MTN Archives - Memeburn

#SocialMediaBlackOut: South Africa, here’s everything you need to know
By Andy Walker: Editor on 20 June, 2017
If you were scrolling through your Twitter timeline Monday, you might've noticed the hashtag #SocialMediaBlackOut out the corner of your eye. Don't worry though. It isn't some death knell for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram -- they're probably still function as per normal come Wednesday. But there might be considerably fewer users from South Africa on them if the hashtag's primary narrative is to be believed. What is #SocialMediaBlackOut? The thought of one might strike fear into amateur breakfast photographers, but the content isn't the reason for the campaign. It's largely how South Africans access said content. #SocialMediaBlackOut can be seen as a spinoff...

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20+ essential USSD codes to remember for Vodacom, MTN & beyond
By Staff Reporter on 28 July, 2016
If you're a prepaid user on one of South Africa's mobile phone networks, chances are that you use a USSD code every day. Whenever you check your airtime, load more airtime or request a call from someone who has more airtime than you, you're using a USSD code. Often, you'll remember these as some of the most used codes, but there are a few you might not know exist. Below, we take a look at some of the USSD codes you really should remember, as well as their functions, for the biggest networks in South Africa. Note: we'll be sure to...

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‘Vodacom, MTN did nothing to stop number being fraudulently ported’
By Hadlee Simons on 20 May, 2016
A Centurion man says that Vodacom and MTN couldn't stop his phone number from being fraudulently ported. Alasdair Cameron said that his ABSA credit card was "hijacked"and that the criminals needed his number to take full advantage of the compromised card. According to Cameron, ABSA arranged for a new card to be delivered via UTI Couriers after the first one was compromised, and after two weeks, he received a text message on 30 March to say the card had been delivered. "It hadn't. I'd neither signed for it nor laid eyes on it (despite UTI reassuring ABSA that the card had been 'dropped')," he...
MTN acquires Nigerian network operator Visafone Communications for undisclosed amount
By Myolisi Sikupela: Staff Reporter on 7 January, 2016
With a US$3.9 billion fine -- imposed on it by the Nigerian Communications Commission -- looming in the background, MTN Nigeria has reportedly acquired Nigerian network operator Visafone Communications. News coming out of Nigeria, reported by the Nigeria based publication, Leadership, is that the deal has been completed with the two parties due to make statements to this fact before the end of this week. This move is a firm statement by MTN that even with the US$3.9-billion fine circling above its head it has no intentions of exiting the Nigerian market. Founded in 2007, Visafone Communications is owned...
MTN Swaziland partners with Ericsson to offer Ericsson Converged Wallet
By Myolisi Sikupela: Staff Reporter on 30 June, 2015
In a new step forward for mobile money, Ericson, the Swedish multinational provider of communication technology and services, has announced that MTN Swaziland has deployed Ericsson Converged Wallet. This will enable the operator to quickly introduce relevant, new and differentiated mobile financial services. Mobile money is big business and it is now though still at its early stages no longer the novelty it was a few years back. The move will see MTN introduce relevant, new and differentiated mobile financial services to more than 275 000 existing MTN Swaziland mobile wallet users and 3,000 agents. The new platform also serves...
MTN now lets people send money between Ivory Coast and Benin
By Myolisi Sikupela: Staff Reporter on 2 December, 2014
The MTN Group has revealed the launch of a mobile money cross-border payment service between Ivory Coast and Benin, positioning itself in the middle of the mobile money industry that has grown massively in Africa. The service, it says, has been introduced to enable the cheaper and easier movement of money in the West African region, potentially cutting miles that people have to walk to banks. This service is not the first of its kind that MTN has initiated between two countries. Back in April, the mobile giant introduced a similar service between Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. The success of...

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MTN’s results a mixed bag: subscribers, data up, revenues down
By Myolisi Sikupela: Staff Reporter on 23 October, 2014
MTN Group, Africa's largest mobile operator, reported a growth in quarterly subscribers on Thursday. The increase is not huge by any means but it is still impressive considering that the cellular faced tough competition as well as earlier this year battling stringent new rules in some markets. Of particular worry was the decision by the Nigerian telecommunications regulator to fine the country's three biggest mobile operators, including MTN, for the quality of their service and prohibited them from selling new SIM cards in March. MTN said the growth of subscribers increased by two percent over the three months ending...
Don’t burn your wallet: why SA hasn’t reached its mobile, cashless future (yet)
By Stuart Thomas on 23 June, 2014
When it comes to technologies that have failed to deliver on the hype that preceded them, it's pretty difficult to beat mobile money in South Africa. Following the rise of MPesa in Kenya, everyone thought South Africa, with its massive mobile population, would follow suit. While few would have dared to say it at the time, there was a sense of expectation that, within a few years, everyone would have abandoned cash and would be paying for things on their phones. Boy was that wrong. A number of factors hindered the growth of mobile money in the country, including restrictive...

