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/ 3 June 2008

Outsource me

Facing pressure from shareholders, Telkom looks set to outsource large chunks of its core business. A Telkom strategy document shows that the fixed-line telco is planning to outsource a substantial amount of its core business, including its network, the backbone of telecommunications in the country.

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/ 26 May 2008

Pay-TV smackdown

The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> has established that MultiChoice attempted to take Telkom out of the picture just months before the regulator’s hearings to award new licences began. Since then the broadcaster has taken new licensee e.Sat out of the market with a deal that will see the launch of the e.News 24-hour news channel on the DStv bouquet in June.

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/ 16 May 2008

Spreading the word 24/7

While the introduction of new satellite broadcasters into the South African market is floundering, e.tv is less than a month away from launching its 24-hour news channel on the DStv bouquet. The new studios and newsrooms were bristling with activity this week when editor-in-chief Debora Patta took the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> on a walk-through.

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/ 16 May 2008

Tackling the felons

Mooted amendments to the Competition Act, which could lead to jail time for executives overseeing collusion and price-fixing, could weaken the Competition Commission rather than give it more clout. This week Cabinet was expected to view the draft Competition Amendment Bill, which is reported to contain measures to deal with cartels in South African industries.

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/ 14 May 2008

The end of cheap flights?

As jet fuel prices skyrocket, airlines the world over are closing down and analysts are speculating that the cheap-flight era is coming to an end. South African Airways, in the middle of a restructuring process to become profitable, could see its fuel bill almost double, which might lead to taxpayers having to bail it out again.

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/ 9 May 2008

Indian mobile giant has its eye on MTN

Two of the developing world’s cellphone giants are sizing each other up, while other contendors look on with interest. There is little difference between MTN and Bharti Airtel — India’s largest mobile operator — at the weigh-in, which makes it difficult to predict which company would win a bout between them.

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/ 5 May 2008

Cracked iPhones hit SA

South African consumers fed up with the delay in Apple’s iPhone reaching our shores are paying excessive prices to get their hands on "grey imports", which are cracked to work on local mobile networks such as MTN, Cell C and Vodacom. But they might not have to for much longer. Vodacom’s spokesperson, Dot Field, said the mobile operator will make an announcement on the iPhone next week.

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/ 25 April 2008

Big retail in food probe

Supermarket chains are to be pulled into the Competition Commission’s investigation into collusion in the milk industry, following a complaint by dairy farmers. Milk prices, along with other basic food products, have increased drastically in the past year.

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/ 15 April 2008

Bring on the ‘big bang’

In a bid to introduce much-needed competition into the telecommunications sector, South Africa’s smaller wireless telecoms players have taken the regulator and the minister of communications to court. This move can be viewed as a direct challenge to government’s failed policy of managed liberalisation.

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/ 18 March 2008

Indian lessons in busting cartels

South African mobile operators are charging up to 1&nbsp;000% more than Indian mobile operators for a minute-long call. A comparison between one of MTN’s standard pre-paid packages and Indian operator Reliance Mobile’s standard packages showed that mobile call rates in South Africa are exorbitantly overpriced.

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/ 10 March 2008

Ivy begs for Sentech’s survival

It was a game of pass the buck in the government last week over who exactly was responsible for the decline of state-owned telco Sentech. Early last week, Sentech released a position paper in which it accused the government of failing to allocate it the funding it required to roll out its wireless broadband network.

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/ 10 March 2008

Booming TV

Local television producers wait with bated breath for the expected multibillion-rand boost to the sector that is expected to be driven by the entry of three new broadcasters in the second half of this year. Analysts and stakeholders are predicting an investment between R2-billion and R5-billion.

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/ 22 February 2008

Transport on track

Analysts say that Transport Minister Jeff Radebe has made all the right noises about public transport being the legacy of the 2010 World Cup and, if the budget is anything to go on, the Cabinet fully endorses his view. Trevor Manuel has allocated R6-billion to building public transport infrastructure over the next three years.

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/ 14 February 2008

Gangsta Pharma

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. It seems the two big players in South Africa’s pharmaceutical cartel ignored this famous piece of advice and now they’re facing the heat. It’s a classic street story of the double-cross and the snitch told by gangsters the world over.

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/ 13 February 2008

An empowering year?

The main development to watch in 2008 will be the implementation of the department of trade and industry’s codes of good practice. So says Rhodes University’s Reg Rumney. He says the existing sectoral charters need to be aligned with these codes and already teething problems are springing up, says Lloyd Gedye.

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/ 8 February 2008

Power struggle ‘lies behind rugby deal’

While SuperSport has been throwing millions at sporting events in an attempt to prevent new competitors from gaining a foothold, it appears to have sewn up rugby for a steal. The R700-million broadcast deal that was announced by SuperSport and SA Rugby this week has drawn fierce controversy, especially because no other broadcaster was invited to bid.

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/ 1 February 2008

Milking it

Following hot on the heels of the competition authorities’ investigation into price fixing in the bread industry comes the announcement that dairy processors are set to appear in the dock for collusion. The Competition Tribunal announced this week that it would be holding a pre-hearing into alleged collusion by eight dairy processors next Thursday, during which evidence will be assessed and hearing dates set.

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/ 1 February 2008

Pay-TV as soap opera

South Africa’s broadcasting regulator, Icasa, is under fire from all sides after the launch of what it terms a rogue broadcaster — and with potential legal challenges mounting. When Icasa licensed five subscription broadcasters in September last year, the introduction of competition to the sector was heralded as a milestone.

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/ 28 January 2008

Cell C eyes Telkom

South Africa’s telecommunications landscape looks set for a shake-up with the first steps towards the unbundling of Telkom and Vodacom on the cards.This week Middle Eastern telecoms company Oger announced that it had made an offer to buy a share in Telkom, South Africa’s effective fixed-line monopoly.

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/ 18 January 2008

Bread producers raise ‘middle finger’

Bread producers are allegedly continuing to collude on price-setting even though an investigation is ongoing and there is a political row heating up on the most recent cost hikes. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> understands that Foodcorp contacted Tiger Brands less than a month ago to find out when it would be raising its bread prices.

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/ 18 December 2007

A concealed case of collusion

As the fallout from the bread price-fixing scandal grows, consumers are still not sure exactly what happened, who was responsible and what is being done about it. The executives of Premier Foods and Tiger Brands will have us believe that they knew nothing about the price-fixing and that disciplinary action is being taken against those involved, writes Lloyd Gedye.

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/ 14 December 2007

e.Sat out of pay-TV battle

The race to see who will emerge as MultiChoice’s main pay-TV competitor has claimed its first casualty, with e.tv sister company e.Sat announcing its partnership with the incumbent. e.Sat announced recently that its 24hour news channel will be part of the DStv bouquet.

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/ 7 December 2007

Zuma’s shady friends

<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=zuma_report"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/243078/zuma.jpg" align=left border=0></a>Jacob Zuma has been on an international mission, addressing investors across the world, some of whom have been worried about what would happen to the South African economy should he take over as president. However, some of those who arranged the meetings with investors are themselves colourful and controversial characters.