According to principal researcher Arthur Goldstuck, the impact of the World Cup is the big question on the minds of many. “Enormous expectations were created in terms of what the event would do for the country. Our research last year showed that 84% of SMEs expected a positive impact on the economy. However, less than half expected that it would have an impact on their own businesses. This year, we will measure whether that impact occurred – and examine if it was in line with expectations,” he says.

Any numbers in terms of World Cup costs and benefits right now are at best speculative, says Goldstuck, but he notes that as the World Cup drew closer, it became apparent to many SMEs that the optimistically-anticipated benefits might not materialise. “Short term benefits really are unlikely for SMEs; much of the action was locked down for FIFA and sponsors. However, the sense is certainly that the World Cup will deliver benefits for years to come, in terms of goodwill owing to its success, as well as infrastructure which remains.” He says it is obvious that a major positive impact on the country’s image and its potential for foreign investors has resulted.

Andile Lungisa, NYDA Chairperson, says the work of SME Survey is arguably more important than ever, given the economic challenges faced by the country. “Many jobs have been lost with the impact of the recession. By understanding how government and the private sector can influence and stimulate the SME sector, there is the potential to elevate performance and grow employment opportunities for more South Africans.

SME Survey 2010 will also test the extent to which SMEs have access to sustainable development initiatives – and extent to which they need such structures. Says Goldstuck, “To date, efforts at intervention and support have not focused on sustainable development but rather tended to be one-offs. We need to unpack the sentiments of SMEs on the necessity for sustained intervention to guide understanding and policy on what will make SMEs more effective.” Such interventions, he adds, can come from government, the private sector or a combination of the two in joint initiatives.

With environmental awareness elevating in the national consciousness, SME Survey 2010 will gauge whether business owners agree with the need for environmental awareness. “More than that, we will examine if our SMEs have embraced the concept of doing business in an environmentally friendly manner,” says Goldstuck.

He does point out, however, that such notions are only likely to become pertinent once a company has established itself and become profitable. “It is worth noting that many environmentally friendly options are tied to efficiency; in the face of escalating prices of energy, that provides some pragmatic forces.”

In addition to these three new research questions, Goldstuck notes that SME Survey will as usual address a wide range of topics and factors, including IT and connectivity and key issues which keep the business owner awake at night. “We want to know what makes the SME more sustainable, what keeps it competitive and what it sees as threats and risks in the dynamic South African business environment,” he concludes.

SME Survey 2010 is sponsored by the National Youth Development Agency.

The final results will be released at SME Survey’s FREE Small Company, Big Voice Road show’s hosted in Johannesburg (27 Oct), Bloemfontein (2 Nov) and Durban (3 Nov).Visit the SME Survey web site to find out more. - 24 August 2010

This annual competition, known as the Nova Short Story Competition, has been running since 1972, encourages writing in the science fiction and fantasy field and promotes local talent. This year again sees a double competition where stories will be judged as either general or South African in theme and backdrop.

The South African section prize is sponsored by World Wide Worx, and will be judged by its managing Director, Arthur Goldstuck, a former winner in this section of the competition.

A special prize for under 18s will also be awarded if enough entries of suitable quality are received.

Further information and an entry form may be obtained on the SFSA web site by clicking on the Nova story competition link, or by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to SFSA Short Story Competition, PO Box 8022, Edenglen 1613. Alternatively, send e-mail to SFSA.

The closing date for the competition is 30 September 2010.

17 August 2010

Click here to download our 2010 research schedule:  WWW reports 2010.

Click here to download the executive summary of our Mobile Internet in SA 2010 report.

Click here to download the executive summary of our Internet Access in SA 2010 report.

This has emerged from the Mobile Internet in South Africa 2010 study, conducted by World Wide Worx, and backed by First National Bank.

The report, released today, shows that usage of specific applications like Mxit and Facebook Mobile far outpace browsing on the phone, even though both are available on almost two thirds of the phones used by South Africa’s urban cellular users.

