Broadband battle

Rudolph Muller

Rudolph Muller is the editor at MyBroadband and covers telecoms and broadband news. Rudolph comes from an academic background, but left the University of...

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Broadband access in South Africa is no longer a niche product aimed at tech-savvy consumers, and competition for broadband market share is increasing in the country.  This begs the question as to which company can claim the crown of South Africa’s ‘leading broadband provider’.

Telkom’s Reuben September recently said that one of the four focal points for Telkom is to be known as the leading provider of broadband services in the country.  As the only ADSL provider in South Africa this may seem like an easy task, but with Vodacom joining the broadband market in 2004 things started changing. 

In 2008 Vodacom overtook Telkom as the broadband provider with the most subscribers and this is a position which the cellular provider is not keen to relinquish.  “In line with our strategic intention to lead the market in affordable access to broadband, we consolidated our position as South Africa’s largest broadband provider and by year end had over 720,000 broadband customers,” Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys said.

According to Telkom’s most recent figures the company has 548 015 ADSL users, significantly less that Vodacom’s 720 000.  Telkom however argues that the way of counting broadband subscribers may well benefit Vodacom, and that the title of ‘leading broadband provider’ should encompass far more than just subscriber numbers.

Telkom’s Chief of Strategy Naas Fourie says that Telkom’s superior infrastructure and corporate clients should be taken into account when looking at broadband provisioning, and is confident that Telkom is the leading broadband provider in the country.

Vodacom does not agree with Fourie, saying that it has a strong case to claim the accolade of leading broadband provider in South Africa.  “In December 2004, Vodacom was the first operator to introduce a commercial broadband service in South Africa, across its 3G network,” says Dot Field, Chief Communications Officer, Vodacom Group.

“Since then Vodacom has become the largest provider of broadband services in South Africa, offering a wide array of fast, high quality mobile and wireless broadband services based on 3G HSDPA 7.2 with HSUPA, 3G HSDPA 3.6 with HSUPA, 3G HSDPA 1.8, GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi and WiMAX.”

Field says that the broadband leadership position is reflected by the fact that there are currently around 720 000 customers using Vodacom’s mobile broadband services.  “The introduction of Mobile Internet in June 2008, which makes accessing the Internet easier and cheaper from any cellphone, also substantially increased the number of Vodacom customers accessing the internet via their cellphones to nearly 5 million,” Field says.

Vodacom added that it will continue to drive its market leading position in broadband in South Africa and will expand its service offering into the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.

Telkom’s recent entrance into the mobile Internet market with its own 3G/HSDPA network and a 7.2 Mbps HSDPA offering is widely seen as a direct assault on Vodacom and MTN’s mobile broadband market share.  So far Telkom has only managed to sign up 5,253 subscribers, but if it succeeds in signing roaming agreements and bundling its broadband offerings this figure may rise sharply.

It is debatable whether Telkom will be able wrestle the lead away from Vodacom in terms of broadband subscriber numbers, leaving the title of leading broadband provider in South Africa open to interpretation.

Who do you think is SA’s leading broadband provider?