MWeb’s uncapped broadband products have hammered the margins of many local Internet service providers, says BMI-TechKnowledge director of research Brian Neilson. And some might not survive. Speaking at a BMI-T telecommunications briefing in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning, Neilson said the uncapped model, and the price war it sparked had turned broadband provision into a volumes game.
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Uncertainty in SA’s telecommunications industry has played havoc with product and network planning, says research firm BMI-TechKnowledge (BMI-T). BMI-T director Brian Neilson says mobile termination rates and the regulatory environment have been the primary drivers of uncertainty in the market.
The Western Cape high court has ordered that parliament’s communications portfolio committee may not proceed with Tuesday’s closed meeting with the SABC board. The ruling was handed down as an interim order shortly before noon by acting judge Sven Olivier. It followed an urgent application by the SA National Editor’s Forum.
Substantial growth in its international operations lifted the performance of independent telecommunications group Blue Label Telecoms over the past financial year, says analyst firm Frost & Sullivan. This growth was primarily achieved through strong growth in Nigeria and disposing of interests in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Cell C has signed a €240m (R2,2bn) loan agreement with China Development Bank, according to a statement issued by an SA government delegation, led by President Jacob Zuma, that is visiting China this week. The loan comes just months after Cell C shareholders agreed to restructure the mobile operator’s debt by converting billions of rand of debt into equity.
Ousted communications department director-general Mamodupi Mohlala looks set for a court date his week after she spurned a second offer from President Jacob Zuma to settle the matter amicably. Communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda fired Mohlala a month ago, saying trust between the two had “broken down irretrievably”.
Broadband Infraco, the state-owned infrastructure provider that is expected to launch commercially within the next few weeks, pumped R407m into its network in the 2010 financial year, up from R373m in 2009.
The increase is mainly due to the cost of network operations, maintenance and repairs, the company says in its latest annual report.
State-owned telecommunications infrastructure provider Broadband Infraco has used its latest annual report to criticise a decision not to grant it a service licence under the Electronic Communications Act. It says the decision, taken by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) and backed by communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda, undermines financially its investment in a new undersea cable system.
MTN president and CEO Phuthuma Nhleko has described suggestions that India’s Bharti Airtel poses a big threat to the JSE-listed telecommunications group’s interests in Africa as “exaggeration and oversimplification”. Analysts this week raised concerns that Bharti, which recently acquired Zain’s African assets, could start a price war with MTN in several key markets, including Nigeria.
Government remains committed to switching off analogue terrestrial television, and completing the switch to digital broadcasts, by November 2011. But communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda has conceded the deadline may have to be revisited if the country decides to adopt a new standard for digital television. Nyanda was speaking at a press conference in Pretoria, where he announced the new members of the Digital Dzonga advisory council, which will advise government on the country’s planned migration from analogue to digital terrestrial television.