Vodacom SA delivers compact dual-band Massive MIMO solution
Vodacom South Africa has successfully tested the world’s first integrated passive-active Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) solution, which supports the continued evolution of its 4G and 5G network. The technology will enable Vodacom to increase network...
The last thing rural SA needs is a competition holiday
The Association of Comms and Technology (ACT) wants a five-year exemption from parts of the Competition Act so that six of South Africa’s largest network operators can coordinate parts of their rural infrastructure rollout. By Paul Colmer, executive member of the...
SA’s fibre market enters its next chapter: what happens after the rollout race?
The South African fibre landscape is currently dominated by noise, from the arrival of LEO satellites to infrastructure operators launching their own retail ISPs. Trevor van Zyl, CEO of Octotel, says the focus must shift from simply laying cable to solving complex,...
The biggest change to SA broadband won’t come from fibre
South Africa has spent years treating fibre as the broadband finish line and wireless as a temporary arrangement until the trench reaches the gate. That hierarchy is now out of date, writes Paul Colmer, executive member of the Wireless Access Providers' Association...
Telecoms uptime is as much a function of finance as it is engineering
Connectivity has become the lifeblood of modern businesses. When they’re connected, they can operate, and when they are down, they lose money. This means that for telecoms providers, uptime has become critical. By Elzette Cronje Jordaan, head of finance at Backspace...
Openserve’s ISP play: the ‘underserved communities’ excuse has officially expired
South Africa's telecoms sector has a stock excuse it reaches for whenever a powerful player wants to do something anticompetitive, and it never seems to wear out: we're doing this for the underserved communities. By Paul Colmer, Executive Member, Wireless Access...
Vox’s wholesale ISP services empower local ISPs
In the past, wholesale connectivity - a model that allows local ISPs to focus on customer service and market expansion while leveraging shared infrastructure for scale - has existed more as a theoretical offering than a practical and scalable platform for partners. By...
NEC XON and PowerX join forces across Africa
NEC Africa and PowerX have announced a strategic partnership to deliver intelligent remote management system (RMS) and energy efficiency solutions for large, distributed telecommunications networks across Africa. The partnership combines NEC's proven track record of...
MetroFibre reaffirms Mplify Carrier Ethernet for Business certification
MetroFibre has reaffirmed that it holds Mplify Carrier Ethernet for Business certification across its six certified Carrier Ethernet services: E-Line, Access E-Line (A EPL), Access E-Line (A EVPL), Transit E-Line, E-LAN and E-Tree. The Mplify Carrier Ethernet for...
Connectivity has become a board-level strategic issue
There was a time when connectivity was seen as infrastructure, or worse, as background noise for the IT department while business decision-makers focused on more important decisions. By Willem van Zyl, chief technology officer of Backspace Technologies Those days are...
Resilience is the new competitive advantage
In today's digital economy, continuous connectivity is no longer a luxury but an expectation, making uninterrupted uptime essential. By Richard Schumacher, Seacom group MD: digital infrastructure Yet many organisations still treat redundancy as a technical...
Connectivity fails when people can’t use it
As South Africa prepares to mark World Telecommunication and Information Society Day on 17 May, the conversation around connectivity is shifting from infrastructure to impact. Vuyani Jarana, CEO of Ilitha Telecommunications, says the next phase of South Africa’s...