TCS - The TechCentral Show

Communications minister Solly Malatsi, a DA MP and the first non-ANC politician to hold the key technology portfolio in the democratic era, has been in the job for three months – sufficient time to get a broad handle on the big issues.

In this first interview with the TechCentral Show, TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod asks Malatsi a range of questions about the sector, including his views on how he plans to address some of the more intractable problems in his inbox.

The interview, which was recorded on Friday, 4 October – shortly before he announced he was issuing a policy direction to communications regulator Icasa that could see a big change to empowerment rules governing licensing in the sector – covers a wide range of topics, from Elon Musk’s Starlink to the ongoing feud between the SABC and Sentech.

Other topics covered in the interview include:

• The minister’s engagements with Starlink and the recent meeting in New York between Musk and President Cyril Ramaphosa;

• His views on black economic empowerment and why his top priority is reducing the cost of data and ensuring more South Africans can connect affordably to the internet and online services;

• His plan for private sector participation in the Post Office, and whether the company is really worth saving;

• The war between the SABC and Sentech, and how it can be resolved;

• Future funding models for the SABC and the future of TV licences in South Africa;

• The problems at the State IT Agency, and what the focus should be of government’s central IT procurement and services provider;

• The planned merger of Sentech and Broadband Infraco and why he believes it needs to happen;

• Government’s 40.5% stake in Telkom and what should happen to it;

• The road to digital migration and whether there is still a need for terrestrial television in 2024;

• 2G and 3G switch-off in South Africa and whether this should be mandated by the government; and

• The legislative programme for the department of communications & digital technologies.

Don’t miss the interview!

Donald Valoyi saw the potential market for on-demand grocery delivery in South Africa early on, and his company Zulzi was a pioneer in the space.

It even went on to help Shoprite Holdings launch the Checkers Sixty60 app.

Zulzi was founded in 2013 as an “aggregator” of various shopping outlets to help consolidate online shopping for customers.

Today the company provides support to Sixty60 and continues to operate as a separate entity through seven of its own “dark stores”, or warehouses.

Zulzi founder Valoyi joins the TechCentral Show to chat about the company's journey, which began with his exit from corporate South Africa into entrepreneurship.

He shares his views on the innovations reshaping the e-commerce sector and how South African businesses should equip themselves to handle competition from international players.

Valoyi also chats about:

• His entrepreneurial ambitions and why he chose e-commerce as his focus;

• The early days of Zulzi, and how he built the business;

• How Zulzi’s relationship with Shoprite and the Checkers Sixty60 app came about;

• Why Valoyi believes the Post Office is key to driving e-commerce growth in South Africa;

• Why the medical sector is ripe for e-commerce disruption; and

• How technologies like artificial intelligence are changing the online shopping experience.

Don’t miss the interview!

South African scientists have launched a cost-effective air-quality monitoring system built using internet of things and artificial intelligence technologies.

Bruce Mellado, professor of particle physics and director of the Institute for Collider Particle Physics at Wits University, is one of the key people behind the new initiative, which is aimed at improving air quality in South Africa and eventually other markets around the world. He recently joined Duncan McLeod on the TechCentral Show to discuss the project.

Mellado, who also director at the iThemba Laboratories for Accelerator Based Sciences – a unit of South Africa’s National Research Foundation – takes TechCentral through the devices, how they were built and how they’re being deployed in South Africa to detect reportable problems with air quality.

“We decided to create, for the first time in South Africa, a cost-effective air-quality monitoring system based on sensors, IoT and AI. We have named this system Ai_r.,” Mellado wrote in a recent article for The Conversation and published on TechCentral.

“Our team of 25 people includes more than 20 years of experience as particle physicists in working with sensors, communications and AI,” he wrote.

“There are only 130 big air-quality measuring stations in South Africa. They only measure the air quality in the vicinity of the station. This is why we need cost-effective, dense networks made up of Ai_r systems set up all around these stations, to measure air quality in a much wider area. Our vision is to place tens of thousands of these devices all over South Africa.”

