Mobile Report JUNE 2013

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A MONTHLY SNAPSHOT OF

MOBILE NEWS, VIEWS, EVENTS

& DEVELOPMENTS LOCALLY

AND ABROAD

HOW TO USE THIS REPORT

This report is intended to be an easy-to-reference tool

It is a resource that you can flip through in your own time – and not to necessarily read from front-to-back

CONTENTS

» Executive Summary

» Section 1: Mobile Landscape

» Section 2: Mobile Devices and Operating Systems

» Section 3: Mobile Networks

» Section 4: Social Networks

» Sources and Contacts

Executive Summary

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Top websites in South Africa have been identified

2. Every1Mobile reaches into Africa

3. EU lowers mobile roaming rates

4. Apple’s new IOS and music streaming service

5. Project Ray with the world’s first smartphone for the visually impaired

6. New Kenyan modem to speed up internet

7. Google Drive is now available in Zulu and Afrikaans

8. Vodacom Business has advocated the use of smart mobile technology to mitigate energy capacity and consumption concerns

9. Microsoft Office arrives on the iPhone

10. Google project LOON: Balloon-powered internet

11. Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom: Camera-Smartphone as well as three new Galaxy Tab 3 tablets

12. Sony : the SmartWatch 2 and a new low-cost Sony Xperia C dual-SIM smartphone

13. The world's first LTE-Advanced network, and the Galaxy S4 LTE-A

14. Microsoft reveals Internet Explorer 11 and Office 365 is now in nine new countries in Africa

15. Orange has expanded its reach in South Africa through a deal with Nashua Mobile

16. Vodacom plans to roll out fiber access to selected business parks across South Africa

17. MTN extends data price cuts and its loss on Myanmar bid

18. Neotel sale rumours swirling again

19. Top Twitter users and DMMA’s survey results about South Africans’ internet habits

20. Whatsapp hits 250m active users

21. Facebook adds hashtag support

22. Instagram adds video

23. No more Facebook ads on pages with sexual and violent content

Mobile Landscape

SECTION 1

TOP WEBSITES IN SOUTH

AFRICA

» Effective Measure released its May 2013 website traffic statistics recently, revealing that News24 is the largest South African website, followed by Howzit.MSN and IOL.

» Effective Measure is the official traffic measurement partner of the Digital Media and Marketing Association (DMMA), and provides accurate traffic statistics for South Africa’s top websites.

» According to the May 2013 Effective Measure statistics, News24 attracted 2.4 million unique South African visitors. Howzit MSN ranked second with 1.7 million unique visitors and IOL third with 1.5 million.

» The latest Effective Measure statistics also revealed South Africa’s largest mobile websites are Vodafone Live, News24 Mobile, and Supersport.

Source: MyBroadband, 4 June 2013

EVERY1MOBILE REACHES

INTO AFRICA

» Every1Mobile, which specialises in building mass audiences via mobile in

sub-Saharan Africa, recently announced that it has raised R18 million in angel investment.

» Every1Mobile, founded in 2010, uses the power of mobile-enabled social networks to transform how organisations engage with young people aged 15-35 in sub-Saharan Africa and other emerging markets.

» E1M's ultimate aim is to help young people in emerging markets enter the formal economy. The company runs nine mobile sites covering education, health, jobs and entertainment.

» The company already records over 3 million monthly visits to its sites and serves 25 million pages each month. Users are equally split between male and female across South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

» ‘By building large mobile-based communities of highly motivated and educated young people who are fast tracking into the formal economy’ E1M is becoming the gate-keeper to an audience that is in high demand from third parties such as corporations, governments, foundations and NGOs.

Source: Bizcommunity , 14 June 2013

EU LOWERS MOBILE

ROAMING FEES

» Checking e-mail or surfing the web on a mobile phone while travelling in the European Union will be a third cheaper from July 1 thanks to roaming cuts enforced by the EU’s regulator – just in time for the summer holiday season.

» The European Union has been eager to show its relevance to EU citizens with measures to cut the cost of consumer goods such as flights and roaming fees, with mobile charges a particularly popular step over the past several years.

» “The EU has to be relevant to people’s lives,” the EU’s telecoms regulator, Neelie Kroes, said as she announced the 36 percent reduction in roaming.

» From July 1, the cost of using the internet while abroad falls to 45 cents per megabyte from 70 cents..

» The cost of making calls declines to 24 cents per minute from 29 cents, and receiving calls to 7 cents per minute from 8 cents.

» The cost of sending text messages will also go down, from 9 cents to 8 cents Mobile users don’t pay for receiving text messages while travelling in the European Union.

» All of costs will fall again on July 1 next year.

Source: MyBroadband , 27 June 2013

SMARTPHONES BLOOM IN

EMERGING MARKETS

» Global smartphone shipments are expected to reach 958.8 million units in

2013, surpassing feature phone shipments for the first time, the IDC says.

» According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphones are expected to account for 52.2% of all mobile phones shipped in 2013.

» The firm expects the trend to continue, with smartphone shipments growing most rapidly in emerging markets, which will account for 64.8% of units shipped in 2013.

