Digital Future Accelerates With Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal

 

By Fred Felton | Nov. 27, 2025

Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal recently announced an investment of over R1.1 billion in network infrastructure for this financial year (FY26), showing its commitment to connecting communities and working towards digital inclusion across South Africa’s provinces with huge populations.

Imran Khan, Managing Executive for Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal Region (L) with the team at Vodacom. Photo: Supplied. 

‘’Our investment in KwaZulu-Natal reflects our commitment to building a digitally inclusive province where everyone can access the opportunities of the digital economy,’’ said Imran Khan, Managing Executive for Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal Region.

Vodacom’s R1.142 billion investment in KZN’s network infrastructure during the financial year shows the company’s commitment to connectivity in the province. The investment can be broken down into R796 million for radio projects, R289 million for transmission, R36 million to energy and R20 million towards core data networks.

This investment builds on Vodacom KZN’s strong network foundation. The province now enjoys 99.91% 2G population coverage, 99.9% 3G coverage, 99.12% 4G coverage, and 39.54% 5G population coverage. Vodacom will continue with rolling out advanced 4G and 5G technologies to improve connectivity for both urban centres like Durban and underserved rural communities across KZN.

Vodacom is also investing infrastructure in deep rural areas with over R100 million dedicated to extending coverage in previously underserved communities. This has brought reliable mobile coverage to villages including KwaMaphumulo, Nongoma, Vryheid, Empangeni, Nottingham, and the Kamberg valley region, as well as communities across uMkhanyakude which is primed for agro-processing, eco-tourism and renewable energy development.

These investments align with KZN’s strategy to strengthen secondary cities and rural economic hubs. Newcastle is emerging as a centre of manufacturing excellence; Richard’s Bay continues its role as a powerhouse in logistics and industrial gateway, while the South Coast and Midlands champion agriculture and tourism.

Vodacom Business KZN is positioning itself as the most trusted enterprise telecommunications provider in the region, supporting business transformation through its digital core strategy. The division offers integrated solutions like cloud services, cybersecurity, IoT, mobile and unified communications, hosting, managed services, and digital applications platforms.

‘’We’re transitioning from a traditional telco to a future-ready TechCo,’’ added Khan. ‘’Businesses today face emerging technologies like 5G, AI, and quantum computing, alongside competition from hyperscalers and digital natives. Our role is to help enterprises adapt to the pace of digitalisation through systems of advantage via our digital core and customer-360 approach,’’ noted Khan.

Vodacom Business supports businesses no matter how big or small.

Vodacom KZN would also like to make digital access affordable for everyone. They also have affordable programmes to meet customers where they are located.

With Just4You and Just4YourTown, customers get personalised data and voice offerings to suit their behaviour and location, ensuring lower costs. More KZN customers are using them to save money.

Easy2Own is a finance option which allows customers to access smartphones affordably. This programme is critical for people to upgrade from 2G and 3G devices to 4G and 5G devices, unlocking a world of opportunities.

Vodacom KZN is also looking to combat theft and vandalism, which threatens network availability for communities. Residents in the Nottingham and Kamberg valley area are also helping with this and they have partnered with Vodacom to install electric fencing around base stations which reduces vandalism.

‘’We recognise that network investment alone is not enough. Our focus on deep rural connectivity, business solutions, affordability, device access, and community partnerships ensures that the benefits of our infrastructure reach every resident and business in KwaZulu-Natal. With over R1.1 billion in network investment, including R100 million dedicated to deep rural areas, we are building a connected province where no one is left behind,’’ concluded Khan.

Public-Private Partnerships Help With Service Delivery

 

By Fred Felton | Feb. 19, 2025

EThekwini Mayor Councillor Cyril Xaba has welcomed the donation of static tanks from the mobile communications giant, Vodacom.

EThekwini Mayor Councillor Cyril Xaba welcomed the donation of static tanks from the mobile communications giant, Vodacom. He said working with the private sector, more can be done to improve the City. | Photo: Supplied. 

Vodacom describes this donation of the static tanks as their contribution to help communities in which they operate. These tanks will be deployed to areas that have a limited water supply network in the City.

This programme was started by Vodacom shortly after the 2022 floods which saw huge damage to water infrastructure in the City. The static tanks were part of an effort of ensuring that communities that were affected by the floods had access to water.

Mayor Xaba has commended Vodacom for being a good corporate citizen and encouraged other private sector companies to follow suit.

