IT\u2019S Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, and it\u2019s 7am. This is the one day on which I truly embrace my religious heritage and do what the day is intended for: reflect on my life over the past year.<\/p>\n
But not this year. My phone rang. It was Telkom. Was my ADSL line working properly yet?<\/p>\n
What do you say?<\/p>\n
In this case, it was someone at Telkom providing me with good service. I\u2019d complained about the slow line speed and they were following up.<\/p>\n
It must\u2019ve been karma for all the bad things I\u2019ve said about our national telecoms company \u2013 which surely must have some way of tracking such personal information and knowing when its customers have religious holidays.<\/p>\n
And no, my ADSL line wasn\u2019t working at full speed, no matter how many assurances I was given that it checked-out OK at their end.<\/p>\n
I know, I shouldn\u2019t even be answering the phone \u2014 but when it rings at 7am it\u2019s usually for a good reason.<\/p>\n
If I could, I\u2019d vote with my feet. But until this week there really hasn\u2019t been any alternative to Telkom. Landline calls are still cheaper than cellular and, apart from the occasional problem like slow line speeds, ADSL is still the best value for money for broadband.<\/p>\n
But last week, Neotel, the second network operator whose advent was much-delayed, declared war on Telkom.<\/p>\n
Neotel launched its equally long-awaited consumer call service with a device called NeoConnect Lite, and call costs significantly cheaper than Telkom\u2019s. Time for Telkom to be worried, very worried.<\/p>\n
If I was wondering what the year ahead would hold for me, Telkom\u2019s managers must be staring into whatever crystal balls they can find hoping for some direction.<\/p>\n
Telkom is in a state of unprecedented change. It is selling 15 percent of its stake in Vodacom, its most profitable division, to Vodafone and unbundling the rest to its shareholders. Vodacom and Telkom have been unhappy bedfellows for years, with the former\u2019s barely concealed disdain for the latter an open secret in the industry. Where Telkom will make up the revenue and profit losses from should be keeping CEO Reuben September up at night.<\/p>\n
Vodacom is now free to grow and innovate, whereas Telkom must scrabble to find an alternative in the cellular space, where all the growth and profits in the telecoms industry have been for years.<\/p>\n
Telkom doesn\u2019t seem to know what its strategy is. Nowhere is this more in evidence than in its confused thinking about Telkom Media, which is all but dead in the water, leaving many good journalists up the creek but at least on a salary. Telkom made the first of its two major about-turns in its strategy by pulling about R1-billion in funding from the venture, leaving it in limbo.<\/p>\n
Then there was its sudden reversal of its decision to outsource the bulk of its operations, which had its trade unions up in arms.<\/p>\n
Telkom\u2019s problems must be music to Neotel\u2019s ears.<\/p>\n
The new products and services the newcomer introduced last week include aggressive landline call rates. NeoConnect Lite is a voice-only device that starts from a R99 a month rental with peak-time calls at 34c and off-peak at 17c. The device will cost R599 but is free on a R199 a month, two-year contract. Neotel said there is no minimum charge per call and billing will be on a true per-second basis.<\/p>\n
Data will be sold at a remarkably low 8c a megabyte \u2014 less than half the lowest rate, 20c a meg, offered by the cellphone companies . They promise delivery within 48 hours.<\/p>\n