Poor Telkom

[VJB 449]

The share price was hammered by more than 8% on Friday. This company is a prime example of how the cANCer destroys value.

[Wyzak]

Every single person I speak to who has interacted with Telkom recently (for ADSL installation/services or even service repairs) has had only good things to say. My personal experience with ADSL installation at the start of this year was overwhelmingly positive.

I beg to differ with the author. My recent experience with Telkom was possibly the worst I have ever had. http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthre...pair-time-rant

[Gozzy]

I been trying to give telkom money since 2 years ago already, that's how long I been waiting for my ADSL line now, so how can we help them if they cannot even help themselves, maybe they should stop fighting a losing battle, because everybody hates them because of poor service, and yeah management is probably to blame, they are probably still getting their 1mil increases a year despite these things happening in the background, milking the system if you will, so get rid of this parasite you call management telkom...same goes for neotel for that matter.

[gregmcc]

Oh poor telkom - karma baby!

[siraman]

Poor Investors(the private one's that is)

[ponder]

Poor Investors(the private one's that is)

If you got in at the beginning and sold when it peaked you could have made a pretty bundle very quickly.

[siraman]

Just worried about institutional investors(pension funds) who have large holdings of shares in Telkom and given the liquidity challenges of the JSE could not "offload" their holdings quick enough while the s**t hit the fan.

Talk about getting in at the beginning what was the price per share for HDI's in that share scheme before listing?I vaguely remember R25 prior listing and how long was it before they could trade those shares(I remember kicking myself for not getting in at 100 shares seeing the price rising to ~R130/share).

[evilstebunny]

Telkom isn't poor, neither does it deserve the phrase 'poor Telkom'.

[Jola]

Telkom isn't poor, neither does it deserve the phrase 'poor Telkom'.

Yes, the damage is all self-inflicted.

[j4ck455]

@ranger, I decided to reply in this thread which I believe is more relevant to our discussion than the speed upgrades thread, I hope you don't mind moving the discussion to this thread.

No, I got your opinion. But, Government's goal also can't be for Telkom's share price to fall through the floor, and have the Government pension schemes fail.

There are several reasons for Telkom's share price hitting all time lows, one big reason would be Telkom's multi-billion Rand losses in Nigeria, to the extend that a R3.5b fine from the Competition Tribunal (to be paid over time) looks like a kids pocket money in comparison.

I'm sure that government can accept some blame for Telkom's dwindling share price, but most of the damage was done by those at the helm of Telkom, in particular that dumbass Jeffrey Hedberg and the CEO he temporarily replaced, Pinky is also not innocent but she has inherited a taxi with a shifting spanner for a steering wheel (trying not to ride her too hard).

The cANCer controlled government can definitely be blamed for the protracted protection that Telkom has enjoyed, this has resulted in a Telkom that hasn't got the foggiest idea of how to become and remain competitive.

Telkom also had the opportunity to do something with TelkomMedia (a licensed PayTV operator), even if that something was selling TelkomMedia long before it was eventually sold off (instead of paying many people to sit around doing very little to nothing for over a year, that must have cost a bundle in wasted salaries).

Then they wouldn't waste money on expensive cars, unnecessary trips overseas for an entire entourage of people, followed by a chase plane, or blow public funds on parties celebrating their parties existence, but rather spend it on education and service delivery (e.g. providing electricity).

However, my point is that they shouldn't be abusing investor's (if there are any independent shareholders left) money to achieve government's goals, government has its own sources of revenue for that. If, for example, Government decides that the existing DSLAMs should be retained to service under-served communities, and are prepared to fund or takeover the work of maintaining them, that might make sense. If they can ensure that a program to roll out copper in the same community will not be an exercise in futility.

However, community upliftment goals shouldn't conflict with the creation of an efficient business environment.

(I tried to bring this back on topic, but I will refrain posting further on this topic in this thread)

I agree that government should not be a shareholder in any telecoms companies (Telkom, MTN, Vodacom, Neotel in the beginning, Broadband Infraco), but the reality is that Telkom was never fully privatised because government continued to be a shareholder and a majority shareholder at that.

The cANCer controlled government is only interested in the self enrichment of the few within the cANCer elite, and that is the real reason for government being a shareholder in all the major telecoms companies.