Other News
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Mobile
Vodacom cuts Africa roaming rates
Vodacom has introduced roaming savings for customers travelling to 6 African countries where Vodacom and Vodafone operate. These countries include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania. The operator has introduced flat rates which have resulted in roaming data rates being reduced from R17.50/MB to only R5/MB. In addition, roaming customers will also get free incoming calls when they travel in these countries. Vodacom says it is leveraging its presence and that of its parent company [...]
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Internet
African internet makes steady progress
Broadband connectivity will be one of the major spurs to the growth of African economies over the next decade, but there is still plenty of work to be done in building the telecommunications backbone, says SEACOM. According to at Baigrie, head of business development at SEACOM, connecting the continent to the global village is still a challenge. Speaking at the Africa Economic Forum, he says that broadband is to the 21st century what railways were to the last century – [...]
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Mobile
FNB eWallet hits 1 million mark
FNB has announced that more than 1 million eWallets have been created – while over R1.6 billion has been paid into FNB eWallets since inception in 2009. FNB eWallet allows people to send money to anyone in South Africa with a valid cellphone number. The recipient is able to withdraw cash at FNB ATMs, buy pre-paid airtime or electricity, send money to another cellphone, purchase and/or get cash at selected retailers as well as make once off payments. “We have seen [...]
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Mobile
8ta extends data promotion
8ta has announced that its Midnight Surfer data offering, will be extended by one hour. The data offer, which provides internet surfing at a discounted rate, will now be known as Night Surfer and be available from 11pm until 5am. “We analysed our network load curves during the course of the day and have decided that we do have capacity at 23h00 to cater for increased network utilisation without compromising the user experience. This is a case of passing [...]
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Internet
Beware of phone scammers - Microsoft
Microsoft has warned local consumers to be wary of a phone scam that has left some victims hundreds of rands out of pocket. Microsoft SA’s chief security advisor, Khomotso Kganyago, says scammers are using several well-known brands, including Microsoft, to fool people into believing that something is wrong with their computers. The scam typically involves a cold caller, claiming to be a representative of Microsoft, one of its brands or a third party contracted by Microsoft, who tells the victim [...]
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Internet
Oltio joins forces with PayU
Oltio, has partnered with PayU to introduce mobile payment solution, payD, to the local market. PayD aims to remove obstacles to the mainstream adoption of e-commerce by transforming a user’s mobile phone into a remote point of sale (POS) device, using debit or credit cards for payments to be processed. “This is a significant partnership for us because PayU currently processes 65% of all online payments in South Africa for brands such as Kalahari.com and Netflorist, which is at the [...]
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Internet
FNB warns against Easter fraud
FNB has advised consumers to be extra vigilant of scams where fraudsters will try to obtain information from them over the Easter period. “Scammers are highly sophisticated, they are constantly creating new scams and customers need to be aware of these techniques so that they don’t fall victim to such scams,” says Ravesh Ramlakan, CEO of FNB Cellphone Banking. FNB has warned against several common fraud scams, including phishing, smishing, vishing and sim swaps. Phishing is a scam whereby [...]
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Internet
ISPA members compliance grows
The Internet Service Providers` Association (ISPA) says it recently reported to the Department of Communications (DOC) that most of its members achieved full compliance with the ISPA Code of Conduct in 2011. Marc Furman, co-chair of ISPA says the organisation has made great progress in complying with the department. “As an industry representative body recognised by the Minister, ISPA must monitor and enforce compliance, and I’m pleased to say that we made great progress during 2011. One of the key [...]
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Internet
FNB back online
First National Bank (FNB), on Friday, has apologised to customers over its system’s failures over the past week. FNB blamed the system failure on an electrical outage. “Indications suggest that this surge was in the range of 12 000 kVA, which is equivalent to eight times the strength of a typical lightning strike,” said FNB CEO, Michael Jordaan. Jordaan said the bank has since restored services and apologised to clients. “I am pleased to confirm that all our systems are now [...]
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Opinion
How safe are your mobile banking apps?
Not very, based on the findings of a 2011 study by digital forensics and security firm, via Forensics. According to the study, 25% of the mobile banking apps tested didn’t provide adequate security: passwords, partial credit card details, payment history and transaction details were easily retrieved from the handset. What’s more, another 31% of banking apps had less severe security issues with 44% offering adequate security. Mobile banking apps actually fared well in comparison to social networking and retail apps [...]
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