Communication
Icasa licenses 3 radio stations
Broadcasting licences had been awarded to three free-to-air commercial radio stations, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) said on Wednesday. The regulator granted individual, medium-wave commercial sound broadcasting service, and spectrum licences to Mainstream 1035 for TalkSport Radio and Extriserve for LM Radio, both of which are in Gauteng. The third licence was awarded to Altius Trading 460 for Magic 828, which would broadcast in Cape Town. – Sapa
Agriculture
Weak demand hits wool prices
Difficult demand conditions had led to a marginal drop in South Africa’s wool prices this week, Cape Wools said on Wednesday. “Cape Wools’ merino indicator dropped 3.6 percent compared with the previous sale last week to close at R104.73 a kilogram [clean],” spokeswoman Ria van Rooyen said. This was still 2.7 percent higher than the indicator at the opening sale of this season and 3.6 percent higher than the corresponding sale of last season. – Sapa
Finance
Harare issues bills to pay debt
Zimbabwe had issued $103 million (R1.1 billion) of treasury bills to seven banks as the government repaid debt stemming from the central bank’s seizure of foreign currency accounts in 2006 and 2007, a person with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The issue represented an acknowledgment of the debt, the person said. – Bloomberg