Telkom chief faces trouble in the ranks

I like how the TAG advert facts are being used in stories. Proves that consumers can advance / refocus the debate.

Increasing competition in the market is likely to bring price relief to consumers. Telkom is in the firing line for its high prices, considered among the highest in the world. By some accounts, South Africans pay five times as much for a local call now than they did in 1996.

Observers also point out that Internet access in South Africa is among the most expensive in the world — even Morocco, Egypt, Botswana, and Mozambique pay less for broadband.
Click to expand...

It makes me think we should be producing fact sheets for journalists. If we made a one page sheet with all the references clearly indicated, we could see stronger, punchier, more critical stories.
 
Papi has a point. If he does not invest in the future there is no future for TELKOM, that's the bottom line.
TELKOM's lack of investment in SA and inability to keep pace with developments in the global telecoms arena over the last decade makes his task even more difficult. Now it requires massive investment due to years of neglect, profiteering and apathy as a state protected monopoly.

This strategy will certainly be sneered at by shareholders and fund managers as the short term profitability of the company will suffer, impacting on their dividends and share-price.
The fund managers and shareholders are all fattened up with the massive returns they have historically been receiving on their investments, and are now whinging cause they see this slowing down. The horror :eek: ;)

They are the ones who perhaps do not understand the complexity of the market today and that TELKOM has to commit to massive investment now because of convergence, slightly more liberal legislation and imminent competition.
Can Papi pull it off? That will depend on how government wields their 38% stake, not much else.
I wonder which investors are making the most noise? Which shady consortium? Elephant, Skunk, Dung Beetle?
 
Sneeky said:
Papi has a point. If he does not invest in the future there is no future for TELKOM, that's the bottom line.
TELKOM's lack of investment in SA and inability to keep pace with developments in the global telecoms arena over the last decade makes his task even more difficult. Now it requires massive investment due to years of neglect, profiteering and apathy as a state protected monopoly.

This strategy will certainly be sneered at by shareholders and fund managers as the short term profitability of the company will suffer, impacting on their dividends and share-price.
The fund managers and shareholders are all fattened up with the massive returns they have historically been receiving on their investments, and are now whinging cause they see this slowing down. The horror :eek: ;)

They are the ones who perhaps do not understand the complexity of the market today and that TELKOM has to commit to massive investment now because of convergence, slightly more liberal legislation and imminent competition.
Can Papi pull it off? That will depend on how government wields their 38% stake, not much else.
I wonder which investors are making the most noise? Which shady consortium? Elephant, Skunk, Dung Beetle?
Click to expand...

Well put!! I feel a tinge of sympathy for Papi here. I can't comment on any internal dissent but he does comes across as quite a humble bloke. Shareholders are mostly in it for the short term and could't give a hoot if Telkom is run into the ground. Milk this cash cow now and milk another when this one dries up. Globally, telcomm companies have reached the same conclusions as Papi. Adapt to the rapidly changing market or die. I would guess that the accusation that he is out of his depth because he is not an IT man, is nothing more than a red herring. Does Maria Ramos need to be an expert in transportation to turn around Transnet?
 
richardf said:
I like how the TAG advert facts are being used in stories. Proves that consumers can advance / refocus the debate.

It makes me think we should be producing fact sheets for journalists. If we made a one page sheet with all the references clearly indicated, we could see stronger, punchier, more critical stories.
Click to expand...


I'm amazed at how limp the South African press can be at times. There's too much reporting and too little opinion. If there was a true culture of investigative journalism, Telkom's time would be up by now. You hardly hear a peep about the true nature of consumer rage in this country. They could be a serious force for change if they wanted to be. Instead it is the likes of MyADSL that become the truely authorative media and haven for the disgruntled.
 
Telkom has become a massively profitable ride for corrupt government officials and other shareholders with not even one thought as to the impact of this economic massacre on the country and its people.

Calling Telkom "one of Africa’s premier telecommunications companies" when it is a known fact that is openly abuses customers and is allowed by government to make the economy suffer, can only be described as capitalism gone sour...

We are seeing sad things happening to good people, done by bad people in top positions of both government and business. This will end. The question is how?
 
Ozymandias said:
I'm amazed at how limp the South African press can be at times. There's too much reporting and too little opinion. If there was a true culture of investigative journalism, Telkom's time would be up by now. You hardly hear a peep about the true nature of consumer rage in this country. They could be a serious force for change if they wanted to be. Instead it is the likes of MyADSL that become the truely authorative media and haven for the disgruntled.
Click to expand...

Yes, now why?

Molotsane conceded that in some areas of Telkom’s business, “we are out of kilter” with the international averages.

“Yes, we’re not competitive in some areas, such as ADSL and international calls. We are trying to rebalance our prices. We have a commitment to constantly look at prices.”

