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Broadband Price Cuts For South Africa

President Jacob Zuma today promised world class broadband services and further telecoms price cuts in his first state of the nation address.

President Jacob Zuma today delivered his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) since taking office in May last year.  The opening of parliament coincides with the 20th anniversary of former President Nelson Mandela’s release from prison this year, creating a particularly big buzz around the event.

In his first SONA address in June last year Zuma said that Government will ensure that the cost of telecommunications is reduced through the projects underway to expand broadband capacity. “We have to ensure that we do not leave rural areas behind in these exciting developments,” Zuma added.

This year Zuma continued where he left off in 2009, promising lower telecoms rates and better broadband services. “As part of our efforts to encourage greater economic growth, we are working to reduce the cost to communicate,” said Zuma.

“The South African public can look forward to an even further reduction of broadband, cell phone, landline and public phone rates.  We will work to increase broadband speed and ensure a high standard of internet service, in line with international norms.”


Source MyBroadband – 11 February 2010

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By howdous – 11/02/2010 (5 weeks ago)

EASSY 1.4 Tbps To Land In South Africa

The East Africa Submarine Cable System is set to land in Mtunzini, on the north coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal this weekend.

The MTN Group, which is the largest operator investor in the East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), today said it is pleased with the progress being made in the construction of the cable.

A significant milestone will be achieved this weekend when the undersea cable lands in Mtunzini, on the north coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal.

This will be the only landing of the EASSy cable in South Africa and heralds the start of the final stage of the long process of planning, financing, designing and building this important African East Coast consortium cable system.

EASSy, a fully integrated high capacity, multi-technology network, is an undersea fibre-optic cable that will link the countries of Southern, Eastern and Northern Africa to the rest of the world through various interconnection points to the existing global submarine cable network.

When EASSy goes live at the end of June 2010 it will bring a great deal more bandwidth in the country, and should allow companies like MTN to significantly enhance its offering to its customers in South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya with much sought-after international bandwidth capacity.

MTN Group’s Trevor Martins, who is also the EASSy Management Committee Chairman, says the completion of EASSy will boost MTN’s broadband capacity and facilitate MTN’s ongoing efforts to provide its customers with the most affordable access to broadband.

“Over the past years MTN has been a pioneer in pursuing opportunities by investing in technologies, businesses and licences which enhance our delivery of services in data and internet protocol connectivity. As part of a larger strategic portfolio, EASSy is one of such investments and we are excited about the cable landing in Mtunzini. This signals significant progress in the construction of the cable after the northern part of the cable construction off the Port of Sudan,” says Martins.

“The substantial investment MTN has made in EASSy is indicative of the Group’s unwavering commitment to bridge the digital divide and offer its subscribers wider and more affordable access to broadband and telephony,” adds Martins.

At 1.4 Tbps EASSy is set to be undersea cable system in South Africa with the highest capacity to date, complimenting the 1.28 Tbps SEACOM cable and the 340/440 Gbps SAT-3/SAFE system.

Source MyBroadband – 11 February 2010

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By howdous – 11/02/2010 (5 weeks ago)

FNB To Roll Out PayPal

Johannesburg – First National Bank (FNB) executives are expected to convene a fiery meeting on Monday morning following leaks on messaging system, Twitter, that it was bringing Paypal to South Africa by April.

Twitter was abuzz with speculation on Sunday that PayPal would finally be gracing South Africa’s shores later this year.

PayPal is a service aimed at facilitating secure online trade and is viewed as a vital step in seeing South African web offerings become a bigger part of the global economy.

The technology allows users to shop online without revealing their credit card details. This ensures a more secure platform for online transacting and will be a step forward in promoting online trade for South African businesses.

Importantly, the service would make it easier for local retailers to receive payments from overseas customers. The technology has to date received a lukewarm reception from the South African Reserve Bank which is concerned it flaunts foreign exchange regulations.

Asked whether it would be a positive for South African technology entrepreneurs, local venture capital expert Vinny Lingham said: “Without a doubt.” It would further assist in securing online payment processing, he said.

FNB declined to comment, but Fin24.com has learned the project to introduce Paypal is advanced.

Although sources said the Twitter leaks were part of a calculated public relations exercise, FNB executives are furious news of the project broke.

Media and technology analyst Saul Kropman said in a Twitter post it would be interesting to see how the costs of using Paypal shaped up largely because only one bank appeared to be rolling out the product.

FNB has aggressively targeted the small business sector with several technology-driven solutions, including its Instant Accounting offering. Securing PayPal would be another feather in its cap, said Twitter users who added it would provide them access to an invaluable platform for their business.

Ironically, for a country that doesn’t have PayPal, the technology was developed by South African Elon Musk who matriculated from Pretoria Boys High School in 1988.

He is now CEO of US technology company (Space Exploration Technologies) SpaceX which develops technology for high-profile clients, including US space agency NASA.

Source Fin24 – 8 February 2009

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By howdous – 09/02/2010