Author: Chris Anu

MTN has approached the Constitutional Court in the $4.2 billion case with Istanbul-based Turkcell. Istanbul-based Turkcell has noted MTN’s latest court bid that seeks leave to appeal the recent Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling in the long-running bribery dispute. According to a statement, MTN, Phuthuma Nhleko and Irene Charnley have approached the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) to appeal the SCA decision that allows for the case to be heard in South African courts.The ConCourt will now decide whether to hear the appeal filed by MTN and the other defendants in the ongoing legal battle, notes the statement. Cedric Soule, global…

Jony Ive and Sam Altman You wouldn’t exactly call it understated. In a video, Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, jostles along a busy San Francisco pavement. Jony Ive, the legendary former Apple product designer and knight of the realm, descends the city’s steep, colourful streets. “I have a growing sense that everything I have learned over the last 30 years has led me to this moment,” Ive says in a voiceover. They meet like old pals at Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic Cafe Zoetrope. They sit down to record a video so slick the old director would likely be…

Aysha Sassman, programme manager: Testing and QA, iOCO Digital. (Image: Supplied) A few years ago, as the buzz around AI started growing louder in the tech world, I began to feel a sense of unease. Everywhere I looked, there were articles, webinars and conference talks declaring that AI was going to revolutionise testing. Automation, machine learning and algorithms were going to handle tasks that testers like me had been doing for years. As exciting as the promise of AI was, there was an underlying question I couldn’t ignore: Where do I fit into this new world? Like many QA professionals, I…

Groupe Canal+’s planned acquisition of MultiChoice Group just cleared a major hurdle: the Competition Commission on Wednesday recommended the deal be allowed to proceed – with conditions. The commission said in a statement that it has recommended to its sister regulator, the Competition Tribunal, that the multibillion-rand broadcasting mega-deal be permitted. “The commission is of the view that the proposed transaction is unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in any market,” it said. “However, in recognition of the important role played by [MultiChoice] within the broader audiovisual ecosystem in South Africa, and to address public interest concerns raised by…

Technology Innovation Institute and AI71 Collaborate with Amazon Web Services to Scale AI Innovations in the UAE and Beyond (photo: AETOSWire) Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the creator of the globally ranked Falcon series of AI models and security and privacy solutions, as well as AI71, a leading Abu Dhabi AI company delivering tailored enterprise products, are collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to expand access to made-in-the UAE AI models and solutions. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250521645833/en/By combining TII’s technical expertise in large language models (LLMs), AI71’s expertise in building advanced AI…

The South African Revenue Service aims to use “advanced” data analytics and AI tools as part of a plan to achieve what it’s described as a “tougher” revenue collection target set by finance minister Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday. The R7.5-billion medium-term allocation initially earmarked for Sars in the first draft of the budget has not changed. R3-billion of this allocation has been set aside for technological upgrades. These upgrades include employing additional IT expertise. Sars wants to increase the tax take by between R20-billion and R50-billion compared to the previous financial year. “To meet its revised revenue estimate this year,…

In a diplomatic world where every gesture is read, every handshake analyzed, and every gift interpreted as symbolic, a recent scene involving Cameroon’s Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, and His Holiness Pope Leo XIV offers a revealing lens into the cultural and political rot consuming Cameroon. A video that has since gone viral captures what should have been a routine greeting with the Pope, but instead ended in a moment of awkward refusal that has stirred conversation across continents.The footage, lasting less than a minute, shows Atanga Nji extending what appears to be an unsealed envelope directly into…

MoMo Pay digitises payments for vendors, spaza shops and street traders. MTN’s mobile money platform, MoMo, has launched MoMo Pay, a digital payment solution for informal merchants. In a statement, MTN says small informal businesses are the backbone of South Africa’s economy, yet many still operate outside the formal financial system, with limited access to digital payments, affordable banking, or reliable credit.It adds that in a country where over 80% of transactions in the informal sector remain cash-based, the need for inclusive, low-cost financial tools is more urgent than ever.According to MTN, this initiative aims to bridge the financial inclusion…

Boasting 1.6 million subscribers after less than three years in the market, Capitec Connect has quickly become South Africa’s largest MVNO – and it has an ambitious plan for further growth. Dalene Steyn, head of Capitec Connect, tells the TechCentral Show (TCS) that the MVNO – or mobile virtual network operator – market in South Africa is poised for further expansion as banks, retailers and other brands muscle into the mobile business through wholesale partnerships with network operators. According to Steyn, although Capitec Connect is not a loss leader for the bank, the focus for now is building a critical…

AI accelerates data transformation. In a recent interview with Blaze McArthur, pre-sales solution architect at CloudZA, we delved into the intricacies of cloud migration and modernisation for businesses in South Africa.CloudZA, a South Africa-based cloud consulting company, assists organisations with their AI, GenAI and data projects in the cloud, offering services from modernisation to migration and data lakes.Businesses often face several challenges during cloud migration, such as a lack of in-house cloud skills, data loss and security concerns, cost management, vendor lock-in and data security and compliance. AI, particularly generative AI (GenAI), has significantly improved cloud migration processes, explains McArthur.AI…