Biggest tech announcements in 2012
South Africa’s tech gurus have voted the launch of LTE, South Africa hosting the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), and cabinet rejecting Korea Telecom investment in Telkom as the biggest South African tech announcements of 2012.
2012 was a particularly busy year in the local technology market, with wholesale ADSL price cuts in April, the launch of Telkom’s 40Mbps VDSL trial, iTunes launching commercial services in the country, and Windows 8 launching locally.
To get a better view of the most significant announcements in South Africa during 2012, we asked a group of South African technology experts for their opinions. This group included:
- Toby Shapshak – Stuff editor and Tech on Tap presenter
- Aki Anastasiou – Radio 702 Technobyte and Tech on Tap presenter
- Arthur Goldstuck – World Wide Worx MD and Gadget.co.za editor
- Jannie van Zyl – Vodacom executive and tech guru
- Jan Vermeulen – MyBroadband journalist
- Gerrit Vermeulen – Software developer and MyBroadband reviewer
Here are the biggest announcements in South Africa’s technology sector according to this panel.
South Africa’s tech gurus
The launch of LTE in South Africa (Jannie van Zyl, Gerrit Vermeulen, Aki Anastasiou and Jan Vermeulen)
Vodacom launched South Africa’s first commercial LTE service on 10 October 2012 at the annual MyBroadband conference. The service was initially only available in Gauteng, but coverage has now grown to Durban and Cape Town.
MTN followed Vodacom with their commercial LTE launch on 1 December 2012 with coverage in most major cities.
Although 8ta and Cell C have not launched commercial LTE services yet, the operators are actively trialling LTE with plans of commercial launches soon.
Jannie van Zyl runs an LTE speed test
The Square Kilometre Array (Toby Shapshak)
The SKA board announced in May that South Africa and Australia will be co-hosts of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) – the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope. According to Toby Shapshak, the real news is not just the satellite dishes and other hardware, but that South Africa’s scientific community is so strong and vibrant it makes such a project a no-brainer. It has been a tremendous endorsement of the scientific community in South Africa.
SKA CAT 7
Cabinet rejecting Korea Telecom investment in Telkom (Arthur Goldstuck)
In June 2012, the government cabinet decided against supporting a potential strategic venture between Telkom and Korean group KT Corporation. This was a massive blow to the company, sending its share price plummeting.
In the aftermath of this decision the company controversially lost numerous board members, and the Telkom group CEO Nombulelo Moholi resigned.
Pinky Moholi – Telkom CEO
Related articles
South Africa to host majority of SKA
Vodacom launches LTE in South Africa
8ta LTE tested: get ready to be impressed
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