» Driving smartphones forward has been a perfect combination of strong demand from end users, greater emphasis by both carriers and vendors, and a deep selection of devices available at multiple price points, the IDC said.

» With the rise in global smartphone shipments, demand has quickly spread from developed markets to emerging markets, the IDC said.

» As a result, smartphone average selling prices (ASPs) have declined to $372 in 2013, down from $407 in 2012 and $443 in 2011.

Source: BusinessTech by MyBroadband, 15 June 2013

Mobile devices and

operating systems

SECTION 2

APPLE ‘S NEW IOS AND MUSIC

STREAMING SERVICE

» Apple Inc unveiled iTunes Radio, a free music streaming service that is a key

part of overhauled mobile software that the company called the most revolutionary re-design of its operating system since the iPhone was introduced in 2007.

» As Apple kicked off its annual conference in San Francisco for its developers, executives also showed off a new line of Mac computers and said that updated Siri voice software used on the iPhone now incorporates Microsoft Corp‘s Bing search engine.

» iTunes Radio, which will compete against Pandora Media Inc, allows users to customise by genre and personal taste.

» The service is free with ads across Apple’s devices, including Apple TV. It is free of ads for subscribers to iTunes’ Match, a digital content feature.

» Called iOS 7, the smartphone and tablet platform redesigned by resident creative honcho Jonny Ive comes with a new edge-to-edge look that uses translucency to highlight underlying content, new typefaces, and new icons. Apple plans to make iOS 7 available in the fall.

Source: BusinessTech by MyBroadband, 10 June 2013

SMARTPHONE FOR THE

BLIND

» A small team of Israeli entrepreneurs has come with the world’s first smartphone for the visually impaired.

» Project Ray, as the team calls it, was originally conceived as a way of helping the Israeli Library for the Blind get its services to a wider audience.

» The visually impaired persons rely on a multitude of gadgets and most of them don’t come cheap. They also have to drag along a whole suitcase of expensive accessories.

» The whole idea of Project Ray is to replace that suitcase with a powerful, cloud-connected smartphone.

» People need just 30 minutes of training to get to grips with the new UI. It relies on audio prompted commands and users select apps and commands by lifting the finger off the screen.

» In addition to texting and GPS, the phone also features a colour detection app that helps users match their clothing, along with a banknote app to identify money.

Source: TechEye, 10June 2013

NEW KENYAN MODEM TO

SPEED UP INTERNET

» Kenyan firm Ushahidi has designed an innovative internet modem, BRCK, specifically for Africa, in a bid to speed up broadband internet connectivity on the continent.

» The modem has been designed to connect up to 20 devices at a time and seamlessly switch between Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G and Ethernet connections automatically, depending on what signals are available.

» The modem aims to keep Africans connected even when the power turns off and the internet connection is lost. The new modem hopes to solve one key problem that hinders African business-electricity shortages.

» The modem also allows users to plug in a SIM card to offer a network anywhere in reach of a mobile tower.

» The BRCK has an eight-hour battery to overcome electricity power interruptions. It is also packed with cloud-based software which means it can be accessed from anywhere to see how Wi-Fi and electricity are connections are.

» BRCK will start selling on the market from November but it is available for pre-order for $199 from the end of June .

Source: Ventures Africa, 12 June 2013

GOOGLE DRIVE NOW IN ZULU,

AFRIKAANS

» Google Drive, the search giant’s online storage and document, presentation and spreadsheet creation service, is now available in 18 new languages, including Afrikaans, Amharic, Swahili and Zulu.

» This brings the total number of languages Drive supports to 65.

» The new additions are Afrikaans, Amharic, Basque, Chinese (Hong Kong), Estonian, French (Canadian), Galician, Icelandic, Khmer, Lao, Malaysian, Nepali, Persian, Sinhalese, Spanish (Latin America), Swahili, Urdu and Zulu.

» Users can switch between languages at any time from the settings menu in Google Drive. The service allows users to collaborate on documents, spreadsheets or presentations and they will continue to enjoy this functionality even if their Drive is set to a different language than that of the person with whom they’re collaborating.

» The new languages also apply to Google Drive for mobile devices.

Source: TechCentral, 12 June 2013

MOBILE TECH TO MITIGATE

LOAD-SHEDDING

» Following the recent announcement that load-shedding schedules are likely

to take effect across SA this winter, Vodacom Business has advocated the use of smart mobile technology to mitigate energy capacity and consumption concerns.

» Vodacom’s business arm says smart metering – a system that enables the gathering of data for remote reporting – can help to restrict load-shedding and the potential electricity-supply constraints negatively impacting the local economy.

» Head of Vodacom Business, Vuyani Jarana, says, globally, utilities have successfully used smart metering to understand electricity usage and supply management. “Locally, the introduction of smart meters, which is legislated in the Electricity Regulations Act of 2006, will allow the utility to implement new business models, such as time of use tariffs.”

» He says this type of mobile monitoring will help the utility to reduce peak demand while end-users will start to save money as a result of the insights gathered.

» Smart meters are a component of M2M communication and are being introduced around the world.

