Storm brews at Telkom as CEO gets the sack

[rpm]

http://www.mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=6098

[rpm]

Government wants all voice and data carriers to be charged affordable fees, while Molotsane has repeatedly said Telkom would invest only for a decent profit.

So Telkom was really looking at protecting their SAT3 profits? Why invest in EASSy if you dont like the idea of open access?

[Debbie]

So Telkom was really looking at protecting their SAT3 profits? Why invest in EASSy if you dont like the idea of open access?

Why not invest in EASSy if you can structure preferential conditions for your participation.

[krycor]

*confused* so uhm if this was somehow forced by gov, are they trying to save face while raking in profit? I think its too late for gov.

[ic]

*confused* so uhm if this was somehow forced by gov, are they trying to save face while raking in profit? I think its too late for gov.

IMO yes, and I suspect that Mbeki carefully orchestrated his disingenuous condemnation of Telkodemonopolies' profits which he described as “absolutely phenomenal” - Mbeki must have known before that interview that he was going to put an apple in Papi's mouth & have his head on the chopping block, and it is true that shareholders would view the profits in such a positive light - except when they realise that Papi has failed to meet the challenge of increasing competition which will result in a sharp decline in such phenominal profits...

[LabAnimal]

oh the drama, who needs soap!.

[Gatecrasher]

Confused? Not surprised.

Despite being totally incompetant in their efforts to bring it about, Government actually does want cheap telecomunications and broadband in SA. And for it to be available and affordable to all South Africans.

And that, of course, is the last thing that Telkom wants.

On these forums we always suspect a triad of conspiracy (Government, ICASA & Telkom) for keeping prices high. In reality, it is sheer incompetance on the part of the DOC and ICASA, and sheer greed and a lack of vision on the part of Telkom.

As for the "profits" that the Goverment earns from Telkom. Its a red herring. It all ends up in the national treasury supplementing our taxes. No one benefits from it other than taxpayers.

It does, however, dwarf the damage caused to our economy from artificially high telecomunication costs.

I'm just hoping that we are now seeing Government apply some urgency to their "big picture" view of the ICT landscape. And that we will see some concerete actions to accompany the rhetoric.

[eremos]

Confused? Not surprised.

Despite being totally incompetant in their efforts to bring it about, Government actually does want cheap telecomunications and broadband in SA. And for it to be available and affordable to all South Africans.

And that, of course, is the last thing that Telkom wants.

On these forums we always suspect a triad of conspiracy (Government, ICASA & Telkom) for keeping prices high. In reality, it is sheer incompetance on the part of the DOC and ICASA, and sheer greed and a lack of vision on the part of Telkom.

As for the "profits" that the Goverment earns from Telkom. Its a red herring. It all ends up in the national treasury supplementing our taxes. No one benefits from it other than taxpayers.

It does, however, dwarf the damage caused to our economy from artificially high telecomunication costs.

I'm just hoping that we are now seeing Government apply some urgency to their "big picture" view of the ICT landscape. And that we will see some concerete actions to accompany the rhetoric.

Another excellent post. You're on a roll.

I agree. Telkom's just trying to maximise profits, if rather short-sightedly, and ICASA and the DoC are simply incompetent.

[Syndyre]

Confused? Not surprised.

Despite being totally incompetant in their efforts to bring it about, Government actually does want cheap telecomunications and broadband in SA. And for it to be available and affordable to all South Africans.

And that, of course, is the last thing that Telkom wants.

I'm not so sure, at the moment the government controls most of the major media through the SABC, even the major newspaper groups are fairly subservient to them and can be easily controlled, especially once the new Media act is implemented, if it is. Allowing affordable access to broadband would jeopardise this control, at the moment the majority of people that have access to internet and broadband specifically probably don't support the ANC anyway, mass access may allow people to be more informed, which wouldn't work in the government's favour. Sounds like a conspiracy theory I know but it wouldn't surprise me.

[Abe]

As for the "profits" that the Goverment earns from Telkom. Its a red herring. It all ends up in the national treasury supplementing our taxes. No one benefits from it other than taxpayers.

What about the elephant consortium?

[ic]

Confused? Not surprised.

Despite being totally incompetant in their efforts to bring it about, Government actually does want cheap telecomunications and broadband in SA. And for it to be available and affordable to all South Africans.

And that, of course, is the last thing that Telkom wants.

On these forums we always suspect a triad of conspiracy (Government, ICASA & Telkom) for keeping prices high. In reality, it is sheer incompetance on the part of the DOC and ICASA, and sheer greed and a lack of vision on the part of Telkom.

As for the "profits" that the Goverment earns from Telkom. Its a red herring. It all ends up in the national treasury supplementing our taxes. No one benefits from it other than taxpayers.

It does, however, dwarf the damage caused to our economy from artificially high telecomunication costs.

