Telkom looks beyond basic telephony

“Fixed-line phone penetration is very low at just 10% of the population, so we could use this offering to increase telephone penetration,” Molotsane says.
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Holy hell this guy is clueless. I wonder why that is Papi? Could it be that people just don't want phones, OR COULD IT BE BECAUSE THEY CAN'T AFFORD THEM!?!

Offering pay-per-view TV to a population who can't afford basic telephony is not exactly the hottest strategy to increase your fixed line penetration, now is it? That kind of statement just shows how out of touch this guy really is, and is akin to Marie Antoinette's famous "They have no bread? Well let them eat cake!"

Everyday Telkom gives me something else to be pissed off about :(
 
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We are looking at pay television to provide the market with entertaining, innovating cost-effective solutions.
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History tells us 'cost effective' and 'TELKOM' don't go together.
A smidgen of competition on the horizon wont magically make Telkom's gluttonous shareholders disappear all of a sudden.

include live traffic updates for specific locations, gaming channels, and the ability to make donations to charity or buy cinema tickets via the television
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Hold me back,,, not:)

Ironical though that Papi is looking at models from Hong Kong of all places considering the monumental difference in bandwidth cost and availability (SA vs HK)
 
“Fixed-line phone penetration is very low at just 10% of the population, so we could use this offering to increase telephone penetration,”
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And I wonder why, because it costs something like R250 just to have it installed. Wakeup Papi, even you should realise that.

Think about this........less is more.
 
let them drop adsl prices to like R250 for 4?Mbps and concentrate on that other stuff.....
 
Ah the whole 'value added services' card, where Telkom can justify massive prices by throwing in a few, mostly useless, extras.

"What's that? You're unhappy paying R400 a month for basic telephone services? But look you get some tv channels! And you can buy movie tickets!"

I also like how Papi gets his inspiration from Hong Kong's PCCW. Hey Papi last I checked people in Hong Kong were also paying a fraction of what we pay for the same service, why don't you get some inspiration from that?
 
What can I say that hasn't been said already?

Something smells fishy?
 
I think that Telkom is probably making the right kind of moves regarding the market they are in and what sort of future that market has. It would seem that their timing on this is way off.

First of all the are comparing themselves with the UK and Hong Kong - the same places, if memory serves, that they can not be compared to because those are first world countries with high population densities - the very reason they can not give us affordable high speed internet access. The sort of access one would assume is a prerequisite for a pay-TV service over the wire.

Secondly, as has been pointed out by earilier comments, their reasoning that this will stimulate the fixed-wire market is greatly flawed. One only needs to look at recent history, where thousands of lines were disconnected because the subscribers could not afford them. Are these the people who will now jump at the chance to pay more for value added services?

Telkom needs to focus on the problems it has now first - high charges, poor service and poor customer relations. That said, if starting this offshoot now does not detract from sorting out their primary issues they (Telkom) may stand to benefit in the future having gone through the first iteration of trialing the service and seeing its market viability. A second thing to remember is that they are targetting an existing market where they will need to provide a very competitive offer to gain market share. That in itself will be interesting to see how Telkom deals with it.

I realise this comment does not have the usual ani-Telkom venom one expects in this forum, but I've tried to look at this development pragmatically. Make no mistake, I am disgusted by the way our telecoms market has been handled throughout the stack - certain companies, goverment, poor regulation and I look forward to the day (which may not be that far off) where I can drop Telkom for a reasonable alternative!
 
lack of copper

How on earth do Telkom plan to provide this service accross the same lines for basic telephony??

they cant even provide lines for basic telephony never mind ADSL or Cable TV. They are walking around with there heads in the clouds most the time.

I was told when they came to install my ADSL that there were no free copper lines available to support ADSL. and it would take another 3 weeks at least to find one.

needless to say i told them where they can put there lines and cancelled my order. then signed up for 3G the next day.

unless they upgrade there network this is a long way off for most parts.
 
CEO Papi Molotsane presumably hopes to emulate the success of Hong Kong’s largest telecoms operator PCCW and BT of the UK, both of which have revitalised their businesses with a new generation of services.
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Sounds good... BUT... before they can do that, they'll have to look at their own horrible customer relations and fix that up first before they'll be able to enjoy any successes...

Anyway, I won't choose them, I will choose somebody else.
 
What I find really scary is that these guys at Telkom really think that they are hot stuff. Their profit margins, their grand technology, their new strategies... The paint a picture of perfect harmony on the surface, but it looks more like hell at the bottom...

Is it me... Or is Telkom management sniffing too much of the Devils Dandruff??? Are they so out of touch with reality??? I am scared because they are suppose to be a world class billion rand company with leaders.. not dreamers???

The way Papi is carrying on is not far from someone tripping on Acid??

Eish... I give up with Telkom...
 
The monopoly operator has applied for a pay-television licence to deliver television to homes using the cables that carry its voice calls and high-speed internet services
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Let me guess. We will pay line rental once for the cable to deliver a telephone call; twice for it to bring us ADSL and three times for a TV Channel; Same copper wire, same supplier.