Source: ITWeb, 14 June 2013

MICROSOFT OFFICE ARRIVES

ON THE IPHONE

» Software giant Microsoft seems to have melted and allowed its mobile version of Office 365 to be installed on the iPhone.

» Office Mobile now lets iPhone users access, view, and edit their Office documents and it is surprisingly similar to what is already preinstalled today on Windows Phone 8.

» Because Office Mobile is from Microsoft, your formatting and layout remain intact when viewing, editing or adding comments, thanks to support for charts, animations, SmartArt graphics and shapes. When you return to your PC or Mac your document looks like it should.

» Since it was released, Microsoft has added Skype calling, and new OneNote features to Office 365.

Source: TechEye, 14 June 2013

BALLOONS: GOOGLE’S PLAN

TO CONNECT THE WORLD

» The company has begun a pilot project in New Zealand using high-pressure balloons in the stratosphere to provide Internet connectivity “at 3G speeds” to remote and rural areas across the planet, with South Africa high on the list as a planned pilot country.

» Project Loon balloons will float about 19km above the earth’s surface,. Each pumpkin-shaped balloon is the size of a light aircraft and is roughly 15m in diameter.

» Users connect to the balloon network using an antenna attached their building. The balloons relay connectivity from terrestrial internet networks and can share connectivity between them.

» Each balloon is capable of serving an area with a 20km radius and a couple of hundred simultaneous users.

» As part of the trial, which will service 50 locations in and around Christchurch in New Zealand, Google launched a total of 30 balloons last week. Fiber backhaul from the ground station is being supplied by Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand.

Source: TechCentral, 15 June 2013

YOUNG PEOPLE MORE WILLING TO

PAY FOR DIGITAL NEWS

» Young people are more willing to pay for online news than any other age

group, according to a major study of Internet habits.

» The survey of 11,000 internet users in nine countries including the UK found that 25- to 34-year-olds are twice as likely to part with their cash for digital news than older readers.

» "Paywalls and apps are no longer regarded as novelties, but are now increasingly part of everyday life for many of those wanting access to news.”

» Other findings from the survey, compiled by industry marketing body Newsworks, show that 49% of 18- to 24-year-olds read a digital newspaper – the highest reach of any age group.

» More than two-thirds of this age group said they had read a national newspaper in any format in the week before the survey, compared with 72% of those aged between 25 and 34.

Source: Guardian, 20 June 2013

SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 ZOOM

» The folks at Samsung have brought fourth a rather large amount of mobile devices to their ‘Premiere’ event in London, the Galaxy S4 Zoom not least strange amongst them.

» This device is a hybrid of what’s generally considered a smart camera and a smartphone – or a point-and-shoot camera, on the other hand, and takes a middle-point stance between the Samsung Galaxy Camera and the Samsung Galaxy S 4.

» On this machine’s back is a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display, covered with a pane of Gorilla Glass 3, and up front is a 16-megapixel CMOS sensor with optical image stabilisation working with 24-240mm 10x optical zoom, and a F3.1-F6.3 lens to boot.

» This device works with a physical ‘Samsung Zoom Ring’ too – thus bringing further differentiation between the Galaxy S4 Zoom and its Galaxy Camera predecessor.

» This ring acts as a guide for this camera’s optical zoom, but can also activate a feature while the user is in a phone call.

Source: SlashGear, 20June 2013

THREE GALAXY TAB 3

TABLETS COMING IN JULY

» On July 7, Samsung will release three new Galaxy Tab 3 tablets in 7-, 8-, and 10.1-inch screen sizes.

» The 7-incher ships with a $199 price tag and 8GB of internal storage. While both the 8-inch and 10.1-inch versions include 16GB of storage with prices at $299 and $399, respectively.

» Each tablet includes a (now expected) Samsung IR blaster, microSD storage slot, 50GB of free Dropbox storage for two years, and three free months of Hulu Plus.

Source: CNET, 24 June 2013

SONY’S SMARTWATCH2

» Sony has launched the SmartWatch 2 during a press conference at the Mobile Asia Expo in Shanghai

» The SmartWatch 2 has a 1.6-inch LCD display, with a resolution of 220 x 176, and is made from a combination of aluminum and plastic, while the included strap is stainless steel. The watch section is 9mm thick.

» It’s compatible with most 24mm watch straps, and the watch section is IP57 splash proof. According to Sony’s specs, the battery is good for about six days low usage, or four days for regular use.

» It connects Android device – no matter whether it’s a phone or tablet – running Android 4.0 or later, but like its predecessor, isn’t compatible with iOS. It uses NFC for one-touch pairing, and maintains the connection using Bluetooth 3.0.

» It’s compatible with a range of notifications and events, such as SMS, MMS, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Gmail, and missed calls, plus other apps including the music player, your phonebook, the weather, calendar, and the call log.

» Owners will also have access to the 200-plus applications designed for the Sony SmartWatch which are already available through Google Play, and there are sure to be more to come in the future.

