Shoks Mzolo

Listed telecommunications group Telkom’s response to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s (Icasa) findings on ADSL is a mixed bag, with the operator calling for another look into a specific area it describes as "flawed" findings.

While the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and other entities welcomed Telkom’s announcement to reduce tariffs as a "good sign", they said that the fixed-line monopoly’s proposed tariffs remain high by international standards.

While the statutory Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) is poised to introduce a framework that will yield lower cellphone tariffs, Cell C this month hiked tariffs and MTN and Vodacom are likely to follow suit on August 1, it emerged this week.

The naming of the R900-million Gautrain rapid rail’s winning bidder by Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa remains on hold until further notice as the government’s three-way team continues to mull over the finer details, it emerged on Thursday.

South Africa’s introduction of cellphone number portability — an environment that will enable cellphone subscribers to keep their numbers irrespective of which network they use — has been put on hold until at least next year, it emerged on Wednesday after a stakeholders’ meeting.

South Africa’s only listed mobile telecommunications operator, MTN Group, had a 45% rise in its adjusted headline earnings per share for the full year ended March 2005 to 366,6 cents, from an adjusted Heps of 253,1 cents reported in 2004, the group said on Thursday. Its subscriber base grew by 50% to 14,3-million in six countries.

Shares in telecommunications group Telkom rose to a lifetime high of R119 per share on Monday after the firm announced its financial results for the year ended March 2005. Telkom reported a 53% rise in basic earnings per share to 1241,8 cents, from last year’s 812 cents.

South Africa’s third mobile operator Cell C would "wait and see" before it went ahead with the issuance of €625-million (about R5-billion) worth of high yield bonds, adviser to the unlisted company’s CEO Jonathan Newman said on Monday. He stated that although there were signs that the market was improving, the Saudi-backed operator had decided to wait until the bond market stabilised

With the launch of the new search engine <a href="http://www.funnel.co.za" target="_blank" class="standardtext">Funnel</a>, South African internet users will be able to get faster, more accurate and more relevant results, as the engine only indexes South African sites, the Funnel team announced this week.

Shares in Telkom soared almost 4% in early trade on Tuesday after the telecommunications group said in a trading statement before the opening that it expects a rise of 35% in basic earnings per share and a 55% surge in headline earnings per share for the year ended March 2005.

Johannesburg-listed mobile operator MTN Group said on Thursday that while aiming to cautiously expand across the developing markets, its plans to enter Iran remained suspended until after the general elections in that country. MTN — currently seeking to gain a 100% holding in Dutch-based Celtel International — said it was prepared to acquire a 49% stake in Iran’s new mobile operator.

Shares in mobile service provider MTN Group collected 4,19% in Friday’s early session on the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE), where it was among the most active shares by value and number of shares traded. Traders attributed the surge to a renewed interest by foreigners.

As the public hearings on Telkom’s ADSL broadband service neared an end on Monday, Naspers subsidiary M-Web argued that despite numerous calls for the dual-listed group to reduce its charges, Telkom will oppose a decrease in ADSL tariffs. Telkom will on Monday afternoon receive an opportunity to express its response.

Almost two years have gone by without any results since Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri announced in Parliament that disadvantaged South Africans stood in line to get SIM cards and cellphone handsets, which would be supplied free of charge.

The information and communications technology (ICT) charter’s working group chairperson, advocate Dali Mpofu, on Wednesday dismissed rumours that the camp is in crisis, instead arguing that nothing has changed. "There is no crisis. We are not restarting the whole process of drawing up the charter again; that is ridiculous," he said.

As part of its agenda towards enterprise development, community rehabilitation and public works, the Business Trust has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Public Works and pumped R100-million into the Expanded Public Works Programme, the trust’s chief operating officer, Brian Whittaker, said on Thursday.

South African Transport Workers’ Union spokesperson Abner Ramakgolo announced on Tuesday that following an agreement reached with employers, truck drivers have ended their strike and will resume work on Wednesday. The strike action that started on February 26 saw more than 30&nbsp;000 truck drivers striking as a result of a snag in wage negotiations.

NRG Gestetner South Africa, the wholly owned multinational subsidiary of NRG, has entered into a R9-million black economic empowerment (BEE) partnership with Chaka Chaka Investments — led by singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka, who will take on the role of CEO at Gestetner Tshwane.

Telkom announced on Thursday that it is to reduce its ADSL prices from March 1 as part of its new broadband initiative unveiled by CEO Sizwe Nxasana. This includes the launch of HomeDSL 192 for residential customers and the commercial roll-out of the Telkom T-Zone in partnership with Wireless G.

South Africa will in April play host to the ICT in Government summit, industry research house and event organisers ForgeAhead announced on Friday. The summit will be attended by various African government leaders, decision-makers and representatives of the information and communications technology industry.

The share price of media and entertainment group Primedia surged by 7,27% on Tuesday following its trading update in which the company said it expects interim headline earnings per share and earnings per share to be between 30% and 50% higher than the previous comparable period.

Local internet service provider M-Web looks set to unsettle South Africa’s national fixed-line and mobile operators with its new offering, Callsaver, which enables its subscribers to make calls to international destinations at tariffs lower than cellular and landline services, it emerged on Friday.

While Dimension Data (Didata) billed 2004 as the year to stabilise and invest in growth, the dual- listed group’s CEO Brett Dawson told the investment community in London that 2005 is the year for profitable growth. He was speaking at Didata’s Investor Day seminar, attended by institutional investors and analysts on Thursday evening.

AltX-listed food company All Joy’s deal with the National Empowerment Fund, whereby 8,33-million shares in All Joy were bought by the fund, will help beef up the company’s empowerment status while improving the share liquidity, as it will allow ordinary people to own 26% in the group, CEO and chairperson Marci Pather said on Tuesday.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) is set to host public hearings this week on the draft value added network service (Vans) regulations in preparation of a managed liberalisation which gets under way from February 1.

South African business owners are the second most optimistic among their peers internationally, the first results from the 2005 Grant Thornton International Business Owners Survey released on Monday reveal. Proudly at number two, South Africa beat countries such as Ireland, Australia and Canada