SA’s data centres face growing scrutiny over their environmental footprint. (Image created via Gemini) South Africa’s major data centre operators are pushing back against concerns their rapid expansion is placing unsustainable pressure on the country’s limited electricity and water resources, pointing to their renewable energy and tighter resource management initiatives. This comes as the sector…
Communications regulator Icasa has retracted a suggestion by one of its councillors that South Africa’s mobile operators may be colluding over new data expiry rules, an embarrassing climbdown for the authority three days after the claim was aired in parliament. In a statement late on Friday, Icasa said it had received “numerous requests for clarification”…
Uptime Institute today released the findings of its 16th Annual Global Data Center Survey, the most comprehensive study of the digital infrastructure sector. The 2026 results reveal an industry navigating workforce constraints, escalating outage expenses, even as rising costs remain the top concern for management teams. Financial Pressure and Resource Constraints Intensify: While high costs…
South Africa has, for the first time, formally earmarked the entire upper 6GHz band for mobile networks, handing operators a potential 700MHz of prime mid-band spectrum and settling – at least directionally – a global tug of war between the cellular industry and Wi-Fi advocates over the most valuable unassigned frequencies in telecommunications. The decision…
Mobile operators will have to give subscribers clear warning — and at least two reminders — before deactivating a dormant number under new rules published by communications regulator Icasa. The numbering plan (fourth amendment) regulations, gazetted on 1 July, create a standardised, sector-wide framework for how operators deactivate and recycle mobile numbers that have fallen…
Satellite operators wanting to launch a constellation-based service such as Starlink in South Africa cannot obtain the necessary network licence from the regulator at present, and their realistic route into the market is to acquire one from an existing licence holder, communications regulator Icasa has said. In a notice (PDF) published in the Government Gazette…
The entrance to the SpaceX rocket launch area in Brownsville, Texas. Veronica Gabriela Cardenas/Reuters SpaceX has told investors it plans to launch a Starlink mobile service for US consumers, the Financial Times reported on Friday, in a move that could allow the Elon Musk-led company to compete directly with Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. Here are…
While the FBI says it is constantly assessing security risks, it has identified no credible or specific threats against the tournament, co-Deputy Director Christopher Raia told NBC News. But federal law enforcement does expect security issues to emerge, he said. “I think there will be some kind of security event,” he said. “I think what…
Postbank seeks a panel of mobile network operators to provide mobile data network connectivity services (Image source: 123RF) Activity on National Treasury’s eTenders Portal is beginning to pick up again, with proactive municipalities preparing for new budgets that come into play in July. It’s not all about grass root levels this week, however, as government…
Communications regulator Icasa has gazetted the final regulations on the use of “innovation spectrum”, formally settling one of the most contested questions in South African spectrum policy. In terms of the newly published final regulations, the lower 6GHz band (5.925-6.425GHz) will be licence-exempt and available to wireless internet service providers (Wisps), Wi-Fi deployments, private networks…