But he refused to give a commitment that prices will come down this year, reiterating: “We are constantly looking at rebalancing our prices, but I can’t tell you that prices will come down now.”
Click to expand...

So Molotsane says that their ADSL is overpriced?

Telkom shares closed at R145.15 on Friday, as telecom stocks fell about 8.7%.
Click to expand...
----
Thanks to Sharda Naidoo (Business Times) for this article.
 
“Yes, we’re not competitive in some areas, such as ADSL and international calls. We are trying to rebalance our prices. We have a commitment to constantly look at prices.”
Click to expand...
Only looks at his own bank balance :mad:

But he refused to give a commitment that prices will come down this year, reiterating: “We are constantly looking at rebalancing our prices, but I can’t tell you that prices will come down now.”
Click to expand...

Ok, which year is that? 2070? :eek:
 
No competition <> being competitive

Yes, we’re not competitive in some areas, such as ADSL and international calls. We are trying to rebalance our prices. We have a commitment to constantly look at prices.
Click to expand...

What exact area's are they competitive in? If he's talking within a national context, as we all know, there is no fixed line competition for all their other services?

Papi, wakeup! It requires competition to be competitive! :mad:

richardf said:
I like how the TAG advert facts are being used in stories. Proves that consumers can advance / refocus the debate.

It makes me think we should be producing fact sheets for journalists. If we made a one page sheet with all the references clearly indicated, we could see stronger, punchier, more critical stories.
Click to expand...

I second that! If the journalists are not doing the the necessary research for whatever reason, at the very least we can help them along with pertinent facts :D
 
“Yes, we’re not competitive in some areas, such as ADSL and international calls. We are trying to rebalance our prices. We have a commitment to constantly look at prices.”
Click to expand...
Notably telkom never lower their prices: they 'rebalance' them, or 'adjust the basket.' Hence lower adsl costs while line rental goes up. Or similar. There is no lowering of prices: there is a profit figure and how to get there. They pretend to lower prices while making them more expensive in other areas, arriving at the same profit.

Affirmative profiteering. :sick:
 
We are trying to rebalance our prices.
Click to expand...
This single, simple sentence speaks volumes of the past and present telecoms situation in SA, as well as a peek into what the future holds for us all.

They know full well that they are ripping us off. This is blatantly obvious and undeniable.
The challenge, as Papi puts it is to balance it all out, maintain existing profit margins whilst at the same time reduce prices of things like ADSL and bandwidth. This is why TELKOM needs to diversify as their traditional revenue streams slowly dry up. Catch22, impossibility?

The pressure is mounting from both sides and Papi is the piggy (not literally speaking ;)) in the middle, on a tightrope, with one leg, no pole and a blindfold trying to dodge the vrot naartjies being hurled at him from shareholders, consumers and fund managers alike, not to mention the behind the scenes political pressure he must be under from certain 'consortiums' with political muscle that are also heavily invested in TELKOM. How much does the PIC still own? This contributes to the government pension fund!

Probability of satisfying the customer and the shareholders, very poor if not impossible. Hence why a strategic desicion needs to be made now.
One thing that he must never loose sight of though is that there will always be people (read as shareholders and fund managers) willing to invest in and back a well run company with a clear business plan for the future.
Customers on the other hand will vote with their feet and without customers, TELKOM and their existing shareholders are going to look rather silly.

So if government (holding 38% of TELKOM's shares) gives Papi it's full backing and support, he can forge ahead with his plans. They are after all the single biggest shareholder with the most clout, the others don't matter.

What does government want to do? It is abundantly clear that managed liberalisation is an abysmal failure so what is the next move from government? They pull the strings, nobody else.
 
Last edited:
I love the rebalance statement, shows that they not reducing prices, just shifting to where you don't see..
 
The truth will out

Let us analyse the facts. there is a lot of PR in Papi's answers :

1. Investment of R30bn over 5 years : This is not Papi's new ground-break strategy. If you examine Telkom's annual reports of the last 6 years. Telkom has been spending R4.5bn - R6bn per annum. Adjusted for inflation, without doing anything that is what Telkom Capital program would have been anyway. 60% of this is baseline maintanance Capital and 20% in IT systems. New services investment has always ranged between 10-20%. Papi went to press in 2006 as if this was new NEWS and hoodwinked you all. It is true some analysts over reacted. Had they also examines historical capital program, they would have seen this as an attempt by a desperate man to boost his public image, and it back-fired !!!

2. Is Papi weak or strong leader : He has a chequered leadership past. He first appeared in the media as CEO of Fedics Food and was later pushed , allegedly for poor perfomance . Then surfaced as a new COO of Transnet Group. Within 6 months was stripped of the title and made Group Exec of Transformation or some non-descript executive position with no portfolio. Later made acting CeO of Transwerk ( railways engineering stock company), and did not make it finally when the job was finally filled. And then Telkom came to rescue a faltering career.

