8ta: FAQs

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1. What does 8ta stand for and how is it different from existing offerings?

8ta stands on 5 core pillars: Value, Simplicity, Authenticity, Innovation, and Quality.

Value: We connect more people & enable them to “talk more”
– More minutes for your money than any other network
▫ Bonus minutes for incoming calls
▫ Lowest rates to fixed line at 65c per minute
▫ R2.50 flat international rate to 100+ countries
▫ 50 free SMSs for use in a day when you send 5 SMSs on that day
– Low-cost handsets

Simplicity: Our products are the easiest to understand, buy and use
– At launch, 1 pre-paid voice and 1 pre-paid data offering
– Ultimately, 2 pre-paid, 4 post-paid and 3 data offers, vs. hundreds of options from competitors
– Same on-net and off-net rates on pre-paid
– No hidden costs -- simple and transparent pricing

Authenticity: We are authentic…we are South African and for South Africa
– Our brand, our values and our aspirations are South African and espouse our national heritage and culture

Innovation: We continuously bring market leading innovations to consumers
– All-IP 3G network that is software upgradable to 4G to ensure a smooth transition
– Rapidly bringing the best devices to market (smartphones, etc.)
– Innovative distribution providing products and services across the country

Quality: We deliver excellent customer experience through cutting edge technology and service
– Deep network capacity built over time to ensure national coverage, and fewer dropped calls
– First to market with an all-IP network to provide QoS capability
– Real-time field technicians to fix network outages/ issues
– Significant investments in support infrastructure (call centers, distribution etc)
– State of the art website and self service portals at TDS/ flagship stores

2. What are the key attributes of your brand?

There are 5 key attributes that our brand espouses:
Value, Simplicity, Authenticity, Innovation, and Quality

Our brand is essentially positioned to enable South Africa to talk more. It is also fresh and up and coming, much like our nation.

3. How will 8ta benefit consumers and enterprises?

Consumers: 8ta will enable consumers to “talk more” and use data more than ever before – this will enhance their lives personally and professionally.

Enterprise: Enterprises will be able to do more due to the better value provided. Fully-fledged offerings will be gradually introduced over the coming year.

4. What products will be available at launch?

We will deliver pre-paid voice and data at launch. We will launch post-paid voice and data in November.
 
5. Which trends (e.g. data, smartphones) excite you the most?

At 8ta we are most excited about the transformational value that a network like ours will unlock. We will enable increased consumption of basic voice services and also advanced data services on a wide range of devices (smartphones, notebooks, tablets).

6. What handsets will be available at launch?

We plan to introduce several tiers of devices (low-end, feature phones and smartphones) from all the major OEMs.

7. What are your plans for iPhone, Blackberry, Android phones

We have plans to bring Android and Blackberry to the market by the end of the year, and are actively working on the plan for an iPhone introduction with our channel partners.

8. Where will 8ta products be available?

We will be at thousands of points of sale including our Flagships stores, TDS stores, informal and formal retailers. At launch we will be available at Edgars, Jet, CNA, Altech, and Smartcall. Other large retailers, such as Shoprite and Pick ‘n Pay, will be rapidly brought on stream shortly.

9. What network coverage will you have at launch?

We will have full national coverage, given our roaming agreement with MTN. We are rapidly building our own network coverage and already about 800 base stations have been constructed. Within 6 months, we will have approximately 1,200 base stations on air.

10. What network quality should be expected?

At launch we are planning for parity with competition, but over time plan on having a unified 2G / 3G network with a fully IP-based network that will enable unparalleled capability to offer consumers superior quality of service. Our network is also software upgradable to 4G which will ensure a seamless migration when 4G equipment becomes available.

11. Will you be offering 3G?

We are launching with both 3G (HSPA) and 2G.

12. Will you be offering data? At which speeds?

We will be offering high speed data via our state-of-the-art HSPA network which will enable peak download speeds of 7.2Mbps. Actual throughput rates realised will also be best-in-class due to our next generation IP network and backhaul technologies.
 
13. What is your commitment to customer experience? What will you do to ensure superior customer experience?

We have built a great network ground up and have augmented it with a superior IT / CRM platform and support system. Additionally, we have a superbly trained team in place with a dedicated call centre to support any customer issues.

14. What are your plans regarding existing fixed-line look alike services?

Telkom will use the new 8ta network to extend the reach of fixed-line look alike services in areas where Telkom is experiencing operational challenges such copper theft, breakages, and slow copper roll-out to new greenfield areas. This will assist the company in being more responsive to its customer’s needs.

15. What interconnect agreements do you have in place?

We have interim interconnect agreements with all other service providers. We are also in the process with the regulators to encourage the whole market to move to cost-based interconnect rates, with the aim of ultimately lowering retail prices charged to consumers.

16. What does the agreement with MTN cover?

It is a 5 year comprehensive agreement covering 2G and 3G voice and data services.


