TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Huge Group to acquire what was Virgin Mobile in South Africa

      6 July 2022

      TechCentral needs your feedback – 2022 reader survey now live

      6 July 2022

      Call for ‘energy emergency’ to end load shedding

      6 July 2022

      What South Africa can learn from India’s IT boom

      6 July 2022

      Where to next for Dimension Data

      5 July 2022
    • World

      China accuses US of ‘technological terrorism’

      6 July 2022

      Apple devices to get ‘Lockdown Mode’ to fight spyware

      6 July 2022

      Scientists at Cern observe three ‘exotic’ new particles

      6 July 2022

      Bitcoin’s first African adopter plans own digital currency

      6 July 2022

      Bitcoin hints at a bottom – but it may be different this time

      5 July 2022
    • In-depth

      The bonfire of the NFTs

      5 July 2022

      The NFT party is over

      30 June 2022

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022
    • Podcasts

      Demystifying the complexity of AI – fact vs fiction

      6 July 2022

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022
    • Opinion

      South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

      4 July 2022

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»Action needed to stop Sentech’s ‘terminal decline’

    Action needed to stop Sentech’s ‘terminal decline’

    News By Editor4 February 2010
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    Siphiwe Nyanda

    State-owned broadcasting signal distributor Sentech is in “urgent need of a turnaround strategy” and requires “drastic and immediate action” if it is to “avoid lapsing into terminal decline”.

    That’s the key finding of a task team, appointed last year by communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda, that has been investigating problems at the Sentech and the SABC.

    “Sentech’s deterioration into its current loss-making situation began with the awarding of telecommunications licences and the organisation’s attempt to launch its telecoms services without adequate funding, robust business plans and well thought-out strategies,” says Nyanda, who was providing details of the task team’s findings at a press conference in Pretoria on Thursday afternoon.

    However, Nyanda says no decisions have been made about what course of action will be followed. Contrary to a report published in Business Report newspaper on Monday, Nyanda says no decision has been made to remove any members of the Sentech board. The newspaper had suggested that the job of Sentech CEO Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane was on the line.

    “I don’t think there is an explicit recommendation for the dismissal of anybody,” Nyanda says. “There is strong commentary [in the task team’s report] on leadership and a need to effect changes in leadership. These are recommendations only.”

    According to Nyanda, the task team has proposed four possible solutions to Sentech’s problems:

    • Reposition the company in terms of its core competence as a broadcasting signal distributor;
    • The company could leverage its signal distribution business to look for opportunities elsewhere on the continent;
    • It could continue with its diversification strategy of growing the telecoms business — a move that would require it to leverage strategic partnerships with “seasoned” industry players. “It would need to revisit and rejuvenate its reputation to attract potential suitors;
    • Lastly, the company could transfer its telecoms licences to Sentech affiliate Infosat.

    Among other things, the team has recommended that Sentech should:

    • Discontinue all loss-making products and ventures;
    • Ensure it has sufficient funding for the country’s migration to digital terrestrial broadcasting;
    • Strengthen its leadership and governance;
    • Exploit its unused or underutilised licences through private-public partnerships;
    • Exploit the potential in other African markets;
    • Receive clarity regarding future funding;
    • Lobby government to develop legislation to guarantee its position as the preferred supplier of broadcast signal distribution to the SABC.

    Nyanda says before he makes any decisions about Sentech’s future, he will engage the company’s board. “I am in touch with Sentech from time to time, with both the board and the CEO, but we have not engaged with respect to this report,” he says.

    “Having received [the report], I have an obligation to engage with the board to see where we go with respect to all the issues that have been raised here.  — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral

    • Subscribe to our free daily newsletter
    • Follow us on Twitter or on Facebook
    SABC Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane Sentech Siphiwe Nyanda
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleVadi joins Nyanda in slamming mobile operators
    Next Article Nyanda speaks of progress at SABC

    Related Posts

    Huge Group to acquire what was Virgin Mobile in South Africa

    6 July 2022

    TechCentral needs your feedback – 2022 reader survey now live

    6 July 2022

    Call for ‘energy emergency’ to end load shedding

    6 July 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Hot Ink certifies and diversifies to maintain competitive printing edge

    5 July 2022

    Increased flexibility with Dell Precision Mobile Workstations

    5 July 2022

    The 5 secrets of customer experience in the cloud era

    5 July 2022
    Opinion

    South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

    4 July 2022

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.