South Africa : SABC in financial crisis.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC is reported to be R700-million in the red and plans to approach Parliament to seek permission to increase license fees. Read more

Zambia: Government stops issuing new broadcast licences

The Zambian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has with immediate effect stopped issuing broadcasting licenses to new applicants saying it is working towards the establishment of an Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) that will soon take over the licensing function of all broadcasters in the country. MISA-Zambia initiated the IBA process through research and policy submissions and has been calling for this process to be finalised. Read more

Zimbabwe: Mobile tariffs to be reviewed

The Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) says it will soon review phone tariffs downwards. This comes in the wake of intense public outcry over prohibitive foreign currency-pegged tariffs being charged by telecommunications operators Read more

Swaziland: Regulator sets deadline for radio licence applications

Applicants for the three community and one commercial radio licences availed by the Swazi government have been given until March 16 to file their applications with the Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC) which is the radio broadcast regulator. Read more

South Africa: MXit most powerful mobile youth social network

Instant messaging giant MXit has cemented its place as Africa’s most powerful youth mobile social network by exceeding 11 million users and becoming the number one method of communicating with youth. Read more

Zambia: ZNBC to introduce new channel

Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) will this year introduce a new television channel. Director General Joseph Salasini says the new television channel, that will focus on entertainment and the economy, would be in place by the end of the first quarter of this year. Read more

International: US delays digital TV transition

The US congress voted on February 4 to delay the analog TV shutdown until June 12. The vote came as the nation was two weeks away from the original date of Feb. 17 for the digital transition, allowing broadcasters to replace analog TV signals with digital ones. Read more

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

The Namibian government, through its government appointed board, finally removed the Director General of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation , NBC, from his post over allegations of maladministration and incompetence in early February. Read more