R2.5 billion in debt funding for MetroFibre Networx, a South African fibre infrastructure provider. “There’s a massive demand for fibre connectivity in many outlying regions. Filling that gap makes sense not only from a business perspective but also from a socioeconomic upliftment standpoint,” says Wayne Edwards, Financial Director of MetroFibre. “In a growing and fiercely competitive market, the timely funding arranged by Investec, together with our recent R1.5 billion equity raise, will enable us to take fibre to more individuals and more businesses, giving them the opportunity to participate in the globally connected economy.” The funding agreement builds on an existing relationship between the two companies that dates back to 2016 when MetroFibre ...
New MVNO Launches in South Africa
Shoprite has launched k’nect mobile – its own mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). This offering – which piggybacks off the mobile network infrastructure of Cell C – is expected to offer competitive rates and several other rewards to customers. k’nect mobile’s airtime, data bundles and rewards only expire after 60 days, rather than the more common 30-day expiry. Call and data rates are as follows: 50c per minute all day k’nect to k’nect calls 99c per minute all day calls to other networks 15c per megabyte for any size data bundle, up to 1GB k’nect mobile also offers the following Xtra rewards: 10% free on recharge 10% Xtra for Xtra Savings cardholders 5% Xtra when recharging via Money Market Account Double airtime rewards on Xtra Savings airtime deals Other rewards include early access ...
3 Things Affecting Internet Connectivity in South Africa
Loadshedding, cable theft and vandalism not only disrupts the supply of electricity and internet connectivity in households but also has a significant effect on the economy. Criminals steal infrastructure such as copper cables and electrical equipment to make easy money and with each incident, thousands of homes are left without electricity for many hours or days. Businesses that have no access to generators have to close and unfortunately lose money as they cannot operate during that period. Many small businesses have become heavily reliant on the internet to be able to conduct their business operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a disruption to internet connectivity due to cable theft and vandalism can place such businesses at a disadvantage. “Copper line theft has a significant impac...
Airtel Africa to Sell $200 Million Stake in Mobile Money Business
Sourced from Comms MEA Airtel Africa is set to sell a minority stake – worth $200 million – in Airtel Mobile Commerce BV (AMC BV) to global investment company, The Rise Fund. “The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions including necessary regulatory filings and approvals, as necessary, and the inclusion of specified mobile money business assets and contracts into AMC BV,” reveals the company. According to TechCrunch, this deal values the mobile money business at $2.65 billion with operations across 14 African countries, including Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria. “Our markets afford the substantial market potential for mobile money services to meet the needs of the tens of millions of customers in Africa who have little or no access to banking and financial services, and this dema...
