Author: Chris Anu
Cell C listed on the JSE on Thursday, completing a multi-year turnaround that not only reshaped the business but rescued it from the jaws of business collapse. The shares began trading on Thursday under the code “CCD”, priced at R26.50, giving the operator a market capitalisation of roughly R9-billion. The shares opened at R27 apiece. By the market close, about 252 000 shares had changed hands, valued at nearly R7-million. The listing follows Cell C’s secondary share sale announced earlier this month, which saw 102 million shares placed with institutional investors, raising R2.7-billion for selling shareholder The Prepaid Company (TPC), part…
Dr Werner Vogels, CTO and VP of Amazon. Despite the amplified narrative that generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) will make software developers obsolete, the era of the professional developer is not over.This is one of the key technology predictions by Dr Werner Vogels, CTO and VP of Amazon.com, for 2026 and beyond.Now an annual event, Vogel’s technology predictions aim to offer insights into how emerging technologies will reshape industries and daily life.In his latest forecast, the Amazon CTO addresses both the technical evolution and human impact of tomorrow’s innovations and the new era of AI, among others.According to Vogel, GenAI won’t…
Willem Wentzel senior architect at NEC XON Across Africa’s ports, mines and energy corridors, the race to modernise operations is being slowed by one persistent obstacle: unreliable connectivity. NEC XON’s new high-performance outdoor wireless solution aims to change that, combining satellite, wireless backhaul (point-to-multipoint wireless and point to point) and long-range Wi-Fi in a seamless, resilient network designed for industries where downtime is not an option. “Many enterprises in Africa face chronic coverage gaps due to inconsistent LTE and fibre infrastructure, particularly across vast or transient sites. For mining operations, construction projects or logistics terminals, traditional Wi-Fi and terrestrial networks…
Department of Science, Technology and Innovation minister professor Blade Nzimande. Science, technology and innovation minister Blade Nzimande has once again advocated for improved quality of mathematics and science education in public schools.This, he identified, is among the critical areas that will aid African countries to chart their own sovereign research agenda.Nzimande was speaking at the Science Forum South Africa (SFSA), which is being held under the theme: “Placing science, technology and innovation at the centre of government, education, industry and society.”Now in its 10th year, SFSA 2025 has brought together over 6 000 participants, including scientists, policymakers, youth innovators, entrepreneurs…
Ralph Mupita MTN’s long-running pursuit of Telkom has become something of a South African corporate legend – three attempts across multiple CEOs, countless political crosswinds and, ultimately each time, no deal. Yet, in an interview with TechCentral Show to be published later this week, MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita made it clear that the logic for consolidation in South Africa’s telecommunications sector hasn’t changed. Mupita still believes the South African market “needs consolidation”, ideally into two – or at most three – large mobile network operators. And he’s not alone: the same structural shift has played out in other markets,…
iOCO has appointed Lerato Pule to its board of directors. iOCO, formerly known as EOH, has announced that Lerato Pule will join its board of directors, effective 4 December.The IT solutions company says Pule will serve as an independent non-executive director, a member of the audit and risk committee, and chairperson of the social and ethics committee.Pule previously served as chief financial officer Liquid Intelligent Technologies SA in 2024 and Cell C in 2022.She also served as a non-independent audit and risk committee member of Liquid SA, Cell C, and Afrinet, as well as held trustee positions at the Sasol…
Vodacom has finally overcome the last regulatory hurdle in its long and troubled attempt to acquire a stake in Maziv, four years after they first agreed to the transaction. The mobile telecommunications giant confirmed in a statement to investors on Wednesday that the transaction now has the green light from communications regulator Icasa. The company said all conditions precedent have been met, paving the way for implementation on 1 December 2025. The announcement ends years of uncertainty surrounding one of South Africa’s most significant telecoms infrastructure transactions. Until now, even after the competition appeal court overturned a previous block on…
Microsoft says it does not disclose or comment on the commercial terms of customer agreements. The Gauteng Provincial Government owes Microsoft R344 million in unpaid licence fees.This was revealed during a recent e-government portfolio committee meeting. According to a presentation by the provincial government’s finance department, it embraced digital transformation by integrating a range of Microsoft products into its operations.These tools, including Microsoft Office 365, Teams, SharePoint and Azure, support efficient communication, collaboration and secure data management across departments.By utilising Microsoft’s technology solutions, the provincial government aims to improve service delivery, enhance productivity and foster innovation to meet the needs…
Liam Fisher, global marketing lead for Affinity by Canva Canva quietly dropped a bombshell at the launch of the company’s Johannesburg office on Tuesday: the design giant is seriously considering porting its Affinity creative software suite to Linux. There’s no green light just yet, but global marketing lead for Affinity by Canva, Liam Fisher, told TechCentral that it’s being discussed seriously internally and that’s its one of the top requests from users of the software. Affinity is currently actively working on an iPad version of its new, free-to-use creative design app; once that’s done, it now seems possible – likely, even…
Jill Blaauw, Mami Mthimkhulu and Dakalo Ndangani from the Hardware Distribution sales team. Hardware Distribution, an official distributor of ProLabs solutions across Africa, successfully showcased the latest in high-performance data centre and AI interconnect technology at the Africa Tech Festival, held in Cape Town from 11-13 November.The company highlighted ProLabs’ advanced 100G optics and 200G InfiniBand DACs and optical transceivers, along with the newest 400G and 800G optical solutions purpose-built for AI and machine learning networks.Hardware’s Nilesh Fakir and Jeremy Muller, and Chris Premeji and Chama Chinyanta from Paratus. “As organisations accelerate their digital transformation and their ‘need for speed’,…