‘’We are grateful of this donation from Vodacom as it demonstrates that if we work together as social partners, we can address many developmental challenges plaguing communities. We will continue to engage Vodacom to engage to share ideas to improve service delivery in the City, considering its technological capability,’’ noted Mayor Xaba.

Vodacom KZN invests over R1 billion to improve network connectivity

 

By Fred Felton | Nov. 2, 2023

Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal is investing over R1 billion in this financial year to help with the regional network to increase capacity and resilience and speed up access to connectivity throughout KZN, especially in the rural parts of the province.

Imran Khan, Managing Executive, Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal. | Photo: Vodacom

‘’In pursuing our aim of creating an inclusive digital society, we are making a significant investment into the region’s network. By expanding access to reliable, quality connectivity through our deployment of more sites and network upgrades, we aim to provide an exceptional network experience to our customers. With this effort, we hope to bring the benefits of digitalisation to all communities we serve,’’ said Imran Khan, Managing Executive, Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal.

With the R1 billion investment, R700 million will be going towards projects for radio access network, network capacity and upgrades, with R173 million going towards improving core network infrastructure. The region is planning to modernise 429 base station sites and expand LTE capacity to 774 sites in the current financial year.

‘’Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal’s 4G population coverage is standing at 95.8%. We are rolling out 23 new urban sites and 129 deep rural sites across the region this financial year to expand this reach and drive digital inclusion, especially in underserved areas of the province. In addition, we now have circa 200 sites on 5G, with plans to switch on another 122 within this financial year,’’ said Khan.

Loadshedding continues to be a problem for the network in this region. As a result Vodacom is investing R235 million into energy projects, including the procurement of 68 generators to add to an existing fleet of over 196 and increasing base station site power standby time to a minimum of four hours. These upgrades will improve network capacity and availability, especially during stage 4-6 loadshedding.

Data traffic in the region has grown by 40% in the province over the past year. This is mostly due to Vodacom introducing personalised discounted voice and data offers such as Just4You, Just4You Town bundles for residents in certain towns and bigger prepaid data bundles with Prepaid LTE to make connections more affordable.

Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal is also fully behind inclusion for all. With their initiative, Code Like a Girl, they are providing coding skills to help young women get a start in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The region recently hosted an instalment of the programme, which trains girls between 14 and 18 years old in coding and other IT skills in October this year.

Vodacom Empowers SA's Unemployed Youth

In early May 2019 Vodacom certified 30 unemployed youth at a graduation ceremony. 

Graduates at the Vodacom graduation ceremony | Image: Supplied

They had just done 2 years of intense theory, practicals and work-based training in A+ (entry-level computer service professional certification), N+ (mid-level certification for network technicians) and 3G connectivity, with diplomas in IT Technical Support at its KwaZulu-Natal Youth Academy.

The graduates participated in the Vodacom Youth Academy’s established programme under one of four categories including end-user computing (NQF level 3), cell phone and device repair management (NQF level 3), IT Technical Support (NQF level 4) and networking support (NQF level 5) some of the duties included providing IT technical and data capturing support to schools and municipalities in the area.

“Given the existing ICT skills gap currently hindering the progress of South Africa’s youth, initiatives, such as Vodacom Youth Academy, are essential in the upskilling of these

young people in order to enable them to integrate into ICT-related professions. In so doing, we not only better the circumstances of unemployed youth in the country, but also

provide companies with skilled resources who effectively contribute towards the growing economy,” said Takalani Netshitenzhe, Chief Officer: Corporate Affairs for Vodacom.

For the first time in this programme, 32 IT entrepreneurs will graduate alongside the ICT skills graduates, receiving certification in business management and entrepreneurship. They were chosen to undergo this qualification after having completed the NQF level 4 and 5 courses in the ICT skills programme.

The Vodacom Foundation founded the the Youth Academy in 2014, the purpose being to develop ICT skills in the youth of the country who would not otherwise have the opportunity to do so. The aim of the programme is to train unemployed youth for free, in ICT skills and thereafter further develop them into ICT entrepreneurs to assist with the installation of IT equipment and provide instruction in high-end computer skills to visitors of the Academy’s training centres.

Trainees in the programme, established in partnership with Department of Basic Education, Department of Public Works, Cisco, CompTIA, Microsoft, MICT-Seta, Independent

Development Trust and the Innovator Trust, receive accredited ICT training with the potential for beneficiaries to be offered practical experience in projects which can include

IT technical support and the installation of hardware and software.