While 28% of the urban cellular market is using mobile instant messaging (IM), as many as 65% have the capacity on their phones, meaning that only 4.5-million out of 10.5-million potential mobile IM users actually use it. In many cases, an application has been installed on the phone, and the owner may even have registered to use the service, but is not in fact a user.

And, while 60% of users in this market have phones that can browse the Internet, only 21% report that they use this form of mobile Internet access.

Goldstuck adds: “It is quite startling to find how many have these features on their phones but don’t use them, either out of ignorance or because of cost concerns.”

The findings suggest, on the surface, that more than half of urban cellular users – 8.5-million – are capable of accessing e-mail on their phones, and as many as 60% – 9.5-million – are able to browse on their phones. The implications of these numbers are significant: in one fell swoop, they would turn the SA Internet user base from the 5.3-million reported by World Wide Worx at the end of 2009 to 9.6-million. Add Instant Messaging to the mix, and the total becomes 10.56-million – exactly double that of the Internet user base at the end of last year.

“The truth is, many people with these applications on their phones do no use them and do not even know how to use them,” says Goldstuck. “It is clear that the cellphone has the potential to take South Africans across the digital divide, but the phones themselves need to become more user-friendly, and a vast amount of consumer education is needed.”

Ravesh Ramlakan, CEO of FNB Cellphone Banking Solutions, says that, while the overall cellphone banking service has grown more rapidly than online banking, the adoption of FNB’s mobile banking WAP site has been relatively slow.

“Customers either do not know how to access it via their cellphone, or their phone needs to be configured first in order to access.  However, with technology lifecycles, the adoption to internet banking via the cellphone will feature more prominently in future,” he says. Cellphone Banking from FNB provides two million registered customers with access via  menu based banking (dial *120*321#) and WAP banking (FNB.mobi).

The study was conducted face to face among urban cellphone users aged 16 and older, representing 16-million South Africans. - 27 May 2010

Contact

For more information, contact:

• Arthur Goldstuck, MD, World Wide Worx, on +27 11 782-7003 or by e-mail on arthur@worldwideworx.com

• Virginia Magapatona, FNB, Head of Corporate Communications, on + 27 (0) 11 371 9330 or + 27 83 257 2777 or by e-mail on VMagapatona@fnb.co.za

For several years, the question of how many South Africans use the Internet from their cellphones has been veiled in confusion, with claimed numbers ranging from half a million to 15-million.

During the past year, representatives of two of the key players in the debate, World Wide Worx and the South African Mobile Marketing Association, agreed to a formal framework within which they would report the key statistics for Internet usage and access on cellphones.

The framework consist of three tiers, namely:

Tier 1: The WAP Internet (access to WAP gateways, which includes mobile versions of brand sites, mobile versions of traditional and new media publisher sites, downloads of ringtones, games and other content, which may only involve a single link from the phone; the typical user of the WAP Internet is not always aware of using the Internet).

Tier 2: The Mobile Application Internet (usage of “stand-alone” applications on the phone that rely on data feeds, such as Mxit, Gmail, and Maps; the typical user is aware of using data, but not of fully accessing the Internet)

Tier 3: Mobile Web Browsing (usage of a web browser to access the World Wide Web from the phone – understood by most users to represent full Internet access)

The framework was developed by World Wide Worx managing director Arthur Goldstuck and Mobile Marketing Association founding chairman Rick Joubert. It is intended to accommodate the main perspectives that usually emerge in debates around the makeup of the mobile Internet.

“It resolves the dilemma that some appear to hype up the mobile Internet while others appear to underplay it, when in fact everyone is talking about different elements of the mobile Internet,” says Goldstuck.

“Defining the mobile Internet is important,” says Joubert. “Neither one of the mobile Internet usage tiers is any more important than the other, but decision-makers and marketers should understand the nature of the end user experience as clearly as possible.”

According to the Mobile Internet in South Africa 2010 study, released today by World Wide Worx, almost all urban cellular users have WAP-capable phones, and a high proportion have used that WAP capability to access a variety of internet based content on a regular basis, but many without realising they were doing so.