Source: DigitalTrends, 25June 2013

THE WORLD'S FIRST LTE-ADVANCED

NETWORK, AND THE GALAXY S4 LTE-A

» The Korean carrier SK Telecom has officially announced its launchiof the world's first publicly available LTE – Advanced Wireless Network.

» The Galaxy S4 LTE-A is also officially (in red or blue) the first device able to take advantage of the new technology for even faster data transmission speeds. According to the press release, SK Telecom plans to have as many as seven LTE-A devices available by the end of the year, all capable of up to 150Mbps.

» According to the press release, SK Telecom plans to have as many as seven LTE-A devices available by the end of the year, all capable of up to 150Mbps.

» While SK Telecom is using Carrier Aggregation and Coordinated Multi Point technology to improve speeds right now, it will add Enhanced Inter-Cell Interference Coordination in 2014 to go even faster.

Source: Engadget, 25June 2013

BLACKBERRY LAUNCHES IPHONE AND

ANDROID SECURITY PLATFORM

» BlackBerry introduced a new service called ‘Secure Work Space,’ which allows enterprise iPhone and Android users to toggle between personal and corporate modes.

» Secure Work Space is aimed at giving companies control over the data that flows over their networks, even on a user's personal phone.

» Corporate email, calendars, contacts and intranets are cordoned off, and IT departments can add or remove other apps from that corporate section without affecting any personal information.

» That separation ensures, for example, that users can't copy a message from the corporate profile and paste it into the personal one. Just as crucially, malware infecting the personal side of the phone won't make its way into corporate data.

Source: CNNMoney, 25June 2013

SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 MINI NOW

AVAILABLE IN THE UK

» The unlocked Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is now available in the UK, the handset is available SIM free for £364.98 including taxes from UK retailer Unlocked Mobiles.

» The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini features a 4.3 inch qHD Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels, processing comes in the form of a dual core 1.7Ghz processor and the device will come with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

» Other specifications on the Galaxy S4 Mini include a front facing 1.9 megapixel camera and a rear facing 8 megapixel camera, the device also features 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and LTE, it also comes with 1.5GB of RAM, a microSDF card slot and 8GB of built in storage.

Source: GeekyGadgets, 26June 2013

MICROSOFT: THE LATEST CHANGES

TO ITS WINDOWS 8.1

» Microsoft is making adjustments to its Windows 8 operating system, beginning with the resurrection of the Start button.

» The company also unveiled improvements to its Bing search engine, built-in support for 3-D printers, an updated Xbox Music app, and new tools for developers making Windows 8 applications.

» The company announced a few new applications for Windows 8, including an official Facebook app, Flipboard and NFL Fantasy football.

» Though there was a brief preview of a new version of PowerPoint for Windows 8, the next version of the Microsoft Office suite won't be released until 2014.

» A free preview version of the Windows 8.1 update for developers is available to anyone interested in installing it. The version for regular consumers will come out later this year.

» Other changes include the ability to boot directly into the desktop, more flexibility with the tiles on the Start screen, support for high-resolution displays, and greater Bing integration.

» The big Xbox Music update is a radio feature that builds a station for listeners based on a song, much like Pandora.

Source: CNN, 26 June 2013

MICROSOFT RELEASES INTERNET

EXPLORER 11

» Internet Explorer 11 is out in preview edition with better touch performance,

faster page loads, and an integrated browsing experience across all your Windows devices.

» The new browser’s touch performance benefits from GPU-enhanced performance for panning, zooming, and swiping that offloads image processing from the CPU to save battery life and improving responsiveness.

» Microsoft is taking a page from Apple’s book with sharing of your open tabs, favorites, usernames and passwords, and history from PC to tablet to phone, all via SkyDrive.

» Those who love tabs will like the new browser — IE11 supports for up to 100 open tabs at any given time.

» “The most important part of the screen is available for your sites with a single, unified interface with tabs and address bar at the bottom optimized for fast access and touch,” Microsoft says.

» To get the new IE11, you’ll need to download the Windows 8.1 preview first.

Source: Venture Beat, 26 June 2013

OFFICE 365 EXPANDS TO 9 NEW

TERRITORIES IN AFRICA

» Microsoft has announced the availability of the entire suite of Office 365

packages in nine new territories across the African continent which includes Angola, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mauritius, Rwanda, Senegal and Zimbabwe.

» “Office 365 is available in various packages, each one specifically designed to meet a particular need,” said Marc Israel, Office Division Group Lead for Microsoft West, East and Central Africa and Indian Ocean Islands.

» “This means that whether you are a consumer, educational institution, small to mid-size business or a large enterprise, we have an Office 365 package that will meet all your software requirements in an always-up-to-date cloud service, at a predictable monthly cost.”

» “One of the biggest challenges SMEs face in today’s harsh economic conditions is finding technology that meets their needs without breaking the bank,” Israel explained.

» Mobility is also critical in the African context and Office 365 allows users to access functionality across multiple devices at no extra charge.

Source: Venture Africa, 27 June 2013

APPLE TESTS MOTION DETECTION

FEATURES FOR IPHONE

» Apple appears to be testing out motion control features that will let people control their iPhones by moving their heads.

