How ‘white spaces’ could change the world
It has an arcane name and involves complex communications technology, but there’s every reason you and I should be getting very excited indeed about “television white spaces”, the gaps in spectrum between broadcast television channels. Google and Microsoft are pouring millions of dollars
Windows 8 is not Microsoft’s New Coke moment
A piece on US technology website ZDNet earlier this month, written by columnist Steven Vaughan-Nichols, suggested that Windows 8 represents Microsoft’s “New Coke moment”. Others quickly jumped on the idea. The Financial Times led with a story on the subject, saying the fact that Microsoft
Big action on TopTV’s small screen
TopTV has had not an auspicious start to life. Although it was the only one of five new pay-TV operators licensed five years ago by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa to take on MultiChoice and DStv to actually launch, it was always going to be uphill. The troubled telecaster “celebrated” the end
A failed minister
Parliament’s joint committee on ethics and members’ interests has begun a behind-closed-doors probe into allegations that the communications minister’s alleged boyfriend, Phosane Mngqibisa, benefited financially from the sponsorship of 2012’s ICT Indaba in Cape Town. The committee
Could Naspers buy Telkom?
Six months after Sprint announced it was in talks to sell 70% of its equity to Japan’s SoftBank for US$20bn, Dish Network Corp, a US direct-to-home satellite pay-TV operator with 14m subscribers, has put in a bid of $25,5bn to buy the wireless communications firm. It’s a move
Spectrum of offence
The under-resourced and often ineffective Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has a reputation for lacking teeth when it comes to enforcing order in the telecommunications sector it regulates. For example, there’s still no clear outcome in the case of the alleged unlawful use by wireless Internet
Another chance for Telkom
Telkom is a shadow of the company it once was. As little as 10 years ago, it thoroughly dominated SA’s telecommunications landscape. Today, it’s not even among the top 40 companies listed on the JSE. Its market value has dwindled to such as extent that, at R7,8bn, it’s worth less than 5% of Vodacom, in which it once
All eyes on centre court
Samsung’s new top-end smartphone, the Android-powered Galaxy S4, has set the benchmark that other manufacturers, especially Asian rivals such as Sony, HTC and Huawei, are going to have to beat in 2013. The S4, launched at a no-expense-spared event in New York two weeks ago, packs the sort of technology into its
Think of Telkom’s users
News last week that the Competition Commission is in early-stage talks with Telkom with a view to possibly reaching a settlement ahead of the tribunal hearings should be welcomed if the outcome benefits consumers. The tribunal hearings relate to a broad complaint brought by industry players against
Why Lenovo might buy BlackBerry
The share price of BlackBerry, the long-suffering smartphone manufacturer until recently known as Research in Motion, leapt higher on Monday on renewed speculation that China’s biggest PC maker, Lenovo, could make a play for the company. BlackBerry’s share price shot
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