News has recently broken of a new feature that First National Bank (FNB) will add to its FNB Banking App for iOS and Android powered devices. The news of the ‘geo-payments’ application leaked into its mobile app, 48 hours before its official launch on 9th May.

Once the news broke, FNB CEO Michael Jordaan posted the following tweet:

The news of #FNBGeopay broke sooner than expected. Only 48 hours till we reveal all.

— Michael Jordaan (@MichaelJordaan) May 7, 2012

(more…)

Moneysmart, South Africa’s free online personal finance platform, is now the first and only independent, end–user personal financial platform to be an authorised and registered financial services provider after successfully applying to the Financial Services Board.

The FSB license comes in addition to moneysmart having already been certified by three E-security companies, TRUSTe, McAfee and VeriSign.

moneysmart CEO, Tobie Van Zyl says that “Although moneysmart does not render financial advice directly to customers – but instead via participating insurance & investment companies and banks – as responsible entrepreneurs in the South African personal finance space, we believe our users should be treated with the same protection and professionalism that the FSB requires of a bank or insurance company.”

“At the same time the new approval assures complete security of use for our users and that financial services products rendered on moneysmart are ethical and abide by the Regulator’s rules,” adds Van Zyl.

moneysmart aims to empower users to take control of their finances by increasing their financial literacy and providing them with a comprehensive financial overview, allowing for financial goal-setting and clear budgeting.

Read Bandwidth Blog’s interview with CEO Tobie Van Zyl here.

If any of our April posts may have passed you by, here is a recap of Bandwidth Blog’s top 5 most popular posts for you to catch up on. From momentous acquisitions and grand sub-sea cables to local and international product announcements, this is what you enjoyed reading the most in April.

1. MWEB slashes uncapped ADSL prices:

In line with MWEB’s aim to make 1Mbps Uncapped ADSL the new entry level uncapped product in South Africa, MWEB dropped its 1Mbps uncapped data-only pricing to R199 per month and is now also offering a free upgrade to all data only uncapped 384Kbps customers.

2. WACS sub-sea cable to launch in South Africa in May:

The post reported that the West African Sea Cable (Wacs) will be officially launched in South Africa in Yzerfontein in May. The cable, that measures 14, 000km in length will link Yzerfontein in the Western Cape to London in the UK along the entire West Coast of the African continent. Very exciting news for possible changes in broadband pricing in SA.

(more…)

Web Africa has revamped its Business Uncapped offering, that has been designed specifically around the user looking for a business solution structured to prioritise business-critical traffic simply and efficiently, leveraging the added capacity it has built into its network, which increased by 8% in the last week.

The Business Uncapped product offers Uncapped ADSL from R299 per month, and now includes, at no extra cost, a .co.za domain, a web hosting package with unlimited traffic and a R400 Google AdWords voucher. In addition, each Business Uncapped subscriber has access to Expert Support in which service queries are handled by only the most experienced call centre agents.

“South African business owners are becoming a lot more demanding of their service providers, and rightly so. Business is all happening real-time, whether it’s delivering voice over the network or taking part in real-time trading. Making sure your business can guarantee quality connectivity should be the first priority for the serious business owner,” explains Tim Wyatt-Gunning, CEO of Web Africa.

Web Africa business customers’ ADSL usage is prioritised on its network, that aims to provide fast and stable connectivity for business-critical applications.  The transparent Acceptable Usage Policy means business owners get to see exactly how they are consuming bandwidth and manage their usage to ensure optimal speeds at all times.

(more…)

Vodacom customers can now buy airtime, data bundles and SMS bundles using their debit, cheque or credit cards via their mobile phones with the new Express Recharge service providing customers with a convenient way to top-up.

The service that lets customers buy Vodacom Prepaid or Top Up airtime for themselves or for other mobile phone users is available for customers who bank with Absa, Standard Bank and Nedbank.

Developed in conjunction with Absa, the enabler and provider of the financial back end, the service aims to ensure seamless and secure processing of transactions, achieved through verification by a bank card’s personal identification number (PIN).

Customers do not need internet access in order to buy airtime using funds from their bank account. To access this service customers can dial *130*082# from their mobile phones and follow the prompts.

To access this free service, customers are required to register their debit, cheque or credit card the first time they dial *130*082#. The service links a customer’s bank card to their cellphone so that they are able to perform the recharge. The recharge purchased is then deducted from the user’s bank account and only bank card charges apply.

“We’re taking convenience to the next level. Our customers can now recharge with ease whenever they want wherever they are. We’ve also added a new feature that allows customers to choose between purchasing voice airtime, SMS or data bundles, which means that our customers will not need to convert airtime to data bundles,” says Chris Ross, Managing Executive for Commercial Development at Vodacom.