» The feature, first reported by 9to5 Mac, was discovered in the developer version of Apple's latest mobile operating system, iOS 7, and is not yet publicly available.

» It works by using the front-facing iPhone or iPad camera to detect head movements.

» When on, the system automatically runs through every option on the device screen until the user selects the one he or she wants by turning his or her head to one side.

» The left or right head movements can be assigned to different tasks, including returning to the main home screen, displaying notifications or activating voice assistant Siri.

» The approach appears time-consuming, but being able to navigate the phone interface with head movements could potentially be useful for people with limited mobility or other disabilities that make touch or voice interfaces difficult to use.

Source: CNN, 27 June 2013

SONY XPERIA C DUAL-SIM 5-INCH

SMARTPHONE FOR R3000

» Along with the Xperia Z Ultra, Sony also unveiled a new lower-cost

smartphone they are calling the Xperia C which is set to go on sale in South Africa, September 2013 for under R3,000.

» Not only will the device boast a 1.2GHz quad-core processor (albeit the MediaTek MTK6589 Cortex-A7), but also a 5″ display running at a resolution of 540×960.

» It runs Android 4.1, takes two SIMs, and has an FM radio app which like most cellphone-based FM radios uses the headset as an antenna.

» Sony SA’s head of marketing, Andrew Fraser, explained that the device was designed with the express purpose of targeting emerging markets and so won’t see release in the developed world.

» Asked through which channels the device will be available in South Africa, Fraser said that so far Cell C has expressed interest.

» Vodacom and MTN have not seemed keen on dual-SIM devices in the past, with a Vodacom spokesperson going so far as to say that one of the reasons is that such devices don’t really inspire customer loyalty.

Source: MyBroadband, 27 June 2013

Mobile Networks

SECTION 3

VODACOM HUNTS 30,000 SME

CLIENTS

» Vodacom is targeting 30,000 subscribers, or 6,000 new SME customers

through its new Value Added Service (VAS) offering, One Net Express.

» The solution provides a customer with traditional switchboard functionality on cellphones, and 3G desk phones should the customer require a geographic telephone number, all hosted in the cloud.

» Gary Hart, executive head of managed network services at Vodacom Business noted in a presentation at the company’s headquarters in Midrand that One Net Express, which provides big business switchboard benefits to small businesses, is already in use by over two million Vodafone subscribers across the UK and Europe.

» “Together these customers have realised savings of over £1 billion in just one year,” he said.

» The VAS is available for under R149 per month per device (user) and is specifically designed for companies employing up to 100 employees, Vodacom said.

Source: BusinessTech by MyBroadband, 6 June 2013

VIRGIN MOBILE CEO SLATES

VODACOM, MTN IN REPORT

» Virgin Mobile South Africa CEO, Jonathan Marchbank has blamed Vodacom and MTN and their ‘unregulated, anticompetitive behavior’ for making it tough for smaller players to enter the market. This is according to a report in the Sunday Times.

» According to the report, Virgin Mobile SA, with only 500,000 customers, is finding it challenging to enter the retail market.

» Retailers, said Marchbank, are reluctant to offer Virgin Mobile products to customers because they will lose ‘trailing revenue’ from existing partnerships with Vodacom and MTN.

» According to the report Marchbank said that he has given up trying to compete against Vodacom and MTN, and is rather trying to build a loyal Virgin Mobile brand following.

» Marchbank was announced as Virgin Mobile SA CEO in August 2012. This followed stints as the head of Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa Group’s activities in Asia, and Chief Operating Officer for Virgin Mobile USA.

Source: MyBroadband, 9 June 2013

RIGHT2KNOW’S URGENT CALL ON

HIGH CELLPHONE COSTS

» An estimated 82.9% of people living in South Africa have a cellphone that

can enable them to access information, enjoy freedom of expression - and organise for social justice as active citizens

» Yet the high cost of airtime and data undermines the democratising potential of the mobile network.

» The Right2Know is launching a campaign to challenge the profiteering of cellphone companies and government's failure to regulate the cost of communication effectively.

» According to the organisation, South Africa has the sixth highest mobile costs in the world.

» On Wednesday, 12 June 2103, the Right 2Know Campaign held a marching in Cape Town to call for free basic and affordable telecommunications.

» The memorandums were handed to Vodacom, MTN, the independent communications regulator (ICASA) and Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communication to advance South Africa's right to communicate.

Source: Bizcommunity, 10 June 2013

MTN LTE FREE AFTER ALL

» MTN has announced that its existing and new LTE customers will get access to its LTE service without having to pay an additional LTE VAS (value-added service) charge. MTN’s LTE service is available to its contract and top-up customers.

» To gain access to MTN’s LTE service new customers need to purchase a 128K LTE SIM card and subscribe to the free LTE VAS. Existing customers with an LTE capable device can also access LTE at no cost.

» MTN SA went live with the commercial availability of LTE in the Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Durban regions in December 2012 and coverage extended to other major cities in South Africa by the end of the year.

