TCS - The TechCentral Show

Wetility co-founder and CEO Vincent Maposa is a busy man.

The alternative energy start-up is helping South African homeowners go solar, overcoming (or at least reducing the impact of) load shedding in the process, using financing models that don’t result in prohibitive upfront capital costs.

Wetility – pronounced we-tility – is one of several South African start-ups in this space, including GoSolar and Vivica Group-owned Stage Zero – that help homeowners go partially (or even fully) off-grid while using clever financing models to amortise the cost of the installation over time.

In this episode of TC|Daily, Maposa tells TechCentral’s Duncan McLeod about Wetility’s approach to financing, and why the company offers homeowners a range of options, including the ability to pay in full, or to use a subscription model, where they are charged monthly for the energy they use from the sun.

Maposa tells McLeod why he started the business, his background as a management consultant with Deloitte and with Cummins, and how Wetility came to be backed by pay-television group MultiChoice.

The company, which in the next few weeks is expected to unveil a series-A funding round to help it scale rapidly, talks about why Wetility decided to focus on the residential rather than the business market, how its offerings differ from other players in the market, and what consumers should know about going solar.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone in South Africa as passionate about public broadcasting as Michael Markovitz.

A former journalist whose storied career has included serving as adviser to Mandla Langa, the former chairman of communications regulator Icasa, Markovitz has just completed five eventful years as a member of the SABC board.

He joins Duncan McLeod in the TC|Daily studio to talk about his experiences at the public broadcaster and why, despite its “capture” under former President Jacob Zuma and the abuse it endured under its former chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng, he still believes there is a strong case to be made for public broadcasting in South Africa.

The question, Markovitz says, is who will pay for public broadcasting in an environment where few South Africans are prepared to pay their television licence fees.

What funding models are appropriate, and why? Should a household television levy be applied? Markovitz unpacks this thorny issue in this episode of TC|Daily.

He also chats about:

• His new role as head of the Gordon Institute of Business Science’s new Media Leadership Think-Tank, and what he hopes it will achieve;

• The mess the recently departed board of the SABC inherited from the Motsoeneng era and what it took to clean it up;

• Whether the SABC can avoid a repeat of that disaster, and policy changes might be needed to protect the corporation from abuse by the executive arm of government;

• Why the delay in appointing a new SABC board is highly problematic;

• The case for public broadcasting in South Africa and appropriate funding models;

• Planned changes to broadcasting legislation;

• South Africa’s digital migration disaster and what went wrong; and

• The era of streaming and media fragmentation, and what this means for public broadcasting.

Don’t miss this great discussion!

Television white-spaces (TVWS) spectrum – the gaps in the frequencies used by terrestrial TV broadcasters – has long been seen as a way of bringing affordable Internet to even remote areas.

But what’s happened with the various TVWS initiatives in South Africa?

Keith Pitout, a leading local expert on the subject and chief technology officer of Indigo Broadband, joins TechCentral’s Duncan McLeod in the TC|Daily studio to unpack the latest developments – and to explain why he believes TVWS has a bright future ahead of it, despite some early hiccups.

In this episode of TC|Daily, Pitout covers:

• What TVWS is and how it works;

• Why it’s so affordable to deploy and who will benefit from its roll-out in South Africa;

• The trial TVWS projects that took place in South Africa;

• The CSIR’s involvement, and why it’s been key;

• The regulations developed by communications regulator Icasa;

• The commercial TVWS projects now being rolled out in South Africa; and

• What comes next for TVWS, both from a business and technology perspective.

Don’t miss a great discussion about an important technology for bridging the digital divide in South Africa.

The leadership teams at Vumatel and Vuma parent Maziv don't dream small.

The company, South Africa's largest provider of fibre-to-the-home broadband infrastructure, has an audacious plan to deploy fibre not only to townships - a project that is already well under way - but also to informal settlements.

