Our History

Pioneers in supervised payphone solutions

At its inception in 1991, Psitek first focused on telephone metering devices, developing the world’s first anti-line tampering solution for South Africa’s fixed line network. With the entry of mobile network operators into South Africa during the mid-90s, it recognised an important market opportunity in the form of supervised payphones - the flagship products of which were the Adondo payphone in 1997 and the Jembi in 2004. These payphones were initially sold via the Vodacom and MTN networks to a subsidised market. Later, Cell C also joined the community services drive using Psitek’s products.

The new millennium saw Psitek’s supervised payphones entering the commercial market, with subsequent expansion into the rest of the African continent, South America and the Asia-Pacific region.

Since 1997, Psitek has been developing and supplying a range of fixed wireless terminals to the local and international market. The GSM Interface, launched during 1999, was used extensively in South Africa by GSM service providers to offer least cost routing solutions to companies. Psitek continued to improve on the design of its products and in 2003, introduced the Fusion range of least cost routers, which replaced the GSM Interface. In 2008 Psitek expanded and upgraded its range of Fusion terminals. The new range comprises the Fusion 230 Least Cost Router, the Fusion 210 Wireless Local Loop (WLL), and the Fusion 220 GSM Interface.

In 2006, Psitek entered the content and data services market, integral to which was developing a content strategy that is accessible through Psitek devices. Psitek has since rolled out electronic services in selected projects in Africa and Latin America. In September 2007 it launched Kazang in South Africa. Kazang provides quick and easy access to prepaid services. While it currently offers electronic airtime and electricity recharge, in the near future it will roll out other prepaid and pay-as-you-go services. In 2008 Kazang was also introduced to the Zambian market, where it is already positioned as the market leader for electronic airtime top-ups. Spreading its footprint across Africa, Kazang is currently being launched in Kenya.

Psitek (Pty) Ltd’s holding company and core development centre is based in Tyger Valley, Cape Town, while its manufacturing facility, ELPROM Electronic Manufacturers (Pty) Ltd, is situated in Somerset-West. Its main distribution channel for Southern Africa, Psitek South Africa (Pty) Ltd, is based in Midrand, Gauteng.

Today the Psitek group of companies is also represented in Columbia and Turkey in the form of joint ventures - Psitek Andina and Content Ready Company, Turkey, respectively.

VenFin, has been a shareholder of Psitek since 1999. In July 2007 Regiments Capital acquired an interest in Psitek South Africa (Pty) Ltd.