In this episode of TCS, Mellado chats about:

• The latest developments in particle physics, some of the work he is involved in and how a particle physicist got involved in an air-quality monitoring project;

• Where the idea for the Ai_r device came from, its development and how it works;

• The role of IoT and AI in the device, and why the development team made the technology choices it did;

• The data that’s been collected so far, and what it can be used for;

• How much the solution costs, and how you can buy one to monitor your air quality at home.

Don’t miss a great conversation!

Jorge Mendes has been in the hot seat at Cell C for just over a year, and the turnaround at the long-troubled mobile operator is starting to gain traction.

In this episode of the TechCentral Show (TCS), Mendes sits down with TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod for a detailed interview in which he provides an update on what’s happened in the past year at Cell C, paints of a picture of the state of the business today, and sets out what comes next for the mobile operator.

To signal the management team’s intentions, and to declare the business is on a new strategic footing and is in the market for the long term, Cell C recently refreshed its brand identity and signalled its intention to take back market share from its bigger rivals.

In this episode of TCS, Mendes tackles a range of questions, including:

• Why he left what seemed to be a plum job at Vodacom to take on the difficult challenge of turning around Cell C;

• What went through his mind in the first few days on the job;

• Cell C’s plan to recapture the title of third largest mobile operator from Telkom – and to take the fight to MTN and Vodacom;

• Why Cell C has struggled to compete, how it accumulated huge amounts of debt and why the new strategy is its best but last chance of success;

• The state of Cell C’s finances – and especially its balance sheet – following the recent recapitalisation led by its largest shareholder, Blue Label Telecoms;

• His relationship with Blue Label founders and co-CEOs Brett Levy and Mark Levy;

• The role of regulatory support, especially in call termination;

• Why Cell C handed back the spectrum it secured in the 2022 spectrum auction, and its plans for participation in future auctions;

• The role of mobile virtual network operators and wholesale services in Cell C’s recovery plan; and

• Cell C’s strategy to capture more of the lucrative contract market.

There’s plenty more in the interview with Mendes – don’t miss the conversation!

The big mobile network operators in South Africa “have never shown a willingness to … accommodate smaller players”, so the notion that they should be entitled to “Fair Share” is “difficult to swallow for smaller operators who have been at the end of their [unfair] business practices”.

That’s the view of Dominic Cull, a leading specialist South African ICT lawyer and regulatory adviser to the Internet Service Providers’ Association (Ispa), who was speaking to the TechCentral Show (TCS) in an interview (published below).

Cull’s criticism of Fair Share – at least in the form being advanced by the large telecoms operators – comes as the Association of Comms & Technology (ACT), a lobby group that represents the country’s largest telecoms providers, agitates for its adoption by policymakers in South Africa.

Fair Share is an idea that has gained traction among operators in Europe, where margins have been pressured in a competitive market. They argue that so-called OTT – “over the top” – companies, which include streaming video providers such as Netflix, Disney+ and TikTok, should contribute a “fair share” to the development of broadband infrastructure.

Critics have said this is simply a move by infrastructure providers, which have experienced margin compression with the move from voice to data services, to try to claw back lost profits.

Speaking at last month’s Datacentrix Showcase 2024 event in Sandton, ICT industry stalwart Andile Ngcaba – who founded Convergence Partners – said the move by ACT to pressure policymakers and regulators over “Fair Share” is not needed or wanted in the South African context.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said Ngcaba, who is a previous policymaker in South Africa and who served as director-general of communications in the Nelson Mandela administration.

In the interview with TCS, Cull echoed this view and said ACT’s lobbying for Fair Share is partly aimed at “catching the ear” of newly appointed communications minister Solly Malatsi and influencing what is included in forthcoming amendments to legislation that governs the ICT sector in South Africa.

