-
Join the MyBroadband community
South Africa’s biggest forum. Discuss, discover, and connect with thousands of members.
-
Question of the Day: What's the most interesting small town you've visited in South Africa?
Is Vodacom eying iBurst?
- Thread starter rpm
- Start date
The_Unbeliever
Honorary Master
If this happens, and throttled downloads after being capped falls away, then where else do we go?
At this stage iBurst is attractive in the sense that you can still browse, albeit at throttled speeds, after being capped without incurring hefty fees or penalties as is the case with Voca/MTN/CellC
We have to wait and see if the rumours are true... *sigh* more waiting...
At this stage iBurst is attractive in the sense that you can still browse, albeit at throttled speeds, after being capped without incurring hefty fees or penalties as is the case with Voca/MTN/CellC
We have to wait and see if the rumours are true... *sigh* more waiting...
If it happens, would Vodacom upgrade [swapout] all iBurst contract customers to WiMax when|if that gets going...? Which African country will buy all the old iBurst equipment?
Gatecrasher
Executive Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2005
- Messages
- 6,727
- Reaction score
- 624
Telkom owns 50% of Vodacom. If Vodacom buys Iburst, Telkom will effectively own 50% of Iburst.
Would that be a good thing?
I would hope that such a transaction is blocked by ICASA (who am I kidding?) or the competition board.
We need more players, not less.
Would that be a good thing?
I would hope that such a transaction is blocked by ICASA (who am I kidding?) or the competition board.
We need more players, not less.
RVFmal
Expert Member
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2004
- Messages
- 2,172
- Reaction score
- 214
OFFS!!
When will real competition EVER exist in this country?
Just when you think that things are looking up by having more choice, the f@ckers sell out to the biggest players and once again we sit in the same ruddy boat piloted by the same ruddy captains that will never change course even if there is an iceberg in the way.
When will real competition EVER exist in this country?
Just when you think that things are looking up by having more choice, the f@ckers sell out to the biggest players and once again we sit in the same ruddy boat piloted by the same ruddy captains that will never change course even if there is an iceberg in the way.
The_Unbeliever
Honorary Master
Whatever happens, it does not sound good...
Sentech is busy scaling down.
iBurst is expanding aggressively.
Neotel is starting up.
Now, is Telkom (Vodacom) planning on to block Neotel by buying out iBurst, thus ensuring they have a monopoly on "last mile access"?????
Sentech is busy scaling down.
iBurst is expanding aggressively.
Neotel is starting up.
Now, is Telkom (Vodacom) planning on to block Neotel by buying out iBurst, thus ensuring they have a monopoly on "last mile access"?????
Ekhaatvensters
Executive Member
Iburst is just starting up in Ghana, Kenya and a few other small countries who would be happy to get our old modems for cheap. but you couldnt call it iBurst anymore if you used WiMAX, I dont think it will happen. iBurst is a technology, not a brand. They are themselves now an recognized 802.20e standard.
But im not looking forward to this. Hopefully they will just leave iBurst alone and just pump in more capital if they do buy them out. I have never got much good from Vodacom and lateley iBurst have been doing quite well with service and even their networks are pretty stable.
Well nothing is confirmed at this stage, and there have been rumours posted in the MyADSL iBurst forum in the past [I recall MWeb at one stage], and if Vodacom does buyout iBurst then one has to ask what the attraction is: Vodacom currently has many more 3G|HSDPA customers than iBurst SA has and I doubt that iBurst SA's TV adverts could be making Vodacom nervous. Spectrum makes much more sense, and if so, it would mean using the spectrum currently used by iBurst SA for some other technology...WiMax?
macarbiter
Well-Known Member
This is seriously not good for the SA market. We need competition, as in multiple players in the market, not "key players".
If Vodacom successfully managed to buy out iBurst and aquire their technology and spectrum, they would own they skies, so to say. It would be near impossible for other wireless players such as Sentech, MTN and Cell-C to ever compete. And with Telkom owning a 50% stake in Vodacom, it will effectively allow them to gain a far-to-great-a market share in fixed line and wireless subscribers.
As RVFmal said, we need more players, not 2 or 3 big players. The smaller companies that have a good package to offer will always attract customers.
