Telkom to govt: don't interfere

[QuintonB]

Telkom not waiting for government

Telkom has a new CEO and a new strategy – and it won’t be waiting for permission and guidance from government to implement it, according to media reports.

 

[jackshiels]

Does this guy have a good history?

At least they are right on the shareholder point - government needs to stop controlling the national operator.

 

[grim]

Does this guy have a good history?

At least they are right on the shareholder point - government needs to stop controlling the national operator.

Seems so, he spent 14 years at BP before moving to Vodacom where Pieter Uys had some very good things to say about him.

The new COO Brian Armstrong also seems to know what he's doing.

 

[RyanPCMR]

Something positive for a change

I hope this is not just words on a piece of paper from Telkom, like most of the SA government's acts. Would also love to hear what Pule will say to this as she is determined to push the ANC's views on an unsuspecting SA public. "Government by the people, for the people" and "Together we can do more" as they like to preach.

 

[marine1]

IBWISI

 

[Milano]

Any ambitions will quickly be crushed by government.

 

[whipper]

Any ambitions will quickly be crushed by government.

Let's give him the benift of the doubt to prove himself and his new strategy

 

[BGE]

Bet you they had to ask govs permission before making this statement! Smoke and mirrors I tell you!

 

[MickeyD]

Hmmmm.... fighting words indeed! I wonder what govt will say when, hypothetically of course, Telkom decide to disinvest in copper access networks in the rural areas or small dorpies or recover all their radio towers (DECT, etc.) and force those customers to move to a mobile or even satellite network?

 

[Milano]

Let's give him the benift of the doubt to prove himself and his new strategy

All the goodwill in the world will not see Telkom act outside the interests of government.

 

[Paul Hjul]

Hmmmm.... fighting words indeed! I wonder what govt will say when, hypothetically of course, Telkom decide to disinvest in copper access networks in the rural areas or small dorpies or recover all their radio towers (DECT, etc.) and force those customers to move to a mobile or even satellite network?

I didn't realize Telkom used DECT at all. But surely in the dorpies themselves there is a case for copper access networks for fixed line internet access chowing through 100s of TBs of data each month in order to access HD video content on demand products courtesy of Naspers

 

[MickeyD]

I didn't realize Telkom used DECT at all. But surely in the dorpies themselves there is a case for copper access networks for fixed line internet access chowing through 100s of TBs of data each month in order to access HD video content on demand products courtesy of Naspers

Telkom used DECT extensively in the rural areas when they had to achieve their exclusivity targets. Massive areas were covered, all not economically viable! Some of those sites could probably be used for LTE/3G sites but those would be few and far between. The cost to maintain and operate those sites outweigh any revenue generated. They are also high risk sites i.t.o. theft (solar panels, etc.).

Regarding the dorpies... most do not have 100s of TBs of data usage and again, the operating costs are too high.

 

[Paul Hjul]

but surely with freeing the internet the dorpies will get to 100s of TBs because of the HD video content that Naspers is going to be rolling out to them. I mean its not fair to Naspers shareholders for their company to not be able to channel large volumes of data on Telkom's network to end users paying subscriptions to Naspers.

 

[MickeyD]

but surely with freeing the internet the dorpies will get to 100s of TBs because of the HD video content that Naspers is going to be rolling out to them. I mean its not fair to Naspers shareholders for their company to not be able to channel large volumes of data on Telkom's network to end users paying subscriptions to Naspers.

Naspers can buy the infrastructure in them dorpies!

 

[Paul Hjul]

but that would amount to investing in the national network and we all know that nobody other than Telkom is supposed to invest in the national network ...

Imagine the mayhem to Vodacom shareholders if the "wireless local loop" were to be viewed as something to be unbundled; it just wouldn't be fair to Vodacom shareholders

 

[Tomasz-London]

Go for it.

Max Speed naked ADSL access for R200PM and I'm on board.

Otherwise, please don't waste your and my time.

 

[Tomasz-London]

...and get back to the deal with the Koreans.

 

[ToxicBunny]

This could be interesting, and I am more than prepared to give this guy the benefit of the doubt, but we do want to see some concrete action in a relatively short time frame.