» The company said that it has made significant investments preparing for the LTE rollout by modernising over 1,600 base station sites and activating HSPA+ on close to 1000 sites in 2012. Most of the sites have been 10Mhz in the 1800MHz re-farmed to support LTE.

Source: MyBroadband, 10 June 2013

ORANGE TEAMS UP WITH

NASHUA

» Orange has expanded its reach in South Africa through a deal with Nashua

Mobile.

» According to a report by TechCentral ahead of a press conference planned for Thursday morning, Orange, through the deal with Nashua Mobile, will be extending its brand presence in the country with products aimed at South Africans who travel to countries such as France and Botswana.

» The Orange counters at Nashua Mobile stores will sell SIM packages which work in France and Botswana, the report said.

» The Mobicarte Holiday package is a prepaid SIM that is valid for two weeks after activation and offers two hours of calls, 300 SMSes, 500MB of data and unlimited access to WiFi hotspots in France, the report said.

» Additionally, pre-existing Orange customers from France and Botswana can use Nashua Mobile stores to manage their accounts, the report said.

» The Nashua stores in which Orange will have a brand and sales presence are in Sandton (Sandton City), Pretoria (Brooklyn Mall) and Cape Town (Canal Walk and the Icon Centre), according to the report.

Source: BusinessTech by MyBroadband, 13 June 2013

MTN REVISES BIS PLANS

» MTN has revised its BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) portfolio in what it says

is an attempt to offer customers plans based on their particular data usage patterns.

» The new plans, says MTN, will be effective as of 14 July and include access to all or some of the usual BIS services, including BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), BlackBerry e-mail, instant messaging, internet browsing and BlackBerry App World.

» “BlackBerry MTN customers will be able to enjoy complete and unlimited BIS for R59 per month.” In addition to this, the operator will introduce BIS Lite for R39.95 per month, with a 200MB cap.

» MTN’s revised plans of R29.95 (100MB cap), R19.95 (40MB cap) and R14.95 (30MB cap) per month correspond to the BIS plans the company introduced last year (the Social and Email plan, the Social plan and the Messaging plan respectively) – apart from the fact that the caps have been increased.

Source: ITWeb, 20 June 2013

VODACOM OUTLINES FIBRE

BROADBAND PLANS

» Executive head of access solutions at Vodacom, Janine Rebelo, has revealed that the company plans to roll out fibre access to selected business parks in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban in Vodacom’s financial year to March 2014.

» From next year, assuming the deployments have met the company’s expectations, the plan is to accelerate the build to more business parks and also to include private homes in residential estates in the mix.

» Consumers will be offered speeds as high as 100Mbit/s and there are plans to offer video-on-demand and similar entertainment services down the line.

» In terms of content services over broadband for residential users, Vodacom intends offering MultiChoice’s DStv channels over its fibre network for estates that ask for it, as well as video-on-demand services.

» According to Rebelo, Vodacom has engaged with several business parks for the first phase of the company’s fibre access plans.

» Vodacom has begun work on a project to identify opportunities for providing fibre-based broadband in the residential market. But for now, the company does not plan to offer fibre to standalone homes along residential streets.

Source: TechCentral, 26 June 2013

MTN EXTENDS DATA PRICE

CUTS

» MTN South Africa has extended its cut-price data tariffs for prepaid and

contract customers until the end of September.

» MTN has also introduced a further price reduction on its 500MB Internet bundle, reducing it from R119 to R99.

» The prepaid offerings are as follows: customers who purchase 10MB of data for R10 will receive an addition 10MB of data for free. Those purchasing 75MB for R29 — reduced from R49 previously — will receive 25MB of additional data.

» MTN’s contract customers will now pay R49/month for 500MB. Meanwhile, 1GB monthly bundles now cost R79/month as opposed to R99/month while the operator’s 1GB TopUp plan has been reduced to R99 from R129.

» Contract customers using MTN’s 2GB/month plan will pay R119 instead of R139, while the 2GB TopUp plan has been cut from R189/month to R149/month.

Source: TechCentral, 26 June 2013

SAFARICOM LAUNCHES MOBILE

PAYMENT CAMPAIGN LIPA NA M-PESA

» Kenya’s telecommunication company Safaricom has launched a mobile payment service campaign, Lipa Na M-Pesa, aiming to establish its payment services as the primary tool for transactions in the region.

» Lipa Na M-Pesa, is aimed at SMEs and will enable consumers to pay for goods and services using mobile money, without incurring transaction charges.

» Mobile money presently accounts for the high levels of financial inclusions (the delivery of financial services at affordable costs to low income segments).

» This contributed to 57 percent of the Kenyan population gaining access to formal financial platforms.

» M-PESA has largely contributed to this growth and is therefore critical to Kenya’s financial inclusion agenda.

» The service can be used to pay for any transactions valued between $1 and $800.

» Safaricom has registered 5000 traders for the Lipa Na M-Pesa service and the CEO says he expects the number to rise to 100,000 by mid 2014.

Source: Ventures Africa, 26 June 2013

MTN CAMEROON: CANAL+/CANALSAT

PAYMENT VIA MOBILE MONEY

» MTN Cameroon has officially announced that it is providing its clientele with a

simple, rapid, secure and an affordable means of payment with regard to re-subscription with CANAL+/CANALSAT via MTN Mobile .

