Vodacom CEO explains why mobile data expires

quovadis said:
Facts matter. Gauteng has higher population density than Taiwan - you’ve been having it ...
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Did a quick fact check on your statement.

Taiwan has a population density of 649 people per sq Km. This is a bit lower than Gauteng that's at 700 peak. South Africa has an average of 42 people per sq. Km.

Taipei has a population of 10 000 people per sq. Km!!

So not sure how you equate the two? you seem to be out by a factor of at least 15.
 
jannievanzyl said:
So not sure how you equate the two? you seem to be out by a factor of at least 15.
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Comparing Gauteng to Taiwan from a density perspective. Taiwan might be about double the size and may have areas with high density but so does Gauteng (Soweto 6000/Alexandria 26000 per sqkm) which was my point.
 
jannievanzyl said:
But we also have areas with 4 people per square kilometer. And roll-out obligations there.
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That sounds quite dumb. 95% of your bundles (if not higher) will be sold and used within high-density population areas.
That 4km^2 area you're talking about will probably have one tower covering a vast area with little/no interference, meaning that more spectrum will not help the issue there, so you can fall-back to that argument forever.
 
Id like to see what excuses Vodacon come up with after ICASA actually wakes up and allocates spectrum. Its sounding like a broken record.
 
when we have corrupt 7/or incompetent govt depts & employees, it allows ppl to do this to us.
 
rubber_otter said:
Id like to see what excuses Vodacon come up with after ICASA actually wakes up and allocates spectrum. Its sounding like a broken record.
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Low population density, high fibre costs, cosmic radiations...

They probably have a bag full of little papers with excuses and take one before each interview.
 
Johnatan56 said:
That sounds quite dumb. 95% of your bundles (if not higher) will be sold and used within high-density population areas.
That 4km^2 area you're talking about will probably have one tower covering a vast area with little/no interference, meaning that more spectrum will not help the issue there, so you can fall-back to that argument forever.
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But you still have to sell the same data bundle at the same price, right?
 
jannievanzyl said:
But you still have to sell the same data bundle at the same price, right?
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Will you not sell more than enough data bundles to easily match/exceed the current usage, right?
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You'll probably easily hit the same profits and those consumers leaving for e.g. Telkom because they're cheaper would stop leaving.

In regards to selling at the same price, you have a fixed cost for those rural areas, that price won't change and you definitely will not upgrade them, so once that fixed cost is overcome monthly, which you definitely already have as you have an insane profit margin (R16bn of about R80bn, of which RSA was 56bn revenue?), considering you're still "investing" and expanding your infrastructure at present.

The only reason why other providers don't enter are the huge capital requirements and no spectrum allocation open by government. I still wonder what would happen if Digital Migration opens up more spectrum and it is given to competitors instead of you, how quickly your margins will probably fall.
 
Vrotappel said:
I'll doubt that Jannie will respond to this seeing that it is the real reason.
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As I said, it's quite hilarious that for 19.99€ a month, I get 25Go per month to use roaming on Vodacom with my French sim card...

I doubt that Vodacom sells it at loss to my french operator, sign that they are clearly fleecing South Africans.

I just checked, Orange's profit margin is 7.5%, Vodacom almost 19%...
 
Any business will abuse it market dominance for as long as possible and find all justifications for what it is doing.
Telkom did it for a long time with ADSL force feeding us 3gig caps whilst doing its best to stop competition and international capacity increasing. I believe many people in VC used to come from Telkom.
 
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