And O yes, and why would they assume I would want to put all my eggs into one basket (Telkom being the basket(case)). So I can sit and swear about my telephone, Internet and TV all at once, I don't think so Telkom, thank you very much!
 
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Maybe Telkom should try to get basic telephony right before they go for something as adventurous as IPTV?
 
Looking beyond basic telephony?? Baby steps there telkom - first achieve the basic telephony part and then look beyond it. capisce?
 
Mirage said:
I think that Telkom is probably making the right kind of moves regarding the market they are in and what sort of future that market has. It would seem that their timing on this is way off.

First of all the are comparing themselves with the UK and Hong Kong - the same places, if memory serves, that they can not be compared to because those are first world countries with high population densities - the very reason they can not give us affordable high speed internet access. The sort of access one would assume is a prerequisite for a pay-TV service over the wire.

Secondly, as has been pointed out by earilier comments, their reasoning that this will stimulate the fixed-wire market is greatly flawed. One only needs to look at recent history, where thousands of lines were disconnected because the subscribers could not afford them. Are these the people who will now jump at the chance to pay more for value added services?

Telkom needs to focus on the problems it has now first - high charges, poor service and poor customer relations. That said, if starting this offshoot now does not detract from sorting out their primary issues they (Telkom) may stand to benefit in the future having gone through the first iteration of trialing the service and seeing its market viability. A second thing to remember is that they are targetting an existing market where they will need to provide a very competitive offer to gain market share. That in itself will be interesting to see how Telkom deals with it.

I realise this comment does not have the usual ani-Telkom venom one expects in this forum, but I've tried to look at this development pragmatically. Make no mistake, I am disgusted by the way our telecoms market has been handled throughout the stack - certain companies, goverment, poor regulation and I look forward to the day (which may not be that far off) where I can drop Telkom for a reasonable alternative!
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Well said!
 
Nod said:
Maybe Telkom should try to get basic telephony right before they go for something as adventurous as IPTV?
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What are the chances with a bunch of greedy shortsighted idiots. Telkom must be abolished and the infrastructure must be devided up and auctioned of to the highest bidders and the Telkom management team must be sent to do community service in Irak for the economic damage they caused this country.
 
CEO Papi Molotsane presumably hopes to emulate the success of Hong Kong’s largest telecoms operator PCCW and BT of the UK, both of which have revitalised their businesses with a new generation of services.
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I shouldn't have to mention that the infrastructure in Hong Kong and the UK is vastly superior to what's available here in South Africa. I know Telkom is planning R30Bn upgrade to a Next-Generation-Network, but honestly, how much of an improvement will really be accomplished with such a low amount?
“Traditional telecoms players must reinvent themselves completely to stay relevant.” To do that it is building a 21st century network for £10bn.
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The UK which already has a superior infrastructre can see now they have to spend R130bn to cater for future growth in services and revenue - for crying out loud. The way I see it, Telkom's upgrade merely brings South Africa in line with the UK's current (soon to be outdated) infrastructure at best.

I'm beginning to think that this move by Papi to expand into pay-tv is only so that he can look back and point to this particular expansion as his legacy - knowing fully well that he'll accomplish very little to bring about any changes regarding basic telephony, high speed internet access (which in the UK and Hong Kong are seen as the same thing), affordable prices and better quality of service!

Hong Kong's quality and level of service is lightyears ahead of Telkom's 4mbps! 1Gbps to residential consumers makes our fastest effort look like a drop in the ocean.

Needless to say, until Telkom replace the underground cable from their exchange to my streetbox, there's no way I'd even consider using their Value Added Services. I got 3.7mbps for 1 frigging night and the next day they dropped my linespeed to 384kbps because the cable can't handle ADSL during the day when combined with normal business usage. I only care about afterhours and weekends, but it's obviously of concern for others. How many neighbourhoods are in a similar predicament (well, those that at least have ADSL in the first place)?

Also, Telkom is merely trying what Neotel is doing - break into a monopoly (satellite pay-tv) and grab market share from disgruntled MultiChoice consumers. A 10% - 15% share of the pay-tv market should be enough to compenate for losing 10% - 15% of the telecoms market ... right? ... Or maybe this is where Telkom hopes to find the untapped 40% of the market that can afford but do not currently have theses services (having left MultiChoice already)?

Man, the way some companies plan only for the short-term scares me. Papi, long-term planning isn't the next 2 - 5 years. In the ICT industry, it's the next 20 - 30 years. Catch a wake up - people aren't as cluecless as you'd like to believe. We've paid more than we should for many years because we had no viable alternative - not because we were stupid :cool:

Edited for correctness.
 
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plans plans plans.... before planning "beyond"....think about "basic" and reducing damn costs....sad enough, South Africa is full of plans for this and that, nothing ever happens and if it does, its a freakin rip-off!!!
 
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