The current companies just want to protect their profits by buying out other smaller companies instead of trying to win over customers by offering better or more suitable packages.
Will this ever end in SA?
And will ICASA ever get its head out its arse and start to really bring change to our telecoms market instead of protecting the interests of the few key market players. (reference there to ICASA denying Cell-C's Wimax testing)
If Vodacom successfully managed to buy out iBurst and aquire their technology and spectrum, they would own they skies, so to say. It would be near impossible for other wireless players such as Sentech, MTN and Cell-C to ever compete. And with Telkom owning a 50% stake in Vodacom, it will effectively allow them to gain a far-to-great-a market share in fixed line and wireless subscribers.
As RVFmal said, we need more players, not 2 or 3 big players. The smaller companies that have a good package to offer will always attract customers.
The current companies just want to protect their profits by buying out other smaller companies instead of trying to win over customers by offering better or more suitable packages.
Will this ever end in SA?
And will ICASA ever get its head out its arse and start to really bring change to our telecoms market instead of protecting the interests of the few key market players. (reference there to ICASA denying Cell-C's Wimax testing)
RVFmal
Expert Member
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2004
- Messages
- 2,172
- Reaction score
- 214
You answered your own question I suppose:
The fact remains that this should not be allowed to happen as what we want and need in this country is competition and OPTIONS from different players in the market.
For a Gov that has stated that it wants to end monopolies they sure as hell are not trying very hard to prevent it.
Whilst these are just rumours one would have thought that both Vodacom and WBS would have vehemenently denied them if there was no substance to them. However both have simply stated that they have no comment. Smoke=fire.
GreatBigMouth
Expert Member
Hopefully, Iburst will refuse to sell their company to Vodacom. Iburst is expanding rapidly and is becoming a threat to Vodacom, that's the only damn reason they want to buy them out! Talk about a bunch of wussies.
Skeptik
Banned
GreatBigMouth
Expert Member
Me neither. I think the only reason they are willing to buy out Iburst is because nobody is buying their 3G anymore, mainly because of the price. Go get your own iburst VODACOM, stop buying off other companies!
Prometheus
Banned
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2006
- Messages
- 4,252
- Reaction score
- 3
THIS can NOT be happening. Telkom can NOT own 50% of their only competitor as well. The competition commission must put a stop to this somehow or we are all doomed. It would make sense for Vodacom to aquire the company although they can implement their own IBurst offering by making minor changes to their current 3G network, but that probably still leave the licensing issues which IBurst allready has rights to. If they do aquire it, it would most likely be just to buy out the competition. I don't see them using it when thier current 3G network is a lot more lucrative for them especially after it was stated here that it is not as simple as just dropping their prices to an acceptable level.
Actually IBurst is the brand name using IntelliCell technology. It is actually a stationary implementation of 3G that can reach speeds up to 2Mbps. It has become known as IBurst in the industry just like Hoover has become a household name. Hoover is however not the actual technology and neither is IBurst really.
This is what worries me. Normally rumours are just denied like Telkom selling their Vodacom shares to Vodafone. What is even more worrisome is the interesting choice of words:
If it is standard policy to deny speculation then why add "in this regard" which generally tends to indicate that there is some substance to a rumour.
Ekhaatvensters
Executive Member
Well same thing, I was just replying to IC becasue he thought maby they could change iBurst to WiMAX. Which they couldnt really right? I know iBurst are thinking of doing WiMAX themselves, but that is as iBurst SA the company, not as the brand or technology of iBurst.
Not what I meant - apologies for the ambiguity - it was much simpler to tap out WBS, now it's iBurst SA or iBurst Group SA which is considerably more to type, I might just decide to snub the iBurst SA thing and revert back to WBS...
Prometheus
Banned
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2006
- Messages
- 4,252
- Reaction score
- 3
Yup, they could and they would. The IBurst brand name is already very well established. For them not to take advantage of that would be madness, but we all know SA doesn't work like the rest of the world.
The average user has no perception of technology. To call it something like IBurst+ or maybe IBurstMax would give them an advantage over any other WiMax offering the competition can come up with.