Sentech discontinues Biznet service
Sentech entered the South African broadband market in 2004 with its MyWireless broadband offering. It followed this launch with its Biznet offering, taking on Telkom in the dedicated leased line space with its wireless alternative.
Sentech was however dogged with quality of service and funding problems, and in 2008 announced that it will discontinue both its MyWireless and Biznet services.
In 2009 Sentech said that due to the fast changing nature of the ICT market and entry of well-funded competitors, it has not been able to sustain the momentum and growth of these products and services. “In addition, the equipment delivering retail broadband services is now entering the planned redundancy period,” Sentech said in a press statement.
Sentech discontinued its MyWireless service in November 2009, and has now confirmed that its Biznet services were terminated at the end of February 2010 in accordance with their exit strategy.
“In addition to its core business of Broadcasting Signal Distribution, Sentech will henceforth concentrate on offering a wholesale broadband network as a common platform for all service providers,” Sentech said towards the end of last year.
Sentech future uncertain
It is however unclear exactly what the future holds for Sentech. A recent report from the Communications Minister’s task team found that Sentech is in urgent need of a turnaround strategy, and that immediate and drastic action is required to avoid the collapse of Sentech.
The task team made four suggestions as to how to solve Sentech’s problems:
- Reposition Sentech in terms of its core competence as a broadcasting signal distributor
- Sentech to leverage core competence to look for opportunities in the continent where it is already doing business
- Sentech to continue with diversification strategy of growing the telecommunications business
- Sentech to transfer its non-broadcasting ECNS and non broadcasting ECS businesses to Infosat
The task team also offered strategic recommendations:
- Exploitation of Sentech’s unused licenses through public-private partnerships
- Clarity regarding Sentech’s funding going forward
- Sentech should remain responsible for encoding and multiplexing
- Lobby government to develop legislation to guarantee its position as the preferred supplier of broadcast signal in SA
- Sentech should discontinue all loss making ventures
- Government should urgently address Sentech’s DTT infrastructure shortfall
The Communications Minister said that he will engage with Sentech’s board directly before making any decisions about the future of the company.
Sentech discontinues Biznet service << Discussion
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