According to a report commissioned by Siemens, a potential of R4 trillion could be added to the African economy by 2026 through the adoption of digitalisation, and South

Africa was found to have the highest potential to drive such innovation. However, the skilled workforce to tap into this market was found to be lacking.

Equipping the youth with transferable digital skills has been proven to not only improve their employment opportunities, but will also greatly increase the labour market as a

whole, productivity, innovation and stimulate economic growth.

Vodacom has been celebrating the success of 367 young South Africans across the country, who have graduated with certified IT Technical Support diplomas from the mobile

network operator’s Youth Academy during the months of March and May. Vodacom held its first graduation in March, in Johannesburg.

The graduation ceremony was a glitzy affair with much joy and celebration from students and their family and friends.

Guests were serenaded by songbird Nonzwakazi Maphumulo a young star herself. She is on her way to success herself.

A sign that the future of South Africa is in our youth.

This edition by Fred Felton | Twitter @fredfelton

Vodacom and ICASA empower learners with ICT tools to kickoff 16th CRASA Conference

Vodacom is proud to be one of the sponsors of the 6TH CRASA Annual AGM, taking place at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban this week. The CRASA AGM is hosted by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).

To kick off the conference on Sunday, Vodacom hosted the CRASA delegation at Umbilo Teacher Training Centre where Vodacom showcased its Vodacom Mobile Education offerings.

Vodacom Group, Chief Executive Officer, Takalani Netshitenzhe said: “Today is about demonstrating transformative power of technology through education; and The power of partnerships between government, private sector and civil society,” Netshitenzhe said: “The Vodacom Foundation spends about a R100 million annually to uplift the lives of South Africans. We do this through Education, Health, and Safety and Security projects in partnership with government. Our biggest investment is in education where we spend over R50m in a year.”

“In education we run projects mainly under the umbrella Vodacom Mobile Education through

the mobile education we provide quality education content with the department and other partners we

have Vodacom eschool, we contribute to skills development to ready young people for the digital society through our ICT youth Academy programme,’’ she said.

In order to address cost challenges associated with access to education and to provide Internet connectivity to previously disadvantaged schools, Vodacom has this year connected 40 schools in KZN with elearning solution laboratory.

Through this, Vodacom has provided the schools with 40 Galaxy Tab A devices, an eBeam (interactive device), a whiteboard, a laptop, a WiFi router, 40 Bay Trolleys, ebooks with content for Grade 10 Maths and Physics and connectivity with 2048 kbps for 12 months.

The elearning solution also offers free internet access to education content for learners in grades R -12 across the country. Learners who are Vodacom subscribers are able to access

curriculum aligned classroom content on their mobile devices across all major subjects for free.

Visit www.vodacom.co.za/e-school  for free online lessons with Vodacom e-school.

This intervention is an illustration of Vodacom’s core belief that ICT and mobile technology can be utilised to help improve and advance learning and address skills development in communities such as KwaMashu. The Vodacom eSchool portal, launched in January 2015 is a prime example of how Vodacom is contributing to society.

Through providing access to internet services and through promoting the digitisation of classrooms across our country, Vodacom is helping to uplift both learners and teachers in our schools.

Vodacom also offers Bursaries for students studying ICT and Engineering and Operations fields.

For all the details visit http://www.vodacom.com/about-us/foundation/bursaries

Applications for bursaries close 30 June.

Article by Fred Felton

Twitter @fredfelton

Review - Vodacom Smart Kicka - A Smartphone At A Smart Price

Last week Vodacom sent me the Vodacom Smart Kicka to have a look at.

I must say this is quite a surprise.  For those of you not informed about this phone, this is a entry level model for all of those who would like a smartphone.

Tech Details:

• 3.5" Touchscreen
• 2 MP rear camera
• Android 4.4 KitKat
• Browsing
• Bluetooth
• Email
• WiFi
• Apps 

In the box you should find the phone hopefully, a battery, a charger, a headset and a quick start guide.

So how well does it run? 

Surprisingly well, This is a full touchscreen phone so don't expect any keyboard on it.

(Image courtesy Vodacom) 

On top of the phone is your on/off button.   

Volume control is on the side of the phone. 

It features 3 buttons on the bottom of the phone.

The button on the left takes you back to your home screen.

The centre button is to close an app.

The right hand button takes you to wallpapers, widgets and settings, have fun there. 

The main screen has your time, date and widgets.  A useful feature at the top is a Google Search bar with voice searching as well if you prefer to shout out your search functions in a coffee shop maybe.