Mobile web browsing is measured directly in the new study, and accounts for 3.36-million users at the end of 2009. The Mobile Application Internet is measured across several applications, including instant messaging, downloadable applications, Internet applications, and e-mail. The Mobile Application Internet user base is estimated at about 9-million.

“This does not mean marketers can target 9-million Internet users via their cellphones,” warns Goldstuck. “They would have to target the individual applications that make up that total, which means that the Mobile Application Internet is not a readily addressable market.”

“The media opportunity represented by the three tiers of the mobile web is quite fragmented and not easy to exploit, but that barrier in itself has presented a fantastic opportunity for early adopter brands who have embraced the medium,” says Joubert. “It has also offered opportunities for aggregators of the medium, such as application stores and advertising networks like AdMob and Buzz City, and for the very large publishers like Mxit, all of whom are able to offer marketers very significant reach.”

The Mobile Internet in SA 2010 study, backed by First National Bank, was conducted face to face among urban cellphone users aged 16 and older, representing 16-million South Africans. - 27 May 2010

Contact

For more information, contact:

• Arthur Goldstuck, MD, World Wide Worx, on +27 11 782-7003 or by e-mail on arthur@worldwideworx.com

• Virginia Magapatona, FNB, Head of Corporate Communications, on + 27 (0) 11 371 9330 or + 27 83 257 2777 or by e-mail on VMagapatona@fnb.co.za
• Rick Joubert, founding chairman of the South African Mobile Marketing Association and Executive Chairman of Yonder Media, on + 27 82 9223399 or by e-mail on rick@yonder.co.za

Johannesburg:– Cisco and World Wide Worx today announced that the number of South Africans accessing the Internet via broadband connections has grown by more than 50 percent in the past year – a direct consequence of the growing need for round-the-clock connectivity. This is the key finding of the Internet Access in South Africa 2010 study conducted by World Wide Worx in collaboration with Cisco. The headline data in the final report from the study, released today, also reveals that wireless broadband has been growing almost three times as fast as fixed line broadband in South Africa.

Highlights / Key Facts:
• The study shows that most of the growth in fixed line broadband comes from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) upgrading to ADSL. This in turn has extended Internet access to more than half-a-milion South Africans working in small offices, who did not previously have access.
• Wireless broadband, on the other hand, is mainly a result of large companies giving 3G cards to employees who need to be connected whilst out of the office. This is further confirmed by separate research conducted recently by by World Wide Worx into mobile technology usage*. Today many workers in South Africa can perform their jobs in or out of the office. The connected life allows workers to be productive, responsive and creative in or out of their traditional office spaces. Remote or mobile workers can instantly access business-essential applications, colleagues, and partners worldwide regardless of their location. This ability to collaborate and share information in real-time will undoubtedly help to increase business productivity and profitability across the region.
• Wireless broadband subscription have grown by 88% in the past year, against 21% for ADSL. Corporate users have been the major driver of this growth, through the deployment of 3G cards.
• The study also reports on the current and expected impact of the new undersea cables, which have been making most of the headlines in Internet news recently. However, it also explores, for the first time, the impact of the roll-out of terrestrial fibre-optic networks across South Africa.
• If all current cable projects come to fruition, by 2011, the total capacity of undersea cables connecting Africa to the rest of the world will have increase 150-fold over 2008. At the end of 2009, the capacity was 1 690 Gbps. At the end of 2010 it will be 5 410 Gbps, and a year later 14 770 Gbps.
• Undersea cables connect the country to the world, but the terrestrial fibre extends that connectivity into the major cities and towns, where businesses and consumers are connected in turn.
• The availability of both fibre access and new licenses has sparked an 18% increase in the number of Internet access and service providers in South Africa.
• The study delves into the impact the transformation South Africa is having on Internet access, from increased access to Government information services to new trends in entertainment and education. The convergence of formally disparate services – voice, video and data – has provided a variety of rich, new experiences for South Africans. The integration of broadcast TV, video on demand (VoD) and telephony services is just one example. From a data perspective consumers are using the internet to create blogs and personal WebPages with text, pictures and video. Today’s consumers in South Africa have more options than ever before. - 17 March 2010

