ADSL on its last legs in South Africa

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  By   Daniel Puchert Partially state-owned telecommunications company Telkom announced in its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2025 that its ADSL subscribers had more than halved to under 30,000. According to the company’s operational data, ADSL lines decreased from 64,959 in March 2024 to 29,770. This 54.2% decline highlights that the legacy broadband technology is slowly approaching the end of the road. Telkom’s ADSL business peaked at the end of March 2016 with 1.01 million subscribers — two years after fibre upstart Vumatel  broke ground in Parkhurst . What followed was a sharp decline in Telkom ADSL subscribers. Customers connected to its copper networks decreased by more than 500,000 over the next four years. This was partly driven by Telkom itself, which began actively switching off its copper network in some neighbourhoods. If it did not have fibre in the area, it would offer a “fixed line lookalike” wireless service that ran over its cellular ...
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World’s First Wingless eVTOL Is a Smart Flying Car That Can Land on City Rooftops

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 Home > News > Aviation

15 Sep 2021, 05:07 UTC · 
Urban Aeronautics, the Israel-based developer of the world’s first compact, wingless electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle, is getting closer to turning its groundbreaking concept into reality. New investments are taking the Cityhawk one step further towards conquering the urban skies.
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Is it a flying car, or is it just another eVTOL? Urban Aero says that Cityhawk has more in common with birds, than with current eVTOLS. Without wings and about the size of a car, this 5-seater does look unusual. It’s mainly designed for commercial air charters and emergency medical services (EMS), meaning it must be able to conduct multiple flights per day, in cities.

That is why the Cityhawk flying car integrates an innovative Fancraft technology, based on dual enclosed, ducted rotors, which not only increase stability even during turbulence, but also decrease noise significantly, both inside the cabin and outside. The compact eVTOL also incorporates autonomous systems able to detect and avoid traffic, power lines and other urban structures, and it can safely operate at night and in all weather conditions.

Another benefit of its compact design is the ability to land on vertiports placed on building rooftops, which saves time and increases efficiency, especially in case of emergencies. Inside, it’s supposed to be as welcoming as a premium car, thanks to the comfortable seats, Wi-Fi and touchscreens.

Earlier this year, Urban Aero has also partnered with California-based Hypoint, with the goal of adapting the fuel cell technology for CityHawk, which is designed to be powered by hydrogen. The first flight tests were successfully conducted a couple of months ago.

The aerospace company’s next goal is to raise $100 million, in order to further develop the hydrogen-fueled Fancraft technology. The start looks promising with the first $10 million coming from private investors in the U.S., Brazil and Israel.

Plus, a local Israeli charitable organization for rescue flights, has placed the first pre-order for the Cityhawk eVTOL, to be used as an ambulance.

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EVTOL CITYHAWK URBAN AERO AIR MOBILITY HYDROGEN FUEL CELL AUTONOMOUS
 PRESS RELEASE

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