It doesn't intend doing this via wireless for the "last mile". It wants to deploy a fixed-fibre connection into every house and into every dwelling, even if the household's total income is less than R5 000/month.

It wants to drive down the price of uncapped broadband to less than R100/month, and in so doing make uncapped Internet access available to almost everybody in South Africa who wants it.

Pie in the sky? No, says Dietlof Mare, CEO of Vumatel and Maziv, in this wide-ranging interview with TechCentral's TC|Daily. The team is working hard to perfect the model and is confident it will be able to do it - and profitably, too.

In this episode, Mare talks about the success of the Vuma Reach prepaid fibre roll-out in Mitchells Plain in Cape Town, and how Vuma is replicating that model across the country, including in sprawling townships like Soweto, Vosloorus and Soshanguve in Gauteng.

He also unpacks Vuma Key, Vumatel's plan - now in pilot phase - to bring uncapped fibre Internet to places like Alexandra in Johannesburg and Khayelitsha in Cape Town.

Also in the interview, Mare talks about:

* The creation of Maziv, the new holding company of Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa, and why it was formed;

* The latest on the Vodacom acquisition of a significant minority stake in Maziv and what the operator brings to the table;

* Consolidation in the fibre network operator market in South Africa, and why the big mobile operators are going to play a leading role in this; and

* The importance of open access.

Don't miss this fascinating interview.

Cliff de Wit, a former Microsoft South Africa director and now chief technology at Altron's Netstar, is passionate about many things: skills development, the internet of things, artificial intelligence ... even astrophotography.

He joins TechCentral's Duncan McLeod in the TC|Daily studio for a wide-ranging -- and fascinating -- discussion on some of the latest technologies Netstar is exploring that take the company's offerings well beyond the traditional tracking and recovery of vehicles it's traditionally known for.

Well known in developer circles -- he maintains a keen interest in software development as well as in education and skills development from his Microsoft days -- De Wit chats about how Netstar is taking the vast amount of information the company collects daily, and refining it into something forward-looking, useful and actionable.

He also takes us into the world of astrophotography, and much more besides.

Don't miss the discussion -- and do subscribe to TC|Daily if you haven't already done so (details below). The full-resolution Milky Way image taken by De Wit that he speaks about in the interview can be found here.

Meet the man behind Showmax. As chief operating officer of MultiChoice Connected Video, Barry Dubovsky is leading the charge to bring the 2022 Fifa World Cup to Showmax Pro in 4K.

Dubovsky joins Duncan McLeod in the TC|Daily studio to chat about what has been involved in getting Showmax ready for the World Cup, and what the plans are for bringing other content to the platform in 4K once the global football event has concluded.

An Australian national who has previously worked for telecommunications operator Telstra chats about how he ended up working in a senior role for an Africa-focused video entertainment company. He also unpacks what’s involved in running a streaming video service like Showmax.

Also in this episode of TC|Daily, Dubovsky discusses:

• The tighter integration of Showmax into MultiChoice

• What drove the recent price cuts for Showmax Pro

• Fragmentation of the video entertainment industry and what comes next

• The long-term future of streaming vs satellite and cable

Don’t miss the discussion!

The launch of 4K for the 2022 Fifa World Cup, the development of DStv Glass smart TVs, the launch of uncapped fibre services, and more – it’s been a busy period for South Africa’s incumbent pay-TV operator.

MultiChoice South Africa CEO Nyiko Shiburi joins TechCentral’s Duncan McLeod in the TC|Daily studio to chat about all the announcements the broadcaster made at its recent DStv Showcase event, and what we can expect from the company in the months ahead.

In the discussion, Shiburi talks about:

• His background in MultiChoice Group, and how he worked his way up through technical and engineering roles into management, eventually becoming CEO of the key South African operation.

• What's been involved in getting MultiChoice ready for the World Cup and 4K broadcasts, including studio upgrades. This includes a look at the modern compression technologies used to minimise bandwidth utilisation as much as possible while still ensuring a good-quality image.

