Telkom “in the fifties” by charging for voice calls

The problem for any traditional telecoms operator is simple: Voice calls generate revenue and this revenue is needed to build, upgrade and maintain their network. OTT technologies and services like Skype is often seen as disruptive as they don’t invest in any infrastructure - and are in fact using it to compete against telco’s voice services which are funding network investments.

A new world for the telecoms industry, but I don’t expect voice call charges to disappear anytime soon.
 
"Broadband on its own is nothing. Broadband embedded in a service concept is absolutely life changing," Verwaayen said.
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Absolute rubbish. Broadband on its own is EXACTLY what the South African consumer wants and needs from Telkom. We can then pick and choose our own services from any number of other providers. The last thing we want or need is bundled services from the same company that gives us our broadband connection.
 
deweyzeph said:
Absolute rubbish. Broadband on its own is EXACTLY what the South African consumer wants and needs from Telkom. We can then pick and choose our own services from any number of other providers. The last thing we want or need is bundled services from the same company that gives us our broadband connection.
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But in other markets there are multiple operators that can give you broadband. We just need more competition.
 
Telkom “in the fifties” by charging for voice calls - that heading - hillarious... :)
 
deweyzeph said:
Absolute rubbish. Broadband on its own is EXACTLY what the South African consumer wants and needs from Telkom. We can then pick and choose our own services from any number of other providers. The last thing we want or need is bundled services from the same company that gives us our broadband connection.
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+ 5

Bosvark@ said:
Telkom “in the fifties” by charging for voice calls - that heading - hillarious... :)
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+1. Cracked me up also.. LOL. Then it made me cry & feel all depressed. Wasn't funny.

rpm said:
Telkom “in the 50s” by charging for voice
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Telkom couldn't care less whether they were still in the 20's.

If Cell C, who is/was crippled with serious debt, can have a go at MTN and Vodacom, I don't understand why Telkom, a complete monopoly, can't even get it's basics right. Something is seriously wrong at Telkom. I reckon Telkom will face complete collapse and liquidation in the next 2 years - another Sentech in the making.
 
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Problem is their bean counters are also living in the 50's, meaning they won't easily adapt to new revenue models. All they see is x amount of lost income should they not charge for voice & have a seizure.

Telkom does indeed have a world class network, one out of the 50's perhaps.
 
And Telkom still in the last decade with their internet products and pricing
 
"He said that traditional, incumbent telecommunications providers need to move away from only providing connectivity towards packaging services."
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Well actually, if you have government in your pocket and protecting you from free market competition, then no, no you don't, you can do whatever you want.
 
iCubed.Saajid said:
If Cell C, who is/was crippled with serious debt, can have a go at MTN and Vodacom, I don't understand why Telkom, a complete monopoly, can't even get it's basics right. Something is seriously wrong at Telkom. I reckon Telkom will face complete collapse and liquidation in the next 2 years - another Sentech in the making.
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Or another SAA, where they'll just get subsidies and bail-outs from taxpayers indefinitely.
 
rpm said:
The problem for any traditional telecoms operator is simple: Voice calls generate revenue and this revenue is needed to build, upgrade and maintain their network. OTT technologies and services like Skype is often seen as disruptive as they don’t invest in any infrastructure - and are in fact using it to compete against telco’s voice services which are funding network investments.

A new world for the telecoms industry, but I don’t expect voice call charges to disappear anytime soon.
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See, if only Telkom were actually doing that, instead of paying their top guys fat bonuses (or should that read paying their fat guys top bonuses ...hmm), we might not all hate them so.

Telkom: today, yesterday, back in the fifties.
 
I think the irony is lost, that it's not only Telkom: What about Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Neotel (although admittedly at least they give you decent on-network minutes)? Telecoms companies internationally are sitting with the exact same problem- moving from minutes to selling services - i.e. VOD, IPTV, VoIP etc. The guys who are getting it right in my opinion is Google/ Apple- I believe that operating systems and the services it can handle is going to play a much bigger role in the future.
 
iCubed.Saajid said:
I reckon Telkom will face complete collapse and liquidation in the next 2 years - ...... .
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After that, we'd need or could expect Co's like BT, Deutsche Telekom, or AT&T to come in & sort out Neotel's collapse - clear out all or most of the rubbish!
 
BayCityRoller said:
After that, we'd need or could expect Co's like BT, Deutsche Telekom, or AT&T to come in & sort out Neotel's collapse - clear out all or most of the rubbish!
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Sadly this is not possible in our current regulatory environment.

BT is how the British spell Telkom. Deutshce Telekom is German for Telkom. AT&T is the American Telkom. They all compete more in less regulated environments than Telkom. Maybe we can think of these companies as what Telkom could become if LLU and deregulation were on the agenda.
 
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