» CANAL+ CAMEROON is the subsidiary of CANAL+AFRIQUE, TV operator by satellite in Africa and present in over 30 West and Central African countries.

» The CANAL+/CANALSAT Bill Payment package enables MTN clients, holders of a Mobile Money account to pay their CANAL+/CANALSAT re-subscription or that of a third party by simply dialing *124*2#. It is user-friendly and available 24H/24 and 7D/7.

» In Cameroon, the MTN Mobile Money service is available for all MTN clients since 2010, be they holders of a bank account, or not. The CANAL+/CANALSAT re-subscription package therefore adds to the list of transactions already being carried out via the MTN Mobile Money service.

» Such transactions include especially payment of electricity bills, purchase of airtime, money transfer, payment of school fees and purchase of goods and services from previously selected partners including supermarkets and restaurants.

Source: MobileMoneyAfrica, 27 June 2013

MTN LOSES OUT ON MYANMAR

BID

» South Africa’s MTN has crashed out of the race to win a telecommunications licence in Asia’s Myanmar, one of the last frontiers in the world for mobile operators.

» Myanmar’s government announced that Norway's Telenor and Qatar's Ooredoo have been awarded telecommunications licences in that country.

» The tender will bring foreign companies into Myanmar's telecommunications sector for the first time. The operators will roll out networks in a country that analysts say has the lowest mobile phone usage in the world, with only 4 to 9% of its 60 million people connected.

» MTN was one of the shortlisted candidates for a telecommunications licence in that country, along with the likes of Singapore Telecommunications, KDDI Corp, Digicel, Axiata, Bharti Airtel, Orange and Millicom International Cellular.

» Myanmar's government has said it will finalise the 15-year licences by September and operators will need to launch services within nine months. They will have to provide voice services across three-quarters of the country within five years and data services across half of it.

Source: ITWeb Africa, 27 June 2013

NEOTEL SALE RUMOURS

SWIRLING AGAIN

» Although Tata Communications has twice rubbished talk that it has any intention of selling its controlling stake in Neotel, the market was again awash with speculation that some sort of deal may be on the cards.

» The Sunday Times newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying that formal bids to buy Neotel were due by the end of the month. Vodacom and MTN are understood to have had discussions with Neotel and its shareholders over the past few months.

» It remains unclear whether a deal, if it happened, would involve a sale by the Indian-headquartered Tata Communications or whether some sort of joint venture is on the cards to exploit Neotel’s radio frequency spectrum assets.

» If MTN and Vodacom are the two companies in the running to buy a stake in Neotel or to enter into some sort of joint venture with it, it’s clear they’d be interested in two assets. The first is Neotel’s extensive intra-city and metropolitan fibre-optic infrastructure; the second is its access to radio frequency spectrum that can be used to build next-generation mobile broadband networks.

» Neotel is the only operator in South Africa that has access to the so-called “digital dividend” band around 800MHz, which is ideally suited to delivering 4G services, especially outside dense urban areas.

» It also has access to chunks of spectrum around 1,8GHz and 3,5GHz. Both Vodacom and MTN have significantly stronger balance sheets than Neotel, which would allow them to exploit the spectrum assets more fully.

Source: TechCentral, 30 June 2013

Social Networks

SECTION 4

TOP TWITTER USERS IN

SOUTH AFRICA

» South Africa’s Twitter user with the most followers is comedian Trevor Noah, followed cricketer AB de Villiers, and South African YouTube celebrity Caspar Lee.

» Twitter has become one of the biggest social networks globally, with over 200 million active monthly users.

» Internationally well-known music superstars Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry are the Twitter users with the most followers globally.

» In South Africa, singers are not dominating the Twitter universe (as in the United States), but rather entertainers, sports stars, and politicians.

» The table provides an overview of the Twitter users in South Africa with the most followers. Please note that these numbers were recorded on 4 June 2013.

Source: MyBroadband, 11 June 2013

DMMA SURVEY ABOUT SOUTH

AFRICANS’ INTERNET HABITS

» According to the DMMA’s survey results most South African internet users (95%) use the internet for Email, followed by web browsing (84%) and social networking (78%)

» Respondents cited their home as their preferred location to go online, with the most popular browser being Internet Explorer (63%), followed by Google Chrome (40%). In terms of users who accesses the internet via their mobile phones, three out of four said they do so every day.

» Newspapers were used 62% less, followed by magazines (59% less). Television and radio were also impacted by growing internet usage in South Africa.

» In regards to online shopping, after five years of internet use, respondents were 50% more likely to shop online. Of those that did not shop online, concern regarding security was the primary reason given. A total of 45% users who shopped online in 2012 admitted to spending more than the previous year.

Source:IMMGSM Magazine, 11 June 2013

WHATSAPP PROCESSES 27BN

MESSAGES IN 24 HOURS

» WhatsApp announced that it had processed 27-billion messages in 24 hours, a new record for the mobile messaging service.

