{"id":552049,"date":"2007-04-18T20:18:45","date_gmt":"2007-04-18T20:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/552049-vodacom-vs-telkom-2.html"},"modified":"2007-04-18T20:18:45","modified_gmt":"2007-04-18T20:18:45","slug":"vodacom-vs-telkom-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/552049-vodacom-vs-telkom-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Vodacom vs Telkom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vodacom has hired two of Telkom\u2019s top executives in the past couple of weeks. Former Telkom chief sales & marketing officer Wally Beelders has been appointed commercial director of a new Vodacom business that will house its Internet service provider (ISP), virtual private networking and WiMax wireless networking interests; and former Telkom chief technical officer Thami Msimango has been appointed chief operating officer of the new business. The appointments come just months after Vodacom hired former Telkom managing executive Minnie Maharaj to manage international wholesale services.<\/font><\/p>\n

Though Telkom owns 50% of Vodacom, it does not have management control and relations between the two groups have historically been rocky \u2014 they reached a low point a few years ago when SBC of the US and Telekom Malaysia were still shareholders in Telkom. SBC\u2019s Tom Barry, who was also Telkom\u2019s chief operating officer, made it clear he wanted greater control over Vodacom.<\/font><\/p>\n

Now, in a move that could reignite tensions, Vodacom appears to be gutting Telkom of its best talent. What is Knott-Craig, one of SA\u2019s wiliest businessmen, up to? In announcing the Telkom hires last week, Knott-Craig said the appointments were \u201chighly strategic\u201d for Vodacom as it tried to \u201cseize opportunities presented by convergence\u201d. By convergence, Knott-Craig means the converging technology, policy and regulatory environment created by the Electronic Communications Act, new legislation designed to spur growth in the sector.<\/font><\/p>\n

Vodacom has been scouting the SA market \u2014 unsuccessfully, so far \u2014 for an ISP to buy. It has already acquired a 10% stake in iBurst, a wireless broadband operator. Knott-Craig said last year that he wanted to take management control of the company, whose MD, coincidentally, is his son.<\/font><\/p>\n

iBurst will give Vodacom the licence it needs to provide WiMax services. WiMax is a much-hyped wireless technology touted by vendors and operators as an alternative to fixed lines in providing broadband and voice telephony.<\/font><\/p>\n

Knott-Craig is keen on using the changing policy and regulatory environment \u2014 the Electronic Communications Act allows cellphone operators to provide a wider range of services \u2014 to expand Vodacom\u2019s business in SA. Vodacom has not been able to expand as aggressively in Africa as rival MTN, partly because of restrictions imposed on it by its other shareholder, UK-based Vodafone. Also, the market for cellular telephony in SA, Vodacom\u2019s biggest market, is maturing, which means the group needs to look for business opportunities elsewhere to maintain growth.<\/font><\/p>\n

Vodacom\u2019s new business, which hasn\u2019t been named yet, will fight for customers with Telkom, as well as communications services companies such as MTN Network Solutions, Internet Solutions and Verizon Business (formerly UUNet). Both IS and Verizon are hoping to get WiMax licences this year; Telkom already has one and will launch commercial services using the technology soon. But Vodacom\u2019s move into WiMax, as well as virtual private networks and Internet service provision, could again strain relations between it and Telkom.<\/font><\/p>\n

The mobile operators already dwarf Telkom in the voice market. Unless Telkom lifts its game by cutting its prices and improving its poor customer service, it could quickly find itself marginalised in other areas, too. Vodacom\u2019s move comes at a particularly bad time for Telkom, which is without a permanent CEO after the unceremonious departure two weeks ago of Papi Molotsane.<\/font><\/p>\n

Comments<\/a><\/p>\n

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Is cellphone group Vodacom preparing an all-out assault on 50% shareholder Telkom? It looks that way. Relations between the two companies have never been good. Now Vodacom Group CEO Alan Knott-Craig is hiring away Telkom\u2019s top talent.<\/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-552049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552049"}],"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=552049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552049\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}