Executive Quotes:

Arthur Goldstuck, managing director, World Wide Worx:
“Wireless broadband is neither cheaper nor better quality, but it is more convenient and flexible, and it changes the way we think about where and how we use the Internet. The combination of new undersea cables and terrestrial fibre-optic networks means we are seeing the emergence of the next generation of connectivity technology, both in fixed line and wireless services. The missing ingredients now are the next generation of customer access equipment for those who are connected, and affordable availability of access for those who are not.”

Reshaad Sha, senior manager of Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), South Africa:
“A mobile broadband connection is a key enabler of the Connected Life. Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group defines Connected Life services as those services that can be consumed anytime, anywhere, on any device and by anyone. The varied range of services and the demand consumers have started placing on Internet based application services has fuelled the uptake that we see today. Internet access speeds do need to scale in order to meet the demands of applications and services, specifically those that are video enabled. The network build outs that we are seeing in South Africa are positive steps towards the delivery of feature rich Internet services that most developed countries are already enjoying.”

Links / URLs:
• For more information from World Wide Worx: http://www.worldwideworx.com
• RSS Feed for Cisco: http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/rss.html
• Follow Cisco on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Cisco_Systems
• News@Cisco in Africa: http://newsroom.cisco.com/africa
• News@Cisco in South Africa: http://www.cisco.com/web/ZA/index.html
• For more details about The Connected Life visit:

http://cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns705/networking_solutions_solution.html

About World Wide Worx:
World Wide Worx is South Africa’s leading independent technology research and strategy organisation, with a focus on technology in business strategy. It offers a range of research and strategic services, surveys, benchmarks and reports intended to provide both industry intelligence and strategic insight into the hi-tech economy. Our core activities of market research, trends analysis, strategic analysis and strategy development provide a powerful platform on which to supply clients and the market with decision support and strategic direction.

About Cisco:
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, this year celebrates 25 years of technology innovation, operational excellence and corporate social responsibility. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

# # #

Cisco, the Cisco logo and Cisco Systems are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information.

Contact Information:
Press Contact:
Rose Bambi
Cisco
+44 7770 751107
rbambi@cisco.com

Analyst Contact:
Carter Cromwell
Cisco
+1 408 526-6914
ccromwel@cisco.com

Investor Relations Contact:
Matt Hardwick
Cisco
+44 20 8824 1970
mahardwi@cisco.com

Arthur Goldstuck
MD, World Wide Worx
Tel: +27 83 3264345
Office: +27 11 7827003
arthur@worldwideworx.com

This is the key finding of the Internet Access in South Africa 2010 study, conducted by World Wide Worx and jointly sponsored by Cisco. The headline data, released today, shows that the Internet user base grew by 15% last year, from 4,6-million to 5,3-million, and is expected to grow at a similar rate in 2010.

“The good news is that we will continue to see strong growth in 2010, and we should reach the 6-million mark by the end of the year,” says Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx

“A sustained growth in Internet penetration is a key factor that will positively influence the economy of South Africa”, says Reshaad Sha, Senior Manager for Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group. “The varied range of application services and social networking platforms used by local consumers has fuelled the uptake that we see today.”

Growth in the number of Internet users in South Africa was relatively stagnant from 2002 to 2007, when it never rose above 7%. However, this rate almost doubled in 2008, and continued accelerating in 2009.

World Wide Worx found that the landing of a new undersea cable on the South African coast was only one of a range of factors behind the growth. Of greater significance was the granting of Electronic Communications Network Service licenses to more than 400 organisations. This meant that service providers that were previously required to buy their network access from one of the major providers, could now build their own networks or choose where they wanted to buy their access.

The result was that a market previously characterised by a limited range of providers and services suddenly exploded as small providers were able to repackage the services provided by the large telecommunications corporations in any way they wished. The large providers, in turn, began to offer far more competitive packages to both customers and resellers.

