The company also has a strong presence in many other African countries – Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, and Lesotho.<\/p>\n
Vodacom is one of SA\u2019s biggest success stories, but that does not mean the company did not make mistakes along the way.<\/p>\n
Here are some of Vodacom\u2019s biggest blunders over the last 22\u00a0years of operation.<\/p>\n
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Vodacom lost billions by buying Gateway Communications<\/h3>\n
Vodacom bought Gateway Communications<\/strong><\/a> in December 2008 for $675 million as part of its African expansion plans.<\/p>\n Things did not work out<\/strong><\/a>, and Vodacom had to take an impairment charge of R3.2 billion on the unit after traffic volumes fell.<\/p>\n In June 2012, Vodacom entered into an agreement to sell certain investments, supplier agreements, and assets of a Gateway unit – Carrier Services – to PCCW Global for $26.4 million.<\/p>\n Vodacom owned a 24.9% shareholding in iBurst\/WBS<\/strong><\/a>, which gave the company access to iBurst\u2019s 1,800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum.<\/p>\n Vodacom had a choice to increase its iBurst stake, or sell its shares and apply for new spectrum through Icasa. Vodacom put its trust in Icasa\u2019s spectrum process,\u00a0and sold its stake in iBurst.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Icasa\u2019s spectrum plans never materialised, and Vodacom lost its shareholding – and access to spectrum.<\/p>\n Vodacom made multiple investment in South African companies over the years, but many of these investments failed<\/a><\/strong>. Some examples include Gogga, Zoopy, Vodacom Gated Services, The Grid, and Gateway.<\/p>\n Some of the companies which Vodacom invested in accused the operator of not providing the support promised<\/a><\/strong>, and reneging on its side of the partnership.<\/p>\n In 2007, Vodacom launched Meep<\/strong><\/a> – a real-time, presence-based Instant Messaging service. This was supposed to compete against the dominant player at the time, Mxit.<\/p>\n Vodacom said that Meep offered “a transparency in terms of pricing where Meepots are the official currency of the Meep world \u2013 sold in bundles\u201d.<\/p>\n Meep never gained traction, and was shut down without much fanfare.<\/p>\n In 2007, Vodacom launched The GRID<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 a location-based mobile social network that allowed users to chat to friends, see where they were on a map, and share photos or videos with them.<\/p>\n It never lived up to the hype, and Vodacom closed\u00a0The Grid on 1 December 2012.<\/p>\n Vodacom\u2019s Legends of Echo<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 a location-based multiplayer social game for mobile phones \u2013 did even worse.<\/p>\n It never gained any support, and was quietly discontinued by Vodacom not long after its launch.<\/p>\n On 30 June 2011, Vodacom experienced its worst-ever network downtime<\/strong><\/a>, caused by multiple transmission failures and subsequent network congestion in some areas.<\/p>\n Vodacom\u2019s official communication about\u00a0the downtime was poor, and saw\u00a0Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys resort to Twitter<\/a><\/strong> to inform people what was happening, and what they were doing to resolve the problems.<\/p>\n On 1 January 2016, many Vodacom subscribers took to social media to complain that they had been double-billed by Vodacom.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Vodacom refunded these subscribers<\/strong><\/a> a few days later, and offered them free data to make up for the mess.<\/p>\n How much Vodacom subscribers really pay for a call<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Vodacom\u2019s broadband network covers nearly all South Africans<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Gateway\"](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Gateway.jpg\")
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\nVodacom selling its stake in iBurst meant it lost out on valuable spectrum<\/h3>\n
![\"iBurst](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/iBurst-for-sale.png\")
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\nVodacom made many poor investment decisions, and also handled these investments poorly<\/h3>\n
![\"Vodacom](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Vodacom-call-center-banned.jpg\")
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\nVodacom\u2019s plan to combat Mxit through its IM platform Meep was a massive failure<\/h3>\n
![\"Vodacom](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Vodacom-cheap-phone-2.png\")
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\nVodacom\u2019s social platforms The Grid and Heroes of Echo never lived up to the hype<\/h3>\n
![\"Vodacom](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Vodacom-the-grid.jpg\")
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\nVodacom experienced a country-wide network outage, but decided to say little through its official channels<\/h3>\n
![\"Angry](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Angry-man-with-cellphone.jpg\")
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\nVodacom double-billed its customers in the beginning of 2016, right when people started to run out of money<\/h3>\n
![\"Vodacom](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Vodacom-Shares.jpg\")
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\nMore on Vodacom<\/h3>\n