It also features a useful Data usage App if you care about blowing the odd 1GB now and again. 

Storage: 4GB

Support for a 32 GB SD Card.

It also has a nice App to show you what is using your battery.

You can also schedule the phone to switch on or off.  You switch your phone off sometimes right?

Some of the useful Apps you can find on the phone:

• A suite of Google products which include Chrome, Gmail, Google+, Maps, Play Music, Play Books, Play Newsstand, Play Games, Drive, YouTube and Hangouts.
• Vodacom Apps and My Vodacom and Vlive and more.
• Calculator
• Calendar
• Camera and Video Player
• Clock
• Facebook
• Sound Recorder
• Radio
• Notes
• Twitter
• Voice Search 

Are you ready for this?  This smartphone should set you back around R549. Unheard of for a smartphone.  As you can see Vodacom have certainly changed the playing field in the smartphone category. 

Rating: 8/10 

The Vodacom Smart Kicka is available at your nearest Vodacom outlet.  

Review by +Fred Felton 

Events, Tales of Coffee and a great Short Story this week

Events

Pat Fleuriot started working 1 week after finishing High School. He completed his Articles of Workmanship through Price Waterhouse, spent 18 years in Accountancy and has been a Certified Financial Planner since 2007. 

Pat is currently a Fellow Partner, Financial Advisor at Fleuriot and Associates and is passionate about ascertaining client’s needs, assessing their financial strength, challenging and guiding them to protect and create wealth. 

He has been married to Jacqueline, for only 26 years. They have a pigeon pair – Richard, his son and partner in F&A and Danielle, his daughter is doing her Masters in USA. 

Pat is a skilled learner, analytic, disciplinarian and activator – which is sure to challenge you! 

Come and join us as Pat shares his journey with us: 

Date: 15th March 2013 
Time: 7:30am-9:30am 
Venue: Three Peaks House, 22A Underwood Road, Pinetown 
Cost: R 114.00 incl. VAT. (Healthy breakfast and coffee incl.) 

Bring a business associate or customer who has never attended one of our workshops before and only pay for one seat. 

Seats are limited to encourage the interactive nature of this event so BOOK NOW to avoid disappointment. 

To book: Contact Janis on 0861 373 257 or email: janism@threepeaks.co.za

(Source - Threepeaks)


A Profusion of Café Society by Timothy Sparks
Relinquish forty minutes in your day, alight from your vehicle and follow the lure of café society. Woody Allen’s charming film ‘Midnight in Paris’ celebrates this break in the cloud that art, dreams and alluring company can give on a pavement near  where you live. You may not wish to rub shoulders with the likes of the “Water drinkers” immortalised in the life, and loves of Henry Murger whose charmed existence was retold in Puccini’s Opera, La Boheme. Place your order and stimulate your senses through these café’s in your city…   

Durban has one coffee shop in the old part of the City. The House of Coffees lies across the street, well almost, from the Royal Hotel and is a place of secrets. The entire area was once an impenetrable labyrinth. Empty commerce and broken dreams whisper from the walls.

In this balmy atmosphere poetry is very far away. Within a fall of masonry from the City Hall, this denizen of café’s blazes a trail of coffee and chocolate cake. Echoes abide, the Bookshop of Steve and Tony’s (now gone) entices one with memories of the old elegance, not out of place in the tale of ‘The Shadow of the Wind’- by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, there are ghosts here; some not worth remembering. The Victoria Boer War Memorial seems to sigh under the blue sky drawing the onlookers, but dispersing doves. House of Coffees is a port of call for businessmen yoked to their coffee by force of habit. Yes, haunts such as these still exist in Smith Street. 

So much for History! No fancy, huddled Umhlangans crowding themselves in banks of sunglasses, and wit. This cavern of melancholy has to be dreamed to be believed. Speaking of sunglasses when last did you visit Vide e Caffé with their red truffle chairs, falling a bit short of Lisbon on a good day?
My first visit to Vida e Caffé was on foot, and sans atmosphere with my newspapers folding at all angles like a meringue. Without these columns and conversation on Saturday morning in Innes Road, I thought Russian-Roulette was in the offing.  Luckily gallery chatting brought Art into view and Durban was compared to Salisbury (Harare) for anyone who was counting. Conversation made the red chairs seem like a surreal statement, an existential meditation of epic proportions. Paintings are missing from this café without any sense of being robbed. 

After all, Harvey’s is next door. Unfortunately said restaurant obscures its true heart. Emotions of great importance are entertained here, and filters through like the minds who dreamt up a building named ‘Best on Seventh’ but the cappuccinos seem harmless enough.

