Telecoms30.07.2024

South Africa’s most trusted enterprise telecommunications providers revealed

MyBroadband’s business technology survey revealed that Vodacom Business is the preferred enterprise telecommunications provider in South Africa.

783 respondents completed the survey. Only responses from executives and managers who decide which ICT products their companies buy were considered.

Survey respondents were asked which enterprise telecommunications provider they would pick for their company.

Vodacom Business was the top provider, with 24% of the vote. Although Vodacom is best known for mobile services, Vodacom Business has built a strong brand.

The company was created as a vehicle for Vodacom to pursue opportunities in the broadband and ICT market without diverting attention from core business.

Vodacom Business positioned itself as the leading provider of converged communication solutions for the enterprise, business, and SME market segments.

At launch, Vodacom Business boasted a converged self-provisioned IP core, self-provisioned international capacity, and carrier-grade data centres.

It also has numerous points of presence in South Africa, international pops in London and New York, and global data and VOIP interconnects.

Over the last fifteen years, it has built on its capabilities with an extensive portfolio of ICT products in the business and enterprise markets.

The business technology survey results confirmed Vodacom Business’ strong brand awareness and respect in the South African enterprise market.

Vox ranked second with 20% of the vote. As the smaller company in the survey, it is punching above its weight in terms of brand awareness.

The company’s journey began in 1998 when it was a national Internet and voice services provider known as DataPro with around 20 employees.

In 2007, with just over 500 employees, DataPro rebranded to Vox Telecom and was on track to become South Africa’s leading independent telecommunications operator.

Vox moved beyond telecommunications to become a market-leading integrated ICT and infrastructure provider, achieving a R2.9-billion turnover in 2020.

It serves a range of customers, including large enterprise clients, with its telecommunications and other ICT products.

MTN Business, which started 20 years ago to provide a range of ICT offerings, ranked third with 19% of the vote.

The company’s products include connectivity, communication, collaboration, and cloud solutions.

On the other end of the scale, Liquid Intelligent Technologies has fallen down the rankings and finished last.

It was founded as Neotel on 31 August 2006 and was South Africa’s first direct telecommunications competitor to Telkom.

Neotel announced its business services on 15 November 2007. It included local and international leased line services, voice, data, and Internet offerings.

In 2017, Liquid Intelligent Technologies acquired Neotel to enhance its network capabilities across South Africa.

In recent years, Liquid Intelligent Technologies has lost some of its shine amidst an increasingly competitive telecommunications market.

The chart below shows the enterprise telecommunications providers with the strongest brands among South African business decision-makers.

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