Telkom signing up 4000 new ADSL customers per week

Molotsane recently indicated that shareholders can rest assured that Telkom will not make decisions that will negatively impact on the profits they came to expect from the telecoms giant.
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Probably the most honest thing anyone from Telkom has ever said. Wish I could be proved wrong.
 
The uptake is telling of the demand for broadband.

COMPETITION IS NOW KEY MINISTER!!! WAKE UP YOU SILLY PERSON!
 
Telkom’s perspective is that they need to wait for a critical mass in order to reduce prices. As they get more customers on the network so they can reduce the costs.
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They make 6+Billion FRIKKING rand a year but noooo, 'we need more customers to reduce the costs or else we'll go bankrupt'

sigh
 
It apears that telkom arent actually sure what they are talking about(surprise surprise), if they droped the rediculus line rental now, removed the per-gig system and increased the number of dsl installation staff they would reach their target of 680 000 ADSL users by the end of the week as apose to three years from now (not taking into account the time it would take to install the lines)
 
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True Potz. With Telkom cutting back staff (their previous method of increasing profits) they will have a tough time servicing new customers should they drop their prices...

And so Telkom has slit the throat of the goose that layed the golden eggs.

This is the main reason we need competition. Telkom is tripping all over itself!
 
One of these days they will fall flat on there faces.
9 days ago JacarandaFM had the Hong Kong discussion on one of their shows. This morning the 9 days is over for the 100Gb to download. They even wrote a song for the occation. It was really very funny.
Big up to JacarandaFM.
 
antowan said:
True Potz. With Telkom cutting back staff (their previous method of increasing profits) they will have a tough time servicing new customers should they drop their prices...

And so Telkom has slit the throat of the goose that layed the golden eggs.

This is the main reason we need competition. Telkom is tripping all over itself!
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Just a thought. Telkom are keeping prices unnaturally high due to the fact that if they did drop the prices dramatically and in line with what other countries are charging, there would be a huge uptake of the product which they would and could not provide the infrastructure for.

So dissuade the client from buying the product, let the "richer folks" pay through the nose and they do not have to end up with egg on their faces when it becomes public knowledge just how far behind they are in implementing the infrastructure.
 
4000 a week, I find it hard to believe... they cant answer my calls in under 10 minutes.... me detects the spin doctor is spinning some crap PR stories again.
 
Time to do some maths :)

2005 - 2008 = 3 years
3 years = 156 weeks
4000 new users per week after 3 years = 624 000 users

Papi's target = 680 000 users

Also consider that they're expecting to lose 10% to the SNO, so...

current base = 120 000 users
(624 000 + 120 000) - 10% = 669 600

Conclusions.

1 - Right now, they can hit that target without hiring new staff.

2 - They're only going to cut ADSL rates once the 4000 per week sign up starts slipping.
 
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kifoth said:
1 - Right now, they can hit that target without hiring new staff.

2 - They're only going to cut ADSL rates once the 4000 per week sign up starts slipping.
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You also have to take into account, the more the market gets saturated, the less they will sign up.

And dont forget all the cancellation between now and then. With this current pricing model together with the high line rental (double charge), I think alot of people are going to cancel their subcription and get "DSTV" instead if things dont improve soon!
 
Inelastic market

The high cellphone penetration rates in South Africa in spite of the high call charges are not an indication of affordability - they're an indication that basic telecommunications is a relatively inelastic market, especially amongst people who can't afford landlines. Likewise, if Telkom are really signing up 4000 new ADSL users a week in spite of their astronomical prices, perhaps that means people are starting to see broadband as an increasingly essential service, and so simply have to cough up - in other words, the market may be becoming less elastic, which works in Telkom's favour. (Having an essentially unregulated monopoly running amok in an essential services market must be about one of the f*cking stupidest things you can do to your economy.) This isn't going to change though as long as Ivy is in charge of telecomms, she is and will continue very aggressively protecting Telkom from any competition. It's been four years now, and it'll be at least a few more.

sunsoffun said:
You also have to take into account, the more the market gets saturated, the less they will sign up.
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Well, based on the current prices, yes. If the prices were reasonable then we're still hundreds of thousands of users (if not millions) away from saturation.

And dont forget all the cancellation between now and then. With this current pricing model together with the high line rental (double charge), I think alot of people are going to cancel their subcription and get "DSTV" instead if things dont improve soon!
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I suspect most people are probably dumb enough to sign up on contracts though :/

TheArticle said:
"Telkom’s perspective is that they need to wait for a critical mass in order to reduce prices."
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... Everywhere else in the world it's the other way round - you reduce your prices IN ORDER TO gain economies of scale. What Telkom are doing here seems like "skimming the market" or "riding the demand curve" --- start with extremely high prices and rip off the tiny handful of people willing to pay that much at that price, then slowly lower the price little bit by little bit, each time capturing the next bunch of people who are willing to buy at the new price.
 
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sunsoffun said:
You also have to take into account, the more the market gets saturated, the less they will sign up.
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Like I said, the price will come down only when the 4000 per week starts flagging. They'll drop it then (only then and only slightly) so as to get more people on board.
 
HA!! I waited a month for a line transfer - and spent R800 in telephone calls to get such an "how may i provide you EXCELLENT SERVICE".
 
I myself will not be getting broadband when I return to SA from the UK next Monday. It is just too expensive and I refuse to pay those kind of charges for such a meger service.
 
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