• What we can expect next from DStv in terms of 4K content, following the conclusion of the World Cup in December.

• How important it is for MultiChoice to be seen as a technological leader.

• DStv Glass, the relationship between MultiChoice and the UK’s Sky, and what we should expect from the product offering when it is launched next year.

• The strategic thinking behind the “coopetition” with Netflix, Disney and Amazon, which are available as apps on DStv platforms, including the Explora Ultra personal video recorder.

• Streaming vs traditional satellite and what’s involved in managing that transition from a technology and cost perspective.

• Why MultiChoice became an Internet service provider.

Don’t miss the discussion!

The “data-free” messaging app MoyaApp, which already has six million active monthly users in South Africa, is working hard to become as big as WhatsApp in the country.

The app’s founder, Gour Lentell, joins Duncan McLeod on TechCentral's technology show, TC|Daily, to talk about how the development of the app is progressing.

Lentell talks about the history of MoyaApp, how it’s able to offer “data-free” messaging to people who don’t have data or airtime, and why he believes this is a winning proposition in a country where Meta Platforms-owned WhatsApp has become entrenched.

In this episode of TC|Daily, Lentell unpacks:

• MoyaApp’s business model

• Its growth projections

• His background and how he came to create MoyaApp

• Why MoyaApp is succeeding in South Africa when China’s WeChat failed

• The evolution of instant messaging in South Africa, from Mxit to BBM to WhatsApp

• Super apps and their role in the ecosystem – including a discussion on Elon Musk’s plans for Twitter

• MoyaApp’s monetisation model

• MoyaPay, fintech and a cashless economy

Don’t miss this insightful discussion about a homegrown app taking on global giants.

Alviva Holdings’ latest financial results show a group firing on all cylinders – full-year dividend up 90%, revenue up 57% and headline earnings per share up 91%. But can the party last?

Group CEO Pierre Spies and Craig Brusden, CEO of technology distributor Axiz (Alviva’s largest subsidiary), join Duncan McLeod in the TC|Daily studio to unpack just how the group managed to turn in such stellar results amid a weak local economy and a constrained global supply chain.

Spies and Brunsden unpack:

• The impact of Alviva’s acquisition of Tarsus Technology Group.

• How Alviva’s three main distribution businesses, Axiz, Pinnacle and Tarsus, differ from each other – and why they are allowed to compete, within bounds.

• How the distribution business in South Africa is changing and what that means for the business model.

• The impact of the semiconductor supply crisis, which is now easing.

• How Amazon.com’s launch of an online retail marketplace in South Africa next year will change the IT distribution game.

• The talks to buy out Alviva and take it private – and why Spies believes there is no value in being listed.

Don’t miss the discussion.

There has never been a more exciting time to be in the satellite communications industry, says Dawie de Wet, CEO of Pretoria-based Q-KON.

In this episode of TC|Daily, De Wet, who is one of South Africa’s leading experts in satellite communications technology, tells TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod about the huge changes happening in the satellite space and what they mean for consumers and for industry.

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In the interview, De Wet talks about:

* The origins of Q-KON;

* Why satellite is going through something of a renaissance, despite the proliferation of terrestrial and subsea fibre infrastructure;

* GEO (geostationary orbit) vs MEO (medium-earth orbit) vs LEO (low-earth orbit) satellites – what are they, and what are the latest developments in each?;

* How satellite technology has advanced in leaps and bounds in recent years;

* Why it might not be the mobile operators that drive a consumer revolution in satellite adoption, but why a revolution is coming anyway;

* Starlink, OneWeb, Lightspeed, O3b mPower, AST SpaceMobile and other projects – and is there overinvestment taking place?;

* How Africa’s needs are different to the rest of the world’s; and

* Q-KON’s role in all of this.

This is a fascinating discussion about an often overlooked area of the technology industry – don’t miss it.