We nearly ditched mobile: Telkom CEO

[BusinessTech]

We nearly ditched mobile: Telkom CEO

Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko says that the group nearly ditched its mobile arm.

 

[Ockie]

However, Maseko said on Monday that the mobile business is very close to breakeven.

Compared to Cell C, one has to wonder what went wrong with Cell C then seeing that after so many more years of operating why are they still making huge losses?

 

[RichardG]

Compared to Cell C, one has to wonder what went wrong with Cell C then seeing that after so many more years of operating why are they still making huge losses?

Telkom have a lot of capital in the bank and a lot of the infrastructure used they don't have to pay the middle man. Example Interconnect fee stays with them unlike other operators that have to pay a lot of money. I know of one company where all their employees use Telkom Mobile to cut down on cost which has helped a lot.

It's also how you market your product to the consumer. When I first saw Telkom Mobile data rates I said to myself it's madness what they charge for daga and when they introduced the Go big 60 gig + 60 gig got the airtime and converted the data.

BlackBerry offer buy a R600 voucher receive R600 airtime + 6 months free bis and 500 meg YouTube data per month.

Sim-Sonke made me port over my primary number, mom's number and many friends. We now speak to each more frequently than before and have save thousands.

Let's not forget some entry handsets purchased outright came with preloaded airtime practically paying off the handset with the value you paid.

Now with tomorrow uncapped lte auction launch tomorrow will be a game changer they probably going to pilot the project in Johannesburg first before launching to other provinces. Who knows LTE could be the future going forward with so much copper theft happening frequently.

Maybe they were about to sell the whole infrastructure over to MTN if Telkom Mobile didn't perform as planned. Still they somewhat in control of the shoshoe / probably for a slice of spectrum to share it.

 

[The_MAC]

Compared to Cell C, one has to wonder what went wrong with Cell C then seeing that after so many more years of operating why are they still making huge losses?

I think what happened is that Telkom employed a lot of ex Cell-C, Vodacom and MTN staff, so "many" of the mistakes made in the past by the other operators were not repeated. Also, by the time Telkom rolled out mobile they were able to deploy the latest technology, so no unnecessary legacy system upgrades, unlike the Fixed line side of things

 

[Ockie]

Telkom have a lot of capital in the bank and a lot of the infrastructure used they don't have to pay the middle man. Example Interconnect fee stays with them unlike other operators that have to pay a lot of money. I know of one company where all their employees use Telkom Mobile to cut down on cost which has helped a lot.

It's also how you market your product to the consumer. When I first saw Telkom Mobile data rates I said to myself it's madness what they charge for daga and when they introduced the Go big 60 gig + 60 gig got the airtime and converted the data.

BlackBerry offer buy a R600 voucher receive R600 airtime + 6 months free bis and 500 meg YouTube data per month.

Sim-Sonke made me port over my primary number, mom's number and many friends. We now speak to each more frequently than before and have save thousands.

Let's not forget some entry handsets purchased outright came with preloaded airtime practically paying off the handset with the value you paid.

Now with tomorrow uncapped lte auction launch tomorrow will be a game changer they probably going to pilot the project in Johannesburg first before launching to other provinces. Who knows LTE could be the future going forward with so much copper theft happening frequently.

Maybe they were about to sell the whole infrastructure over to MTN if Telkom Mobile didn't perform as planned. Still they somewhat in control of the shoshoe / probably for a slice of spectrum to share it.

I think what happened is that Telkom employed a lot of ex Cell-C, Vodacom and MTN staff, so "many" of the mistakes made in the past by the other operators were not repeated. Also, by the time Telkom rolled out mobile they were able to deploy the latest technology, so no unnecessary legacy system upgrades, unlike the Fixed line side of things

Understood. Thank you

 

[MickeyD]

Telkom have a lot of capital in the bank and a lot of the infrastructure used they don't have to pay the middle man. Example Interconnect fee stays with them unlike other operators that have to pay a lot of money. I know of one company where all their employees use Telkom Mobile to cut down on cost which has helped a lot.

It's also how you market your product to the consumer. When I first saw Telkom Mobile data rates I said to myself it's madness what they charge for daga and when they introduced the Go big 60 gig + 60 gig got the airtime and converted the data.

BlackBerry offer buy a R600 voucher receive R600 airtime + 6 months free bis and 500 meg YouTube data per month.

Sim-Sonke made me port over my primary number, mom's number and many friends. We now speak to each more frequently than before and have save thousands.

Let's not forget some entry handsets purchased outright came with preloaded airtime practically paying off the handset with the value you paid.

Now with tomorrow uncapped lte auction launch tomorrow will be a game changer they probably going to pilot the project in Johannesburg first before launching to other provinces. Who knows LTE could be the future going forward with so much copper theft happening frequently.

Maybe they were about to sell the whole infrastructure over to MTN if Telkom Mobile didn't perform as planned. Still they somewhat in control of the shoshoe / probably for a slice of spectrum to share it.

Telkom Mobile did not get anything for free from Telkom Wholesale. Just like any other MNO they have to place orders for links, pay for space on towers, etc.

 

[RichardG]

Telkom Mobile did not get anything for free from Telkom Wholesale. Just like any other MNO they have to place orders for links, pay for space on towers, etc.

The money still belongs to Telkom. Everything is under one umbrella. Different story if they had to pay a different provider. They do pay gor spectrum licenses / rental space etc.

Like now their social media accounts are all under 1 umbrella.

 

[R13...]

Compared to Cell C, one has to wonder what went wrong with Cell C then seeing that after so many more years of operating why are they still making huge losses?

I also don't understand how Cell C with over 10m subs still don't make money. But it is probably correct that most of the reason had been that they have had to pay a lot in termination rates to MTN and Voda in the past - the termination rates were definitely skewed to favour the incumbents given that any new entrant would have to terminate most of their calls at either of those two.

 

[The_MAC]

I also don't understand how Cell C with over 10m subs still don't make money. But it is probably correct that most of the reason had been that they have had to pay a lot in termination rates to MTN and Voda in the past - the termination rates were definitely skewed to favour the incumbents given that any new entrant would have to terminate most of their calls at either of those two.

I also think that they are paying a kr-@p load of moola for their transmission to their base stations, plus that fancy new campus was probably not so necessary, not to mention their multi-million TV ads