Articles by Gythan Munga

Articles by Gythan Munga, Page 3

Tue, October 16th, 13:00 · Gythan Munga

Upcoming African Startup Events, 17-28 October

Africa's self professed 'Silicon Savannah' is amassing enough resources to put up an ICT powerhouse capable of changing lives in the continent. Here’s everything you need to know about upcoming technology events in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria in a week. → Read more
Tue, October 16th, 08:48 · Gythan Munga

Ethiopian communications moving towards open market

Despite state-owned Ethio-Telecom maintaining a monopoly over the country’s telecommunications market, the Ethiopian government may be edging towards a more open market, embracing foreign investors and pushing to expand network, infrastructure and penetration. → Read more
Mon, October 15th, 13:33 · Gythan Munga

$4.2bn MTN Iran case halted by court

A US court has halted proceedings in the US$4.2 billion case against the MTN Group, which sees the group accused of corruption, bribery and assisting in arms provision to Iran. → Read more
Mon, October 15th, 12:50 · Gythan Munga

Cell-C’s Knott-Craig launches aggressive action against Vodacom’s customer base

He may be “IT Person of the Year”, but Alan Knott-Craig Sr has not made friends everywhere, developing quite a reputation for jumping ship and now targeting his former employer as he looks to turn Cell-C into a South African powerhouse. → Read more
Mon, October 15th, 07:06 · Gythan Munga

No need to fear

South Africa’s LTE network will not experience any issues despite increases in traffic, say officials at Vodacom, in spite of fears of so-called “signalling storms”. → Read more
Fri, October 12th, 13:24 · Gythan Munga

Vodacom: More spectrum crucial to meeting SA broadband targets

Vodacom officials say that the South African government’s Vision 2020 target of 100 percent broadband penetration will not be met without more spectrum, which is unlikely in the near future. → Read more
Thu, October 11th, 13:23 · Gythan Munga

Vodacom pleased with “phenomenal” LTE speed; says there is more to do

Vodacom officials believe they have achieved “phenomenal” spectrum speed after its LTE launch in Johannesburg yesterday, but admit there is still work to be done in rolling out the services nationwide. → Read more
Thu, October 11th, 11:47 · Gythan Munga

South Africa’s digital switchover remains in limbo

South Africa’s move from analogue to digital television is not running as smoothly as hoped, with e.tv launching a high court action against Communications Minister Dina Pule which could see the switchover delayed even further. → Read more
Thu, October 11th, 09:17 · Gythan Munga

Student suspended for washing college’s ‘dirty linen’ on Facebook, Twitter

A student in Kenya has been suspended for one year after being accused of ranting against his college on social media. → Read more
Thu, October 11th, 08:51 · Gythan Munga

Whatever happened to Herman Heunis?

Almost 8 years ago, Herman Heunis set-up African instant messaging platform Mxit – flying in the face of critics who insisted Instant Messaging (IM) was over. Heunis’ faith in his project has been well placed – Mxit is now Africa’s fastest growing social networking site and rivals are also having successes, with 2go, billed as the next Mxit, having reached over 10 million users – proving that Heunis was right to insist IM still has a long life ahead. → Read more
Wed, October 10th, 13:24 · Gythan Munga

Nhleko fights claims of bribery on MTN watch

Steering South African telecoms group MTN for nine years, Phuthuma Nhleko amassed quite a reputation for the successes the company achieved under his leadership. However, since leaving his position as Group CEO last year, Nhleko has been plagued with criticism and accusations of corrupt practices while at MTN. → Read more
Wed, October 10th, 07:00 · Gythan Munga

OPINION: Monopoly, not censorship, main threat to Ethiopia telecoms market

The Ethiopian government has been attacked from all sides in the last few months, with shouts of “Ethiopia bans Skype!” from activists and reporters. As it turned out, Ethiopia had not banned Skype or any other service, but was merely looking to crack down on misuse of such services by fraudulent businesses. The real issue for debate here is how the government continues to miss the dangerous lack of competition that continues to hinder the sector. → Read more
Tue, October 9th, 11:56 · Gythan Munga

Focus on Naspers CEO Koos Bekker

Koos Bekker, CEO of Naspers and one of the richest men in South Africa, compares his love of doing business to eating prawns. The quirky billionaire’s nonchalant attitude, however, detracts from a career brimming with astute business acumen in which he has transformed the African media business sector. → Read more
Tue, October 9th, 06:42 · Gythan Munga

Applications open for Safaricom’s AppStar challenge

Safaricom in partnership with the Vodafone Group has unveiled an Appstar challenge for local application developers, who will be contesting for a grand prize of KSh1 million. → Read more
Tue, October 9th, 06:34 · Gythan Munga

2go founders able to spurn investors and ride growth wave

As their social media site 2go hits the 20 million user mark, founders Alan Wolff and Ashley Peters are seeing their African expansion develop exactly according to plan. The site is growing so quickly, in fact, that the pair can afford to reject offers of investment that they were so desperate for back at the project’s initiation. → Read more
Mon, October 8th, 11:06 · Gythan Munga

Kagame puts ICT at centre of Rwandan growth strategy

Since taking office in 2000, President Paul Kagame has taken Rwanda by the cuff and driven unprecedented growth, resulting in the country being ranked the third most competitive in Sub-Saharan Africa in this year’s World Economic Forum global competitiveness report. Amongst the President’s pet topics – increasing ICT availability across the East African country in a bid to drive the country’s growing economy. → Read more
Fri, October 5th, 12:40 · Gythan Munga

Upcoming African Startup Events, 8-14 October

With help from international investors, Africa is quickly innovating to find home-grown solutions for local problems. Here’s everything you need to know about upcoming technology events in South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria in a week. → Read more
Mon, October 1st, 17:10 · Gythan Munga

Safaricom cuts off 680,000 fake phone subscribers

Safaricom, Kenya’s leading mobile network operator, today cut off 680,000 subscribers in compliance with the Communication Commission of Kenya’s fake handset switch-off directive. → Read more
Mon, October 1st, 11:30 · Gythan Munga

OPINION: Take on CCK’s fake handset switch-off fiasco

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) is just about to take the bold step of switching off all counterfeit mobile handsets, looking to rid Kenyan streets of black market phones. → Read more
Fri, September 28th, 16:00 · Gythan Munga

Upcoming African Startup Events, 1-7 October

To take full advantage of their potential entrepreneurs must attract like minded people in their industry. Here’s everything you need to know about upcoming technology events in Kenya and South Africa in a week. → Read more