» It’s also significantly up from its previous record of 19-billion messages processed on the last day of 2012.

» According to WhatsApp, the number comprises 10-billion messages sent and 17-billion messages received by its users. If you’re wondering why there’s such a large discrepancy between the two figures, the company says that it’s largely down to group messages. It explains that ‘sending one message into group chat of 10 people is 1:10 inbound : outbound’.

» CEO Jan Koum recently revealed that the service now has over 200-million active users. That makes it bigger than Twitter.

» It’s also streets ahead of BlackBerry’s BBM, which once dominated the space. The Canadian company’s service now has 60-million users who send and receive some 10-billion messages each day.

Source: Memeburn, 13 June 2013

#FINALLY. FACEBOOK ADDS

HASHTAG SUPPORT

» The billion-strong social networking site has announced it will now make hashtags clickable, in a bid to make it easier to discover and join public conversations and find out about breaking news.

» Facebook product manager Greg Lindley confirmed the long-rumoured new feature in a blog post, saying the team aims to offer users a ‘simple way to see the larger view of what’s happening or what people are talking about’.

» The first step in this process is to make hashtags clickable, allowing Facebookers who are already familiar with the hashtag from Twitter (or Google+, or Instagram, or Pinterest, or Tumblr, or Path …) to discover who else is talking about the topic mentioned in their latest update.

» Clickable hashtags aren’t available for all users worldwide as yet, but when the roll out hits them, Facebook says users will be able to: search for a specific hashtag from the search bar on Facebook, click on hashtags that originate on other services, such as Facebook-owned Instagram, and compose posts directly from the hashtag feed and search results.

Source: Memeburn, 13 June 2013

INSTAGRAM ADDS VIDEO

» Instagram launched a video-sharing tool on 20 June , in a move that will place the Facebook-owned company in direct competition with Vine, the Twitter-backed video app.

» Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom made the announcement at Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters in California, promising that Instagram video would incorporate ‘everything we know and love about Instagram, but it moves’.

» Instagram videos do not ‘loop’ in the same way as Vine’s, but the Instagram format offers users up to 15 seconds of recording time instead of the sometimes-limiting six seconds on Vine.

» Instagram's popularity was in part based on the special filters users could impose over their pictures, and Instagram video has similar capabilities – with 13 specially created filters available to process video.

» One of the benefits Instagram video will have over Vine is that it already has a dedicated audience. Instagram has 130m active users, Systrom said at the unveiling, with 1bn likes a day.

Source: Guardian, 21 June 2013

WHATSAPP HITS 250M

ACTIVE USERS

» OTT messaging service WhatsApp has passed the 250 million active user mark, the company told the Wall Street Journal.

» The user figure is more impressive given its lack of marketing spend and puts the messaging app above Twitter’s 200 million monthly active users announced at the end of last year.

» The growth of free messaging apps that use Wi-Fi or mobile data to send messages is a concern for operators as they are impacting revenue traditionally generated by SMS messages and voice calls.

» A report from Chetan Sharma Consulting said that WhatsApp has ‘moved around’ more messages than all mobile operators combined in any country – including the US and China – during the last 12 months.

Source: MobileWorldLive, 21 June 2013

FACEBOOK STOPS ADS ON PAGES

WITH SEXUAL, VIOLENT CONTENT

» Facebook Inc said it will no longer allow ads to appear on pages with sexual or violent content, as the online social network moves to appease marketers being associated with objectionable material.

» The moves come a month after several businesses pulled their ads from Facebook amid reports of pages on Facebook that promoted violence against women.

» Facebook said at the time that it needed to improve its system for flagging and removing content that violated its community standards, which forbid users from posting content about hate-speech, threats and pornography, among other things.

» Ads account for roughly 85 percent of revenue at Facebook, the world’s largest social network with 1.1 billion users. Facebook said the changes would not have a meaningful impact on its business.

» A Facebook page for a business that sells adult products will no longer feature ads.

» Pages and groups that reference violence will also be off limits to ads. A Facebook spokeswoman noted that the policy would not apply to the pages of news organizations on Facebook

Source: BusinessTech, 1 July 2013

Sources and Contacts

SOURCES

» Bizcommunity

» BusinessTech

» BusinessTech by MyBroadband

» CNET

» CNN

» CNN Money

» DigitalTrends

» Engadget

» GeekyGadgets

» Guardian

» IMMGSM Magazine

» ITWeb

» ITWeb Africa

» Memeburn

» MobileMoneyAfrica

» MobileMoneyAfrica

» MobileWorldLive

» MyBroadband

» SlashGear

» TechCentral

» TechEye

» Venture Africa

» VenturesBeat

CONTACT US

Angus Robinson | Director: Mobile & Innovation [tel] +27 (11) 555-3800 [cell] +27 (83) 635 4400 [fax] 0867210884 [email] angus@native.co.za [twitter] @angusrobinson

Have a look at all previous Mobile Reports and other mobile work on our site - http://www.native.co.za/home?keyword=mobile Should you have any mobile insight, strategy, campaign or solution requirements please contact us.

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