MTN SA has gone live with the commercial availability of LTE (Long Term Evolution) in the Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban regions, promising to bring the consumer faster broadband speeds and a better Internet experience. As of 1 December 2012, South African consumers will be able to purchase LTE devices and access the revolutionary technology on the MTN network.

Says Kanagaratnam Lambotharan, Chief Technology Officer at MTN SA: “Having piloted LTE for some time now, we are confident that we have made significant milestones in providing access to this technology and are happy to be able to offer our customers the LTE experience over our world-class MTN network. To date, there are a limited number of devices that offer support for multiple LTE bands including legacy 2G and 3G support.”

With this launch, MTN is offering the LTE Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9” on a MTN 2GB TopUp contract for R799.00 per month, over 12 months.

Adds Lambotharan: “As we know, mobile users like to browse the Internet, share photos, download music and watch video clips and have therefore created a need for enhanced and uninterrupted experience for the Internet on the network, especially with video. This has resulted in the global move towards LTE. LTE is much faster than HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) and offers more capacity.  We are proud to announce the commercial availability of LTE – which means video streaming with no interruptions, better conferencing and downloads, and overall faster Internet browsing for our consumers.”  (more…)

With the recent introduction of its Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note 2 mobile devices in South Africa, Samsung is reinforcing its commitment to ensure local users are able to benefit from high-speed LTE data networks. Vodacom recently launched their LTE offering, and Samsung’s latest LTE specific devices are amongst the handful of supported devices.

“Samsung has amongst the world’s most advanced and field-proven LTE product line-up. As South Africa’s mobile networks prepare to roll out these high-end data services to customers, we are excited to offer people the devices capable to benefit from the next step in wireless communication,” says Craige Fleischer, Director of Mobile Communications at Samsung South Africa.

Africa is the fastest growing mobile market in the world and is second only to Asia in terms of size. More innovative mobile devices capable of letting people get the most out of their connectivity experience has become critical as manufacturers seek to harness the power from more advanced communication technologies such as LTE.

“With new devices like the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note 2, Samsung is providing consumers with a richer mobile experience. As African mobile operators start to embrace LTE, we want to offer them solutions that are capable of giving their users content and services that were previously not feasible,” adds Fleischer. (more…)

From 1 November, MTN SA is lowering the costs of its two most popular internet data bundles, which is welcome news in a heavily contested time in mobile broadband.

Says Serame Taukobong, MTN South Africa Chief Marketing Officer; “We know that our customers want value for money and in response to this we have reduced our Internet bundle pricing to offer real value for the Internet experience.”

The need to have continued access to the Internet has resulted in a higher demand from customers for data to be easily accessible at affordable rates. The new MTN Internet Bundles promotion offers customers more control, convenience and choice of data bundles to suit their needs. According to MTN, customers will get more value for money  as well as control and manage their data usage and spend through the balance enquiries service by dialing *141*1#.

Through this promotion, customers can get: (more…)

Mobile broadband is the biggest single revenue opportunity in Africa in the immediate and longer term, according to the results of a recent Industry Outlook survey commissioned by Informa Telecoms & Media. This resonates with Informa’s forecasts that suggest that annual mobile data revenues in Africa will reach US$18.5 billion by 2016 accounting for 22% of the region’s total mobile service revenues as compared with 12% in 2011.

Informa Telecoms & Media commissioned the survey for AfricaCom 2012 and will publish the results in its “Africa Telecoms Outlook 2013: Seizing new revenue opportunities” report at the event in Cape Town between 13 – 15 November.

Mobile data growth will power a number of revenue opportunities. The business case for 4G technology will emerge, according to 70% of the survey’s respondents, as the growth of mobile data services continues to accelerate. Giving mobility to broadband services will empower enterprises and especially SMEs to benefit from more mobile working thereby generating greater business agility.

Yet there remains a large constraint on the ideal of connecting Africa. Even the cheapest mobile phone is still not affordable for many there. There is a powerful message from Informa’s survey: seven out of 10 respondents agreed that operators must use their buying power and distribution networks to make more devices available and device manufacturers need to make more affordable devices.

A central message from the survey is the need for mobile network operators (MNOs) to take notice of the changing demands and characteristics of its customers. Nick Jotischky, principal analyst for emerging market analysis at Informa Telecoms & Media comments, “There is more depth to a mobile operator’s customer base in Africa than two or three years ago and, for this reason, MNOs need to gain a greater insight into their customers’ behavior and offer them services that match their individual needs and preferences. Using this insight to design new business models that combine an MNO’s traditional capabilities (mobility, location) with Internet-style services (search, mapping) will enable a more compelling and personalized set of services to a wider variety of customer segments”.

Jotischky will chair a session at AfricaCom on November 13 discussing Africa’s evolving telecoms market with a number of Informa analysts and copies of the report will be made available there.

Lilian van Zyl from Moneysmart made this great infographic showing the current cost differences in SA when it comes to mobile broadband. South Africa’s current explosion of mobile phone use have led to massive increases in the amount of data we use. In fact, we are pretty sure that for some some users, the data bundle attached to a contract is of greater concern than the talk time.

Moneysmart‘s infographic focusses on prepaid data rates, and show some very clear differences in price. The current smaller cellular operators are obviously heading for price war in the data sector, which we feel is a lot more relevant than the recent international call decreases. But enough with the chat, see the infographic below:

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When iOS6 finally arrived in September, we were disappointed to find that turn by turn navigation was not switched on for South Africa, despite Apple Maps having full routing capability for SA. Apple subsequently updated their iOS6 features page with a statement saying that turn by turn will arrive for SA in October. Luckily Apple did not make us wait too long – if you use your recent model iPhone (4S or 5) or iPad 3, you will see that turn by turn directions are now up and running.

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Google’s Nexus 7 16GB is now available for purchase in South Africa, at R2999 at select retailers. The Nexus 7 is the first tablet in Google’s Nexus line of devices and the lead device for Android 4.1, called Jelly Bean. The Nexus 7 is a pretty great buy if you are looking for a more compact tablet that is running the latest and greatest Android version.

Jointly developed between ASUS and Google, Nexus 7 is the world’s first 7-inch quad-core tablet, built to bring consumers the best of Google and ASUS in a slim and portable package that fits perfectly in the hand. Nexus 7 brings together ASUS’ world-class “design thinking” philosophy and the latest version of Google’s innovative Android platform to deliver the ultimate portable computing experience at an irresistible price.

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MTN SA has expanded its network capacity and capability by rolling out an intense infrastructure development drive focused on leapfrogging customer experience through network expansion. The telecommunications operator today revealed that it has increased 2^nd Generation (2G) network coverage to 98.6% of the country’s population while the company’s EDGE and 3^rdGeneration sites cover 92% and close to 65% of South Africa respectively.

“With the increase of mobile and data usage, and an aggressive approach to providing access to broadband to more areas so as to narrow the digital divide, it was important that we focus on expanding our network and coverage to ensure capacity to carry traffic seamlessly and therefore enhancing our customers’ experience,” explains Kanagaratnam Lambotharan, Chief Technology Officer at MTN SA. “This is line with positioning ourselves as a future-proof and forward thinking operator with adequate capacity to address both business and consumer needs and enhancing experience on the network.” (more…)