{"id":547807,"date":"2006-01-24T06:28:29","date_gmt":"2006-01-24T06:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/547807-telkom-considers-expansion-into-botswana.html"},"modified":"2006-01-24T06:28:29","modified_gmt":"2006-01-24T06:28:29","slug":"telkom-considers-expansion-into-botswana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/547807-telkom-considers-expansion-into-botswana.html","title":{"rendered":"Telkom considers expansion into Botswana"},"content":{"rendered":"

Telkom spokeswoman Lulu Letlape said yesterday that the company would focus on Botswana, Angola, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.<\/font> <\/p>\n

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It is the first time the company has expressed an interest in investing in Botswana. Telkom has previously discussed only the other four countries. <\/font><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe have appointed a person in the company who is looking at all these countries and is holding talks about any opportunities there,\u201d Letlape said.<\/font> <\/p>\n

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She said the company would consider investing in state-owned monopoly Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC), which plans to privatise this year.<\/font> <\/p>\n

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\u201cPrivatisation of the incumbent is one of the ways we could enter Botswana, or maybe via a mobile (cellphone) company if one becomes available,\u201d Letlape said. <\/font><\/p>\n

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Diamond-rich Botswana, which has a population of 1,8-million, currently has two cellphone operators with a market penetration of 30%. Fixed-line operator BTC has a market share of about 8%.<\/font> <\/p>\n

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The advent of cellphones in SA more than 10 years ago has proved strong competition. The fixed-line operator currently has about 4,7-million customers \u2014 down from 5,5-million in 2000.<\/font> <\/p>\n

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SA\u2019s three cellular operators \u2014 Vodacom, MTN and Cell C \u2014 have taken market share from Telkom as people have swapped fixed-line phones for cellphones. <\/font><\/p>\n

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SA currently has 25,8-million cellphone users and analysts expect the number of users to rise to 32-million by 2009.<\/font> <\/p>\n

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Telkom, together with its 50% subsidiary Vodacom, said they also wanted to invest in the lucrative Nigerian market, where MTN already has operations. <\/font><\/p>\n

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Analysts said Nigeria, with a population of about 120-million, had huge potential. <\/font><\/p>\n

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\u201cAt present Nigeria is by far the most vibrant of the African telecommunications markets with opportunities for mobile operators, service providers, investors and equipment vendors,\u201d said Australian-based research and consultancy firm Paul Budde Communication.<\/font> <\/p>\n

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The group said fixed-line teledensity, the number of lines per 100 people, in Africa was about 3% while cellphone penetration had reached 8%.<\/font> <\/p>\n

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It said alternative technologies such as satellite, wireless and cellular were now making the task of connecting Africa far easier than it has been with traditional cable-based technologies. <\/font><\/p>\n

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\u201cThis suggests that fixed-line access may become an outdated measure of a maturing telecommunications infrastructure and follow-on services like internet access are likely to focus on mobile handsets instead,\u201d the research group said in its 2005 report.<\/font> <\/p>\n

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The African Telecommunications Union said about 3-million people were on waiting lists for a fixed telephone line in Africa.<\/font> <\/p>\n

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The organisation, which promotes the development of information communications technology, said there was a demand to support an additional 60-million lines, particularly in remote areas.<\/font> <\/p>\n

Inet-Bridge ||<\/em>\u00a0 <\/font>Discuss this article<\/font><\/a> <\/font><\/p>\n

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FACED with tough competition from cellphone operators at home, fixed-line operator Telkom has added Botswana to a list of five African countries it considers ripe for investment \u2014 in its bid to seek new sources of revenue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"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":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-547807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547807"}],"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\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547807\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}