3. Papi is a nice and friendly guy : Maybe. But he regularly uses the fxxxk and shxxxx words in executive meetings against his direct reports. Nice and likeable , I am not sure. But , there is a different face reserved for the media.

You cannot fool all the people all of the times. The FORUM has also been recipients of the PR and it has all come to naught .

I challenge RPM to challenge the man to a public unscripted debate of ICT issues and see how much he has learn in the 15 mnths in the hot seat. RPM will win . But then challenge the man to a round of golf to see how much his handicap has improved in the last 15 months, Papi will win hands down.
 
The truth will out

Let us analyse the facts. there is a lot of PR in Papi's answers :

1. Investment of R30bn over 5 years : This is not Papi's new ground-break strategy. If you examine Telkom's annual reports of the last 6 years. Telkom has been spending R4.5bn - R6bn per annum. Adjusted for inflation, without doing anything ,that is what Telkom Capital program would have been anyway. 60% of this is baseline maintanance Capital and 20% in IT systems. New services investment has always ranged between 10-20%. Papi went to press in 2006 as if this was new NEWS and hoodwinked you all. It is true some analysts over reacted. Had they also examined historical capital program, they would have seen this as an attempt by a desperate man to boost his public image, and it back-fired !!!

2. Is Papi weak or strong leader : He has a chequered leadership past. He first appeared in the media as CEO of Fedics Food and was later pushed , allegedly for poor perfomance . Then surfaced as a new COO of Transnet Group. Within 6 months was stripped of the title and made Group Exec of Transformation or some non-descript executive position with no portfolio. Later made acting CeO of Transwerk ( railways engineering stock company), and did not make it finally when the job was finally filled. And then Telkom came to rescue a faltering career.

3. Papi is a nice and friendly guy : Maybe. But he regularly uses the fxxxk and shxxxx words in formal executive meetings against his direct reports. Nice and likeable ?, I am not sure. But , there is a different face reserved for the media.

You cannot fool all the people all of the times. The FORUM has also been recipients of the PR and it has all come to naught .

I challenge RPM to challenge the man to a public unscripted debate on ICT issues and see how much he has learnt in the 15 mnths in the hot seat. RPM will win . But then challenge the man to a round of golf to see how much his handicap has improved in the last 15 months, Papi will win hands down.
 
The truth will out

Let us analyse the facts. there is a lot of PR in Papi's answers :

1. Investment of R30bn over 5 years : This is not Papi's new ground-break strategy. If you examine Telkom's annual reports of the last 6 years. Telkom has been spending R4.5bn - R6bn per annum. Adjusted for inflation, without doing anything that is what Telkom Capital program would have been anyway. 60% of this is baseline maintanance Capital and 20% in IT systems. New services investment has always ranged between 10-20%. Papi went to press in 2006 as if this was new NEWS and hoodwinked you all. It is true some analysts over reacted. Had they also examines historical capital program, they would have seen this as an attempt by a desperate man to boost his public image, and it back-fired !!!

2. Is Papi weak or strong leader : He has a chequered leadership past. He first appeared in the media as CEO of Fedics Food and was later pushed , allegedly for poor perfomance . Then surfaced as a new COO of Transnet Group. Within 6 months was stripped of the title and made Group Exec of Transformation or some non-descript executive position with no portfolio. Later made acting CeO of Transwerk ( railways engineering stock company), and did not make it finally when the job was finally filled. And then Telkom came to rescue a faltering career.

3. Papi is a nice and friendly guy : Maybe. But he regularly uses the fxxxk and shxxxx words in executive meetings against his direct reports. Nice and likeable , I am not sure. But , there is a different face reserved for the media.

You cannot fool all the people all of the times. The FORUM has also been recipients of the PR and it has all come to naught .

I challenge RPM to challenge the man to a public unscripted debate of ICT issues and see how much he has learn in the 15 mnths in the hot seat. RPM will win . But then challenge the man to a round of golf to see how much his handicap has improved in the last 15 months, Papi will win hands down.
 
Ispy, heard you the first time boet;) interesting none the less.

:)
 
I have always thought that Telkom runs its self and that Papi is just along for the ride.

The rebalancing prices is a dead give away, it means that you have a spreadsheet were you enter the profit you want and then adjust pricing accordingly, that is why the basket is used, and much like increasing the price of petrol and reducing the price of oil.

The only thought that needs to go into it is what excuses you have to give ICASA and what prices to work on, like bringing down overseas calls because people are using the net. Then there is the sneaky way of pushing people into the corner they want, like throttling dial up
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X