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MTN lets its subscribers listen to Gareth Cliff on WeChat for free
By Stuart Thomas on 5 May, 2014
The decision by shock jock Gareth Cliff to abandon terrestrial radio for online and WeChat streaming was one of the biggest things to happen to the South African digital space. In a country where free Wi-Fi is still a (relatively) scarce commodity and mobile data rates are pretty expensive, getting the latter right was always going to be a bit of a challenge. That challenge has however gotten a little bit easier with MTN announcing that it'll make the show free of data charges for its Internet Services customers. The MTN Internet Services also include special data rates for...

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Huawei’s sub-$70 smartphone shows MTN’s $50 Steppa gamble’s already paying off
By Hilton Tarrant: Columnist on 19 February, 2014
If MTN needed any vindication that its gamble to launch a sub US$50 MTN-branded smartphone will pay off, here it is: Chinese manufacturer Huawei has confirmed it will price its Ascend Y220 device at R449 (US$41) on MTN in South Africa. First, MTN’s move was not that unusual to begin with. Globally, operators often launch branded-handsets to fill obvious gaps in the market. Typically this is at the lower end. What operators end up doing -- practically -- is driving the cost of a particular entry-point or segment down by “using” some of the OEM margin that is left on...

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MTN’s $50 Steppa smartphone changes (almost) everything
By Hilton Tarrant: Columnist on 5 February, 2014
It’s been astonishing to see how quickly mobile operator MTN’s Steppa smartphone has been written off, when the devices have hardly made it to retail stores. This is a sub-$50 smartphone. A phone that retails for R499. By comparison, the BlackBerry Curve, a phone that South Africa was (and still is) addicted to, sells for closer to four times as much. The newer 9320 (which has 3G) sells for a little more, while the original 8520 – the most popular phone in South Africa at one stage – sold for a little bit less. By comparison, Nokia’s entry-level Asha 210 device retails...

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VoIP is the future for the world’s telcos, but it won’t be an easy one
By Rob Lith on 23 October, 2013
I recently wrote about operators saving a packet on toll charges by using IP technology at the core, while failing to pass the benefit on to consumers and businesses with retail voice over IP (VoIP) products. This, I pointed out, is because very cheap voice products will quickly decimate their revenues, so it seems reasonable to expect that the fixed-line and mobile telcos will hold on to their traditional business models a little longer. Writing on the wall But the writing has been on the wall for a long time. Telecoms research firm Telegeography estimates that global VoIP traffic grew...

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Hey MTN, MetropolitanRepublic, meet the real face of Ugandan education
By Anton Crone on 22 October, 2013
There is a primary school in Uganda at the foot of a dormant volcanic crater. It is not unlike many schools in this country. It has no electricity. The classroom walls are mud. A third classroom is in the process of being built but it’s already in use. The kids like it because the unfinished walls let in plenty of light so they can copy from the small blackboard; the lesson today is Malaria. No electricity They write in examination pads, their ballpoint pens making lazy circles in the air as they copy the chalked diagramme of a mosquito. Some use pencils...

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9 of South Africa’s best mobile apps
By Nur Bremmen: Staff reporter on 28 August, 2013
We live in a world increasingly driven by apps. Apple's famous "there's an app for that" slogan is more of a truism these days than it is a marketing ploy. Research from Mobithinking suggests that the estimated number of app users worldwide will hit more than four-billion by the end of 2017. Such a figure not only indicates the growing demand for mobile applications, but the reality that mobile content is shaping the way people utilise their mobile devices. And while emerging markets may have been slower to adapt, an influx of cheap smartphones from the likes of China means...

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MTN introduces cut price BlackBerry service plans
By Martin Carstens on 5 July, 2012
South African mobile operator MTN is launching three new low-tier packages aimed at making the BlackBerry service even more affordable. The news comes hot on the heels of RIM’s latest earnings call, during which the BlackBerry smartphone maker singled out South Africa as being one of its strongest and growing markets. For about a quarter of the regular price, the BlackBerry Messaging Plan allows email and BBM use, but no web browsing. Only...