Telkom is being attacked from all sides

Wallets

Species8472 said:
It boggles the mind that a company with a monopoly in the fixed line market, with all the resources they need, the financial power they have (had?), can still make such a huge stuff-up of their service.

But let's be reasonable, first they screwed over their consumers to such an extent that there is a deeply embedded hate for their brand, and they have the government using them as a 'jobs for pals' playground. With that handicap I can understand their current situation.
Click to expand...


+1

So eventually people do vote with their wallets......

Some of us voted with that "deeply embedded hate" and despite the desire to be positive about Telkom, I just can not feel sorry for them or buy anything from them.

and

Telkom's compitition, (are there any?) did a good job, well at least some of them.
 
Last edited:
The reason they have lost a huge number of subscribers in my area, at least, is that there isn't any copper any more and Telkom has given up replacing it. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that this is going to lead to a loss of revenue. If this level of copper theft is replicated across the country, they really ought to have had a plan in place.
 
When will they start listening to their customers, Cell C listened and see what they accomplished gained a huge amount of subscribers.
1) Drop the price
2) Naked ADSL


the more subscribers you have the more money you are going to make.
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
- their response and lead times are unacceptable. Waiting 45 minutes for somebody to answer your call, or 3 weeks for somebody to install a line is pathetic. Again this may be related to being understaffed.
Click to expand...

How I wish I only needed to wait 3 weeks. I've been waiting since 13 September 2010 (have the reference number to prove it), and I'm still waiting...
 
RDE said:
Telkom need to implement an aggressive ADSL strategy because there are so many services which they can spin-off if they had minimum speeds of 2Meg and upper limits of 40Meg. They’ve delayed enough with the development of ADSL speeds; they should actually be also offering VoIP services to compensate for the falling voice revenues.
I would love to see a successful Telkom; we would be better-off if they can turn themselves into a world-class telecoms company! There is currently no company with resources if utilized well to make a bigger impact than Telkom.

My appeal to Pinky is push hard and act without haste, there’s a lot that can be achieved!
Click to expand...

I agree - I have said it many times before, Telkom is an INFRASTRUCTURE provider, they should stick to their strengths and focus on this. They should welcome things like LLU as they can leverage smaller companies to come up with unique selling propositions to better utilise their infrastructure. It would also free up a huge amount of resources they use for direct sales to better manage their network, let the resellers deal with customers.

Right now they have a huge amount of effectively dormant or completely under utilised infrastructure just sitting around waiting to get stolen, the proactive approach is to get the lowest price point to attract as many customers as possible to stop the other networks (fixed and mobile) stealing customers. If Telkom where clever they would try to convert the network to data as fast as possible and then compete with cheaper VOIP options including free on-net calls. Say R150 pm for the line and ADSL as fast as the line will sync. the ISP buys bitstream from the exchange at a reasonable price (say R100 per Mbps to the main national POPs) or something in that line. Would be great as so many people would take that as their primary service then. Hell, offer a fixed wireless last mile if you need to back to the same exchange (al la wimax).
 
I would say the management need someone like Donald Trump or Alan Sugar. However offensive we might find these gentlemen, they do not tolerate fools and get the job done. The airy-fairy appointments of people of medium calibre is not working in Telkom. We have seen a succession of CEO's preside over a company with poorly motivated staff, top heavy with managers who only look after their own interests and have no long term solutions to their problems

Hiving the business off to a Korean partner will only work if the Korean partner is involved in day to day management and is free from South African political influence.

I think it has to get a lot worse before it gets any better. Telkom needs a Lee Iococca to weed out the useless hangers-on
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
I agree to an extent, but I wouldn't want to encourage them too much, then we'll just be back to square one. Competition is the only answer, and if that doesn't create a better Telkom then nothing will. If you think about it, the only reason why they have improved a bit lately is because of the pressure they've been coming under. The difference is that if Telkom crumbles, we need other companies to be able to pick up the pieces and be able to provide the same services. This is why ICASA and DoC needs to pull their fingers out their ass.
Click to expand...

