TCS | Datafree’s plan to make R1-billion/year from ‘free data’

Loading player...
Datafree Technologies, the company behind popular zero-rated messaging tool MoyaApp, has an ambitious plan to build a R1-billion/year business by tapping to the APN market provided by the mobile operators.
In this episode of the TechCentral Show (TCS), Datafree chief commercial officer Kruben Pillay tells Duncan McLeod about the company’s plan to build a software-as-a-service-based APN – or “access point name” – to sell to businesses. An APN is a gateway that allows a mobile device to connect to the network and the internet.
Datafree describes itself as a specialist in “mobile data optimisation” that “identified the opportunity to empower inclusive mobile connection by removing the data cost barrier to engage mobile audiences”.
To do this, it uses reverse-billing technology for data, not dissimilar to the way toll-free numbers work for phone calls.
Although many people use or are at least aware of MoyaApp, much less is known about Datafree. In this episode of TCS, Pillay tells McLeod more about the business. He also unpacks:
• His history in the telecommunications industry, including his time at Vodacom and Telkom;
• How MoyaApp is doing;
• Datafree’s R1-billion/year APN opportunity; and
• How APNs work, why companies use them (and why they sometimes run into issues) and Datafree’s APN services for business.
Don’t miss the interview!
4 Dec 2024 English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

Meet the CIO | Chris Shortt on what a supermarket becomes

Chris Shortt, chief technology officer at Shoprite Group, says the work of the next five years is meeting the customer at their point of need, wherever that is – and that this does not mean the end of the store. Speaking on TechCentral’s Meet the CIO podcast series, brought to…
9 Sep 43 min

Watts & Wheels | Why electric trucks are beating electric cars to South Africa

South Africa has still not crossed 1% of new vehicle sales going to electric vehicles, well short of the 5% mark at which adoption typically accelerates, The Electric Mission executive director Hiten Parmar told TechCentral’s Watts & Wheels with Wills. Parmar, who heads the non-profit advocacy body and co-founded the…
3 Sep 31 min

Winstone Jordaan on building a national EV charging network

Winstone Jordaan was building charging infrastructure before South Africa had electric cars to plug into it. GridCars began developing its backend platform in 2010. The first EVs arrived in 2013. In this episode of Watts & Wheels with Wills, the GridCars founder tells William Kelly why the hardware was never…
2 Sep 22 min

Watts & Wheels S1E8: ‘Tesla lands in Africa, just not here’

Episode 8 of Watts & Wheels – TechCentral’s electric motoring show – opens with William Kelly on his soapbox, clipboard in hand, and a simple demand: keep left, pass right. Too many South African drivers, he argues, treat the left indicator as an invitation to be overtaken rather than a…
24 Aug 1 hr 11 min