139 Johann Combrink In the early days of Pepla Software Solutions, there was no polished office, no investor backing and no large corporate structure behind the business. There was simply an empty…
Category: Business
Takealot Group bets local scale can hold Amazon at bay
167 Takealot Group CEO Frederik Zietsman Takealot Group is not treating Amazon’s arrival in South Africa as a threat to be survived so much as a contest just getting under way. “We’ve…
Vodacom takes the reins at Safaricom in R35-billion deal
170 Giraffe against the Nairobi skyline in Kenya Vodacom Group has completed the acquisition of an additional 20% effective interest in Safaricom, lifting its holding in the Kenyan operator from about 35%…
Root44 Closure Hits Stellenbosch Market Traders
117 Root44 in Stellenbosch has announced that it will close until further notice, saying the decision was made with “great sadness” and would affect jobs, traders and families. In a notice addressed…
South Africa’s fibre underdogs are beating the giants
149 A group of smaller fibre network operators (FNOs) have scored ahead of most of South Africa’s established players in the latest perception survey from the Internet Service Providers’ Association (Ispa), the…
Why more data is not the answer
153 For years, digital transformation strategies have rested on a simple assumption: more data creates better decisions. Today many organisations are discovering the opposite can also be true. As enterprises deploy AI…
South Africa’s broadband future is being decided in orbit, not in Pretoria
158 A Starlink terminal in the remote Kalahari. Image: Jannie van Zyl On Monday, South Africa’s communications regulator gave prospective satellite operators an unusually candid piece of advice: if you want to…
iPhone 18 secrets spill onto the dark web
151 Sensitive lists of components and suppliers, and photos of Apple’s upcoming iPhone 18 Pro models are part of files posted on the dark web by the ransomware group that stole data…
Icasa’s blunt message to Starlink and other satellite operators
160 Satellite operators wanting to launch a constellation-based service such as Starlink in South Africa cannot obtain the necessary network licence from the regulator at present, and their realistic route into the…
Food delivery helps fire Prosus to 84% profit surge
132 Naspers’s European-listed subsidiary, Prosus, has reported an 84% leap in full-year adjusted core profit, with its consumer platforms profitable across all regions for the first time. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax,…