Vide e Caffé should be upstairs through a corridor, and in an antechamber with a false bottom, propped up against the books of Fernando Pessoa. These simple red chairs seem to hypnotise the pretentious crowd, but I am told this is the positive side. A miniature Balkanised café of Umhlanga’s fringes, nestles on the corner of Tender Road surface paid by Apparatchiks or Aperitifs of Zuma:  “infants of the storm,” - we are all fugitives sipping cappuccinos amid waves of subtle and supple maidens, flouting conventions by discussing the foliage outside Villa Shaik, the hairstyle of poodles and the mating habits of sardines.
One of my finest Portuguese friends left South Africa for a run in London. An architect by day, friend of Lisbon by evening, I imagine he would love to chat about the subject of coffee shop revival. 

My conversation with my new friend was punctuated by talk about Colombo Tea and Coffee Co. now dubbed the Factory Café. Does anyone call it The Factory Café? Never mind, I can remember the coffee, fresh and strong; bruising stuff. French Press, Guatemalan Pouring Coffee- heavy brews tapering off, into a distant purple part of the brain. Echoes of sublime evenings in dim bars, paintings of light distilled in the four corners. Talk was stretched out like filter paper:  a canvas of unspoken and unknown provenance. Drinking coffee at The Factory Café is a bit like a Merlot tasting in Cato Manor, unexpected but the atmosphere is muted like a scene from a David Lynch movie.

From this haven in Glenwood, we move to a café of French Resistance created near the fabled Sutton Park. Something draws one to the coffee. The new café set in a rather remarkable garden, is tended by Monsieur Jean-Francois who has both heart and character much like the zesty name, Café  Saint-Germain. French flair pours from the kitchen and the service is prompt and has its eye on detail. In this somewhat hidden cradle of French pastries, Gallic abandon fills the air with joie de vivre. Shapes and contrasts rub green swaths of tablecloths into this subdued place of French charms.

The next café might have been designed by the Poet de Nerval in a good mood. Style is almost everything, but we are eclipsed by the constants of time, coffee and the ambience that draws every part of the soul into the embrace of carpentry, coffee and conversation. Dream of the Athénée at the Palais Royal, where Apollinaire embroiders the crowd with mad stories, amidst the vanishing point of the piano. Solace and detail, expression and passion, demand every breath and coffee sends one into raptures: one day one may relish a coffee from Naples, stirring the senses. The expresso makes you sit bolt upright on another. Drink and take in these charms, this café is really beautiful and the small garden is an oasis, known amongst the cognoscenti.  Proprietor Senoré Stephano Toffoli   believes in the vision of the Café des Artistes, a galvanising dream that distinguishes his café from the run-of the mill, duplicating cafes that pervade the atmosphere in the city. One is reminded that in the middle of Berlin’s winter, coffee shops are full of artists and people thronging the Strasse. In a short time, Churchill’s seems to have created a place where fashion, Art and finesse jolt the scene in the bustling atmosphere that is Durban.   

This opinion piece written by Timothy Sparks.  He is a Freelance Writer and Part-Time Teacher.
email tpwsparks@hotmail.com

(Source - Durban Chamber of Commerce) 

Vedanta World Durban Golf Day 

Details:

 COURSE:               Royal Durban Golf Club              

  DATE:                     Friday, 05 April 2013                    

  TIME:                     10:30am (Two tees)

  FORMAT:              Four-Ball Betterball Stableford

  ENTRY FEE:          R3000 per Four-Ball (incl. green fee & dinner) 

      For Registration Details: Please contact Sumi  071 111 5505 email: admin@vedanta.org.za

(Source - Vedanta) 

OH JOHNNY by Andrew Verster

“Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, where have you been?”

“Up to London to see the Queen.”

“And what was she like?”

“I didn’t actually see her as she was in India launching a ship or opening a crèche.”

“So what did you do?”

“I sent postcards to all my friends and said how marvellous it was seeing her. That is what they wanted to hear and I didn’t want to disappoint them.”

“So what if they find out?”

“I’ll cover it up with more lies. There’s plenty of time to invent a few.”

“Is that honest?”

“Truth is relative.”

“And lies?”

“Likewise.”

“So what WAS she like?”

“Marvellous. Even better than in her photographs.”

Andrew Verster is a world famous artist and writer based in Durban.

 email:

ANDREWVERSTER784@GMAIL.COM