Telkom mired in static

IdlePhaedrus said:
<snip>It was a good strategy, it was based purely on economics, and it worked. There is absolutely no reason why it shouldn't work for Telkom either given the potential out there, and I think there is a lot.
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The dynamics are very different. MS don't need to have onsite maintenance in all the areas of the country. They do not have to replace stolen licences. They don't have to keep making house calls to maintain your setup.

What Telkom should have done (while they still had Vodacom) was to expand the mobile footprint to cover the entire country as rapidly as possible and then hand out free handsets and SIM cards in areas with no fixed lines.

Fixed line investment should have been focussed in the urban areas and, once saturated, extended to peri-urban then rural and deep rural areas.

It's only recently that Telkom have started to refuse to provide services in certain non-viable areas. They should have done this a long time ago.


EDIT: Remember that each network operator pays a percentage of their turnover to the USAF as their social responsibility w.r.t. universal access.
 
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OK, I cannot say I know about the cost of the 'Social Responsibility' issue, and agree that providing software is somewhat different to providing hardware and infrastructure.

Regardless, I still believe lowering the cost of entry is a good thing (because it increases your user base, and thus your revenue), and it is something that Telkom and Government have been in a position to do but haven't (fixed line OR wireless until 8ta).

The fact is, according to the article, fixed line broadband is losing out to wireless broadband (because prices are more competitive). And I would say this is because Telkom has pursued an economic model that is simply not viable, and now you and I are paying the price. Further, that model was prescribed by the major shareholder, government.

Agree with your statement about concentrating on the urban areas before rural areas and spreading the love from there. That could apply equally to fixed line and wireless, and is pretty much what the wireless providers have done to date.
 
IdlePhaedrus said:
The fact is, according to the article, fixed line broadband is losing out to wireless broadband (because prices are more competitive). And I would say this is because Telkom has pursued an economic model that is simply not viable, and now you and I are paying the price. Further, that model was prescribed by the major shareholder, government.
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Agree 100%.
 
IdlePhaedrus said:
LOL, :D I forgot to mention that as government their policy should not be to make the most amount of money for the least amount of work, but to 'make the country work', which is a slightly more onerous task.

Also either way you look at it, if you are 'smart' then you can do less work to achieve the same goals.

The government appears to lack the smarts and the will to make the country work. It is a worry.

And if some of that loot falls into the back pocket, so much the better it seems. It pays for the Blue Label after all.
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+1 I think we forget that government = public sector where we should always demand the most value for our tax buck.
 
What is their mandate? 1. Be profitable 2. Impede and act as an obstacle to telecoms progress.
Yep, tricky balance. Good luck. Say hi to the dinosaurs.
 
as consumers opt out of its fixed-line broadband service towards cheaper mobile broadband offerings from competitors
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I can download 500GB for less than R1000 a month? Where ?
 
Business 101...charge too high profit margins & a new competitor will eat your lunch. Due to gov interference the competitors can't compete directly so the competition came for mobile.

The multi-billion write-offs are an impressive feat though....
 
Ain't no sunshine 'till Telkom's gone
It's not warm with Telkom here
Ain't no sunshine 'till Telkom's gone
And I hope Telkom stays gone long
Ain't no sunshine 'till Telkom's gone...

And I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
 
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Besides, Telkom has a track record of rewarding its shareholders with generous dividends.
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Genrous dividends obtained from double line rental and a protected monopoly.
This is why our ADSL is so ridiculously overpriced!
 
Tomtomtom said:
Then become a shareholder and get your refund on the double rental.
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Of course you are correct. Let's all climb on the grab-a-piece-of-the-pie-and-screw-everybody-else bandwagon.

Even better... Let's abolish democracy and re-introduce a Monarchy so that we can all work under the whip for no money and live in mud huts to make money for our landlords.
 
The Trutherizer said:
Of course you are correct. Let's all climb on the grab-a-piece-of-the-pie-and-screw-everybody-else bandwagon.

Even better... Let's abolish democracy and re-introduce a Monarchy so that we can all work under the whip for no money and live in mud huts to make money for our landlords.
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I'll pick neither, thanks. In a competitive environment you don't screw your customers because then they go to the competition.

Less government, freer markets is what I want. That's the only way to make the whole pie bigger. Then we can all grab a piece without anyone else losing theirs.
 
Tomtomtom said:
I'll pick neither, thanks. In a competitive environment you don't screw your customers because then they go to the competition.

Less government, freer markets is what I want. That's the only way to make the whole pie bigger. Then we can all grab a piece without anyone else losing theirs.
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Yeah it would be the answer if things were not being held in an iron fist the way they are currently.
 
stricken said:
Wowee. They F***K over their client base for more than a decade, treat them like S**T, and now they all scratch their heads and wonder why its all going down the toilet. Amateurs. Bloody Amateurs.
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Yes, that's about the size of it. They have been f**cking over their clients and treating them like s**t since they were still SAPO.

PS. "Mired" in static? Mired in mixed metaphors I reckon: you get mired in mud. More third rate SA "journalism".
 
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