{"id":114333,"date":"2014-11-17T15:33:34","date_gmt":"2014-11-17T13:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=114333"},"modified":"2014-11-17T15:34:57","modified_gmt":"2014-11-17T13:34:57","slug":"telkom-haemorrhaging-fixed-line-subscribers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/telecoms\/114333-telkom-haemorrhaging-fixed-line-subscribers.html","title":{"rendered":"Telkom haemorrhaging fixed line subscribers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Telkom has published its interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2014, revealing that the company currently has 3,531,000<\/b>\u00a0fixed access lines \u2013 down from 3,713,000 a year ago.<\/p>\n

This brings Telkom\u2019s fixed line penetration rate<\/strong> (which it said uses 2011 Census data) down to 6.8% from 7.2% a year ago.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s fixed line subscriber base is now at its lowest point since\u00a01993, which places pressure on the company\u2019s turnaround plan. To offer digital subscriber line (DSL) services such as ADSL or VDSL, a fixed line to clients\u2019 premises is needed.<\/p>\n

With fixed line numbers declining, the pool of people to whom additional fixed line products can be sold is also shrinking.<\/p>\n

The following table provides an overview of Telkom\u2019s fixed-line performance over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Lines<\/th>\nSeptember 2013 (\u2019000)<\/th>\nSeptember 2014 (\u2019000)<\/th>\nPercentage growth<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Fixed access lines<\/td>\n3,713<\/td>\n\u00a03,531<\/td>\n\u20134.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Post-paid \u2013 PSTN<\/td>\n2,396<\/td>\n\u00a02,346<\/td>\n\u20132.1%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Post-paid \u2013 ISDN channels<\/td>\n750<\/td>\n\u00a0719<\/td>\n\u20134.1%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pre-paid<\/td>\n478<\/td>\n\u00a0405<\/td>\n\u201315.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Payphones<\/td>\n89<\/td>\n\u00a061<\/td>\n\u201331.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

The lower number of fixed lines means that Telkom\u2019s \u201cfixed access lines per employee<\/strong>\u201d ratio is now 188, down from 192\u00a0a year ago.<\/p>\n

In addition, fixed line voice traffic<\/strong>\u00a0is down 6.1%, while revenue per fixed access line<\/strong> is also down by 1%.<\/p>\n

Since the year 2000 Telkom’s annual results have shown a steady decline in fixed line numbers, despite an economic boom from 2003 to 2007 and the launch of ADSL in late 2002.<\/p>\n

Telkom\u2019s steady decline in fixed line numbers since the turn of the century has been blamed on many factors, including competition from mobile services, copper theft, and tough economic conditions.<\/p>\n

The table and graph below provide an overview of Telkom’s fixed line growth and decline since the early 90s, along with the year-on-year and 6-monthly changes in subscriber numbers (where available).<\/p>\n

\"Telkom<\/a>

Telkom fixed line subscribers 1993-2014<\/p><\/div>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Date<\/th>\nFixed line subscribers<\/th>\nYoY Change<\/th>\n6 months change<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
1993<\/td>\n3,458,000<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1994<\/td>\n3,594,000<\/td>\n136,000<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1995<\/td>\n3,773,000<\/td>\n179,000<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1996<\/td>\n3,926,000<\/td>\n153,000<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1997<\/td>\n4,259,000<\/td>\n333,000<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1998<\/td>\n4,645,000<\/td>\n386,000<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1999<\/td>\n5,075,000<\/td>\n430,000<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000<\/td>\n5,493,000<\/td>\n418,000<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2001<\/td>\n4,962,000<\/td>\n-531,000<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar-02<\/td>\n4,924,000<\/td>\n-38,000<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar-03<\/td>\n4,844,000<\/td>\n-80,000<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sep-03<\/td>\n4,812,000<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n-32,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar-04<\/td>\n4,821,000<\/td>\n-23,000<\/td>\n9,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sep-04<\/td>\n4,870,000<\/td>\n58,000<\/td>\n49,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar-05<\/td>\n4,726,000<\/td>\n-95,000<\/td>\n-144,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sep-05<\/td>\n4,730,000<\/td>\n-140,000<\/td>\n4,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar-06<\/td>\n4,708,000<\/td>\n-18,000<\/td>\n-22,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sep-06<\/td>\n4,675,000<\/td>\n-55,000<\/td>\n-33,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar-07<\/td>\n4,642,000<\/td>\n-66,000<\/td>\n-33,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sep-07<\/td>\n4,621,000<\/td>\n-54,000<\/td>\n-21,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar-08<\/td>\n4,532,000<\/td>\n-110,000<\/td>\n-89,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sep-08<\/td>\n4,504,000<\/td>\n-117,000<\/td>\n-28,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar-09<\/td>\n4,451,000<\/td>\n-81,000<\/td>\n-53,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sep-09<\/td>\n4,398,000<\/td>\n-106,000<\/td>\n-53,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar-10<\/td>\n4,273,000<\/td>\n-178,000<\/td>\n-125,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sep-10<\/td>\n4,234,000<\/td>\n-164,000<\/td>\n-39,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar-11<\/td>\n4,152,000<\/td>\n-121,000<\/td>\n-82,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sep-11<\/td>\n4,073,000<\/td>\n-161,000<\/td>\n-79,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar-12<\/td>\n3,995,000<\/td>\n-157,000<\/td>\n-78,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sep-12<\/td>\n3,894,000<\/td>\n-179,000<\/td>\n-101,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar-13<\/td>\n3,800,000<\/td>\n-195,000<\/td>\n-94,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sep-13<\/td>\n3,713,000<\/td>\n-181,000<\/td>\n-87,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mar-14<\/td>\n3,618,000<\/td>\n-182,000<\/td>\n-95,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sep-14<\/td>\n3,531,000<\/td>\n-182,000<\/td>\n-87,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

More Telkom news<\/h3>\n

Big Telkom ADSL growth<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Telkom on-track for future growth: CEO<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Telkom Mobile cracks 2 million subscribers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Telkom LTE Advanced tested, and it cooks<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite its turnaround strategy Telkom has not been able to stop the decline of its fixed line subscriber base, which is now at its lowest point since 1993<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":75993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[25463,26063,35,109],"class_list":["post-114333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecoms","tag-fixed-line-numbers","tag-fixed-line-subscribers","tag-headline","tag-telkom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114333"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114333"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114347,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114333\/revisions\/114347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}