Malawi is not a country that often makes the international news, particularly not in the realm of connectivity. Economically poor and landlocked, it faces significant challenges in achieving affordable access for all. Although both the incumbent telcommunications operator, MTL, and the electricity parastatal
Browsing: Opinion
It began in 2006 as a pretty stupid idea: a service that let you post public messages on the Internet but limited them to 140 characters. Seven years later, Twitter has burrowed deep into the fabric of parts of society. Its highly anticipated initial public offering provides a fascinating glimpse
So, Vodacom is in exclusive talks to buy Neotel. There’s no surprise there – that Neotel is for sale is one of the telecommunications industry’s worst-kept secrets. But if the deal goes ahead, which is far from certain, it could spark further, arguably much-needed consolidation in the sector
Newswires, forums and social media have been abuzz since Wednesday, when news broke that notorious online marketplace, the Silk Road, has been shut down and its alleged mastermind, Ross William Ulbricht, or “Dread Pirate Roberts”, arrested. The Road, as patrons
It’s an old joke from the days when the so-called second national operator (SNO) was announced, oh, somewhere in the mists of time around 2003. This fixed-line competitor to Telkom was supposed to provide competition in landlines. The SNO gag appeared in countless headlines
“I’m in new media,” the 20-something told me when I asked her what she did. “What do you define as new media?” I asked. “You know, Twitter, Facebook, social media,” she replied. It was one of those moments in the Great Change in Media that so many of us old hands must have had when speaking
Watching BlackBerry over the past few years has been like watching a train wreck in slow motion. The company, whose name was once synonymous with smartphones, has stumbled from one disaster to another. This week, things got a lot worse. BlackBerry
There are few arenas more brutal and merciless than the cellphone market. In just five years, BlackBerry has gone from the world’s leading smartphone brand to a company teetering on the edge of collapse. The fact that BlackBerry is struggling is common knowledge
Naspers is within a whisker of smashing through R1 000/share for the first time and reaching a market capitalisation of R400bn thanks to an 80%-plus surge in its share price in the past 12 months. The growth in its value in recent years has been nothing short of
From activity trackers to Google Glass, wearable technology is becoming more common and useful, but until smart watches stop simply duplicating existing functionality and offer something new, they’re destined to remain curiosities and novelties rather than the necessities their makers would