Telecommunications giant Ericsson will offer live demonstrations of its offerings for the next generation in wireless broadband technology, Long Term Evolution (LTE) , at AfricaCom 2008 in Cape Town next week.

A wide selection of Ericsson’s solutions will be on show at AfricaCom 2008 in Cape Town on 18 and 19 November 2008., including its ‘Full Service Broadband’, Managed Services and Multimedia Solutions, together with live demonstrations of its HSPA, Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Convergent Charging options.

“The LTE demonstration is likely to generate quite a large amount of interest this year, in particular,” observes Aingharan Kanagaratnam, senior manager: Radio Access Sales Support, market unit sub-Saharan Africa, “since it will show what people will be using this technology for and the exciting possibilities that exist when bandwidth is no longer a limitation.”



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Telkom today confirmed the key terms of the sale of a 15% stake in Vodacom, South Africa’s leading mobile phone operator, to UK-based Vodafone Group and the intended listing of Vodacom on the JSE.

Telkom formally confirmed today that a 15% stake in Vodacom will be sold to Vodafone for R22.5bn in cash, less Vodacom’s attributable net debt of R1.55bn. Telkom will distribute 50% of the after tax proceeds from the sale transaction to Telkom shareholders by way of a special dividend. The dividend will be paid upon closing of the transaction, which is expected to take place in the first half of 2009.

The transaction is subject to approval by 75% of Telkom shareholders, the competition authorities and the Independent Communication Authority of SA (ICASA). Irrevocable undertakings in support of the transaction have already been received from Telkom’s largest shareholders, the South African Government and the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).



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The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly closed in Johannesburg last week with decisions on a wide range of issues that will change the future direction of the information and communication technology (ICT) industry .
The role of information and communication technology (ICT) in climate change stands out among a range of key issues that the global telecommunications industry body has agreed to tackle in the coming years.

Members of the International Telecommunications Union, spanning the global ICT industry and administrations from across the world, asked for increased emphasis on key areas such as ICTs and climate change, the deployment of IPv6, accessibility to ICTs for persons with disabilities, conformance and interoperability testing, and encouraging academic participation in the ITU’s work.

Malcolm Johnson, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) said in his closing speech: “We have received a strong message from our members that ITU is, and will remain the world’s pre-eminent global telecommunication and ICT standards body. And we also hear very clearly that ITU should continue on its mission to connect the world, and that bridging the standardization gap – by increasing developing country participation in our work – is an essential prerequisite to achieve this goal.”



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The organisers of AfricaCom Awards 2008 have announced the finalists for the inaugural African telecommunications awards taking place on 18 November 2008 at the International Convention Centre, Cape Town.

South Africa’s new second Network operator, Neotel, has been nominated as a finalist in the New Entrant of the Year category for the AfricaCom Awards 2008. It joins several dozen other African telecommunications operators and suppliers who are vying for recognition.

The awards recognise the achievements and success within the African communications market during the last twelve months.

According to the organisers, the quality and quantity of entries was exceptional and sets the standard for the African telecommunications industry going into 2009.

The finalists are:



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In a decision that may change the shape of South African telecommunications, a High Court ruling was made on 29 August 2008 by Justice Norman Davis that Value Added Network Service licence holders, which include all Internet Service Providers, must be allowed by the regulator to provide their own network infrastructure. ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK assesses the implications.

Today may have seen the beginning of the end of the dreaded monster lurking in the tangled forests of South African telecommunications law. When Judge Norman Davis ruled in the High Court this morning that Value Added Network Services (VANS) must be allowed to provide their own networks – and that the regulator is obliged to grant the appropriate license to any network that chooses to do so -  he heralded the beginning of a truly competitive environment in telecommunications.

The court case was brought by Altech Autopage against the telecoms regulator, ICASA, essentially to force ICASA to issue a new category of telecoms licences to anyone who applied, rather than cherry-picking a select handful that ICASA decided were worthy.

The Electronic Communications Act envisages that these ECNS (Electronic Communications Network Services) or I-ECNS (Individual ECNS) licences would eventually allow their holders to provide any communications service, from Internet to phone to broadcasting, as the technology underpinning these services is all moving to a common platform, namely the Internet Protocol). Little wonder everyone would like a slice of that pie.



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