World Wide Worx found that a second key factor in growth over the past two years has been the continued uptake of broadband connectivity by small and medium enterprises migrating from dial-up connectivity. Each company moving from dial-up to ADSL, for example, extended Internet access to general office staff. This process was found to add an additional one to 20 new users to the Internet user base for every small business installing ADSL.

While the headline findings examine the general numbers of users, the final Internet Access in SA 2010 report, due to be released in March, will highlight the extent of new fibre-optic networks laid down across South African cities and between the cities. It will also examine the impact of the range of new undersea cables that will be in place by the end of 2011, and which is expected to enhance competitiveness even further.

“In the coming year, operators will begin to leverage the combination of new undersea cable capacity and new fibre-optic networks to supply corporate clients and resellers with bigger, faster and more flexible capacity,” says Goldstuck. “Almost every large player in the communications industry has realigned its business to take advantage of this relentless change.”

“South African consumers and businesses are demanding access to online applications and services that can only be experienced via high speed connectivity, such as fibre-optic networks. The year ahead will see the proliferation of high speed connectivity materialising more widely than ever before”, says Sha. - 14 January 2010

For more information, please contact:

Arthur Goldstuck
MD, World Wide Worx
Tel: +27 11 7827003
Or click here to send an e-mail.

Kim Hunter
Text 100 Public Relations
Tel: +27 11 803 2800
Or click here to send an e-mail.

The independent technology market research organisation was the first to bring public attention to the high cost of interconnect rates – formally known as the mobile termination rate – through its annual Mobility research project four years ago. It initiated the campaign to bring down the interconnect fee in 2005, and published a petition against the high interconnect rate 2006.

“It’s been a long time coming, but it’s never too late,” said World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck. “We welcome the announcement, and believe it is a first step towards more affordable communications. There is still a long way to go, and there are many obstacles to be overcome, but Minister of Communications Siphiwe Nyanda has demonstrated the kind of political will that is needed to address these obstacles.

“We also welcome the willingness of the mobile networks to make a meaningful cut in the interconnect rate, and trust that this heralds the beginning of a new approach towards the concerns of the consumer.”

Goldstuck warned, however, that the rate cut will have little impact if the networks are not required to be transparent regarding the cost structure to the consumer.

“Under the current structures of call packages, it is almost impossible for the consumer to understand the cost components of various categories of calls, and this is clearly an area of potential confusion and disinformation. Across both mobile and fixed line networks, consumers need to be able to see, for each category of call, such as off-peak and peak-time, to mobile and landline numbers, what amount is made up by the interconnect fee.”

World Wide Worx has pointed out that the interconnect fee could still come down to as low as 30c. In their 2006 book, “How to buy a cellphone in South Africa,” Goldstuck and Steven Ambrose of WWW Strategy published the first petition to bring down the interconnect rate, and invited readers to lodge their objections with both the Minister of Communications and Icasa. However, the call was ignored by the authorities until hearings into the issue were held two years later. Only in 2009, however, when the matter was raised in Parliament by Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille, did the Government step in.

“The cut of the peak interconnect rate from R1.25 to 89c is a small victory, but it is just the start,” said Goldstuck.

World Wide Worx has issued a priority list of further areas that need attention regarding the cost of communications in South Africa:

• Clear evidence of the real cost of terminating calls from one network onto another. Extravagant claims have been made, but no network has been willing to play open cards on the issue. It has been argued that the real cost may be a few cents, and it is important for both transparency and affordability to clear up the confusion;
• Transparency of the makeup of call costs to the consumer. This is essential for cuts in specific areas to be visible;
• Investigation of the requirement by all mobile networks for compulsory caller line identity and itemised billing on all contract accounts, both of which incur a cost to the customer. These do not apply to pre-paid accounts.
• An examination of high line rentals for fixed line users, and of a requirement by the incumbent fixed line provider for its customers to pay a high deposit fee, which is then held indefinitely or until the account is terminated.

