Airtel, Samsung launch African app challenge
Bharti Airtel, with telecommunication operations in 20 countries across Africa and Asia, has launched an application challenge for start-up developers as it seeks to attract the “next big app developers” into the Airtel group of companies.The challenge – a...Ericsson, Softbank start 5G trials
Ericsson is extending its long-term partnership with Japanese mobile operator SoftBank, by adding joint field trials of 5G technology in Tokyo.The two companies will co-operate in developing a common understanding of 5G use cases and deployment scenarios, and will...MTN and union agree to end strike
MTN South Africa CEO Mteto Nyati has announced the company has agreed with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) to end the strike immediately. Nyati apologised for the inconvenience that MTN customers suffered during the period of the strike, and thanked them for their patience and loyalty.
First look at Pluto surface
Icy mountains on Pluto and a new, crisp view of its largest moon, Charon, are among the several discoveries announced by NASA’s New Horizons team, just one day after the spacecraft’s first-ever Pluto flyby. A new close-up image of an equatorial region near the base of Pluto’s bright heart-shaped feature shows a mountain range with peaks jutting as high as 3 500m above the surface of the icy body. The mountains on Pluto likely formed no more than 100-million years ago – mere youngsters in a 4,56-billion-year-old solar system. This suggests the close-up region, which covers about 1% of Pluto’s surface, may still be geologically active today. Unlike the icy moons of giant planets, Pluto cannot be heated by gravitational interactions with a much larger planetary body. Some other process must be generating the mountainous landscape.
SA consumers happy with their cell phones
South Africans appear to be very satisfied with their mobile handsets, according to the latest South African Customer Satisfaction Index. More than 2 105 consumers were included in an independent survey which gave the brands an overall score of 77.2 out of 100. The data was collected between March and May 2015. Apple, Nokia and Samsung set the benchmark with scores of 82.7, 78.9 and 78.8 respectively, with Nokia and Samsung’s scores very close to one another. Blackberry scored below par at 70.6, despite improving its scores since last year.