I'm just hoping that we are now seeing Government apply some urgency to their "big picture" view of the ICT landscape. And that we will see some concerete actions to accompany the rhetoric.

GC, please note I am not arguing with you in this reply - instead I'm just disagreeing .

I agree that sheer incompetence is a major factor, but I strongly disagree that the only greedy entity is Telkodemonopolies - sure I have not seen Telkodemonopolies' register of members, and I don't have access to the confidential info of stockbrokers acting as proxy-owners of Telkodemonopolies shares on behalf of guavamint employees etc, but I am 100% certain [even in the abscence of concrete proof] that many people within the DoC and cabinet, personally own large numbers of shares, and quite possibly hold A & B share certificates that do not appear on CompuShare's electronic list of Telkodemonopolies shareholders.

I'm looking at the big picture that all of Ivy's last minute """clarifications""" has painted, and concluding that the Grim Poisonous Ivyness Creep has deliberately mismanaged telecoms in SA in order to prolong the monopoly for as long as possible, and then there is Ivy's power struggle to control !CASA, and how about the time when the ANC tried to sneak unsanctioned amendments to the ECB [formerly Convergence Bill] in without the rest of the PPCC members noticing - and that former DoC employee is now an !CASA councillor - also the same one that was deployed to crawl under the National Assembly's table to get a PPCC compromise version of the ICASA Amendment Bill reverted to a previous revision where the MoC had considerably more power over !CASA...

And all this time Mbeki has allowed Ivy to continue blazing her trail of destruction, so I think there is a lot more personal enrichment going on behinds the scenes - the incompetence is merely an easily deployed smokescreen to bind it all together.

[antowan]

Telkom is rotten to the core. Now people are wondering who are the angels and who are the demons at Telkom. The truth is, they might as well all be demons in that company jockeying for position. IMO this is the case and the company is so rotten that it would have to be restructured completely to make it operate properly for the good of consumers and shareholders alike. Not just for shareholders as is the case currently.

I am still in favor of dismantling it and forming 4 or more new phone companies.

[Vaporized]

I agree with Gatecrasher, i think the problem lies with government. They simply allow telkom to get away with everything. Telkom is raking in millions in dividends for its shareholders, so from a company perspective they are doing well. Only problem is that they are the backbone of communications in this country and they're not promoting growth. I think they will adapt when they have to but until then they will continue sucking every last cent out of us. We can only complain, where else do we go! Government needs to step in and force change else well have to wait for Neotel.

[Debbie]

GC, please note I am not arguing with you in this reply - instead I'm just disagreeing .

I agree that sheer incompetence is a major factor, but I strongly disagree that the only greedy entity is Telkodemonopolies - sure I have not seen Telkodemonopolies' register of members, and I don't have access to the confidential info of stockbrokers acting as proxy-owners of Telkodemonopolies shares on behalf of guavamint employees etc, but I am 100% certain [even in the abscence of concrete proof] that many people within the DoC and cabinet, personally own large numbers of shares, and quite possibly hold A & B share certificates that do not appear on CompuShare's electronic list of Telkodemonopolies shareholders.

I'm looking at the big picture that all of Ivy's last minute """clarifications""" has painted, and concluding that the Grim Poisonous Ivyness Creep has deliberately mismanaged telecoms in SA in order to prolong the monopoly for as long as possible, and then there is Ivy's power struggle to control !CASA, and how about the time when the ANC tried to sneak unsanctioned amendments to the ECB [formerly Convergence Bill] in without the rest of the PPCC members noticing - and that former DoC employee is now an !CASA councillor - also the same one that was deployed to crawl under the National Assembly's table to get a PPCC compromise version of the ICASA Amendment Bill reverted to a previous revision where the MoC had considerably more power over !CASA...

And all this time Mbeki has allowed Ivy to continue blazing her trail of destruction, so I think there is a lot more personal enrichment going on behinds the scenes - the incompetence is merely an easily deployed smokescreen to bind it all together.

You make a good point ic.

Someone on the forum a little while ago said something like this:

"Never ascribe to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetance."

Ivy's deliberate interfering -and in some cases, deliberate non-interfering- somehow tips the scale in favour of malice.

[Gatecrasher]

What about the elephant consortium?

Well, of course, any private shareholding in Telkom will benefit from Telkom's profits. But this is not a BEE debate. Many other investors have benefitted too.

Although, I do think that Telkom in choosing to profit obscenely from the few, rather than expanding its customer base and rolling affordable services and products, has badly damaged its longer term prospects as a successful company. And done untold damage to the economy.

With a different approach Telkom could have done so much better for itself and for the country.

As a share, though, Telkom has badly underperformed the market in recent times. Investors, including the Elephant Consortium would have done much better to put their money elsewhere.