(more…)

Nashua Mobile has added the Nokia Asha 201, Nokia Asha 300 and Nokia Asha 303 to the selection of Nokia devices it supports on its flat-rate Xtreme Data package.

The Nokia Asha range will be available in store as of 7 May 2012. For R59.00 per month – on top of standard contract charges – consumers will be able to enjoy access to email, instant messaging, browsing and social networking on these devices. The predictable and fixed monthly cost removes the uncertainty associated with other data rate plans and eliminates the chance of ‘bill shock’. The package is subject to fair usage policies though.

The Nokia Asha 201 offers a Qwerty keyboard, while the Nokia Asha 303 integrates Qwerty and Touch and the Nokia Asha 300 offers a keypad and touchscreen.

All three devices offer access to the Internet, integrated social networking, messaging and applications from the Nokia Store. Nokia Asha mobile phones make use of the new Nokia Web browser for Series 40 with up to 90% data compression. This means smaller downloads, pages that load fast, look great, and are easy to read.

Says Nashua Mobile Managing Director, Chris Radley: “We are excited to make the Xtreme Data package available on a new range of Nokia handsets, giving users even more choice of mobile phones that they can use with a flat-rate data package. In the next few months, we hope to add even more smartphones to the selection of devices supported on the Xtreme Data package.”

Xtreme Data is currently also available on Nokia X2-01 and Nokia C3 mobile phones based on the Series 60 platform, and the Nokia N8, Nokia E5 and Nokia E7 from Nokia’s smartphone range.

Nashua Mobile’s Xtreme Data service works by routing data from the handset to Nashua Mobile’s shared GSM data access point names (APNs) from Vodacom and MTN. Web access is controlled and managed intelligently by Nashua Mobile’s infrastructure partners, giving the customer a seamless experience that enables access to all their communication, social networking and information.

South African banks and retailers are likely to be slow to adopt near-field communications (NFC) technology for mobile payments because of the high costs of installing point-of-sale terminals and other enabling infrastructure. That’s the word from Tim Walter, Executive Head of Marketing at Nashua Mobile, who says that there is little appetite among institutions to drive adoption of yet another new point-of-sale payment technology just as the end of their protracted rollout of the EMV credit card standard is in sight.

NFC is a short-range wireless technology that will eventually allow people to use their mobile phone as a wallet. It will enable consumers to make secure payments to compatible point of sale terminals or to another user’s smartphone. NFC has proven itself to be a viable technology in field trials in countries such as the US, and South African banks (like ABSA) are reportedly also trialling NFC. But, as yet, there are not enough NFC compatible handsets in the market, nor is there a compelling commercial model for the rollout of the technology in South Africa, says Walter. The only brand to actively deploy NFC on new handsets is RIM with their latest Blackberry devices.

(more…)

From today, Vodacom and Cell C will have the new, lower priced Nokia Lumia 710 phone available at R3999.

The new colorful device was designed to bring the Windows Phone smartphone experience to a new lower price point, without sacrifices. It combines the powerful social and Internet experience of Windows Phone with the ability to take pictures in almost any conditions and share with friends in seconds, as well as access to thousands of the most popular apps and exclusive Nokia services, like Nokia Drive.

Based on the Windows Phone 7.5 release, the Nokia Lumia 710 smartphone has a broad range of social-network focussed features:

• People Hub in Windows Phone displays all call, text, email and social network interactions with any individual contact in an integrated view, with the ability to group contacts and pin favourite groups and individuals to the start screen for live updates and easy access to the people who matter most.
• Faster, easier Web browsing experience with Internet Explorer 9 and one-touch Bing search.
• Nokia Drive delivers a full-fledged personal navigation device (PND) with free, turn-by-turn navigation and dedicated in-car-user-interface.
• Nokia Music introduces MixRadio, a free mobile music-streaming application that delivers 100s of channels of global and locally-relevant music. Also integrated in Nokia Music is Gigfinder, providing the ability to search for live local music events.
• With the 5MP camera, anyone can take pictures and share on social networks in seconds, even when the phone is locked.

The Nokia Lumia 710 can be personalised with a choice of white or black front finish and additional inter-changeable back coloured covers, very much like the covers from the Nokia 5110 days.

“We are very excited to be bringing the next device in the Lumia range to South Africa. The Lumia 710 offers the same functionality as the Lumia 800 at a lower price point, and is perfect for consumers that thrive on being socially connected. This again highlights Nokia’s commitment to delivering the latest smartphones with localized services to the South African market,” says Colin Baumgart, Nokia South Africa General Manager.

The Nokia Lumia 800 is still one of our favourite handsets, so we cannot wait to get our hands on the Lumia 710.