So true. Many old school Methods didn't work with all the competition around. In-fact, it creatrd space for competition.
Telkom is not dead, there is still chance to recover. Telkom is a massive company with no "ownership" mentality. I'm takling about the face of Telkom that the general public experience. Walk into any Telkom shop and feel the "negativety" flow over your shoulders. Nobody really wants to assist you;-)
Why: because their boss is not strick enought, oops sorry, maby the boss is inactive. There is no real BOSS, just a manager upon another manager and non taking "ownership".
The same goes foe 8ta:
I recently walked into CanelWalk 8ta flag ship store... A pink copy of the Telkom attitude! Yet I believe 8ta has all the right ingrediants to give Vodacom and MtN a run for their money.
Get a few more managers that can take "ownership".
 
Simple economics really: Wireless prices have been dropping making it more economical than ADSL for those not planning on moving a couple of hundred gigs a month. Also, if you want wireless you could have it up and running within the day, while some people are having to wait weeks if not months for their Telkom installation.

Telkom is bleeding its lower capacity users who all jumped to cheaper & more convenient wireless offerings.
They need to drop the analog line fees & revise their current ADSL line rentals or they'll keep on bleeding customers.
Oh yeah, and do something about that 'deeply embedded hate' their customers have for them.
 
In spite of Telkom's bad reputation and high prices, some people are still standing in line to get hold of an ADSL line, and Telkom is simply not interested. They are so reluctant to provide basic customer services that this news comes as no surprise at all.
 
Viva said:
In spite of Telkom's bad reputation and high prices, some people are still standing in line to get hold of an ADSL line, and Telkom is simply not interested. They are so reluctant to provide basic customer services that this news comes as no surprise at all.
Click to expand...
Only because they have no incentive to provide basic services quickly and efficiently, due to being the only ones able to provide said services. More operators would quickly change that.
 
I still remember that fateful day in 2003, when I phoned Telkom to ask whether I could dial-up to the internet on a public holiday and still pay only R7 per connection with the callmore plan. I was told, "No problem" public holidays are the same as weekends.

I merrily browse the web on my 56k connection with my Johannesburg dial-up number for hours, and was consequently sent an account for R3200 that month (My account was normally just under R1500pm, so internet for that day cost me R1700!!! Telkom of course did nothing to help, saying, "You should have known."

Ever since then, I've been making it my mission to keep my Telscum Account to an absolute minimum.

My account in 2004 came down to R1000 per month.
By 2007 it was down to R850 per month
By 2009 down to R700 per month

This year, I brought my account down to R600, now I'm happy :).

So Telkom, how does it feel to know that the R1700 you "stole" from us in 2003, has lost you about
R 63,600 over the past 8 years from this household?

Just because I'm not the one that pay's the Telkom account, doesn't mean I don't know how to cut
costs. Your turn Telkom. :D
 
To: Telkom

  1. 1Mbps(min),Unlimited evening & week-end calls,Uncapped,free net to net calls weekdays,cheap calls to SA cellphones(see FNB Connect).
  2. Naked DSL
  3. Listen to your customers

Then we can talk.
 
Telkom's monopoly isn't all bad... it's been the catalyst for awesome innovation in the SA broadband market! Without it we wouldn't have nearly all the options we have today!

Vodacom 3G
Noetel CDMA
Iburst
Cell C 3.75G(4G rounded off :twisted:)
MTN
MWEB Uncapped
Afrihost
Cybersmart
etc, etc, etc...


Thank you Telkom! :D
 
Said it in the past and saying it again, it take a special kind of ppl/managment to produce a negative growth if you have the monopoly.
 
They are in a Catch22 situation.

They need to increase revenue, but their prices are too high to attract new customers. Dropping prices will hit revenue initially, but will produce longer term revenue growth. They just don't have the guts to swallow the bitter pill. Telephone line and ADSL rental costs are a cash cow now, but it leaves them increasingly uncompetitive versus rival products. Hanging onto their unrealistically high prices will kill them in the end.
 
Reduced voice revenue will impact ADSL service levels as there is will be no cross subsidizing possible. Naked ADSL implies that the cross subsidy is removed and this Telkom argues will result in them not being able to cover costs.

My opinion is that the R130 may be a prerequistite under the current regime to cover costs partly because of the reduced voice revenue. However, whether those costs are justified is a totally different kettle of fish.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X