Hanno Labuschagne

Pretoria

MyBroadband journalist. I write stuff and narrate things. I sometimes shoot stuff. Film is the ammo of choice. I also hum movie themes all the time.

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Articles

Truth about AI threat to call centres

1 week ago | mybroadband.co.za | Hanno Labuschagne

Artificial intelligence (AI) does not pose a threat to call centre jobs or demand for voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) services, according to Euphoria Telecom chief technology officer Nic Laschinger. Several experts and heavyweights in the customer support industry have predicted that AI will significantly impact human involvement in conventional call centres. Research firm Gartner has predicted that AI will cut contact centre labour costs by more than $80 billion (R1.55 billion) by 2026.
Dark clouds over major municipal fibre project

2 weeks ago | mybroadband.co.za | Hanno Labuschagne

The decision to have a single fibre network operator (FNO) roll out and manage its entire fixed fibre network in a first-of-its-kind project in South Africa could come back to haunt one of the West Coast’s biggest local municipalities. The Saldanha Bay Municipality (SMB) — which governs Saldanha, Vredenburg, Langebaan, Hopefield, St Helena Bay and several small towns — appointed Zoom Fibre to build and run its open-access fibre network nearly six years ago.
South Africa’s best-selling electric car has a big missing feature - one year after launching

2 weeks ago | mybroadband.co.za | Hanno Labuschagne

The best-selling electric vehicle (EV) in South Africa — the Volvo EX30 — continues to lack Internet-in-the-car (IITC) connectivity a year after rolling out locally. The EX30 has been praised by critics for its good value. It offers excellent performance and high-tech features at a starting price under R800,000.
Bad news for people who go to the movies in South Africa

2 weeks ago | mybroadband.co.za | Hanno Labuschagne

Movie ticket prices in South Africa are between 92% and 275% more expensive than they were a decade ago, an analysis by MyBroadband shows. South Africa’s two big cinema chains, Ster-Kinekor and Nu-Metro, have struggled to remain relevant while video streaming services have seen explosive growth. The growing libraries of excellent movies and series on these services are believed to have driven demand for larger-screen TVs at home, which has further blunted the appeal of the big-screen experience.
PlayStation and Xbox giving South African gamers the cold cloud shoulder

2 weeks ago | mybroadband.co.za | Hanno Labuschagne

Despite having a significant presence in gaming in South Africa, Sony and Microsoft still don’t offer their cloud game streaming services locally. With the growing expansion of Internet capacity in recent years, bandwidth-demanding cloud game streaming has gained traction. According to estimates from Statista Market Insights, global cloud gaming revenues will record an annual growth rate of 24.71% up to 2029, reaching $25.30 billion (R501 billion).
South African casino launches rooftop solar plant as big as four rugby fields

2 weeks ago | mybroadband.co.za | Hanno Labuschagne

Sun International has completed the installation of one of South Africa’s biggest rooftop photovoltaïc (PV) solar plants at the Sibaya Casino & Entertainment Kingdom in Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal. Installed by LTM Energy Group, Sibaya said the plant set a “new standard” for commercial energy efficiency in the hospitality industry. The 2.5MWp plant covers about 90% of the facility’s external parking and consists of 4,590 solar panels.
Two free video streaming services showing strong growth in South Africa

2 weeks ago | mybroadband.co.za | Hanno Labuschagne

According to Similarweb, an online traffic analysis platform, eMedia and SABC have seen strong growth in their respective video streaming services in recent months. eVOD and SABC+ are latecomers to the streaming space and must play catch-up in a market flooded with excellent local and international options. South Africa’s first subscription video streaming service, Showmax, launched in 2015, which means it is nearly a decade old. Netflix and Amazon Prime Video entered the local market in 2016.
Traffic fine change disaster in South Africa

2 weeks ago | mybroadband.co.za | Hanno Labuschagne

The Department of Transport (DoT) has gone silent on the implementation of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) and the Aarto Amendment Act, which are already many years behind schedule. Road laws and driver training expert Rob Handfield-Jones recently highlighted that the government has failed to implement the legislation in nearly three decades. “The Aarto Act was passed in 1998.
Bad news for rural Internet services in South Africa

2 weeks ago | mybroadband.co.za | Hanno Labuschagne

Low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite services could pose a major threat to many of South Africa’s rural Internet service providers in the next few years. However, there may also be an opportunity to leverage this emerging technology to enhance their current offerings to provide customers with better broadband — where LEO providers are willing to partner for local rollouts.
Stop paying with your plastic card - South African banks

2 weeks ago | mybroadband.co.za | Hanno Labuschagne

Several major South African banks are encouraging their customers to embrace digital wallets and virtual cards over physical plastic cards due to their improved security, among other benefits. In recent years, near-field communications (NFC) chips have become more common on smart devices and payment terminals, supporting greater use of tap-and-go payments. For those without an NFC-enabled device, an alternative to consider is scan-to-pay, which works on nearly any smartphone with a camera.