In this episode of TCS, Cull chats about:

• Whether ACT has a point about Fair Share;

• How big content players impact smaller operators and internet service providers, and why the call for Fair Share is coming from the industry’s biggest players;

• The investments by the OTT players in both terrestrial and subsea fibre infrastructure, including Google’s investment in the Equiano cable and Meta Platforms’ involvement in 2Africa;

• Whether mobile network operators doomed to become low-margin “dumb pipes” like other utility industries. Can they somehow avoid that fate?

Don’t miss the discussion, and if you enjoyed it, check out our December 2023 interview with Dominic Cull on Starlink in South Africa.

Former Britehouse CEO Scott Gibson was recently appointed as chief executive of enterprise asset management company Pragma. He is the guest in this episode of the TechCentral Show (TCS).

Gibson, who also previously headed Dimension Data’s (now NTT Data’s) global digital practice, tells TCS about his appointment and why he decided to join Pragma, which develops a software platform in South Africa that it exports to companies around the world. Gibson plans to step up that internationalisation effort as CEO.

“Pragma’s software competes comfortably with the world’s top brands, such as SAP, Maximo and IFS Ultimo. I plan to use my experience growing software businesses to help Pragma achieve its international expansion goals,” he says.

Co-founder and outgoing CEO Adriaan Scheeres, who led Pragma for 34 years, will remain a shareholder and member of the board.

In the interview, Gibson chats about:

• Pragma’s history and what it does;

• The size of the business, and the opportunities he sees abroad for the company;

• The firm's clients;

• The trends in the enterprise software market; and

• The application of artificial intelligence.

Don’t miss the conversation!

Herman Maritz, one half of the pair that developed the ESP load shedding app (formerly known as EskomSePush), is grateful that Eskom may finally have load shedding licked – even if that means fewer people are using the app.

Maritz, who returns to the TechCentral Show (TCS) – he was last a guest in 2021 – reflects on the past four-and-a-half months without load shedding, and what that’s meant for ESP – apart from giving himself and his business partner, Dan Southwood-Wells, to focus on other projects.

In this episode of TCS, Maritz unpacks the impact of the suspension of load shedding, what that’s meant for advertising and subscriptions on the platform, and what’s next for ESP.

He also chats about:

• How ESP is helping communities with load reduction;

• How they’re using generative artificial intelligence in the app; and

• The opportunities to launch the software in new markets.

Lastly, he reveals a few interesting statistics about ESP, including the number of times the app has been downloaded (it’s a staggering number).

The 24th of February 2022 is a day Ronnie Apteker – and millions of his countrymen in his adopted home of Ukraine – will never forget.

Apteker woke up early that morning – as millions of others did – to the sound of bombs and missiles raining down. After months of military build-up along Ukraine’s eastern flank, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin had ordered a full-scale invasion.

In this special edition of the TechCentral Show, we chat to Apteker – a pioneer in South Africa’s internet industry – about his life in Ukraine amid the ongoing war.

Apteker has a storied career as co-founder of Internet Solutions, one of South Africa’s first and most successful internet service providers. He is also well known as a producer and promoter of movies, including Material and Beyond the River.

In 2015 Apteker bought an apartment in Kyiv and started a new life in the city, attracted by the country’s diverse tech scene and its incredibly beauty.

He had established a new and promising life for himself in Ukraine – he married a local woman, Marta, with whom he has a young boy (affectionately called “the Bunster”). Both Marta and the Bunster are now refugees from the war, living in Poland.

Never in a million years did Apteker expect he would be caught up in a major conflict, never mind the biggest land war in Europe since World War 2.

Today his life involves moving between Poland and Kyiv, where he has friends as well as business interests in the tech sector which he continues to nurture despite the chaos caused by Putin’s aggression.

In this sometimes emotionally raw interview, Apteker tells TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod about why he left South Africa to go and live in Ukraine, how the war started (he woke up early one morning to missiles raining down on Kyiv), what it’s like to live in a warzone, and how he’s coping with the daily hardships caused by the conflict.

