Spotify will raise prices as it invests in new features and targets a billion users, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing the music streaming provider’s co-president and chief business officer, Alex Norstrom. The increases would be accompanied by planned new services and features, the FT cited Norstrom as saying in an interview. Earlier in…
Tyme Group CEO Coen Jonker TymeBank is engaged in discussions with the department of home affairs and its minister, Leon Schreiber, after the parties’ very public spat over a big hike in the fees to access a critical government database. This comes about six weeks after TymeBank warned it was considering legal action in an…
ZADNA CEO Molehe Wesi. (Photograph by Lesley Moyo) The ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) will implement its previously announced Consumer Price Index (CPI)-linked registry fee adjustment, effective 1 October, it said yesterday. The move, it says, follows the public consultation process conducted in 2024, and is aligned with its multi-year pricing projection strategy. “Starting 1…
Prepaid mobile subscribers will be affected by increased verification costs, says the Association of Comms and Technology. South Africa’s mobile network operator umbrella body has slammed the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) for its 6 500% increase in the cost of biometric verifications. It says the move is contrary to government’s own socio-economic endeavours. This…
The OPEC logo is displayed on a mobile phone screen in front of a computer screen displaying OPEC icons in Ankara, Turkey, on June 25, 2024. Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images Eight oil-producing nations of the OPEC+ alliance agreed on Saturday to increase their collective crude production by 548,000 barrels per day, as they…
There are alternatives to government’s biometric checks. Sectors that depend on biometric identity verification – including financial services, mobile network operators and credit providers – are under pressure after the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) implemented a steep fee increase for access to its database. Identity verification company Ideco says these industries are well-positioned to…
Cheslyn Jacobs, TymeBank chief commercial officer. TymeBank has warned that a proposed increase in biometric verification fees, from 15c to R10, could result in the financial exclusion of its low-income clients, particularly grant recipients, from formal banking. This, after the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) yesterday rolled out its new National Population Register (NPR). This…
Home affairs minister Dr Leon Schreiber and TymeBank co-founder Coenraad Jonker. The home affairs minister and TymeBank’s co-founder are involved in a public squabble over the price of a biometric check increasing from 15c to R10. TymeBank argues that the poor will bear the brunt of the hike, as it cannot afford to absorb the…
Tyme Group CEO Coenraad Jonker Pressure is mounting on the minister of home affairs over a decision to impose huge increases in the fees for companies wanting to run checks against a national database for client verification. The move, which has already drawn fire from the telecommunications industry, has now been harshly criticised by Coen…