17. What do you see as the future of mobile telephony in Southern Africa and the rest of the continent?

Mobile telephony in South Africa and the rest of Africa will increase in both importance and prevalence.

Mobile telephony will enable a new class of services in addition to basic services. Much of South Africa will experience the Internet, and next-generation web applications for the first time on a mobile device, allowing them to make new friends (eg on Facebook), conduct new business (eg m-commerce) and entertain themselves (eg mobile TV).

Mobile telephony will become intertwined with everyday life and usage will increase as device and service costs become much more competitive.

18. People say that you are entering a saturated market. What is different about 8ta and how will this contribute to the success of the Network Service?

South Africa is a relatively saturated market with about 75% user penetration. However, the minutes of use today are among the lowest in the world. South Africa has an average of 90 minutes of use per month compared to 160 minutes in Chile or 190 minutes in Turkey, where there are similar levels of GDP.
One of our key propositions is Value. Through innovative product features and pricing we will make our products more attractive, encouraging more people to connect and enabling them to "talk more".

19. As the 4th entrant, why do you believe you will do better than incumbents?

First and foremost we will measure our success by the value, simplicity, authenticity, innovation and quality that we deliver to consumers in South Africa. Our brand will encompass these values and will guide our strategy in each area:
Value: We connect more people & enable them to “talk more”
Simplicity: Our products are the easiest to understand, buy and use
Authenticity: We are authentic. We are South African and for South Africa
Innovation: We continuously bring market leading innovations to consumers
Quality: We deliver excellent customer experience through cutting edge technology and service

20. Are you coming into the mobile market too late to make a substantial impact?

No, we believe that we have a range of competitive advantages over our competitors, including product and network differentiators, which will be appealing to our customers.

Additionally, we also believe strongly that we are about to latch on to a second wave of growth in advanced data services (eg connecting on Facebook, Twitter; watching television on your mobile; making m-commerce transactions) where we are uniquely positioned with our advanced all-IP 2G / 3G network which is ready for a seamless migration to 4G (via a software upgrade).

21. How will 8ta enable Telkom to overcome challenges associated with cable theft?

The improved mobile network footprint provides opportunities for us to reach many more customers with our landline look-alike service, especially in many remote areas where cable theft is particularly prevalent.

22. Why is 8ta launching with pre-paid?

We are staggering our product introduction in partnership with our channel partners to manage a flawless launch. Following the launch of our brand on Thursday, 14 October, we will make prepaid services available for purchase at thousands of stores across the country shortly. Postpaid services will be made available in November.
 
So basically, if you receive poor reception 3G wise on MTN, you also receive poor reception on an 8.ta sim card for now?
 
Sorry if I have missed this but:

Does data carry over to the next month like with Vodacom?
 
Khanya said:
So basically, if you receive poor reception 3G wise on MTN, you also receive poor reception on an 8.ta sim card for now?
Click to expand...
Not in the major cities - 8ta/Telkom has its own network, and will only roam on MTN where they don't have coverage.
 
All I saw was <stupid name> bla bla bla bla <it's telkom> bla bla bla.
 
Looks like this is their solution to cable theft. Constructing thousands of wireless base stations in a country already saturated with them.

My solution would be fibre on the last mile. Now that's something we don't have much of. Thanks Telkom for not doing the only thing you are needed for - last-mile infrastructure.
 
If they allow roaming on the MTN network, do they allow the reverse - MTN customers to roam on the Telkom towers?
 
Yes ! That would be Great

grantza said:
phone number allocation - is there any option to select a specific number
Click to expand...

Yes ! That would be Great ................

I have a new sim.

Just wish i could get the similiar number to the one i currently have.

They should have allowed people to reserve numbers by paying a service charge of R20.

Easy money and lots of people would pay that R20 rather than the R1 for the starter Pack.

Wish i was Chief executive Officer of Operations

DXL - Team
 
Does anyone know how much the sim card costs, and how good the network experience is?
Im with vmobile but they have the worst fu*n internet in the world, i feel they have had enough time to upgrade to 3g. I would rather pay R100 a week for 250mb of hsdpa data.
 
djexct said:
Does anyone know how much the sim card costs, and how good the network experience is?
Im with vmobile but they have the worst fu*n internet in the world, i feel they have had enough time to upgrade to 3g. I would rather pay R100 a week for 250mb of hsdpa data.
Click to expand...

The simcards are free of charge at Edgars and CNA. Or atleast at the 4 store I was.

I only have MTN 2G at my house and the internet speeds are the same as MTN. Its EDGE atleast so its much better than Virgin mobile that I can gaurentee you. :-)
 
cavedog said:
The simcards are free of charge at Edgars and CNA. Or atleast at the 4 store I was.

I only have MTN 2G at my house and the internet speeds are the same as MTN. Its EDGE atleast so its much better than Virgin mobile that I can gaurentee you. :-)
Click to expand...

They don't have them in Edgars Cape Town and at CNA the 128k sim is 99c.
 
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