“Fixed line costs should not be immune from the scrutiny of Government,” Goldstuck noted. - 12 November 2009

This was one of the key findings from the consumer phase of the Mobility 2009 research project, released today by leading market research organisation World Wide Worx. The study was backed by First National Bank (FNB), leaders in cellphone banking in Africa, and Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind the BlackBerry solution.

“It is encouraging to see that not only in FNB, but across the country, cellphone banking is now part of people’s lives,” says Len Pienaar, CEO, FNB mCommerce.

The Mobility 2009 study is being conducted in four phases, with the first three looking at the use of mobile technologies by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Consumers and Corporations, and the final phase exploring the Mobile Internet.

In the second phase, announced at a press conference today, it was revealed that, while 16% of banking customers in South Africa use the internet for banking, 28% use their cellphones. A total of 34% of banking customers use one or both of these channels. Outside of the branch and ATMs, only 6% relying exclusively on the internet, while 18% rely only on cellphone banking.

“The fact that services like cellphone banking are taking off so strongly shows that consumers no longer see their cellphones only as voice and text messaging devices, but use them stay in touch with everything that matters in their business and personal lives,” says Deon Liebenberg, Regional Director for Sub Sahara Africa at RIM. “With a device like a BlackBerry smartphone, you have immediate access to financial information, your accounts and banking services while you are on the go, wherever you are.”

The study revealed that the main services driving cellphone banking were balance enquiries and notifications of transactions, with three quarters of cellphone bankers using these features. Just under half view statements on their cellphones, 35% transfer between accounts, and 28% pay accounts on their cellphones. In contrast, only 8% add beneficiaries via the cellphone, indicating both security concerns and set-up issues.

“Our research shows that South Africans are becoming comfortable with cellphone banking, but precisely half of general banking customers are still nervous of it, citing trust as their major concern,” says Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx. “However, this concern must be seen in the light of 34% also saying the issue is not knowing how to use the service.”

“Although we have made great inroads, two-thirds of banked people still don’t use electronic channels, other than an ATM,” says Pienaar.

At the same time, two thirds of cellphone banking users were satisfied with the security of the channel. This suggests that, once customers start using cellphone banking, they grow increasingly confident in both security and usability aspects.

“We have seen this rapid adoption driven by our USSD menu service, although I believe that WAP will start to play a more important role in future,” says Pienaar.

Liebenberg adds: “The success of cellphone banking shows that there is a strong demand in South Africa for powerful and easy to use mobile data services and applications that help people to save time and stay in control of their lives at all times. With mobile penetration at more than 114% in South Africa, we can expect to see the adoption of mobile banking and other personal services and applications ramp up quickly.”

The study also shows purchasing via the cellphone beginning to take off, with 24% of cellphone banking customers purchasing prepaid electricity and 21% making general purchases like movie tickets and flowers. Purchase of airtime still leads the way here, accounting for 61% of cellphone banking users.

Mobility 2009 included research among 1,000 consumers in metropolitan areas, 1,000 SMEs and 240 large enterprises in South Africa. - 3 November 2009

In a nutshell:

Services driving cellphone banking:

• Balance enquiry: 74%
• Notifications: 73%
• Buying airtime: 61%
• Statement/mini-statement: 48%
• Notification of account limit: 47%
• Transfer funds between accounts: 35%
• Pay accounts: 28%
• Buy pre-paid electricity: 24%
• Make a purchase: 21%
• Add beneficiaries: 8%

Contact

For more information, contact:

· Virginia Magapatona, FNB, Head of Corporate Communications, on + 27 (0) 11 371 9330 or + 27 83 257 2777 or by e-mail on VMagapatona@fnb.co.za

· Christa Botha, Corporate Communications: Sub-Sahara Africa Research In Motion, on +27 82 562 5264 or by e-mail on cbotha@rim.com

• Arthur Goldstuck, MD, World Wide Worx, on +27 11 782-7003 or by e-mail on arthur@worldwideworx.com