Apteker, who is known for his wicked sense of humour – in a previous life he was even briefly a stand-up comedian – admits it’s been exceptionally difficult to stay positive about the future, but that he’s managed to keep going even us Putin’s war machine grinds on.

In the interview, Apteker chats about his daily life now and what it entails; the US election, and why Ukrainians fear another Donald Trump presidency; the new documentary film about the war that he’s been working on; his passion for moviemaking; and why love is the most important thing in the world.

Don’t miss the interview.

The Volvo EX30 is undoubtedly one of the most exciting electric cars to be launched in South Africa in 2024.

The vehicle, whose price starts at R792 000, offers a combination of price, performance and luxury tweaks that has attracted considerable appeal among South African consumers interested in making the switch to electric mobility.

But what is the Volvo EX30 like to drive?

TechCentral recently had the opportunity to spend time with the twin-motor version of the EX30 to put it through its paces. Apart from a few minor niggles, including the quality of materials used in the dashboard, we can confidently say this is a very compelling option for those interested in buying an EV in the sub-R1-million price category.

While it’s not as affordable as more entry-level EV models from the likes of China’s BYD, the vehicle offers many luxuries usually reserved for more expensive EVs, including a panoramic (non-opening) sunroof, high-end Harman Kardon audio and well-thought-out software features.

It’s easy to see where Volvo has compromised to get the price down, but the decisions it has made in this regard have mostly been carefully considered.

As for the driving experience, the power underfoot is extraordinary. The twin motor version TechCentral tested accelerated from 0-100km/h more quickly than a Porsche 911 – it really is a thrill to drive!

This is a sentiment shared by Greg Cress, who owns the EX30 and has been driving it since March, when he took delivery from Volvo. Cress joined TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod on the TechCentral Show (TCS) recently to review the vehicle and to talk about the state of the EV market more broadly in South Africa.

Cress, who works for Accenture – where he is principal director of automotive and e-mobility – told TCS about his experiences with the vehicle and what he likes about it and what he doesn’t.

He unpacks his experiences so far, including with the regular software updates that Volvo has issued and why he settled on the EX30 over other EV options available in the South African market. He also shares details about a recent long-distance return trip he did from Pretoria to White River in Mpumalanga and how he found utilising the charging points along South Africa’s national roads.

Then, in the second part of the TCS interview, Cress shares his views on the state of the EV market in South Africa, what is hindering its wider adoption and the outlook for electric mobility in the country.

Don’t miss a hugely informative interview.

South Africa’s telecommunications industry is facing a barrage of threats, from crime and vandalism to power cuts and overreach by politicians.

This is the word from Nomvuyiso Batyi, CEO of telecommunications industry lobby group the Association for Comms & Technology (ACT) and an industry stalwart who served as a councillor at communications regulator Icasa for eight years and as special adviser to the minister of communications. She was speaking to TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod on the TechCentral Show (watch or listen to the interview below).

ACT, which represents the six big telecoms operators in South Africa – MTN, Vodacom, Rain, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Telkom and Cell C – was founded two years ago as an interface between the industry and policymakers and regulators.

In the interview, Batyi unpacks a range of issues affecting ACT members. She discusses:

• Her first engagement with newly appointed communications minister Solly Malatsi, and her views on him;

• What her day-to-day work involves;

• Why government shouldn’t be setting deadlines for 2G and 3G switch-off in South Africa;

• Import taxes on cellphones, and why luxury taxes on 4G devices should be scrapped;

• How the load shedding problem has been replaced with the load reduction problem, and what the impact has been on operators;

• The scourge of theft and vandalism, and why urgent action is needed to address the problem; and

• South Africa’s upcoming spectrum auction, and why telecoms operators should get access to spectrum below 694MHz that has traditionally been reserved for broadcasting.

Don’t miss the interview!